Compiled by London swaminathan

Date: 10 December 2016

Time uploaded in London: 6-18 am

Post No.3435

Pictures are taken from different sources; thanks.

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This story is available in Tamil in my blog.

“Once upon a time there was a king. The king had a bother. The brother had left the king long ago to go and become an ascetic. Having received blessings and powers through his tapasya(penance) he returned and lived on the other side of the river from the royal palace. He lived in a mud hut as an ascetic, as a sadhu.

The king’s wife became pregnant. Now, in India there is a tradition that a pregnant woman should spend her time in spiritual pursuit, so that a spiritually awakened child is born. As there are certain practises, certain things the woman does during pregnancy, which the family helps to make it possible. The king’s wife had the strong desire to sit at the feet of her husband’s brother the saint. She expressed this desire to her husband. “Oh yes”, he said, “go tomorrow and spend the day with my brother on the other side of the river.”

The tradition is that you never go to a holy man, empty handed, you always bring him some gift, some fruit, some such offering. So in the morning before leaving, the King’s wife prepared some food and was ready to go.

As she had to cross the river, she said to her husband, “Have you arranged a boat for me?”. He said, “What do you need the boat for?” She said, “to cross the river”. He said, “no you don’t need a boat. Jus go and standby the river and do a sacha kiriya, an act of truth. She said, “What act of truth? I don’t have any powers”. He said, “Take mine. Go, standby the river, close your eyes and say in your mind, since my husband the king was initiated by his Master three years ago, if my husband has never broken in celibacy, by the power of that truth. may the river part and let me go across dry.”

The king’s wife was very puzzled because she was carrying his child,but she went and stood by the river and made the act of truth. And right in front of her eyes the river parted and made way for her to cross. She could not understand it.

She went to the sadhu, served him, received his teachings, fed him the food she had prepared and in the evening it was time for her to return to the palace. But again she had no way to cross the river. The sadhu said, “Do a saccha kiriya, an act of truth. Stand by the river, close your eyes, and say in your mind, ‘if the sadhu, the Master whom I have served this day, has never since his initiation by his Master broken his fast, may the river part and let me go across.’

The king’s wife was again puzzled because she had been feeding him the whole day. But she went to the river and did the act of truth, for the second time, the river parted and she went across. . Now, really confused, she went to her husband and asked, “What is going on? I am carrying your child and you make me  swear by your three year celibacy. I fed the sadhu, your brother, the whole day and he makes me swear by his fast”.

Then the king, who was also a wise man, explained, “Lady mind is a vast force. If in one little corner of the ocean there is some small amount of dirt, the rest of the ocean is still clean and pure. Mind is even vaster and deeper than the entire ocean. Others live by only that little part of the mind, which is active. They see only that part of the ocean, the tiny corner where there is some dirt. So to them the mind has no fasting and the mind contains no celibacy because they have been breaking the vows. For them, that little portion of the sea dirty, the whole sea is dirty. Those who are on the part of enlightenment know the rest, the vast expanse, of the mind. And with that awareness the little indulgence in marital duties or the little eating in the day does not break their celibacy and does not break their fast. Myself and my brother, I as a king and he as an ascetic, have understood this and in the major portion of our minds we are always celibate, always fasting, always silent”.

What is sacha kiriya?

“There is a word in in Hindi, kiriya. It is used when someone swears by something. it is short for saccha kiriya, that is an “act of truth”. An act of truth is performed by using the accumulated power of  some form of secret you have kept for a long time. There are many stories about “acts of truth”.

Source: Five Pillars of Sadhana by Swami Veda Bharati (Formerly he was Prof.Ushar Budh, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, University of Minnesota,USA)

–Subahm–