He finished his shower and was wiping his hair with a towel; his mind was engrossed in
thoughts. He came out of his room and saw his grandfather sitting on the sofa
reading some religious book. He walked to his grandfather and sat beside him.
His grandfather looked at him and asked, “What’s the matter Aloka, you seem to
be disturbed?”
“Thatha, you
know Naveen, my friend his twin brother Praveen passed away this morning, had been to attend his funeral.” said Aloka.
“Why, what happened to him?” enquired the elderly
man.
“He was fighting against cancer Thatha, he could not make
it. He was such a nice guy always helpful to others. You always told everything
good happens to such a person. I don’t understand why God was so impartial
towards him.” replied Aloka.
“See Aloka, none can comprehend the ways of destiny.”
Thatha said.
“Isn’t it so convenient to place the blame on destiny?
He never ever dreamt of hurting other either in thought, word or deed. It is
injustice on the part of God to have snatched his life.” lamented Aloka.
“No, Aloka why do you say God was impartial and unjust.
God has nothing to do with our destiny. Let me tell you a story so that you can
understand.
Once there was a King who ordered his three ministers
to go to the forest and bring a bag full of fruits. All the three of them left the palace the next
morning and rode into the forest separately.
The first minister thought since it
was the order from the King; he had to collect the best of the fruits. So he
went on looking for nice ripe and half-ripe fruits. Therefore his bag was
filled with good variety of fruits but his bag was soiled.
The second minister felt since King would be very
busy he may not inspect what kind of fruit is in the bag, so he went on collecting
whatever he could lay his hands. Therefore his bag was filled with a mixture of
ripe, semi-ripe and over ripe fruits and his bag looked as it was.
Third minister thought the King would look at the
size of the bags and it does not matter what was inside and hence he just
filled up the bag with all dried leaves and twigs. He decorated the bag with vines
and fresh green leaves.
All the three ministers came back to the palace in the evening with their respective bags having collected the fruits. Everyone present there were attracted to the bag belonging to the third minister while the bag of the first minister was disregarded.
The King did not even inspect the bags or wanted to know what they had brought,
he just ordered that the three ministers be sent to separate jails for a month.
He further ordered that they should not be provided with any kind of food but
have to be allowed to have access to the bags they had brought from the forest.
First minister had picked good fruits and hence had
a good time relishing them over a period of thirty days. Second minister had to
juggle between the ripe and over ripe fruits he had to consume even putrid ones
too. Now what to say about the third minister he had nothing to eat at all. He
had deceived himself by decorating the bag with nothing at all to sate his
hunger.
Look Aloka, we are here with the bag of fruits from
our previous births, we relish what we have collected. God has no role in it at
all. ”
The young man thanked his grandfather for making him understand the intricacies of Karma and for guided
him to the right path.
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