Acharya Tulsi
On the completion of their studies, three students of a Gurukul went to the kulpati to seek his permission to return to their homes. On being asked if they had completed their studies, they replied in the affirmative. The Kulpati said, “You stayed here for 12 Years, did your prescribed reading and have passed all the examinations. But you have to pass one more test before you leave." The students excitedly asked, “Sir, what kind of test?On what subject? When? Where? “The Kulpati said, "There is no special topic, nor any precise time or place for this test." The students’ curiosity increased all the more. Wonderingly, they said, "How can we appear in a test without knowing the subject in which we are going to be examined!" The Kulpati said, "You’ll see!"
After a few days, the Kulpati called the three scholars and said to them, "Take off your sandals and run up to that tree and back!" You're on trial today." Thereupon, all the three students took off their sandals and started running bare—footed. They had gone only a little-distance when they were obliged to stop; the path was covered with pointed thorns.
One of the students, on finding the path bestrewed with pointed thorns, cried in a fit of temper, 'what kind of trial it is! I say, this is downright cruelty!' And without carrying out the Kulpati's order, he went back to his cottage.
The second student stood none—pulsed for a while. Then he said to himself, " You can't question your guru‘s order! Come what may, l must carry it out!" And off he went trampling upon the thrones. Soon his bare feet were covered with blood and he was obliged to call off due to intolerable pain when he had hardly covered half the distance.
The third scholar displayed intelligence. He looked around and found a broom lying near a bush. He took it up and went sweeping away the thorns right up to the marked tree and came back.
At the appointed hour, all the three scholars presented themselves before the Kulpati. The Kulpati said, "Have you carried out the order?"
The first scholar said, "lt is a sin to obey a wrong order."
The second scholar was in great pain and consequently filled with acrimony. He put forth his bleeding feet before the Kulpati and said, "This is the result of my trying to carry out your order. ln future I'll never obey a foolish order."
The third scholar respectfully said, "Sir! l have presented myself before you only after carrying out your order."
The Kulpati said, "Did not the thorns stick into your feet?" The scholar answered, "Sir, l cleared the path with the broom."
At this, the other two realized their mistake, but they timidly said, "Gurudev, you never asked us to sweep the path, did you?"
The Kulpati said, "But then I never asked you not to sweep either."
However hard and long the study, how many certificates and degrees one may be awarded, until one acquires practical knowledge, until one's intelligence is awakened as to what should or should not be done, until one learns to suit one’s action to the challenge posed, one cannot succeed in life. That is why knowledge gained through experience is held to be superior to mere book knowledge. Until one is rich in experience, mere theoretical knowledge gained from books proves futile.
There was a time when the Gurukul tradition was in vogue. There were fewer books to read, but lot of practical experimentation. Today, the situation is completely different. We see young children so weighed down with the load of books, as to divest them of their natural grace even in their childhood. Only such a pitiable sight must have inspired a poet to write:
Buried under the weight of books, Children behave as children no more.The life of the children is the ground of new possibilities.
We shall reap what we sow. Sow the seed of dhatura, the thorn- apple, expect to reap mangoes thereof is sheer folly. Similarly, if we ‘nourish our children in the wrong kind of environment and wrong traditions, it would be utterly meaningless to imagine a bright future for them. Proper training in the Science of Living is, therefore, a must for our children to grow up to be righteous and capable.
