A Herculean Task

A lwAys E mbr A c E d by K åñë A

Upamanyu said, “Gurudeva, in the morning I collect some bhikñä, which I give to you. But what I collect in the afternoon, I eat.” “Who told you to do that? You should give everything to me; whatever you collect either in the morning or in the afternoon is all for me. How can you eat the afternoon’s collection? Does it belong to you? It does not belong to you. I have not told you to do that, so why are you doing that?” “Please excuse me. I will not do it again.” From that day on, he gave all his collections in the evening to his guru, but his guru did not give him anything to eat. After a couple of days, his guru noticed that he was not losing weight. He asked, “Upamanyu, you are giving me now all the bhikñä you collect, so what are you eating?” “Gurudeva, it is very difficult to tolerate hunger, the urge of the belly. I cannot tolerate it, so when I feel hungry, I milk one of the cows and drink some milk.” “Why are you doing that? That milk is the food for her calf. You are eating its food. Who told you to do that? I did not tell you to do that!” “Please excuse me. I will not do it again.” From that day on, that was also stopped, and he was not eating at all. His brahmacäré life was that strict. After a couple more days the guru again noticed that he was still fat, so he thought that he must have been eating something. Therefore, he asked, “Upamanyu, what are you eating now? You are giving me all the bhikñä you collect in the morning and afternoon, I have stopped you from drinking milk, but I can notice that you are still chubby. You must be eating something. What are you eating?” “O Gurudeva, it is very, very difficult on my part to tolerate the urge of my belly. When I feel hungry, after you stopped me drinking the milk, I thought ‘what shall I do’? When the calves drink milk from the udders of the cows, some foam is left on their lips, and I lick it. This is what I do, when I feel hungry.” “Why are you doing that? Who told you to do that? The calves will lick it. Why are you licking it? It is their food. I did not tell you to do that. You cannot do that. Stop it!”

C hapter 3 O n the I sk CO n L and I n B hu B aneswar

“Yes, Gurudeva. I will not do it again.” Then that was also stopped. His guru stopped everything. 9

A Severe Test

One day, Upamanyu was so hungry that it was intolerable, so he chewed on some leaves of the ekwa plant from the jungle, which were giving some milk-like substance. He did not know these were poisonous leaves. As a result, he lost his eyesight, and was consequently not able to return to the äçrama that evening, because while he was trying to return with the cows and calves, he fell down into a deep well. In the meantime, because it was becoming late, his guru was wondering what had happened to Upamanyu. He was always thinking about his disciple with love and affection and knew that Upamanyu was going through a very severe test. He was worried and thought that something must have happened to him and therefore, he went with some of the other brahmacärés to the jungle and called out; “Upamanyu! Upamanyu! Where are you?” Upamanyu heard them and called out, “Gurudeva! I am here in a deep dark well. I have become blind and I fell down here.” His guru went to the well and saw Upamanyu and asked, “How did you become blind?” “Gurudeva, what could I do? You stopped everything, I could not eat at all, but the urge of the belly is so severe that I could not tolerate it. Therefore, I chewed on some poisonous leaves and became blind.” His guru became very pleased with him and gave him a mantra. He said, “Recite this mantra and the Açviné-kumäras, the doctors of the heavenly planets, will appear before you and they will cure you.” Upamanyu recited that mantra, and the Açviné-kumäras appeared. They gave Upamanyu a piece of cake, and told him that his eyesight would return when he would eat it. He did not eat it and said: “No, I cannot eat it!” They replied, “Why not? Eat it! You will regain your eyesight.” He said, “No, I will not eat unless my guru tells me to eat.”