“Where am I?” I thought.
“The place is highly illumined. I can’t figure out the source of light! It seems like light is coming from everywhere!”
“There is nobody here! How did I come here?” I could not remember exactly how I came there. So I left the effort.
“Hmm..! so I was reading a book! Which book?” I shifted the book to see the title.
THE BOOK OF LIFE – it read.
“The book of life! Hmm… so it’s a sort of biography. Biography of certain persons. But who are they? And only one page per person? It’s very short account.
As there were no clues of this place, people around and no other work to do, I thought reading that book would be the perfect solution for my solitude.
I regretted the fact that I was unfamiliar with both those persons whose biographies were given in first two pages. I hoped to find some familiar persons in the next few pages.
Then I skimmed over pages to find someone familiar. But all were strangers to me! However, I noticed something. There were some biographies that had got more than one page (I do not like short accounts). And more importantly, the biographies in the lower half of book had got modern names (I was not comfortable with names like Brahmavetas and Uttamanas).
“So! Let me start reading the book from middle. That would make my life easier!” I thought. And I started reading that mysterious looking book from around the middle…
~ ~ ~
I am Divakara. It’s one of the names of Surya. It means the one who illuminates the world and dispels darkness. But contrary to that, my whole life went into the darkness and agony.
I was a son of one washer man. Right from my childhood, I was trained to wash cloths all the day. I had a great liking for learning from my childhood. But we were never sent to any school for learning. My father said: “As a Shudra – the lowest cast in cast-system, we are not supposed to learn anything. It is the work of higher casts”. I could never understand how a cast can decide the right to learn anything!
When I was twelve, I got one opportunity for learning. In Vashishtha Ashram, one person was required to wash the cloths of those who were either ill or very young to do it by themselves. I was more than glad to go there. When I reached there, I found the wisdom and peace in very air of Ashram. There were sons of King, Brahmins, Khshtriyas as pupils in Ashram. I found sons of our own king in the Ashram. I started to spend most of the day and night hours in Ashram. I used to wash clothes in night and listen to the learning from a distance in daytime. That way, I learned many things.
One day, when I was hiding nearby the class to listen the serene speech of Guru Vashishtha, suddently one pupil came to me and took me to Guruji. I was very afraid and shivering heavily from fear. But the pupil said in very calm words:” Guruji, this brother wants to learn from you. But due to some fear, he did not come to you and instead hid around the class to learn from your teachings. I urge you to make him your disciple and teach him.”
Guruji asked about me. I told him that I was a son of dhobi. He then asked me why I wanted to learn. I said “It is our dharma to learn and get ourselves liberated.” I didn’t know how I said that. It seemed like words came out of me by themselves. Guruji was satisfied and said:”It is not the cast that is to be seen. It is the self that is to be seen. If one is pure by heart, one can learn everything. I accept you as my disciple. Hereafter, stay in the Ashram and learn the wisdom.”
I tried to thank the pupil who took me to Guruji. But he went away. Later on, I found that he was the eldest son of our king. At Ashram I learned all the sacred scriptures like Vedas, Upanishadas, Puranas, Sanhitas, Darshans and Shashras.
When I was twenty-two, I had to come to my home due to poor health of my parents. That did hinder my study. Then after, I could not go back to Ashram. After long illness, both my parents left their bodies. I was then the eldest of my siblings. I started working as a washer man.
Thus, my life went on without any noticeable incident till my late sixties. All these years, I was desperate to show my knowledge and wisdom to others but nobody listened and appreciated me. Those who were my relatives and friends could not appreciate because of their own ignorance and those who had knowledge and wisdom did not care to listen to me because I was born in lower cast! What an unfortunate agony! My days and nights passed in dreams of preaching and radiating my wisdom to all…
Finally that opportunity came. Our king’s eldest son had come to kingdom with his queen after wandering many years in forests. During that time, King of Lanka kidnapped his wife and he fought with him to salvage her. He was then our new king. When I heard that, I thought of advising him about his Dharma. I did not have the courage to go there and tell that to king, so I wrote a letter without sender’s name and preached all I wanted to.
O Descendent of great fighter Raghu !
Pranam ! I am a member of your kingdom and well-wisher of yours. I want to advice you about your Dharma and conduct.
We all have heard the story of your battle with that King. You have certainly glorified your ancestors by winning this virtuous battle. But you have forgotten your Dharma in accepting your wife without any testimony. It is said that a virtuous man should always accept only that which is pure, sattvik and virtuous. Your wife has stayed at that king’s place. She may have got any Tamsik Vrittis, knowingly or unknowingly. It is advised in Shashtras to arrange one testimony ceremony to purify all the demonic and Tamsik Vritties of person or thing before accepting it whole-heartily. If the person is found to have any demonic qualities left, one should be sent to a holy place where one can stay in solitude and attain pureness and wisdom of mind.
I, therefore, as a person of knowledge and wisdom, advice you to stick to your Dharma and send your wife to holy place to purify herself.
– Your well wisher
I did not anticipate the turmoil that followed after this. The king, being a sthitpragya and ideal administrator, immediately abandoned his queen by saying that: “Even if any one person believes it is against Dharma to accept my wife, I should obey the command.” The queen went to stay in forest with life in her womb. Whole kingdom was drowned into deep agony.
The act that was solely made to satisfy my own greed of appreciation turned out to be a vital blow for the virtue of king and kingdom of Ayodhya! Here was the king, who had asked Guru Vashishtha to teach me in Ashram and who abandoned his wife for the sake of his kingdom, and here was I, who ruined everything because of my one unthoughtfull did. Everyone hated that unknown person who sent that letter to the king! I also hated that person till the end of my life.
Not all Divakars have a fortune to illumine the world with radiance of wisdom; some of them have a job to prevail darkness! After all, darkness is nothing but the veil of ignorance! Certainly, I belonged to later category!
