Mahabharata -Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
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101.A POUND OF FLOUR
If I accept your offer, I shall indeed be guilty of cruelty. How could I possibly look on when you wither in hunger?' The girl would not listen. 'Father, you are lord of my lord and master, preceptor of my preceptor, god of my god. I implore you to accept my flour. Is not this body of mine dedicated wholly to serve my lord? You should help me to attain the good. Do take this flour, I entreat you.' Thus implored by his daughter-in-law, the brahmana accepted her share of the flour and blessed her saying: 'Loyal girl, may every good be yours!' The guest received this last portion avidly and ate it and was satisfied. 'Blessed is your hospitality, given with the purest intent and to the uttermost of your capacity. Your gift has leased me. Lo there, the gods are showering flowers in admiration of your extraordinary sacrifice. See the gods and the Gandharvas have come down in their bright chariots with their attendants to take you with your family to the happy regions above. Your gift has achieved swarga for you, as well as for your ancestors. Hunger destroys the understanding of men. It makes them go aside from the path of rectitude. It leads them to evil thoughts. The pious, when suffering the pangs of hunger, lose their steadfastness. But you have, even when hungry, bravely set aside your attachment to wife and son and placed dharma above all else. Rajasuya sacrifices and horse sacrifices completed in splendor, would pale into insignificance before the great sacrifice you have done through this single act of hospitality. The chariot is waiting for you. Enter and go to swarga, you and your family.' Saying this the mysterious guest disappeared." Having related this story of the Kurukshetra brahmana who lived by gleaning scattered ears of corn in the field, the weasel continued: "I was nearby and caught the fragrance wafted from that flour of the brahmana. It made my head all gold. I then went and rolled in joy on the ground where some of the flour had been scattered. It made one side of me into bright gold. I turned on the other side but there was no more flour left and that part of me is still as it was. Desirous of getting my body made all gold, I have been trying every place where men perform great yajnas and penances. I heard that Yudhishthira of world fame was performing a yajna and came here, believing that this sacrifice might come up to the standard. But I found it did not. So, I said that your great aswamedha was not so great as the loft of flour which that brahmana made to his guest." The weasel then disappeared. |
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