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32.FRUITLESS PENANCE
With these words Indra vanished.
But the son of Bharadwaja would not give
up.
He pursued his course of austerities with
even greater rigor, to the horror and the
distress of the gods. Indra again
manifested himself before Yavakrida and
warned him again:
"You have taken the wrong path to
acquire knowledge. You can acquire
knowledge only by study. Your father
learnt the Vedas by patient study and so
can you. Go and study the Vedas. Desist
from this vain mortification of the body."
Yavakrida did not heed even this second
warning of Indra and announced defiantly
that if his prayer were not granted, he
would cut off his limbs one by one and
offer them as oblations to the fire. No, he
would never give up.
He continued his penance. One morning,
during his austerities, when he went to
bathe in the Ganga, be saw a gaunt old
brahmana on the bank, laboriously
throwing handfuls of sand into the water.
Yavakrida asked: "Old man, what are you
doing?" The old man replied: "I am going
to build a dam across this river. When,
with handful after handful, I have built a
dam of sand here, people can cross the
river with ease. See how very difficult it is
at present to cross it. Useful work, isn't
it?"
Yavakrida laughed and said: "What a fool
you must be to think you can build a dam
across this mighty river with your silly
handfuls of sand! Arise and take to some
more useful work."
The old man said: "Is my project more
foolish than yours of mastering the Vedas
not by study but by austerities?"
Yavakrida now knew that the old man was
Indra. More humble this time, Yavakrida
earnestly begged Indra to grant him
learning as a personal boon.
Indra blessed, and comforted Yavakrida
with the following words:
"Well, I grant you the boon you seek. Go
and study the Vedas; you will become
learned."
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