 ahatma
Gandhi based his life on two fundamental principles, satya and
ahimsa— unconditional adherence to the truth, and unreserved practice
of nonviolence in thought, speech, and deed.
One day
a journalist remarked to Gandhi that
in some cases telling the truth could actually cause harm to others.
Gandhi asked for an example. The journalist then related a carefully
crafted spiritual dilemma for the Mahatma to solve:
“A monk was sitting peacefully at a
crossroad. A noise attracted his attention and, as he looked up, a
wounded deer galloped past and took one of the roads leading away from the
intersection. A few minutes after the deer had disappeared a hunter came
to where the monk was still sitting. He cast about him but couldn’t
determine which way the beast had fled, so he asked the monk if he could
point him in the right direction.”
Gandhi smiled for he knew the dilemma
the monk was facing.
The journalist continued, “If the
monk answered ‘yes’, he was compromising his vow of ahimsa, because
he would become the material cause of the deer’s death. But if he said
‘no’, he was compromising satya by resorting to lying.”
Looking the Mahatma straight in the
eye, the journalist asked the crucial question. “Gandhiji, what should the
monk answer?”
“Let me answer your clever scenario
by a story. It comes from one of the scriptures composed by Sage Vyasa,
the Devi Bhagavata.”
Mahatma Gandhi fixed his gaze in a
distant horizon and started.
“Sage Satyavrata had taken the vow of
always saying the truth—hence his name (“Vow of Truth”). One day he saw,
running towards him, a pig that had been struck by an arrow. It stopped,
looked about it and then hid in the bushes nearby. Soon a fierce-looking
hunter came and asked Satyavrata whether he had seen a pig wounded by an
arrow. Satyavrata gave an answer which saved the pig, dharma, and
possibly his own life.”
What was it?
Riddles from Eastern
Scriptures
|
Riddles from Western Scriptures
Riddles from the
Wisdom Tradition
Back to
the Sacred Riddles Menu |
