In our previous blog, we saw how Shukadeva thought King Janaka wasn’t good enough to be his master. Now, let’s see what happens next!
After some time, while King Janaka was still talking to Shukadeva, another attendant came and told King Janaka, “Now the entire city is on fire.” King Janaka again remained calm and quiet. He said, “It is the Will of God.”
Once again, Shukadeva entertained a negative thought. He pondered, “Being a king, he probably has plenty in his palace. That’s why he doesn’t care about the city or the people in his kingdom. Unfortunately, he doesn’t care for others; he’s only focused on himself. That’s why he just says, ‘It is God’s Will,’ without doing anything to help others.”
After some time, another attendant came and said, “Your Highness, now even the palace is on fire. The courtyard of the palace is on fire.” Immediately, Shukadeva leapt up to save his clothes and his metal cup.
However, King Janaka grabbed him by his hand and said, “Now you tell me—who is a monk, you or me? You left some clothes and some trivial things in my courtyard, and you are afraid you will lose them if you don’t rush to take them. But you see, when the cantonment was on fire and the city was on fire, I didn’t go to save them because I was not attached to them. So now you can decide who is a monk and who is not.”
Shukadeva immediately came to realise that, even though King Janaka lived a worldly life due to his kingly duties and responsibilities, he was not attached to those things. He was simply fulfilling his duties. In truth, he was attached to the world, while King Janaka was not.
Recognising King Janaka as a perfect Guru, Shukadeva decided to seek initiation from him. He respectfully requested, “Master, please grant me initiation.”
But King Janaka was not going to give him initiation so easily. He told Shukadeva, “See, in honour of your arrival, I’ve organised a whole lot of celebrations and festivities, a lot of things happening around here. Go and enjoy yourself, but just carry this vessel with you.”
King Janaka gave Shukadeva a cup full of oil and told him,
“You take this oil, and holding this cup in your hand, go around the city. Please enjoy the festivities and come back. If you come back with the same amount of oil without dropping even a single drop of it, only then will I understand that you can concentrate and that you can do the meditation. And only then will I give you initiation.”
He added, “Mind that if you drop even a single drop of oil on the ground, you should know that a person with an open sword is behind you, and he will cut off your head.”
After that, King Janaka instructed his soldiers, “If one drop spills out of this vessel, take his head off.”
Now Shukadeva took that cup of oil and went into the city. King Janaka had arranged some distractions at many places in the city, such as dancers. This was only to attract Shukadeva’s attention. But since Shukadeva knew that if he dropped the oil, he would be killed, he was also afraid of death.
Did he conquer the challenge, or did he spill the oil? To find out, click here for the next part of the story.