Raja Thatha teaches religion to his grand children

 Raja Thatha teaches religion to his grand children

As usual Raja Thatha was sound asleep. His pet grand children Maithree, Rohan and Goldy were getting bored of the vacation. So they took a twig and put it in Thatha’s nostrils. Poor Thatha woke up with a start. Though he was angry, when he realized that it was his grand children who woke up he was pacified. Maithree was already holding a steaming cup of coffee. Raja Thatha was pleased. He asked the children what they wanted.

Maithree replied, “Thatha, you told us lot of stories about our religion from Gita. Are there any other books? Are there any stories in them?”

Thatha replied, “Maithree, Rohan and Goldy, our religion follows four books called Veda. Veda simply means “Book of knowledge”. At the end of these great books, there is what is called Upanishads.”

Rohan got impatient. ”Today you are telling very difficult names. I understand about Veda being books of knowledge. What are these Upanishads?”

Thatha replied, “If you approach a teacher and ask him to teach you some thing, He would tell you first, “come and sit near me”. Upanishad means “Come and sit near me.” The teacher first teaches something. The students ask questions, He then replies. This is Upanishad,”

Goldy spoke at last, “Thatha this is just like my nursery class. Only thing is, most of the students do not ask anything.”

Thatha replied,” That is true even then. These Upanishads contain few stories, I will tell you all some of them.”

Rohan, Maithree and Goldy who were impatient till then started shouting “Story, Story, and Story.”

Thatha understood that he cannot be further postpone and started telling a story.” There was a great king called Jana. He was very rich. But Jana was such a good king that he gave lot of what he has to every body all people in his city called him “Jana the great. Jana was very proud about this. One day some golden swans came to the garden of King Jana.”

Maithree asked, “Are there really golden swans Thatha?”
Thatha replied, “We do not have them now but old books all over the world tell about them. They were talking with each other. Jana the great knew the bird language”

Rohan, “Thatha you are telling a lie. I have heard of several languages but never heard anything called bird language,”
Thatha replied, “You are right, Rohan. But birds and animals are able to tell each other how they feel. Only thing is we do not know that language. But Jana the great knew their language. One swan told the other swan, “Dear, do you see the person there? He is the greatest king; He gives a lot of money in charity.”

But the other swan replied, “That is nothing compared to Raikwa-the cart driver.” Then without telling anything further, the swans flew away.

The king was very much amused. He could not imagine a cart driver doing more charity than him. Maithree said, “That is true Thatha. The cart driver is a poor man and a king is a rich man.” Rohan told, “I agree with Maithree Akka. A cart driver will not be even able to give one rupee for a beggar.”

Goldy asked, “Thatha, how much does a cart driver earn? What cart was Raikwa driving?”

Thatha replied, “Be patient. Along with the king let us find out who Raikwa is? The king’s police searched all over the world for Raikwa. At last they found him out in a small village near Calcutta. He was dressed in torn cloths but kept smiling. He seemed to be happy. The police approached him and asked. “Hey Raikwa, what type of cart do you drive? How much money do you earn? How much do you give to charity?”

Raikwa replied. “I drive a horse driven cart. I earn daily 4 rupees. Of this, I give one rupee as loan. I give another rupee as repayment for loan. I give one rupee as charity and I spend the other one rupee on my food.”

The police were confused. They were not able to understand Raikwa. They went back to the king and told him everything. The king also did not understand. He thought that he would help Raikwa to be happier by giving more money. So he went and met Raikwa along with lot of money. Raikwa politely refused and told the king he would be sad if he had more money the king asked him, “I could not understand how you spend your money. Can you please explain it?”

Raikwa told, “I work hard and earn four rupees. Out of this I spend Rupee one towards looking after my parents. This is because they have looked after me when I was a child and this like returning the loan. One rupee I spend to look after my children. This is like giving a loan. I spend one rupee on my food. The remaining money I give it as charity. Though I spend only one rupee as charity, it is one fourth of what I earn. After spending this I will not have any money left.”

The king understood how Raikwa was far superior to him.
Maithree said, “I too understand Thatha. Charity is not how much you give but how much you can afford to give so much.”