The Short Tempered Saint

Sham S. Misri

There was a saint whose name was Sutivra. He was doing meditation in a forest. One day two hunters who had gone for hunting reached the place where the saint was doing meditation. They were exhausted by the long hunt. When they reached near the saint, one of them fell down and fainted. The other hunter in panic ran to the saint and requested him for water to revive his friend.  The saint who was in deep meditation did not respond. The hunter shook him and roused him from his trance. The saint got furious at having been disturbed. The saint gave a curse to the hunter. The hunter was reduced to a pile of ashes. After some time, when the other hunter came back to his senses and found out what happened, he requested the saint to revoke his curse and bring his friend back to life. The saint who now was feeling ashamed of his fit of temper, replied,” I can only curse, but don’t have the power to revoke my curse. Let me go to my master and ask him how your friend may be revived. Meanwhile please stand guard over the ashes”. After a long journey, the saint reached the cottage of his master, and told him the whole story. The master said,” My boy, anger is man’s greatest enemy. Your anger is undoing the effect of your penance; you would do well to rein it in. The hunter will be brought back to life if you surrender the fruits of your penance.” The saint asked his master to help him to get the hunter back to life. The master then answered, “You go to village Vishnupur, and there lives a man whose name is Madhav. If he gives you a part of his punya (merit gained from good deeds), the hunter will come back to life. You may go and meet him”.

The saint went to meet Madhav at his village. On the way, he met some young girls. Among them one was so beautiful that he could not help staring at her. The girl told him, “You are a saint, and instead of thinking of god, you are looking at me, Have you no shame?”  

On hearing these words, the saint gave her a curse and said, “You proud girl, May you turn into an ugly woman!” In a few moments his curse came true, as the beautiful girl turned into an ugly woman. She wept bitterly and ran away.

The saint continued on his journey and soon reached the village where Madhav lived. In the way he asked a boy to show him the way to Madhav’s house. But instead of obeying him, the boy said, “You being a saint, do you have an eye on Madhav’s beautiful daughter. But let me warn you that I am in love with her. If you try any tricks, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

When he heard this, the saint was so furious that he shouted, “Become dumb you rude fellow.”

The saint then walked. Behind him, the young boy showing gestures, feeling that he had suddenly lost his power of speech.

Finally the saint reached Madhav’s home and saw him sitting in his garden. He walked upto him and introduced himself as disciple of sage Sushanta. Madhav was quite soft and polite. The saint could not find any fault with him, and wondered that Madhav appeared to him just like an ordinary man. What is so special about him that my master sent me to him to get some good will from him? In curiosity, he asked Madhav if he was in the habit of doing penance or some special pooja. Madhav replied,” Well I do my usual work and when possible, I help others in need. I control anger and other emotions.”

The saint was astonished to note that Madhav’s   daily routine did not include any prayer or meditation. The saint then enquired,”Don’t you pray to God?”

Madhav replied,” God lives in me and in others like me! Helping others and living happily is as good as my prayer.” On hearing this, the saint was furious. “You are mocking me! Does that mean that meditation I have been doing all these years is useless?”

Madhav calmly replied,”O pious man, I was speaking of myself.” My personal belief is that doing penance is waste of time.” When the saint heard this he lost his temper and shouted, “Atheists like you must be punished! This very moment, may your limbs get paralyzed, and may you lose your eyesight.” Wonder of wonders! The saint’s curse had no effect on Madhav. In a calm voice Madhav said,” O great saint, it was wrong on my part to provoke you to anger, please calm down. Tell me; is it fair to expect someone to change his views so suddenly?

The saint was dumbstruck and told Madhav that his Curse did not affect him.” Surely you are a greater soul than me. Madhav humbly said, “No ‘O’ sage! You use the power to punish people who do wrong. But each time you do this, you lose a bit of power. By your power you burnt a hunter to ashes, destroyed a girl’s beauty and made a young man dumb. With this you exhausted your power. Now let me ask you –Haven’t you come to me to donate my good will so that the people you cursed may be liberated from the curses. Until they are back to normal your curse would not affect me. Now, I grant good will to you. Now you have regained your power. You may curse me if you like!” The saint did not curse Madhav. He bowed to him and silently walked away. On his way back he saw all the people he had cursed had been restored back to their original forms. He returned to his master, told him all that had happened and asked him for an explanation.   

The master explained, “No doubt the power obtained from doing penance is great. But a disciplined man who discharges his duties and helps others is more powerful than a short tempered saint like you.

The saint asked, but,”Madhav donated his good will to free those whom I cursed, so hasn’t he lost it now?”

The master replied, “It is the greatest deed to donate the merit of ones good deeds to right another’s mistake.  This way Madhav’s good will has increased.”Hearing this, the saint was pale. He asked his master for pardon and went back to his prayers and promised not to do any sin.