A rich man once freed his slave since he was very happy with the slave's services. The slave was given a ship and riches with which he could make a happy living.
Thus gifted, the slave steered the ship to find a new island with the hope of establishing a new life. But as fortune would have it, his ship was caught in a storm which dashed his ship and also his hopes of prosperity. As a consequence of this he was marooned in an island.
The island was a peculiar one in the sense it was customary here that whoever marooned in this island would be garlanded and made king for an year and then banished to a nearby island, uninhabited and full of wild animals, after that for the rest of their life. Our slave was thus coronated with regal merriment, but he did not know that his luck would stand him only for a year in good stead.
A wise old man of the island who had seen many a king thus banished, seeing the good nature of the erstwhile slave and now new king, intending to do good to him, apprised him of the malicious custom of that island and that all the pleasure here would last only an year and death was certain to overcome the slave-king after his banishment.
The slave in turn thanked the wise old man for his warning. He did not stop with that. Being wise and desiring more than just the temporary pleasure for that one year, he asked the old man for a solution so that his term in the island would be better for a long time.
The old man advised. "O king live not this year a life of merry making and wantonness but plan to re-construct the other island and make it habitable with the help of your citizens and workmen so the next year in that island for you would be safe and comfortable"
The "slave" glorified the wise old sage, thanked him for his invaluable advise and pleaded with him to always be with him to share his wisdom every time. The old man acceded to his request and said it was his will to always accompany and guide the ones who hearkened his words.
The slave then acted according to the wise old man's advice. He called his dutiful citizens and reconstructed the uninhabitable island that had devoured many a king before him. He planned and created settlements, gardens, water bodies, agricultural land for crops, safe houses and built for himself, a palace in the erstwhile inhospitable island. He also trained an able army for protection from the dangerous creatures in the island. He thus made a wonderful haven of the erstwhile dense uninhabitable forest where he would have to have lived in the next year.
At the end of his term, he moved to the island and lived happily and ruled wisely and was always wary of too much pleasure and put long term welfare, ahead of petty pleasures. He consulted the wise old matters on all matters and lived a life of harmony.
Moral of the story
The slave is each one of us. The rich man is fortune or Providence which blesses us with a good life. The storm suggests that life is full of vicissitudes. The one-year island-term is the allegory for our tenure on earth. The old man is God (and wise men who are one with Him). The uninhabited cruel island is our future. The acts of building palace, agricultural land etc. are the good actions one performs according to God's injunctions so that after death our residence elsewhere (in heaven) is peaceful. God always protects those who seek protection that is why the old man seems to say he would live with the ones who listen to him.
"Let us do good and live according to the will of God and not be engrossed in pleasure forgetting the future"
2 comments:
Anna this is surely an elightening story
WOW what a lovely story sir. Thanks so much for that :)
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