A fable narrated by Srila Sarasvati Thakura
There once lived a king who had many sons. For their entertainment he had ordered an entire family of monkeys to be caught and domesticated. Those monkeys lived in the palace, and the princes would play with them and feed them tasty tidbits. The leader of these simians was a wise elderly monkey who was studied in the scriptures of Canakya Pandita and other sages which he taught to his kinsmen.
Besides these monkeys, a flock of sheep was kept to pull a cart for the princes’ amusement. Among these sheep, one especially ravenous ram always sought opportunities to sneak into the kitchen and guzzle whatever he could. Upon noticing the ram in their territory, the cooks would immediately strike him with the first object they could grab. This was a daily occurrence and sometimes happened a few times a day.
One time, after seeing the cooks beat the ram, the monkey leader became pensive. He deliberated, “Wherever cooks fight with a ram is a dangerous place for monkeys, for one day the following could happen: After the ram enters the kitchen, the cooks will find nothing to strike him with except a log from the oven. The ram’s hair will catch fire, so he will scoot into the stable just opposite the kitchen and roll on the straw-covered floor to try to extinguish the fire. The Straw will ignite and quickly incinerate the stable. Some horses will die; the rest will be severely burned. The king will call in his physicians, who will tell him that according to the great veterinary Salihotra the beSt cure for horses’ burns is monkey fat. This will be the ruin of my family for the king will have us slaughtered for our fat. I think we should run for our lives without delaying a minute.”
The wise monkey then called his relatives, apprised them of the precarious situation, and advised their return to the wilds, noting, “We may have to revert to a simple and austere life, but at least we will be safe.” Unfortunately, his advice Was scoffed at: “Senile fears! Because of this old ape’s anile prejudices must WE now leave the palace-where princes feed us fried, boiled, and steamed food and sweets, and we live in blissful peace-to again munch leaves and sleep on branches? No way!” However much their sapient leader tried to explain that Spartan living is better than certain death, the other monkeys only protested and jeered him.
Despairing, and unwilling to witness the extermination of his dynasty, he resolved to leave alone for the forest. Thereafter the rest of the monkeys continued living in the palace, enjoying the princes’ affection and royal luxuries.
One day everything came to pass as the elder monkey had predicted. The greedy ram sneaked into the kitchen and was binging on everything in sight, when the cooks spotted him and, enraged, looked for something heavy to smite him with. Finding only a half-burned brand from the oven, one cook grabbed it and beat the ram, whose long hairs then blazed up, causing him to bolt from the kitchen into the stable and roll in the straw, and thereupon the entire stable was soon consumed by a whirling, tempestuous fire. Half of the king’s favorite steeds died in the conflagration, while the others managed to break their tethers and survive, suffering acute burns in the ordeal.
The king called for his veterinarians and asked how his horses could be healed. They respectfully submitted, “Maharaja, Maharsi Salihotra has written that the best treatment for horses’ burns is monkey fat. It relieves the animal’s pain just as the rising sun rids darkness.” “Wonderful!” the king exclaimed. “We have an entire family of monkeys in the palace. Take them and do the needful to cure my horses.” The king’s servants then took nets, swords, and spears and encircled the monkeys, not one of which escaped. When shortly thereafter the Wise leader of the monkeys received news of his family’s annihilation, he was plunged into grief.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati explained the moral of this story thus: disciples who sincerely follow the instructions of their guru and shun bad association will be benefited. But those who consider that he has become senile and has nothing further to teach them or that they now know as much as or more than he---such disciples will surely become casualties of asat-sanga and be ruined. Observing this tendency in some of his sisyas and unable to bear Witnessing their destruction, the Acharya departs from this world.
Comments