What is Duty?

A certain young Sanyasi went to a forest and there meditated and worshipped and practiced Yoga for a long time. After twelve years of hard work and patience, he was one day sitting under a tree when some dry leaves fell upon his head. He looked up and saw a crow and a crane fighting on the top of the tree. They made him very angry. He said, “What, you dare to throw those dry leaves upon my head,” and as he looked upon them with anger, a flash of fire burst from his head – the Yogi’s power – and burnt the birds to ashes. He was very glad. He was almost overjoyed at this development of power. He could burn, at a glance, the crow and the crane.

After a time, he had to go into the town to get his bread. He came and stood at a door and said, “Mother, give me food.” A voice came from inside the house. “Wait a little, my son.” The young man thought, “You wretched woman. Dare you make me wait! You do not know my power yet.” While he was thinking thus, the voice came again, “Boy, don’t think too much of yourself. There is neither crow, nor crane.” He was astonished. Still, he had to wait. At last, a woman came and he fell at her feet and said, “Mother, how did you know that?” She said, “My boy, I do not know your Yoga or your practices. I am a common, everyday woman. But, I made you wait, because my husband is ill and I was nursing him. That was my duty. All my life, I have struggled to do my duty. As a daughter, when I was unmarried, I did my duty. Now, when I am married, I still do my duty. This is all the Yoga I practise and by doing my duty, I have become illumined thus. I could read your thoughts and what you had done in the forest. But, if you want to know something higher than this, go to Benaras and to the market. There, you will find a butcher and he will tell you something that you will be very glad to learn.” The Sanyasi thought, “Why go to that town and to a butcher?” (Butchers are the lowest class in our country. They are Chandalas. They are not touched, because they are butchers. They do also the duty of scavengers and so forth.)

But, after what he had seen, his mind was opened a little. So he went and when he came near the city, he found the market. There he saw, at a distance, a big, fat butcher slashing away at animals with big knives, fighting and bargaining with different people. The young man said, “Lord, help me. Is this the man from whom I am going to learn? If he is anything, he is the incarnation of a demon.” In the meantime, the man looked up and said, “Swami, did that lady send you here? Take a seat, until I have done my business.” The Sanyasi thought, “What comes to me here?” But, he took a seat and the man went on, and after he had finished all his selling and buying, he took his money and said to the Sanyasi, “Come here, sir. Come to my house.”

So, they went there and the butcher gave him a seat and said, “Please wait here.” So saying, he went into the house and bowed before his father and mother. He washed them and fed them and did all he could to please them and then, came and took a seat before the Sanyasi and said, “Now sir, you have come here to see me. What can I do for you?” Then, this great Sanyasi asked him a few questions about life and God, and this butcher gave him a lecture, which is a very celebrated book in India, the Vyadha Gita. You have heard of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s sermon. When you have finished that, you should read the Vyadha Gita. It is the extreme of Vedanta philosophy.

When the butcher had finished, the Sanyasi was astonished. He said, “Why are you in this body, with all the knowledge you possess? Why are you in a butcher’s body and doing such filthy, ugly work?” “My son,” replied Chandala, “No duty is ugly and no duty is impure. My birth, circumstances, and environments were there. In my boyhood, I learnt the trade. I am unattached and I try to do my duty well. I try to do all I can to make my father and mother happy. I neither know your Yoga, nor have I become a Sanyasi. I never gave up the world, nor went to the forest; all this has come to me through doing my duty, staying in my position.” Let us do that duty, which is ours by birth and when we have done that, do the duty, which is ours by our position. Each man is placed in some position in life and must do the duties of that position first. There is one great danger in human nature, which is that man never looks at himself. He thinks he is quite fit to be on the throne as a king. Even if he is, he must first show that he has done the duty of his own position; and when he has done that, higher duty will come to him.

[Source – Stories for Children – II, Published by – Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust, Prashanti Nilayam]