The one who condemns me, who speaks evil of me, is my best benefactor. He is very dear to me, I love him more than anyone, because he takes on all my sins and cleans me the same way a washerwoman washes off all the dirt. Saint Kabir In the Adi Granth (the holy book of the Sikhs) there is a story about King Aji, a very spiritual man.
One day, as he was passing through his stables, a holy man approached him and said:
- I'm hungry, I'm hungry.
The king was very annoyed and shouted:
“These people just don’t want to leave me alone and don’t let me work.” They always pester me and cause me trouble.
He turned to the beggar and continued:
- Okay. If you want something, take it.
And he put some horse apples into the hands of the beggar. He just looked at them and walked away.
The next morning, during his meditation, the king saw what kind of alms he had offered to the beggar. It grew so large that it became a big pile. The judge told him:
“You gave horse apples to someone, now your alms have grown, and you must eat all these horse apples yourself!”
The king came out of meditation in a very depressed state: “What a terrible thing I have done! One way or another, I will have to eat these horse apples either in this life or in the next.” So he went to his Master and made a request:
“I put myself in a difficult position.” Please tell me how to get out of it?
The master replied:
“If you become a victim of slander for a while, those who condemn you will take most of the heap, perhaps even all of it.”
So what did the king do? He took the bottle, filled it with colored water and rode with his daughter to the city in a carriage. He sat next to his daughter and drank colored water from a bottle. People were very surprised and began to gossip about him:
- What is he doing? He was a wonderful, decent man and a good king, but now there is something wrong with him. He wanders around the bazaar and drinks wine.
After this, the king returned with his daughter to the palace. People continued to slander him and say all sorts of derogatory things about him.
The next morning, in meditation, he saw that the large pile had shrunk. But still a small pile remained, it was about a hundred times smaller than the original. Having finished meditating, the king stood up, went to the Master and thanked him, saying:
- Still, there is something left.
The master replied:
— One Saint lives near your palace. He hasn't joined in on the backbiting yet, but if he says anything bad about you, then he'll take the rest of the pile and you'll be free. Therefore, you should try to involve him in conversation about you so that he will speak evil!
Then the king went to the Saint’s house, sat down next to his bed and began to very, very lovingly stroke the Saint’s feet, telling him the following story:
“Oh, great Saint, have you heard of the king?” He's a wonderful person, but yesterday he did something very, very bad. He walked through the market with his daughter and drank wine. Haven't you heard about this terrible scene he caused?
The saint remained calm and listened to the king. The king tried to engage him in conversation again:
“Oh, dear Saint, it is not good that the king starts doing such things.” This may lead to even more outrageous actions. He did a terrible, disgusting thing - that means he is a bad king. It's not fair that you just sit back and don't judge him, people don't like that. If you don't criticize him, then others will follow your example. If this continues, what will it lead to?
The saint still didn’t say anything.
After some time the king began again:
“Our king is very bad, I just told you what he did, and you are sleeping and don’t say anything about it.”
Then the Saint slapped him in the face and asked:
- Do you want me to eat your horse apples?
The next day the king went to his Master and complained:
“My efforts are in vain, and despite all attempts, the Saint did not condemn me. He knew exactly what I was doing and did not share this food with me.
The master replied:
“If you want salvation in this life, you must eat the remaining pile of horse apples, otherwise you will have to worry about it in your next incarnation.” There is no other way to get rid of it. Decide for yourself what to do.
So, the king thought about everything and decided to take care of it in this life, so as not to be born again. He brought horse apples home, gave them to the cook and said:
“Whenever you prepare food for me, please use it as salt and pepper, add small doses to the food.” They should separate in one or two months this way. So I will be cleansed during this life.
Thus everything was settled.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru