Story of Alexander - Chinnakatha

Alexander was the Greek emperor who made many conquests on India. He was a very rich king. But he was not satisfied with what he already had and wanted to add more and more kingdom and wealth to his own. Even this aspiration of his exceeded the limits. On one occasion, he invaded India, plundered the wealth and was returning with the wealth. Indians tried in many ways to stop him. On the way back he was afflicted by a dangerous disease. He had many doctors to attend to him since he was an emperor. All of them came and examined him. The emperor had many soldiers, orderlies, doctors at his disposal ready to serve him at his command. The doctors gave up the hope of curing him and all started shedding tears of grief. In those last moments Alexander realised the truth. He knew that he was about to leave the world. He was determined to let people know the truth which he could not realise in his life time. He wanted the people know it, at least after his death. He called his minsters around and said, “O ministers, I am about to leave my body in few moments. I want you to perform the funeral rites to my body as per my wishes.” The ministers agreed to do the funeral rites as per the King’s wish. The King said, “Take my body to Greece. Wrap my body, except my hands, in white cloth and raise my hands above my head.” The ministers asked, “O King, this is against our custom and tradition. The people will ask why the king’s hands are not wrapped in cloth and raised above the head. What should we tell them?” Then Alexander uttered these last words before breathed his last. He said, “Here is the emperor of Greece, the mighty and rich Alexander. But while leaving the world, he is leaving penniless, leaving behind all his riches and wealth. Tell this as my message to the people.” Today, man is wasting and frittering away his human quality, body and health in pursuit of wealth and money.

Human heart is like ocean of milk; An analogy

The rakshasas (demons) and the devas (gods) churned the Ocean of Milk (to get nectar from it.) The first product to come of the churning was the dreadful poison, halahala. Not deterred by this outcome, they continued with the churning of the ocean. In the process, Lakshmi (the goddess of prosperity), marvelous beings like Airaavatha, the divine elephant, and finally amritam (nectar) came out of the ocean. How could they secure all these? Because of their persistence in their efforts. People today should turn their hearts toward the search for truth. The human heart is a symbol of the Ocean of Milk. If, in this ocean, the rope of wisdom is used for churning the heart, some disappointments and failures may occur. Without succumbing to these failures, if man continues his efforts, he will secure precious things like truth, righteousness, and justice. Qualities like forbearance and compassion will also emerge.

Truth has to be told in a sweet way

One believes the prediction of an astrologer. There is a knack in predicting. A big officer went to an astrologer. A rich man too went to consult the astrologer. There was a wide spread publicity that the astrologer was predicting correctly and due to the publicity the King too wanted to consult the astrologer. The king invited the astrologer to the palace. The astrologer became egoistic upon receiving the invitation from the king. All astrologers have ego from head to toe. They have no other property apart from the 'ahankara' the ego. The astrologer went to the palace and examined the horoscope of the king. Because of his ego he lost all the sense of conveying the prediction properly. He said, "O king, all your sons will die shortly." The king thought angrily, "How dare he predict such things about my sons! He is so proud!" and imprisoned the astrologer. The prediction made by the astrologer was correct, but in spite of that it had to be conveyed in an acceptable manner. 'You cannot always oblige, but you can speak always obligingly'. The king summoned another astrologer as he wanted to verify the prediction. The new astrologer came in all humility and saw the horoscope and said, "O king, you will live long." He just changed the way of conveying the prediction. He said, “O king you will live long, but your children will not outlive you.” This prediction satisfied the king to some extent. The sweetness lies in the words spoken. The first astrologer said that the king’s children will die very soon but the king would live long. How harsh the words sound!! Hence though it’s the truth it must be conveyed properly in a sweet manner. There may be shortfalls in a person. There is a blind man. Addressing such a person, though true, as, “O blind man, come here.” would sound harsh and would hurt the person. On the other hand if one were to address him as, “O Surdas! Please come here.” would please him. Hence the words must be filled with sweetness, and should be pleasing to others. For the words to be obliging and pleasing to others, one’s heart must be filled with love. The one who develops love is truly human and man without love is like a corpse. One must not be in a hurry for everything and must gradually develop the feeling that one is God.