For evolved souls, age means little

Sai R Vaidyanathan

In keeping with the trajectory they have been on over many lifetimes, evolved souls start showing signs of maturity even during their childhood.

Once, mother Yashoda saw little Krishna putting a bit of mud in his mouth. Like every concerned mother, she went up to him and told him to open his mouth. When he did so, she saw the entire universe inside his tummy.

Later, Lord Krishna showed his universal form twice — at the Hastinapur court when he had gone with a message of peace and to Arjuna on the Kurukshetra battlefield.

Reliever of suffering

One day, little Siddhartha was strolling in a garden when a bird — hit by an arrow — fell near him. He picked it up and tended to its wound.

A few minutes later, Devadatta, his cousin, came there and demanded that the bird be handed over to him as he had shot it. Siddhartha refused and the matter went to court.

The judges in the court decided to give Siddhartha the bird as “he who tended to it had far more right over it than he who had shot it”.

As the Buddha, many years later, gave the Noble Eightfold Path to humanity for liberation from the painful cycle of rebirth.

Engrossed in discussion

Joseph and Mary one day took 12-year-old Jesus to celebrate the annual feast at a temple. On their way home, the parents realised that Jesus was not with either of them. So they rushed back to the temple. There, they saw Jesus in spiritual discussion with scholars. The lad managed to impress the scholars with his wisdom. Years later, Jesus said, “taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1.29).

Snake trick

Once, Vardhamana and his friends were playing when a cobra crawled towards them. While the other boys ran away, Vardhamana stood there calmly. When the cobra came near, the boy bent and caressed it. On this, the snake was pacified and slithered away.

Some days later, an elephant in Kundagram suddenly turned wild and ran amuck. Vardhamana went boldly up to the jumbo and by his mere touch, managed to calm it.

For his acts of bravery, Vardhamana became renowned as Mahavira. On gaining enlightenment, he became a Jina and is regarded as the 24th Jain Tirthankara.

In harm’s way

When Durasrob, the head priest and sorcerer, came to know about Zarathustra’s birth, he decided to kill him.

He stole the infant and put him in the path of raging bulls. But miraculously, the boy survived. Then, Durasrob put Zarathustra in the way of galloping horses, but he still survived. 

Not willing to give up, the evil sorcerer put him in front of hungry wolves, but no harm was done to Zarathustra. Then, Durasrob threw him into a huge fire, but the fire turned into a bed of fragrant roses.

In time, Zarathustra, the prophet of ancient Persia, gave the message of ‘good thoughts, good words and good deeds’ to the world.

Don’t belittle the little. They may have been born with a big vision.

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