A Trader Outshines a Tapaswi in Religious Merit

There was a tapaswi called Jaajali. He once observed severe penance on the seashore. In the traditional attire befitting a tapaswi — deer skin, valkala (skin of tree is called valkala), jata and all. Single-pointed tapas.

Observing all the dharmas of a vanaprasthashramee — timely ritualistic bath, sandhyopasana, agnihotra, never neglecting duties, subjecting his body to extreme weather conditions, sleeping under the sky during rains, staying in water during winter, staying under the sun during summer — rather than pampering his body, subjecting it to all kinds of hardship and pain.

As he kept on doing this, his brilliance kept on increasing. He developed the power of mind travel. He could stay wherever he was, and at the same time, his mind could go wherever it wanted. Not imagining things — his mind could go anywhere it wanted and check out things, real time. Like this, he used to visit the nearby villages.

And he thought nobody else had got this power. When he thought like this, he heard an ashareeri — 'You should not be thinking like this. There is a trader in Kashi. He is also great like you, but he doesn’t think like you.'

Upon hearing this, Jaajali was offended. How can a mere trader be compared to a tapaswi like me?

He continued tapas. His body dried up so much, and once, when he was standing still for a long time, some birds made their nest in his jata. When he realised, after that, he didn’t move an inch from that spot. They even laid eggs in his jata.

He knew that now his responsibility had increased. Now he had to protect the eggs. The eggs hatched. Baby birds came out. He continued standing still. The baby birds started growing up. They would venture out of the nest for some time. He would still stand still. Then after a few days, they flew away.

Jaajali waited for a month, and when he became sure that they were never going to come back, he moved from that spot.

Jaajali said to himself, 'Look at me, how dharmic I am. I did not allow any harm to happen to those birds. I suffered so much, still protected those birds.'

Ashareeri came again: 'There is a trader in Kashi. He is also a great observer of dharma, but he doesn’t think like you. As far as observance of dharma is concerned, you are nowhere near him.'

Jaajali was offended and even angry. He wanted to see this trader and see what his greatness was so much about. He went to Kashi.

There he found the trader. His name was Tuladhaara. He was selling goods in his ordinary shop. As Tuladhaara saw Jaajali, he stood up and offered respects to him.

Tuladhaara said, 'Oh Maharshi, I knew that you were coming. You observed great tapas on the seashore. Then you went out of the way to protect the birds' eggs. You became proud for what you did. Then you heard the ashareeri about me, and now you are here. Please tell me, what can I do for you?'

Jaajali was surprised. 'You are an ordinary seller, you are an ordinary trader. How do you maintain dharma buddhi?'

Tuladhaara said, 'I understand dharma, which is told by our ancients, approved of by our ancients. The welfare of all beings, friendship towards all — whatever can establish these, is called dharma.

People are often confused these days. They think wearing religious clothes, wearing long or wide tika on the forehead, rudraksha mala, chanting Sanskrit shlokas, acting like know-alls is dharma. Look what a trader is teaching a tapaswi.

Whatever profession doesn’t cause harm to others, or causes minimum harm to others — that should be your livelihood. This is dharma. That is what I do. I buy skin of trees, firewood, and perfumes like chandana from others and sell. I don’t sell liquor, which is harmful to others. I don’t cheat. I don’t shortchange.

If you act in favour of everyone by your body, mind and speech always, then you are observing dharma. You know dharma. I don’t specially favour anyone. I don’t hate anyone. I don’t expect anything from anyone.

I am equipoised towards everyone and everything. This is what I observe. This is my code of conduct. My balance weighs equally for everyone.

I am always in awe about the happenings around me. I am unattached like the sky. I appreciate others, never underestimate or frown upon them.

A piece of gold and a lump of clay are of equal value to me. I am like a blind man — I have eyes, but I don’t see, meaning I am only a witness of what I see. I don’t judge. Seeing something doesn’t trigger thoughts in my mind.

I am like a deaf man — I have ears, but I don’t hear. I don’t hear like others hear. They hear and start conjuring meaning out of what they hear, often wrong. They become judgemental. I also hear the sound, but I don’t do such things.

An old weak man is no longer attracted towards sources of entertainment like music or dance. I am also like that. I am not attracted towards them.

An ailing man is not attracted by the fragrance of tasty food. I am also like that.

I am not scared of anything or anyone, and no one has to be scared of me as well. I have no desire for anything, and I don’t abhor anything. This is called brahma bhava.

I don’t do anything against anyone or anything by mind, by words or by action. I don’t linger to the past. I don’t bother about the future.

I selflessly provide aid for anyone who approaches me, not expecting anything in return. That’s like trees. They give you fruits but don’t expect anything in return. This is brahma bhava.

Who is the most scared person in the world? One whom others are scared of. He scares others but ends up in great fear himself.

I follow acharas that the elders have taught me to follow, because dharma doesn’t stay with an anachari. Acharas are aids that our elders have put in place so that we can follow dharma easily, without conscious effort. Follow the customs, and you are by default following dharma. You don’t have to apply your mind every time.

If customs are broken, even the most scholarly, even the greatest of tapaswis end up deviating from dharma, and they wouldn’t even know, notice this.

Whoever follows achara followed by noble beings — he will easily understand the intricacies of dharma, of what is right and wrong.

Look at this hut of mine — there are wooden poles, there is cow dung, there is mud, there is grass. How did they all come together? I never did so much of detailed planning, that this particular log of wood and this particular log of wood should come together at this place. It happened without any conscious planning by anyone.

In the same way, in this world, people come together and separate without any conscious planning. You will realize this — most of your connections you have in your life today are the ones you have met accidentally. And even those whom you think that you made out of the effort — how much of control did you have on this?

You don’t cause harm to others, fear in others, stress in others — there will always be people by your side. This is very, very important. This is important dharma. You don’t hurt others, nobody will hurt you.

This dharma should be followed relentlessly and slowly you will start seeing its result, its effect. Such a person will get all the help he needs, all the support he needs, all the assistance he needs. He will prosper. He will become famous for his greatness.

This dharma is called abhaya dana. Abhaya is not only shelter or offering help, but it is also primarily not causing fear or stress in others, harm to others.

Abhaya can be given for two reasons — one to achieve name and fame. This is inferior. This will not yield any merit. Abhaya dana should be done for parabrahma prapti.

Just follow this one rule — not to harm others, not to create fear or stress in others, offer help whenever, wherever needed. You don’t need to do japa, tapa or dana. Everything is achieved through this single simple principle — abhaya dana.

Abhaya is a dakshina. One who gives abhaya gets the results of all yajnas. Providing abhaya is the greatest of dharma — you don’t cause fear or stress in anyone or harm to anyone or anything. That is abhaya dana.

If you cause fear and stress in others, you are like a snake living inside the house. You may not actually strike, but the fear is always there. Such persons can never observe dharma, never get the merit of observing dharma, no matter what all austerities they do.

You have to understand that you alone are the atma in every being, and understand that no being — living or non-living — is different from you. This state, this is desired even by devas. This is brahmatva. And this you can get sitting where you are. You don’t have to attain this after going to another loka.

No dharma is without any use. Principles of dharma are very subtle and deep. What is right and what is wrong is very difficult to interpret and prove.

You can imbibe that by looking at the conduct of noble souls, because it is by such conduct that they have become noble.

This advice is given by the trader Tuladhaara to Jaajali, the tapaswi. That means dharma or knowledge of dharma is not exclusive to anyone. Here a trader turns out to be more knowledgeable than a tapaswi.

A tapaswi is sent to a trader to learn what dharma is. And there he learns that dharma is not about some out-of-the-world practices. Some supernatural phenomena or experiences.

Dharma is about simple conduct. See what the highest dharma is — don’t hurt others, don’t harm others. And through this, the trader has attained brahmatva, brahma jnana.

He hasn’t read the Upanishads. He hasn’t learned the Vedas. He just observed how noble people conduct themselves and followed them — and evolved to a state that even the celestials recognized.

He is still a trader. He sells goods for livelihood. He didn’t try to become a tapaswi. He didn’t go to learn Vedas, or mimamsa or Upanishads.

That’s why Bhagawan said — shreyan svadharmo vigunah
shreyansvadharmo vigunah paradharmatsvanushthitat

He didn’t deviate from his duty as a trader. Still, he achieved. He achieved more than the tapaswi.

So it is not bookish knowledge that helps. He didn’t stand on one leg for hundred years. He didn’t hyperventilate for hours every day. He didn’t ponder over scriptures and engage in debates. He didn’t go around looking for someone who can teach Veda over Skype.

It is simplicity that helps to evolve. It is simple practices like what Tuladhaara told that help you to evolve.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi