Corrupt Mind Suspects. Suspicion Corrupts the Mind

Once upon a time, there was a learned man, a scholar.
He went to Kashi at the age of ten, learned for 40 years, and at the age of 50, wanted to get married.
He got married to a very young, innocent, noble lady.

The scholar had a number of young disciples who stayed with him and studied.
The lady, innocent as she was, interacted freely with them.
For her, they were like her own children. And even the students—for them, she was like their own mother.

Suspicion started raising its head in the scholar's mind.
'I am an old man, my hair has become grey, I am not so handsome.
Maybe that is why she is attracted towards these young boys.'

He kept on thinking about this, and the torture within himself became unbearable.
But he was also not an aggressive man. He never confronted his wife.
He decided to silently leave home.

At night, he left home.
Early in the morning, they all realized that he had left without saying anything.

Four of his students, who were very keen to continue their studies with him—they took the only road that went out of the place, hoping to find him soon.
They did. After a few hours, they found him.

But the scholar was very clear that he didn’t want to return home.
He didn’t tell them why he left or why he did not want to return.

The students said, 'No problem, wherever you are, we will be with you. We want to learn only from you.'
They started walking.

After a few days, they reached a town.
It was almost noontime and very hot.
They just sat by the side of the road and started fanning themselves.

After some time, a lady came.
She had a pot with her. She went to the well nearby, filled the pot, and on her way back enquired,
'Who are you people?'

They said, 'We are foreigners.'
She said, 'No, that is not possible.'
They were genuinely saying that they were foreigners.
They didn’t know what else to say.

After some time again, she came to fetch water.
On her way back, she asked, 'Who are you people?'
They said, 'We are travellers.'
She said, 'No, that is not possible.'

She came a third time.
While she was returning, they told her,
'Agreed, we are fools. Please tell us who we are.'

She said, 'No, you are not fools either.'
'Then please tell us who we are.'
She said, 'But first, come with me. Come home with me.'

She took them home.
Then she told them, 'All of you go take a bath and return. In the meantime, I will make a good meal ready for you.
But my husband is a very suspicious person. He has now gone to the king’s court. He is very close to the king.
You all come back fast, have your meal, and go before he returns.'

But the scholar and the students took their own time.
As they were changing clothes after the bath and getting ready for the meal, the lady’s husband returned.

He saw five men inside his house and thought that they must be her lovers.
He always had this doubt that she was seeing someone.
Now he had caught her red-handed.

He locked the room from outside—the room in which the five of them were in.
Then he locked up his wife also in the kitchen.

Then he went to the king and said,
'Your Majesty, I always had this doubt that my wife was being unfaithful to me. Today I have caught her red-handed with five of her lovers. I have locked them all up.
Please come with me and do justice.'

The king went with him.
He started questioning.
They told the king what all had happened.
The king was convinced that they were innocent.

But then he asked the lady,
'Why did you disagree when they told you that they were foreigners?'

The lady said,
'Your Majesty, they spoke to me in the same language that we speak. Then how can they be foreigners?'

'Why did you not agree when they said that they were travellers?'
'They can't be travellers. Travellers don’t sit by the side of the road, under the sun, to take rest.
They always know where to find shade to take rest. These people are not used to travelling.'

'Why did you not agree when they said that they were fools?'
She started hesitating.

The king said, 'Don’t worry, tell me whatever it is.'

'Your Majesty, a person who would cast aspersion on his wife merely on suspicion,
And a king who would come all the way merely on his words to punish—whereas it is obvious that no woman would call five of her lovers together to the same place at the same time—
In such a place, can anyone else call themselves fools?'

They all realized their mistakes.
The scholar also said, 'I have also done the same thing.
I suspected my wife for no reason.'
He also decided to go back home.

Someone who is corrupt will become naturally suspicious.
Someone who is suspicious will soon become corrupt.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi