Kya Yeh Sach ya voh sach?

Once upon a time Raja Janak was sleeping in his chamber. Suddenly his Senapati came and announce to him that the neighboring King has attacked their kingdom. King woke up, dressed in his armour and went to fight with the adversary king. The battle was fought for the 10 days in which the King Janaka fought valiantly but lost in the end.

The neighboring king acquired the land and spared the life of the King Janak but banished him from the kingdom. Distraught, Janaka left with wife and his kids and wandered around begging for food and small work in a neighboring kingdom. His life was spent in abject poverty. One day, he decided to go for a pilgrimage with his family and boarded a boat for the same. Unfortunately, the boat overturned in the middle of the current and his whole family got washed off just leaving him alive. Dejected by this misfortune, the King Janaka became very distraught.

Unable to earn his food, he went to an ashram to beg for his food. As he did not have any utensil to collect the food being distributed, the volunteer at the ashram denied him by saying that he should at least have his begging bowl to qualify for the free food. The king frustratingly looked around and found a broken pot and got in line again to get his food. By the time his turn came, most of the food was finished and he only got a tiny portion. As he sat down to eat his food, an eagle jumped on the bowl and tiny portion of food fell on the ground. King Janaka started crying profusely and became very dejected at his plight.

Suddenly, he heard someone saying, " Maharaj Kya hua, Maharaj kya hua (what happened maharaj)". He suddenly wakes up and finds that he was in his bed and realized what he saw was a dream. Suddenly, a question comes to him, " Kya Yeh Sach hain, ya kya woh sach tha….Is my current state the truth or the state I was in my dream was the truth? What is the reality? Which one should I consider to be the truth and which one is fake?"

He kept on thinking of the same thing and even asked many of his ministers but nobody could reply to him and they thought that king has gone mad. King Janak had heard of a wise saint known as Ashtavakra who was known to have the solution for all the problems so king decided to go and meet him.

Ashtavakra heard what the king had to say. He said, " O king, when you were lamenting and crying on your circumstances of not being able to get a single morsel of food, were these ministers and servants present? The king replied with a no. Ashtarvakra continued, " Now when you have plenty of food, lavish clothing, wife and children around you, and your soldiers and ministers to protect you, can you see that condition of hunger and poverty? King replied with a no…

The sage replied than said, " Na Woh Sach Tha Yeh Sach Hai…(neither that was truth nor this one is truth). " Hearing him, the king become more confused and wondered if neither the dream world nor waking the world is real, then what is the reality? Ashtavakra said, " When you were poor and dejected, “you” were there… and now when the luxury of king is being experienced “you” are still there… so Na Woh sach Tha , Na Yeh Sach Hai Par Tum Saach ho… you are the reality…"

Exercise

We welcome all of you to answer this golden question: Who am I?