This story is about a King who lived a few hundred years ago in India. The king had a court pandit. The kings had to entertain themselves with these court pandits. The pandits would have to give the answer to any question. So one day the king had a question for the pandit and he said, “ I saw this question and I really don’t have the answer. Can you tell me what’s the answer - What is the daily work of God?”The pandit said, “ That’s easy. The creation of course.”
“No…no…no”, The king said, “ That he does just the one time, but what is the daily work of God?”
So the pandit said, “ That’s an unusual question actually. I have never heard of such a question before. Your majesty I will have to consult the scripture”.
Now, the king was sometimes a bit moody, and when he was getting too moody, then he would cut heads. So the king was not acting in a friendly way, The king said, “ You better have the answer within one week or else!”
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‘Or else’ was something that the pandit didn’t like! So the pandit went home. He looked everywhere in the scriptures of the Puranas and in the Upanisads. Everywhere he searched but he couldn’t find the answer. The week was almost over. He decided that it was very important that he would visit that relative who hadn’t been well for long time, and so in an emergency he would leave town. He was on the verge of leaving town, and just when he was about to leave, he came across one of his disciples. This disciple was actually a simple man. He was a cowherd. He met this simple cowherd. So the cowherd said, “ Oh, Guru Maharaj your’re going?”
“Well, you know things are getting out of hand. The king has began to act funny, and has threatening questions which are impossible to answer”.
“What question is that?”
He said, “ Oh the question, is a very unusual question. He’s asking – What is the daily work of God?”
“Oh”, said the cowherd, “ That’s an easy question”.
“Oh if you know the answer than tell me”.
“Well maybe it’s better if I tell the king directly.”
“Alright” said the pandit, “ Let us go”.
So they went to the court and came before the king, and the pandit said,
“Your majesty, your question is a very simple question. Therefore, I’ve asked my disciple to answer it.”(laughter)
The king looked at this cowherd with the simple clothing, and said, “ He’s going to answer the question?!”The pandit said, “ Yes”.
The king said, “He’d better answer the question or..”. He made a gesture and looked at the royal guard. “So?”
The cowherd spoke and said, “ Your majesty, is it true that according to the Vedas, the one who is answering the question should sit higher than the one who is asking the question?”
The king looked at him and said, “ What …you want to sit on the throne?”
“Well what do the scriptures say?”
So the king came down from his throne and the cowherd sat down on the throne. The king sat on the floor and looked at the guard and said, “ If he doesn’t answer the question, than take his head off”
Then the cowherd said, “ Your majesty, your question is already answered”.
Well the king’s blood pressure went up way over to 220! Just at that point the cowherd said, “ But I’ll still explain it....
The daily work of God is to pull down those who are proud and to elevate those who are humble!”
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Canberra, October 2010)
