A Poet who feigned blindness

 Parables of Swami Ram Tirtha

There was a Mohammedan poet in India, a very

good man, rather a very clever and witty man. He

was living at the court of one of the native princes,

who was highly interested in him. One night the

native prince kept him long in his company, and this

poet amused the prince with all sorts of poems,

witty stories, and most amusing tales. The prince

went to bed very late. He was amused by the witty

poet to such a degree that he forgot all about his

sleep. The queen asked the prince what was the

cause of his delay, of his unusual delay in retiring to

his room. The prince replied "Oh, we had a

wonderful man with us this evening; he was so

good, so splendid, so witty and amusing." Then the

queen enquired more about him, and her curiosity

made the king expatiate upon the capability and

attainment of the poet to such a degree that they had

to sit until a late hour, so that it was near dawn when

they retired. Now the curiosity of the queen being

excited to the highest pitch, she asked the prince to

bring this witty poet before her some day. Well, the

next day this witty poet was brought before the

queen.

44Parables of Rama

This poet was brought by the king into the harem2 ,

the private apartments of the ladies. There he sang

his poems and recited his stories; the ladies were

highly amused. Then the poet gave out that he was

blind, he was suffering from a disease of the eyes;

but he was not blind in reality. Now the wicked

intention of this poet was to be allowed to live in the

private apartments of the ladies, so that they might

not mistrust him, and the ladies thinking him to be

blind might be free in their walks, and talks, in going

from room to room and might not keep any veils on

their countenances when passing by him. Now

believing him to be blind, the prince allowed him to

remain in the apartments of the ladies. But truth

cannot be concealed. It will be out one day.

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. The eternal

years of God are hers."

One day this poet asked one of the maid servants to

bring something to him.

2 In India females live in separate apartments, the

harem, and do not mix much with males, with

gentlemen. They live apart: especially Mohammedan

women, not Hindus, wear heavy veils and they do not

let anybody see them excepting their husbands or those

who are very pure, noble and pious.

This poet, when he got an honourable position in

the house of the prince, thought it beneath his

dignity to leave his seat and bring a chair to where he

wanted it. So he ordered one of the maid-servants to

do it, -but she replied harshly, bluntly that she was

very busy, she had no leisure, she could not spare

the time. After that there appeared another servant,

and he beckoned to her to come forward to him and

asked her to move the chair, but she said that there

was no chair in the room. He said "Bring that basin

of water to me" She said, "There is none this in

room; I will go into the other room and bring it to

you." He said "Bring it, there is one in the room, do

you not see it? There it is." In his anxiety to get the

thing done, he forgot himself. That is what happens.

This is how Truth plays a joke with liars. This is the

Law of Nature. When this poet said, "Here it is, do

you not see it?" the maid at once, instead of doing

that job for him, ran straight to the queen and

divulged the secret, and said, "Lo, the man is not

blind, he is a wicked man, he ought to be turned out

of the house."

He was turned out of the house; but about three

days after he was turned out of the house of the

prince, he became actually blind. How is that?

Why?

The Law of Karma comes and tells you that the man

becomes blind by his own will. He is the master of

his own destiny. Blindness is brought on himself by

his own self, nobody else makes him blind: his own

desires, his own cravings make him blind.

Afterwards when blindness comes he begins to

weep and cry, he begins to gnash his teeth and bite

his lips and beat his breast.

MORAL: Everybody reaps the fruit of his own

desires. This is the Law of Karma.