The Brahmin's Song - Patience in Adversity

Krishna began without preamble: "Let me tell you of a brahmin from Avanti, Uddhava. His story contains wisdom that can liberate the suffering soul."

"I am eager to hear, Lord."

"This brahmin was wealthy - lands, cattle, gold. But he was also miserly and ill-tempered. He gave nothing to gods, ancestors, guests, or the needy. His family despised him for his cruelty. Fate, as if responding to the hatred surrounding him, began to strip away his wealth."

"How so?"

"Thieves came. Relatives took what remained. His crops failed. His family abandoned him. In time, he became a homeless wanderer, despised by all who recognized him. People spat at him. Children threw stones. He was dragged through mud and beaten."

Uddhava's face showed horror. "Such suffering from such a fall."

"Ah, but here is where the story transforms," Krishna said, His eyes brightening. "Standing in the marketplace, covered in filth, bleeding from a fresh beating, something shifted in him. He composed a song."

"A song? In such misery?"

"Listen to his words: 'Neither these people nor the gods nor my body nor the planets nor karma nor time is the cause of my happiness or distress. The sages say that the mind alone is the cause, for it moves the cycle of birth and death.'"

Uddhava was struck. "He found wisdom in the depths of suffering?"

"He sang on: 'This mind creates attachment to sense objects and makes the soul identify with qualities it doesn't possess. The soul is the witness, pure and actionless. When the mind is controlled, what enemy, what friend, what suffering exists?'"

"So his wealth had been his bondage, and his loss became his liberation?"

"The beatings continued, Uddhava. But now he saw them differently. He sang: 'I shall tolerate the insults of wicked men. They are simply instruments of my own karma returning. I bow to them as I bow to God, for both are teaching me.'"

"What became of him?"

"He wandered as a mendicant, his face serene, his heart untroubled. Those who had beaten him saw the change and were themselves transformed. He lived his remaining years in perfect peace, fixed in the Self, needing nothing, fearing nothing."

Uddhava reflected. "The same circumstances that break most people freed him."

"That is the power of right understanding. The external world did not change, but his perception transformed completely. He stopped blaming others, stopped cursing fate. He took responsibility for his mind and found that the mind was all that ever bound him."

"Could any of us do this, Krishna? Face such adversity with equanimity?"

"Any soul can, Uddhava. The brahmin was no saint - he had been cruel and miserly. But at his lowest moment, he looked inward instead of outward, and that single shift changed everything. Never underestimate the power of right understanding arising at the right moment."

Uddhava bowed deeply. "I will remember his song when difficulties come. The mind is the cause. The mind is the remedy."

"This is the essence of all I have taught you, dear friend."

The stars began to appear above them, ancient witnesses to timeless truth.