Rantideva - The King Who Gave Everything (Karma Yoga)

Dadi: "Guddu, imagine you haven't eaten for forty-eight days. You're starving. Finally, you get a small bowl of food - just enough for one person. What would you do?"

Guddu: "Eat it immediately! I'd be SO hungry!"

Dadi: "Of course you would. Anyone would. But tonight I'll tell you about a king named Rantideva who did something unbelievable in exactly that situation."

Guddu: "What did he do?"

Dadi: "King Rantideva's kingdom was suffering from a terrible famine. Whatever food came, he gave it away to his starving people. He always ate last. And when there wasn't enough... he didn't eat at all."

Guddu: "For forty-eight days?!"

Dadi: "Forty-eight days, beta. He and his whole family were shivering from hunger. Then, on the forty-ninth day, a small portion arrived - some rice pudding and water. Just enough for one meal."

Guddu: "Finally!"

Dadi: "The king raised the first spoonful to his lips. But just then - knock knock - a Brahmin appeared at his door. "Your Majesty," the man said, "I have not eaten in days.""

Guddu: "Oh no..."

Dadi: "Without hesitating, Rantideva divided his portion and gave half to the Brahmin. The Brahmin blessed him and left. The king raised his spoon again - and another knock came."

Guddu: "Another person?"

Dadi: "A laborer this time. "Sire, I have worked all day but had nothing to eat." Again, Rantideva divided what remained and gave half."

Guddu: "But now he has almost nothing left!"

Dadi: "Just a tiny bit. He raised his spoon once more. Then a man arrived with a pack of dogs. "O King, my dogs will die of hunger. Please, even scraps!""

Guddu: "Did he give that away too?"

Dadi: "Every last bit. He fed the dogs himself. Now he had nothing but water. After forty-eight days of fasting, just a single glass of water remained."

Guddu: "At least he can drink that..."

Dadi: "He raised the glass to his lips. And then came one final visitor - a chandala, an outcast, the lowest person in society. This man was dying of thirst. He said, "Even if you throw the water on the ground, I will lap it from the dust.""

Guddu: "What did Rantideva do?"

Dadi: "He placed the glass directly into the outcast's hands. "Take it," he said. "You need it more than I do.""

Guddu: "But Dadi, that man was an outcast! People didn't even touch them!"

Dadi: "Exactly! The chandala said, "But I am untouchable-" And Rantideva replied with words that still echo through the ages: "No one is untouchable to one who truly sees. We are all the same Self in different forms.""

Guddu: "That's beautiful..."

Dadi: "Now comes the miracle, Guddu. All four visitors - the Brahmin, the laborer, the man with dogs, and the outcast - suddenly transformed. They revealed their true forms: they were Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and Dharma himself!"

Guddu: "The gods were testing him!"

Dadi: "Yes! And they said, "We came to see if your generosity was real. You gave when you had nothing. You treated an outcast with the same love you showed a Brahmin. This is the highest karma yoga.""

Guddu: "Did they give him a reward?"

Dadi: "They offered him any blessing - wealth, power, even liberation from rebirth. But do you know what Rantideva asked for?"

Guddu: "What?"

Dadi: "He said, "I want only the ability to take on others' suffering. That is blessing enough.""

Guddu: "He didn't want anything for himself?"

Dadi: "Nothing. He had discovered the secret, beta. When you stop thinking "what's in it for me" - when you give without calculating - you find a joy that nothing else can give. Rantideva achieved through giving what yogis achieve through years of meditation."

Guddu: "Dadi, I'm not sure I could give away my food if I was starving..."

Dadi: "That's honest, beta. We don't have to start where Rantideva finished. We can start small. Share a snack with a friend. Help someone without expecting thanks. Give your time to someone who needs it."

Guddu: "And treat everyone the same?"

Dadi: "That's the deepest lesson. Rantideva didn't see high or low, clean or unclean. He saw God in every person who came to his door. When you can do that - when you serve everyone as if you're serving God - then you've understood karma yoga."

Guddu: "Because God really is in everyone?"

Dadi: "Exactly, beta. The same light shines in all of us - in kings and beggars, in Brahmins and outcasts. Rantideva saw that light and served it. And in the end, he found that by letting go of everything, everything was already his."