The king and the sage

Once there was a king who was always fighting. One day the king was severely wounded in a battle. A sage passed by and touched him, and the king was cured. The king wanted to give the sage a reward for saving him, but the sage didn’t want anything. He was just happy to save the king.

The king said, “I don’t want to remain indebted to you for saving my life.”

The sage said, “In the future I will definitely come to you and ask for something. I do not need anything now, but one day I will come to you.”

Months passed by and the sage was only praying to God for Peace, Light and Bliss. Then a desire entered into the sage’s mind. For the past few months his cow had not been giving milk. “My cow is old,” he said. “Let me ask the king to give me a cow. He will definitely give me a cow.”

He went to see the king and found him inside a temple. The king was praying for more wealth and more name and fame.

The sage said to himself, “I won’t ask him for a cow. He is also a beggar like me.” Then he was about to go away.

The king stopped him and said, “Sage, you saved my life. Please tell me what you want. I will give you anything you want.”

The sage said, “I pray to God and meditate on God. He is the only thing that I need. I don’t want to take anything from anyone in need. You say you took an oath that you would not remain indebted to anyone. I have also taken an oath. My oath is that if anyone is in need, then I will not take anything from that person. That is why I won’t take anything from you. You are praying to God for all kinds of material things. You are begging God to give you wealth and name and fame. So how can I ask anything of you? God has shown me that everyone is a beggar. So if I need something, I will get that thing only from Him. God is the only one I will go to get whatever I need.”