The wrestler-teachers

There was a king who engaged in wrestling in his adolescent years and became an excellent wrestler. When he became king, he encouraged wrestling and gymnastics as well. He kept two extremely strong wrestlers in the palace and asked them to teach wrestling to the young boys of the court. The king was very, very happy to know that these young boys were developing their physical strength.

One day this particular king visited another king’s palace, and there he saw that his host was giving utmost importance to education. There the young boys and girls were all studying a wide variety of subjects. The king said, “I should also give importance to education.”

He spoke to his prime minister about the matter and the prime minister said, “Certainly! Education is absolutely necessary. Let us bring some well eduated scholars to teach our children.”

The king said, “Actually, I was told our two wrestlers are not only strong, but also well educated. Early in the morning they conduct wrestling classes for a few hours, but for the rest of the day they are free. I feel they should give classes in other subjects. In that way we can save money.”

The two wrestlers started teaching on alternate days. Quite a few students attended their classes. After a year had passed, the king said to his prime minister, “Go and see how much progress the students have made.”

The prime minister went and saw that the teacher was in another world. He was sleeping and snoring with his head on the table. The students were just playing games. The prime minister approached one little child and said, “Tell me, who wrote the Ramayana?”

The student said, “No, I just drew a line. I did not do anything wrong!”

The prime minister asked another student, “Who wrote the Ramayana?”

The student started crying, “I have not written anything!”

Then the prime minister asked a third student, “Who wrote the Ramayana?”

The child said, “I am sure one of us did, but I did not do it. I am not the culprit!”

The prime minister said, “I can see how much you have all learned!” Then he went to the teacher and shook him by the shoulder. When the fellow woke up, the prime minister said, “What are you doing? You are supposed to be teaching these children. How is it that here nobody knows who wrote the Ramayana?”

The teacher said, “They do not know? They are lying. They definitely know!” Then he flexed his muscles and said, “I am sure one of them did it! I shall knock out their brains if somebody does not come forward and confess!”

The prime minister said, “Yes, yes. This is what you have taught them.”

Sadly the prime minister went to the king and said, “O King, in one full year our children have not learned anything. Even the teacher does not know who wrote the Ramayana.”

The king said, “How could such a thing happen? Everybody knows who wrote the Ramayana.”

The prime minister said, “Your Majesty, this only proves that for everything we need the right person to teach us. Those two teachers know all about wrestling, and they have taught it very well, but about religion, history, science and other subjects, what do they know?”

The king realised that he had to hire qualified scholars to teach the children.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Life’s bleeding tears and flying smiles, part 12, Agni Press, 2001
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/lts_12