Nandi and Veerabhadra were not in good terms. Although they didn’t fight, they exchanged angry stares at one another regularly. When Lord Shiva observed this, he simply smiled. This simple smile made sage Narada, who was Vaikuntha-bound, to change his direction and come to Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva.
When Nandi observed Narada approaching Kailasa, he felt revitalized. He went to Narada and prostrated before him.

Narada: What is this Nandi! How come you are so polite today??

Nandi: Narada, tell me, who doesn’t aspire for noble company such as yours!!

Narada: Even after spending so many years at the lotus feet of Lord Shiva, if you are longing for good company, it means that something is haunting your mind.

Nandi: You are spot-on. You have read my mind even before I could open my mouth!!

Narada: Oh I see! My guess turned true. All right, why don’t you tell me what it is?

Nandi: Is it ever possible to hide anything from you great beings? You can see the past, present and future of a person with effortless ease. Now, do I have to spell it out? You should have known it by now. Why don’t you suggest a remedy to my problem??

Narada: Don’t test me! Remember!! This is the abode of Lord Shiva!! Nothing other than Shiva’s energy works here!!!

Nandi: When great sages like you are so humble, why is our Veerabhadra so arrogant?

Narada: What happened? Did he insult you??

Nandi: Thank goodness, I have not faced such a situation yet! In fact, he doesn’t even take notice of me!! Well, that is not my problem.

Narada: What else is the problem?

Nandi: Even after having served my Lord since ages, I am afraid to stand in front of Him and talk face-to-face. On the other hand, this Veerabhadra, who was born very recently, doesn’t even bow down properly when he sees Lord Shiva.

Narada: What! Doesn’t he prostrate before Lord Shiva??

Nandi: Well, his behaviour is very strange indeed. Even the way he prostrates is very strange. As soon as he comes, “Shambho!!!” he yells and calls out Lord Shiva’s name. He places his sword at the feet of the Lord and says “I killed such and such a person today”. Not even once does he acknowledge, “I could do all this because of your grace”.

Narada: Is he so egoistic??

Nandi: Not only that. When we return after a war, he doesn’t wait for the elders to report to Lord Shiva about the battle. Instead, he pushes aside everybody and storms his way to the Lord and boasts as though he won the war single-handedly.

Narada: Tell me something. Doesn’t he help you guys in the battlefield? Or is he selfish there also??

Nandi: I must admit that in this aspect, he doesn’t have any defect. Irrespective of whether one calls him for help or not, he rushes wherever help is required and offers his help.

Narada: It is indeed a praise-worthy quality.

Nandi: Of course, it is praise-worthy. Be that as it may. What happens later is disgusting. After the difficult situation is overcome, he casts a mocking smile as if to suggest “you are alive because of me!”

Narada: Does he actually say so?

Nandi: Well, he doesn’t say so. Where does he have time to speak!! He is always in a hurry.

Narada: It is indeed very bad to insult elders like you!

Nandi: Please excuse me Maharshi! I knew that you would understand exactly like this. But that is not my agony.

Narada: Nandi, I appealed to you in the beginning itself not to test me. Still, you are trying to put me in a quandary.

Nandi: Pardon me Sir, please don’t say like that.

 

Narada: What then is your problem, Nandi?

Nandi: Great sages like you have unequivocally declared that Kailasa is not a place for those who entertain ego. Even my Lord stresses this point repeatedly. Still Veerabhadra displays so much ego in front of Lord Shiva Himself! When I see this happening, I become very unhappy and sorrowful.

Narada: Why should you feel sorrowful?

Nandi: Would I have kept quiet if anyone else behaved that way? Certainly not.

Narada: Why do you keep quiet now? Why don’t you bash Veerabhadra and warn him to mind his manners when he is in Lord Shiva’s presence?

Nandi: I would have done just that if he were an ordinary devotee. He is different. His birth itself was different! Remember! He was born when Lord Shiva shook his long hair vigorously. I am afraid that if I do something to him, Lord Shiva might feel hurt.

Narada: Although Lord Shiva looks very innocent, when it comes to destroying one’s ego, He doesn’t leave any stone unturned. Who knows! He may already have some secret plan to destroy Veerabhadra’s ego.

Nandi: I don’t think so. I have observed many times that as soon as He sees Veerabhadra, He is overjoyed. Even if Veerabhadra wants to prostrate, the Lord doesn’t give him any time to do so. Instead, He starts the conversation as soon as Veerabhadra arrives. He even seeks Veerabhadra’s advice. He shares jokes with him. How can anyone say that there is some secret plan?

Narada: From what you say, it appears as though Lord Shiva is indeed biased. I think that the Lord always takes Veerabhadra’s side.
Nandi: Maharshi! Now, you are testing me. I did not say that Lord Shiva is prejudiced. I am not endowed with a sharp intellect. May be, there is some flaw in my thinking. I am seeking your help to see if I have overlooked anything.

Narada: What could you have possibly overlooked?

Nandi: There is no doubt that ego is the root cause for all evil qualities. There must be some great quality in Veerabhadra that can dominate even the fundamental bad quality of ego. It is because of this that the Lord is lenient towards him. But I am unable to see that great quality. Why don’t you enlighten me?

Narada: Nandi! I can’t say you are testing me, but surely you have put me in a tight spot.

Nandi: Have I done something wrong?

Narada: Nothing is wrong when one is striving to understand the intricacies of Dharma. But that is not my point. Once, I happened to ask sage Durvasa, “O Sage! You are so furious by nature. How come Lord Shiva allows you to go near Him?”

Nandi: What did he say?

Narada: He simply laughed loudly. I went to sage Vasistha once and asked him, “You are a very old Brahmin. Why do you need status and ministerial position in the king’s court?” He stared with angry eyes and retorted “Are you jealous?”

Nandi: What did he mean by that?

Narada: How will I know? On another occasion, I visited sage Agastya and asked him, “Why are you wandering from one town to another, speaking the local dialects, building temples in those towns and trying to earn their praise?” He did not seem perturbed by my question. He simply said, “that is my level” and remained silent.

Nandi: Very funny indeed.

Narada: It so happened that once I had to visit sage Bharadwaja. “You are like a worm. You are always immersed in books. What is the use? I asked him. “Even Muchikunda posed a similar question to Sanatkumara……” Bharadwaja began explaining and gave a long and eloquent lecture.

Nandi: What is the purport of that long lecture?

Narada: I could have told you if I had understood it in the first place! Be that as it may. Once I happened to see sage Kardama. I asked him, “You are so attached to your wife that you have spent all the power that you acquired by penance for producing nine daughters! What great quality did Lord Vishnu observe in you that He decided to incarnate as your son?” To this Kardama simply replied, “it is not because of me, it is because of my wife’s greatness”.

Nandi: O Narada! That’s enough. I think I am beginning to see the point. You are implying that in the case of highly evolved beings, what are apparently defects are in fact no defects at all! I don’t reject your argument. I am thinking as to what is it that is responsible for the phenomenon of defects not being defects.

Narada: Your thinking hasn’t stopped there. You are also thinking as to why the Almighty did not remove those defects.

Nandi: True.

Narada: Not only that, you are also thinking as to how a person, in spite of his defects is sustaining himself and not succumbing to other defects? How is he able to enhance devotion within himself? How is he able to draw the attention of the Almighty??

Nandi: Yes. You are right.

Narada: To summarize your doubts, there is a seed of suspicion somewhere in your mind that the Almighty is not acting properly when it comes to eradicating defects in His devotees.

Nandi: Narada! You are endowed with subtle vision. Listening to you, I am beginning to believe that what you are saying is true.

Narada: Don’t feel so shy. It is the nature of mind to veil even what it knows and produce doubts. It is not wrong to have doubts. But passing unfair judgment on others based on doubts is wrong.

Nandi: I am happy that I am not committing such a mistake with respect to my Master. However, I feel that I may be doing that mistake with respect to Veerabhadra.

Narada: Nandi! Your heart is pure. Your devotion is strong. You are suffering because you feel that Veerabhadra is behaving impolitely with your Master. I can understand your feelings. But why are you failing to understand that Lord Shiva doesn’t tolerate if His devotees develop even a little ego, that too unknowingly? Remember what happened to Indra when ego had crept in to his mind without his knowledge? Why do you think Lord Shiva is ignoring Veerabhadra’s behaviour?

Nandi: That is exactly my question.

Narada: Dear Nandi, please do not think otherwise. I am telling you this so that it is easy for you to understand. Tell me, why has Lord Shiva allowed you to remain one of His main disciples in spite of your bad quality of finding fault with others?

Nandi: ……….. (silence)

Narada: Take my example. I am known to cause misunderstanding and quarrel. Why is it that both Vishnu and Shiva continue to respect me?

Nandi: Don’t compare yourself with me. I am after all an insignificant being. You are a great person who is always interested in the welfare of the universe.

Narada: Good. Do you agree that my interest in the welfare of the universe is so strong that it makes my other weaknesses appear meager and insignificant?

Nandi: Mmmmm. Yes.

Narada: Well, if my intense interest in the welfare of the universe is so great that my other defects are not defects at all, why should the Almighty even try to remove them?
Nandi: Dear Narada! Ego is perhaps very different from all other defects. It is said that ego is a like seed, which is sure to produce a thorny bush sooner or later.

Narada: Defects are like plants that grow even if a small piece of the stem is planted. They do not even require a seed. Just stick a piece of stem to the ground and the plant comes up.

Nandi: Narada, you are confusing me. On the one hand you say that defects are not defects at all and on the other hand you say that every defect can produce innumerable other defects. I don’t understand your logic.

Narada: Nandi! In this creation, it is the Almighty alone who is devoid of any defect. Among all other beings – however great the person might be, there will be some defect or the other. It is the Almighty’s job to eradicate such defects.

Nandi: You have fully confused me now.

Narada: Do you know what is causing the confusion? You are taking upon the Lord’s responsibility. That is the cause for your confusion.

Nandi: Narada, I don’t think I have such plans in my mind. But, because you are saying this, I think I should do some introspection. Give me some time.

Narada: So be it.

Nandi became immersed in deep thought.
Did the above conversation really take place is not important to us now. Do not worry about that now. See if you can contribute something meaningful to Nandi’s thinking.
Don’t think “We are ordinary mortals. How can we ever give advice to celestial beings?” Such confusion is not confined to Nandi alone. Even our younger generations have such doubts and confusions. Even we are sometimes tormented by them. Unfortunately, Narada is not amidst us to clarify our doubts. The following Sookti has been told keeping in mind those who are caught in such tight situations.

Yat sveekaaryam shishyaat
Nirnetavyam hi bhavati tadgurunaa
Kshetre vijaati vriksham
Karshaka vara eva vetti na hi dhenuh

The decision as to what should be accepted from a disciple is to be made by the Guru (not by the disciple).

It is the farmer who knows the weed from a crop and not the (grazing) cattle.
There appears to be some relation between our problem and this Sookti. But the Sookti is somewhat weird. The first part of the Sookti says that only Guru knows what to accept from his disciple. What is meant by accepting? After all, we are discussing about defects. Does it mean that the Guru accepts the defects? Does he receive the defects?

Normally, when we say a person has accepted or received a particular object, it means that henceforth he owns and enjoys that object. In this context, does it mean that the Guru accepts, owns and enjoys bad qualities or defects? Obviously not. Let us try to understand this with a familiar example. During special occasions such as Swamiji’s birthday, devotees offer many things to Swamiji. Swamiji often says, “these offerings are not important to me. I want you to offer your bad habits and defects at my feet”. Some devotees come forward and say, “I am hereby offering the habit of smoking at your feet, Swamiji”. To this, Swamiji says, “I am accepting your offering. Because you have offered it to me, you have no right to touch it again. Make a promise”. You have seen many such occasions. Here, what does Swamiji mean when he says “I have accepted”? It means that he has taken away that particular bad habit from his disciple.

Let us turn our attention as to how this Sookti can solve our problem.

Who should eradicate the weeds in the field? It is the farmer who has ploughed and sown the seeds, who is in a position to clearly tell crop from the weed. Therefore, it is better if he only does the weeding job also. Others may pluck out even the crop along with the weed. However, if a stray cattle enters the field, it will eat everything without discriminating between a crop and a weed.

Let us return to our discussion. A Guru will first examine as to which crop (good quality) can be grown in the disciple and sows the pertinent seeds. Even a farmer does the same. He first decides which crop can be grown and plants the seeds. Also, the Guru periodically checks if the seeds have sprouted, if they are growing well, if the crops are infested and so on. Actually it is only the Guru who is in a position to say if the crop (good quality) is growing up to his expectation. What he sees as crop may appear weed to others. But Guru does not become unduly worried about it. He shouldn’t either.

In this Sookti, there is a term ‘karshaka vara’. It means ‘an able farmer’. An able farmer does not worryunduly if some other crop also grows in his fields as long as it is not harmful to the main crop. For example, if an Areca plant grows in a Coconut grove, he does not weed it out because it is not harmful. Similarly, a Sadguru does not weed out a particular quality (even if it is a bad one) as long as it does not hinder the Sadhana of the disciple. In fact, Sadguru alone knows if a particular quality (even if it is considered a defect by others) is harmful or not to the disciple.

Just because the Guru ignores a particular defect in a particular disciple, it doesn’t mean that the Guru has considered it a meritorious quality. By the same token, it does not mean that the Guru is ignorant, just as it cannot be said that the farmer is unaware of the Areca plant growing in the coconut grove. The Guru is aware, but is just ignoring.

If the same defect is present in another disciple, the Guru may want to destroy it. Why is it so? Does it mean that the Guru is prejudiced? No. It must be understood that the defect in this disciple is detrimental to the disciple’s Sadhana and therefore the Guru is trying to eradicate it. An Areca plant is neither a friend nor a foe of the farmer. Depending upon what the main crop is, the farmer may choose to eradicate it or let it grow. The same farmer my want to destroy the areca plant if it grows amidst a banana grove.
Similarly, even a Sadguru, who has sown a particular seed in the heart of his disciple, will decide if a particular quality in a disciple is complementary, neutral or detrimental to that particular disciple. Sadguru removes only such qualities and defects that are detrimental to the path of Sadhana of the disciple. As for other defects, well, the Sadguru just ignores them.

Those who do not understand this approach tend to think “why is it that my Guru is tolerant with the other disciple where as he is angry with me although we both have similar defects?” They may even compare their behaviour with their fellow disciples and become deluded enough to say, “he has become so audacious that he is opposing the Guru”. This is exactly the attitude displayed by Nandi in the above story.

Nandi may not accept the advice conveyed by the above Sookti. It is because he firmly believes that ego is the foremost and the most harmful of all evil qualities. He thinks that ego is the root cause for all other defects. Therefore it is his contention that a Sadguru should never ignore the evil of ego in his disciple. Is

Nandi wrong in thinking so?

Nandi may not be wrong. But who is to decide what constitutes ego? It is only a Sadguru who can decide it. A fellow human being can only guess the hidden ego by the actions of the other person. There is no guarantee that his guess is always right.

On the other hand, a Sadguru can directly see the heart of a person and say if there is ego or not. Therefore, there is no question of missing anything. There is no question of faltering. It is here that Nandi faltered. Therefore, Narada had to point out various instances where even great sages had shown defects. He also pointed out that the defects did not in any way take away the greatness of those sages. In fact, in some cases, the defects were even complementary. For example, Narada was usually accused of traveling excessively all the time. Did this quality not help him in achieving his primary goal – welfare of the universe?

There is another important message hidden in the Sookti. If a particular quality develops in the heart of a person, there are basically three entities who are influenced by its fruit. The first entity is the person himself. Next, it is the people who have regular contact with hi. Thirdly, it is the Sadguru. Among the three, the first entity, namely the person himself, is like the stray cattle. Why? It is because every person thinks that each of his qualities is a noble one and continues to relish them. In his view, his heart doesn’t have any weeds. A cattle that invades a field doesn’t discriminate between a crop and a weed.

Those who are living around that person are like hired labour who work in the fields. They are not bothered as to which crop is growing in this field, what is the quality of the land, and what should be weeded out. Just as Nandi in the above story, they may indiscriminately weed out what they consider as weeds.

Sadguru is like the true owner of the fields. He alone has the right to decide which is the weed. Even the disciple doesn’t have that liberty. Therefore, the disciple should not look at fellow disciples and comment “Why is my Guru not teaching the same lessons to me? Is my Guru prejudiced?” Also, the disciple should not look down upon other disciples. This is the first lesson is the spiritual school.

May Lord Dattatreya bless you all so that you understand this lesson well and become good students of the Sadguru.

Jaya Guru Datta.

Sri Swamiji