Long ago, in a remote
village in Bengal there lived a cobra in a hole under a large tree.
The cobra was a very angry snake
and its bite was very poisonous.
It would bite anyone who came near
the tree. Many people had been bitten and few even died due to the cobra’s poison.
The entire village feared the cobra
and avoided visiting the side of the field where the tree stood.
One evening a young monk came to
the village to stay for a few days. After resting the night at the village
temple, he woke up early next morning and started looking for a spot where he
could meditate. He saw the large tree and decided to meditate under it.
As he started walking towards the
tree, the farmers working in the nearby fields became alarmed.
‘No, no Maharaj, they cried. ‘Don’t
go anywhere near that tree!’
‘Why not?’ asked the monk
surprisingly, ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘You are new to our village,’ one
of the farmers replied, ‘so you don’t know. A terrible cobra lives under the
tree. He is very poisonous and is always angry. He has bitten many people, and
they have all died.’
‘He won’t bite me,’ said the monk
calmly.
It was the farmers turn to be surprised.
‘Why not?’ they asked. ‘How do you know he won’t bite you? He is a very wicked
snake. You should be careful.’
‘He won’t bite,’ the monk smiled.
‘You can come with me in case you don’t believe;
and see for yourself.’
But the farmers were scared and
did not want to go near the cobra. So, they told the monk that they were busy
and had work in the fields.
As the monk drew near the tree, there
was no sign of the cobra. He was about to sit down to meditate when suddenly he
could hear an angry hissing sound.
Suddenly, the cobra appeared out
of its hole. The monk stood up still.
The cobra raised its hood and
bared its fangs. The monk remained calm.
Without any provocation, the
cobra lunged at him with the intention of biting. The monk swiftly moved aside
and barely missed the cobra’s bite.
The cobra was now very angry. It
prepared for the assault again. This time the monk did not stand still. The moment
the cobra was about to shoot out its fangs, the monk started reciting a mantra.
Immediately, the cobra withdrew its
fangs, lowered his hood, and lay down the at the feet of the monk as harmless
as an earthworm.
‘I am sitting under the tree to
meditate, do not disturb me,’ the monk told the cobra.
‘Sure, Maharaj, as you wish,’ replied
the cobra keeping its hood down,
The monk meditated for many
hours. When he opened his eyes, the cobra was still at his feet.
‘So, you are still here,’ asked
the monk in a gentle voice.
‘Yes, Maharaj, replied the cobra
humbly.
‘I heard from the villagers that
you are very dangerous,’ said the monk, ‘and you bite people. Sometimes people
die due to your poison. Do you know this?’
‘Yes, Maharaj, I know my poison
can cause people to die,’ said the cobra.
‘Then?’ replied the monk. ‘Don’t you
think it is a very wrong thing to do?’
‘Yes, Maharaj,’ said the cobra. ‘I
often wish I could get rid of my bad temper, but I don’t know how to?’
The monk took pity on the cobra
and said, ‘I will teach you a mantra which you should repeat daily, you will
become good and gentle and will never harm anybody.’
The cobra seemed happy and bowed
at the feet of the monk accepting him as his guru.
The monk gave the name Nagaraj to
the cobra and taught him the holy mantra.
‘I shall now leave you,’ the monk
said. ‘I am leaving the village and shall see you again after a year.’ Remember
to repeat the holy mantra and not bite anyone.’
‘Very well Maharaj,’ the snake
replied.
Now the word spread in the
village like wildfire that the cobra has stopped biting people. Initially the
villagers could not believe their ears, they carefully visited the tree to
ascertain for themselves. When they saw the cobra had indeed become gentle and
mended his ways, their joy knew no bounds.
Slowly, the villagers forgot
about the cobra. Now there were few boys in the village who were very naughty. When
they realized that the cobra would mean no harm, they started bothering it unnecessarily.
They would throw stones and poke
sticks at him. The cobra never said anything. He kept repeating the holy mantra
the monk had taught him.
From the group, there was one boy
who took great pleasure in torturing the cobra. One day the cobra had just come
out of the hole to look for food. The boy was lying in wait, with a big stone
in his hand. He threw the stone at the cobra with all his might. The stone
broke the back of the cobra and it started bleeding. A few seconds later, the
cobra became unconscious. Thinking the cobra to be dead, the boy picked up the
cobra by his tail and started swinging it around.
Round and round and round the boy
swung the cobra and then released him with all its might. The cobra flew out his
hand and thud, it hit his head against a tree and there was blood all around.
Dancing with joy, and proud of what he just did, the boy ran to inform his
friends that he had finally killed the cobra.
But the cobra did not die. It lay
there unconscious for a long time. Finally, when it became unconscious it
slowly crept back to his hole. Throughout this entire ordeal he kept on repeating
the holy mantra the monk had taught and did not harbor any ill feeling for the
boy.
For many days, the cobra dared
not peep out from his hole out during the day. It only came out during the night,
ate whatever few leaves or fruits it could find on the ground and then slow crept
back to his hole.
Time passed. It was almost a year
now. True to his word, the monk returned to the village and went straight to
the tree to meet his disciple.
‘Nagaraj, Nagaraj, where are you?’
he called out to the cobra.
Hearing his guru’s voice, the
cobra became happy and slowly came out of the hole to meet him.
The monk was aghast to see the
cobra’s present condition. He had become very thin, there were bruises all over
his body and he looked ill.
‘Nagaraj, who did this you? You
looked thin and very ill,’ the monk took the cobra in his lap and gently
stroking his head, asked him.
The cobra had become very pure by
repeating the holy mantra repeatedly. He had even forgotten about the incident and
now remembering it felt no malice towards the boy who did this to him.
‘Maharaj, the village boys did
this to me, well, boys are boys, they are naughty at times,’ replied the cobra in
a feeble voice, ‘When they got to know that I had stopped biting, they started
making fun of me, threw stones at me.’
‘Oh, Lord, Nagaraj, you are such
a foolish snake!’ the monk exclaimed. ‘Why
did you let them to do this to you, their prank could have killed you?’
‘Yes, Maharaj, luckily I did not
die, the cobra replied,’ but what could I do? You had instructed me to be good
and not bite anyone.’
‘Yes, Nagaraj, I told you not to
bite anyone, the monk said,’ ‘but that does not mean you cannot hiss, your hiss
is enough to scare even adults and they were just boys.’
The cobra realizing his mistake
said, ‘Yes, Maharaj, you are right, I did not want to bite anyone, but i could
have surely hissed. From now on no one will dare bother me.’
So, from then on, the cobra lived
happily under the tree, everyone respected him, if anyone came too close to
bother, he bared his fangs and hissed.
Moral – Being good
is not a weakness. We should not harm anyone, but if anyone causes us harm, we must
be prepared to hiss or show our strength to protect our lives.
