A STORY OF TENALI RAMAKRISHNA


Swami giving Discourse in Trayee Brindavan

 Once upon a time, Tenali Ramakrishna was in the court of King Krishnadevaraya discussing important issues. He reached home late at night. His wife was waiting for him. His practice was to take a bath and then partake food however late it may be. He always followed discipline. That night he went to the well. He sat down to draw water from the well. There were many bushes around the well. He saw two thieves behind the bushes. He wanted to catch those thieves. So he shouted, asking his wife if she knew that he was near the well. She thought that he had fallen in the well and she came running outside. “What happened?”, she asked. “You do not know”, he said, “Wherever we see, there are thieves. We have so many rewards given by the king in our house. First you go and look after that. How are you going to keep it safe?” Then he whispered something in her ear. She went inside, put some stones in a bundle and both of them together got it out. “You keep it here and there, it becomes a waste. Thieves will come and take it away. Let us put it in the well. If it is in the well, it is safe and secure; no thief can take it away.” 

Tenali Ramakrishna
Then he threw the bundle into the well. The thieves standing nearby saw this. So they were waiting for Tenali Rama to go inside his house after his bath. Tenali Rama also knew what they were thinking about. He bolted his door from inside his house. While going inside he told his wife, “Today I can sleep well. Do not open the door till seven in the morning.” As soon as he went inside, both the thieves jumped into the well. There was too much of water in the well. They were trying to search for the bundle but after trying a lot, they could not get anything. 

Finally, they got the bundle which was very heavy. One of them said that the bundle was too heavy and he could not take it out alone. First he wanted to draw all the water out from the well. Tenali Rama Krishna had a big Tulsi Vanam (garden) planted around his house a few days before. Generally, he used to draw water from the well and feed the plants. The thieves thought that if they draw all the water from the well and feed the plants, they can easily get the gold. They started drawing the water but the water level was not reducing. Both the thieves ran away and decided to return the next day. Tenali Rama Krishna came the next morning and was happy that his Tulsi Vanam was watered properly. His strategy had worked. He protected himself and also many valuable things. Punya (merit) is helping and Papa (sin) is harming others.

He started for the court of Krishnadevaraya the next day and in the mean time he also complained to the police. The police captured both the thieves and took them to the palace. When the two thieves were caught, there were no more thefts in the village. 
King Krishnadevaraya
Tenali Ramakrishna said, “Oh King! Today I have captured these two thieves. Tomorrow onwards we will never get any complaints.” The king asked, “How did you capture them both?” Tenali Ramakrishna explained what all had happened. The king asked, “Who are these thieves?” Tenali Rama replied, “Attachment and hatred are the thieves”. In order to catch these thieves, we have to guard all the houses of the rich. God is rich. There is nobody richer than God. God exists in stones, gold and everything else. God exists everywhere. Whatever penance you do and sacrifices you make, it is not easy to serve God. Then how can you serve God? You have to go near God. Go near God and then offer yourself to God.

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