When a young man of just twenty-three years passed the highest examination of Aryavarta, Krishna Chandra's name started being discussed all over Aryavarta.
The fame of Krishna Chandra spread throughout the province even before he came to his village. The entire kingdom was talking about Krishna Chandra only.
King Ballabha Kumara was filled with pride when he found that the young man, who was being discussed all over Aryavarta, was living in his kingdom. He immediately sent a proposal through the envoy to the father of Krishna Chandra.
"Our king wants your son to accept the post of aacharya of our prince Keshava Kumara." The envoy narrated the message of his food provider to Beli Rama with great pleasure.
'The job in the king's Palace!' the surprised father heard this, and he became happy.
There was little much pride in that happiness.
"As per my information, the responsibility of education in the palace is handled by the pedagogue of the king himself. In such a scenario, how can my son play the role of aacharya in the same palace?" Beli Rama asked a logical as well as practical question.
"Let me tell you the reality, that wish is not only our king's wish, the pedagogue of the king himself wants the same for our prince. He may have felt that the era is changing rapidly and his chronicle education may not be appropriate for the prince of the new age." the envoy explained.
When the envoy clarified the situation of the palace in simple and accurate words. The father accepted this golden offer on behalf of his son, without wasting much time asking futile questions.
The envoy happily went out of the house, and Beli Rama came inside the house in a dancing manner.
"Wow! Putara (son), you made me very happy today. Today the fruits of a pitaa's (father's) years of austerity have been received." Saying this, the proud father entered the room.
The unaware mother-son looked at him in astonishment.
"Pitaashiri (father), what happened?" Krishna Chandra asked innocently.
"The whole Brahmin community will burn in the fire of jealousy when they will come to know that my putara...my Kishu has become the aacharya of the king's putara." Saying proudly, Beli Rama laughed a lot.
Shakuntla Devi was overjoyed to hear this good news. She first kissed the son's forehead with pride and then hugged him. Krishna Chandra was also pleased to get the affection of his parents.
"Somebody had five putaras; someone had six, so they were blind in ego. Everyone used to laugh at me. One day I politely said that of course, God has given me only one putara as a child, but time will tell that my only putara will prove to be the best in the entire Brahmin society. Look, putara...today maataa (mother) Saraswati (Goddess of speech and art) has made my words true." Beli Rama hugged Krishna Chandra by saying this.
Beli Rama cried a lot that night because of so much happiness. His tears were a symbol of his love, hard work, goodness, truth, righteousness, and pride. Like other pundits, he never cheated anyone in the name of religion. He did not earn money by further intimidating God-fearing people.
Unlike other pundits, Beli Rama had walked on the path of righteousness throughout his life. Those shreds of salt water were proof that his chosen path was not wrong at all. His path was right that is why he is happy today. He believed that the prayers of the poor yajmaans also showed an effect.
He was also thanking them all while weeping.
Unlike his father, Krishna Chandra did not see anything special in the king's job. It was no big deal for him. But in a short time, when he saw special respect for himself in the eyes of the villagers, only then he understood that in a province full of great pundits, it was truly a big deal for a young man like him to be chosen as the teacher of the prince.
Krishna Chandra was naturally painstaking, so he left no stone unturned in teaching Prince Keshav. Although he was a storehouse of knowledge, this was not his specialty.
His specialty was his 'technique of teaching'.
When he spoke, it seemed as if the words coming out of his mouth had created a living picture in the air. The listeners could not hear, but everything seemed to be happening in front of their eyes.
His efficiency was such that even the soldiers standing nearby were getting educated while listening.
Hearing the praise of his aacharya from the mouth of his son Keshava, father King Ballabha Kumara secretly inspected the class of Krishna Chandra. Realizing the miraculous experience himself, the king understood that his son was in the right hands.
He once more said thanks to his pedagogue of the kingdom, who advised him to hire Krishna Chandra for the education of the prince.
A teacher may be great, but only his disciples make him the greatest. As hard as Krishna Chandra was working on his only shishya (disciple), Keshava used to follow aacharya equally seriously. In the class, he did not come as a prince Keshava Kumara. He used to come as an ordinary child Keshava.
First of all, Keshava Kumara used to listen to his aacharya with complete intimacy. Then whatever questions arose in his mind related to the lesson, he used to ask them. After getting the right answer from aacharya, when his inner mind said yes, only then did he contemplate that information with full devotion.
It was the reason that whenever Krishna Chandra used to test Keshava Kumara, he easily passed the exam.
Everything was good.
A good house, good parents, good neighbors, a good job, a good employer, a good shishya (student), and a good income.
Everything was good.
But the truth was that everything was good only on the outside. There was nothing good inside Krishna Chandra. He was unaware of the state of his conscience. He did not know how deep sadness was spreading in his conscience.
YOU ARE READING
Vardaan 1...The Ultimate Boon
Historical FictionLife is a story and every story has a writer. As the pages of the story of life keep turning, we start to feel that there is someone who is watching as well as testing us and writing our story. He is continuously observing us with sharp eyes. There...
