Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.
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Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:
My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.
Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:
Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood
The tale of ‘The Talking Cave’
In a certain wooded region lived a lion named Razer-sharp Claws. Once he was roaming all through the woods looking for prey but he did not find a single creature, and his throat was pinched by hunger. At last at sunset, he chanced upon a cave and entering it, sat deep in thought.
‘Some creature or other is bound to find its way into this cave at night; no doubt about that. So let me lie here, quietly concealed,’ thought the lion.
And not long after, the master of the cave, a jackal named Curd Ear came and stood at the entrance, puffing and blowing.
‘Cave! Oh Cave! Oh Cave!’ he called out thrice. And then again he called out thrice to the cave. Then he felt silent. Again, he called out to the cave, and this time he followed his calls with, ‘Don’t you recall the agreement we made once, you and I? That when I come from the outside world I would call out to you, and that you would respond in kind? And today you do not return my greeting. Well, all right then; I shall leave and go to that other cave which I am sure will respond to my greeting.’
The lion listened to what the jackal had just said and began to think, ‘I see; obviously, this cave always calls out a greeting to welcome its master home. But today, out of fear of me, it remains silent. How aptly the wise saying phrases it:
When fear grips the heart hard.
then hand and feet refuse to move;
great trembling seizes every limb
and the voice fades far away.
‘If I call out to the jackal and greet him, he will enter the cave according to the agreement and I can have him for dinner.’
Having come to this conclusion the lion roared out a tremendous greeting. The cave magnified the sound of his roaring until the echoes set up filled all directions right up to the far horizon. Even creatures living at a great distance hearing the sound were terrified and the jackal took to his heels.
The Panćatantra (Of Crows and Owls) – The Talking Cave – Vişņu Śarma
Translated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan
Let us remember: Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.
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