Storytelling for Week 6: Satya

Each and every day, Madri would bring her twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, to the river for their daily lessons. Nakula and Sahadeva’s education was a priority to Ganga who believed that knowledge was a necessary foundation for a meaningful life. Their lessons often consisted of discussing philosophical theories. Ganga’s favorite topic to teach her children about was that of satya, which is based on the idea that an unchangeable and universal truth exists that cannot be escaped. Sahadeva, the youngest of five, couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would want to escape this beautiful gift of truth. His mother promoted these kind of questions as she believed critical thinking was the path to higher knowledge. She also urged her children to not only ponder such curiosities but to do everything in their power to discover answers to these queries. So Sahadeva challenged himself to deep inquiry as to why an individual would want to escape truth but he was stuck. So he asked his mother to help him in his discovery process. As usual, she brought him down to the river and began to tell him a story about fish:

There was once a school of fish, which (like all schools of fish) followed the current together. 

School of Fish. Source: Flickr

Every year, more fish would be born into the school and still they would all follow the current together. This was instinctual for the fish. It was the right way, an unchangeable and universal truth for all fish. One year, a fish was born who was what some like to call a “rebel without a cause.” For no apparent reason, he wanted to swim upstream. He wanted to break the laws of nature that make the world go round – those universal and unchangeable truths he just could not accept. This decision he made took a toll on his health. Because he didn’t work with nature, he worked against nature. And so nature worked against him. Eventually, this fish became sick, exhausted from fighting the largest force in the universe. His mother told him a story very much like the one I am telling you now, and he decided to give these truths a chance. For the first time in his life, he did not try to escape from them – he allowed the current to take him downstream, surrendering. Soon enough the fish reached a beautiful and calm place of rest filled with endless lotus flowers. Finally.

Water Lotus. Source: Pixabay.

So Sahadeva, you must remember that this isn’t meant to be a story to scare you into trusting nature but a story to allow you to realize that nature has a plan and these truths are it.

Author’s Note: I used the five-motif strategy to tell my story for the week. My five motifs were drawn from The Mahabharata and consist of the twins, fish, lotus flowers, a river, and the concept of satya. I focused my story on satya because I just love this idea of a universal and unchanging truth!

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition of The Mahabharata.