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.
