A Tale - Bishweshawar Prasad koirala

 

Main idea

This story is related to the importance of human relationships or the love between a man and a woman which is inevitable in human life. The writer suggests that human existence is not possible without sexual attraction between them. It attracts not only the common people like you and me, but also the great and ideal people like the saints and sages. There are some people who look for something beyond their life. They like to avoid the social responsibility to look after their family and the common human welfare. The story tries to define what a good life is and how people fail to realize it. Some people think that they need to follow their rational thoughts ignoring the sensual instincts. In fact, they need to understand that a good life is not an escape from reality, but it is enjoying the best part of our lives.

Short Summary

This is a tale of long ago when human beings were in competition with gods. They would get godhood by doing difficult penance. Even the god would ask help with human beings when they had war against the demons. In those days, one man thought that godhood and supreme knowledge would not be found in cities and villages. He felt that the path to godhood was blocked by social obligations and by the love of his family and friends. So he discarded the love of his friends and family, and he went to dwell alone in a remote jungle. He lived in a hut on a small clearing surrounded by lofty trees beside a small river. He began his difficult penance sitting in front of the seven tongued fire in the hot summer, and he plunged under the ice cold water in the cold winter to get triumph over his fresh bad body.

He began his penance sitting on the same place in a deep meditative trance as one full moon followed another and the seasons changed. As the sage was sitting motionlessly, the grass grew up tall around him and the termites built their nest on his legs. Even the animals in the forest lived together in harmony because of the effect of his penance. The sage , suffered by his inner light, achieved a state of unending ecstasy. He felt the light of a thousand suns inside him.