Vishnupurana 2.13.p8

2.13.p8

Once on a time the gate-keeper of the king of Sauvira, regarding him as an idle uneducated Brahmin, considered him a worthy person to work without pay and took him into his master's service to assist in carrying the palanquin. One day O Brahman, the king wished to go in palanquin to the hermitage of the great sage Kapila, situated on the banks of the river Ikshumati, to consult the sage, who was conversant with the virtues leading to liberation, what as most desirable in a world abounding with care and sorrow. And he was one of those, who had, at the order of the head servant, been compelled to carry the palanquin gratuitously. And that Brahman, gifted with the only universal knowledge and recollecting former birth, although compelled to do this, bore the burden as the means of expatiating the sins for which was desirous to atone. While the other bearers proceeded with alacrity, he, fixing his eyes upon the pole, moved tardily. And perceiving the palanquin carried unevenly the king exclaimed 'Ho bearers! what is this? keep equal space.' Still it went on unsteadily and the king again cried out. ‘What is this? How irregularly are you going?' When this had again and again taken place the palanquin bearers at last replied to the king, 'It is this man who lags in his space.' ‘How is this' said the king to the Brahmin, 'Are you exhausted? You have carried your burden only a little way. Are you unable to bear exhaustion? But you look very robust' To which the Brahmin replied—‘It is not I, O king, who am robust nor is it I who carry your palanquin. I am not exhausted, O king! nor am I capable of fatigue.' The king said, ‘I distinctly perceive that you are stout and the palanquin is carried by you, and a heavy burden is wearisome to all persons.' The Brahmin said: ‘Tell me first what you have distinctly seen of me and then you may distinguish my properties as strong or weak. The statement, that you behold the palanquin borne by me or placed on me, is unreal. Listen, O king, to my arguments about it. Both the feet are placed on the ground: the legs are supported by the feet; the thighs rest upon the legs; and the belly rests upon the thighs; the chest is supported by the belly and the arms and shoulders are supported by the chest; the palanquin is carried by the shoulders and then how can it be considered as my burden? This body which is seated in the palanquin is known as "thou" thence what is elsewhere called this is here distinguished as thou and I. I and thou and others are made of elements and elements, influenced by qualities, assume a bodily shape. Qualities depend on acts, and acts perpetrated in ignorance influence the condition of all beings. The soul is pure, imperishable, tranquil, devoid of qualities, distinct from nature and is without increase or diminution; and if it is freed from increase or diminution then with what prosperity you say to me, ‘I see that you are robust? If the palanquin is placed on the body, the body on the feet, the feet the ground, then the burden is carried as much by you as by me. Why are not others, O king, feeling the burden of this palanquin. If I am exhausted with a burden that is being carried on another's shoulder, then why with the weight of this palanquin, people may be worn out with the weight of mountains, trees, houses and even of the earth, When the nature of men is different, either in its essence or its cause, then it may be said that fatigue is to be undergone by me. The material, with which the palanquin is made, is the substance of you and me and of all others being a collection of Elements collected by individuality.'