The story of the three skulls

Once a rakshasa (demon) arrived at a king’s court with three skulls which he arrogantly threw down and threatened the king to answer his question, else the rakshasa will devour him. “Answer , which is the best skull out of the three? The king asked for three days to answer, which was granted. None of the court’s wisemen could answer the question as the human skulls outwardly looked the same. One pundit asked for a chance to answer. He passed a rod through one ear of the first skull, and it came straight out of the other ear. Then he did the same with the second skull and the rod came out through the mouth. When he passed the rod through the third skull’s ear, it went straight to the heart. This pundit quickly gave his verdict that the third skull was the best.

He explained that these were the skulls of three seekers of truth. All three did the first sadhana, shravan (listening to satsang). The first one listened , but let the wisdom escape through the other ear. He assimilated nothing and forgot it. The second seeker belonged to the category who receive the wisdom, but do no tapas , no manan and without any mind purification are anxious to teach others. They let it all flow out of their mouths, never trying to live and practise it, so their words lack power to transform lives. The third skull belonged to the best seeker, who, after listening single pointedly shuts his mouth and ear, guards his sadhana , doesn’t allow spiritual energy to haemorrhage into wasteful channels. He makes the knowledge his own by living honestly what he learned .

The demon went up in flames destroying himself. Such demons present themselves as challenges to seekers’ sadhana, forcing them to introspect, else they are devoured.

Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi. Email: prarthnasaran@ gmail.com