SADHU’S WISDOM

It is 10th century. The cool breeze mixes with sweaty, warm air, pet up within the streets and
corridors of Vijayapura. The city is bustling with life and prosperity, but deep within it, in the
accounts and in the gold, in the military and the merchants, in the canals and the sewers,
greed, was nibbling away this pillar of growth. And there on top of this mess, was a lazy king,
on his lavish bed, fulfilling his gangantuous diet with the finest of the delicacies. Instead of
calling court meetings, he preferred to snooze away the day.
With the King not showing any signs of improvement, the ministers’ worries grew day by
day. Several doctors were called several times, but the laziness of the King, like a massive
boulder, was irremovable. Any health issue that came up, the doctors resolved efficiently and
quickly, but how are they supposed to change the King himself? On the verge of giving up,
some of the ministers started looking beyond the conventional methods. In their desperate
search they found a holy man, a sadhu of sorts. He offers to cure the King of this habit, an
escape from the eventual chaotic spiral of doom to the ministers and the kingdom.
The Sadhu, insists, that the King comes to his desolate hut on foot. Nervous, the ministers
persuaded the King to agree and descend from his lavish throne. As he walks through his own
streets, the folks are taken aback. It was a rare event; a spectacle indeed. Sweating profusely,
the King finally arrived at the small, insignificant hut.
“Please come back again tomorrow.”, the Sadhu said with a wise, withering voice.
Enraged, the King stomped back to his palace. The ministers were begging for mercy to the
God, while some tried to calm down the King’s bloodlust. Convinced that this was indeed a
strategy, a plan of the Sadhu, the ministers persuaded the King to go again tomorrow. The
King sweared to kill the Sadhu if something similar were to happen. Upon arriving, the King
saw something horrid; a steel ball, and the Sadhu with a smirk standing beside.
The Sadhu instructed the King to start exercise with the steel ball. The reluctant King, not in
the mood to be persuaded again by the ministers, decided to give in, and follow the Sadhu’s
instructions. Slowly, the exercises seemed to get easier. Slowly the King started to feel lighter.
Slowly, the King got faster.
Slowly, the King got better.