He
said to the brahmin, "Look, I am doing this work, making it an
act of dharma as well as I can. I pour all my soul into this work,
and serve my parents." In the form of this hunter Vyasadeva
puts before us an ideal man.
11. The purpose of introducing into
the Mahabharata these stories about a woman, a vaisya and a shudra
is to make it clear that the doors of moksha are open to all. It is
this truth that is taught in the Ninth Chapter. It sets the seal of
approval on these stories. The joy of living in Rama's service was
found in the hunter's life. Tukaram was a lover of ahimsa but he
describes in appreciating terms the story of Sajan, the butcher, who
found moksha by being a butcher. Tukaram asks elsewhere, "Lord,
what salvation is there for those who kill animals?"
But he writes, "With the butcher
Sajan He sells meat," and thus says that the Lord was a friend
and helper of the butcher. The Lord who honored Narsi Mehta's cheque,
who carried water for Eknath's household, who repaid the amount to
the Government treasury on behalf of Damaji, who helped Janabai,
very dear to Maharashtrians, in pounding and grinding grain, that
same Lord also helped the butcher Sajan with the same love, says
Tukaram. The moral is that we should surrender all our actions to
the Lord. If the action is filled with pure bhavana, with the
attitude of service, it becomes a yajna. |