It was a long time ago, Acharya Chanakya’s disciple Devavrata was receiving education in a Gurukul. Devavrata was very straightforward and simple by nature, but he had one problem, he forgot things very quickly. Whatever verse or lesson Guruji taught, it would slip from his mind like sand. Devavrata was always sad about this. One day, Acharya called Devavrata to him and gave him two earthen pots.
The first pot was brand new, beautiful and strong. The second pitcher was old and had a small hole (crack) at the bottom. Acharya said, “Devvrat, from today onwards your only work is that you will fill these two pitchers with water from the river every morning and bring them to the kitchen of the ashram.”
Devavrata followed the orders. Every morning he would go to the river, fill both the pitchers with water and carry them on his shoulders and return to the ashram, but the same thing would happen every time. The strong pitcher would save all the water and reach the ashram. The broken pot would spill half the water on the way due to its holes and would become empty by the time we reached the ashram. Many months passed like this. Devavrata started feeling that just like his weakness (amnesia), he was laboring in vain with this broken pot. Finally, one day he could no longer control himself and he bowed his head in front of the Acharya and said – “Gurudev, I consider myself a criminal. My intellect is also like this broken pitcher, in which no knowledge survives. Because of this pitcher, half of your hard work and water gets wasted every day. Free me from this useless work.”
Acharya smiled softly and said, “Devavrat, what you are considering as a waste, just look carefully at the path by which you bring water every day. When you come tomorrow morning, look at both sides of the path.”
The next morning, when Devavrata was returning after collecting water from the river, he paid attention to the path. He was surprised to see that on the side where he was walking with the strong pot, the land was dry and barren, but on the side where he was walking with the broken pot, colorful, beautiful flower plants were blooming and the entire path was fragrant.
Acharya explained to him and said – “Devvrat, I knew that there was a crack in this pot. That’s why I had sown the seeds of flowers on the path on that side. Every day, albeit unknowingly, you kept watering those seeds with your weakness (broken pot). Today, because of this ‘weakness’ of yours, the path to the ashram has become so beautiful and lively.”
Moral of the story- We all have some flaw or weakness within us. Some are slow in studying, some are not adept at any work, but we get to learn two things from this story. If we keep trying in the right direction, even our shortcomings can be useful in making the world beautiful in some way or the other. Devavrata’s habit of forgetting taught him to practice continuously and his same continuity filled the path with flowers. Never underestimate yourself by considering yourself a ‘broken pot’.
