Ribhu and Nidagha
Abhidevananda
Although Ribhu taught his disciple the supreme truth of the One without
a second, Nidagha failed to adopt the path of Dharma but rather settled
down in his native town to a life molded by ritualistic religion.
The Sage Ribhu loved his disciple as deeply as Nidagha venerated his
Master. Thus, despite his age and his position, Ribhu would go
personally to his disciple in the town just to see how far the latter
had outgrown his dogmatic approach. At times Ribhu went in disguise so
that he could mark how Nidagha behaved when he did not know that he was
being observed by his Master.
On one such occasion, Ribhu put on the disguise of a village rustic and
found Nidagha intently watching a royal procession. The disguised Ribhu
inquired of Nidagha what the commotion was about. Nidaha replied that
the king was going in procession.
"Oh, it is the king," said Ribhu. "But where is he?"
"There, on the elephant," said Nidagha.
"You say the king is on the elephant. Yes, I see the two, but which is
the king and which is the elephant?"
"What!" exclaimed Nidagha. "You see the two, but you do not know that
the man above is the king, and the animal below is the elephant? It is
no use talking to a person like you!"
"Please don't be impatient with an ignorant man like me," begged Ribhu.
"But you said above and below - what do those words mean?"
Nidagha could stand it no more. "You see the king and the elephant, the
one above and the other below. Yet you want to know what is meant by
above and below. If things seen and words spoken can convey so little
to you, action alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you will
understand everything very well".
Ribhu did as he was told. Nidagha then jumped on Ribhu's shoulders and
said: "Know it now. I am above like the king, and you are below like
the elephant. Is that clear enough?"
"No, not yet," was Ribhu's quiet reply. "You say you are above like the
king, and I am below like the elephant. King, elephant, above, and
below - so far it is clear. But pray tell me, what do you mean by I and
you?"
When Nidagha was thus confronted suddenly with the mighty problem of
defining a you apart from an I, light dawned in his mind. At once he
prostrated himself at the rustic's feet saying, "Who else but my
venerable Master, Ribhu, could have thus drawn my mind from the
superficialities of physical existence to the true being of the Self?
Oh, benign Master, I beseech your blessings."