Page 43 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

the Barfan Province of the himalayas. although he is now out on an excursion throughout the land, he remains mum for most of the time. i sent my men and endeavoured a lot to get his consent and finally i have been successful in putting him up in a cottage in the jungle, just beyond our city. if you, My Lord, feel like meeting him...”
“it is today i would like to meet him. Please inform the treasurer and get him ready with the costliest of gems and jewels,” said the King.
“Your highness, why are you taking gems and jewels?” ques- tioned the minister.
“Dear Minister, you might not know that one must not go empty-handed to meet a King, a physician, an astrologer and a sage,” the King retorted.
Glad at heart, the minister did all the arrangements and accompanied the King to meet the sage. The deceitful sage kept on sitting with eyes shut. The king bowed to the sage and laid the precious jewels at his feet. The sage took no notice of the gifts. Without disturbing the meditation of the sage, the King left him and being very glad at heart said to the minister, “This sage is indeed a genuine one. see to it that due service is rendered to the sage.”
The minister said, “The sage takes no food, instead he remains absorbed in meditation round the clock.” On hearing these words, the King became all the more reverent to the sage. The common people wished that the great sage would remain seated beneath a tree. he would take in only air or feed on the fallen leaves. he would offer the ashes from his ‘Dhuni’ to one of those who prayed to him, saying—‘Go back home and you will beget a son, or you will have complete comfort from your disease or you will win a case.
The King too, like a common man, wished with all devoutness to the starving sage, “i’ll pray to this sage for a son”.
Both the king and his minister returned to the palace. The minister expressed his eagerness to return to the sage, thinking that the sage without offering the share of the minister might have made good of the precious jewels offered to him by the King. The minister took the King to his Palace and galloped to the sage.
First Volume: Fhftd TiTanT 21