The King and His Good Deeds

Story Time, This time however This is a true life incident. However when it comes to good deeds or for that matter charity the left hand should never know what the right hand does. It takes away the beauty and charm of the good deed. Therefore my dear good friends I will relate the incident in the form of a story format.

There was a King in ancient India. He was a very brave warrior, aggressive yet pious, brave yet kind and loving. Creative and Innovative, yet traditional. His Kingdom was growing and flourishing. His subjects were very happy and prosperous in his fiefdom. His people would sing praises about him and bless that he should continue to rule over the land for many more years to come. It was a large Kingdom and millions of his followers. Though there was prosperity in plenty, yet as would be the case with any other land there were the haves and the have-nots. The king was very concerned about the well being of his people. While His fame was spreading the world over, he was never satisfied about his rule. He was always on the lookout to doing better and improving on his performance as a King.

The King would hold weekly meetings for all his citizens. In such meetings matters of national importance and problems of the land would be discussed. The King would thus give a very patient hearing to all his citizens. As is the wont each citizen would crave for his attention and the King would go out of his way to spend time with as many people as possible.

A Talent that the King had was that he was a very good hunter, par excellence. He could hit any target with great focus and attention. Given his craving for perfection, whenever he was in his kingdom, he would go out to his palace grounds and practice archery. One such day, the king strode out in his majestic chariot and made his way to the Palace grounds. The soldiers threw open the Palace Grounds for the royal chariot to glide in. The King had given instructions for the grounds to be kept open when he would be visiting . His people would be welcome to see the King in his practice sessions. Hundreds of people would mill to the grounds just to see him practice from a distance.

The King had a very keen and sharp eye for detail. As he strode to the ground majestically, he noticed that there was a man in the ground with a young child. Obviously the man was there to see and meet the King. On seeing the King the man approached the King and said "Your Highness I have come here from my village far far away just to meet you. I have no demands. I just want to see you. I bless you and pray that you continue to be our King for many more years to come". The King replied"Sire I have come here to practice archery. For sure I will spend some time with you and your son after the practice is over." So saying the King proceeded to the practice arena. The man seemed to be in some sort of problems, aged and old beyond his years, while the son was vibrant with energy, full of life, bubbling with enthusiasm. In his mind the King had already made his observations. Did I not tell you that the King had a very sharp eye.

The King called for his minister and told him, "While I am at my archery practice in the arena, talk to the man and find out more about him." The minister walked up to where the man was sitting and started speaking to him. "Good Sire what brings you here" asked the minister. The man replied, "Noble Sir my name is Balan and this is my son Krishna. I used to have a small rice business in the Kingdom. I was quite happy until a few losses and I lost everything.Today I earn something very meagre enough to sustain myself and my family, to provide them with food and shelter. I am struggling to take care of my sons education." Clearly the King was right in his judgement.

The King finished his practice and spoke to his minister. The minister duly briefed him on his conversation with Balan. The King walked up to the man and his son. He fulfilled the wish of a father that of meeting him and that of his son, of watching the King in practice. Balan and Krishna were very happy at having met the King. They had a story to carry with them and tell to the other villagers once they went back. However the story does not end here. The King had decided in his mind to take care of the Education of Krishna. He went up to Balan and spent a few comforting moments with both father and son. On a parting note the King requested Balan and Krishna to come to the ground after two days. We all know what will happen a few days later. Balan and Krishna lived happily ever after.

The intention of writing this story is not for praising the good deeds of a person. Far from it, again I wish to repeat what i said right at the beginning,when it comes to charity and good deeds the left hand should never know what the right hand is doing and that is exactly what the King did. Balan and Krishna came to the palace grounds just to see the king from a distance. They had no intentions of pouring out their problems and wishlist to their beloved king. The King was a leader with a keen eye and sharp vision fully understanding the problems of his people. May the Likes of such Kings grow in number. I would like to end this story with a powerful sentence. To think of Doing Charity is great but to actually do Charity is noble and greatest.