I no longer want to be the King

Once upon a time, the Emperor of Magadha, central India decided to retire. He had four brave and able sons fit to rule. So he called his chief minister and said “The tradition is to crown the first son to be the King, but my second son seems to be more intelligent than him. And again the third one seems to be more intelligent than the first two. The last one seems to be of a very pleasant nature and has a strong sense of righteousness. So I am unable to decide who should succeed me”. The minister replied, “Oh mighty Emperor, send your sons away for a year and when they comeback you should be able to decide”.
The Emperor summoned all the princes to the court on the day of Ugadi and announced, “It is time that I crown one of you to be the Emperor and retire to the forest to meditate, but I am unable to decide which one of you is the worthiest of all. The position of the Emperor of India comes with lots of responsibilities that can not be taken lightly. After consulting my ministers, I have decided to send you away from the kingdom to do some deeds that you deem necessary to prove your worthiness for this important role. Keep your identity hidden, leave alone and return back after a year to tell us about your accomplishments”. He gave each one of them a white horse to ride on. The eldest son, Aruna chose to go south. The second son, Varuna chose to head east. The third son, Karuna chose to head west. The youngest one Prajapati went north.
After a year, the first three princes returned on their white horses, glorious and triumphant. The whole country welcomed them and there were feasts and festivities every where, but there was no news about Prajapati. The ministers advised the king to wait for a week before crowning the successor. On the seventh day when to court was to meet, Prajapati walked into the capital wearing a bare loin cloth.
All the four princes took their seats and the full session of the King’s court commenced. The King said, “I am happy to see all of you return. We are all eager to hear what you have been up to and what you have achieved. Please narrate your stories”.
The eldest, Aruna stood up and said, “I went south where there are a lot of accomplished yogis called Siddhapurushas. I stayed in their company and learnt lots of skills that will be help me subdue enemies. He raised his left hand and it started to rain. He raised his right hand and a volley of arrows emerged. He opened his mouth and a big flame emerged. All the viewers were awestruck and amazed at his magical skills (siddhis). The King however remained unmoved and said, “A good emperor should love his subjects and be able to protect them. You necessarily have skills to protect them from enemies but how am I to know that you will love them like your children?” He did not have an answer.
Next Varuna took stage and said, “I went east where there are thick forests. There were tribal who had troubles from bandits. I protected them and slowly united all the tribes and became their leader. Day by day our strength grew and now I have established a kingdom all by myself. I have proved that I love my people and can administer a nation. I am eager to merge my kingdom with Magadha”. Even the emperor could not refute to this accomplishment. The ministers said let us hear the rest.
Karuna took stage next. He said, “I went west where the King of Gujarath had organized some sport competitions. I won all of them and became the favorite of the crowd. The princess fell in love with me and I married her and inherited the kingdom without a battle. I have ruled the state ever since and people are happy and prosperous. So I too have proved that I can be an able ruler without even spilling any blood.” Everybody was pleased and unable to decide who would be the best fit.
Finally Prajapati came forward and prostrated to the king and said, “I do not want to become an emperor anymore. I have not done anything worthy to be a ruler. In fact I have even given away the horse that my father gave me and have come back barefooted. I have been a week late and I expected the coronation to take place by the time I reached back all the way home by foot. So please make one of my elder brothers the ruler of Magadha”. Now everybody was curious as to what he had done and questioned him about where he went. He replied, “I went to the Himalayas and started meditating in the company of holy sages. On the banks of Manas Sarovor, I had Guru darshana. I proceeded with the Sadhana that my Guru gave me sincerely and one fine day I realized that I am Brahman. You have named this body Prajapati and I understand that it can not be so. I am not limited by this body and it is I alone that exist everywhere. I have no more desires and I do not need any kingdom. I remain happy as I am”. So saying he returned to his seat and entered a deep state of meditation.
The Emperor being spiritually inclined was highly pleased and proposed, “Prajapati has attained the highest that can be attained. How about making him the King?” On hearing these words, the other princes protested and expressed their emotions. “If he can not protect himself, how can he protect his subjects” saying this, Aruna raised his hand and poured down showers of water on Prajapati. To his surprise, the water did not touch Prajapati who was protected by an invisible sheath. He then sent a couple of balls of fire from his mouth which just bounced of Prajapati’s protective aura. Varuna said “Black magic will not work on him” and pounced on Prajapati with his sword. He swung the sword with all his might but was unable to cut him. The sword passed through his body without meeting any resistance as if it passed through thin air. Seeing these both the brothers felt ashamed of their impulsive action and their heads dropped lower. Karuna was the first to recover. He walked towards Prajapati, laid down his sword in front of him and said, “Yes Prajapati is the best fit to be the ruler. I shall do everything in my might to help him rule the kingdom”. The elder brothers conceded and reciprocated his feeling.

- A story by Yogacharya B. Devdas Rao (compiled by AtmaAnanda)