A Telugu Folktale
There was a villager who was uncultured and stupid. He was married to a very cultured woman. She tried various ways of cultivating his taste for the higher things of life, but he just wasn’t interested.
Once a great reciter of the grand epic, the Ramayana, came to the village. Every evening, the reciter of the Ramayana would sing and explain the verses of the epic. The whole village gathered to watch this performance.
The wife of the uncultured man started nagging and asking her husband to go listen to the narration of the Ramayana. After much force, unwillingly the man went and sat at the back. It was an all-night performance and the man ofcourse slept through the night.
In the morning, when the program was over sweets were distributed according to custom. Someone put a few sweets into the mouth of the sleeping man. He woke up and went home. When the wife asked about the performance, he said: “It was very sweet”. The wife was happy to hear this.
The next day again the wife insisted and he went. This time he sat against a wall and fell fast asleep. As he sat erect throughout the night leaning on a wall, in the morning his whole body ached. When he came home, he told his eager wife: “It was painful.” The wife thought that indeed her husband has started feeling the emotions and greatness of the epic.
On the third day, we slept off on the ground and started snoring immediately. Next morning he felt something stinky in the mouth. Actually, seeing him snore lying on the ground, some mischievous youngster had put some uncooked fish in his mouth in the morning. After going home, his wife could immediately smell fish and was furious. The man had to confess that he heard nothing and slept throughout the program.
So the next day the wife too went with him. She made him sit in the front row and told him sternly to keep awake and listen. The man this time felt ashamed of his behavior and started listening.
Very soon he was caught up in the adventures and the characters of the great epic story. There came a part when the reciter started narrating how Hanuman, the monkey God, was leaping over the ocean to meet Sita, Rama’s abducted wife. He had the signet ring of Rama with him and he was supposed to show it to Sita. But the signet ring slipped and fell into the ocean. Hanuman was in a fix and was wringing his hands in worry.
Just then, the uncultured husband, who was listening with rapt attention, said: “Hanuman, don’t worry. I will get it for you.” Then he jumped up and dived into the ocean, found the ring on the ocean floor , and brought it back and gave it to Hanuman..
Sometimes a powerful story can lead to a transformation. When the uncultured dolt really listened to the epic tale of Rama, he becomes part of it. The barrier between reality and fiction is broken.
Sincere listening can be so intense that the listener ends up giving not just his ears but his heart as well. In that process, the sense of self (‘I’/Ego Self) is lost to the story. The story, in turn, transforms the listener forever.
It is always the whole-hearted sincerity that becomes the touchstone for change. Otherwise Ramayana in itself is nothing but a hefty holy book.