Datta Maata 211: How to identify the best person?

How to identify the best person? In the society, there will be different types of people - superior, mediocre and inferior. We become like the ones with whom we make friendship. Hence, we must try to befriend superior persons. As a result, we get good results. Such being the case, how do we identify the superior? This is a question pertaining to dharma (righteousness). A king also got the same doubt. Since he was a king, he arranged for a meeting. Amidst ministers, scholars and people of the kingdom, he put forth his query and asked them for the answer. Each and everyone in the gathering gave a different answer. The scholars also had several opinions. However, the king did not feel any of the answers to be satisfactory. Hence, his doubt remained as it is. Everyone had their own opinion but his doubt did not vanish.

One day, the king went to forest along with his ministers and army for hunting. It is one of the duties of a king to take care of the sages and protect them from the trap of wild and cruel animals. The king, lost his way while he was hunting and got separated from the others. He was at a great distance from his group members. Both of them searched for one another. It is a very big forest. After sometime, a soldier observed a sage who was in deep contemplation with his eyes closed, sitting under a tree. Hearing the sound of the horse, the sage opened his eyes. Looking at the opposite direction of the soldier, the sage asked, "Who has come here?" After learning that the sage is blind, the soldier said, "O blind sage! Did you hear the sound of anyone coming this way?" The sage replied that no has come there and then he left the place. Later, the minister came there and said to the sage, "You seem to be blind. You cannot see everyone. Did you hear the sound of anyone coming here?" The sage replied that the soldier had come there earlier. Later, the king came there near the sage. Offering humble salutations to the sage, he asked, "O revered sage! I have come here for hunting and got seperated from my family. Did you hear the sound of any of them coming here?" The sage replied that the soldier and minister came there before him. The king asked about the direction they headed to. The sage showed the direction in which they left. The king headed towards that direction and met his people. The king was surprised to see how the blind sage had identified the soldier, minister and himself and how their meet was made possible. He remained stunned. To clarify his doubt, he went to the sage and asked him how he had identified his soldier, minister and himself. The sage smilingly said, "O king! The soldier had called me blind whereas the minister stressed on my blindness in an authoritative tone. Hence, I identified them as soldier and minister respectively. Later, you came here and told me what had happened and humbly smiled at me. I, thus identified you as the king. This is how I identified your levels based on your behaviours." With the words of the sage, the king got answer for his doubts.

Based on the kind of behaviour of a person with the other, one can identify the level of the person and decide who is the best. We can also identify them based on the words they use and the humility they have. One can identify their Guru, his teachings, the fortune they have got and their lineage. The behaviour, speech and conduct is sufficient for such identification. They will not carry any tags telling about their states like superior, inferior or mediocre. Based on their humble behaviour, action, reaction, way of talking and sitting posture, it is enough to identify the kind of training they received from their Guru, the lineage they belong to, the kind of education they have received and in which University they have studied.

Jaya Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!