Something Black In the Lentils

     How many times have we been swindled by what we thought was a good deal?  There are so many self-help books and hotlines promising this and that.  With the large amount that exists, how can we know what is really true and what is false?  Swamiji tells us a story of a disciple who stole.  When he was caught, the king had his nose cut off, and he began to dance around claiming that he can see God.  So he began to gather followers, cutting off their noses, and in turn they begin dancing and claiming to see God.  The story then takes us to a kingdom where the king is about to have the noses of his entire kingdom cut off.  The Prime Minister does not think this is a good idea, but is unable to sway the king.  The Prime Ministers grandfather then goes to the king warning him about the Nose Cutters, but the king only rebukes him saying, "What do you know?"  It is then decided that the grandfather will have his nose cut off first, and if he does in fact see God, then the whole kingdom will follow suit.  However, when the grandfather has his nose cut off, the disciple whispers in his ear that he will get laughed at if he does not say that he can see God, as by doing so he will earn a great amount of reverence and respect.  He returns to the king and says that he does not see God and is in a great amount of pain.  The Nose Cutters were rounded up and thrashed.  The story ends here saying that with only one king this group was caught and stopped.
     What I love about this story, and Indian stories in general, is that one can take more than jut one specific morale of the story.  Reverence for your elders, discernment, caution; these are some of the morale's to be extracted from the story.  We are supposed to understand that cutting off the nose, in this case, does nothing to increase our vision nor does it help us to see God.  Exercising caution and making sure you have all the facts before jumping in head first is a must.  Reverence for your elders, a cultural practice that is somewhat rare here in the United States, is very common in South Asian cultures.  So it is a very bad thing when the king says, "What do you know?", as it shows a disregard for the advice of those with many years.
     One of the other points that Swamiji made, although not within this particular story, was what he believed to be karma balancing itself.  Americans used to be slave holders, so now with so many Americans become slaves to these false gurus, it was to balance out our enslavement of African Americans.
     For me, caution was the main morale I took away from this story.  Now, whenever I am presented with something, I will check to see if there is "something black in the lentils."