The Science Of Signs

Once a learned king ruled over a kingdom. He encouraged all the arts. Many poets, musicians,artists, and pundits adorned his royal court. The king became very famous because of the learned discourses and discussions that were frequently held in his court.

In the neighbouring country, there lived a pundit who aced mudra Shastra. Holding this science he defeated all the other pundits. One day, the mudra pundit sent a word to the king that he would visit his court on a certain day to hold discussions on mudra Shastra with the pundits of the royal court. If they succeeded, he would surrender all his titles to them and leave. Otherwise, the king and the pundits should acknowledge him as the greatest pundit.

Now, in the king's court pundits in all branches of literature were available, but there was not a single one in mudra Shastra. The king was worried. He did not want to acknowledge defeat because the royal court had won a great reputation before, which he did not want to lose. So he held a conference of all pundits in his court to think of a way out of the dilemma. Everyone was worried and no one knew what to do. At last one shrewd pundit suggested,'Rajan, try as we may, we cannot face the mudra pundit in debate and win. So let us try to defeat him by a trick. We will dress up one shrewd man in our kingdom as a pundit and invite the mudra pundit to hold discussions with him. Who knows, by his shrewdness our man may win the debate. We don't stand to lose anything, even if he is defeated."

Everyone approved of the suggestion, and also agreed to take chance. An old clever,shepherd was selected for the purpose. He was finely dressed up as a pundit. His tall, erect figure lent much to hide dignity.

When the mudra pundit reached the court he as received with due honors and was introduced to make-believe pundit. The king said, "O wise man, please have your discussions with our pundit. We are willing to abide by your conditions. If you win, we will acclaim you like the best; if he wins, you will have to surrender all your titles to him."

The two pundits sat face to face and commenced the discussions. The king and the others eagerly looked on. The mudra pundit raised his hand and showed one finger, the shepherd was one-eyed and slowly raised his hand and showed two fingers. There was an appreciative smile on his face of the mudra pundit. He then raises his hand and showed three fingers. The shepherd did not hesitate this time and showed a fist. The mudra pundit immediately rose and fell at the feet of the shepherd in great respect. Then he surrounded all his titles to him, loudly acclaiming the old pundit's wisdom and scholarship. The real pundits of the court followed the mudra pundit as he was leaving and asked him of the curiosity, "Sir, may we know what the discussions were about? We could not follow because we do not know the science. So please explain."

The mudra pundit was still in ecstasy. He again praised the great wisdom of the royal pundit and said, "Ah, what a pundit! I have never before seen such an expert in science, nor such a philosopher."First of all, I showed one finger to show that God is one. Your pundit replied to me with his two fingers, indicating that there are two...jeevatma and Paramatma. I then said with my three fingers, that jeevatma,paratmaand Ishwara is three, the wise pundit showed a fist indicating that they all are one.

The pundits revealed in this description, leaving the pundit, they returned to the court and related to the king, what they had heard. They wanted to know what the shepherd had understood this discussion. The shepherd was very pleased for he had upheld the court's reputation and was richly awarded by the king. So when he was asked what discussions he had with the mudra pundit, he replied in high spirits, "My dear Sirs, your mudra pundit was very rude and insulting, but actually he was a coward. First, he raised his finger to say that I had only one eye. I crisply retorted with two fingers saying that my one eye was better than his two eyes. But he didn't stop, he again insulted me by showing three fingers saying that together with our s equals to three. I really got angry at his rudeness and then showed him a fist saying that I will break his nose if he further insulted me. Then the coward was afraid and then fell at my feet."The king and the pundits split sides with laughter over this. They realized their good fortune in getting such a pundit for the discussion.