The Jailor

(Excerpts from ‘Jailor’ by Acharya Vijay Abhayshekhar Suri)

A prisoner was sentenced 100 lashes every day for a robbery he committed. As the Jailor raised to beat him up, he shouted “Who the hell are you to beat me? I didn’t rob anything from you. Bring the man whom I robbed and he has the right to beat me up.”

What will be the result? Will the Jailor leave him?  Certainly not. In fact, in all probabilities, he may get angry and beat him more.

But then there is a point in the prisoner’s argument. Who gave the right to the Jailor to beat the prisoner? Only the person whom the prisoner robbed should have the right to beat him up. But it doesn’t happen like that.

So the moot question again – “Who gave the right to the Jailor to beat the prisoner?” Answer in the story is simple – The Court. The Court decided who the criminal was and what the sentence ought to be and gave that right to the Jailor to execute the sentence. The prisoner did not rob the Jailor but the fact remains that he did rob someone and so the Court gave the right to the Jailor to punish him.

So can the prisoner question the Jailor? No. It won’t help him and on the contrary he may be in more trouble by questioning the Jailor. What’s the solution then? The only solution is to be calm and quiet and let the Jailor do his duty. Perhaps repeatedly beating him up and observing the silence of the prisoner, someday, the Jailor may think, he seems innocent and he may stop the sentence. Perhaps he may not.

The above short story is all about our life. We are the prisoners. There is a system somewhere – HIS COURT and HE sends the Jailor in our life in one form or the other. Everyone who gives pain to us in life is the Jailor. We might not have done anything wrong with them, but still they give us pain. Because they have been sent by the system to punish us. The fact remains – we must have done something wrong with someone and HIS COURT has sent some Jailor to give us the pain. We have to silently bear the pain. We don’t have the right to question – why is he giving pain or what wrong we did? We must have done somewhere something wrong, that the Jailor was sent to us.

The one who ignores us, the one who abuses us, the one who takes away our wealth, the one who cheats us – are all jailors. We may wonder – this was the person whom I helped a lot, but he is cheating us now… but he is just a Jailor.

Everything in life is predetermined and everything happens for good. Be calm and observe the beauty of life. See a Jailor in everyone who mistreats you, and you will observe a tremendous feeling of peace. Stop making calculations in life, more so for money. We will get what we deserve and what we don’t truly deserve, some Jailor will come and take away. Have the satisfaction of having helped someone.

As said in Srimad Bhagwadgeeta ----  

Thy right is to work only,

Never to its fruits,

Let fruits not be the motive of your action,

Let there be no attachment towards inaction.

Courtesy: 'Jailor' by Acharya Vijay Abhayshekhar Suri and DJ Sir