According to the ancients, God had a way of testing individuals. He is in a position to test a person as well as take notes on his faith. He can put an individual in a position he wishes himself. Hermit Gautama, who lives in the forest, comes across a baby elephant that his parents killed and took as his child.
The incident made Gautama decide to take care of the elephant by cleaning and nursing the wounded parts of the animal. As days went by, the elephant grew to be a very mighty and beautiful animal. Now, after the Lord has seen that, He decided to carry out an experiment.
The king carried out an experiment; he went to the hermitage and started concerns by taking the form of the country’s king. You are mighty king, no doubt, he said while leading the way with him, but this is my source of fuel and water. Do not take him away. Gautama stated that he is obedient and guides me. The king replied that elephants fit for kings than common people since they are royal animals.
The king was in love with the strong elephant. He liked it so much that he even said that even if he died, he would carry the elephant. The king refused to give back the elephant to Gautama and insisted that wherever he was, the elephant would be as well. Gautama, on the other hand, insists on taking his elephant back. When the king goes to a higher place, he will follow him and pick up his elephant. Their argument went on and on, and every time the king would describe the higher place, he thought Gautama would not be able to find him, so he promised to reach there and bring his elephant back. During the conversation, Gautama realizes that he is talking to God himself and, therefore, asks to be pardoned.
All this time, the King was testing Gautama’s stands for his elephant. He wanted to know if Gautama stands by his word and if he is focused. The reason why the king would describe places where he stated to be unreachable is to determine if Gautama would insist on still getting his elephant back. Gautama swears that wherever the king is with his elephant, he will still reach there and get back his elephant. When Gautama realizes that he is becoming obstinate with God, he apologizes and asks God to forgive him. God was so pleased when he noticed that Gautama had recognized him and asked for forgiveness. According to Gautama, it is only God who has power over everything in the Universe, and all belong to him. Therefore, he can take anything without being questioned since he is the God the Provider.
Gautama was offered a boon, a free choice where he was to make a choice. Gautama decided that he would have his elephant back. He brought up the elephant as his own child and could not exchange it for anything else; despite the fact that he was supposed to make choices over the elephant and other things, he did not choose other heaven beauties but his elephant. However, he had already made his choices and asked to be given the elephant back. The moral of the story is that one should not be deceived by beauty, joys, or the diligence of the higher heavens and should not stop until one reaches the Lord himself. We also learned that there is a need to study every individual as well as everything in this world, just like Gautama did. Once one has studied and understood others as well as their surroundings and everything around them, it will help one live in harmony.
Works Cited
“Gautama And The Elephant | Sulekha Creative.” Creative.Sulekha.Com, 2018, http://creative.sulekha.com/gautama-and-the-elephant_39163_blog. Accessed 14 Mar 2018.
Blomfield, Vishvapani. Gautama Buddha. Quercus Books, 2011.
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