Saints and Sinners: A Tale of Two Natures

In the rich spiritual history of India, Jaidev is acknowledged as a great saint and devotee of Shri Radha Krishna. He has composed many devotional songs elaborating the highest form of divine bliss called the Madhurya bhav. 

Once, as Jaidev was travelling through the forests, he was held captive by robbers. Jaidev placed all his possessions in front of the robbers. The robbers took away all that he had and also left him incapacitated by cutting off his arms and legs and left him to die. But since the time of death is pre-determined and it was not yet his time to die, Jaidev survived the assault 

Several years later, as the king of Bengal, Raja Lakshman Sen (AD 1175-1200) was passing through the same forest; he saw Jaidev and immediately recognized the divinity in him. He accepted Jaidev as his Guru and  requested him to come and live in his kingdom. It is obvious that the king must have performed some great pious deeds in his previous lifetimes to recognize a saint by seeing him just once and also accepting him as his Guru.  

As his Guru, Jaidev instructed the king to serve the saints and offer them food every day. The king followed his Guru’s wish and started feeding sadhus and saints as instructed.

One day, the four robbers, disguised as saintly holy men (sadhus), came to partake in the king’s feast. Jaidev  immediately recognized them. Recognizing their greed for money, Jaidev asked the king to look after them and bid them farewell with gifts and gold. His decision was prompted by the desire to grant them enough wealth so they do not have to rob anyone ever again. Everyone in the kingdom was surprised at Jaidev’s behavior.  

When Jaidev was asked why he wanted to give gold to these saintly people (robber in disguise), he did  not reveal anything about the character of these four robbers. When the robbers were asked if they knew anything about Jaidev, the robbers said that Jaidev was once caught red handed stealing precious jewels from king's palace. Hence the king ordered him to be killed. These saintly people, out of mercy for Jaidev, pleaded that he should not be killed; instead he should be left unattended with his hands and legs amputated.  

Upon saying this, by some supernatural force, the ground split open and swallowed those four robbers. The king asked Jaidev why they were killed in such a manner. Jaidev replied per his nature he treated them with love and compassion, however, their intellect was so sinful and corrupt, that they could not develop faith in his goodness. And due to committing a spiritual transgression against a saint, they were killed by Kaal himself. 

Moral 
We perceive others as per our own intellect. Hence we fail to see the love and compassion of a true saint.

​Therefore, it is important that we develop devotion. Without devotion, doubts and negativity persist, which result in our downfall causing us to attain hellish abodes and lower forms of life.  

संशयात्मा विनश्यति
saṃśayātmā vinaśyati

"a doubting mind causes destruction". Upon losing the human form, the next human form is granted only after millions of births. And in that lifetime, if we meet a true saint and sincerely follow all his instructions, then alone can we attain the highest goal of human life.

​Love and compassion of saints is incomprehensible by human intellect.