After getting the appropriate answer to his question from Vikram, Betal flew back towards the peepal tree, whereas Vikram chased him to bring him back. Upon reaching the tree, Vikram saw Betal hanging upside down on one of the branches. Vikram pulled the corpse back onto his shoulders and proceeded towards the capital’s cremation ground.
As usual, mischievous Betal once again offered to narrate an interesting story to King Vikram in order to ease the burden of the long and tiring journey.
Betal started to tell the story:
During the Mahabharata era, there was a kingdom called Gandhara, ruled by a king named Shakuni. Although his deceased parents were known for their generosity, he was addicted to the game of gambling. This weakness would bring about his downfall. One day, in a gambling game, he lost a fortune. Desperate to recover it, he pledged his entire kingdom in another gambling game, and this time too he was on the losing side. His opponents claimed his newly lost kingdom and divided it among themselves, banishing King Shakuni from the kingdom.
King Shakuni knew instantly that he was going to have a hard time without any luxuries which he once had and felt completely disheartened. He wandered for days till he reached the deepest part of the forest in the hope of not getting discovered by anyone, but to his surprise, he saw a hermit in deep meditation. Being humble due to the unfortunate turn of events, King Shakuni paid his respects to the hermit and narrated all the recent happenings of his life. The hermit listened attentively and found him to be weak-minded, who needed a corrective course of action. Therefore, the hermit chanted some divine mantras and created a palace, and asked the king to stay in it for the night, which King Shakuni gladly accepted.
Once inside the palace, King Shakuni was greeted by a beautiful woman who served him a glass of water. As the king was tired due to physical and mental exertion, he ate and drank everything that was served to him by the young woman that night and went to sleep. In the morning, he found himself sleeping on the floor of the forest. There was no sign of the palace or the beautiful maid. The clueless king returned to the hermit and asked about the palace and the lady.
The hermit said, “I created those with my divine power, and if you want to have the same, then you must do as I tell you.”
“What should I do? Tell me now,” asked the king.
The hermit said, “For forty days, you must stand in a freezing cold stream and chant this divine mantra in order to get whatever you want.”
King Shakuni did exactly as the hermit told him, but at the end of the forty days, the spell did not grant him any power. Disappointed, the king again went to the hermit, who said, “Now, you must also stand in the middle of a burning fire for forty more days and repeat the chant.”
King Shakuni followed the instructions of the hermit and built a fire around himself. Standing in the middle of the extreme heat, he started chanting the mantras for another forty days. After forty days, King Shakuni was very confident of his hard work and was sure of success this time. But to his disappointment, this time too the spell didn’t work either.
Betal ended his story and asked King Vikram, “Surely a hermit would never mislead anyone. So what is the reason for King Shakuni not acquiring that power for which he worked very hard for almost eighty days? What do you think was the main reason for his failure, Vikram ?”
Dear readers, what do you think is the reason for King Shakuni’s failure? Make your guess before you read on further.
King Vikram answered, “You only gain spiritual powers through a pure and unselfish heart. Only person with a clean conscience can achieve such powers. In the case of King Shakuni, his main intention was to indulge in worldly pleasures and have a materialistic life. This is the reason why his penance was ineffective.”
Betal said, “You are indeed matchless, Vikram. Your analysis is spot on. But it’s time for me to return to my peepal tree because you have spoken again.”
Saying so, Betal flew into the sky toward the peepal tree yet again, while determined King Vikram chased him again.
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