Dhruva, Ruskin Bond, and The Need for Liberation

In ancient times, there lived a king named Uttanpada. He had two wives, Suniti and Suruchi. Suniti gave birth to a boy named Dhruva, and Suruchi had a boy named Uttama. The king favored his wife Suruchi and his son Uttama for some reason, and they always received preferential treatment.

Young Dhruva was a five-year boy and the son of King Uttanpada and queen Suniti. The king had two wives and favored his second wife, Suruchi, and her son Uttama. One day a five-year-old Dhruva saw his brother playing on the king’s lap and naturally wanted his father’s attention. When he tried to climb onto his father’s lap, Queen Suruchi got very angry and rebuked him vociferously. She told him that if he wanted to sit on the throne, he should do vigorous austerities to be born from her womb in the next life. That was the only way to win his father’s affection. The five-year-old boy looked helplessly at his father as tears trickled down his face. When he saw that his father was not contradiction the queen, he withdrew from their presence and went to his mother, Suniti. She listened to the little one’s story and sobbed with him. She told him that the king was partial and that she had also suffered this treatment for the past many years. She told him Lord Narayana, also known as Vishnu and Sri Hari, was his only recourse. Only he could help Dhruva win his father’s affection and the throne.

The little Dhruva made up his mind that he was going to pray to Sri Hari with all his might till Sri Hari did not manifest for him. He started walking to the jungle when he met the celestial wanderer and guru Narada. One of Narada’s roles was to test the resolve of devotees and guide the ones who genuinely wished to walk the path of Sadhana. Narada tried to discourage Dhruva by telling him all about the obstacles on the path, but he was amazed to see Dhruva’s determination. Finally, he asked Dhruva to purify himself by bathing in the Yamuna and taught him breathing and Yogic exercises. When Dhruva was ready for the next step, Narada taught him how to conquer his physical and mental conditioning and gave him a mantra to pray to Sri Hari. It is said that within six months, Dhruva started chanting the mantra with such intensity that Sri Hari, Lord Vishnu himself, appeared before him and blessed him. Meanwhile, the king was grieving the loss of his young son when Narada appeared before him and told him about Dhruva’s penance. The king welcomed Dhruva with open arms when he returned home, went on to rule for 36000 years, and then rose to the sky as Dhruv Tara, also called the North Star.

This story left here is already beautiful. However, my guru, Om Swami, added another dimension to this narrative in his Bhagvat Katha. (53 mins onwards)

After Dhruva achieves liberation, it causes a ripple of unrest in all the other saints meditating in the forest. They had been meditating all their life and had not glimpsed divinity. This young five-year-old had achieved liberation in six months and returned to rule a kingdom. The apparent unfairness started eating into their hearts. Narada again comes to rescue the situation. He visits Lord Sri Hari and tells him how the saints are questioning his decisions. Lord Sri Hari asks Narada to take all the saints on a boat journey across the river that flows in the jungle. During the crossing, they see an enormous white mountain. They ooh and aah in surprise since they have never been on this side of the river and ask Narada to tell them more about the mysterious white mountain. Narada tells them the mountain is made out of the bones of a human being. He then adds that it’s different people. They are the bones of Dhruva across the various lifetimes doing Sadhana for Sri Hari. The saints finally understand the value of what liberation means.

Applying this Wisdom to Work

I had promised last time that we would step outside the corporate realm for the next few posts. Today, I shared the story of the grand old man of India, one of my favorite authors Ruskin Bond. In today’s times, when everyone is telling you to run faster, reach higher, and work harder, Ruskin Bond’s writing is a gentle voice of sanity that tells you to relax and follow your heart. His writing is honest, straightforward, lyrical, and funny; reading it is a detoxifying experience.

When you read his memoir Lone Fox Dancing, you witness the sheer willpower he exerted to become a writer. You will read plenty of business books about strategies for success, tipping points, and learning skills for dummies. Ruskin Bond teaches you that there is one more recipe: to find what you are good at and keep doing it with sheer bloody-mindedness. However, what makes Ruskin Bond one of the most admired writers in India? Let’s take a peek into his life story to learn more about it.

Ruskin Bond was born in 1934 when the British still occupied India. He spent a part of his childhood in Jamnagar, where his father taught English to the royal princes. His parents had a troubled marriage, and when his father found a job in Delhi, he went with his mother to live with grandma.

His books are famous for his warm relationships with his grandparents and eccentric uncles. However, in real life, he never saw his grandfather. His grandmother disliked him because she believed he might have been born out of wedlock. She gave him a forced enema every few days to forcibly clean his gut. He was finally packed off to a Christian boarding school with Irish nuns who made life difficult for children. They only got religious books to read, and his escape was the colorful postcards sent by his father.

When he was eight, he moved to Delhi to stay with his father. He spent most of the day alone, reading books and wandering the roads. After spending a year with Dad, he attended the prestigious Bishop cotton school in Shima. This is where he was introduced to comics and action books that eulogized heroes from the Second World War. The school library was full of books left by departing teachers as the war was winding down and India moved toward independence. One day the entire world collapsed around him when he got a message that his father had died. His principal gave him the message and took all his father’s letters for safekeeping. When little Ruskin went to ask for them after a few months, the principal did not even remember taking them. Let’s read Ruskin’s reactions in his own words.

“I stood there for some time and then turned and walked away. The promise of adults had ceased to mean anything to me.”

Ruskin won several writing competitions at Bishops Cotton school, including the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize, and wrote one of his first short stories, “Untouchable,” at sixteen in 1951. He completed the Senior Cambridge Certificate and returned home, where his mother quizzed him about career choices. Most English-speaking Anglo-Indians ended up joining the army, managing tea estates, and becoming lawyers or doctors, but Ruskin stated he wanted to become a writer. He monopolized the use of the radio at home, and when his stepfather objected, Ruskin ran away from home. After struggling to survive for a few days, he came back home.

While Ruskin understood the value of shelter, they also understood his temperament. They gave him a separate room and a secondhand typewriter, and Ruskin started the draft of his famous book Room on the Roof. A few months later, he went to England for better prospects and stayed with his aunt and uncle. Ruskin found work in the Public Works department and found a friend in Mr. Bomley, a widower who lived close to his aunt’s house. Mr. Bomley loaned Ruskin money to buy his first typewriter and encouraged him to appear for the Civil Service Exam. Ruskin cleared the exam with flying colors but moved to London after a few days because he could not settle for a life of normalcy that did not involve writing. He kept refining his novel till it was finally published a few years later when he moved to India. He was so passionate about writing that he spent a couple of years eating mars bars, cheese of toast, and cheese sandwiches. This led to malnutrition and near loss of vision in his left eye. He moved back to India because London never felt like home and started sending his work to various publications. Most publications rejected his work, but he scraped by because he was a bachelor and had barely any living expenses. In the 1980s, Penguin set up shop in India and commissioned him to write a few books. Ruskin Bond and his writing took off, and he never looked back.

On a personal front, he never got into a serious relationship after heartbreak in London. Writing became his one true love. He spent most of his spare time typing away before graduating to pen and paper. A few years after moving to Mussorie, he met Prem, who started working in the Bond household as the ManFriday, who did all miscellaneous tasks. Two years later, Prem went off for a few weeks and returned with his wife Chandra, who took over all household duties. Ruskin was now free to devote all his time to writing, and he authored 64 books for children and more than five hundred short stories and articles. His one-pointed attention and devotion to his craft meant that Ruskin Bond would be remembered as one of India’s greatest authors.

Spiritual Lesson from The Story of Dhruva

Why does a five-year-old feel such a strong urge to renounce the world and do intense spiritual practice? My guru Om Swami answers it beautifully in a video titled “Why We Seek Moksha.”

Have you ever had a sense of Deja Vu in life? The feeling that you have lived this moment many times. It often happens when I speak to someone or walk around a mall. It feels like I am simply living my life on autopilot. At some point in time, every person encounters this situation in life. Depending on your tendencies and conditioning, you either retreat deeper into consumerism or start moving towards spirituality. Swami states that we you realize the pointlessness of leading a life dictated by your conditioning, you feel the need to escape this cycle. Many spiritual books in Sanatana Dharma, Buddhism, and other cultures explain the concept of liberation. I highly recommend If Truth Be Told by Om Swami and Fragrant Palm Leaves by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society captures the sheer pointlessness of our hard-fought successes. He narrated a heart-touching story of a youngster from a small town in India. His parents were from a small lower-middle-class family who worked very hard to get him admission to IIT and fund his studies. The boy then studied in the US and worked on Wall Street. After a few years, the boy confessed to his parents that now he felt empty. He said he earned more money in a month than his father had in his lifetime. He made millions of dollars for his company, but none of that was fulfilling. When he asked his parents what he should do next, they shrugged and said they had done everything they could and didn’t know the answer to his question. The boy confessed that it was only after coming to the Vedanta society and reading books by Swami Vivekananda that he got a sense of a higher purpose in life. Lastly, he asked Swami Sarvapriyananda why we did not teach this in our schools or colleges. (Navigate to 1 Hour and 5 minutes in the video.)

How Do You Get Started on The Spiritual Path
Most of us are regular householders who have to manage multiple responsibilities. Is it possible to aim for liberation, or is it simply a pipe dream? My Guru Om Swami has some beautiful advice for you.

Credit: Divya Vanshika for her beautiful post on OS.me about the journey of Dhruva. Ruskin’s Bond’s Autobiography: Lone Fox Dancing. Sunil Om and Meera Om for helping me locate the Bhagvat Katha video.