"Don't follow the BLIND, but follow the WISE LEADERS" | #story from #ancient #vedic #history

18 Oct 2023 · 2 min

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In this short narrative, the speaker recounts a story told by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada about a man named Sagal Singh who was deeply attached to his donkey. When the donkey died, Sagal Singh mourned by wearing black clothing. Observing his grief, a shopkeeper began wearing black without asking why, followed by a minister, and eventually the entire town, including the king’s minister, adopted the black attire. When questioned, each person simply mimicked the previous without understanding the original reason. Prabhupada uses this anecdote to illustrate how people often follow others blindly, without investigating the underlying purpose or truth, urging listeners to seek the true goal of life rather than imitate unexamined behaviors.

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Prabhupada used to tell us a story, the story of Sagal Singh. So there was one man who was very attached to his donkey. So many people are attached to so many different things. So this man's donkey died and he became very, very sad. So he started wearing a black dress, you know, like when people dye their hair and show their sorrow. So another man came to his shop And he saw this man was wearing a black dress. So without asking any questions, he also started wearing a black dress. The minister of the king came to the shop. He saw that he was wearing a black dress, so he also started wearing a black dress. So slowly, slowly, the whole town was wearing black dress. So the king said, why is everyone wearing black dress? He called the minister and asked him, why are you wearing black dress? He said, I don't know, I just saw that shopkeeper wearing black dress, I'm also wearing black dress. So finally The minister of the king went to the shopkeeper and said, "I started wearing black dress after seeing you wearing black dress. Why were you wearing black dress?" And he said, "My dear donkey to whom I was so attached, he died. So I was mourning his death." So because he was wearing a black dress because his donkey died, the whole town started wearing a black dress. No, Prabhupāda said, people are just following the blind without investigating what is the goal of life.