King Vasudeva and stupid donkeys......

In life, one comes across many twists and turns of events, when one tries to accomplish a task and on the path comes across not one but a few irritating obstacles. There is nothing wrong for one to stoop down a little, humor someone, even though that person is not worth it, just to finish the task in hand.

The same is learnt from the apocryphal story about Lord Krishna, when he was born in the jail of evil Kansa, as a child to King Vasudeva and his wife Devaki, and was to be shifted to the safe abode of King Nanda and his wife Yashoda, in Gokul across the river Yamuna.  King Vasudeva was given the divine opportunity to escape the jail when all the guards were sleeping for this transfer and return to the jail within a short time, before the guards woke up. On his way, in the dark night, with the newborn baby in a basket on his head, King Vasudeva came across a herd of donkeys.  The stupid donkeys thought this to be an opportune moment to make the King touch their feet, just to appease their vanity. So they threatened the King that they would bray loudly thus waking up the guards, if their demand was not fulfilled. The king had no option but to acquiesce to their demand, fearing the paucity of time and touched their feet one by one.  

While the stupid donkeys were relishing their ridiculous achievement, King Vasudeva completed his divine task of safely transferring Lord Krishna to Gokul and came back to the jail in Mathura, without being noticed by any of the guards.

Sometimes, it is better to swallow one’s ego and stay focused on the task to complete it.  To achieve this, even if one has to please someone who is not deserving, it is better to do it, so that the job is completed. There is absolutely nothing to feel ashamed of or frustrated in doing so; after all, there is a grand satisfaction in achieving the success of completing the job.