The Story of Rantideva

In the glorious days of old India,
when men loved to know the Lord and walk in his ways unceasingly, there lived a patriarch whose virtues were extolled in heaven and on earth. He was a king and had a large family and retinue, but it never occurred to him that they might ever come to want. For was it not true that all the necessities of life would be brought to his door if he trusted in the Lord and served his fellow beings, looking upon them all as the veritable image of Hari, the Lord of the universe?

And, strangely enough, food, clothing, and all that he needed used to come to him, though he never toiled like other men. The king was quite satisfied with what he obtained by depending thus upon the Lord, and he shared his benefits with all around him. His hospitality was famous, for never would he say nay to anyone, however low his caste might be, who came to him for food or drink. The sympathy of the good king for all beings knew no bounds. He tried in every way to supply their wants and felt grieved when he had not the power to do so. Thus years rolled on, and the king was glad to think that the Lord Hari had made him the refuge of the destitute and the needy.

But there came a time when the king himself was in want and what he had was not enough for himself and his dependents. It was indeed a period of great trial for him, but he kept on relieving the distress of the poor, as formerly, and placed his entire confidence in the Lord. The scarcity grew worse, but he would not think of feeding himself and those that he called his own before he had satisfied the hunger of the poor who came for his help. Thus, many a day, the virtuous king had to go without food, but he was happy to think that by depriving himself he could serve his suffering fellow-beings.

The famine grew worse still, and there came a day when he found he had nothing to offer to the needy who came to his door, nor anything with which to feed himself and his family. Nothing came to him, even though at this time he rested his faith more than ever upon the Lord. And now he, with all his dependents, fasted day after day, but never did he relinquish his belief in the power and righteousness of Hari. Forty-eight days he had thus lived without any food, when a pot of porridge, made of flour, milk, and ghee, was brought to him. By that time the king and his people could hardly move, so much overcome were they by the hunger, thirst, and weakness of body occasioned by their fast.

Now just as they were about to take their meal, who should appear but a hungry Brahmin, much in need of food. The king, receiving him with respect as the image of Hari, gave him part of the porridge. When the Brahmin, satisfied, went away, immediately there came in a Sudra, who also begged for food. The king straightaway satisfied the Sudra with a portion of the remainder of the porridge. Then entered a Chandala, accompanied by dogs. From his wretched tale it appeared that he and his dogs had not had any food for many days. The king gave him a hearty welcome, and saluting him and his dogs as Hari, offered him the rest of the porridge. Now there was nothing left for the starving king and his family excepting a little drink. At this juncture a man of even a lower caste than a Chandala entered and asked the king for a drink, as he was dying of thirst. The noble king, seeing him faint with thirst and exhaustion, addressed him in these gracious words: “I desire not of the Lord the greatness which comes by the attainment of the eightfold powers, nor do I pray him that I may not be born again; my one prayer to him is that I may feel the pain of others, as if I were residing in their bodies, and that I may have the power to relieve their pain and making them happy.” So saying, the king gave the man to drink, and noted at once that his own fatigue, hunger, thirst, and the unrest and despondency of his mind, had all disappeared; he had thus, by ministering to the wants of another, restored himself.

Now the rulers of the different spheres, who could shower wealth and power on those that worshipped them, and in particular the greatest of them all, Maya – the creative principle of Vishnu, and the mistress of the universe – appeared before the devoted king and told him to worship them all, in order that he might attain the riches of this world and so become free forever from the wants from which he had been suffering so sorely. The king saluted them as the different forms of Hari, his only beloved, but asked for nothing, since he had no desire for the things of this world, even though he had suffered from the want of them. He rested his heart on Hari, loving and worshipping him without any thought of selfish gain. Then Maya, the queen of the world, finding him thus determined not to worship her for what she had offered, disappeared, together with her attendants, like a dream.

Through the great love which he had for his fellow-beings this noble king Rantideva became a yogi, and realized Hari, the one indivisible ocean of existence, wisdom, and bliss, the Soul of all souls, knowing whom one attains to everlasting blessedness and becomes free from all wants and doubts. As a result of the exemplary life of this great king, his followers also devoted themselves to the worship of Narayana, and ultimately they too became yogis.

(This is one of my favorite stories from the Bhagavatam)

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Bodhisattvacharya
Shantideva

3(6) By whatever positive force I’ve built up
Through all of these that I’ve done like that,
May I remove every suffering
Of all limited beings.

3(7) So long as wandering beings fall sick,
May I serve as the medicine,
The doctors and their nurse,
Until they’ve been cured of their illness.

3(8) May I eliminate the pain of hunger and thirst
With a shower of food and drink;
And, in the times of the middle eons of famine,
May I myself change into food and drink.

3(10) To fulfil the aims of all limited beings,
I give, without sense of a loss,
My body and likewise my pleasures,
And all my positive forces of the three times.

3(11) Giving away everything (brings) nirvana,
And my mind is (aimed) for realising nirvana.
As giving away all comes together (with death),
It’s best to give (now) to limited beings.

3(12) Having given this body to all those with limited bodies
To do with as they like,
It’s up to them to do what they want:
Let them kill it, revile it, always beat it, or whatever.

3(13) Let them toy with my body,
Make it into a source of ridicule or a joke.
Having given away this body of mine,
For what should I hold it dear?

3(14) Let them do whatever to (my) body,
So long as it doesn’t cause them harm;
But may it never turn out to be meaningless
For anyone to be focused for any time on me.

3(15) If anyone, who might be focused on me,
Develops an angry or unkind thought,
May that always turn into a cause
For fulfilling all of his or her aims.

3(16) And may everyone who speaks badly of me,
Or does something else that’s of harm,
Or likewise hurls ridicule at me,
Become someone with the fortune for a purified state.

3(17) May I be a guardian for those with no guardian,
A pathfinder for those who are on the road,
And a boat, a ship, and a bridge
For those who would cross.

8(119) So, I shall not turn away from what’s difficult to do,
Since, through the force of familiarity like this,
That very person whose name I was even afraid to hear
(Can become) someone, without whom, I can have no joy.

8(120) Thus, anyone who wishes to give safe direction
Swiftly to himself and others
Needs to practice the most sacred secret:
The exchange of self with others.

8(125) “If I were to give, what would I have to enjoy myself?”
Such thinking of my own self-aims is the way of clutching ghosts.
“If I were to enjoy it myself, what would I have to give?”
Such thinking of the aims of others is a quality of the divine.

8(126) Paining others for my own self-aims,
I’ll be tormented in joyless realms and the like;
But paining myself for the aims of others,
I’ll acquire all glories.

8(127) Through the wish for just myself to advance
Come the worse rebirth states, low status, and stupidity;
But transferring that very (wish) to others
Brings the better rebirth states, honor, (and intelligence).

8(128) Ordering others around for my own self-aims,
I’ll experience being a servant and worse;
But ordering myself around for the aims of others,
I’ll experience being a lord and better.

8(129) All whosoever who are happy in the world
Are (so) through the wish for the happiness of others;
While all whosoever who are miserable in the world
Are (so) through the wish for the happiness of themselves.

8(130) But what need is there to elaborate more?
Just look at the difference between the two:
An infantile person acting for his own self-aims
And Sage (Buddha) acting for the aims of others.

8(131) For those who haven’t exchanged their happiness
For the sufferings of others,
Buddhahood will be impossible to attain
And there will be no happiness even in samsara.

8(134) Whatever violence there is in the world,
And as much fear and suffering as there is,
All of it arises from grasping at a self:
So what use is that terrible demon to me?

8(135) If I don’t fully drop (such) a self,
I won’t be able to drop my suffering;
Just as if I don’t fully drop a fire,
I won’t be able to drop being burned.

8(136) Therefore, for the sake of quelling my own suffering
And for quelling the sufferings of others as well,
I shall give myself over to others,
And take (others) on as myself.

8(140) Creating in lesser beings and so forth (the sense of) a “me”
And creating in yourself (the sense of) others,
Meditate on envy, rivalry, and arrogance (like this),
With a mind free from prejudiced thoughts

8(155) O mind, countless eons have passed
In your obsessive quest for your own self-aims;
Yet, with such enormous exhaustion as that,
All you’ve procured is just suffering.

8(161) So, deprive yourself of your happiness
And take onto yourself the sufferings of others.
Investigate what’s the fault of this “me,” by asking,
“When does this one do anything (for others)?”

8(162) Any mistake that others might make,
Transform it (by seeing it) as the fault of this “me”;
But any, even minor mistake that this “me” might make,
Openly admit it to many people.

8(163) With declarations that the renown of others is superior,
Let it outshine the renown of this “me”;
And like the lowest of servants,
Set this “me” to (doing) what’s of benefit for all.

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This is one of my favorite sutras.
My favorite verses are: 3(14)(15)(16) & 8(29)(30)(31)
I only wish I was able to practice them better.