Story of Sage Gautam & Ahalya
On way to Mithila, Vishwamitra told a story of deserted hermitage of Sage Gautama & Ahalya to Lord Rama.
Years ago, Lord Brahma created thro’ his imagination, an extremely beautiful Ahalya. She had exquisite features & was his most fascinating creation. Wanting to have the most qualified groom for her, he held a competition to assess the suitor’s worth to choose the right one. The condition was that one who would circumambulate the world fastest would get Ahalya’s hand.
All demigods including Indra wanted to marry her. They jumped into the fray mounting their divine vehicles and set off. Sage Gautama, also a participant, wisely had a different timesaving interpretation of the task. He circled a Cow instead. His logic – Mother Cow represents the entire universe. Brahma was floored by Sage’s knowledge & his wisdom and gave his daughter’s hand to the ideal groom Gautam.
Wisdom is the application of deeper truths of life in a way that is practical. The demigods were trying to be technically correct, but Gautam was practically correct. It requires wisdom to match expectations.
We also land up in situations when we are not able to apply the ideals & knowledge learnt. If it is not applied, it just has notional value.
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