Once a certain king was jealous of Bhaskarananda’s name and fame, although in his heart he secretly admired the Master. The king wanted to test Bhaskarananda to see if he had conquered his senses, his lower vital. So one night he sent three most beautiful women of ill repute to Bhaskarananda’s home to tempt him in various ways.

Bhaskarananda got furious and ordered them to leave his house immediately; otherwise, he threatened to punish them mercilessly. Two of the women left out of fear, but one of them was brave enough or foolish enough to stay. So Bhaskarananda used his occult power and brought a huge snake into the room. The snake encircled the woman and pinned her to the ground so that she was unable to escape. The woman was frightened almost to death.

Because the woman did not come back, her two friends thought that she had been successful with the Master. Her friends were happy and miserable both?happy because at least one of them had succeeded in lowering the Master’s consciousness, and miserable because they were jealous that she was the one who had been successful. After a few hours they went back to Bhaskarananda’s home, and then they saw the pitiful condition of their friend.

The two women went and reported the matter to the king, and the king became sad because he was the cause of that particular woman’s suffering. So the king went to Bhaskarananda’s house to see the pitiful plight of this woman. He begged the Master to forgive her, and admitted that he was the one who was behind all this.

Bhaskarananda forgave the king and the woman and said, “Don’t try to tempt spiritual people. This time I am allowing her to go with her life, but in the future, if she or anybody else comes to tempt me, I will just destroy that person immediately. Nobody should deliberately try to tempt spiritual people.” Then gradually the snake disappeared.

Commentary:

Temptation is the order of the day; it attacks almost everyone. But real spiritual Masters are true exceptions. The human tendency is such, however, that it is difficult for a human being to see in others striking capacities that are not manifested in himself. He sees others according to his own capacities. But he forgets that there can be and there are people who far surpass him and who do not have the same weaknesses that he has.

When people try to tempt the true spiritual Masters, the Masters either ignore them or threaten them. If they ignore them, these undivine people may wait for another occasion to come and tempt the Master. But if the Master is strict with them and threatens them or frightens them, then the culprits will not dare to try to tempt the Master again.

Sri Chinmoy