The Gleaner

In Kurukṣetra there lived a sage named Mudgala, who lived by gleaning grain, true in his speech and free from envy, who kept the vow of welcoming guests. Like a dove, he and his wife and son gathered grain for a fortnight until they had a droṇa measure of rice, and at the new moon and the full moon they offered it to the gods and to guests, and lived on what was left. Indra himself and the gods took their share at every offering. And the grain grew as he gave it, so that hundreds of brahmins ate from it.

Durvāsa heard of him, and came to him naked, with no settled look about him, like a madman, his hair shaved, speaking all kinds of harsh words. I have come for food, best of sages, he said. Welcome, said Mudgala, and gave him water for his feet and to sip, and set before him the food he had won by his austerity, with the greatest faith. Durvāsa, who was hungry, ate all of it, and then smeared the leavings over his body and went away as he had come.

At the next offering he came again and ate everything, and the sage went without food and gleaned again. Hunger could not change Mudgala. No anger, no envy, no sense of insult, no agitation entered him, or his wife or son. Six times Durvāsa came at the time of the offering, and six times he found Mudgala's mind clear and pure and unchanged.

Then Durvāsa was pleased and said to him: There is no giver in the world like you, without envy. Hunger drives out the sense of dharma, of what is right, and takes away steadiness. The tongue drags a man after tastes. Life depends on food, and the mind is restless and hard to hold. To keep the mind and senses fixed on one point is austerity, and to give away with a pure heart what one has won by toil is hard. You have done all of it. We are pleased with you and blessed by meeting you. Self-mastery and steadiness, sharing and restraint and calm, kindness and truth and dharma are all firmly in you. You have won the worlds by your deeds. The dwellers of heaven proclaim your giving. You will go to heaven in your own body.

As he was speaking, a messenger of the gods came for Mudgala in a sky chariot drawn by swans and cranes. But Mudgala asked the messenger what heaven was like, and when he had heard its joys and its faults, that even there merit runs out and men fall, he sent the messenger away, left his gleaning, and gave himself to knowledge and meditation, until he reached the eternal attainment that is called nirvāṇa.