Obedient Disciples

One day while they were on their way to a distant town, Guru Gampar fell asleep in the bullock cart they were travelling in. His head rolled from side to side and suddenly his turban slipped from his head and fell on to the road. But as their guru had told them never to do anything without his permission, none of the disciples made a move to get down and pick it up.

When the guru woke up and was told about the loss of his turban he was furious. "Next time anything falls off pick it up at once!" he thundered.

Some time later the bullock dropped its dung and the four foolish disciples leaped down and picked it up. Guru Gampar was horrified. He made a list of the things that could fall off from a moving cart. "Pick up any of these things if they fall," he told them, handing them the list. "Don't pick up anything that is not mentioned here."

Just then the cart lurched violently and Guru Gampar was thrown headlong into a ditch. Guru Gampar yelled to his disciples to pull him out.

"We can't, guruji," said his disciples, sadly. "Your name is not on the list you gave us." Guru Gampar pleaded with them to pull him out, but in vain.

"We know you are testing us, guruji," they told him. "But you can rest assured that we will never disobey you. You told us not pick up anything that was not mentioned in your list and we will not do so."

"Give me the list!" yelled Guru Gampar. They threw him the list and the pen and the guru hastily scrawled his name on it.

Then and then only did the obedient disciples pull their beloved guru out of the ditch and put him back into the cart !

Moral : Obedience has to be backed with Conscience and Prudence, otherwise it becomes just a silly act.