Guru Nanak transformed a demented cannibal by uttering but a word. (Watch the new animated story here)
The story of Kauda Raksh is classic and timeless. It's message is imparted to us implicitly. The message is that with Guru's Grace any heart can be transformed.
We all have people in our own lives who have shown low character, are abusive, who've crossed the line, who have offended and wronged us or others in any number of ways. I'm sure if you think about it for a second it won't take long to conjure someone who is on the internal blacklist. If we predict that their negative behavior in any given circumstance, we are usually right. It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that people fall into negative patterns again and again. The more one solidifies that behavior, the more sure the prediction becomes.
Now let's take a moment to think of how depraved a person would have to be to take it upon themself to eat other humans. It shows a consideration for human life being insignificant, it speaks a sub-human animal like thinking that is beyond comprehension for most of us. Whoever is abusive in our lives surely a cannibal who captures and eats unsuspecting travelers is a level of depravity surely worse. How could such a person open their heart? How could they stand out of that animal state and be human again? How could they be noble among humans much less?!
That is what is so significant about this story. It not just demonstrates the greatness of Guru Nanak, it demonstrates the potential of the most hardened heart to soften.
This story imparts this message simply and implicitly to children. For adults it invites us to contemplate the story behind the story. It invokes us to explore a moment of significant silence. A few pages can be written about the interaction of the cannibal with Mardana and Guru Nanak.... yet there are unknown volumes that can be written about the silence in the middle of the story. The moment that Kauda saw Guru's face... what really happened in that short time? What may have looked like seconds to outsiders could have been a whole journey for him. In that moment of silence maybe he experienced being seen for who he truly was like he'd never before. In that moment of silence maybe he felt that Guru ji could see right through him, he had nothing to hide, that Guru could see all of his grossness... and yet still saw goodness in his heart. In that moment of silence maybe he experienced a love that he never received from any friends or family.
The radical transformation of the story may seem simplistic and hard to believe from an adult perspective when we've seen many people who have not transformed in this way. Yet the real take away is what can we do to recreate that moment of silence. Lifetimes of bhagti and prayer, countless hours of inner search and heart opening... all to share with a hungry soul... in one precious moment of need. THAT is what we are invited to do.
In an effort to further spread these important teachings to the younger generation SikhNet is animating our audio stories. Guru Nanak and the Cannibal is now available in video form:
