He should decide who among the two parties to the dispute was entitled to get the property, having a value of ten crore rupees.
He had written a major part of his judgement. He had recorded the arguments of both the sides. He had to analyze the arguments of both the sides, decide the argument of which side had more weight and give the reasons for his decision.
He would have to write about twenty more pages.
He would have to write about twenty more pages.
Twenty!
That number took his mind on a different dimension.
Twenty lakh rupees!
Twenty lakh rupees!
That was the sum offered to him, if he would write the judgement in their favour!
One morning, when he was doing his morning walk, as per his routine, an elderly gentleman who walked along with him made this offer to him. When he angrily rejected the overture, the old man advised him that maintaining calmness would be good for him.
After that, through different sources, a message was passed on to him. If he wrote the judgement in favour of a particular side, he would be paid twenty lakh rupees. Details about how, when and through what means it would be paid to him, without the possibility of being detected by anyone, were revealed to him.
When he pointed out to them that even if he were to give the judgement in favour of one particular side, the other side would go for appeal, they bluntly told him not to bother about such questions. 'When we could take care of the judgement at the lower level, don't we know how to take care of the judgement at the higher level?' they asked him rhetorically.
All these years, he had never swerved from his strict adherence to neutrality. He had been highly respected for his integrity. Even those above him, who had no compunction about compromising their honesty, looked at him with respect.
'Why do I feel tempted? Why is my mind wavering in a way it has never done all these years?'
Is the thought of living a comfortable life after retirement, using the unexpected bonanza just before retirement, luring him?
He was not sure. But, for the first time, he felt a wavering feeling in his mind. That is why, contrary to his practice of making his judgement ready two days before it was to be delivered, he had been dragging the writing of his judgement till the last moment.
He came to a decision.
He had been honest all along. Why shouldn't he compromise his honesty just once, for the sake of money?
He sat down and completed writing his judgement.
He had a habit of writing the judgement by his own hand, reading it in the court and then get it typed. He had been following this practice with a meticulous concern for secrecy that even his typist shouldn't know about the judgement, before it was delivered in the court.
He woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. His head was aching. He took a pill and went back to bed again. But the headache persisted. He was unable to sleep. The intensity of the headache kept increasing.
He remembered an incident from the past.
About thirty years back, he had a sudden attack of migraine. The ache would strike him suddenly and last for several hours. It would be like someone boring his head with a drilling machine.
He suffered from this ache for several years. He tried various treatments. But there was no relief from the pain.
Once he had been to the temple of his family deity. He appealed to the deity, posing the question, 'I have been living an honest life, without committing even a tiny wrong. Why do you punish me like this?'
In a few months, the occurrence of migraine gradually got reduced and then stopped completely. His wife said that it was the Sidhdha medicine he had been taking that had cured him. But, he believed that it was his appeal to his family deity that produced the effect.
In a few months, the occurrence of migraine gradually got reduced and then stopped completely. His wife said that it was the Sidhdha medicine he had been taking that had cured him. But, he believed that it was his appeal to his family deity that produced the effect.
When he thought of the past, he wondered whether the migraine was returning to him.
He suffered for a long time, unable to bear the ache.
'Oh, God! Why are you punishing me like this?' he cried silently.
He recalled the appeal he had made to his family deity many years back, when he was suffering from a severe attack of migraine.
'At that time, I asked my deity why He was punishing me when I had not committed any wrong. Can I make the same appeal now?'
He sensed a clarity appearing in his mind, even amidst the intensity of the headache.
He sensed a clarity appearing in his mind, even amidst the intensity of the headache.
He got up from his bed and took out the sheets of paper on which he had written his judgement.
He tore down the last twenty pages of the judgement and rewrote them on new sheets of paper. His hands moved swiftly, as if empowered by a force from inside.
After completing the judgement, he kept it at a safe place and went back to bed.
The ache had still not subsided. Perhaps, it would, after he had read out the judgement in the court.
Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue
The Path of Virtue
Chapter 12
Neutrality
Neutrality
Verse 116 (In Tamil)
keduval yAn enbadhu aRiga than nenjam
naduvorI alla seyin.
naduvorI alla seyin.
Meaning:
One should know that if he goes against his conscience and swerves from the path of neutrality, he will face ruin.
(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'mARRi ezhudhiya thIrppu' by the same author)
Verse 117 (Soon)
Verse 115
Verse 115
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