Make Him A Minister For Punishment

A wandering ascetic came across a dog that has been barking continuously. The ascetic has phobia of dogs. So, he could not bear the barking of the dog. He thought, “If I move forward the dog might bite him; so before the dog could do any harm to me I need to hit the dog so that the dog would not do any harm to me.” The beaten dog runs to the most judicious king for justice. The king could not judge so asks the dog, “what sort of punishment I should give the ascetic?” The dog tells the king to make the ascetic a minister.

The ascetic hit the dog with his stick so hard that the dog ran away without looking back. The ascetic went on his way.

The dog has run to the most pious and judicious king called Rama. The king has been famous for bringing his own spouse to justice. So, the dog went to Rama for justice.

King Rama listened to the dog and then sent for the ascetic to hear his reason for beating the dog. The messengers brought the ascetic to King Rama.

Rama asked the ascetic, “Why did you beat the dog?”

Ascetic said, “The dog was barking in my way. So, in order to avoid his bite I hit the dog.”

Rama said, “Did the dog attempted to bite you?”

Ascetic said, “No, the dog was continuously barking.”

Rama said, “The duty of a dog is to bark. So, the dog barking in the way was simply doing his duty.”

Rama found the ascetic guilty for beating the dog. However, Rama has difficulty to find out what punishment the ascetic should get. So Rama turned to the dog and asked the dog, “What punishment the ascetic should get for beating you?”

The dog replied, “Make him a minister.”

Rama was surprised very much and asked the dog, “Why do you want to make the ascetic a minister as a punishment for beating you?”

The dog said, “As a minister he would commit many sins. He would make his daughter a minister, and his brother an ambassador, give the donations from the state treasury and any other things as gifts to his wife for running her non-governmental organization, make his illiterate sister the head of academy, sell the government assets and buy many things that are not even required for the state for earning commissions, employ his cadres to the government positions even though they are holding fake certificates; ultimately, he becomes a dog as I am. I was also a minister before being a dog.”

Corrupt Prime Minister becomes a bitch, unscrupulous Deputy Prime Ministers become spotty dogs, and corrupt ministers become stray dogs.

Note: Svami Haridass told this story in his religious discourse aired in the morning program of the state-run Radio Nepal on October 24, 2009.