First Lesson

A prince in India named Yudhishthir was the heir apparent to the throne. When he was a boy he was reading with his brothers in school when the head master came to their classroom to examine them. He asked how far they had advanced, and the young boys laid before the master all they had read.

When the time came for Yudhishthir, the master put the usual question to him, and the boy opened the primer. He said in a cheerful tone, not the least ashamed, “I have learned the alphabet, and I have learned the first sentence.”

The master said, “Is that all? Have you learned nothing more?”

The boy hesitatingly said, ‘the second sentence.”

The master was exasperated. He expected the prince to apply himself to possess high knowledge and great wisdom, and not to be snail-slow. The master asked him to stand before him. He thought, to spare the rod was to spoil the child. That condition of mind made the master very cruel, and he began to thrash the boy, but the boy kept his calm, and was as cheerful and happy as ever. The master beat him for a few minutes and found no signs of anger, anxiety, fear, or sorrow on the beautiful face of the prince. His heart relented just looking at the boy.

The master reflected and said to himself, “What is the matter? How can this boy who by one word can have me dismissed, who is one day to rule all of India, be so calm? I am so severe on him and he does not resent it in the least. I was harsh to the other brothers and they resented it, but this boy reserves his temper. He is cheerful, calm and quiet.” Then the. eyes of the master tell upon the first sentence which the boy had learned.

In India primers do not begin with dogs and cats, they begin with God and beautiful advice. The first sentence after the alphabet in the book was “Never lose your temper, never get annoyed, have no anger.” The second sentence was “Speak the truth, always speak the truth.”

The boy said he had learned the first sentence, but he hesitatingly said he had learned the second sentence. Now the master’s eyes again fell upon the first sentence, “Lose not your temper, have no anger,” and then he looked at the face of the boy. One eye of the master was on the sentence in the book, and the other was on the face of the boy. The meaning of the sentence flashed through his mind.

The face of the boy told the meaning of the sentence. The face of the boy was the incarnation of the sentence written in the book, “Never get angry.” The calm, bright, happy, cheerful, and beautiful face of the prince brought home to the heart of the teacher the meaning of the sentence, “Never get angry.” The master transgressed; he had learned the substance of the sentence. originally through the lips. Now the master knew that this sentence was not to be talked out like a parrot, but could be lived, could be carried into effect, and then he realized how little was his own knowledge.

He felt ashamed within himself that he had not learned the first sentence, when a boy had really learned it. The boy, by learning something, did not mean learning it by rote, but by learning he meant practicing, carrying it into effect, realizing, feeling and becoming one with it. This was the meaning of learning to this boy.

The master now understood the meaning of learning. The stick fell from his hand and his heart relented. He took the boy and clasped him in his arms and kissed his forehead. He felt his own ignorance and his lack of practical knowledge to such an extent that he was ashamed of himself.

He patted the boy on the back and said, “Son, dear prince, I congratulate you on having truly learned at least one sentence. I do not even know one sentence. I get angry and lose my temper. Pity me, child, for you are more learned than I.”

When the master spoke in this manner, praising the boy, the boy said, “Father, father, I have not yet learned this sentence thoroughly, because I felt some signs of anger and resentment in my heart when I received the thrashing.”

He was speaking the meaning of the second sentence. He was speaking out the truth, when there was every temptation when he was being flattered to conceal his inner weakness. To reveal by his own acts the weakness lurking in his soul, the child proved that he had learned the second sentence also, “Speak the truth.” By his acts, through his life, he lived the second sentence.