Page 53 - Desire to Disaster

He could not help that as a crow, his voice was loud, harsh,
unmusical and irritating to the human ear.

The king was now well and truly angry. Despite shooing it
away repeatedly, the crow kept coming back and crowing
raucously, disrupting the mood and tempo of the music
concert taking place in the park, at the behest of the king. The
angry king picked up his bow and arrow and aimed an arrow
at the poor crow. Instead of realising that he was in mortal
danger, continued crowing loudly, thrilled that he could see
Sunanda’s beautiful face. He was unable to perceive anything
around him.

It was a tragedy waiting to happen. The king was ready, his
bow arched, ready to propel an arrow that would kill the poor
crow. But the besotted crow was blind to this danger. He was
gazing with rapt attention at Queen Sunanda’s beautiful face.
Unwittingly, he was part of a tableau, with the king with his
arched bow and arrow, and the queen with her gorgeous face
were the other components of the tableau.

What was about to happen? Would the arrow be released?
Would the crow get killed?

An Arrow for the Crow
The angry king shot the crow with an arrow. Being an expert
marksman, his arrow found its target. The arrow hit the crow
and penetrated deep into his body. He fell to the ground. He
was in excruciating pain. He had now forgotten his ecstatic
crowing upon seeing Sunanda’s gorgeous face. He was in
intense agony. To add insult to injury, his beloved queen was
present in front of him but did nothing to pull out the arrow
or alleviate his pain in any way.

We do not know how karma works. It is very subtle. But
we have to live through its consequences! At times, one is
Desire to Disaster 53