The Cobra

This is a story I have heard many a time from my own teacher, only to re-discover it, in light of a recent life experience. It has offered a fresh and new meaning to me. I would like to share it with you all. Your emails and messages are very encouraging and I would like to thank you for them all. Yes I will keep writing and I promise to do so more often:)

Once upon a time there lived a cobra inside a hole beside a tree. The tree was close to a village and whenever the locals used to pass by, the snake used to attack and bite them all. Needless to say they were all very scared to go near the tree and generally avoided that route because of the wicked snake.

Now one day, a holy man named Hafiz was passing by the tree and being new to these parts, he decided to rest under it. So he put his little knapsack down and settled down for a nice nap. The snake slithered out of his hole in the ground and was surprised to see the man there.

In great anger he slid over and was about to bite him when Hafiz instantly awoke and asked him - "Brother snake why do you wish to bite me? Didi I hurt you in any way?"
The snake was confused and replied "er no," then went on to say "but you're sitting under my tree and I'm going to bite you because of that. I do not like sharing my space."

Hafiz laughed at the snake and then asked him "Eventually my brother, we are all going to leave this place, will this tree go along with you?"
The snake was astonished at the holy man's fearlessness and asked him-"Are you not afraid of me? I am going to kill you in a moment."Hafiz replied " Death comes to us all, anyday, any time, you do not scare me."
The snake felt some remorse. For the first time as far as he could remember, he stopped, he did not bite..

He then told the man" Sir I only bite the people who pass by because of fear. If I dont hurt them first, they will hurt or kill me, so to prevent that, I bite them all so that I can be safe."

The Holy man talked of compassion, of kindness, of love to the snake and the snake resolved never to bite anyone ever again. In a while Hafiz walked away on his own mystic journey.The snake looked back at the village and the people in the distance, little children, running, playing happily and tears welled up in hs eyes. He felt love and compassion for the first time in his life. He resolved again never to hurt another soul, no matter what.

One year later Hafiz passed by the same tree again and was absolutely shocked to see the snake lying pityfully, ragged like a broken tattered rope near his hole in the ground. He tended to the snake and healed him in time, giving him medicenes and water and food. When he was able to speak, the snake cried in the old mans arms saying "Holy sir, I did what you asked of me and see what became of me as a result. I loved these people I never harmed or bit anybody and they lost their fear of me. They then started to do whatever they felt like. They threw stones at me, burnt my home in the ground and the children even used me for a skipping rope. Why sir? Is this what happens to the compassionate?"

The Holy man paused in thought for a moment and smiled at the snake. He told him"My brother, I asked you not to hurt anyone,that is correct, but I did not ask you to allow others to hurt you or do wrong to you. Compassion is strength not a weakness where you allow others to walk all over you. To allow something wrong to occur is a weakness and promotes that wrong-doing. I told you not to bite, however, I did not tell you not to hiss."

The snake understood and from then on got back to normalcy in his life. He never bit anyone again but he began hissing at passers by. Eventually people tread carefully when passing by. Children did not attempt to hurt the snake and he acquired a respect he never knew before. He learnt the meaning of true compassionthat it is a source of strength and an expression of love. He lived the rest of his life in peace.


We have all been like that snake some time in our lives have'nt we? Going to extremes, bite or be bitten and later on in remorse, we allow other mouths to bite us back. Until we learn the meaning of balance, we keep swaying with our swords and shields, attacking and defending, to and fro, back and forth and the drama never ends. But balance compassion as your strength and then you have something unique flowering in the cave of your heart.

I was embroiled in a situation recently where I was far too passive with someone I knew and cared about very much. Unfortunately there was a lot of negativity coming at me and I did not allow this person the opportunity to know that this was wrong and destructive to the both of us. As a result this person lost all respect for me. It was wrong on my part, I should have stood up for myself and spoken when I had to. I should have drawn the line about what was acceptable when it was needed. true compassion would have compelled me to point out an error in judgement and save this person much guilt in the future. I held back because of fear of loss of the relationship and herein lay my mistake. But I learnt the lesson this relationship had to offer.

I believe that love or compassion should not be allowed to disguise once's weaknesses. If you allow pain and suffering to others and what we never care to acknowledge - ourselves, then it cannot be true love or compassion. This form of compassion or love is tainted with fear-a fear of loss or a fear of not having one's desires fulfilled. As long as fear exists, how can love be pure? True love and true compassion will enrich our own awareness and that of those around us; They give rise to courage - to act when necessary and thereby allow any negativity if present, to come to an end in time.

May we have faith in ourselves and in everything we set out to do.

There is the fear that we shan't prove worthy in the eyes of someone who knows us at least as well as we know ourselves. That is the fear of God. And there is the fear of Man- fear that men won't understand us and we shall be cut off from them. --Robert Frost

If you don't love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others. (Dalai Lama)