The court of King Janaka was the most dazzling place in all the land.
Golden lamps lined the great hall. Dancers moved like flames. Poets sang,
drummers drummed, and clever men argued bright clever arguments while the
crowd cheered and clapped. To be invited to Janaka's court was the dream of
every scholar in the kingdom. The food was endless, the praise was loud, and
everyone wanted to be seen.
Among the guests sat a young sage named Shuka. He had come because the king
had asked for him by name. But as the evening roared on, Shuka grew quieter
and quieter.
The noise pressed on him like a heavy hand. Everyone seemed to be performing
— laughing a little too loudly, speaking a little too cleverly, glancing
about to see who was watching them. The grand hall, for all its gold, felt
crowded and restless, like a pond churned to mud.
Inside Shuka, there was something he treasured more than any of this: a quiet
flame of love for the One, the truth at the heart of all things. In the din
of the court he could barely feel it. It was like trying to hear a single
soft note while a hundred drums were pounding.
When the king found him slipping toward the doors, Janaka — who was himself a
wise man — was not offended. "Where are you going, sage? Is my court not
grand enough?"
Shuka bowed with great respect. "Your court is the grandest I have ever seen,
O King. But grandeur is not what my heart is hungry for. There is a small,
steady love in me that I will not trade for all this gold — and it speaks
only in the quiet. So I am going to find a still place by the river, under
the open sky, where I can listen to it without losing it in the noise."
King Janaka looked at the young sage for a long moment. Then he smiled and
nodded. "Go, then. You understand something my whole shining court has
forgotten. The loudest place is not always the fullest. Sometimes the
emptiest, quietest spot holds the most of all."
Shuka walked out into the cool night. Behind him the music faded. Ahead, the
river murmured under the stars, and his heart's small flame grew bright and
steady again — burning only for the One it loved.
