Bannupath Jataka

- Nandita

In the ancient days when Bramhadatta was the king of Varanasi Bodhisattva was a merchant there in Varanasi . Naturally he had to go out of Varanasi frequently for business purpose.
Once Bodhisattva set out for a business trip. On his way, he had to pass through a vast desert. It was 2400 KM long. The sand of the desert was so fine that one could hardly hold it in one's fist. The fine sand slipped through the narrow space in between the fingers. The fine sand got awfully hot during the day time. None could dare to walk through the desert during the day time. They travelled during the night only. So did Bodhisattva. He along with his horde travelled through this horrible desert during the night. They took rest in the day time. They carried food, fire woods water and all the necessary items of daily use with them as nothing was available there in that fierce desert.
During day time they used to let loose their oxen. And they kept their carts in a circle so that they could fix up their tent at the middle of the circle. Having their lunch they took rest through out the day. With the setting sun when the surroundings got cool they resumed their journey once again.
The way a navigator navigates the ship with the help of the pole star to the right direction, the merchants in order to make their journey safe and secure in that fierce desert took the support of the navigators to navigate them to their destination with the help of the stars. So Bodhisattva also had appointed a pilot in his group and the pilot could guide the horde quite efficiently through that fierce desert. And thus Bodhisattva and his horde was about to cross the desert quite safely. It was only one day left to cross the desert for them. And Bodhisattva asked his people to throw the excess fire woods, water and other useless materials just to reduce the weight of the carts. And thus they set out in the evening towards their destination. As usual the pilot was there in the front cart as he was supposed to monitor the hordes. But as ill luck would have it the pilot himself who had been very tired for his continuous journey fell asleep so sound that the carts started running at the opposite direction. The carts ran at a wrong direction through out the night. And when the pilot woke up he shrieked "stop, stop you have to go in the opposite direction" but it was all in vain because the sun was about to rise. And to their utter dismay they saw that they had come back to the same place from where they had started in the previous night. And now they neither had water nor the fire woods. They lost their hearts. They got upset. Being terribly depressed they all lay under the carts. They all thought that there was no other way out but to starve and die. How could the hungry oxen pull the carts? So this desert would be their graveyard.
When all the people in the horde got depressed Bodhisattva alone thought that he must took the initiative to save his people. It was early in the morning. So it was not very hot. Bodhisattva started surveying the area, around to find out the water. And in one place he saw a bunch of grass. He immediately deciphered that there must be water underneath those grass. He asked his people to dig at the place. His people got back their spirit and started digging. But sorry not a single drop of water was found even after they had finished digging almost 60ft. Rather they found that there was a big stone under it. With them it was next to impossible to break that big stone So they all threw their spades and shovels and they became doubly depressed. They were quite sure of their death now. But Bodhisattva did not lose heart for a single time. He got down in the ditch and kept his ears on the stone and he heard the sound of waters. Immediately he came up and told his servant who was a mere young boy, "if you lose your confidence we all will die, you are the only hope left for me." Saying these words he handed over a big hammer to the boy and asked him to hit the stone bravely. The boy servant obeyed his master and hit the stone hard with that hammer and hurrah! the stone got broken at once and water sprang out. Everybody was happy. They took bath. They drank. The oxen were given water. They all were saved from the sure death.

Now let us record some of the situations of this story which are, in fact, the turning points of the story.
S1: The pilot slept.
S2: The people were hopeless.
S3: Bodhisattva found the bunch of grass in the desert.
S­4: The young boy hit the stone hard.
At one level, a leader is one who initiates.
Bodhisattva was the leader of the team. Because it was he who initiated the team for the purpose of business.
A leader is always committed to his group.
Bodhisattva alone tried to find out the way without expecting any kind of help or so from anyone from the group only because he was committed to the horde
But there was one more leader in the group. He is none other than the pilot. He was supposed to lead the team in the fierce desert. But he could not live up to his commitment. He proved himself very irresponsible.
Handling the situations prove the ability of a leader.
The handling of the situations of Bodhisattva shows that he is a leader per excellence. A leader never loses heart. Bodhisattva was all along cool—tranquil. Even when he found himself in sheer danger with his horde for no fault of his, he maintained his cool. It was because of that pilot that they were put into the crisis but Bodhisattva neither shouted at the pilot nor he blamed him. He rather read the situation with all his cool. And to be cool is one of the very important characteristics of a leader. And that is why he could over come his crisis and his horde was saved.
A leader understands whom to assign what. Bodhisattva handed over the hammer to the boy servant and he proved that Bodhisattva was right.
A leader never loses heart. He can see the silver lines always behind darkness.
When everybody lost his confidence, When all of them lay under the cart hopelessly, Bodhisattva alone was not depressed. Even in the last moment he faced the most difficult situation of breaking a big stone with a minor boy. Because a good leader is he who can explore the hidden potentials of his cadre. He motivates as well as inspires.