Three Men & the Garden

There was a splendid garden once,

where all the ill thoughts would cease,

where the air was sweetly scented and

everything else was at peace.

Came three men dressed in white

leaving behind coins and beauty; when

they sat in awe and saw before them

a shovel, a Bible and a pen.

Said the first man picking the pen

“No object in the world can equal its might.

To please the gardener to his flowers

with this pen shall I write”.

Followed the second with a firmer voice,

“To nothing else around will I pay heed;

am sure to put a smile across

whilst this Bible I thoroughly read”.

Spoke the third stepping forward,

“Easiest for everyone having taken birth;

to get off the wheels,

with this shovel shall I dig the earth”.

Not a word was spoken thence;

to themselves they had promises to keep.

Each sat completely in his task consumed,

in serene solitude buried deep.

Eventually the ice was broken;

the three started exchanging a words few,

“Your chores are low as compared to mine”,

each said to the other two.

Not only confined to mocking they were,

each became more than just a verbal fighter:

they howled & screamed at the top of their voices

when appeared a wise man donned whiter.

“The place is unfit for you”, he said

“uselessly showing each other whos’ bold.

Come not to this garden again until

your mind and not your body grows old”.

The three men left the garden speechless

not even once daring to look behind

and the wise man sat quietly in the garden again

where he still awaits more of his kind.

The scene is a parallel to the one depicted in Hindu Mythology. The three objects are the three paths of attaining MOKSHA or salvation. The pen indicates knowledge(jyana), Bible is for devotion(bhakti) and the shovel represents duty(karma). The three men choose different paths to attain salvation, abandoning all physical objects of personal interest(coins, beauty and hen). But they fail to understand that mere detachment from worldly objects is not the key but they'll have to purify themselves from within, for all three are doing so to impress the 'gardener' ie Lord Krishna and to get rid of the cycle of life and death. But the Lord says that one should keep performing the task without keeping in mind the fruit that it will bear.

Secondly the quarrel indicates the ego which again people find difficult to do away with. The 'Wise Man' ie the Lord himself, tells them that unless you give up your ego you cannot attain salvation. The Lord wants people to com to Him more than themselves which is evident by the line "he still awaits more of his kind" signifying that once you do away with both external and internal barriers, you will be one with Him.