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pundits saw Ashtavakra as he entered the royal court. They were all learned scholars. His body was bent and deformed in eight places: he had just to move and anyone would start laughing. His very movement was a laughing matter.
The whole meeting broke into laughter. Ashtavakra also roared with laughter. Janak asked, "Everyone else is laughing. I can understand why they laugh, but why did you laugh, my son?"
Ashtavakra said, "I am laughing because truth is being decided in this conference of butchers" -- the man must have been extraordinary. "What are all these skinners doing here?"
A deep silence fell over the meeting. Butchers? Skinners?
The king asked, "What do you mean?"
Ashtavakra said, "It is simple and straightforward: They only see skin, they don't see me. It is difficult to find a man more pure and simple than me, but they don't see this; they see a bent and deformed body. They are skinners, they judge by the skin. Your Majesty, in the curve of a temple is the sky curved? When a pot is smashed, is the sky smashed? The sky is beyond change. My body is twisted, but I am not. Look at the one within. You can't find anything more straight and pure."
It was a very startling declaration. There must have been pin-drop silence. Janak was impressed, astounded: "Absolutely right, why had he gathered a crowd of skinners there?" He became repentant, he felt guilty that he too had laughed.
That day the king couldn't manage to say anything, but the following day when he was out on his morning ride he saw Ashtavakra on the way. Janak dismounted from his horse and fell at his feet. The day before, in front of everyone, he couldn't find the courage. The day before he had said, "Why do you laugh, my son?" Ashtavakra was a boy of twelve years, and Janak had considered his age. This day he didn't notice the age. This day he got down from his horse and fell at Ashtavakra's feet, spread-eagled in prostration.
He said, "Please visit the palace, and satisfy my eagerness for the truth. Oh lord, be so gracious as to come to my home. I have understood! I couldn't sleep the whole night. You spoke truly: what depth of understanding
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