Ratnawali- The Enchantress

Ratnawali was a beautiful courtesan who danced like the waves of the ocean. There was such fluidity in her moves that the people who watched her remained mesmerized by her. Her talent coupled by her tremendous beauty, she became an object of great beauty, desire and envy for the princes' from the surrounding kingdoms. Raja Agrasen however felt great pride in having a gem like her in his court. One day right before her performance in the court, a haggard looking old man with blisters and boils all over his body, dirty skin and matted hair stepped in to the royal court. His body emitted a foul smell and flies circled around him. Raja was a wise old man who immediately recognized his kulguru, Hari Singh. He met him with great reverence and welcomed him warmly without disclosing his identity. He sat right next to the king.

As the performance began, Ratnawali noticed guru Hari Singh. A wave of aversion and disgust ran over her watching the filthy man sitting next to the king. Soon she was overcome by repulsion and disgust. She felt distracted by the thought that 'how such an ugly filthy man is allowed to watch someone as beautiful as her dance'. During the course of the performance, something dramatic happened.

 Ratnawali started developing wrinkly dark skin with boils and pimples all over her body. Her perfect ivory teeth became yellow and jagged. Her smooth silky hair turned matted. The onlookers were horrified and stunned to see something opposite happening to the begger sitting next to the King. 

His skin became clearer,  clean radiant golden color, with flowing white beard and hair. He looked every part the mahaguru Hari Singh. Ratnawali could not bear the foul stench emanating from her body. She collapsed on the floor as she realized what had happened to her. She cried and begged the guru to forgive her behavior and reverse the transformation.

The guru Hari Singh calmly said to her, ‘ you will have to earn your beauty back, Ratnawali. Any good deed that you do will cure you inch by inch at a time. That’s the only way it is possible for you to regain your beauty.’ Ratnawali rushed out crying…men who looked at her with immense desire, turned their faces away in aversion. She started her repentance by giving food and money to the poor and every day she saw her body heal inch by inch. She wanted faster results so she started feeding the incapacitated with her own hands. She carried the invalids around, dressing the wounds of the leppers, giving medicines to the sick and bandaging the wounds of the injured. She was driven so passionately by her goal that she did not realize her skin, hair and body had almost cleared up. She was regaining her beauty.

A year passed. She devoted her self day and night to serving the poor and needy. Not only her beauty  returned back but she also started to develop a beautiful radiance about her. By this time, she derived such contentment and inner peace with what she was doing- something she never felt when she received the accolades when she was a royal dancer.  Her being was bursting with joy and bliss; she no longer worked for the purpose of regaining her beauty. She did it for the bliss it brought her.

One day, unexpectedly guru Hari Singh showed up at her door. One look and he understood. He blessed her and said, ‘Ratnawali, you have earned both inner and outer beauty again. Now you deserve to get beyond both.’ Saying that he touched her forehead and transported her to the world of Supreme Bliss.