“A king used to ask three questions of all the people who came to him. The first question was, who is the best among persons? The second was, what is the best of time, and the third, what is the best of all actions? The king was very anxious to know the answers to these questions. The king was never satisfied with the answers that he got from various people. One day, he went to the forest for pleasure. He was moving about the hills and plains and felt very tired. He saw an ashram and wanted to take some rest there. By the time the king reached the ashram, a sadhu was watering some plants. This sadhu saw that the king had come there rather tired. He stopped watering the plants, ran up to the king and gave him some good fruits and cool water. At that time, an individual wounded all over the body, was brought to the ashram by another sadhu. As soon as the sadhu saw this, he went to the individual, cleaned all his wounds and gave him some herbs which could cure the wounds. He was also telling him sweet words which could console the person.

The king came to the sadhu and wanted to express his gratitude and take leave of him. The sadhu blessed the king; but the king was still troubled by his three questions and wanted to see if the sadhu could enlighten him on that matter. The sadhu stated that the answers to the three questions were contained in the actions which the king had witnessed in the ashram. The king requested the sadhu to elucidate the matter. The sadhu said that when the king came to the ashram he was watering the plants and that was his duty. At that time, on seeing the king, the sadhu had given up his duty and came to the king and gave water and fruit. This was in accordance with correct traditions, as the king was his guest. While relieving the king of his thirst and suffering, another injured individual had come to the ashram. Therefore, the sadhu had given up the duty of serving the king and went to the other individual and began serving him.

Whoever comes seeking service from you is the best of individuals at that time. Whatever satisfaction you can give him by serving him will be your duty and this will be the best of work that you can do. The present, when you can do something, is the most sacred of all time. You do not see the future as your eyes cannot perceive it. Past has gone and you can do nothing about it. Thus, the present time in which you can fulfil your duty, the service that you can do to the person who comes to you, and he who comes seeking your service are the three best things. These are the answers to the king’s three questions.”

• Sathya Sai Baba – Divine Discourse 08 June 1973