Once upon a time, there lived an enlightened being on the top of a mountain. One day suddenly he realized that he doesn't have much time left, and wanted to preserve all the knowledge and wisdom he acquired in his lifetime. So he called upon a few of his disciples and dictated to them all the knowledge he had. After a few days, he left his body. The disciples who received the teaching agreed that each one should have a copy of what their guru dictated. And the book containing their guru`s teachings was called Primus Rigorous. They promised each other that they all would travel to far reaches of the country spreading the wisdom and knowledge their guru had shared with them.
Without wasting time, one of the disciples whose name was Dhanyan Vivekan left the ashram and started preaching using the book Primus Rigorous. His preachings were not exactly welcomed in all places, and there were times when he was even physically beaten up. Every time he encountered trouble he remembered one of the main teachings of his guru: "Remain unaffected by any emotion, by being dispassionate". And sometimes he would encounter people who would question him instead of stone-pelting. "How are you sure that, what is said in the book you refer to would help any Individual gain wisdom ? And how can i know this book will not mislead people ?". And when such questions were asked, he replied "The ideas presented under Primus Rigorous are neither self-contradictory nor utterly foolish. It depends on how we interpret them. One of the main teachings in the book is not to believe everything you read under the sun but to question it, find if it's sensible and relevant enough, and Analyze if there is any possibility to improve your own life from what you have learned. Only then take it, and it also applies to the Primus Rigorous". And the ideas presented by Dhanyan Vivekan started to attract more and more people. The book Primus Rigorous became widespread.
There was another disciple whose name was Adbhuta Mayavi, who married after leaving the ashram and settled on the banks of a river along with his wife and kids. One day he heard about how people started to follow the principles in the book Primus Rigorous. He thought that he could also start teaching about Primus Rigorous, as he had one of the copies with him. Adbhuta Mayavi, Sometimes while teaching the people he added his version to the existing principles mentioned in the book. Initially, it was not a big problem. But as time had passed that had taken the form of a big problem. Gradually he deviated from the original book completely and started preaching his own version of Primus Rigorous. And over time many people were convinced that what Adbhuta Mayavi was teaching was the actual narrative. This became even worse as the deviated versions were passed down generations, with each generation adding their own biased views. This went on... and eventually, people started to accept the corrupted versions and slam anyone who would oppose it. Where the essence of questioning was completely lost.
And then there was Dhanyan Vivekan`s great-great-grandson. He rigorously studied and understood the works of his previous generations. And he also realized how the Primus Rigorous was misinterpreted and misunderstood. At the age of 16, he decided to travel to all the places in the country where there were misinterpreted versions of Prims Rigorous were followed. He challenged each and every one of them for an intellectual debate. After another 16 years of unwavering effort, he restored the original teachings. And there came many derived works written by various people that reflected the original idea in the Primus Rigorous. He also observed that the corrupted versions still found a way to survive through ages, which contained hatred, biases, perversions of the persons who created them. So in order to counter this, he developed a simple framework of questioning as an application of teachings from the original book. And it consisted of the following rules :
- Understanding the common aspect which is being discussed both in original and derived works could teach you the essence of what was present in Primus Rigorous.
- But also validate if those common aspects are sensible and relevant enough. Only then think about applying them in your life.
- As long as what you are following is neither causing harm to others nor to the environment, you can keep practicing it.
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