Sage Sukadev was the son of Sage Vyasa. He was born enlightened and was far more advanced than his great father, Sage Vyasa who had collated and written all the sacred scriptures of Hinduism. Sukadev was a little boy of sixteen. He was one with all his surroundings – the trees, lakes, mountains and everything. He used to walk around naked without any body consciousness. He saw no distinction between the male and female sex. All were same for him. He would walk among naked bathing women and they would not feel any self consciousness as Suka has no distinction of sex. Once Sukadev went out wandering and his father, Sage Vyasa ran after him calling out: Suka, my son, where are you? The trees in the forest started vibrating and murmured: I am here, I am here! Such was the oneness Sukadev had with his surroundings and the Cosmos.
There is another incident narrated in Mahabharata about Sage Sukadev. The great war of Mahabharata was over and Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava brothers was crowned King. Yudhisthira wanted to perform a great yagna and do a lot of charity. He had a desire to feed a vast number of people after the yagna and also wanted to know how to keep count of the number of people who ate food. He asked the great Sage Vyasa to devise a method of counting. Sage Vyasa hung a bell and chanted a mantra and said: When a thousand people eat, this bell will ring once. You can count the number of times it rings and keep a count of the number of thousands of people who have eaten.
The yagna was conducted on a grand scale. Thousands of Brahmins chanted mantras and made offerings to the fire. Yudhisthira made generous donations to all those who came. The attendees and guests to the yagna had a sumptuous meal and went away taking their gifts. Suddenly the bell started ringing continuously. Yudhisthira went to the bell to check if something was wrong with it. Sage Vyasa said that his bell could do no wrong. There was a tremendous mystery behind the bell ringing in this continuous manner. The bell would ring once only when a thousand people ate. So he asked Yudhisthira to check if anyone else was eating.
Yudhisthira went around the area of the yagna to check who was eating. He found a little sixteen year boy sitting in between the remains of the food eaten by others and licking at the leaves of food. This boy was radiant but thin and unkempt and he had a dog with him. When the boy ate one grain of rice, the bell started ringing. Yudhisthira ran to Sage Vyasa and reported: There is a poor boy sitting there amongst the food left by others. He is eating one grain of rice and immediately the bell rings as if one thousand people have eaten. Who is this boy?
Ved Vyasa replied: That boy is my son Sukadev. He is an enlightened being. He is the whole universe himself. If he eats one grain of rice, it means millions of people have been fed. Yudhisthira was ashamed of himself and wept. He said: I never knew such a person existed. I was boasting that I have fed millions of people. Yudhisthira prostrated before Sage Sukadev, but Sukadev was unaware of it. He was fully merged in the ParaBrahman – the Supreme Power. The play of God and His ways of teaching us lessons are as mysterious as Him.
