After some time, when they were still talking, another person came and told King Janak, "Now the city is on fire." King Janak again remained calm and quiet; He only said, "It is the Will of God."
Once again, Shukadeva entertained a negative thought. He pondered, "Being a king, he probably has plenty in his palace. That's why he doesn't bother about the city and the people in his kingdom. It's unfortunate that he doesn't care for others; he's only focused on himself. That's why he just says, 'It is God's Will,' without doing anything to help the others."
After some time, another person came and said, "Your Highness, now even the palace is on fire. The courtyard of the palace is on fire." Immediately, Shukadev leaped up to save his clothes and his metal cup.
However, King Janak grabbed him by his hand and said, "Now you tell me – who is a Monk, you or me? You left some clothes and some trivial things in my courtyard, and you are afraid that you will lose them if you don't rush to take them. But you see that when the cantonment was on fire, when the city was on fire, I didn't go to save them because I am not attached to them. So now you can decide who is a Monk and who is not."
Shukadev came to realise that, in truth, he was attached to the world while King Janak was not. Even though King Janak lived a worldly life due to his kingly duties and responsibilities, he was not attached to those things. He was simply fulfilling his duties. Recognising King Janak as a perfect individual, Shukadev decided to seek initiation from him. He respectfully requested, "Master, please grant me initiation."
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But King Janak was not going to give him Initiation so easily. He told Shukadeva, "Janaka said, "See, in honour of your arrival, I've organised a whole lot of celebrations and festivities, a lot of things happening around here. Go and enjoy yourself, but just carry this vessel with you."
King Janak gave Shukadev a cup full of oil and told him,
"You take this oil, and holding this cup in your hand, go around the city. Please enjoy the festivities, and come back. If you come back with the same amount of oil, without dropping even a single drop of this oil, only then will I understand that you can concentrate, and that you can do the meditation. And only then will I give you Initiation."
He said, "Mind that, if you drop even a single drop of oil on the ground, you should know that a person with an open sword is behind you, and he will cut off your head."
He told his soldiers, "If one drop spills out of this vessel, take his head off."
Now he took that cup of oil and went into the city. King Janak had arranged some distractions at many places in the city, Such as dancers. This was only to attract Shukadev's attention. But since Shukadev knew that if he dropped the oil he would be killed, he was afraid of death also.
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So his mind didn't tell him to look at all those things, all those distractions, and he was so concentrated in that cup of oil that even though he went all around the city he didn't look at any other thing except that cup of oil.
When he came back to King Janak having passed that test, King Janak asked him,
"Tell me, what did you see in the city? Did you like the city?"
Shukadev said, "Let me tell you that I didn't see anything in the city. I don't know what was happening there, because I was afraid that I would be killed if I removed my attention from this cup of oil, so I was fully concentrating on this cup."
