Devotion, Duty, Faith and Belief - A story
This is a story told to me by Shyamrao More, the taxi driver in Mumbai about whom I have written in my last post.
Once upon a time( this is how stories are started, right!), there was a priest who served in a temple for almost 60 years. One day, there was a beggar at the temple while the priest was serving the regular 'prasadam' to the devotees. The priest took pity on the beggar who was in a very bad condition of health suffering as such from starvation. He told the beggar that if he was prepared to work in the temple, he would ensure that the beggar got his meal everyday along with shelter to stay. Having not worked anywhere, the beggar asked the priest as to what he could do. The priest asked him to just sweep the temple premises everyday and keep it clean. The beggar jumped with joy and agreed to take up the job.
Life was going on in this manner and the beggar in the due course of time won the appreciation and warmth of the priest including that of some of the regular devotees.
One day, the priest had to go on some urgent work for a few days and had no alternative but to entrust a few of his responsibilities to this beggar, who was no longer a beggar in any case. At the time of leaving, he instructed this beggar(whom we will now start calling as Krishna Das) to offer regular 'naivedyam'(offering to the Lord) at the times prescribed by him.
Krishna Das, the hitherto beggar, was very excited and on the first day made "dal kichdi" and offered the same to the Lord by placing it in front of him. The Lord never came to have it in spite of repeated requests by Krishna Das and he thought 'may be the Lord doesn't like either my cooking or dal kichdi.'. So he also didn't eat as the Lord didn't. He felt bad to feed himself as the Lord hasn't eaten as yet. So the next day he prepared 'poori bhaji' and offered to the Lord by asking him to come and have the food. The Lord hasn't come this day too and our Krishna Das was pleading with him saying that he is feeling too hungry having not eaten for the last two days. Still the Lord didn't come to savor the food. Confused, yet determined, Krishna Das, thinking that he was not able to prepare the food as per the Lord's taste, decided to cook food on the third day with all his skills in a tasteful manner. So he prepared the offering for the third day and offered to the Lord again pleading with him to come and have it as he was also feeling exhausted due to hunger. The Lord took pity and presented himself so that they could together have the food. Thus started our Krishna Das's tryst with the Lord.
After a few days the priest returned and enquired with Krishna Das if everything went well and he was told that the Lord came regularly and had food with him. The priest thought that it was a prank but did not rule him out. He asked Krishna Das to let him see at the time the Lord had food with him. As usual Krishna Das offered food to the Lord and both of them started having it. The priest, however couldn't see the Lord and asked Krishna Das to let the Lord be seen by him. The Lord offered to be visible to the priest but put a condition that once He is seen, the priest would have to lose the vision. The priest agreed and soon the Lord came in his view immediately after which he lost his vision.
Krishna Das was very much moved at the plight of the priest because of whom he enjoyed the present state of life from that of a beggar and pleaded with the Lord to instead take his eyes but to restore the vision of the priest. The Lord acceded to his plea and the priest's vision was restored. The priest realised what devotion is all about and started treating Krishna Das as his Teacher from then on.
The lesson from this story are expertise in scriptures, mechanical devotion and ego will not lead one to the Lord, The Absolute but only strong faith, belief and gratitude will.
Thanks to Shyamrao More, for this wonderful story.
Once upon a time( this is how stories are started, right!), there was a priest who served in a temple for almost 60 years. One day, there was a beggar at the temple while the priest was serving the regular 'prasadam' to the devotees. The priest took pity on the beggar who was in a very bad condition of health suffering as such from starvation. He told the beggar that if he was prepared to work in the temple, he would ensure that the beggar got his meal everyday along with shelter to stay. Having not worked anywhere, the beggar asked the priest as to what he could do. The priest asked him to just sweep the temple premises everyday and keep it clean. The beggar jumped with joy and agreed to take up the job.
Life was going on in this manner and the beggar in the due course of time won the appreciation and warmth of the priest including that of some of the regular devotees.
One day, the priest had to go on some urgent work for a few days and had no alternative but to entrust a few of his responsibilities to this beggar, who was no longer a beggar in any case. At the time of leaving, he instructed this beggar(whom we will now start calling as Krishna Das) to offer regular 'naivedyam'(offering to the Lord) at the times prescribed by him.
Krishna Das, the hitherto beggar, was very excited and on the first day made "dal kichdi" and offered the same to the Lord by placing it in front of him. The Lord never came to have it in spite of repeated requests by Krishna Das and he thought 'may be the Lord doesn't like either my cooking or dal kichdi.'. So he also didn't eat as the Lord didn't. He felt bad to feed himself as the Lord hasn't eaten as yet. So the next day he prepared 'poori bhaji' and offered to the Lord by asking him to come and have the food. The Lord hasn't come this day too and our Krishna Das was pleading with him saying that he is feeling too hungry having not eaten for the last two days. Still the Lord didn't come to savor the food. Confused, yet determined, Krishna Das, thinking that he was not able to prepare the food as per the Lord's taste, decided to cook food on the third day with all his skills in a tasteful manner. So he prepared the offering for the third day and offered to the Lord again pleading with him to come and have it as he was also feeling exhausted due to hunger. The Lord took pity and presented himself so that they could together have the food. Thus started our Krishna Das's tryst with the Lord.
After a few days the priest returned and enquired with Krishna Das if everything went well and he was told that the Lord came regularly and had food with him. The priest thought that it was a prank but did not rule him out. He asked Krishna Das to let him see at the time the Lord had food with him. As usual Krishna Das offered food to the Lord and both of them started having it. The priest, however couldn't see the Lord and asked Krishna Das to let the Lord be seen by him. The Lord offered to be visible to the priest but put a condition that once He is seen, the priest would have to lose the vision. The priest agreed and soon the Lord came in his view immediately after which he lost his vision.
Krishna Das was very much moved at the plight of the priest because of whom he enjoyed the present state of life from that of a beggar and pleaded with the Lord to instead take his eyes but to restore the vision of the priest. The Lord acceded to his plea and the priest's vision was restored. The priest realised what devotion is all about and started treating Krishna Das as his Teacher from then on.
The lesson from this story are expertise in scriptures, mechanical devotion and ego will not lead one to the Lord, The Absolute but only strong faith, belief and gratitude will.
Thanks to Shyamrao More, for this wonderful story.
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