exp."Adwaita" Bodh-Katha

advaitin, Anil Bharatey

<selfanil> wrote in

http://www.escribe.com/culture/advaitin/m25857.html.

> "When you always thought me as Jada Murthy, tell me why

should I give you Darshan ?

>

>

Namaste Anil-ji

That was an interesting story in that it illustrates most

dramatically how if you don’t have hundred percent. faith

in the omnipresence of the Lord He is not obliged to give

you darshan. Here is another story of the same dramatic

kind, which also teaches us the same lesson. This story was

told by Sathya Sai Baba in one of his speeches long ago.

There was a devotee who wanted something very specific from

the Lord. He met a Sadhu who advised him to worship Lord

Shiva elaborately every day in a ritualistic fashion. The

devotee was following the instructions very closely for a

whole month but nothing happened in terms of the Grace of

the Lord showing forth or anything of that kind. Another

Sadhu passed by and seeing this devotee carry on his

worship so steadfastly, the Sadhu enquired and found out

the truth. He offered an unsolicited advice and said:

‘Shiva is not the God to propitiate for such kinds of

prayers to the Lord. After all Shiva himself is a pauper

and so you better propitiate Lord Vishnu who has got

Goddess Lakshmi as His consort. He will give you what you

want’.

>From the next day the decvotee put aside the Shiva picture

in a corner and started the puja of Lord Vishnu in all

seriousness. Another month passed by and nothing happened.

A third Sadhu came along. The devotee went and reported to

him and complained that the Lord had not blessed him yet.

This Sadhu now gave his own advice and said: Vishnu and

Shiva are after all only at the mercy of the all-powerful

Shakti. The Mother Goddess is the store of energy for all

these other Gods and so it is Her that the devotee should

worship. She will definitely grant Him what He wanted.

>From that day both the Vishnu and Shiva pictures were laid

away. The picture of Mother Goddess adorned the centre of

the puja room and very elaborate worship continued for

several days. The days were not different and nothing

happened to indicate that the Goddess was satisfied.

One day at the end of the Puja, the devotee was elaborately

performing the Dhupa ritual, that is, the burning of the

incense for the picture of the Goddess and waving it before

the picture. The whole room was filled with incense smoke

and he found that the smoke not only covered the picture of

the Goddess but it also blocked out the pictures of the

Gods Vishnu and Shiva on the wall, which by the way had

been pushed by him to the two corners after his earlier

disenchantment with them. The devotee was really furious.

How can these discarded Gods inhale the incense which he

really meant only for the Shakti picture in the centre? He

would not allow it. So thinking, he took up two pieces of

cloth, covered the two pictures of Shiva and Vishnu so that

they cannot inhale the incense and then continued his

propitiation of the Goddess.

Lo and Behold! At that very instant, the Lords Vishnu and

Shiva appeared before him from nowhere! Imagine his

consternation and wonder! He asked them: How come, You Gods

did not appear before me when I propitiated you

individually each for a month with all that elaborate Puja,

but now when I have discarded you, you are coming before me

when my worship is really intended for somebody else?

And they replied: That is where our secret lies. The moment

you have a firm conviction that we are present here in this

room in flesh and blood it is our Dharma to present

ourselves. When you covered our pictures with cloth so we

may not inhale the incense offered to the Goddess, at that

time you really believed that we were sitting here inhaling

your incense! Whenever a devotee has such an unshaking

faith and awareness about our presence, we cannot but be

present in person there! It is our Dharma.

The story shows how only a hundred percent. faith helps –

nothing else!

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

New on my website, particularly for beginners in Hindu philosophy:

Empire of the Mind:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/HNG/ManversusMind.html

Free will and Divine will - a dialogue:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/HNG/FWDW.html

Prof. Shri VK,

Thank you for your kind words.

Anil

"V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk wrote:

Namaste Anil-ji

That was an interesting story in that it illustrates most

dramatically how if you don’t have hundred percent. faith

in the omnipresence of the Lord He is not obliged to give

you darshan.