Bear insult; bear injury!!!!

[Guest guest]

our beloved ompremji is often fond of quoting swami sivananda and one

of the famous quotes of swamiji is 'Bear insult and bear injry."

 

i am reminded of a story which i want to share with all the members

here !!!

 

Once, sages from different places had gathered on the banks of the

Saraswati river. A debate started among them as to who was the

greatest among the three; Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu or Lord shiva.

h.

When they were unable to come to any conclusion, they chose

MAHARISHI Bhrigu as their representative to personally test all the

three GODS and to decide as to who is the greatest.

 

His first visit was at Lord Brahma's abode. Bhrigu neither bowed in

reverence nor greeted Him. Brahma felt insulted but did not lose his

temper. bRAHMA SIMPLY IGNORED mAHARISHI BHRIGU.

 

After that, Bhrigu went to 'Kailash Parvata' to meet Lord Shiva.

Seeing Bhrigu approaching, Lord Shiva wanted to embrace him. But

Bhrigu who wanted to test his greatness, replied

Sarcastically: "Since you don't follow the right course, I will not

accept your respect and service".

 

Hearing Bhrigu's words, Lord Shiva lost his temper and ran after him

with his 'Trishula' (trident). At last Parvati intervened and

requested Lord Shiva to spare Bhrigu.

 

Ultimately, Bhrigu went to Vaikunthloka to VISIT Lord Vishnu. Lord

Vishnu was SLEEPING in KSHEERA SAGARA and his consort sree lakshmi

devi was massaging his feet. (pada-sevanam)

 

Maharshi Bhrigu kicked Lord Vishnu on his chest. Lord Vishnu woke up

as a result of the blow, bowed in reverence and said: "O Lord, be

seated, I was not aware of your arrival, hence I could not welcome

you. Forgive me! Your feet must be in pain as my chest is hard

as 'Vajra' (mace)".

 

Saying this, Lord Vishnu started pressing MAHARISHI BHRIGU'S legs

and further said: "O Brahmin, you have been most gracious to me, as

the soil of your feet would remain on my chest forever."

 

After his return, Bhrigu narrated the whole story to the assembly of

the sages. Everyone concluded that it was Lord Vishnu who was the

greatest among the trinity and only He is entitled to be worshipped

by devotees as He IS SIMPLYNTHE GREATEST!

 

SO, lord vishnu was insulted but he bore the insult and forgave

Maharish Bhrighu !

 

But HIS consort sre lakshmi Devi could not beat her beloved consort

being kicked in this fashion, so she put a 'curse' on the brahmin

sage bhrighu and said you and all other brahmins will suffer

permanently and I will never grace your abodes. You have to live in

virtual poverty " .... well, so it goes... there are more sequels to

this story...

 

 

I guess we all can Not be as tolerant as Lord mahavishnu and do fail

from time to time to live up to the high standards laid down by our

gurudeva. But, we can try!!! as MY DERA FRIEND chumki

pointS out, preaching is easy- practicing is hard! so true!!!

 

love