Sri Rama and the bhakta frog

[Guest guest]

I came across a story that illustrates how a prapanna of Narayana

should view suffering.

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It was the time when Sri Rama was on the shores of the samudram

during the preparations for the cross-over. Having supervised the

bridge construction for long, Sri Rama wanted to take some rest.

Hence He removed His bows and arrows from His shoulders, dropped

them on the ground and lay Himself for some time. When He got up and

took his bows and arrows from the ground, He was shocked to see some

blood on the tip of one of His arrows. The Ocean of Compassion that

He was, He immediately knelt down on the shore to find the source of

the blood. He found to His sadness a small frog in great pain, with

blood oozing out from its back and with its tearful eyes looking at

the form of Sri Rama. Thereupon the Ocean of Mercy asked, "Dear

frog, I am extremely sorry to have caused you this pain unknowingly.

May you please excuse Me. But why is it that you did not cry out

immediately when My arrow fell on your back? I could have

immediately removed your suffering." The little frog said "Sri Rama,

whenever I am afflicted by the threefold suffering that is natural

to all embodied beings in Samsara, I am used to crying out to you

as 'Hey Rama, Ocean of Compassion, Refuge of the refugeless'. When

the arrow dropped on my back, I was about to cry out in the same

manner when I chanced to look up to see what had hit me. But when I

found that it was You who had inflicted upon me this suffering, I

took Your arrow-hit as Your prasadam and silently withstood the

pain." Moved on hearing the response of the frog, the sole Refuge of

the Universe found tears welling up in His eyes. And with His sin-

destroying hands He caressed the back of the frog with great

affection just as He had caressed Prahlada eons back.

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This story moved me to tears and taught me how a genuine bhakta of

Vishnu should look at the sufferings he undergoes in his samsaric

journey. I was also reminded of Sri Kulashekara Alvar's decad of

paasurams on Vithuvakkottamma that go on similar lines.

 

dasan,

P.Srinivasan

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavat Bandhus,

 

The story is really nice and moving. Thanks.

 

Swamy

 

 

--- psrinivasan99 <psrinivasan99 wrote:

> I came across a story that illustrates how a

> prapanna of Narayana

> should view suffering.

> -----