Does God Care?

[Guest guest]

In a town in West Bengal (a state in India) there

lived two brothers, Ananta and Mukunda. Ananta was the

elder brother of Mukunda, who later became a great

Saint, Paramahansa Yogânanda. <br><br>Ananta, a man of

the world, did not approve of Mukunda's spiritual

occupations, since he worried for his brother’s well being in

the absence of worldly ambitions. One day, their

differences came to the fore. Mukunda said, “You well know

Ananta, I seek my inheritance from God, our Heavenly

Father.” Ananta, an accountant by profession, quickly

retorted, “Money first; God can come later! Who knows? Life

may be too long.” Mukunda would not give in, “God

first, money can come later! Who can tell? Life may be

too short."The heated argument between the brothers

ended with the elder brother throwing up a challenge.

<br><br>He proposed to send Mukunda accompanied by his

friend, Narendra, to the nearby city of Mathura by train,

without any money or other provisions on them. As per the

conditions of the challenge, Mukunda and Narendra were not

to take money from anyone or reveal their identity

or bet to anyone. Despite all this, they were to

return home before midnight. Narendra would act as

witness to make sure that Mukunda abided by the

conditions of the bet. Ananta was trying to test whether God

would meet the needs for food and return fare of

Mukunda. <br><br>Mukunda welcomed the challenge with

complete faith in God to take care of him during this

unusual challenge and boarded the train to Mathura with

the witness, Narendra.It so happened that two

strangers who boarded their train compartment, without a

word from the two, led them to an âshram. There they

were offered a sumptuous feast, originally meant for

some royals, who had canceled their visit at the last

moment. <br><br>While resting after the meal, a cheerful

young man approached them and offered to be their host

for no apparent reason. Without Mukunda or Narendra

revealing their identity or challenge, the young man took

them sightseeing around Mathura, mentioning how much

of an honor it was to serve the devotees of God so!

At the end of the day, when parting from them, the

young man presented them with two train tickets to

return to their town and some money, urging them not to

refuse his offering. <br><br>And so ended the test,

where Mukunda and Narendra were well-provided for,

despite not asking anyone for money, food or return

tickets and not carrying any money with them.The two

reached home safely. Ananta was astonished. “I understand

for the first time your lack of worldly ambitions!”

he told the future Paramahansa. <br><br>There and

then itself, he asked Mukunda to initiate him into

spiritual practice.<br><br>Moral: Complete faith in God is

the only currency one needs to make spiritual

progress. However, in order to develop the kind of faith

young Mukunda (Paramhansa Yogânanda) had, one has to do

regular spiritual practice.<br><br>With love<br>Sanatan

gs