BALANCE OR IMBALANCE?

[Guest guest]

Baba said, “There will never be any dearth or scarcity, regarding food and

clothes, in any devotees’ homes” in Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. VI.

It was the sacred Janmastami Day – the Birthday of the Lord Krishna. A poor

woman, whose husband had been paralyzed, had promised her three little starving

children a Janmastami feast. She was a devotee of the Lord. She felt sure the

Lord would send her enough and more to provide her children the promised feast.

She entered a grocery store and asked for enough food for a feast for her

children. When the owner asked how much she could afford, she answered, “My

husband has been sick for many months. Truthfully, I have nothing to offer but

a little prayer.”

 

The man, an unbeliever, said sarcastically, “write your prayer on a piece of

paper and you can have its weight in groceries.

 

Without hesitation, the woman took out of her pocket a folded note and handed it

to him. “Here is my little prayer. I wrote it down during the night while I was

watching over my ailing husband,” she said. On the small piece of paper were

written the words; “thou art my Refuge, Lord! Thou wilt provide all the things

I need for tomorrow’s feast; and more so that I can share it with other poor

children on the sacred day of Thy birth!”

The man read those words, laughed and put the piece of paper on one side of his

scales. “Now let us see how much food this is worth,” he said.

To his deep astonishment and dismay, he found that nothing happened when he put

her packet of flour on the other side. He was greatly upset when he added other

things and still the scales would not move. Finally, he said to the poor woman,

“I do not understand what is happening today. But I will be true to my promise.

Take from the shop whatever you need, for it appears that your little slip of

paper weighs more than all the things my shop holds.”

The woman took only the things she needed for the feast. With tear-touched eyes,

she thanked the grocer and silently sang the praise of the Lord who provides for

every need of His devotees.

The grocer later discovered that the scales were out of order. “But why at that

very time?” he asked himself, again and again. And why had the woman written

out the prayer before she came to his shop? His heart was converted and he,

too, became a bhakta of the Lord.

TAMASO MA JYOTIRGAMAYA…

If you were given a rupee for every sweet, loving word you spoke and were asked

to pay half the amount for every harsh, unkind word you uttered, what would be

your net earnings for the day?

The all-new My – Get yours free!