A story of greed

[Guest guest]

A story of greed

 

By Sri Narasimha Swamiji

 

THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD

 

A brilliant and accomplished writer was invited to deliver a talk on Psalm

23 - " The Lord is My Shepherd. " For over an hour he spoke feelingly on the

thought content, the beautiful language, the lyrical verse and the poetic

metaphors in the Psalm. At the end of the talk, an old pastor came up and

shook his hands. His eyes were touched with tears, and he asked if he could

recite the Psalm to conclude the meeting. The speaker requested him to do

so.

 

The old man held his hands in devotion and with eyes closed in piety,

recited the entire psalm from memory. A hushed silence fell on the audience.

 

The speaker said to his audience; " I know the psalm. But this gentleman here

knows the Shepherd! "

Sai Baba occasionally narrated a few reminiscences of his own past births.

These were never taken down and most are forgotten. But a few are still

fresh in the memory of the hearers. One of these is given below,

substantially as given out by Baba. The readers will note how every sentence

of his brims with wisdom and virtue; and now, for centuries, Baba is the

same

 

Samartha carrying on his mission of helping humanity with his superhuman

power, lofty principles and benign impartiality.

One morning Sai Baba strolled along till he came to a river bank. There he

sat under a tree, admiring the dense foliage of an alley and lit his pipe

with a pair of flints. A wayfarer came up and the hospitable Baba gave him a

few puffs out of his pipe. Then a peculiar sound was heard.

 

Wayfarer: Let us see what the matter is.

Sai Baba: Matter! It is the croaking in pain of a frog seized by a snake. It

is reaping the fruit of its own karma. What we have done in the past comes

to us now as present suffering. And yet there is an outcry against Fate!

The wayfarer went out to see the frog for himself.

 

Sai Baba (without leaving his seat): The frog is caught by a huge serpent

and is crying. But both the frog and the serpent were wicked in their past

birth and have come into their present bodies to reap their reward.

The wayfarer, returning to Baba: Yes, I went and saw. A big frog, it is, in

the mouth of a huge black serpent. In 10 or 20 minutes, it will be all over

with the poor frog!

 

Sai Baba: No I am its father and am here. Will I let the snake eat it? Just

see how I release it!

Then Baba walked on to the place where the frog was. The wayfarer who was

going in advance suddenly took fright.

Wayfarer: Baba! let us go back. Do not go nearer. The serpent may fly at us.

Sai Baba: Do not fear.

 

 

http://www.saileelas.org/magazines/saipadananda/jan1999.htm#Astoryofgreed