Chinna Katha - Will you go to Heaven?

[Guest guest]

Dear Best Friends of TBP,

 

Love and Love alone.....

 

I read the following Chinna katha in the April month's issue of

Ideas Exchange magazine. I would like to share it with you. Did I

share it earlier? I do not remember.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

===

 

Will you go to Heaven?

 

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying

the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

 

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been

dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

 

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side

of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill,

it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

 

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch

that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the

gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked towards the gate,

and as he got closer, he saw a man at the desk to one side.

 

When he was close enough, he called out, " Excuse me, where are we? "

 

" This is Heaven, sir, " the man answered.

 

" Wow! Would you happen to have some water? " the man asked.

 

" Of course, sir. Come right in, and I will have some ice water

brought right up. "

 

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

 

" Can my friend, " gesturing toward his dog, " come in, too? " the

travelled asked.

 

" I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets. "

 

The man thought a moment and then turned back towards the road and

continued the way he had been going with his dog.

 

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he

came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it

had never been closed. There was no fence.

 

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a

tree and reading a book.

 

" Excuse me! " He called to the man. " Do you have any water? "

 

" Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in. "

 

" How about my friend here? " the traveller gestured to the dog.

 

" There should be a bowl by the pump. "

 

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-

fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

 

The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself,

then he gave some to the dog.

 

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who

was standing by the tree.

 

" What do you call this place? " the traveller asked.

 

" This is Heaven, " he answered.

 

" Well, that's confusing, " the traveller said. " The man down the road

said that was Heaven, too. "

 

" Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope.

That's hell. "

 

" Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that? "

 

" No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave

their best friends behind. "

 

===

Gopi Krishna <gopi