CHINNA KATHA FROM BHAGAVAN’S DISCOURSE. No. 8

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8 - Remember, He is Omnipresent!

 

Thiruppandar was a great devotee of lord Shiva. Once he happened to visit a

famous pilgrim center dedicated to his favorite Lord. After the darshan of Siva,

he felt that he was too exhausted and weak to walk further and therefore rested

for the night in the temple itself.

 

Early in the morning, the priest entered the temple with a potful of water to

perform abhishek to the Lingam. To his utter consternation, he found an aged man

sleeping right in front of the shrine with legs stretched towards the sanctum

sanctorum. He got wild at the sight and, in indignation, he sprinkled some water

on the face of the old man. But, there was no sign of any movement. So, he bent

down and tried to lift the old man's legs. Immediately the old man opened his

eyes and said in an appealing tone, " My dear Son! Why are you pulling my legs? "

The priest shouted " Oh! For your age, is it not shameful on your part to indulge

in such a sacrilegious act of stretching your legs towards God? " The old man

said calmly, " My dear son, I feel a cramp in my legs and cannot get up. Will you

place my two feet in a direction you like, where God is not? I shall certainly

get up after a while. " The priest did not want to waste time in arguing with the

man. So, he held the two feet of the man, lifted them up and placed them in the

opposite direction. Suddenly, there sprang out a lingam from underneath the

feet! The priest tried to place the old man's feet in another position, but

there again sprang up another lingam! In a minute, the place was full of

lingams! The priest fell at the feet of the old man and said " Oh revered one!

You must be a realised soul. Pardon me for my insulting words and actions. " The

old man got up and said " My dear son, have you not read in the scriptures that

God is omnipresent? Can you limit God to a place and to an image or a picture or

in a frame? Of course we have temples with idols and pictures of worship; but

they only help devotees to direct their faith and devotion to God as embodiments

of the various Divine shaktis in this vast boundless universe. The Supreme

Creator, the Almighty God is only one, and remember, HE is Omnipresent. "