CHINNA KATHA FROM BHAGAVAN’S DISCOURSE. No. 23.

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23 - Two minutes

 

There was a famous dacoit once who advised his son while initiating him

into the ancestral profession, never for a moment to listen to stories

of the Lord. " Do not stay to listen to any Purana or any reading of the

Bhagavatha, " he exhorted the young aspirant. The son scrupulously

observed this injunction for years and amassed a good fortune.

 

One night, however, while running with his loot on his shoulder through

a side lane of the city to avoid the police, a piece of glass cut his

sole. He sat for a while to pull it off and stop the flow of blood. He

was then behind a house, where some one was reading and explaining the

Bhagavatha to a small group of listeners; he listened perforce for a

short two minutes. The spark fell on the heap of cotton. During that

short period, he heard the pundit explaining the nature of God. He has

no ears, no eyes, and no limbs: he has a thousand forms; He is without

form. " Sarvathah paani-paadam, " as the Gita says. That description got

fixed in his heart. He could not shake it off.

 

A few days later the police came to know of the depredations made by him

as well as his associates and kinsmen. In order to know more about their

activities they entered the area incognito, one constable as Kali and

some others as the worshippers and priests. They shouted and yelled,

cursed and terrified the dacoits and called upon them to come out of

their homes and fall at the feet of Kali.

 

Many did so, but the son, who had heard the Bhagavatha, albeit for two

minutes, knew just enough to save his skin. He was not terrified at all.

He challenged the constable who was acting the role of Kali and tore off

his make-up and exposed the plot and instilled courage into the hearts

of the gang. Then, when the police left discomfited he argued within

himself thus: " If two minutes of the forbidden fruit could help me so

much, what can I not gain, if I devote myself entirely to the stories of

the glories of God? " He left off the evil path and became a Sadhaka.