Merry Christmas

December 25, 2004

Namaste everybody.

Here is an article, taken from an English periodical Prabuddha

Bharata. The article was first published by Mayamoy Mitra in

Udbodhan, a Bengali periodical, in March 1917 issue.

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year,

Jai Maa.

Mausumi

====================================================================

The famous shrine of Kedarnath closes for pilgrims in the month of

Kartik (in November) and reopens in the month of Vaishakh (in April).

Pilgrims thin out with the advent of winter. Having lived in this

snowy kingdom of Shiva for as long as six months, the chief priest and

attendants are eager to return home. So that day, after regular

worship, the temple was finally closed. There is also a belief that

during the six months of winter, gods take over the worship of Lord

Kedarnath and human beings don't have the oportunity of seeing the Lord.

It was afternoon. A monk came to the temple having walked a long

distance along the mountainous track. He saw the temple closed and

requested the priest to open it just for once. That of course couldn't

be. But the monk went on repeating his request. In spite of incessant

requests, the priest told him flatly that according to the tradition,

the temple couldn't be opened until April next year.

The monk was pained at not having seen the Lord. He decided not to

return until he had the darshan of Kedarnath. He decided to stay

somewhere on the verandah of the temple. The priest tried to convince

the monk in many ways to give up such a nonsensical resolve. 'It would

be impossible,' he said, 'to live on this mountain in such

bone-chilling weather; you will die.' The monk replied that he would

be happy to die rather than going away without worshipping Lord Shiva.

Unable to convince the monk, the priest and the others left the place.

Soon the place became desolate and it was dark all around. The lonely

monk sat down, pained about his misfortune. A few minutes later, he

heard footsteps from the other side of the temple. He saw a smiling

sannyasin, with ashes on his forehead and arms, coming towards him.

The sannyasin enquired, 'Swamiji, who are you waiting for at such an

hour?' The monk narrated to the newcomer his story. The sannyasin

appeared compassionate. He said, 'Come on, let's somehow pass this

chilly night by lighting a fire (dhuni).'

The sannyasin's behaviour was so simple and attractive that our monk

was moved. Both became friends soon. The sannyasin asked sometime

later, 'Which game can you play?' The monk replied, 'I can manage to

play chess.' The newcomer brought out a chess board and pawns from his

bag. Soon both became immersed in the game.

It was dawn. The early rays of the sun lit up the snow peaks around.

The sannyasin told the monk, 'This round has almost come to an end; I

shall return after my morning duties; shall we stop the game for now?'

Saying this, the sannyasin put back the board and pawns into his bag

and went away.

A few minutes later, the chief priest and attendants came to the

temple and opened the temple door. Seeing this, the surprised but

happy monk told the priest, 'Yesterday afternoon, in spite of my

repeated requests, you went away locking up the temple. You said

firmly that you can't break the tradition. But I see you have returned

early morning today, opnened the door, and have broken your own rule!

I don't understand the meaning of your actions.' The priest appeared

stunned. 'What did you say? Yesterday? We are returning for the first

time after six months! Really, were you here all these six months?'

Later on, when the weeping monk told them about the sannyasin and the

chess game, they were all astonished.

December 27, 2004

Thank you for sharing the Compassion of Lord Kedarnath with us. It is very

special that it came from an issue of the Udbodhan, the publication of the

disciples of Sri Ramakrishna which had the blessing of the Holy Mother. Jai

Maa!

Mausumi Dikpati <mau_dikpati

Dec 24, 2004 9:10 PM

Merry Christmas

<tt>