Tales from the Devi Mandir #6

[Guest guest]

When I used to go up to the Devi Mandir on weekends, I had one problem. It

seemed that most of the seva that needed to be done involved physical labor.

I didn't mind cooking or cleaning or polishing puja vessels. I didn't even

mind weeding or gardening. But when it came to jobs that required physical

strength and stamina (digging ditches, hauling and stacking firewood) I was

not enthusiastic. Especially so on the days when it went over 100 degrees.

 

One weekend I was driving up the road toward the temple. Suddenly, Swamiji

jumped out into the center of the road.

 

He said "Ardis, please get out of your car." I asked him "shall I pull it to

the side and park it?" He said "no, just get out. This will only take a

minute."

 

He pointed to the ditch at the right side of the road. He said "jump into

the ditch." (I need to tell you something about myself. I don't like

heights, ladders or foot bridges and am poor at judging depth.) The ditch

was only 4 or 5 inches deep. I could have stepped into it; but since

Swamiji said "jump", I jumped in with both feet.

 

Then he called me from the other side of the road. "Can you see a culvert".

"Yes, Swamiji, I can see the opening of a culvert". "Can you see a cable

emerging from the culvert opening?Yes, Swamiji, I can see the cable

emerging.Please grasp the cable for me and pull it on out a little way."

 

He then came over to the ditch where I was holding the end of the cable. He

took the end of the cable and said "now you have completed all your seva for

the whole weekend. You are free to do sadhana." I thought he was kidding.

He said "no, I am not kidding; your seva is complete."

 

As I was about to get into my car he called out "don't think that I was

waiting out here by the side of the road just because I expected you to come

by." I said "right".