Faith is an important factor in the life of every
individual! Intense faith in the divine is essential for a spiritual sadhaka.It is
sad to observe lack of faith in god in modern generation of people. As a result
they are tossed in the cycle of samsara or family life. Modern science and
technology has contributed greatly to the loss of faith! Scientific temperament
prevents people from believing what they do not see and experience personally!
Add to this there is the influence of atheism which does not believe in the existence of
God! As a result Man has begun to doubt
and suspect everything While spiritual sadhanas are needed absolutely for Self
Realization, perfect and total faith
enables him to achieve his end quickly!’
Sri
Ramakrishnea illustrates this aspect in a beautiful parable. On one occasion
Sage Vyasa was on the verge of crossing the river Yamuna. It happened that the
Gopis came to the spot where the sage was. They too wanted to cross the river
but disappointed as there were no boats to ferry them across the river. They
came to sage Vyasa and narrated their plight. The sage volunteered to ferry
them across the river Yamuna! The Gopis were happy but Sage Vyasa said he was
very hungry and wanted them to give him something to eat before he could take
them to the other shore. The Gopis had milk, cream and fresh butter with them
and they fed the Sage with those materials. Having gulped the milk and butter
and cream, sage Vyasa stood on the bank of the river Yamuna and prayed, Oh Jamuna! If I have not eaten anything today,
by that virtue I ask you to part your waters so that we may walk across your
bed and reach the other side!” The Gopis who had given the sage all their milk,
cream and fresh butter to eat were amazed at the words of sage Vyasa! But as
soon as the sage uttered these words, the river parted its waters and the dry
river bed was visible! The Gopis did not understand that the statement of Sage
Vyasa was the proof of his firm faith that he did not eat anything but the Lord
within was the real eater!
There are
many anecdotes similar to the one above that establish the total faith in God
in extraordinary individuals. Their total faith is the cause of incredible
miracles! Once a Brahmin, looking after a temple had to travel and asked his son
to do service at the temple. He bade the boy to offer food before
the deity and see that HE ate it! Implicitly obeying his father, he placed food
before the God and silently waited. The idol did not move. It neither spoke nor
did it eat the food! The boy waited for a long time but in vain. He had strong
faith that God would walk down, sit before him and eat the offering.Very sincerely
he prayed to the Lord calling upon him to come down and eat the food presented
before Him! It was becoming late and he could no longer wait! When there was no
response from the deity, he started crying! He wondered why God should
appear and eat the food offered by his father
but did not appear before the son! He felt he had some blemish that
prevented God from appearing before him! Crying bitterly for the appearance of
the Lord he spent a long time.
When he
looked up after a long time, the sight stunned and surprised him! The deity in
the image had come down in human form and was eating the food offered to HIM!
The Boy’s joy knew no bounds! He came out with a bright and happy face! The
people at the temple asked the Boy to bring out
the offering—Prasadam! The Boy told them that the Lord had eaten the entire food that was
offered! They were shocked to hear. In utter astonishment they asked the Boy
again to confirm what he had said earlier. Once again the Boy said in absolute
innocence that the Lord had eaten every morsel of food offered to him.
Incredible as it seemed, they entered the temple to verify the truth of what
the boy had
No comments:
Post a Comment