There is an interesting folktale that explains god’s judgement of devotion. Sage Narada used to always be proud of the fact that he always chants ‘narayana’(lord Vishnu’s name) and is Lord Vishnu’s greatest devotee. One day sage Narada asked Lord Vishnu whom he considered his biggest devotee, in the expectation that it would be himself. But, lord Vishnu told that there is a particular farmer who is his greatest devotee. Sage narada was stunned to know that Lord Vishnu didn’t consider him as his best devotee. He was even more shocked to know that the greatest devotee was not a saint or a great king but just a normal farmer. Sage narada enquired what made the farmer special. Lord Vishnu took sage Narada to meet the farmer from the sky. Lord Vishnu told narada to observe the farmer for a whole day and then return to Heaven.
After completing the observation and returning, Lord Vishnu asked Narada what he saw. Narada said that the famrmer didn’t perform any rituals or pooja. The farmer only chanted the lord’s name thrice a day and not more. Sage narada continued and then asked, how is this famrer a greater devotee than himself who always chants god’s name.
To this lord Vishnu smiled and gave Sage narada a little pot full of water. Lord Vishnu told sage Narada to walk 25 steps with this pot on his head but on the condition that a single drop of water should not drop out. Sage narada completed the task as he was told. Now, Lord Vishnu asked sage Narada how many times he remembered god during this task. Sage narada was embarrassed and confessed that he hadn’t thought of god even once since he was busy making sure the water doesn’t spill. Lord Vishnu smiled and said “the greatness of the farmer is that he sincerely and selflessly remembered god while performing his own duties. This pleases me the most and such a devotee is of utmost greatness for me”.Sage Narada lost all his ego and praised the greatness of lord Vishnu.
What characteristics are essential for a devotee according to you? Please do share your views in the comments.
small but very deep thought.
ReplyDeleteI've just discovered this wonderful site, so more than a year later, i think this story is self explanatory, of course: the inner temple is the most valuable one, but sometimes our material senses need some sort of "outter" temples, full of wonderful and very expensive art for our eyes, or exact rituals..
ReplyDeleteThis story reminds me of another story: the one that said: once upon a time, there was a hermit, who lived in a small island, and who did a lot of miracles. One day, his fame was heard by a very important and powerful scholar, and he decided to visit this holy person. When he met him, he was surprised to see a common person who was a person with no education at all and he did his miracles with only one mantra.
The view of this powerful scholar is that the hermit pronounced his only mantra very bad, so he told the hermit about this, and he tought him how to pronounce it correctly. After one year of repeating the new fantastically pronounced mantra made no result, and the hermit was totally unabled to do any miracle...
So powerful scholar went back to visit the hermit, and with all humbleness, ask the hermit to please, go back to his own mantra, pronounced as the hermit originally did. Instantly, the hermit was able to do many miracles again... Good lesson for the powerful scholar, isn't it?
Thank you for sharing this story with all of us...
Rayo de Luz