Thursday, May 1, 2008

A short story on Divinity and ego


Indian Stories | Lord Krishna | Wisdom | Sage | ego | conditioned mind | Sadguru | Sai Baba |

There lived a Sage, who was very pious  was doing penance for the interest of mankind. By caste, he was a Brahmin and was known to Lord Krishna. He was wandering in secluded areas and had no fixed house for him. He had no desire, no lust, no hatred, and no greed & was in different world of his own.



Lord Krishna was very happy with his PRAYERS & Lord Krishna showed him His Virat Swaroop & asked him for any boon. Sage Uttanga told Him that he was desire less and he did not want anything, but Lord Krishna insisted for some boon to be granted to him as a reward for his penance. As Lord Krishna insisted, the latter asked for a boon that whenever he was in need of water (and since this area is a desert area) & whenever he felt thirsty, water may be provided to him. Lord Krishna granted him the boon & disappeared.



One day, the Sage Uttanga after walking for a long distance in the desert area felt thirsty, but there was no trace of water. Then he remembered that the Lord Krishna had granted him a boon that he would find water. The moment this thought was within his system, he saw a hunter dressed in torn rags accompanied by furious dog, carrying water in a leather pouch and asked him, "Sir, would you like to have some water." Looking at the apparent condition of the hunter, being a staunch Brahmin, the sage felt repelled. He politely refused "No, Thank you". The hunter again approached him for the water, but in utter disgust & in anger the sage told the hunter to go way and that he was not interested in the water. The hunter and the dogs disappeared. Witnessing this, he realized that it must be God, who disguised Himself and came to quench his thirst. He felt hurt how Lord Krishna could send water to me through a Scheduled Caste. How could He expect a Brahmin to accept and drink water from the leather pouch?



Meantime, Lord Krishna appeared, smiled and asked him 'Who was the Chandala? He had asked the Indra Devta to fetch the water, who instead of water, had actually brought nectar to make you immortal, but on one condition to test whether you could see the Divinity in all. 'Hence I allowed him to do so'.



Sage Uttanga understood how he had failed in the test. It was his Ego, which made him refuse the nectar, which came in the form of water and through Indra Devta.



When sages like Uttanga could fail when tested, what are we? Are we capable and fully equipped to understand the Leela or Maya of God? We, therefore, have to be constantly on guard and develop sharp sense to understand the real meaning of life. He always puts us to test. He always does good for us. There cannot be any negative in His actions, whatever He does, is always good for us.

There is a similar incident given in sacred book Shri Sai SatCharitra Chapter 23, Sai Baba testing his devotees if His devotees were devoted enough to go against the conditioned mind, or ego and trust the Sadguru, or did the conditioned mind go against the order of Sadguru. Kakasaheb Dixit a devotee who left all the material wealth and built a Wada ( a building for free accommodation for all the visitors of Shirdi) passed this test and proved that material wealth was not the only thing that he renounced but the conditioned mind too. Sadguru Sai Baba was everything for him and not even the teachings of his life would prevent him to obey his Sadguru. Rare are such devotees. Another similar incident mentioned in Shri Sai SatCharitra chapter 38 about sending the Brahmin Dada Kelkar to shop for mutton also is on the same theme.

More inspirational short stories to read online on this blog

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Posted by Alpesh Patel
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