The gopîs had no other goal, no other ideal, no other wish. It was a surrender of the self - complete, unquestioned, unwavering.
Let me tell you of a devotee, a woman in a small Maharashtra village, who lived in the last century. She went through even the little details of life in this spirit of dedication. Walking was to her a pilgrimage, talking japam. Even when she threw off a ball of cowdung after applying it over the floor used by her husband to keep his dining plate on while eating, she said and felt "Krishnaarpanam - May this be an offering to Krishna!" Her tapas was so sincere that the cow dung reached Krishna and stuck to Krishna's idol in the village temple every day!
The priest saw the mysterious defilement; he was amazed and was lost in terror. He cursed himself that he had lived to see that sacrilege. Daily, about noon, the same size of cow dung! He hung his head in shame as he walked along, keeping the disturbing phenomenon all to himself.
One day he heard that particular lady exclaim "Krishnaarpanam" as she, like many other house-wives, threw the tell-tale cow dung ball. He suspected; he noted the timings, the quantity, the material etc., until he was convinced that she was the culprit for the disfiguration of Krishna, the defilement of that loveliness. Then he beat her so severely that her arm that threw the dung was fractured.
When he returned triumphantly to the temple expecting to be profusely blessed by the Lord for punishing the wicked woman, he was shocked to find Krishna's right arm fractured and bleeding, exactly like the woman's arm! The poor fellow wept in his agony and said, "I beat her only through love of You; she spoilt Your charm, oh Lord." Krishna replied, "You must love all whom I love, remember".
Here too, I want that you should so behave ... or at least love yourself, that is to say, love your own better self and 'best interests'. I will not tolerate envy or malice or hatred among devotees nor will I allow you to hate yourselves or think of yourselves as mean or weak.
(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)
No comments:
Post a Comment