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Swami narrates episodes and short stories: 'Doubt of Dharmar', 'Our chairman' & 'The thief and the rich man'

   Doubt of Dharmar

   After losing the kingdom, the pancha pandavas proceeded for vanavasam. While trekking through the forest, Dharmar walked ahead and the rest of them followed him and Lord Krishna was at the extreme back. Dharmar was contemplating about various things in his mind. He started thinking about Lord Krishna. He rued that they had to face the punishment of living in the forest for their foolish act of gambling and felt very bad that Lord Krishna had to suffer by accompanying them through the forest for no mistake of His. But soon, a base element of thought crept into his mind. He wondered whether Krishna was following them to ridicule their foolish acts and derive pleasure out of their suffering. He then cursed Krishna for their misfortune. At that instant, Dharmar stepped on a big stone and got hurt and was about to fall. Krishna, who was far behind, came running towards Dharmar and saved him from falling. Then, Krishna questioned Dharmar asking him whether his thoughts were disturbed because of hitting the stone or was it that because of his thinking, he got hurt by the stone. Even before his four brothers and wife Draupadi came to rescue him from falling, it was Lord Krishna who rushed forward from far behind and saved him. Dharmar immediately understood the hidden meaning behind Krishna's words. He realized his folly and understood the truth that Krishna had accompanied them to protect them from danger. He felt ashamed of himself and the thoughts which came to his mind. He fell at Lord Krishna's lotus feet and begged for pardon.

   God is Love and Truth and His grace is limitless. Let the above episode be a lesson for us not to blame God for all our misfortunes created by our own misdeeds but have faith in the unlimited grace of the Almighty. Let us pray that we elevate ourselves from negative and evil thoughts to a state of pure love and faith so that we can start realizing God and His powers.

   Our chairman

   Once, the chairman of a company appointed a young man with little self-confidence and experience to work in his firm and soon he promoted him as manager. As time progressed, there was increasing bitterness among the employees towards the young man. His subordinates started giving him trouble and he could not accomplish any work smoothly. The manager could not tolerate the behaviour of his subordinates towards their work and so he decided to give his resignation to the chairman. But just as he was entering the chairman's room, he recollected the profound compassion that the chairman had shown towards him in promoting him as a manager within a short period. He strongly felt that rendering his resignation to such a kind hearted person would amount to an act of treachery and ungratefulness. So he returned back without giving his resignation letter. Though he felt unhappy about working and supervising his subordinates, inspite of the conflict in his mind whether to continue in his job or not, he did not convey his desire to resign to the chairman even once, since the profound sympathy and compassion shown by the chairman towards him prevented him from doing so.

   Swami says the above episode reveals a great moral. He tells us to compare our life with that of the young man. We are like the young manager. We are unhappy with some people around us and happenings that are not to our liking. We blame our stars, planets and almost anything else we can relate to our misery. We sometimes feel like resigning from our responsibilities and run away from life. God is our chairman. Can we go away from God who has created us and given us this beautiful human form? God has created us with a purpose and for a mission but we out of ignorance desire to get away from the duties ordained by the Almighty. Great men like Swami remind us that we are here on earth only to carry out the mandate of a higher power.

   The thief and the rich man

   Once, a thief entered a temple of Lord Ganesha and prayed that the Lord help him accomplish his task without being caught. He promised that if he succeeded in his robbery, then he would offer fifty percent of his earnings to the Lord. Thus praying, he started breaking ten coconuts as an offering in advance to the Lord. At that time, a rich man arriving in his car saw the thief breaking ten coconuts. He immediately felt that when such a poor person could offer coconuts to God, his offering to the Lord should be much more considering his wealth and status. So he went out and purchased one hundred coconuts and broke them as his offering to God. He prayed to the Lord that by His grace, he had acquired lots of wealth and assets and that God should protect his life and his assets from robbery and theft. He also prayed for protection of his family from any danger that might arise due to his enormous wealth. After praying, he went away.

   On that night, the thief tried to enter a house not knowing it was the same rich man's house. The rich man had made very elaborate security arrangements including burglar alarms in every room. He and his family were fast asleep. Though the burglar alarm and other devices gave the warning when the thief entered the house, surprisingly none were disturbed and they could not hear the alarms being in deep sleep. The thief could break open the safety locker and he collected all the jewels and cash and escaped without any difficulty. The thief was very happy and went straight to the Ganesha temple. He thanked God for His immense mercy towards him and was very grateful to God that he could get so much wealth without any hindrance. But a strange thought flashed into his mind suddenly. If he could get the Lord's help for a fifty fifty bargain, he could get much more if he offered his entire loot to God this time. He immediately decided to put the entire loot of his theft in the hundi placed in front of God and prayed for bigger fortune promising to share fifty percent with the Lord from his subsequent loots. He put all the cash and jewels in the hundi and went away.

   The next day, the rich man woke up early to find that his locker was completely empty and all his cash and jewels were stolen. He was totally shocked and agitated at first wondering how inspite of all the security arrangements the theft had taken place. He then consoled himself that by God's grace, no harm had come to him or his family members. He thanked God for saving his life and his family. He later went to the temple and conveyed his thanks to God. As he stepped in, he heard two men talking to each other. They were discussing the fact that the popularity of Lord Ganesha seemed to be increasing day by day as many devotees coming over there were offering lots of money and valuables. They were planning to break the hundi and steal the money and valuables in the night. The rich man unnoticed by the thieves heard the entire conversation. When the two robbers left the place, the rich man rushed to the police station and informed the police officer about the proposed robbery which was to take place that night. The police and the rich man came at night well in advance and hid, waiting for the two thieves to arrive. The two robbers broke the hundi and found lots of jewels and cash. They decided to take only the cash leaving the ornaments there. But alas! as they were about to leave, the police caught them red handed.

   When the rich man looked at the jewels, he cried out that they belonged to him and these were robbed on the previous day from his house. The police officer asked him as to why he did not give any written complaint or inform the police about that. The rich man replied that he was grateful to God that He saved his life and that of his family. The police officer was greatly impressed by the devotion of the rich man and asked him to take back all his jewels. The rich man was overjoyed to get back his wealth.

   Thus, God made the thief change his decision all of a sudden to offer the entire loot to God because of the rich man's devotion. The rich man instead of cursing God for losing all his wealth, thanked Him for saving his life. Because of his faith in God, he got back all the lost jewels and cash. Swami says that God's grace is limitless. It can change even the worst wicked thought to a noble one like the thief who deposited the entire loot in the hundi since he realized the God's power and had faith in the almighty. The thief was not caught by the police because of just one good act and his faith in the ways of God. When God's grace is there, nothing wrong can happen. Total faith and surrender towards God can bring about wonders.

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