Test is a Taste of God

Sathya Sai Baba in ‘My Dear Students’, Vol 3, Ch 3, Jun 30, 1996

One Sankaranti day, Rukmini, Sathyabhama, Jambavati, Gopikas, and Draupadi among others were with Lord Krishna, joyously munching sugarcane.

Krishna, in order to test them, pretended as if His finger was cut. God always tests His devotees. Test is nothing but a taste of God. If the devotee is successful in the test, he/she receives God’s bounteous Grace. 

God does not conduct tests as a sign of hatred or enmity; He always does it out of intense love and compassion. 

As soon as Krishna’s finger was cut, it started bleeding. 

Sathyabhama asked a servant to quickly get a piece of cloth. 

Rukmini ran herself. 

Draupadi saw this and immediately tore a piece of her own sari and tied it to Lord Krishna’s thumb to stop the bleeding.

Witnessing this, Rukmini and Sathyabama were ashamed that their love and actions did not match Draupadi’s love. 

Later Lord Krishna showered infinite grace when Draupadi needed it the most.

image curtsy: commons.wikimedia.org

Devotion and Purity

Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 3.

Lord Krishna’s friend Uddhava, was adept in the Path of Knowledge. He approached Krishna so that he can teach it to the cowherds. 

Krishna smiled and said, “Devotion and purity are fundamental to Gopikas – they are in Me, I am always enshrined in their hearts, you may not understand it!” 

Uddhava wasn’t convinced, so Lord Krishna sent him to Gokul. Uddhava said to them, “Let me teach you the path of wisdom to realize the Divine”. 

The Gopikas admonished Uddhava, “We don’t want to waste time on Yogas and Scriptures. Krishna is everything to us, give us one simple means.” 

Confused, Uddhava, now asked the Gopikas, “How would you become one with Krishna?” 

The innocent Gopikas responded, “If Krishna were a flower, I would be a bee whirling around Him. If Krishna were the mountain, I will become a river. If He is the deep ocean, I will be a small stream, joining Him”. 

Uddhava then understood that Gopikas always tuned themselves to adore the Lord, anywhere and everywhere.

Sudama's Story

Extracted from Shirdi Sai Satcharitra, Chapter XXIV

Shri Krishna and His elder brother, Balarama, were living with a co-student, named Sudama, in the ashram of their Guru, Sandipani.

Once Krishna and Balarama were sent to the forest for bringing fuel. Then the wife of Sandipani sent also Sudama for the same purpose with some quantity of grams for the three.

When Krishna met Sudama in the forest, he said to him - "Dada, I want water as I am thirsty".

Sudama replied - "No water should be drunk on an empty stomach, so it is better to rest a while". He did not say that he had got grams with him and that He should take some.

As Krishna was tired, He lay down for rest on the lap of Sudama and was snoring. Seeing this, Sudama took out the grams and began to eat.

Then Krishna suddenly asked him - "Dada, what are you eating, whence is the sound?"

He replied - "What is there to eat? I am shivering with cold and my teeth are chattering. I can't even repeat distinctly Vishnu-Sahastra-Nama".

Hearing this, the Omniscient Krishna said - "I just dreamt a dream, in which I saw a man, eating things of another, and when asked about this, he said ,‘What earth (dust) should he eat?’, meaning thereby that he had nothing to eat. The other man said – ‘Let it be so’. Dada, this is only a dream. I know that you won't eat anything without Me; under the influence of the dream I asked you what you were eating?"

If Sudama had known a bit of the Omniscient, Shri Krishna and His Leelas, he would not have acted, as he did. Therefore, he had to suffer for what he did.

Though he was a chum of Shri Krishna he had to pass his later life in utter poverty.

But when he later offered Krishna a handful of parched rice, earned by his wife with her own labour, Krishna was pleased and gave him a golden city to enjoy.

This story should be remembered by those who have the habit of eating things alone without partaking them with others.

"All food emanated from God. As it has come from the Divine, it should be offered to God and only then be taken. Then it becomes Satwik food. There are many impurities associated with the grains and vegetables you purchase. These impurities enter inside you. To remove the various types of defects associated with food, offer it to the Lord and then partake of it as Prasadam. When the food is offered to God , there will no longer be any defects in it. Meera was a great devotee of Lord Krishna.  When the Maharana asked his associates to give her very strongly poisoned milk, Meera was unaware of it. As is her habit, she offered the milk to Lord Krishna and took it, and remained unharmed. Thus any type of food, once offered to the Lord will turn nectarous, even if it is poisonous."

- Divine Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 2.   

Do your duty first

This story from Mahabharata brings to light that our spiritual achievement is useless if we neglect our duties or Dharma.

Kaushika was his parents' only son.

"Mother," he said one day, “I want to go off into the jungle and devote myself to spiritual studies.”

His mother said with concern, "But son, your father and I are very old. Your father is so sick he can hardly move. If you go away, what will happen to us? Who will attend to our needs?"

Kaushika did not listen. He was determined to study the Vedas. His mother cried in vain as she watched her son turn his back on her and leave for the jungle.

Eventually Kaushika acquired great mystical powers.

One afternoon, as he was meditating under a tree, a crane flew up, and perched herself on a branch above Kaushika. Some bird droppings fell on Kaushika's head. Kaushika furiously threw a fiery gaze at the crane.

The crane immediately fell dead.

The sage felt sorry for what he had done. "How could I have allowed my anger to take over me that way?" He mourned.

Later in the day, he went to a village to beg for alms. The lady of the house asked him to wait and went to get some food. Right then her husband arrived. She immediately set aside the pot of food she was taking to the sage and went to attend her husband.

After washing his feet, giving him food, and attending to his needs, she came back out to give the alms to the sage. The sage was very insulted. "You put your husband before a pious sage? Do you know the power of a Brahmin?"

She calmly replied, "Yes, a true Brahmin is he who has mastered his anger. Please do not threaten me, I am not a crane that will die by your fiery gaze."

The sage was amazed. "How does she know about the crane?" he wondered.

The lady continued, "Oh holy one! You are a learned Brahmin but you have not understood the truth about virtue. If you want to be enlightened, go to Dharmavyadha who lives in Mathura. Any one will tell you where he lives."

The sage thanked the lady and hurried to Mathura. "He must be a great and learned sage indeed," Kaushika thought to himself.

But when he finally reached Dharmavyadaha's place, he found it to be a butcher shop!

A very ordinary looking man came out and said, "Welcome holy one. I am Dharmavyadaha, the man you seek."

"How can a butcher be spiritually enlightened?" Kaushika asked in amazement.

Dharmavyadaha smiled and said with compassion, "I know the story of the crane and of the woman who sent you here. Come, let us go to my house. "

The sage could not contain himself and blurted out, "But butchering animals is such a sinful profession! Are you not ashamed?"

"I am not," the butcher calmly said. "I am engaged in a family trade. I work hard and honestly at it. There is no reason for me to be ashamed of my work!"

"Holy one," continued the butcher. "If I do injury to other creatures, so do you as you did to the crane.”

"As we walk on the soil, we are trampling on numerous creatures. Nor is the air devoid of creatures."

"You see that farmer tilling the land? He is killing so many animals that thrive under the soil."

They reached the butcher's house. The butcher's wife was doing her house hold chores and his two boys were playing.

The butcher introduced the sage to his wife and boys.

Then the butcher entered the house and touched his parents' feet.

"Here is a learned Brahmin who has come from a far-off place." the butcher told his old father.

"Welcome, holy one," the father said.

Before leaving the room, the butcher remarked, "My parents are my Gods. My wife and my children attend to them with devotion and love. We consider caring for them to be our greatest duty."

"In doing one's duty cheerfully, lies true virtue. This is what the dutiful wife sent you to learn."

"Oh learned one!" the butcher continued, "You have run away from your responsibilities and deserted your aged father and mother. Spiritual achievement is useless if one has neglected one's Dharma, or duties."

The sage remembered his mother crying, "Who will look after us when you are gone my son?"

The sage apologized, "You have shown me the path of true virtue, the true meaning of Dharma, Oh pious one. I am deeply indebted to you."

Kaushika immediately returned to his parents and served them lovingly till the end of their days.

Aruni's devotion

A story from Mahabharata

Aruni of Panchala was a dedicated student of the ancient sage Dhoumya. In those days, a student had to stay with the teacher and help in the teacher’s daily chores in order to receive the knowledge he sought. It was called “Gurukul” system of education.

It was a day of cold winter. Aruni was carrying the firewood he had collected for the sage's household. As he was passing by a field, he noticed a break in the embankment that was holding water in his teacher's field. He realized that the water would escape and the field’s crops would die with no water.

"What should I do? If I stop to build the mound I will be delayed and there is no firewood at the hermitage to keep the place warm. I better rush to the hermitage with the firewood and then come back to take care of the breach."

Meanwhile the sage and his disciples had assembled for the day's lesson. Aruni was missing.

Soon Aruni rushed in, dropped the firewood in the courtyard, and informed the teacher about the breach of the embankment. Then he quickly rushed out.

Sage Dhoumya felt proud of his disciple, "It is hard to get such a responsible disciple."

Aruni ran all the way back to the troubled spot and tried to stop the leakage of water by putting some logs and mud. However, this did not stop the leak. but the force of water washed away the soil. He felt helpless. It seemed impossible for him to stop the leakage without help. He thought for a while and then made a plan. Aruni himself slept in that broken place. With this he stopped the water out flow but had to sleep in such cold water for the whole night.

It was getting dark and the teacher became worried. He called his disciples and set out looking for Aruni. As he called out for Aruni, he heard a faint voice, "Here I am master!"

The teacher and his disciples rushed to the spot and saw Aruni lying on the breach, in order to hold the water in the field. The disciples quickly pulled Aruni out from the freezing water. But even then he woke up & offered salutation to Gurudev and asked, “Gurudev! What are your instructions for me? The water is still flowing.”

"Never mind my son! You are more precious than the crop," said the teacher.

"Don't worry Aruni! We will take care of the breach," said the disciples.

Aruni was covered in a blanket and brought home. Sage Dhoumya himself tended to Aruni. The sage then blessed his disciple with pride, "You shall, forever, be renowned for your unmatched devotion and obedience to your guru.”

Aruni got the knowledge of all scriptures automatically.