|| Shri Hari ||

Secret of Freedom

God and His dear devotees do not subject others to their bidding or views.  That does not imply that if others,   follow their advice,  they will not be dependent or be free from the subjection of others.  

There is great joy or spiritual bliss in doing the work of devotees.

At Vrindavana one devotee did not have the Darshana of Lord Bihariji.  People would say -  ‘Aye,  Bihariji is standing right in front !  But he would reply - ‘O’  Brother,  I do not see Him’.  In this way,  three days passed away but he did not have even the glimpse of Bihariji.  That devotee thus thought  -  ‘All people do see Bihariji and have His Darshana,  but I do not see Him.  I am then a great sinner,  for the Lord does not want to see me ‘Darshana’.  I must thus drown myself in the river Yamuna and thus end myself up.  

Having thus surmised he walked towards the holy river Yamuna during night time.  There alongside the river band a leper was sleeping.  God told him in a dream to catch hold of the feet of that man who would just arrive there.  By his grace he would at once be free from his disease.  That leper got up and sat down in an alert position   As soon as the devotee arrived, the leper caught hold of his feet and told him to cure him of his leprosy.  But the devotee implored him  -  ‘I am a great sinner,  I do not have the vision of Shri Bihariji and painfully requested the leper to free his feet, But the leper did not release his feet.  Ultimately, the leper said -  ‘Alright !  at least say’ .  ‘let your disease go away !’   But the devotee replied that he did not have the ability and power to say so.  But when the leper insisted a lot,  the devotee said  - ‘let the leper be cured of his disease’  In an instant,  after the devotee’s utterance, the leper was totally cured.  Thereafter the leper narrated his dream wherein God had asked him to catch hold of the devotee’s feet.  Having heard all that, the devotee pondered over the matter and decided not to die of drowning that day.  He returned to the  temple and he was graced by the Lord’s divine vision !  In a light mood of blessedness, he enquired  of Thakurji as to why He had not granted him His Darshana earlier.   Thakurji replied -  ‘You had never requested anything from Me throughout your life.  Therefore I had no guts to appear before you.  Now when you had prayed to Me to free the leper from the disease,  I have gathered the strength to show My face to you.’  What does it all mean ?   It means that he who does not want anything from God,  God becomes his slave.  

Hanumanji did God’s work and God felt indebted to him,  He became his slave -  

sunu suta tohi urina maim nahim  ( Manasa 32/4).  

He who serves becomes great and he who is served becomes small.  But God and His devotees do not feel shy in becoming small or low.  They knowingly become small.  Even in their becoming small,  they really do not become small;  and there is never the pride of being great in them !  

Narayan !   Narayan !!  Narayan !!!   

From book ‘Be Good’  by Swami Ramsukhdasji,  # 474,  published by Gita Press,  Gorakhpur,  INDIA