KRISHNA STORY#4

Sadhu story: Krishna serving Narsingha Mehta

and In Gujarat there is a very nice Vaishnava poet Narsingh Mehta.

And he was very much engrossed always in singing bhajans.

This is not a very old story, it is just 250 years old.

So once what happened, his father died. When the father died, every year they had to perform the shraaddha ceremony.

Narsingh Mehta did not have anything.

Always his elder brother was performing shraaddha ceremony.

When Narsingh Mehta's wife and his brother's wife one day came together, his elder brother's wife cursed her, "You don't have anything. Your husband just goes on singing bhajans and every year we have to spend for shraaddha."

Narsingh Mehta's wife couldn't take it. So she said, "This year you don't perform the shraaddha, we will perform."

The brother's wife said, "Alright, let me see how you perform".

In the end Narsingh Mehta's wife came home and told him that this year they have to perform shraaddha ceremony.

Narsingh Mehta became very happy.

He did not have anything to eat in his house. But as soon as he heard that they are performing the shraaddha, he was elated. Not only that, since that day he started inviting the whole village for the shraaddha ceremony. But there was nothing in the house.

Shraaddha day was approaching and his wife was worried, "You have invited the whole village, they will start coming. We don't have anything in the house, what to give them?"

He said, "Don't worry, something will come out."

His wife said, "We don't have any bhoga in our house. You do one thing. I have golden bangles in my hand. Sell them and bring some bhoga so that we can cook for everyone. Forget about dakshina, they must have at least some plate of prasadam offered." She then prepared the list of the bhogas to bring.

Narsingh Mehta went to the market, sold the bangles, got a good amount and bought everything. But he forgot to buy ghee. His wife was very pleased, "At least there is something, now I can start cooking."

But there was no ghee. Without ghee she cannot cook. She was wondering how to cook.

So all the bhogas were kept in the room and Narsingh Mehta went back to the market to buy ghee, but this time he did not have any money left with him. He went to the first merchant and said, "You tell me the price of ghee and I will definitely give you, but today I don't have any money."

People knew that this mad man is always singing bhajans, from where is he going to bring money.

So the first man found out some excuse, "See, you are a very good man, and I have got a bad ghee. So I don't want to cheat you." (laughs) It was a civilized way of denying.

The next shop found out some other excuse. So every shopkeeper found out some excuse. Narsingh Mehta did not get ghee at all.

The end of the market came and he was completely perplexed, "How can I go back home without ghee? She can't cook without ghee."

At the end of the market, under a tree, there was one person sitting with jars of ghee.

Narsingh Mehta went there and inquired the price. He said that, "I don't have money today, but I will definitely pay, please tell me the price."

The merchant said, "No, don't worry about the price, I will give you the ghee." was happy but he insisted that he must fix the price. The merchant told him, "If you want to pay the price, then sing one bhajan."

Narsingh Mehta was very happy as that was the opportunity he was always looking for. He went on singing bhajans and he didn't stop. He was completely engrossed, and she was shouting at home for ghee. She didn't know that this mad man is engaged in Krishna's bhajan somewhere.

In the mean time, Krishna went home in the form of Narsingh Mehta.

The other Narsingh Mehta was singing bhajans. His wife asked, "You have come, where is ghee?"

He said, "Why for you want ghee?"

She said, "We have to cook, people are coming, are you mad? So long I sent you and you didn't bring the ghee?"

He said, "No, No, where are the bhogas?" She opened the door and found that everything was already cooked. It was ready to serve.

He said, "Today, everybody will come and eat in golden plates."

She asked, "How many golden plates you have got?" He replied, "As many as you want!"

So the golden plates were there. She was completely elated and surprised, "I gave you only 2 bangles, from where have you brought all these gold?"

He said, "Don't talk now, let them eat."

Then He said, "Those who come for eating, they eat in the golden plate and take away the golden plate as a dakshina."

Whole village was very happy. Immediately the word went out that Narsingh Mehta is giving out golden plates. Everybody in the village came over.

And then He said, "Ladies who come, they get new sarees."

So all the ladies came with torn sarees and got new sarees.

Whole village was very happy. Narsingh Mehta (Krishna) finished the whole thing and went away. His wife was very happy that, "We did very nice shraaddha."

And then original Narsingh Mehta came home. He didn't know anything, he was afraid that, "I didn't bring the ghee and now the time is over and I don't know what is going to happen (laughter)."

He thought that he was going to get blasted.

He went home and she offered her obeisances and said, "This time you did very nice. From where did you buy the gold? Come on bring some more gold ".

He was surprised and when he heard what happened then he knew that Krishna arranged the whole thing.

Moral of the story:

We may not be able to repeat this, but definitely Krishna
becomes very helpful to us and does our job.

We don't see Him but definitely He does our job.

If we have the faith, we can come to this stage of devotion and our life will become completely perfect.

Bhagavad gita: Chapter 9. The Most Confidential Knowledge TEXT 22

ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form--to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.