“Why don’t You show Yourself to all?”
Thursday, June 18th, 2015
Is it so easy to manifest HIM, our Chosen Lord, in front of us in physical? …For Maladasa, an innocent cowherd, it was…as his unflinching faith coupled with persistent yearning won him His physical darshan…a story from the Mahabharata times as recounted by Bhagawan Himself…
There was a cowherd called Maladasa who was determined to see the Lord, as He was described in the sacred texts he had heard expounded in the village temple by a pandit. So he prayed fervently to the “black Lord riding on the white bird” all the time his cows were pasturing in the fields.
Eleven days passed; but, there was no sign of the “black Lord riding the white bird,” He had forgotten to take food and drink during all those days and so, had become weak, too weak to walk or talk. At last, the Lord melted at his entreaties and presented Himself before him as an old Brahmin; but the Brahmin was not riding a white bird, nor was he black, beautifully black, as the pandit had described. So, he asked the Brahmin to come the next day at seven in the morning, so that he may bring the pandit and verify whether He was the Lord Himself.
The pandit laughed at the whole affair and refused to take part in it, but Maladasa was so importunate that he agreed. The entire village turned out on the river bank the next day, long before seven o’clock. The Brahmin was there, exactly as he had promised and Maladasa showed Him to all. But, they could not see him!
They began to laugh at the cowherd’s antics and threatened him with a severe beating for bringing them along as butts for his joke. Maladasa could see the Brahmin clearly but no one else could. At last, he got so enraged that he walked up to the old Brahmin and gave him a whacking blow on the cheek, saying, “Why don’t you show yourself to all?”
That blow changed the entire scene. Krishna appeared in resplendent robes, smiling face, captivating form and the white bird. As the astounded villagers were recovering from the amazement, the Vimana (heavenly chariot), floated down from the sky and Krishna asked Maladasa to sit inside it. Then, with the Lord by his side Maladasa rose up and soon was out of sight.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Storytime With Baba |
