Once, Narada visited his native village at the base of Meru parvat. The people of the village were very pious and chanting the name Narayana again and again all through out the day. But the people there experienced terrible hardships. There were frequent famines. Crops yielded less. People lived in terrible poverty. They worked all day and could afford only two meals a day. They just managed to find enough clothes to cover their body.
Seeing this Narada was tremendously moved and wanted to do something to alleviate their suffering. Being able to travel to all the worlds, he went to Vykunta where the Lord Narayana was immersed in yoganidra. He immediately complained, “My Lord, you are very unkind. Your devotees are in distress and you are sleeping here unperturbed”. Narayana opened his eyes and asked Narada the source of his distress. Narada continued, “I just visited my native village and the people there are extremely devoted to you but you have neglected them and given them more than their fair share of suffering. There is so much poverty. Can you not do something to improve their conditions?” Narayana said, “Look Narada, I have given your people all that they can handle. They are completely responsible for the conditions that they live in. But you will not understand what I say. So let me illustrate this with a miracle. Go to your village and tell them starting tomorrow midnight, it will rain diamonds on the mount Meru. Nobody is to leave the village till sunrise. Then each person can collect as many stones as he can carry till noon. At noon, all the diamonds that have not reached homes will turn into coal. If your people break my conditions, they will suffer terribly”.
Narada was extremely happy and thanked the Lord and ran back to the village. He assembled all the elders of the village and announced what the Lord told him. All the villagers promised to abide by the rules that the Lord put forth. The village had a fence for protection against wild animals. The gates of the village were closed and people went to bed dreaming about the riches that they would soon acquire. At midnight the rain of diamonds began on the mountain.
There was one beggar in the village who stayed with his wife and a child in a small hut. He told his wife, “I beg so that my ego stays small. God has been feeding us and taking care of us and will continue to do so. If we collect the diamonds and grow rich, we can not beg any more. Our ego will grow and we shall forget God. So tomorrow we shall all sit at home and chant the Lord’s name”. His wife obliged.
There were 5 robbers in the village. When they heard about the miracle, they thought, “If every body gets to pick diamonds, every body will get rich. We have to become richer than others to command our status in the village”. So they collected 100 gunny bags and sneaked out of the village in the night. They climbed the Meru mountain and spread out the bags so that the diamonds drop directly into them. At midnight when it began to rain, the diamonds started hitting them like stones. They ran for cover but there were no trees. The pelting cut their skin and they were bruised and bleeding all over the body. The ground was soon covered with diamonds and soon they all slipped and fell down attempting to run down the hill. They soon lost consciousness.
At day break, the village gate was opened and all the villagers stormed out. They climbed the mountain and saw diamonds all over and greed took over them. They forgot the Lord’s condition and took more than what they could carry. In their hurry, they jostled over each other and a few of them fell down and got injured. Some bags tore due to the weight. Some people made groups and passed the bags over. Some of them were still collecting the diamonds, some were still walking back, some lay down exhausted and when the noon struck, most of them had not yet reached their homes. All their bags were filled with coal. Only 6 families in the entire village managed to reach home with some diamonds. They all enjoyed good health before this day, but now most of them were injured and had to visit the village doctor. The beggar looked at their pitiable situation and helped to nurse their wounds.
Now the 5 robbers woke up in the late after noon and found that they had nothing but coal in their bags. They were furious. They slowly limped back to the village and got themselves bandaged. They soon learnt what happened with the villagers. They marked the 6 houses which had some diamonds. In the middle of the night, they silently entered the houses, killed all the people in the houses and decamped with the diamonds. They ran away from the village with their booty. While fleeing they quarreled over their share of diamonds and killed each other.
When Narada visited the village the next day, he found the dead bodies laid out of the houses, many people were bandaged and all were grieving. The beggar was the only person who was as happy as before. The rest of the village was worse off then before. Nobody but the beggar was chanting the Lord’s name. He then understood what Lord Narayana had said and ran to ask his forgiveness.
Seeing this Narada was tremendously moved and wanted to do something to alleviate their suffering. Being able to travel to all the worlds, he went to Vykunta where the Lord Narayana was immersed in yoganidra. He immediately complained, “My Lord, you are very unkind. Your devotees are in distress and you are sleeping here unperturbed”. Narayana opened his eyes and asked Narada the source of his distress. Narada continued, “I just visited my native village and the people there are extremely devoted to you but you have neglected them and given them more than their fair share of suffering. There is so much poverty. Can you not do something to improve their conditions?” Narayana said, “Look Narada, I have given your people all that they can handle. They are completely responsible for the conditions that they live in. But you will not understand what I say. So let me illustrate this with a miracle. Go to your village and tell them starting tomorrow midnight, it will rain diamonds on the mount Meru. Nobody is to leave the village till sunrise. Then each person can collect as many stones as he can carry till noon. At noon, all the diamonds that have not reached homes will turn into coal. If your people break my conditions, they will suffer terribly”.
Narada was extremely happy and thanked the Lord and ran back to the village. He assembled all the elders of the village and announced what the Lord told him. All the villagers promised to abide by the rules that the Lord put forth. The village had a fence for protection against wild animals. The gates of the village were closed and people went to bed dreaming about the riches that they would soon acquire. At midnight the rain of diamonds began on the mountain.
There was one beggar in the village who stayed with his wife and a child in a small hut. He told his wife, “I beg so that my ego stays small. God has been feeding us and taking care of us and will continue to do so. If we collect the diamonds and grow rich, we can not beg any more. Our ego will grow and we shall forget God. So tomorrow we shall all sit at home and chant the Lord’s name”. His wife obliged.
There were 5 robbers in the village. When they heard about the miracle, they thought, “If every body gets to pick diamonds, every body will get rich. We have to become richer than others to command our status in the village”. So they collected 100 gunny bags and sneaked out of the village in the night. They climbed the Meru mountain and spread out the bags so that the diamonds drop directly into them. At midnight when it began to rain, the diamonds started hitting them like stones. They ran for cover but there were no trees. The pelting cut their skin and they were bruised and bleeding all over the body. The ground was soon covered with diamonds and soon they all slipped and fell down attempting to run down the hill. They soon lost consciousness.
At day break, the village gate was opened and all the villagers stormed out. They climbed the mountain and saw diamonds all over and greed took over them. They forgot the Lord’s condition and took more than what they could carry. In their hurry, they jostled over each other and a few of them fell down and got injured. Some bags tore due to the weight. Some people made groups and passed the bags over. Some of them were still collecting the diamonds, some were still walking back, some lay down exhausted and when the noon struck, most of them had not yet reached their homes. All their bags were filled with coal. Only 6 families in the entire village managed to reach home with some diamonds. They all enjoyed good health before this day, but now most of them were injured and had to visit the village doctor. The beggar looked at their pitiable situation and helped to nurse their wounds.
Now the 5 robbers woke up in the late after noon and found that they had nothing but coal in their bags. They were furious. They slowly limped back to the village and got themselves bandaged. They soon learnt what happened with the villagers. They marked the 6 houses which had some diamonds. In the middle of the night, they silently entered the houses, killed all the people in the houses and decamped with the diamonds. They ran away from the village with their booty. While fleeing they quarreled over their share of diamonds and killed each other.
When Narada visited the village the next day, he found the dead bodies laid out of the houses, many people were bandaged and all were grieving. The beggar was the only person who was as happy as before. The rest of the village was worse off then before. Nobody but the beggar was chanting the Lord’s name. He then understood what Lord Narayana had said and ran to ask his forgiveness.
- A story by Yogacharya B. Devdas Rao (narrated by AtmaAnanda)
3 comments:
While I see the lessons "greed is bad" and "breaking conditions don't get you anywhere", I wonder if the villagers could have worked together to collectively improve their lot. If they had all agreed to follow the conditions, could that village have turned into heaven on earth? Is that what is the actual lesson of this story?
working together is again violating condition 2. There are different lessons to be learnt and you will see the points that are relevant to you at this point. Come back a few years later and you will still keep learning. That is the beauty of story telling.
dude,
The story illustrates "greed is bad". However the most mysterious aspect of this story is - it is he himself who creates the greed in man? and he himself who manifests in hatred and killing - all just for it.
The beggar continued to remain a beggar - quoting the need for ego. Don't people who have no ego - NOT beg - rather is it needed to have begged to have no ego?
It is again he who keeps an ego - too :-)
BTW: The narada bhakthi sutras is a bullet train hitting you at 500 mph.
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