sincere and devoted. Every time he saw thousands of devotees coming to
take darshan of the Lord, he thought that the Lord is standing all the
time and giving darshan and He must be feeling very tired.
So one day very innocently he asked the Lord whether he can take the
place of the Lord for a day so that the Lord can have some relief and
rest. The Deity of Temple replied, "I do not mind taking a break. I
will transform you like Myself, but you must do one thing. You must
just stand here like Me, smile at everyone and just give benedictions.
Do not interfere with anything and do not say anything. Remember you
are the deity and you just have faith that I have a master plan for
everything." The sweeper agreed to this.
The next day the sweeper took the position of the deity and a rich man
came and prayed to the Lord. He offered a nice donation and prayed
that his business should be prosperous. While going, the rich man
inadvertently left his wallet full of money right there. Now the
sweeper in the form of deity could not call him and so he decided to
control himself and keep quiet.
Just then a poor man came and he put one coin in the Hundi and said
that it was all he could afford and he prayed to the Lord that he
should continue to be engaged in the Lord's service. He also said that
his family was in dire need of some basic needs but he left it to the
good hands of the Lord to give some solution. When he opened his eyes,
he saw the wallet left by the rich man. The poor man thanked the Lord
for His kindness and took the wallet very innocently. The sweeper in
the form of the Deity could not say anything and he had to just keep
smiling.
At that point a sailor walked in. He prayed for his safe journey as he
was going on a long trip. Just then the rich man came with the police
and said that somebody has stolen his wallet and seeing the sailor
there, he asked the police to arrest him thinking that he might have
taken it. Now the sweeper in the form of Deity wanted to say that the
sailor is not the thief but he could not say so and he became greatly
frustrated. The sailor looked at the Lord and asked why he, an
innocent person, is being punished. The rich man looked at the Lord
and thanked Him for finding the thief. The sweeper in the deity form
could no more tolerate and he thought that even if the real Lord had
been here, he would have definitely interfered and hence he started
speaking and said that the sailor is not the thief but it was the poor
man who took away the wallet. The rich man was very thankful as also
the sailor.
In the night, the real Lord came and He asked the sweeper how the day
was. The sweeper said, "I thought it would be easy, but now I know
that Your days are not easy, but I did one good thing." Then he
explained the whole episode to the Lord. The Lord became very upset on
hearing this whereas the sweeper thought the Lord would appreciate him
for the good deed done.
The Lord asked, "Why did you not just stick to the plan? You had no
faith in Me. Do you think that I do not understand the hearts of all
those who come here? All the donation which the rich man gave was all
stolen money and it is only a fraction of what he really has and he
wants Me to reciprocate unlimitedly. The single coin offered by the
poor man was the last coin he was having and he gave it to Me out of
faith. The sailor might not have done anything wrong, but if the
sailor were to go in the ship that night he was about to die because
of bad weather and instead if he is arrested he would be in the jail
and he would have been saved form a greater calamity. The wallet
should go to the poor man because he will use it in My service. I was
going to reduce the rich man's karma also by doing this and save the
sailor also. But you cancelled everything because you thought you know
My plan and you made your own plans."
God has plans and justice for everyone….we just have to have patience!!!!!
