5. Two Incidents

A devotee was distributing food to the people visiting the temple. His family members were standing near him witnessing people receiving and ingesting the food.

One of the persons who received the food murmured, after moving away "It seems the gentleman is seeking some favor from God!" The tone of his voice carried an impression that he was receiving the food in order to help the benefactor to get his wish fulfilled!

Another day, I observed that the temple priest was distributing food to the devotees.

One of the persons receiving the food asked the priest who the benefactor was. The priest said, "A blessed soul arranged for food to be made, offered to God and then distributed to the devotees. He told me not to expect him to be present in the temple today but to offer the food to the Lord at the usual time and then to do the distribution. He is not here. I wonder whether he is a believer at all, but he is doing a commendable deed, indeed."

I narrated these two incidents to an erudite scholar known for his piety and spiritual bent of mind and requested him to critically examine the events from a spiritual perspective.

He said, "There are people who do virtuous deeds like helping the poor, feeding the poor, offering food to the Lord and then distributing it to other people, expecting that virtuous deeds would bring in beneficial results to them. This is like lending money to someone and expecting that after some time, the money would be returned to them with interest. But it may also happen that the loan goes bad and the lender loses his money!

"Those who perform good deeds with the expectation that these deeds would bring in benefits to them may or may not get the benefits they expect. Sometimes, the benefits may be trivial or may have only short term value. 

"It is also possible that benefits will occur only in the next birth. Thus, people who do good, expecting some benefit to accrue to them, often end up frustrated that good deeds have not given them what they hoped to get. 

"You told me that in the first case, one of the persons receiving the food had a patronizing attitude towards the benefactor as if it was he who was doing a favor to the benefactor by accepting the food offered! This shows that doing good deeds with expectation of benefits may sometimes turn out to be futile! 

"In the second case, the benefactor seems to have acted with no expectations. He was not even keen to let people receiving the food know who the benefactor was. But look at the result! The priest describes him a blessed soul!

"A person who does a good deed without any expectation gets praised! But one who expects something in return for his good deed is treated with condescension and pity, as if that is all he deserved!

"If we commit wrongs, we will reap the consequences by way of sufferings even during our current birth. Alternatively, or additionally, we may go to hell after death or may suffer in our next birth. 

If we do good things for the sake of getting some benefits, we may get some benefits even during the current birth or we may be able to enjoy the benefit only in our next birth.

"But those who do good deeds without any expectation are close to God. In the Gita, the Lord talks about 'action with no attachment.' This means an action without any desire for results.

Those who do good things without any expectation will experience heaven even as they are living in this world. They will feel being close to God. But this can happen only to those who realize the greatness of God and revel in His glory."

I felt I was beginning to comprehend what the saintly man was saying.  

(This is the English version of the Tamil story annadhaanam written by the same author)

Virtue

Chapter 1

In Praise of God

Verse 5

iruLsEr iruvinaiyum sEraaiRaivan 
poruLsEr pukazh purindhaar maattu.

Meaning:

Consequences of either type of action will not touch the one who dwells in the glory of God.

Verse 6 (soon)

Verse 4

4. To which faction do you belong?

"There are two groups in our organisation. To which group do you belong?" asked Gurumurthi. Although both of us have been working for the same company, this was the first time I was interacting with him.

"I am not with any group, but what about you?" I replied. "I am with the Devaraj group. Devaraj commands more influence with the top management of our company. Venkatakrishnan's group is not so strong. I suggest that you also join the Devaraj group. It will be to your advantage" advised Gurumurthi. "Is there any application form?" I asked, somewhat naively. He threw me a contemptuous look and left. Though I am not with either group, I am, in fact, with a third group - the Paranthaman group! Well, there is nothing called the Paranthaman group, in reality! There has always been a competition between two senior executives of our company, M/s Devaraj and Venkatakrishnan. Both would often be involved in some game of one-upmanship to demonstrate one's superiority over the other. Some times, the Devaraj group would appear to have gone up in the ladder of power and influence much higher than the Venkatakrishnan group, while on other occasions, the position would become reversed with Venkatakrishnan gaining the upper hand.

With almost the entire organization split between the two groups, a handful of people like me chose not to identify ourselves with either group. During the times Devaraj was having an upper hand, he would harass people belonging to Venkatakshanan's group. The harassment may take various forms from a minor inconvenience to a severe injustice like scuttling a promotion opportunity. At one point, it appeared that Devaraj was well entrenched, with his influence having increased considerably. This resulted in some people moving from the Venkatakrishnan group to the Devaraj group. But, after some time, the situation changed unexpectedly. With Devaraj falling from grace due to an act of indiscretion on his part, Venkatakrishnan moved up, as if to fill the void. Now, it was Venkatakrishnan's turn to take revenge on Devaraj by harassing his followers in the organization.

Gurumurthi was one of the victims of this revenge. His expected promotion didn't materialize. On the other hand, he was asked to respond to some complaints against him! One day, Gurumurthi ran into me. Talking about his plight, he lamented, "My calculations seem to have gone wrong. I am paying a heavy price for my allegiance to Devaraj. Perhaps, I should cross over to Venkatakrishnan's side!" "But, what if Devaraj becomes powerful again?" I asked. He had no answer to this question. He asked me,"You are not with either group. Has this not affected you in any way?"

"Not at all. In fact, I have authentic information that my name is in the promotion list that is expected to be released shortly." "How could you manage this, with no support from either of these power centres?" asked Gurmurthi, in a tone of surprise. "I am with the Paranthaman group!" I said. "But Paranthaman is the Managing Director!" he said, "he has no group and he is far away, in the head office." "But he knows what's going on here, and he has been watching the tussle between these two groups. If any harm is caused to me, he won't be watching it idly. Maybe that's why Venkatakrishnan did not try to scuttle my promotion." "I have made a serious mistake. If I had been loyal to the organization rather than to one of these power centres, I would have got the support of the dispassionate Managing Director" said Gurumurthi, in a tone of regret. "Nothing is lost, yet," he added, "I am going to keep myself away from these two groups and join the Paranthaman group. Is there any application form?"

(This is the English version of the story 'neengal enrthakkatchi?" written by the same author)

Virtue

Chapter 1

In Praise of God

Verse 4

VENduthal vENDaamai ilaanati sErnthaarukku

Yaandum idumbai ila.

Meaning:

A person seeking refuge at the feet of the Lord who has no likes and dislikes will never be afflicted by sufferings.

Verse 5

Verse 3

3. The Priest’s Prayer

It was an old temple. It would have a deserted look most of the time. The temple was served by an old priest befitting the antiquity of the temple.

When I visited the temple that day, there was no one in the temple save the priest. I felt like asking him a question.

People who come to a temple pray for myriad things. Their requests may range from early settlement of the marriage of their daughter to a convenient riddance of a business partner.

I was curious to know what  the priest would pray for. Taking advantage of the privacy provided by my being the only devotee present in the temple at that time, I asked the priest “Sir! What will you seek from God?”

For a moment, he cast a strange look on me. Then, probably feeling free to share his prayers with me, he said, “I pray to God asking for a long life for me!”

Floored by the unexpected answer, I asked him, “Sir! Don’t consider me inquisitive or impudent. My understanding is that  people who have a spiritual bent of mind generally pray to God that they reach the lotus feet of the God sooner than later. Perhaps some may desire to go to Heaven. I have heard many people say that this is what the scriptures advise us, I am not well versed in the scriptures, though! How is that your prayer is different?”

“You are right. But I have already attained the feet of God!” said the priest.

I was taken aback by his answer. The priest’s answer momentarily created doubts in me about his mortal status! Being alone with the priest in the dark atmosphere of the sanctum-sanctorum made me feel a little apprehensive. I looked at his feet to confirm that they were touching the floor! So, I have not been talking to a ghost or a spirit, after all!

“What do you mean, sir? You say you have attained the feet of God! Well, is it not something that can happen only after a person leaves this world?” I asked in a feeble voice that betrayed my apprehension.

“The scriptures say that we should aim to attain the feet of God after we depart from this world. But I used the expression in a slightly different sense. I have been standing near the idol of God and looking at the image of God many times a day. Every time, a devotee performs an Archana, I offer flowers at the Lord’s feet 108 times on behalf of the devotee. So, I get a chance to look at His feet hundreds of times every day. Over the years, I would have offered flowers at His feet several million times. I spend most of my day in front of this idol. So, the vision of the feet of God is ingrained in my mind. Even when I am not in the temple, the image of God stays with me. When I sleep, my mind’s eye sees God’s feet. What can be more enchanting, more satisfying and more rewarding than this divine experience? I crave for this experience to continue indefinitely. I pray for a long life so that I can keep experiencing this bliss.”

As if by reflex, I prostrated before him, a person who had attained the rare state of being with God most of the time.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'archchakarin aasai' by the same author)

Virtue

Chapter 1

In Praise of God

Verse 3

Malarmisai Ekinaan maaNadi sErnthaar

Nilamisai needu vaazhvaar

Meaning:

One who seeks refuge at the feet of the Lord residing in one’s heart, will live long in this world. (Parimelazhagar, the leading commentator of ThirukkuRaL has interpreted this verse to mean that those who meditate on the feet of God will reside in the Heaven for a long time.)

Verse 4

Verse 2