A  Story with a Moral

A daughter-in-law used to cause a lot of grief to her mother-in-law. She used to feed her mother-in-law in a potsherd like dogs are fed. She used to occasionally clean it. Her son got married. After some time, her mother-in-law died. She said to her daughter-in-law, "Break this potsherd and throw it outside." The daughter-in-law said, "Mother-in-law! I will feed you also in this potsherd. You have inflicted lots of atrocities on the old lady." She realised her fault and cried bitterly. The daughter-in-law was wise. She did not break that potsherd till the evening. The potsherd seemed to be an enemy to her mother-in-law. The daughter-in-law said, "Mother! I have listened to satsangs (spiritual discourses). I will not do a wrong deed." Saying this, she broke the potsherd. Due to her sinful deeds, the mother-in-law developed cancer. She used to scream the whole day. The daughter-in-law used to serve her with full dedication.

 But she used to say, "Mother-in-law! I will serve you with full dedication, but I will not be able to share your sins. You will have to yourself bear this pain. Had you listened to the satsang, you would not have to suffer like this." Then that wicked woman said, "Daughter! I am a big sinner. Can I also be absolved? I also want to take initiation." The girl belonged to a Satsangi house. She knew that sinful deeds are destroyed by doing bhakti after taking initiation. Those who have more sins will only benefit from doing bhakti as their sins will reduce, and if they continue to do bhakti until their last breath while abiding by the code of conduct, then they can also get a human life in future. In Satsang, Gurudev ji explains by giving an example that, for instance, if someone's cloth is less dirty, then it is cleaned with little effort. If it is dirtier, then it becomes clean after washing it two-three times with soap and water. If someone has made it excessively dirty and has other stains too, then it gets cleaned by dry cleaning. If one is determined to clean it, then even the blackened clothes of a mechanic can be cleaned. The girl knew that her mother-in-law has acquired the state of a mechanic. Nevertheless, one only gets benefit by acquiring the refuge of God. With this motive, she got her mother-in-law initiated. Aftersome time, the pain of cancer reduced a bit. On listening to the satsang, she cried thinking, "Parents have so many hopes from their son and daughter-in-law. I, the sinner, behaved so badly with my mother-in-law. I was bound to have this disease. If I had listened to this knowledge earlier, I would not have committed this sin. I would have led a pure life. I would have made the soul of my mother-in-law also happy, and would have made my life successful." Listening to the abovementioned statements, the daughter-in law of Rambhakt embraced her friend (that female devotee) and cried bitterly. 

She could not stop herself for half an hour. After a lot of consolation, she stopped sobbing, and while crying, she described the way she behaved with her father-in-law. She also mentioned about the humane nature of her father-in-law that - 'He never even mentioned to his son that your wife is behaving so badly with me. Even when asked by his son he only used to say, "Son, there is no shortcoming in the service. She is a daughter of a very good family. We are lucky that she came to our house. She has made our home prosperous." I, the sinner, did not soften even after listening to these words because a layer of sinful deeds had been laid on my soul. That layer of sins has been shed after listening to the satsang two-three times. Good thoughts have started arising in the soul.' 

After listening to the satsang for three days, devotee Rambhakt, his grandchildren and daughter-in-law returned home. Even when the grandchildren saw other small satsang children performing the service of feeding and offering water to the devotees, they also started serving. After returning home, both brother and sister brought a bucket full of water for their grandfather and said, "Grandfather! Have a bath." Rambhakt said, "Children! You will have a stomach ache. Do not lift so much of weight. I will bring it myself." The children said, "Guru ji said in the satsang that - By serving others, one only gets benefits. One does not face any crisis. If we will eat chapatti, then our stomach will get filled. If we will serve others, we will earn merits. Even if one has a disease, it gets cured by doing bhakti and serving others. Many brother-devotees were telling in the satsang that - "We used to remain ill. After taking initiation (naam), we started doing whatever service we could do. We became healthy. Doctors had given up hope. Look at the prescriptions of our medicines. We were undergoing treatment for four years. Now we do not take any medicine."

  (The same evidence is also in Rigved Mandal 10 Sukt 161 Mantra 2 that - If a patient is on the verge of dying, that is, even if one has an incurable disease, if he/she starts doing bhakti, then God brings him/her back from the mouth of death. By making him/her healthy, God provides hundred percent life, that is, full age to that person. - Author) 

Just then the daughter-in-law came and said, "Father! Have a bath. Leave your dhoti here itself. I will wash it." Rambhakt said, "Daughter, you have to do so many household chores - cook food, fetch water, look after the animals. I will wash it myself. My leg has also become alright now. Only a slight limp is remaining." After having bath, Rambhakt changed his dhoti and started washing the dirty dhoti. At that very moment, the children snatched his dhoti and took it inside and gave it to their mother. Then they took his shirt as well. They brought him another shirt. His son brought the animals' fodder from the field and as always, looked at his father and without saying anything went ahead in the house. He saw that his wife Nirmala was preparing Halwa. He thought that there must be some festival. Then she prepared a vegetable dish and chapattis. First of all, she offered the food in two bowls to Guru-God, and then putting the vegetable dish, chapattis and the Halwa in one plate, took it to her father-in-law, and said, "Father! Have food. You must be hungry. We have come from a long journey." Rambhakt said, "Daughter! I will not be able to digest this. Bring dry chapattis for me. I will become ill." Rambhakt thought that driven by emotions, this daughter will serve me well today, but my son will reproach her because he does not have the knowledge of the satsang. There might be a conflict in the house.

 Meanwhile, the boy also came there. He said to his wife, "Father is right. Take the food inside." Father's room was on the street. The children's room was inside. The wife said, "Shut up. I have accumulated a lot of sins. Now I will myself serve father." The boy became quiet. Rambhakt gave some halwa to both the grandchildren. When he gave it to his daughter-in-law, she said, "What will you eat? There is a even a lot more of Halwa Prasad at home. Father, you eat it. If you will not eat it, my soul will cry." Devotee Rambhakt thought of Gurudev-God and ate the food.       

  Everery day his daughter-in-law herself fed him soft and hot chapattis. She washed his clothes daily and said, "Father! Do Bhajan." One day, Rambhakt's paternal aunt's son Ramniwas came. Rambhakt embraced him and said, "O Brother! Our house has become a heaven by your grace." Devotee Ramniwas said, "O Son of my maternal uncle, Ramniwas has done nothing. It is a miracle of the word-power of Gurudevji. You and I used to play the game 'BattiDanda' together earlier. If I had to do anything, I would have done it long ago. Guru ji was saying, "Rambhakt was a devotee in the previous births. Due to his affection towards his family, he had committed a mistake in the code of conduct of bhakti. As a result of that, he has faced all these hardships. Now he had become highly distressed. Then he has come with you. Otherwise, you had asked him so many times earlier that - 'Come with me to satsang', but he was blinded by affection. This suffering and the behaviour of his daughter-in-law became a blessing for him. Kabir Ji has stated that: -

                Kabir, sukh ke maathe patthar pado, jo naam hriday se jay | 

                Balihaari va dukh ke, jo pal-pal Ram rataaye ||

              कबीर, सुख के माथे पत्थर पड़ो, नाम हृदय से जावै।

              बलिहारी वा दुख के, जो पल-पल नाम रटावै।

 Meaning: - O God! Do not give me so much happiness that I forget you. Always keep giving me a sorrow by which I remember God every moment. I am thankful to that sorrow due to which I got the refuge of God. Devotee Rambhakt said to Devotee Ramniwas, "Now take my son Prem Singh to the satsang. He will also be emancipated." In the next satsang that had to take place after a month, Devotee Ramniwas came and took Prem Singh along with him with the excuse of taking him to his house. From his house, he took him to the Satsang. They stayed in the ashram for three days and listened to the Satsang. When he listened to the stories of the experiences of other older devotees, he fell in love with the satsang. Devotee Rambhakt's family got completely transformed. By doing bhakti and service, they got their welfare done.

Thank You

[ a story from book "way of living"]