SAINT KABIR & DISCIPLE | POR | XXXVI | 194

PARABLES OF RAMA | CHAPTER XXXVI | 194 | RAMA राम

|| SAINT KABIR & ONE OF THE DISCIPLES ||

One day , a young person , named Ram Das , bowed before the saint Kabir and , with tears in the eyes , requested ,

" You can perform miracles . Kindly help me to see GOD . "

The saint Kabir could not refuse the sincere request of Ram Das and , after some hesitation , promised to show GOD after two days , also gaving certain instructions to Ram Das for arranging the necessary preparations .

The next day , Ram Das sold away all property etc and purchased rice , sugar , butter , flour , milk etc . Saints from far and near were also invited to participate in this feast on the fixed day . Delicious varieties of food were prepared . While the invitees were engaged in their usual prayers , Ram Das was deeply absorbed in meditation in the hope that there would soon be the blessed opportunity to see GOD . All the invitees were told that good food would be served to them only after GOD had appeared before Ram Das . They were , therefore , waiting accordingly .

Noon passed away but GOD did not appear . Afternoon also passed away but GOD did not show Its face .

Some of the invitees , who felt very hungry , were very much disappointed . Some were blaming Saint Kabir ; some considered Ram Das to be a fool to be hoping against hopes . Some were happy with the idea that , when GOD will appear before Ram Das , they would also be blessed to get a glimpse .

Everybody was however anxiously waiting for GOD to appear .

In the mean time , they all saw some commotion and heard hullabaloo in the kitchen . Every one was agitated . They could not know from where a buffalo had entered the kitchen and knocked down everything topsy-turvy . The big pots of pudding were turned upside down . The buffalo put the mouth in " halva " . All the mal-puvas were either eaten or made dirty . The buffalo had damaged the oven and pulled down the fire places with the horns . The entire place was made dirty by the hoofs and dung . After destroying everything , the buffalo started making loud noises .

The invitees were already feeling very hungry . Seeing all this havoc in the kitchen , they lost their patience and were excited with anger . Ram Das was also very much enraged , and ran with a stout staff in hand to beat the buffalo . The invitees had already surrounded the animal to prevent it from doing further damage . Ram Das then started beating it mercilessly with the staff and wounded it badly .

They were all cursing the saint , Kabir , for fooling them in this way . They were badly agitated with anger , excitement and hunger .

The wounded buffalo , bleeding and crying with pain , ran limping for life towards the corner of the garden where the saint Kabir was staying . Ram Das and other invitees were also running after to punish it further and to express their anger against Kabir as well .

On reaching there , they were taken aback . They were surprised to see Kabir hugging the buffalo and weeping bitterly .

" O my Lord , you have received injuries which you did not have , even when you were fighting against the demon Ravana , or against Kansa . O my Lord , I am very much pained to see all this  .  .  . "

Seeing Kabir weeping in this way , the hearts of the invitees and the viewers were altogether changed . If any inflammable article is touched by fire , it also becomes fire .

So , too , the hearts of all those who were present there were filled with GODliness . Nothing remained except GOD . Dualism was gone . They were all experiencing GOD everywhere .

All their sorrows , desires , expectations etc , vanished and instead of regarding their individual bodies as their own , they also realised all the other bodies also to be their own .

Not only this , they also realized their own Self to be the all-pervading Universal Self .

It was a strange sight to see that the viewers and the viewed were no more different . They were all one .

To realise GOD in everything in this way , is the real Darshan ( sight ) of GOD .