Nothing Like Pride
Today we have two stories Sri Ramakrishna
told about the problem of pride, conceit or egoism
--all meaning about the same thing. If you're trying
to be the right kind of person, it can seriously get
in your way.
The first is about that divine rascal Narada, of
whom you have heard before. He really did love God,
but he was also quite proud of it, and of course that's
not a very good thing. It went so far that one day
he began to imagine that there was probably no
one in the whole wide world who loved the Lord
so much as he did.
Now God has a way of "reading" one's heart,
knowing our secret thoughts. After all, our heart is
just where he is seated. So one day he told Narada,
"Go to such and such a place. Someone greatly
devoted to me lives there. Go and get acquainted with
that devotee." Narada, surprised to hear
this, went to the village, inquired, and
found that the man was a farmer. The villagers described
him as a great lover of God.
Narada saw that the man got up early in the morning,
spoke the name of the Lord just once, went to his fields
and plowed and tilled the soil all day long and did
all his other tasks. Then at bedtime he again repeated
the name of the Lord --once-- and went to
bed.
Narada said to himself, "How can this crude farmer
be a lover of God? He just works all day at his commonplace
duties and what attention does he pay to the Lord?"
Narada went home, called on the Lord, and told him
what he thought of this fellow: not much.
The Lord listened and said, "Narada, I want you
to take this cup of oil, full to the brim, and go all
the way around the city wall with it and come back
to me. But one thing: you must not spill one
drop. See that you don't." Now one of the things Narada
was most proud of was that he was always able to carry out
any command of God. So he set off with the cup of oil and
made his way slowly around the whole city, not spilling
even a drop. Returning to the Lord, exhausted, he reported
his success.
"How many times," asked God, "did you
remember me while out on your walk?"
"Lord, not once. How could I, when I had to watch
this brimming cup of oil?"
"You forgot me completely? Just in preserving
this cup of oil? But that farmer, though carrying the
burden of a family and a farm, still remembers to think
of me twice a day!"
In ancient India there lived a certain wise king. One
day a pandit (scholar and teacher) who had studied
many scriptures and holy books came to the palace and
asked to see the king.
"Your Majesty," said he, "I should like
it very much if you would permit me to teach you the
Bhagavatam, the holy scripture on the life of
Sri Krishna. I will not require an unreasonable fee."
Now the king, a good judge of human nature, knew
enough of that great book to realize that the pandit,
scholar that he was, still had not understood
what it says. Otherwise, why would he be coming to
a king's palace in search of wealth instead of seeking
for the Lord in the depths of his own heart.
He said to the pandit: "I perceive that you have
not fully mastered the Bhagavatam as yet. I
will make you my tutor only when you have learned it
well." As he went on his way the scholar thought
to himself, "Why, I've been studying the book
over and over all these years. How foolish the king
is to say that I have not mastered it!" Yet a
seed of doubt had been sown in his mind. He carefully
read the book again and again he applied to the king.
This time the king repeated the same thing.
Mightily puzzled, the pandit reached home and shut
himself in his room. He pored over the holy book day
and night, and gradually the truth began to dawn on
him. Then he began to see his own vanity and
greed for the riches and courts of kings, and also
for his own fame. Now he applied himself
entirely to the worship of God and never thought once
of returning to the king.
After a few years the king became curious and paid
a visit to the pandit's house. There he found a changed
man, radiant with divine light and love. The king fell
on his knees. "I see," he said, "that
you have now realized the true meaning of the
Bhagavatam. I am ready to be your disciple if you
will teach me."
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