CHINNA KATHA
- A Little Story from Bhagavan

No Gratitude, No Grace

Once Mother Parvati and Easwara (Lord Shiva) saw a person sitting on the branch of a tree, which was about to break. Watching this, Mother Parvati pleaded with Easwara to save the man. Easwara teasingly remarked, “Why should I protect him? Since You saw him first, it is Your duty to save him.”

But the Mother said, “How can I protect him without Your grace. I am the negative and you are the positive. Unless You shower Your grace on him, he cannot be saved. Please do not delay any further.”

Then Easwara replied, “Is it not his duty to call Me for help? How can I go to his rescue without being called? As the proverb goes, ‘one should not attend a function without being invited.’”

Mother Parvati, out of her motherly compassion, wanted to protect that person at any cost. So, she said to Easwara, “If that person, when he falls down, cries out amma (mother), I will go to his rescue; and if he cries out appa (father), you should protect him.”

Easwara agreed to her proposal. Both of them eagerly waited for the call. But the person fell down crying Ayyo (alas)!

The words amma or appa did not come to his lips, as he had never respected and revered his parents in his lifetime. Such was his fate!

How can God come to the rescue of a person who has totally forgotten his parents? Both our Mother and Father are verily God. And when with such feelings, we offer our gratitude to our parents, even God cannot refrain from helping us.

~ Baba

- Illustrations: Ms. Vidya, Kuwait