One day a busy merchant asked his servant to go to a faraway city to get some work done. He thought that the servant could then learn something and become a successful merchant himself. The servant too went down to meet his master’s expectations and started working.
He got so busy eventually and got caught up with his life. However, he called his boss every day back home and put forth lots of requests. He began complaining about everything. Despite being fully empowered to make decisions on his own, he kept on seeking help by calling him every day.
Sometimes, situations were worse, and he called up for desperate help. However, the master never said anything. He just listened, but didn’t advice or respond to him. That made the servant angry, and he then decided not to ask anything from now on and will not work either.
That made him even more helpless. Dejected, he finally cancelled his trip to return home, unsuccessful.
Master asked him:
“What did I ask you to do? I had empowered you to get your way. To decide your things and finish the task I gave you. Still, you kept on calling me often.
Why? Weren’t you believing in yourself? ”
The servant fell silent in reflection. He felt sad for wasting his time, realized his mistake!
Aren’t all of us like that servant? We were born as humans with greater senses than the animals for some deeper reason. Our time is limited. With that limited time and lot of work to do, we must use it to accomplish our purpose on this Earth.
Our time is limited. With that limited time and lot of work to do, we must use it to accomplish our purpose on this Earth.
Imagine if God ever comes in front of us and asks what are we doing, what do we answer? We mistake God to be a mighty being who expects us to pay respects and sing praises every day.
I now know I should do my best. And ask God’s help only when there is seemingly no way out of a situation. To complete our task is to listen to our hearts and find what is it that we were born to do. Some work is there. We have to find that out. Call it Karma, if you want.
As they say, Work is worship.
Inaction is not an option, says Lord Krsna in Bhagavad Gita.
We must not worry about why something is wrong. But instead, work on fixing it while focusing on getting things done. We must make ourselves useful to others.
We must believe in God and turn to Him only –
- to seek help when stuck.
- to thank Him.
For rest of the things, I must think and work hard. So His tasks, the reason why He sent me to this planet, are fulfilled. The destiny will be fulfilled.
By routinely making the prayers a chore, the intensity of it reduces and becomes a ‘to-do’ without putting the mind to it.
Turning to God and seeking His help only when needed is NOT selfishness, in my opinion. It’s the best thing to do, as it proves that I strongly believe in Him when there is a crisis – than just showing a feeble touch-n-go devotion like a checklist item every day.
Rather than doing it as a chore, I would end up talking to God with mindfulness, listening to heart and feelings. As mentioned in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, feelings are the language of the World.
I feel happy with this thought. Thank you, God.
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