Keep Pushing

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Push!
One day he decided to work and prayed hard to Lord to ask what he should do?
Happy with his prayer, Lord appeared in form of a voice from his heart and asked him to go and push the large boulder on the way up the hill.
Happy to the core, he went to the hill and saw the huge boulder. Inspired and motivated, he started pushing it.
He pushed it with all his strength but the boulder didn't flinch even an inch.
He tried for hours nothing happened. He tried for days and months yet the boulder was still at the same place where he started, it simply refused to move!

Frustrated as he could be, he thought may be it wasn't the good Lord, may be it was Satan, who had tricked him. He stopped and started praying again.

Lord again appeared and spoke from his heart "Keep pushing!"
With regenerated faith, he again tried for months. But with each passing day of his "Sisyphean" labor, his faith kept dwindling.

Now he was determined to pray hard till Lord actually appeared before him and answered him. And so he started!
Happy with his faith and effort, Lord finally appeared before him.

On seeing him, Push asked "Holy Lord, was that really you who spoke through my heart?"
Lord smiled and said "Yes!"
"And so You wanted me to push the boulder?"
Lord again smiled and said "Yes"

"But O Good Lord, I had been pushing it with all my might for days and months together, but look it didn't even move a bit."
What a terrible waste of effort and How useless I have been!, Push thought

This time Lord had to move beyond his monosyllabic replies.
And He said "Push, I had only asked you to push. I didn't want you to move the boulder.
If I really had to move it I could have done it long time ago.
But look at yourself, See how much you have changed.
Look at the muscle that you have developed in the process."

Push looked at himself. True indeed, he was no longer weak but  a strong muscular youth. Overwhelmed with delight, he raised his eyes, but the Lord disappeared just then.

Aren't we all somewhere somewhat similar to what Push had been through, until we realize we have "grown wings" that we never knew existed in the process of a seemingly futile task!

Keep Pushing...

The Cobbler and the Priest

Once upon a time, a messenger of God visited a village.

There he met a priest, who was very pious and did all good works befitting a priest but with a scintilla of pride in his being pious. Sure of getting liberated in this lifetime, he asked the messenger to know from the Supreme Lord, how many days are left for him to attain liberation. The messenger smiled and went ahead!

Then he met a cobbler, busy in his daily, seemingly menial, work. When he saw the messenger, he considered his shoe mending job that he had been doing all this life albeit with his faith in the Supreme. He asked the messenger to inquire, how many lifetimes are left before he attains his liberation. The messenger smiles again and left.

When the messenger met the Supreme Lord, he delivered the respective queries. The Supreme Lord answered "Tell the priest, he has a thousand lifetimes left, but the Cobbler is in his final"

The messenger was bemused. He thought the Supreme Lord might have jumbled the two. But the Lord affirmed.

When he went back to the priest, he was furious. He said, you must be joking. Tell me what was Supreme Lord doing while you met him? The messenger said, he was trying to pass an elephant through the eye of a needle. On hearing this the preist laughed in disbelief. I knew you never ever visited him. The messenger went ahead.

When he met the cobbler, he was unnerved. He asked, tell me what miracle was the Lord performing when you met him?  The messenger said, he was trying to pass an elephant through the eye of a needle. On hearing this the Cobbler smiled and sung glories of God.

The messenger asked, so do you believe what you heard?

He replied, "Do you see the huge Banyan Tree, under the shade of which I'm working? Did you notice the size of the fruit it bears? And do you see the tiny seeds that it holds?  When the Lord can make this tiny seed grow into this huge tree, imagine what he might not be able to do?"

The messenger got the message. Its all in the Faith. The faith of the priest was marred with pride contrary to the cobbler whose was firm and without doubt!