In English
will not tolerate hatred among devotees
Let me tell you of a devotee, a woman in a small village, who lived in the last century. She went through even the little details of life in this spirit of dedication. Walking was to her a pilgrimage; talking was repetition of God’s name. Even when she threw off a ball of cow dung after applying it over the floor used by her husband to keep his dining plate while eating, she said and felt, “May this be an offering to ! ().” Her penance () was so sincere that the cow dung reached and stuck to ’s idol in the village temple every day! The priest saw the mysterious defilement. He was amazed, he was lost in terror. He cursed himself that he had lived to see that ignominy daily, about noon, the idol being defiled by the same size of cow dung. He hung his head in shame. As he walked along, keeping the disturbing phenomenon all to himself, one day, he heard that particular lady exclaim, “” as she, like many other housewives, threw the tell-tale cow dung ball. He suspected; he noted the timings, the quantity, the material, etc. until he was convinced that she was the culprit for the disfiguration of , the defilement of that liveliness. Then he beat her so severely that her arm that threw the dung was fractured. When he returned triumphantly to the temple expecting to be profusely blessed by the Lord for punishing the wicked woman, he was shocked to find ’s right arm fractured and bleeding, exactly like the saint’s arm! The poor fellow wept in his agony and said, “I beat her only through love of you; she spoilt your charm, Oh Lord.” replied, “You must love all whom I love, remember.” Here too, I want you to behave like that, or at least love yourself, that is to say, love your own better self and “best interests”. I will not tolerate envy or malice or hatred among devotees; nor will I allow you to hate yourselves or think of yourselves as mean or weak.