In English
If you give a small amount of food, once in a while to the animal, it will always be very attached and grateful to you. Man does not show this gratitude even if he receives something very valuable. Arguing like this, said that he must go with the cows. Realising that cannot be made to change his mind, agreed to his going; and early next morning, she packed some rice and curds along with some pickles and gave it to as food. and the cowherd boys went into the grazing grounds and were playing and singing happily. The cows were also happily following the and the . The calves went with the cows like a child who wants to follow its mother. In this happy mood, they did not realise where they were going. They lost their way and wandered deep into the forest. In order to feed themselves, they all stopped at the bank of a river and opened their food packets. In order to demonstrate the oneness of all the , got all the packets opened and mixed up all the food that was contained in the packets. He made the food into as many parts as there were people. Equal portions were handed over to each of the . They all ate the food that was apportioned with the divine hand, with great relish. We say that by the vision of the Lord, you will get rid of your sin; by talking to the Lord, you will achieve liberation and salvation. Here the were not only able to get the vision of the Lord, but also talk to him and touch him. After eating their food, they began to play hide and seek. In this game, all the were getting caught but was not caught at all. It is quite easy to get at each individual thief but very difficult to get at the chief of the group. Many times, you would have heard the description of the Lord as one who is a big thief of the hearts of his devotees. Such a big thief can be caught only by one who has pure and sacred love. As the were thus playing with , even the Gods themselves were watching the game. Who can get such a fortunate experience of being able to play with the Lord. They played and played until they got tired. The thought that might get upset if was also tired. One of the spread a towel and rested his head on the lap of that gopala. The other were all becoming jealous. They went near and requested that each day thereafter, he should rest on the lap of each of the other cowherds. Another gopala came and said that equal-mindedness should not just consist of distributing food equally. He asked that even this pleasure must be given equally to all of them. In this manner, the normal time by which they used to return home had passed. The had digested all the food they had taken. They were feeling very hungry, and they all gathered round and told him that they were hungry. For one moment, closed his eyes and said that at a short distance away, the were performing a and asked one of the older to go there and fetch some food. The gopala, accompanied by others, went running to that place, and asked for food. The were very annoyed and asked these people to go away. They refused to give them food under the pretext that they had not yet completed their offering to the Lord. They chased away the saying that they cannot give them any food until the ceremonial offering to the Lord was made. They came running back to and told him everything and asked for guidance as to what they should do. laughed loudly and sent them again to that place. He said that the women - who knew better about the pangs of hunger - were cooking in the kitchen and they would certainly help if approached directly. The were habituated to implicitly accept and obey the orders of . They always enjoyed doing so. The quickly ran into the kitchen and approached the women directly.