Too Much Sugar In The Milk

There once was a miser who prayed to Lord Krishna and said that he wanted to perform worship and rituals for the Lord, but he didn’t want to spend any money doing this. Krishna told him that he didn’t want anything anyways! He could simply start doing mental worship. No money would be spent this way! The Lord in His infinite mercy asked him which form of Krishna he liked. The miser said – Bala Krishna.

So a typical day in the miser’s life would be one where he would wake up early and mentally fetch a bucket of water from the river Yamuna. In his mind he would bathe the idol of Baby Krishna. He would then ask him which colour clothes he would like to wear today. The miser would then dress Him up mentally in the said colour of dress. He would mentally make Krishna wear beautiful necklaces of diamond and gold. He would add a nice pair of earrings and bracelets and anklets. He would mentally place a small dot of chandan tilak on his forehead and a beautiful crown of glittering gold studded with precious stones on the head of the beautiful blue skinned God. He would then offer him dollops of fresh butter, sweetmeats, milk etc. He would then mentally light a lamp and incense sticks and do Aarti. “Aarti kunj bihari ki, Sri Giridhar Krishna Murari ki …”

This mental worship and prayer became so much of a habit, that each day the miser continued this routine for years together. So involved was he in it that he could see the little baby Krishna playing before his eyes, eating butter, drinking milk etc.

This continued for twelve years. One day while mentally offering sweetened milk to Krishna, the miser felt that by mistake he had added too much sugar to it. So he tried to get the sugar out, thinking that he could put it to use elsewhere. While trying to extract the excess sugar from the milk, his love and emotions were very intense.

Krishna appeared before him in physical form. He said, “As it is you have been performing mental worship. You have not spent a penny on the offering. How does it matter if the sugar is slightly excessive?” So saying Krishna touched the miser on the shoulder. The very touch of Divinity, transformed the miser and he became a realised soul, who instantly became detached and knowledgeable.

Truly, it’s the intensity of our remembering the Lord that brings Him to us. It’s our yearning that gets His attention. The Lord says that it doesn’t matter how you remember Him; as long as you remember Him! There are the extreme cases like Krishna’s uncle Kansa and nephew Shishupala, who had sworn enmity against Him. They remembered Him all the time, but with hatred, jealousy and enmity! He allowed them to merge into Him, because they thought of Him all the time! Who but the Lord can exhibit such benevolence?

He is always ready to connect. What matters is when you are able to connect with Him. True Devotion is concentration of the mind on God and experiencing oneness with the Divine.
Prayer must come from the depths of feeling; the Lord looks for the sincerity in your feeling (bhava), not outward pomp and grandeur (bahya).

Really speaking, what we witness in the world today is a great deal of play-acting. Many people declare themselves as spiritual aspirants. Every believer claims that they are connecting with God. Offering to God what God has provided is like offering to the Ganga, water from the Ganga. The Lord wants the offering of love, pure hearts, good deeds … He also accepts the offering of ego, greed, lust etc. if we are willing to renounce them.