Me. My Guru

I saw a smile on my Guru’s face. This smile was different. It had joy, sense of achievement and …well, I couldn’t understand it further. Many a times, I had found it – I couldn’t decipher my Guru’s smile. It was beautiful and to understand it better I looked in the direction of her gaze. There was a small child about one year old crying. I found it odd. My Guru was smiling looking at a child crying. Well, I’ve found her smile at much queer sights. So I wasn’t much surprised. And I ventured to ask “how can a crying child bring smile on someone’s lip?”

My Guru held a finger on lips and motioned me to sit down and watch the child. Few minutes later, the child got up and fell down again. It happened few more times. And then at the umpteenth attempt the child got up and walked.

Then, my Guru turned to go smiling. I followed. She said “Did you notice that? What a creation of God! Such a small child but even that child is fitted with the desire not to give up till it succeeds. Praise the Lord – Namaha Sivaya!”

“If he could fit in that desire in that child, why then did He not make it possible for the child to succeed at the very first attempt? Why all the struggle? Why all the pain of getting hurt, facing failure at all?” I asked with the contempt in my voice which was too obvious. I couldn’t hide it. No. I didn’t try to hide it. Infact, I wanted to show it and drive home my point. Yes, the contempt was deliberate.

But, it didn’t show it’s impact on my Guru. She was her usual calm Self. With that smile, that hadn’t left her eyes since morn she started talking:

Once God called a man – very puny, malnourished and weak and said “I’ve a favour to ask of you. Please move that huge boulder that’s against that door. There’s treasure behind that door which I wish to give you. Could you just help me to do this?”

How could a weak man lose a chance of being of service to the Lord. He readily agreed. God left him to his task. Man set to work. He pushed and pushed. But, the boulder didn’t move

an inch. He tried again and again. It didn’t move an inch. He tried till he was left with no more strength. Then he went to sleep. Next day morning with new hope, he set to work from dawn to dusk. He pushed the boulder – he knew no other work. He took short breaks when his body could no longer take it. At night, he slept just like the previous night – with no progress whatsoever. Days passed by. His effort was doubled. But the result was same. Months passed. Nothing happened.

Then...........