Sunday, December 12, 2021

ONE AND ONLY ONE

   Hindu or Vedic religion has many Gods and people tend to worship one or other and sometimes have problem with different Gods and some would not consider other Gods as real Gods and that has created problems in society. Unfortunately many have not understood that the GOD is only one and the statues that we have is only for our convenience. In history some of the greatest of the devotees have made that mistake. One has to understand that the GOD has no form or qualities and it is only for our understanding that the GOD takes different forms as we can not worship formless GOD. Even when other religions claim to have no Idol worship, they tend to have some type of form like cross or Virgin Mary. This story is of one great devotee that was enlightened about this. 

  Narahari Sonar was a goldsmith and from his childhood was worshiper of Lord Shiva. He was true devotee but would not worship anything other than Lord Shiv. One dat a rich man came to him as he wanted to offer his appreciation for Lord Pandurang , which a form of Lord Krishna which in turn is Lord Vishnu's Avatar - reincarnation. The Rich man wanted to have a golden belt prepared for the Pnadurang . Lord Pnadurang is in town called Pandhari and the story is that the lord came to see Pundalik his devotee. So the Narahari being goldsmith was told to do the belt . But Narahari did not want to go to the temple of Vishnu as he was devotee of Lord Shiva. So he told the man to go and get the measurement of the waist on his own and he will create the golden belt. The rich man went to the temple and gave the measurement to Narahari . When the belt was done and the man took it to the temple it was too small. So the man did take new measurement and went to Narahari who did new belt as per the measurement given to him . This time the belt was too large . So the man requested  Narahari that he should do the measurement himself. Reluctantly he agreed but told him that he will do the job but will take the measurement blindfolded as he did not want to see the Lord Vishnu. So both went to the temple of Pandurang . As Narahari started checking the measurement and touched the statue of the Pandurang, he could see that statue being that of Lord Shiva . He was stunned and so he opened the eyes  and what he saw was not Lord Shiva but it was Pnadurang - form of Lord Vishnu. So he closed his eyes and started working again and again he saw Lord Shiva ,as soon as he touched the statue . Again when he opened the eyes and saw , it was not Lord Shiva but it was Lord Pnndurang. Noe his eyes OPENED -he was enlightened that Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are one and the same.. 

    So, we have a form that we trust , pray, worship as we find it easier and that form is called ISHTA DEVATA . But all the forms are that of the GOD which is formless.