Many love God, the Great Giver, for His Gifts!!

Do thou love Him not for the gifts He can bestow, but for His own sake?

Once upon a time, there lived an old woman, who had no one to support her. Everyday, she would go to the forest, gather wood, twigs, sticks and bundle them. Then she would walk to the town, carrying the burden on her head. She would sell them in the market and get some money. The money would be just enough for her to get food for a meal. Poor old woman.
She was very old and carrying the heavy bundle was almost impossible for her. She was slightly religious and she would call out for the Lord from time to time.

One day, she bundled the sticks and as she was trying to lift the bundle, the Lord out of mercy appeared before her. Seeing the Lord she was very happy. The Lord asked her what she wished for. The old woman was struggling to lift the bundle of sticks and it was a great problem for her. So, she told the Lord, "O Lord of the Universe, I am so happy to see you. You are the protector of all. I am unable to lift this bundle of sticks as I am very old and weak. Can you please lift this bundle and put it on my head?"
The Lord smiled and said "Sure." (Thathaasthu)
And He lifted the bundle and put it on the old woman's head. The Lord disappeared.

Then the old woman went her way carrying the bundle on her head and proceeding towards the town.
Notes: You must be thinking, what a foolish woman she was, when the Lord Himself appeared, she asks Him to lift the sticks and put it on her head. She could have as well, asked Him to carry her burden.
Effect of the Dose: Well, if you think about it, we are also like that old woman. When we are in problems, we want the Lord to help out with the problem, whereas the Lord can take the burden for us. When we are in shortage of money, we ask God to give us money. When we are not doing well at studies, we want God to give us good marks/grades. All this is so time-specific and problem-specific. The God can give us much more than all this.

We are all behaving like the old woman, asking the Lord for something small whereas He can take the entire burden for us. All we have to do is Surrender to Him and tell Him "o Lord, You take care of me. I surrender to You." and He will take care of us. We need not worry about small-small problems in life.

Like the quotation on the top of the page says, we should love God for Him, not for His gifts.
There is so much about sharanagati (total surrender) in the Bhagavad-Gita. I will try to send something about it soon.

Keywords: Surrender to the Lord. Don't be like the old woman.

Hi Nandinii,

That was a very meaningful post. Very true, we need to love god for what he is & not for what he can give us! Ever so often we see around us, people losing their faith in god when their desires are unfulfilled. Like u said prayers to god are often problem-specific.

We just need to surrender & he is always there to take care of us.

Looking forward to more posts.

Cheers!
Ragini.

Good one nadini

hey Nandini

i really loved the write up, as i really preach this... that we shud not ask for small things from god... we never know what god has in store for us...wich wud be much bigge than wat we had asked god for... also what god does is for the best... so always surrender yourself to god...

great post
~Abha

I feel happy to see a lot of ilites who believe in "total surrender" So it seems true-"Birds of a feather flock together.

Originally Posted by Abha

hey Nandini

i really loved the write up, as i really preach this... that we shud not ask for small things from god... we never know what god has in store for us...wich wud be much bigge than wat we had asked god for... also what god does is for the best... so always surrender yourself to god...

great post
~Abha

Dear Nandini,

Surrender to God is the best thing one can achieve in life. But it is not so easy in this materialistic world ruled by emotions. So only life's experiences help us to achieve this. I am sure that all of you agree with me.

Dear Nandhini and all the IL's,

I too believe in "Surrendering to God". But a little difference. We are here beacause of our Karma, so I feel that we should be surrendering to God not with a hope that all our problems will come to an end but to become worthy of his Love forever.

Would you have some Gita references to it?

Nandiniji,

Super story.Loved it.Regards.kamal

Excellent One Nandinii!!!!!

Good post Nandini.

What we are today is all because of our Karma. All the ups and downs in life that we have experienced and will experience in future is also because of our deeds.

Thats why it is rightly said..do good deeds and do your duty well leave the rest to god. Never do anything with expectations in mind...just do a deed and forget it and you will be aptly rewarded.
Roopa.