Greetings!

A wise man named Sam Bell shared this with me:

PRAYERS ANSWERED TOO LATE?

It's no good having our prayers answered if they are not answered at the right time:

In ancient India much store was set by the Vedic rites, which were said to be so scientific in their application that when the sages prayed for rain there was never any drought. It is thus that a man set himself to pray, according to these rites, to the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, begging her to make him rich.

He prayed to no effect for ten long years, after which period of time he suddenly saw the illusory nature of wealth and adopted the life of a renunciate in the Himalayas.

He was sitting in meditation one day when he opened his eyes and saw before him an extraordinarily beautiful woman, all bright and shining as if she were made of gold.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked.

Lakshmi
Photo, courtesy of Hindunet.org

"I am the goddess Lakshmi to whom you recited hymns for twelve years," said the woman. "I have appeared to grant you your desire."

"Ah, my dear goddess," exclaimed the man, "I have since attained the bliss of meditation and lost my desire for wealth. You come too late. Tell me, why did you delay so long in coming?"

"To tell you the truth," said the goddess, "given the nature of those rites you so faithfully performed, you had fully earned the wealth. But, in my love for you and my desire for your welfare, I held it back."

If you had the choice, which would you choose: the granting of your petition or the grace to be peaceful whether it is granted or not?

Anthony De Mello, TAKING FLIGHT: A BOOK OF STORY MEDITATIONS. ( New York: Image Books, 1990), pp. 25-26.

Today, I leave the concern over old eggs to the Powers-That-Be.

past    the present    future

who | what | archives | comments | photos