The power of illusion
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Narada was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. After some time, he became very proud because of his closeness to Vishnu. He believed that he was not affected by the day-to-day situations that keep a person from growing spiritually.
When Vishnu saw that Narada's pride blocked his spiritual progress, he decided to teach him a lesson. A true master will never allow a disciple get stuck along the way to enlightenment.
One day, Vishnu asked Narada very softly, "Narada, can you please fetch me some water to drink?"
Narada jumped up to serve his Lord. He searched for a pitcher to carry the water. As he walked along, he spotted a woman with a pitcher on her head. That was exactly what he needed!
Narada asked her, "May I take your water and the pitcher for my Lord?"
As he spoke, he
looked at her and
was stunned to see
how beautiful she
was. Narada felt he
wanted to stay with
her forever and so he
did!
Narada lived happily
with the beautiful
woman and as the
years went by they
had many children
and he completely
forgot about Lord
Vishnu and his task
to fetch water.
Then one day there was a huge storm. The river near Narada's hut flooded the banks and washed his hut away. The rushing waters swept away his family.
As Narada fought to save his own life, he suddenly remembered Vishnu and cried out in fear,
"Narayana, Narayana, please save us!"
Hearing his cries, Lord Narayana asked him, "Narada, Where were you? I asked you for water!"
At that moment, Narada realized that he had been caught in the world of maya or illusion for all those years. He bowed down at his Lord's feet asking for forgiveness.
We go behind what we see without using our intelligence. When this happens, we move far away from the Truth. If we are intelligent, we will stick to the Truth and experience true happiness or bliss.
These words appear in their complete form in the story. Fill in the blanks to find each word:
_ _ T _ _ R _ L _ _ E _ _ I _ _ I _ _ E
_ _ M _ _ Y _ R _ D _ P _ _ G _ _ S _
B _ _ _ T _ D _ _ N _ N _ _ _ D _
N _ _ _ _ N _ S _ _ _ M T _ _ _ _
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