A good return for good deeds

Long time ago, there was an old couple who had 1 son and 1 daughter-in-law and 2 unmarried daughters. The daughter-in-law was mistreated as she had a poor father who was blind and he used to pray and sing whole day in the temple. The father’s name was Narsi Mehta. She was treated very badly at her in-laws home everyday. Everyday the family would eat the meals and leave only scraps of food for her which was stuck to pots at the bottom. Then she had to clean all the pots. She was pregnant and so the in-laws send an invitation to her father to bring lots of dowry for his pregnant daughter and perform the ritual ceremony which was very, very expensive. The poor Narsi had faith in his God and knew God would help him no matter what . He gathered some old pots and set out to the village on a bullock-driven cart to his daughter’s home. On the way, Narsi Mehta would sing songs of lords praise. Hearing that his bhakt, worshipper was in need of his help immediately Krishna came down in form of a carpenter and hitched a ride on the cart of the blind man. From thin air, the pots suddenly filled up with gold and silver coins and beautiful royal silk clothes for the whole family of his daughters. Narsi Mehta’s daughter was a contented soul and didn’t mind eating scraps of food. She carefully packed the scraps in her sari and left to fetch water from the village well. Since it was overcrowded at the well, she decided to sit down near the tree and asked a parrot on top of her tree to check whether he could see her father coming on the road. The parrot replied,” Yes! Yes! I see clouds of dust far in the distance!” Hearing this the daughter was so excited to meet her father after nearly 10 years! When finally, after filling water the daughter-in-law returned home everyone started teasing her about whether her poor father would even come to do her ceremony. The daughter ran out of the house sobbing and crying helplessly to the outskirts till she reached the bullock cart. she was crying, but happy to see her father. Her father reassured her that his God would definitely come and help them in time and asked her to go home. When she got home there was not a morsel of food left for her to eat and instead of cursing or being ill tempered instead she said “May god forgive all my in-laws family!” Finally, when her father reached her house with God as his companion in form of carpenter, the mother in-law and everyone was surprised to see that her poor father had come to their home with lots of expensive gifts! God had heard the kind words from this pregnant daughter and he showered enormous amount of gifts not only to her in-laws family but to the whole village. The sad daughter-in-law started crying. “Don’t cry my dear, from today onwards, you are one of my own daughters”. said the carpenter. Do not worry, my dear daughter, now rest assured that from today onwards, no one will treat you badly. we are here to celebrate your ceremony!” said the carpenter compassionately. The young daughter-in-law was finally relieved and happy to have her father and his friend to visit her and bring her all the gifts she could have imagined ! and she lived happily ever after with her newly born baby! and now she was treated with dignity and respect thanks to her father’s faith in his God!

Wisdom, life lessons and rules-Our good intentions and thoughts will lead us to to good outcomes. Good words and good actions are the key to happiness! So focus on keeping our thoughts and intentions pure for everyone. And never loose faith in God.

Try and never let your thoughts, words and actions be influenced and changed to bad thoughts, words and actions due to someone else’s bad behavior towards us. Be kind to everyone and even those who are not kind to us and bless them no matter what.

“Mommy, I am the one always sharing my food with my friend Sukani but she never shares her food with me ever in lunchtime. From now on, I will never share my pencils or food or anything with her!” said Neelu Tree crying. “Oh dear! I can understand why you are so upset, but remember what I have taught you. No matter how others behave, our behavior should be good and kind and generous, that should never change! Even if someone is mean to us and throws stones at us trees, what do we do? We forgive them and give them fruit. I have always taught you never ever to do tit for tat!” replied Nishu Tree.

Let me explain this idea with a story…