POWER OF THE HOLY NAME

A KING who was guilty of the heinous sin of
killing a brahmana went to the hermitage of a Rishi
to learn what penance he must perform in order to
be purified. The Rishi was absent, but his son was
in the hermitage.
Hearing the case of the king, he said, "Repeat the
'name' of God (Rama) three times, and your sin
will be expiated."
When the Rishi came back and heard of the
penance prescribed by his son, he remarked
indignantly, "Sins committed in myriads of births
are purged immediately by uttering the 'name' of
the Almighty but once. How weak must be your
faith, O fool, since you have ordered the holy
'name' to be repeated thrice? For this weakness of
your faith, you shall become an outcaste." And the
son became Guhaka of the Ramayana.

BUT FAITH WORKS MIRACLES

A MILK-MAID used to supply milk to a
brahmana priest living on the other side of a river.
Owing to the irregularities of the boat service, she
could not supply him milk punctually every day,
Once, being rebuked for her going late, the poor
woman said, "What can I do?
I start early from my house, but have to wait for a
long time at the river bank for the boatman and the
passengers. The priest said, "Woman! They cross
the ocean of life by uttering the name of God, and
can't you cross this little river?" The simple-hearted
woman became very glad at heart on learning this
easy means of crossing the river. From the next
clay the milk was being supplied early in the
morning. One day the priest said to the woman,
"How is it that you are no longer late nowadays?"
She said, "I cross the river by uttering the name of
the Lord as you told me to do, and don't stand
now in need of a boatman." The priest could not
believe this and said, "Can you show me how you
cross the river?" The woman took him with her
and began to walk over the water. Looking
behind, the woman saw the priest in a sad plight

and said, "How, is it, sir, that you are uttering the
name of God with your mouth, but at the same
time with your hands you are trying to keep your
cloth untouched by water? You do not fully rely on
Him."
Entire resignation and absolute faith in God are at
the root of all miraculous deeds.

FAITH KNOWS NO MIRACLES

ONCE there lived two yogis who were practising
austerities with a view to realize the Lord. One day
Narada, the divine sage, was passing by their
hermitage, when one of them asked him, "Are you
coming from Heaven". Narada replied, "Yes, that
is so." The yogi said, "Do tell me what you saw the
Lord doing in Heaven." Narada replied, "I saw the
Lord playing by making camels and elephants pass
through the eye of a needle." At this the yogi
observed: "There is nothing in it to marvel at.
Nothing is impossible with God!" But the other
man exclaimed: "O nonsense! That is impossible! It
only shows that you have never been to the Lord's
abode."
The first man was a bhakta and had the faith of a
child. Nothing is impossible to the Lord, nor can
anyone know His nature fully. Everything can he
predicted of Him.

HANUMAN SINGH AND THE WRESTLER FROM THE PUNJAB

AT one time two men were engaged to wrestle.
One of them was Hanuman Singh and the other a
Mussulman from the Punjab. The Mussalman was
a strong and stout man. Pie had eaten lustily of
butter and meat for fifteen days before the day of
the wrestling-match, and even on that day. All
thought he would be the victor.
Hanuman Singh, on the other hand, clad in dirty
cloth, had eaten sparingly for some days before the
day of the match and devoted himself to repeating
the holy name of Mahavir21. On the day of the
match he observed a complete fast. All thought he
would surely be defeated.
But it was he who won, while the man who had
feasted for fifteen days lost the fight. (

THE POWER OF FAITH

You must have heard about the tremendous power
of faith. It is said in the Purana that Rama, who
was God Himself—the embodiment of Absolute
Brahman—had to build a bridge to cross the sea to
Ceylon. But Hanuman, trusting in Rama's name,
cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other
side. He had no need of a bridge

FAITH TREMENDOUS

IF a devotee believes one hundred per cent that his
Chosen Ideal is God, then he attains God and sees
Him.
People of bygone generations had tremendous
faith. What faith Haladhari's20 father had! Once he
was on the way to his daughter's house when he
noticed some beautiful flowers and Bel leaves. He
gathered them for the worship of the family Deity
and walked back five or six miles to his own house.
Once, a theatrical troupe in the village was enacting
the life of Rama. When Kaikeyi asked Rama to go
into exile in the forest, Haladhari's father, who had
been watching the performance, sprang up. He
went to the actor who played Kaikeyi, crying out,
"You wretch!", and was about to burn the actor's
face with a torch.
He was a very pious man. After finishing his
ablutions he would stand in the water and meditate
on the Deity, reciting the invocation: "I meditate
on Thee, of red hue and four faces," while tears
streamed down his cheeks.

FAITH UNBOUNDED

ONE day, Sri Krishna, while going in a chariot
along with Arjuna, looked up to the sky and said,
"Behold! What a nice flight of pigeons there!"
Arjuna at once turned his eyes in that direction and
exclaimed, "Really, friend, very beautiful pigeons
indeed!" But the very next moment Sri Krishna
looked again and said, "No, friend, they are not
pigeons, it seems." Arjuna, too, saw again and said,
"True, they are not pigeons."
Now try to understand the meaning of this. A great
adherent to truth that Arjuna was, he did not
possibly assent to whatever Sri Krishna said, simply
for flattering him. But he had such an unflinching
faith in Sri Krishna that he perceived at once
actually whatever Sri Krishna said.