The true devotion

One day Sage Narada visited Lord Vishnu and and said that he wanted to know who was his favorite devotee Actually Narada was staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu and this made Narada boastful and he was expecting praise from Lord Vishnu.. But Narada was shocked when he heard that Lord Vishnu referred a farmer on earth as his favourite devotee. Narada decided to test the devotion of the farmer. He visited farmer's house early morning and noticed that the farmer after feeding cows and short prayer went to field for work. In the evening the farmer returned and again after the short prayer and spending time with family went to sleep. Sage Narada was puzzled that how this farmer could be the devotee of Lord Vishnu who remember HIS name just twice a day.Narada returned to Lord Vishnu about HIS basis of judgement. Lord Vishnu said that before the answer there was one task which Narada had to do. He gave gave a bowl of oil and told him to walk around earth and returned without dropping single drop of oil.Narada followed and went ahead.But while walking he was too engrossed and careful that no drop of oil should be fall on earth. He returned. Now , Lord Vishnu asked Narada how many times did he remember his name while doing task. Narad replied that he was too concentrating on task and it was not possible for him to utter HIS name. Lord Vishnu answered that farmer was also loaded with responsibilities but still he managed to take some time for remembering HIM  . This was clear message to Narada who felt ashamed of himself.Lord Vishnu explained, “Those who remember me while doing their duties are dearer to me than those ignored all responsibilities and chant my name day and night.”

Pride of Kuber

 Lord Shiva once saved the life of Kuber and impresses with his devotion grant him infinite wealth. He got the title of ‘Lord of Wealth’. As the time passed, the feeling of ego started to develop. He made his abode , Alkapuri, one of the best dwelling place in 3 lokas. To show his wealth , once he visited mount Kailash to invite Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati  to visit his abode. Lord judged his ego and instead he sent his son, Lord Ganesha to his house. At Alkapuri, huge preparations were made to impress Lord Ganesha. Uncountable food items were offered to Lord Ganesha. Kuber was sure that this was too much for Lord Ganesha to eat. But something miraculous happened. With every round of offerings, the apetite of Ganesha became more . At one stage every grain of his city was finished to satisfy Lord Ganesha , but still he was too hungry. This was the most embarrassing moment for Kuber. He went to mount Kailash and  begged for forgiveness as all his pride and ego was vanished.Lord Shiva gave him the handful of rice to be offered to Lord Ganesha. Kuber immediately rushed to Alkapuri and offered the same handful of rice. Lord Ganesha accept the divine offering sent by Lord Shiva and instantly his hunger was satisfied.

Arjun and Hanuman

Once Arjun was on pilgrimage and reached Rameshwaram. When he saw the setu(bridge), he wondered that why Lord Rama needed the help of  vanar sena(troops of monkeys) though he himself was a great archer. This was the time when Arjun’s thought was governed by his ego and boast of him to be great archer. He found that one monkey was following him. The monkey tried to answer his doubt and said that it was not practical to built the bridge of arrows by Lord Rama  because it would not able to bear the weight of huge monkey army. On hearing this Arjun laughed and challenged monkey that the bridge made by him could have bear the weight easily and if it failed to do so then he would jumped into the fire. The monkey agreed the challenge and asked Arjun to build a bridge from his arrows.Arjun with his great skills built a very strong bridge. But the moment the monkey stepped on to the bridge , it collapsed.Arjuna accepted the defeat and made a fire ready jumped into.at the very moment one Brahman who was none other than Lord Krishna visited and enquired the matter. The Brahman offered his shoulder at the foundation of bridge and asked Arjun to repeat the task. Again the bridge was built by Arjun with his arrows and when monkey set his foot , the bridge did not collapsed. Arjun was stunned. The monkey appeared in his original form of Hanuman and greet the Brahman who was Lord Krishna(an incarnation of Lord Rama).

Lord Krishna said “ Dear Hanuman!! In previous yuga you have done so much for me and carried me on your shoulder.In this yuga I came to carry you on my shoulder. Also I wanted to teach Arjun a lesson who was living with a false ego”

Arjuna went into tears and asked for forgiveness as the Lord has to came to rescue him. Lord Krishna also honoured his disciple claim of building the bridge second time.God never let HIS children down.