Burning with grief

There was once a spiritual Master with tremendous occult and spiritual power who lived in the Himalayas. He had a particular disciple who lived many hundreds of miles away. This disciple also had some occult power, though not as much as his Master. When the disciple meditated, he would reach the very highest plane. For that reason, he already had some disciples of his own.

This disciple had a wife and two children. But instead of earning money to support his family, he used to spend all his time in meditation. His wife scolded and insulted him mercilessly, day in and day out, and this made him extremely sad.

One day the husband’s Master came down from the Himalayas to visit him, bringing two other disciples. The Master observed the family scene in his disciple’s home and he saw that the wife was really bothering his disciple. When this disciple was able to meditate in peace, he had the highest inner experiences, but when he came down to the ordinary level once more, all his time was wasted in quarrelling and fighting with his wife.

The Master decided to take the wife away with him to the Himalayas. Very politely, he said to her, “Now that we have come to see you and your husband, can you not go to the pond to fetch some fresh water for us? The water you have is not fresh and we are so thirsty. Can you bring the water at once? We will accompany you to the pond.”

The wife had such respect for her husband’s Master that she immediately went with him and the two disciples to the pond to fill her pitcher with water. On the way, the Master used his occult power and made her physical form extremely subtle. Then the Master took her with him to the Himalayas.

Soon the disciple’s son and daughter noticed that their mother was missing and they began searching and searching for her. “Where has Mother gone?” the daughter cried. “She left here with the Master and she did not return.” Then the daughter began to curse the Master.

The disciple realised intuitively what his Master had done and he began laughing and laughing. “How compassionate my Master is!” he exclaimed. “My wife and I were quarrelling incessantly. The Master does not want us to fight, so to give me a little peace of mind he has taken your mother to the Himalayas. I know he will take good care of her, and while she is gone I will be able to meditate without any interruptions.”

At first the children could not believe that their mother was safe and happy. Their father tried to console them, but to no avail. Finally, he said, “You do not believe me, but I know it is true. I am her husband. If I am quite happy, then why should you be worried? When the time comes, you will believe me.”

At last the daughter said, “All right. If Father says that Mother is safe, then I will accept it.”

Three or four weeks later, the mother reappeared. She was wearing the cloth of a renunciate. When her children saw her, they were overjoyed. “Mother, where did you go? What have you been doing?” they cried.

The mother replied, “I went to the pond with the Master and his two disciples to bring water. Suddenly, I saw that I was flying with them in my subtle body. I was enjoying it so much! I went with them to the Master’s hermitage in the mountains and he took such good care of me. I was very happy there. But after some time I began missing my children, so Master brought me back home.

A few years afterwards, the mother suddenly died. The son cried for a few hours and then somehow managed to control his grief. But the daughter was absolutely inconsolable. Even after two weeks, she was still crying pitifully and missing her mother at every second.

Her father tried to comfort her. He said, “Dying is just like going from one room to another room. Someday I will go there and you also will go there. The bell will ring for us, as it did for your mother. At that time, when you go to the other world, you will be able to see your mother again. But for now you have to live in this world.”

Unfortunately, the daughter did not want to hear her father’s philosophy. Her tears continued to flow unceasingly. Finally, her father said to her, “Come to me.”

She went close to her father and he placed the palm of his hand on her head for a few moments. When he removed his hand, she saw that it was severely scorched. She asked her father how it had happened. He told her, “I had to take your grief away somehow. You could not have gone on living with the grief that you were feeling. It was burning you like fire.”

So the father took away the grief from his daughter and she was able to live on earth for many more years.