The saint-king

There was once a very soulful God-lover and, at the same time, a very powerful man-ruler in Denmark. He ruled his kingdom powerfully in the sense that there could be no corruption in his kingdom and not that he wanted to show his supremacy over his subjects. His power-life and soulful heart he utilised in a divine way.

At the dawn of his reign, he had to fight against the barbarians. He defeated them easily and placed his victorious crown at the feet of Christ in a church. He gave the credit to Christ. He felt that it was the Christ-force acting in and through him that conquered the barbarian force. Therefore, he was extremely grateful to Christ and placed his victory's crown on the altar.

In this life, unfortunately, when we become great and good, we become a victim to others' jealousy, meanness and hatred. So it was that this King had many enemies. His enemies did not appreciate his good qualities and, above all, they did not appreciate his support for the Church.

The King wanted everyone to go to church regularly and support the church in every possible way. He wanted people to be spiritual and he wanted the church to be more disciplined and self-giving. His enemies could not tolerate this. They wanted to kill him.

One day the King was in the church praying. His enemies came to the church. The King knew his enemies intended to harm him and so, before any harm could fall on him, he prayed to the Christ to forgive them. Then he prostrated himself before the cross and awaited death. Lo and behold, his enemies threw a spear at him through a window and killed him.

A heart of compassion and a soul of forgiveness was he. He is our Saint Canute.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Transfiguration and other stories, Agni Press, 2007
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/trn