Patram Pushpam – Further Reading
Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo mey bhaktyaa prayacchati
Tad aham bhakti-upahritam ashnaami prayata aatmanah
(chap 9, verse 26)
Whosoever offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water with full devotion, I accept that, because it is offered with a pure heart.
Even the smallest thing offered to the Lord with love makes Him happy. However, what gift can we offer the Lord who is the dispenser of endless gifts to the entire creation? Even flowers, leaves, fruits and water which we may offer are all His creations only.
Baba says, “Let us bring Him gifts not with our hands but with our hearts: flowers of our pious and noble thoughts, fruits of our selfless deeds. Let our hearts melt at the suffering of others and let us offer the tears that flow from this to our dear Lord. He does not calculate how much ‘sweet rice’ you offered, but, how many sweet words you uttered, and how much sweetness you added in your thoughts. Why try to scatter fragrance from scent-sticks available in the market? Let the fragrant smoke of divine thoughts, full of love to all, rise around you.”
Once, Saint Eknath and his companions made a vow to carry a pot of water from the sacred river Ganga, at Varanasi, to bathe the Shiva Lingam at Rameshwaram, at the southernmost tip of India, at the confluence of the three seas.
They walked the long distance of hundreds of miles with the water. The long pilgrimage had almost ended. Eknath was nearing the shrine, when his eyes fell on a donkey, writhing in agony as it lay dying of thirst. Eknath ran up to it and without hesitation poured the holy water into that gasping, parched mouth. The animal’s eyes gleamed with gratitude as it looked up at its savior.
Eknath’s companions were drumbstruck with shock at this unorthodox breach of vow, after such a long and arduous journey, when it was almost on the verge of fulfillment.
Eknath, however, exclaimed in great joy, “The purpose is realized! Shiva asked and received Shiva came and accepted.”
Any service done to a suffering being reaches the Lord Himself.