God resides in us and so he knows our innermost thoughts too.
We don't have to spell out our desires to him. But here is a miraculous
story which goes one step ahead. If we pray to God with ananya
bhakti, we can know the whereabouts of God, who resides in us.
Kasi is known for the holy river Ganges, for Lord Siva and for
many jnanis and yogis. One such yogi was Anandaswami . The sishya
parampara begins with Ananthanande swami. His disciple is pokarides,
whose disciples were Agraji and Kinji. Agraji chanted the name
of the Lord Vishnu and was known for his bhakti, jnana and vairagya.
He taught nava vidha bhakti and the greatness of Srihari to his
disciples like Padmahasti.
Agrasi was so great a yogi that the Lord Lakshminadha manifested
himself before him in human form as and when he wanted. In due
course there arose famine in the tours and people wre starving
for food. There was a lady known for her good qualities and her
devotion to her husband. She was unable to feed her son. So she
left him on the river bed and praying to God, she gave up her
life in the river. The boy on the riverbed let out a pathetic
cry out of hunger and out of fear.
At that time Agrajidas came there to have his bath in the holy
river. He asked the boy why he was crying. The boy said that he
asked his mother for food and she disappeared leaving him there.
Agrajidas learnt what had happened with his jnana drusti and took
pity on the time. He took him to his Matt and named him Nabhaji.
Nabhaji grew up in the Matt with the food offered to saintly people.
He felt he was lucky to be blessed by such people and ate it as
the veritable food of Gods. He felt the food could protect him
as his parents.
Nabhaji keenly observed the rituals followed by Agrajidas in his
offerings. He fell to the feet of great saints. He listened to
stories of Bhagavatam. By such continuous practices all his previous
sins were nullified and he was provided with Divyajnana. He could
read the innermost secets of people around, but never revealed
his powers. He was just praying to God and was finding immense
pleasure in it.
One day as usual Agrajidas had his holy dip in the Ganges prayed
to God and asked Nabhaji to watch out for any tresspasser . He
closed the door and prayed to God in deep meditation, but there
was trace of God that day. He was worried why God had not appeared.
God did not answer his prayer second time too. Nabhaji who was
seated outside knew all this. He consoled his guru, Swami! A ship
is about to be sunk in the ocean. The owner of the ship is a businessman.
He prayed to God desperately and offered one fifth share to God's
staunch devotee. Agrajidas if he was saved. So God who is known
for his kindness, soft nature helpful nature etc. rushed there
to help him. So please bear with it and stop your prayer for sometime.
Agrajidas followed his advice.
After some time, Swami, Rukminivallabha has completed his task
of saving the ship. So now you can pray to him. Accordingly Agrajidas
prayed to God and God appeared before him in the humanform. His
clothes were wet. Agrajidas asked where he was and why his clothes
were wet. God answered I went to save a businessman whose ship
will about to be sunk. He promised one fifth of the goods in his
ship to you. You make use of that amount for the Matt. Anyway
the expenditure of the Matt is unbearable now a days . Then the
Lord disappeared.
Then Agrajidas opened the door and invited Nabhajidas inside,.
He asked, how did you know a secret which was impossible to be
known even to the Lord Brahma ? Nabhajidas smiled and said Narayanethi
mantraha sarvardha Sadhakhalu said our elders. So I have been
chanting the name of Narayana incessantly. Not only that, I have
been eating the food of the great saints. God has blessed me as
his disciple . So I was able to know his whereabouts.
Agrajidas smiled and said, 'God is more pleased at the praise
of his devotees than at his praise. The people are not aware of
this secret. I'll enlighten you with those stories. Nabhajidas
learnt those stories and wrote them down in Gwalior language and
in Sanskrit of the common people. The news spread far and wide
and many people came to listen to those stories. By listening
to such bhaktas stories narrated by Nabhaji they too became the
devotees of the Lord Krishna and were blessed by him. Nabhajidas
too ultimately was united with God.
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