Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 68

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Saint Ekanath went to
Benares on a pilgrimage. One morning after having taken a bath in the Ganga he was climbing up the steps. And then the young fellow who sat above on the bank spat at him. The saint went down the steps again and took a bath for the second time. When he was climbing the s ps the young man again spat at him. The saint without caring to see who had spat on him quietly went back again and took a bath for the third time. In this manner he had to bathe in the river fifty times but he never got angry with the young man who kept spitting at him. Finally, the young man was tired of what he was doing. He repented his action and shed tears feeling sorry for having disgraced the saint. Then he fell at the feet of the saint and repeatedly entreated him to forgive him. The saint made the young man stand up and embracing him said, "Brother, why should I forgive you? You have bestowed a great benefaction on me. On account of your benevolence today I had the opportunity of sitting in the lap of Mother Ganga fifty times. You deserve my heartfelt gratitude."
The young man was so deeply moved by the saint's nobility that he became his disciple and remained so throughout his life. Tolerance makes a man great.
Have you seen dahibadā (badā put in curds) ? It is called bada. A poet saw the badā and asked it how it came to be called by the name bada (great). The bada gave the following reply which satisfied the poet :
The black gram is in the masculine gender in the Hindi language. When it is changed into dal (two cotyledons), it is in the feminine gender. Therefore, it says that it changed from being a man into a woman. A dal is put in water and then it is crushed into a paste by the pestle and mortar. Thereore it says that it fought against stones, after purifying itself in the Ganga. Then it was fried in boiling oil. After going through all these ordeals it became a bada (or great). On the contrary, a man who does not have tolerance becomes angry frequently. On