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DISCOURSE 11
183
A TRIBAL MAN'S DEVOTION WHICH WAS DEVOID OF ANY DESIRE FOR FRUIT
Jatashankar married. Ten or twelve years passed but he had no children. His wife kept saying to him, "Why don't you get some magical rituals performed ? By virtue of those magical rituals our desires may be fulfilled and we may beget children." One day, a friend came and said to Jatashankar, "Dear friend, if you act according to my words, your desire will be fulfilled”.
Jatashankar said, “You are my friend. Why should I not act according to your words ? You have come to advise me to do something for my own good”.
The friend said to him, "Jatashankar, from here, from your place, if you go eastwards you will find the temple of Mahadev. In that temple, there is the idol of Shiva and it has miraculous powers. Lord Shankar grants the wishes of those who worship him with devotion. If you go to the temple every day and worship Lord Shankar, your objective will be fulfilled."
Jatashankar believed the words of his friend. He also told his wife of it. His wife was greatly happy to hear this. She said, "From to-morrow, you go to the temple in the mornings and worship Lord Shankar. You also take with you fruits, flowers, sweets and other auspicious things necessary for the worship". She almost ordered him to go to the temple daily. Did he love the Paramatma ? No. He was impelled to go to the temple everyday only by his desire for children. He went to the temple only to ask for children. He went there to receive a boon, namely, the boon of children but not with any love or devotion for the Paramatma.
Jatashankar visited the temple every day in the morning. He performed the worship of the Paramatma and recited his name according to prescriptions. Every day a jungle-dweller also used to come to the temple to have a darshan of Lord Shankar. His way of worshipping Lord Shankar was absolutely strange. The Bhil would come there filling his mouth with water and with some wild flowers in his hands. With his arrow,
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