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THE WAY OF LIFE
he would clean the faded flowers on the head of the idol; he would force the water from his mouth as if from a syringe over the idol of the Lord and then he would fling the flowers over the image. Then, he would see the Lord and say, "How are you dear Lord? You are very gracious to me." Having said this, he would go away. Jatashankar while performing the Japa would see the way in which the Bhil worshipped Lord Shankar and he used to get angry.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF DEVOTION?
One day, Jatashankar was angry with Lord Shankar because on that day, Lord Shankar conversed with the Bhil. Jatashankar thought, "I perform such a grand worship. Yet this God has not cared to converse with me. But he converses with this rustic Bhil."
The next day when Jatashankar went to the temple and saw the image, he found to his amazement that one eye of the image had disappeared. Jatashankar spoke angrily, "What kind of people are these? They steal even the eye of God. I will go to the bazaar tomorrow, buy an eye and fix it to the image. I think this is the work of that Bhil. Only he must have stolen it". Jatashankar performed the worship and sat performing Japa. Meanwhile, the Bhil came there. He worshipped God in the usual manner and then he looked at the image of God. He said, "Oh dear God! I have two eyes but you have only one; how can this be? You need two eyes. Take this eye of mine and I will give it to you." The Bhil with his sharp and pointed arrow pulled out his eye and fixed it to the image of Lord Shankar. Blood began to flow out from the socket of his eye but his face was absolutely serene and happy. Jatashankar was so greatly shocked that even in that cold weather, he began to perspire. His body began to shiver in dismay. At that moment, from within the image, a divine voice was heard. "Oh Jatashankar ! Do you now understand why I like this Bhil so much? I like him because he comes here not to ask for anything but to give away whatever he has. You come here not to give but to receive something. I consider that man as my great devotee
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