The Prince Is Drowning!

Some of the greatest lessons have been taught by Birbal to the Emperor Akbar. So simple and subtle was his way of teaching that these little anecdotes have been preserved by the then scholars for posterity.

Once Emperor Akbar, in the presence of his courtiers ridiculed the Hindu belief that God adopts a physical form and descends into the world for the restoration of Dharma or Righteousness. He made fun of the idea of the Great Nirakari Allah i.e. the formless God stooping to descend to Earth in any form. The courtiers were unable to furnish any argument to counter the ridicule of the king. Birbal asked for a week’s time to prove the Emperor wrong.

One day, the Emperor and his family were taking a joy ride in a boat in the palace lake. All of a sudden, there was a huge splash and Birbal shouted “Oh Lord! The prince has fallen overboard! He is drowning.” In an instant, the Emperor plunged into the lake to save the prince. When the Emperor reached the drowning prince and pulled him out of the water, he realized that it was not really the prince, but lifesize rag doll that was an absolute replica of the Prince. He turned back to look at the boat ready to spew his venom on the one who had dared to pull off such a prank. To his shock he found Birbal standing there with folded hands saying, “Jahanpanhah! Don’t worry, the Prince is safe.” The angry and drenched Emperor got back into the boat fuming, but speechless! Just then Birbal said humbly, “Jahanpanah! Forgive me, but that was the only way I could have explained to you why God comes in human form to save His children from doom! There were so many of us on the boat; you could have ordered any one of us to plunge into the lake and rescue the Prince, but you did not. You trusted none of us, because you loved your son, so much.”

So too, God loves us so much that when He feels that we really need Him, He incarnates as an Avatar. He comes in human form to appease the hunger of those who desire to see Him, touch Him, talk to Him, adore Him, serve Him and achieve Him. Yes! God really does come down to Earth!

Dear reader, did you ever wonder, why He comes? We would like to share with you the words of Bhagwan Baba – “I have come to give you the key of the treasure of Bliss, to tell you how to tap that spring, for you have forgotten the way to blessedness. If you waste this chance of saving yourselves, it is just your fate. You have come to get from Me tinsel and trash, the petty little cures and promotions, worldly joys and comforts. Very few of you desire to get from Me the thing I have come to give you, viz. liberation itself, and even among these few, those who stick to the path of spiritual discipline and ultimately succeed are a handful.”

Strange isn’t it! Man has a thousand desires from God; God’s only desire is to make man desire-less and that too, just because He loves us all!

Let us understand it in another way. When a bridge breaks, any Tom, Dick or Harry cannot repair it to perfection. The contractor who had originally constructed it and planned it must be called. So too, when Righteousness becomes diseased, He who had laid down the tenets of Righteousness has to come and cure it. The five bridges or human values of Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love and Non-violence have been laid down by the Lord Himself and He has come, to repair and rebuild these that lie in ruins today.