Once, Lord Krishna observed that Arjuna was thinking himself to be a great devotee. Arjuna's ego was growing and this was not in his best interest. So Lord Krishna disguised himself and Arjuna in the yellow robes of saints and took him to see King Moradhwaj. They took a lion with them. The king received them because they were saints and showed them respect and offered them everything. Then he requested that they eat some food.
Lord Krishna said that he and the other saint would eat only if the lion ate. The king asked, “What kind of food does your lion eat?” Lord Krishna said, “He can eat only the flesh of your son and only if you and your queen cut him up with a saw and you do it without shedding a single tear. Then alone can my lion eat the flesh of your son. So, if one tear comes into your eyes the lion will refuse to eat and if the lion refuses to eat we also will not eat”. The king said that this was fine with him, but since his queen was also involved he asked permission to consult her.
The queen also agreed and said, “Our son is also involved, so let us consult him.” They consulted him and he also agreed. They all felt that what could be better than offering one's body in the service of saints? A chair was brought. The son just sat there and the queen and king cut off his head without a tear in their eyes. Then that flesh was offered to the lion, and he ate it. When Arjuna saw this, he realized that there were greater devotees than himself, devotees who would offer even their own son, cutting him with their own hands at the instructions or demand of a saint.
When it was done, food was prepared and the saints were invited to eat. Two plates were served and Lord Krishna asked for a third plate. The third plate was brought and then Lord Krishna asked the king to call his son. The king said, “Why are you giving further pain to me? You have already seen that my son was killed and given to the lion. What more do you want? Now I no longer have a son. I had only one son and you saw that happened to him. How can I call my son?” Then Lord Krishna said, “Do you want to obey me or not? I'm asking you to call your son. Why don't you call him?” So King Moradhwaj called his son by name, and his son came into the room. Then King Moradhwaj realized that this had simply been a test. But he had to suffer all these things without knowing the reality and he did it happily.
So, King Moradhwaj knew how to love God. Because of love he sacrificed so much. Do you think you know how to love your Lord? If it comes to that level, will our love stand the Lord's test? Because to love the Lord may be very difficult at times. It's not easy to love the Lord, or to know how to love the Lord.
Vidurani was so devoted that when Lord Krishna came to her house, she wanted to offer him something. But she was so much in love that she lost her senses. She was peeling a banana to offer to her Lord, and do you know what she did? She offered the peel to the Lord and threw away the banana! Lord Krishna did not question it; he did not ask, ‘What are you doing?' He started eating the peel with great pleasure! Then Vidurani's husband came and saw that she was offering the banana peel rather than the pulp and said to her, “What are you doing? Have you gone mad? You are offering a banana peel to Lord Krishna!” Then she realised her mistake and she apologized and requested the Lord to forgive her, and she threw away the banana skin and offered the fruit instead.
.Lord Krishna ate the banana, but said, “Vidurani, it doesn't taste as delicious as the peels you offered me before!” So what made the difference? The real banana was not as tasty as the peel because at that time she had forgotten herself, she was so immersed in her love for the Lord that even the peel tasted good to him. When she became aware of what she was doing, the actual fruit did not have that same taste.
So that's the theme of the song: “Who thinks that it is easy to love the Lord? Have you learned to love the Lord very easily? It's not as easy as you think or as it seems.”
All these devotees had some technique, some knowledge on the basis of which they did all these things. What they did was not only for themselves; they got salvation in their life, but they also left something for others and created history. Not only does the person who narrates these stories weep, but the person who listens also weeps. Why? Because there is so much love, so much sacrifice, written in the histories of those great souls.
Saints say we must care only for the Holy Name and for nothing else. Guru Nanak Dev said that in this world the only thing worth worrying about is the Holy Name. If we have to think, we should think about the Holy Name. We should not concern ourselves with anything else in this world. This Holy Name alone is important.
Then comes light. Lord Krishna said that the light of fire, sun and moon can be seen by everybody, but these lights do not give you that bliss, that tremendous happiness which comes from the self-illuminating light, that light which is the light of the Lord. That is the light we must care about. We should not care about anything else in this world. Other things are not worth worrying about.
The third thing we should care about is divine music. The sounds made by musical instruments that we all listen to will not take us to that highest state where we can realize complete, absolute bliss. It can give us temporary happiness, temporary pleasure, but it cannot give us absolute bliss, it cannot take us to that highest state. Therefore we have to know that divine music which takes us to the absolute bliss, absolute pleasure. We must care for that divine music, not for anything else in this world.
When a man seeks worldly pleasure, he is ready to sacrifice anything and everything. He is not lazy. He can go to work, he can do everything, he has time for that, but when it comes to spirituality, when it comes to listening to satsang and to remembering and meditating on the Holy Name, then he has all sorts of excuses. He has no time, he feels lazy, he feels sleepy, he has this problem, that problem. Why is it so? Why does it happen? Why is it happening with everybody? The answer is that the senses want to enjoy worldly pleasures all the time and they keep the thoughts in a human mind busy. They don't let the mind go to spirituality, to Holy Name, to meditation. That's why it is said that if you want to give satsang, or if you want to talk about scriptures, you can do so only to a few people: out of thousands, there are few who will listen to satsang.
St. Kabir says, “O mind, listen. I'm declaring to the beat of a drum that these breaths are very valuable. All the wealth of the three worlds will not buy you one more breath. You are wasting such valuable breaths every day, every moment, enjoying worldly pleasures. These breaths which you are just wasting - every day, every moment - will never come again.You have to offer this holy breath to the Lord who has given it to you. Don't misuse it; don't let it go to waste. Put it to some good use. Offer it to the Lord, who has given this breath to you.”
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