Narada Humbled

 

Narada Humbled

 Narada was very proud of his devotion to his lord Vishnu. Once he visited Vaikunta to see Vishnu. He wanted to reconfirm with Vishnu that he was indeed his greatest devotee. (Don’t all of us need validation from our parents, teachers, spouses, bosses and friends? Perhaps the need to be acknowledged is as divine as it is human).

Narada entered Vaikunta and had the darshan of Lord Vishnu and Devi Lakshmi to his heart’s content. Vishnu knew what was going on in the mind of his devotee and was waiting for him to come out with the question. And, then Narada did ask.

Narada asked Vishnu “Swami, we have a special bond. I meditate on you and think about you all the time. Are there other devotees who do your smaran (chanting and remembering something unabated) like me?" Narada thought by asking an open question, he can get Vishnu to say that you are my most ardent devotee.

Vishnu smiled and paused. After all, Vishnu has solved many a problem with his smart words. He told Narada “I am sure that is true Narada. Still, I would like you to go to Ayodhya and reconfirm this with my avatar Rama.”

Narada was slightly disappointed at this answer. He did not want to argue or disobey with his Lord. He came straight to Ayodhya. He saw Lord Rama seated on his throne with Ma Seeta, his brothers and Hanuman. Paying his respects, Narada repeated his question.

Lord Rama smiled and said “That I can answer easily revered Sage. I keep a scroll where all the names of my bhaktas are written. It is kept in the royal scroll library. I will ask my minister Sumantara to take you. You can check for yourself.”

Narada was excited. He did not know that his bhakti was documented so well. He paid his respects again and went with the minister. The minister took him to the scroll library of the palace and opened a special draw and took out a scroll. He took out a scroll and gave it Narada and said “Lord Rama is very particular that this scroll containing the names of his special bhaktas is preserved very carefully. Please replace it after you are done.” Sumantara departed leaving Narada.

Narada opened the scroll with excitement and was super thrilled to the name NARADA in the first leaf. He flips and finds other names such as Prahalad, Dhruva, Gajendra (the elephant), Guha, Shabari and many more. He is pleased. He thought “I am on the first scroll. The others come after me.”

Narada put the scroll back carefully and came out of the scroll library. He bumped into Hanuman on the way. Narada called to Hanuman, “Maruti, is everything well with you?” Hanuman humbly paid respects to the great sage and said, “By my Lord Rama’s grace and your blessings, everything is good Naradji.”

Narada wanted to boast about his new found knowledge as the greatest devotee of Vishnu. He said, “Hanuman, I have news for you. I wanted to find out who is Vishnu's greatest devotee. I went to Vaikunta and Lord Vishnu asked me to ask Lord Rama. I just saw the special scroll in the library. My name is there in the first leaf. Surprisingly I did not find your name in that. Is everything alright between you and Lord Rama?”

Hanuman looked at him with bemusement. “Oh, you saw THAT scroll.” Narada was a bit taken aback. This was not the reaction he expected. He asked Hanuman “What do you mean THAT scroll.” Hanuman said “Oh that is for everybody to see. Lord Rama has another scroll in his chamber. That has a list.”

Narada is intrigued by now. He asked Hanuman, “Can I see that too? Should I take Lord Ram’s permission?”. Hanuman replied casually, “Not required. I can show it to you. I am sure that the Lord wouldn’t mind. After all you are divine personage and a Vishnu bhakth. ” He took Narada to Lord Rama’s bed chambers.

There was a small scroll kept next to Rama’s bed. Hanuman handed over the scroll to Narada. Narada opened the scroll. He opened the scroll. On the first leaf was written HANUMAN. Thinking his name would be coming next, he flipped the scroll. He saw the name Bharat. Narada kept flipping and was disappointed to see only these two names. He thanked Hanuman and went back to the Ram darbar. (court).

Lord Rama was free after finishing the day’s court proceedings. He looked at Narada and saw him crestfallen. With a smile he asked “Narada, did you see the scroll? Did you get your answer?”

Narada hesitantly asked, “Lord, thank you. Yes. I did. But Hanuman showed me another scroll in your chamber. What is that?” Rama laughed and said, “Oh, that. The first scroll in the library has the list of people who are thinking about me all the time and are devoted to me. The second scroll contains the names of people about whom I am thinking about all the time as their devotion to me is boundless.”

Narada realised his mistake and learnt that devotion cannot be measured as better or bigger. He humbly first paid his respects to Hanuman and Bharat and then paid his respects to Lord Rama. He realised that the Lord values those who respect / appreciate his true devotees much more than those who pay respects to him.