THE VOICE WITHIN

It was getting late in the forest. Busily gathering firewood since dawn, Krishna and Sudama were utterly famished. Sudama had some grams stowed away in a piece of cloth under his robe, but felt embarrassed to share it. He was but a poor Brahmin boy learning at a hermitage and had struck up a deep friendship with Krishna whose noble lineage was known to all.

Krishna kept telling how hungry he was, asking if he had anything to eat. That ought to have alerted Sudama his friend suspected something, but he continued to deny. After a while, when Krishna seemed to have dozed off, Sudama stealthily opened his pack and ate the humble food. Had he known then that his act did not escape Krishna’s notice, his shame would have been unbearable indeed. But Krishna said nothing.

After finishing their studies, the two youths went their separate ways. Krishna left Vrindavan, claimed his royal birthright at Mathura by slaying his evil uncle Kamsa, thereafter relocated to Dwaraka by the sea with his Yadu clan to establish a powerful empire, and earned great renown as a military leader, king and statesman who defined his era.

Sudama, meanwhile, remained impoverished as ever. He stayed on in his village, dedicated to spiritual austerities. He did become a householder, but was indifferent to material cares. He had always lived frugally, but life became harder with several mouths to feed. Many a day the family went without two square meals. Sudama only had the memories of his days of friendship with Krishna to hold on to amidst all this suffering.

Finally, Sudama’s wife Susheela could bear it no more. She tearfully beseeched him to visit his long-lost friend and ask for help. Would not the King of the Yadus extend his benevolence to a poor Brahmin friend who had always been devoted to him? If Lord Krishna was indeed omniscient and divine, would he not know the parlous state his friend was in?

But Sudama hesitated. It was painful to think of seeking out Krishna after so many years with such a worldly motive, in spite of the destitution of his family. And then fate took a hand…

There was a warlord who lived nearby. He had once told Sudama to chant his name and get anything he wished for. He also hated Krishna, so he was enraged when Sudama replied that his allegiance was only to his childhood friend who he revered as the very incarnation of God. One day, he dragged out Sudama from his hut and began thrashing him mercilessly, but the latter’s faith was unwavering and he bore the pain silently.

In faraway Dwarka, at that very moment, Lord Krishna, resting in his palace with his queens Rukmini and Satyabhama, felt the actual physical pain of Sudama. He knew all that his friend was going through, and gazed deeply into the future.

After several days of punishment, the warlord left and Sudama listened to his wife’s entreaties. He agreed to visit Lord Krishna but would not go empty-handed. All that his wife could prepare was some flattened rice or ‘poha’ in their abode, which she packed in a little piece of cloth.

Reaching Dwaraka, Sudama was stupefied at its magnificence. With trepidation, he passed through the massive gates of the imposing palace. But the moment he saw Lord Krishna, the years magically seemed to fall away. They were locked in a close embrace, together at last, just as in the days of the hermitage.

With a start, Sudama saw Lord Krishna washing his feet and sprinkling the water over his own head. After offering Sudama sumptuous refreshments and much sharing of old memories, Lord Krishna asked with that familiar mischievous smile what ‘gift’ his friend had brought for him.

Once again Sudama was embarrassed, this time more so in the opulence of Krishna’s surroundings. But life had taught him much, so he took out his humble offering. As his friend swallowed a morsel, Sudama felt an intense transcendental joy that would never leave him.

Back in his village, Sudama saw with wonder the prosperity that had descended upon his family and the entire neighborhood. Till the end, he would remain grateful for the Lord’s grace, sharing it with others.

Thus Sudama changed the course of life with his karma. In the days of his ignorance, he had once eaten food on the sly without sharing it with a hungry friend. Grinding poverty became his lot. But when he chose to offer whatever little food he had to the same friend years after, he performed the greatest ever charity a man can perform in his lifetime.

Sudama had unwittingly fed the Universal Form of the Lord, and thereby all the creatures of the world. With this act, he wiped out all his bad karma, while earning enough good karma to last many more lives.

— the harbinger

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