Never be scared of opening your heart to love

Today Swami Vishwanananda tells you a Story about a King: Once there was a King. This King was very generous and very loving, but he had one fault. He was short-tempered. For that, many people were afraid of him. But in his kingdom there was one Minister that he loved so much. This Minister used to pray every day, and he trusted in God so much. One day the King went hunting in the forest. On the way, there was a cobra on the path in front of the King’s horse. The horse panicked and threw the King. He landed down near the cobra and the cobra bit the King’s index finger. The King knew that if he didn’t cut his finger off, the poison would kill him. So he pulled his dagger and chopped off his finger. He was in very much pain. The Minister rushed to him and took a piece of cloth and bandaged the King’s finger. As he was bandaging it, he said to the King, “King, don’t worry, it’s God will you cut your finger, and it’s God will that you’re in pain.” The King bore this for some time, but the Minister was going on and on and on. The King could not handle it anymore so he said to his soldiers, “Take this man and put him in the prison. I can’t bear him, I can’t listen to him. Every word he is saying is, it’s God’s will, God’s will. Here I’m in pain and he’s saying, it’s God’s will.” So they took the Minister to the prison and locked him inside. He was happy. He said, “Thank you, God, that I am here now. It’s quiet and I can chant your name. You know, in the world when I’m so busy, I have very little time to chant your name. But look, I'm here now, and I will have time to chant your name all the time.” A few days later, the King went out hunting again. But this time he was attacked by a group of tribesmen. They captured the King and brought him to the Chief. The Chief was very happy to see the King tied up and said, “King, you’re so lucky. Today we will sacrifice you to the Goddess Kali.” The King thought to himself, “Well, I’m not lucky at all. I will be killed.” So the Chief said to his tribesmen, “Take the King, because it’s not every time the Goddess gets royal blood... take him and wash him, dress him nicely, and we will offer him to the Goddess afterwards.” So, as they were removing his clothes to wash him, the tribesmen noticed that the King had one missing finger. They rushed quickly to the Chief and said, “Chief, Chief, we can’t offer this King to the Goddess, he’s incomplete. He’s missing one finger.” The Chief thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, let him go. Lucky for you, King, that you are missing one finger. We can’t offer you to the Goddess.” The King was very happy. He rushed back to the palace and went directly to the jail. He opened the jail door and embraced the Minister. As he was embracing the Minister he said, “Thank you, it’s true, you were right, it was God’s will. I was saved because I'm missing one finger.” Then a thought passed through his mind and he asked the Minister, “But I don’t understand one thing. Why did I lock you in here? You’re such a good man. You praise God all the time.” The Minister replied, “It’s simple, I told you that everything happens through the will of God. If I had come with you the second time, if you had not locked me up in jail, what would have happened? They would have taken us both. And when they saw that you didn’t have one finger, that you were incomplete, but that I was complete... they would have taken me and offered me to the Goddess.” So, whatever He, the higher consciousness, God, whatever name you put to Him, gives you, He’s always right. You may not understand when something negative happens, but later on in life, you will realize that whatever He did was for your own good. You should never be scared of surrendering yourself to His will. You should never be scared of opening your heart to love.