Saturday, January 2, 2010

Gopala and the goatherd!

Although I have read many Indian stories, my favorite one is below. I've heard it many times but I still see different angles of it every time I hear it. Enjoy-

There was once a boy who lived with his mother on the outskirts of a village. When he became old enough, he started going to school. The school was a few miles away and he had to cross a jungle.
On the first day, he was really excited to go to school. But he got really scared and came home running after school as he was afraid of walking through the jungle in the dark. When his mother found out, she prayed to Lord Krishna to help her son.
The next day, the child did not want to go to school. His mother alleviated his fear by telling him that brother Gopala would accompany him through the jungle. The child agreed and left to school. In the jungle a boy appeared from behind a tree. The mysterious boy said he was Gopala and the child's mother had asked him to come. The child was overjoyed and came back home that day without a sign of fright.
Everyday, Gopala played with the child on the way to school. One day, the school headmaster told each child to bring some food item to school so they could have a potluck party. The child went home and asked his mother for something to take. They didn't have anything at home, so his mother told him to go ask Gopala for something. The next morning, while walking to school, he asked Gopala for something. Gopala gave him a small pot full of yogurt. At the school, the children kept eating yogurt, but the pot never got empty. The headmaster poured the yogurt into every pot he had, but it still didn't get empty. Finally, the headmaster asked the child where he had got the pot. The child said he had gotten it from brother Gopala in the forest. The headmaster was atheistic and didn't believe that Gopala existed. The child took the headmaster to the forest. The child kept calling for Gopala but he didn't respond. Then a voice was heard. It said that those who do not believe in god will not be able to see him. The headmaster felt ashamed of himself and returned to the school to become religious.
“Faith and devotion makes everything possible.”

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