Moses and the Farmer

Moses used to go up Mount Sinai every year to talk to God. On his way there he used to pass by the house of a farmer who lived at the foot of the hill. This farmer gave hospitality to travellers, so Moses used to stay with him whenever he passed that way. One year the farmer asked Moses what business he had in the area.

Moses replied, “Every year I come here. I climb to the top of Mount Sinai and talk to God.”

The farmer said, “We are quite well off here. We have money, we have hundreds of acres to farm and we have thousands of cattle. The only thing we don’t have is a child. I don’t know if we are destined to have a child or not, but God must know something like that. I know that everything is destined, so He must know what is due to happen to us in the future. Next time you see God, ask Him if we are going to be blessed with a child. If He gives you an answer, you can tell us on the way back.”

Moses went to the top of Mount Sinai and during the course of his usual annual conversation with God he mentioned the farmer’s request.

God said, “All these things are written down in my ledgers. We have a special department here that keeps all these records. I will show you the relevant book and you can look up this man’s name in it.”

The ledger of future destinies was produced and Moses turned to the page that was devoted to the farmer’s family. The column in which the names of children would have been written was blank.

“In that case,” said God, when Moses told Him about the entry, “they will not have children. An empty column means no children.”

Moses thanked God for His help and went back down the mountain to tell the farmer and his wife what he had seen in the book of destiny.

The farmer resigned himself to his fate. “If this is so,” he said, “there is nothing we can do. Thank you for at least finding out the truth for us.”

A few days later a saint, an enlightened man, also passed by that house on his way to Mount Sinai. The farmer gave him the usual hospitality.

The saint asked about his children and the farmer replied, “We don’t have any, and we are not destined to have any. A man was here a few weeks ago. He looked into God’s book of destinies and found that we were not going to have any children. We have given up hope.”

The saint was very happy with the hospitality that the farmer and his wife had extended to him, so he blessed them before he left. The following year, when Moses came on his annual visit, he was surprised to see the farmer’s wife holding a small baby.

“Whose baby is that?” he asked. “Is someone staying with you?”

“No,” replied the farmer’s wife. “It’s mine. I gave birth a few weeks ago.”

“But how could this happen?” wondered Moses. “I myself saw God’s own book of destiny, and He even told me Himself that you would not have any children.”

“I don’t know how it happened,” responded the woman, “but I do know that a saint visited us a few days after you did. We didn’t tell him what we wanted, but he was happy with our hospitality and he blessed us before he left.”

Moses thought to himself, “Someone is getting careless in God’s accounts department. I should tell Him about this next time I see Him. It’s not good to have people making mistakes like this.”

A few days later, during his annual conversation with God on the summit of Mount Sinai, Moses brought up the subject of the incorrect records.

“I saw this book myself,” said Moses, “and the children column was blank. But this same woman gave birth a few weeks ago. Someone in Your record-keeping department must have made a mistake.”

“Bring the book,” said God to one of His attendants. “I should find out what has been happening.”

The book was brought and the appropriate page was shown to God. When God and Moses looked at the book together, they saw that a symbol like the letter ‘U’ had been added to the children page.

“Ah, this explains it,” said God. “This ‘U’ is a picture of an enlightened man’s tongue. Some jnani must have blessed this woman and announced that she would have a baby. The word of a jnani is paramount. Whatever he says has to happen, even if these things are not written in the book of destiny. The jnani’s tongue is outside my control. It can undo anything that is written in my destiny books.”

This is how it is. In the presence of an enlightened man, your desires can be fulfilled, even if you never specifically mention them. The jnani can even undo your destiny. You may be destined for a particular fate, but one word from the jnani can change it. Even sitting in his presence can change your destiny.