The Saint and the Cow

There once was a young saint living quietly in the forest near a mountain village. One day a cow came running into his hut and a few minutes later a man came by and asked if the saint had seen the cow that he was going to butcher. The saint said “yes” and pushed the cow out of his little hut and gave it the butcher,

In the next life the saint again became a saint. He decided to go to the village of Pandhapur in Maharastra where there is a very good statue of Lord Vitthal. On his way, about ten kilometers before the temple, a very strong storm came and he couldn’t see which way to go. A man living nearby invited him in and told him he could spend the night there and the next day he could continue on to the temple. The saint agreed to this compassionate and generous offer. The man, though quite old, had a beautiful young wife who quickly fell in love with this pure boy, and expressed to him that she wanted to run away with him.

“No, I am a sadhu. I never touch any woman,” the saint exclaimed.

“But I have fallen in love with you. Let’s run away. I have collected all my gold ornaments and it will be enough for us,” she said.

“No, I cannot stay with you,” said the young saint, “I am going to Lord Vitthal. You are already married and if you go away your husband will be in great pain,”

So she went to the house and killed her husband and threw him into the well. Then she said, “Now I have no husband. Now come with me.”

The saint was astonished and absolutely refused and so the woman went out onto the road and started crying that this man had killed her husband and was going to steal all the gold.

People and police came and took him to the magistrate. The woman told her story about this stranger to the village magistrate. The judge was baffled. Since a crime had been committed, the magistrate decided there must be a punishment. But since there was no witness he decided it could not be death and so he had the hands of the innocent young saint cut off.

The saint then continued to Lord Vitthal who then appeared before him and said, “Ask any boon. Kuch Mangalo Meray Say!”

The saint replied, “I am very happy with you. I have always worshipped you. My tongue has never uttered any other name and my hands have never committed any crime; they have only clapped the rhythms of songs in your praise. Lord, if you are gracious, tell me why these hands which only worship you, have been cut!”

The Lord said, “Look at the Devadarshan before you and see what happened in the previous life.”

The saint saw the previous story of the cow, the butcher and the saint and he saw that the cow is the wife, the butcher is the husband and he is the saint. The cow had to take revenge from the husband who had killed her. That action and reaction is now over. His own hands had to be cut because he had pushed the cow out of his hut which the cow had come seeking protection,

So it is with prarabdha. Nobody knows the root of what happens in the present life, We only see what is happening now. All karma must be undergone.