CHOICES WE MAKE
Three guys were going where they wanted to go.
One of them was going to the home of a prostitute for a night of indulgence.
The second one was going home to his wife and children after a days work.
The third one was going to the temple.
They all stopped at a garden and saw beautiful flowers. One flower, a beautiful sunflower stood out with its beauty and vibrant colors. Flower saw these three guys coming toward him and wondered who will pick him and take it to his destination. They all asked the sunflower to come with them.
The guy going to the prostitute said to the flower: You will adorn the beautiful hair of his lover and be surrounded by fun, games, all kinds of luxuries and see all kinds of beautiful sights and hear beautiful sounds. What would happen after that ? The flower asked. Well after some time you will be no more the beautiful and fragrant as you are now and will be thrown away in trash in the morning.
The second guy said, I want to take you with me and give to my wife and children, they would certainly enjoy having such a beautiful flower in the house. You will be a symbol of my love for my wife and children. And than what ? The flower asked. Well after you lose your beauty you will be thrown away in trash and I will find another beautiful flower tomorrow oon my way back from work.
The third guy said, I am going to offer you to the Lord in His feet and the you will become an offering of devotion, a symbol of my love and devotion to the Lord. Flower asked, and than what happens to me ? The man said: some devotee may take you home as a symbol of Lord’s grace and prasaad and keep you with him in his home shrine, even after your leaves have dried up and shrivelled he is not goingto throw you away. Whenever he would look at you, it would remind him of the Lord’s Grace. In essence you will become a symbol of devotion and love for a long time to come, even if your petals and leaves have all dried up.
Flower started to think. Do I go for the luxuries and opullence of the home of the prostitute, or shall I go the home of a householder and adorn his wife and make his kids happy ? Either way the value of my existence is only as long as I am beautiful looking and have lot of fragrance in me. OR should I forego all that and let the third guy take me and offer me to the Lord, where I would become a symbol of devotion and not only when I am offered to the Lord but also become a Prasaad that a devotee would receive. Which one of three options do I take. Become an object of indulgence, or become and object of pleasure or become an offering of devotion to the Lord.
I do not know which option that flower selected.
But we are given these options in our life all the time. This life is precious. Do we want to use it up for indulgence, or use it up for fun and pleasures or transform it to become an offering to the Lord. The choice is ours and only ours to make. Here our life is the flower, each of us can be any of these three guys and we are the ones who will have to make the choice. Do we make this flower, our life, an offering to the Lord or do we use it up for indulgence and fun. do we offer our life to this world or do we offer it to the Lord. What choice makes this life worthwhile and noble vs what makes it just another life in the chain of so many lives we have had. How does my life become different from billions of other human beings on this earth.
Next question: what does it mean to offer this flower of life to the Lord. Does Lord need anything ? NO. He does not lack anything, he has everything. He is the giver and not the taker. so what does it mean to give this life to the Lord ?
Think of it this way. A parent has two sons. One is prosperous and well to do. The other one is poor and not so well to do. Parents do not need anything. But when the well to do son goes out and helps the not so well to do son, it makes the parent happy. Not because parents needed anything for rthemselves. but seeing the rich son help the poor one makes the parent happy and endears the rich son to the parents all the more. Apply this to this life. Helping the poor and the unfortunate ones is the best way to offer oneself to the Lord. Seva or selfless service to the fellow humans is the best form of worship and the best way to offer ones life flower to the Lord. Than this flower of life will truly become an offering or a prasaad of the Lord.
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