One day, a mother
brought her eight-year old son to a saint. After touching the ground near the
Saint's feet (a sign of respect in India) she appealed to him to solve her
problem. She said, " My son eats a lot of jaggery (molasses). I am tiered of
telling him not to do so. He just does not listen to me. Please advise
him to give up eating jaggery. I am sure he will listen to you."
The saint looked at the young boy. He then told the mother, "Madam, please bring this boy to again after a week."
After seven days the mother brought her son to the saint again. The mother and the son greeted the saint, and sat before him.
The saint called the young boy to him and asked him to sit near him. Patting his back he said, " Dear boy, from now onwards, please do not eat jaggery. You must listen to what your mother tells you."
The boy did a namaste (a
traditional salutation used in India) to the saint in reverence and promised to
give up jaggery,
The mother was astonished. She thought, "If the saint had to say just this to the boy, why didn't he do it seven days ago when I had first brought him here?' She was puzzled and stated her puzzlement to the saint.
The mother was astonished. She thought, "If the saint had to say just this to the boy, why didn't he do it seven days ago when I had first brought him here?' She was puzzled and stated her puzzlement to the saint.
The saint explained to her, "Madam, I used to enjoy eating jaggery. When I myself ate so much jaggery, what right did I have to ask the boy not to do so? The hollowness of my words would not have had any effect on the boy. For the past seven days I have refrained from eating jaggery, so when I talked to your child he must have sensed that I meant what I was saying."
This was saint Gyanneshwar, the great saint of Maharashtra, one of the states of India.
