Be yourself

Long ago, there lived a poor farmer named Madhav. He was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. One day, like normal, he went out to go and beg for food. On his way, he stumbled upon a Vishnu temple. There he sat down and prayed. 

" O mighty one, you live a comfortable life in your adobe, but look at me, I cannot even afford a day's meal for myself. Then how will I ever feed my family ? I want to live like you. "

Just then Lord Vishnu heard his prayers and appeared before him. He told Madhav, 

" Madhav, you do not know how it is to live like a statue. If you want to be like me, then you should not speak a single word nor move. If you can do that, then I will give you a boon to live like me for just one day. After that you should listen to me at all times. Can you do that ? " 

" Yes, my lord. " Madhav told cheerfully

Then he turned into a statue. Just then a rich man came by. He thanked the lord for the wonderful jewels he had received.He left some sweets and went. Madhav who was looking at all this, noticed that the man had left his bag full of coins. He wanted to give them to the man but remembered the Lord's words. Then a poor boy came and told the lord his difficulties. He saw the bag of coins and thought that the lord had helped him, so he took the coins and left home. Madhav knew it wasn't a gift from the lord , but he remained silent. A few minutes later, a fisherman came and asked the lord for good luck on his travels. By then the rich man had noticed that he had left his coins at the temple. He came and thought that the fisherman stole his coins and told his guards to put him in jail. Madhav could not bear it any more and told everything . The fisherman had been released an the money had been returned. By then a day was over and Madhav came out of the statue. The lord appeared and Madhav told everything that he had done. The lord looked sad and told, 

" O Madhav, you have made a great mistake. There will be a terrible storm today and the fisherman will die. The poor boy will not have anything to feed on and he will also die, and do you know how much bad the rich man has done to get so rich ? If you didn't speak, then none of this will happen. "

Madhav who was feeling ashamed, told the lord,

" I am sorry my lord, know I know how hard it is to be you. I understand that I should always be me. "

Moral :- Be yourself