Who is a seeker ?
The qualities of a seeker in a child
A family with who, I used to stay at times, had two daughters, a seven-year-old and a three-year-old. When I went to their house for a second time, winter had set in. Like always, I took off my slippers outside the house, to enter, when the lady seeker of the house said, “Didi, please bring the sandal inside, it is extremely cold and the floor is very cold.” I replied, “I am wearing socks, hence I can be without the sandal” and taking it off, I entered the room. Their elder daughter asked, “Why did you take off the sandal outside?” I replied, “When we come from outside, the dirt gets stuck to it, which makes the house dirty and the house to which I go is, I feel, my Shree Guru’s Ashrama, and we do not make our Ashrama impure, that is why I took off the sandal outside.” Both the daughters nodded their heads in agreement and accepted the science told by me.
After two weeks, when I went to their house again, the mother of the daughters told me, ‘Possibly even you might not know, but we ourselves came to know just yesterday that our house is the Ashrama of your Shree Guru. I asked, “What happened?” She replied, “Yesterday, one of my brothers-in-law came to our house. I was in the kitchen. Hence, he came to meet me in the kitchen with his shoes on. Even I did not pay much attention to it. He had come to extend an invitation for his sister’s wedding and left immediately after giving me the wedding card.” After his departure, your younger disciple started cleaning the house with a broom. I asked, “What are you doing? The maid has just cleaned up the entire house.” She replied, “The Ashrama of my Didi’s Guru has been rendered Apavitra (Apavitra, meaning impure). Thus, I am cleaning it. Whenever Chacha (father’s younger brother) comes the next time, I will tell him to take off the shoes outside the house.” I too was left surprised as to how easily a three-year old imbibed such an issue, mentioned so casually, within such a short span.
I will relate another incident connected to this child.
Whenever I used to have food at their house, I would fold my hands and say a prayer and both the sisters would also sit down together for lunch with us. One day, the elder sister asked, “What do you say with folded hands?” I said, “I pray to my Shree Guru that whatever you have granted, I am offering it to you, consider it to be your Prasad (holy partake). May I continue to receive the strength and devotion to perform Seva. This is my prayer unto your lotus Feet.” She replied, “From tomorrow, I too will do it.” After nearly two months, one day, the three of us were again having food at their house, when I saw that the younger sister, with her eyes tightly shut, made an earnest prayer and started eating the food. I asked her, “What prayer did you say to the God?” She replied with simplicity, “I told Bhagwan ji (God), first you eat, after that I will eat.” I could not help smiling at the emotion-filled, but simple prayer of that child and at the same time, felt surprised too. I asked their mother, “Who taught them this prayer?” She replied, “Nobody has taught her. Ever since they saw you saying a prayer with folded hands, since that very day, both the girls first pray with folded hands and then eat their food.” I asked the elder sister, “Did you teach your younger sister this prayer?” She said, “No.” I looked at the small girl and there she was, smiling innocently, a la, a little Mother Durga.
Even today, I do not forget that prayer of hers.