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Once upon a time, there lived a young boy named Paltu in a small village of Rajasthan. There was a beautiful temple in his village. The priest of that temple was a close friend of Paltu. Paltu had repeatedly heard the temple priest describe the divine lilas of Badri Narayana, the deity of the holy temple in Badrinath. This made Paltu yearn to have a darshan of Lord Badri Narayana and that was the most important thing that he wanted to attain in his life.

As years rolled by, Paltu grew up and was working at a brick kiln. His job was to carry bricks to the construction site. His job paid very less and he could not afford the trip to Badri right away. (In order to reach Badri one had to board a train to Rishikesh and from there one had to climb the mountain for about 250 km.) So he started saving money for his big trip.

Amidst all the labor at the kiln Paltu's mind was totally absorbed in the thought of Lord Badri Narayana. He kept calling out 'Narayana', 'Narayana' to the Lord at all times. Even his dreams were filled with the thought of having darshan of Badri Narayana and reciting hymns in front of the deity.

At last he had saved enough money for the trip but he had turned 75 and was afflicted with all the physicall discomforts of old age. But his longing to go to Badri never diminished. He reached Rishikesh and started climbing up the mountain. He was walking bare foot and the stones and thorns on the way hurt his feet. The place was extremely cold and Paltu did not have the essential clothing to protect himself. In spite of all the hardships he kept climbing up thinking of Lord Badri Narayana. At last he reached the Badri temple on 31st October.

As per tradition, the temple is closed for 6 months during winter and would reopen only after 6 months. Unaware of all this, Paltu reached the temple during winter. So he was shocked when he found the temple doors locked.

He ran and prostrated himself at the feet of the priests and pleaded with them saying that he was 75 years old and that he had come all the way from a very distant place. He told them that it would be impossible for him to make another trip due to his age and requested them to kindly open the doors so that he would have darshan of the Lord just once.

But the priests refused to change the ancient custom of the temple for the sake of an old man and asked him to come after six months. Paltu could not bear this disappointment. He was standing at the door steps and cried saying that he had asked neither for money nor for comforts all his life but for the darshan of the Lord. He completely surrendered himself unto the Lord and was ready to let go of his life. He lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

The sun had set and the snowfall started. A little cowherd boy woke Paltu up and took him to a small cave nearby. He lit a lantern there. He was very familiar about everything in that place. He asked Paltu whether they could play a game of tiger and sheep. The whole night they played that game. At dawn the boy told that he had many things to do and went away.

When Paltu came to the entrance of the cave he was overwhelmed to see the sight outside. The temple authorities were opening the temple singing praises of Badri Narayana. Paltu fell at the feet of the priests and cried in joy, praising their grace in opening the temple for his sake in the odd time of the year. The authorities could not understand what he was talking about. But one of them recognised him as the old man who begged them to open the temple when they had locked the door six months back. They all wondered, how he managed to stay alive all these six months in the harsh cold weather. Only then did Paltu understand that Lord Badri Narayana Himself had come in the form of a cowherd and had spent six months as one night with him. He cried to his hearts content when he understood the Lord’s Mercy.

Courtesy : “Stories for Meditation”

By

Sri Shantananda Puri

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