Sunday Sermon...

Yesterday was sunday and I went to church as usual. But decided to go for 9.00 AM mass as I had the liberty of using bike to reach the church. There during the sermon the priest narrated a very touching story, which I thought I should write here...

It is about 'Naranathu Branthan', one of the biggest stars of Kerala's Folklore. He is considered as an insane person by most of the people, but he is saner than all of them. He has his own views about the things that goes around and his own ways of doing things. He was considered to have a lot of magical powers.The story goes like this...

There was a guy who was very devoted to Naranathu Branthan. He wanted to be a disciple of him and wanted to follow his foot steps. He asked Naranathu to bless him by taking him as his disciple. Naranathu agreed. The guy started practising all the things that Naranathu was doing. A few days went like that...

One day they went for a very long walk. And since it was summer, they felt very thirsty. They saw a house and decided to ask for some water. The lady of the house gave them 'Sambharam', diluted butter milk. Naranathu took the glass and drank from it. Seeing this the disciple also did so...

After some distance they were thirsty again and they saw a person bringing Toddy, a traditional beverage that is taken from coconut trees. Naranathu drank some of the toddy and our hero also followed the suit. He was very happy and satisfied with his life together with his master...

They continued their journey and need I say that they again felt thirsty. So they went to a nearby building. When they reached there, they found that it was a ironsmith's work place. There they asked for water. The ironsmith was not in his elements. He asked them to drink the Molten iron. Hearing this Naranathu took some molten iron and drank it. Seeing this the disciple ran away...

He was there to enjoy the satisfaction of having butter milk and the fun of having the toddy. But he was not ready to have the heat of molten iron. The message from this was that we should not only enjoy the best things but should be ready to take in the worst of things also. It was a great message to have on a sunday morning...