In Bengal there lived a man who was very learned and a very logical grammarian. His name was Bhattoji. He was a very famous grammarian. He never went to temple. He was already old, over sixty, when his father said:
- Well, this is too much! - His father was ninety years old. — I went to temple and prayed every day! And I didn’t tell you anything, thinking that you would come to understand yourself! But now you are already sixty! It's time to go and prepare for another world! So when will you go to the temple to pray and praise the Almighty?
Bhattoji said in response:
“Seeing you go to church many times and return the same, I doubted: is the question how many years and how many times have you been praying?” It seems that the whole question is how you pray, the only question is the quality. I've been watching you for so many years! Twice a day you went to the temple and returned exactly the same! So, does prayer not work? No, something is wrong here! Tomorrow is my birthday. I will go to the temple and do everything in my power. I will try to put my whole self, my whole soul into it. I'll pray just once, but I won't leave anything inside. I'll try to get fully into it - but only once. If something is supposed to happen, it will happen. If nothing else, then I'll leave it at that. And why then go again, since there will be no benefit? Then it's just pointless!
His father laughed and said:
- Lord, what a fool! And he is also reputed to be a most learned person! Yes, you need to pray for whole lives in a row for something to happen! Well, God be with you, may He enlighten your brains! Come on, come on! Let's see what you can come up with!
Bhattoji went to the temple and never returned. He died. Having prayed only once before the Deity of the temple, he died. He really went completely into it - and there was nothing left.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru