What God Wants from Us: Story of a Devotee

Overview:

Love and faith are the most important things to God. Does God care about rituals and prayers or does he care about our honesty, integrity, and relationship with him? Today we will learn from this story what real devotion is and what God wants from us.

The Story uncovers What God Wants from the Devotee.

Bible Micah 6:8 says:

These three things that matter so much to God are: justice, kindness, and humility.

This is the story of a tribal boy named Thimmana (Thinna).

Long ago, there was a huge jungle where only a handful of people lived.

The jungle was their natural home.

Thinna was the son of the tribal chief and a well-known archer among his tribe.

He used to lead hunting campaigns for his people.

During one such hunting expedition, Thinna got separated from his friends and while wandering, he reached an unknown part of the jungle.

While trying to find a way out, he reached a small temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

It was a small open temple courtyard where a Shivlingam was installed in the center.

The surrounding area was a dense forest of trees and plants.

However, the wildflowers and vines in the temple courtyard made it beautiful.

He looked around in all directions.

The courtyard of the temple was full of flowers and leaves of various colors.

The Shivlingam was in the middle of the courtyard, facing the open sky.

Thinna began to stare at Lord Shiva’s face on the Shivlingam.

He started feeling attracted to Shivalingam.

However, Thinna did not know the correct way to pray to God.

This was the first time he had seen God face-to-face.

He had heard stories about God’s mercy and compassion from the elders in his tribal community.

But today, when he saw God in person for the first time, he was very happy.

Since this was his first meeting with the divine, he doesn’t know what God wants from him. He picked some of the flowers and leaves in the vicinity and gave them to God as a gift.

He also shared his introduction and some other details about his family.

A significant amount of time has passed during this conversation.

The Adivasis have a tradition of sharing the food items they get from the forest with their loved ones when they say goodbye to someone.

So, the young Adivasi boy wrapped a piece of meat in some leaves and placed it in front of a Shiva lingam as a token of his love for God.

The young Adivasi boy’s pure and innocent love had such an impact on God that he happily accepted the meat.

The sun was also setting, so he said goodbye to God and went home.

But before leaving, he understood the path to the temple very well.

The temple was very old and was managed by a priest who resided in a town a few miles from here. The priest was a great believer in Lord Shiva but he couldn’t travel a long journey every day.

So, he used to come to the temple once a fortnight with his puja items.

Before returning home, he cleaned the temple, prayed to the Shivlingam, and offered water, sacred leaves, and flowers as usual.

The next day, when the priest came to the temple, he saw a piece of flesh lying beside Lord Shiva.

Then, he thought that maybe the animals had left it there, so he cleaned it with water from a nearby stream, before performing the sacred rituals.

He returned that day with the satisfaction that he had done his duty.

The next day, Thinna went to meet God again.

Since he didn’t know any kind of prayer or ritual, he placed some colorful flowers in front of the Shiva lingam as he had done the day before.

He talked to God for a while, expressing his heart’s desire.

And when he returned, he gifted a fish to God.

Thinna was so happy with his meeting with God that he started coming to the temple every day with beautiful flowers and fish or meat.

One day he noticed that God looked a little dirty and needed a bath.

He saw a small stream near the temple, but how could he give a bath to the deity?

Because he didn’t have any container to bring water.

He bent down, filled his mouth with water, and went to the temple where he poured the water from his mouth onto the lingam, thus bathing God.

Then, as usual, he kept some pieces of meat nearby and went home.

This went on for fifteen days.

The next time when the priest returned to the temple, they were filled with foul smells of rotten meat.

Moreover, there were marks of spitting on the lingam this time.

The priest had understood, that this was certainly not the work of any animal but that of a human. How could anyone be such disrespectful to the divine in such a manner?

However, despite this, he cleaned the temple, recited the mantras, cleaned the lingam, and offered the prasad before leaving, hoping that this would not be done again.

Imagine the priest’s mindset when he came back each time and saw the same thing.

He was very disappointed with this situation and couldn’t understand what God wants.

The priest burst into tears and called out to God, saying, “Oh God, you are the most sacred of all the gods, the greatest of all the gods. How can you let this happen to you? You are the protector of the universe. Please…save yourself from that evil person.”

At the humble request of the Priest, Lord Shiva was touched and appeared directly in front of him.

Lord said, “My dear devotee, what you consider as disrespect is the offering given to me by another devotee. He knows nothing about rituals and proper practices. But, like you, he loves me wholeheartedly. I am bound by his devotion and have to accept everything he gives me. If you want to witness the extent of his love for me, hide somewhere and see what happens. Now, it is time for his arrival.”

The priest was curious about this devotee, whom God himself had praised. So, he hid behind some bushes.

As always, Thinna was coming with a bow on his shoulder, a sword in his waist, flowers in one hand, and meat in the other.

When he approached, Priest noticed that he had a mouthful of something.

He poured water from the mouth over the lingam, offering flowers to God. Then he started talking. As usual, he offered pieces of meat on the leaves to God.

The priest shivered in his hiding place.

But At this point, it was Thinna’s turn to be surprised.

As usual, God did not accept his gift, and he wondered what had happened to him. What God wants today from him.

He looked carefully at the Lord.

Suddenly, he noticed that something was coming out of God’s left eye.

He became very scared and took some herbs from the forest and applied them to his eye in the hope that the problem would be resolved.

But it only made the situation worse.

Instead of water, the herbs caused blood to flow out of God’s eye.

Thinna tried all kinds of remedies but nothing worked.

And thus, God’s left eye fell as blood and flesh.

Finally, Thinna decided that the only way to solve the problem was to offer his own eye to God.

So, he took a knife and cut off his left eye, placing it in place of the eye of the Shiva lingam.

This stopped the bleeding from God’s eye and Thinna took a sigh of relief.

The priest thought, “What would be the devotion of a devotee towards God greater than this? He gave his eyes to God and forgot all about his injuries and pain.”

However, suddenly he saw that God’s right eye also started bleeding. In the next moment, that eye also fell to the ground.

But now he had a solution.

He decided to transplant his other eye as well.

He didn’t want to see God suffering in pain.

But with his left eye gone, when he would remove his right eye, how would he put the eye in the face of God?

He thought for a moment and found a solution.

He raised his foot and put it in the place of God’s right eye and, to cut off his right eye with the knife, he extended his hand forward.

God was not able to see this great sacrifice made by his devotee and he appeared before him.

Thinna’s vision returned and he bowed before God.

The priest also came out from his hiding place and greeted God.

Lord Shiva blessed both of them and praised their devotion in his way.

Later on, People declared Thinna a saint Nayanar, one of Lord Shiva’s greatest devotees.

Thinna is recognized as the 63rd Nayanar and is known as Kannappa Nayanar.

By making a humble tribal boy a saint, God reminded us that Spiritual Awakening is about true love and true faith in God wants more than our prayers and rituals.

Moral Of the Story:

In a similar incident, with the prophet Moses, where God says that He hears your prayers, whether you are dumb, deaf, mute, or in whatever language you speak.

In that incident, God revealed in a very deep way that true worship isn’t rituals or chanting. What God wants from us is honesty, sincerity, and a deeper connection that goes beyond words.

So, friends tell me, What Does God Expect from Us?

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