The Noble work

This is not fiction nor any cooked-up story. It is a true story of a priest in a temple who wished and did well to anyone who sought his guidance and assistance even when he himself had many personal problems. 

Shastri Ji, How are you? Questioned the Sarpanch ( village head) who met him on the way after a very long time. Due to the Pandemic and the lockdown that affected everyone, everywhere Shastri Ji too was not able to earn anything for the past few months. Otherwise, he used to be very busy performing the different religious rituals at marriages, naming ceremonies, housewarming functions, etc. It used to get him some income that kept himself and his wife in a comfortable position. His wife could not express her concern about the lack of earnings and she tried to somehow manage groceries etc. and now it was beyond her limits too. She sulked in silence. It is not that her husband did not sense the need of the hour, day, and month. What could he do in this situation? Time passed very slowly with no respite in sight. They saw other priests who were young opting out of this job and moving to big cities with the hope of finding some job that could fetch them some income. Shastri Ji was not young nor energetic to move ahead along with his aged wife in tow. So, the couple had no other option but to wait for some miracle to happen by God's grace. Well did it happen? let us see.    

 Sarita, I will come back in an hour's time said Shastri Ji to his wife in the morning. She knew he would go to the temple as usual. That was the place where he would search for some peace of mind. He could sit in silence and chant the names of the almighty requesting him to make things better for himself and the world around. He had immense faith that his wish would be fulfilled shortly. As he was chanting the names of the almighty with closed eyes, he heard a very gentle voice calling out to him. He opened his eyes to find a fragile-looking lady in her mid-thirties. She looked tired and stressed. She wished him with folded hands as a gesture of regard and respect. He recognized her as Shagun who was working as a Salesperson at a clothes store in the main market. She started telling about her family matters and expressed anguish at how the Pandemic had caused trouble in her home. She spoke about her meager income was not sufficient for all the members of the family. Her father was a retired pensioner whose pension amount was not able to supplement her earnings too. Now her younger sister was getting a very good match for marriage. The groom was earning well and demanded nothing but a marriage function that should be performed traditionally with all the required rituals. Obviously, this required a Priest who would demand some money to perform these rituals. Now money was the constraint. She requested Shastri Ji to do this for her. In return, she offered him a token amount of 51 rupees. That was all she had with her in her torn hand purse. Shastri Ji accepted the amount immediately and confirmed his availability. The gratitude the girl showed for this act was unmeasurable. She thanked him profusely for this help and went from there relieved of stress. The wedding date was fixed and it was in the coming week. Shastri Ji took up the entire responsibility and performed all the rituals religiously, this needed no money but dedication and commitment. The groom and his family were satisfied and they went away happily along with the new bride. After a fortnight he received the information that the new bride was happy in her new house amongst new people. This was a very satisfying experience for Shastri Ji. Life was again dull and listless for some more time with nothing new happening either domestically or financially. Things moved at a snail's pace seems so.                  

Then one day in the afternoon there was a knock on Shastri Ji's door. There was a young man who wished him afternoon and informed him that the proprietor of the big cloth store in the market wanted to meet him that evening. In the evening when Shastri Ji went to the cloth store there was a good surprise waiting for him. The proprietor offered him the work of performing religious rituals at his Shop every day as the person who was doing the work all these years had to move to another town along with his grown-up son and his family. Shastri Ji would be given money regularly for this work as the Proprietor believed that these rituals helped in making his earnings better. While coming out of the store pleased and happy he found the same old young lady who had requested him to perform her sister's marriage ceremony with all proper rituals and traditions but she had less money to pay him for this.   

  On returning home Shastri Ji reported the entire Scenario to his wife who said good acts will always get good returns if not immediately but definitely. She went on to say what you give you get it back so we should keep doing good things as possible but not at our stake. They had a good dinner and went to sleep calmly and happily.