To earn the Grace of God, you have
to pray to the Personified Power with Name and Form; it is your yearning
that decides in what form the Lord appears. You call and He answers. If
you are not earnest, if you feel indifferent, and say, “Let Him come
when He wills, in the Form He likes and with the Name He prefers." He
will not come at all. Call on Him with anguish; He will respond.
In Rajasthan, there was a priest who worshipped the
image of Balakrishna installed in the temple, attached to the palace of
Udaipur. His name was Devesa. His story may not be found anywhere but
since he was intimately connected with Me, I know him very well. Every
night he used to "put Balakrishna to sleep" with appropriate ritual and
close the door of the shrine; but, before he came out, he would take
from the head of the Image, the mallika garland he had placed there in
the evening and wear it himself, before proceeding home. Of course, on
those days on which the Maharana visited the temple, the garland had to
be given to him, for wear.One day, however, the Maharana came immediately after the priest had worn it inside his tuft of hair; so, when the Ruler demanded the flower, he had to get inside the shrine and, slyly remove it from his tuft, hand it reverentially back to him. The Maharana was happy that he had not missed the gift; but, was shocked to find in it a strand of gray hair! Suspecting some trick, he shouted angrily. "What! has our Balakrishna grown old and gray?" The priest, to save his skin, said "Yes." The Maharana replied. "Well, I shall not disturb Him now; but, early tomorrow, I shall come and see if His hair has really gone gray."
Devesa had no food or sleep that night. He wept his eyes out in agony, for, he had in his fear, imposed old age and grayness on the ever-youthful Lord. Morning came and the Maharana hurried to the temple to open the shrine. They both looked in and, lo, the hair was gray. The King suspected that the hair was false, planted by the priest. So he pulled and tugged at it, only to find drops of blood at the roots. God had responded to the anguished cry, the call of agony. The Formless will assume any form and undergo any transformation to satisfy the yearning of the devoted aspirant. The overriding purpose is to make all Karma-jivis, Brahma-jivis.
