Faith can move mountains

All of us have heard that faith can move mountains. I came across a beautiful story about faith the other day in the Economic Times (Cosmic Uplink section).

There was once a religious man who was very well known for his knowledge. He had a cottage on one bank of a river while all his household supplies used to be brought over from the other bank. One milkmaid used to bring his daily quota of milk.

One day she was late. The man was very angry with her because her delay resulted in the delay of his daily pooja. So he scolded her. She replied that the water level in the river was high and no one was plying the boats so she was stuck. Thereupon he remarked that she should have walked on water to perform her duty. The maid kept quiet but wasn’t late again.

A couple of days later it rained heavily and the man heard that the river was overflowing. Still, the maid came on time. He was surprised at this and questioned her. She simply said that as told by him she had walked on water. He found it hard to believe so he took her back to the riverbank and asked her to show it to him. The maid really walked on water.

The man was astonished. ‘If this simple maid can achieve this, I can do it too’ he thought. But just as he stepped on water he fell.

The essence of the story is that it isn’t important who your teacher is - your faith is what counts.