Duty as Devotion
Fulfilling the responsibility given by God is the highest sadhana
A young man named Krishnamurthy became a teacher in Sri Sathya Sai
School. He decided that he will spend his entire life in spirituality. He was
given the post of the Headmaster in a Sathya Sai School Krishnamurthy was not
only capable of performing his duties but also followed the rules of spirituality.
In the year 1979, he felt that he was not able to move forward on the path of
spirituality. Therefore, he wanted to go to the Himalayas and live there doing
penance. He felt that the teaching profession had become an obstacle in
spiritual path. But he was unable to decide whether to serve as a teacher or go
to the Himalayas and do penance. Once he went to Vrindavan with his friends. He
had darshan of Swamiji and placed his head at his feet. Then Swamiji said
"do you want to go to Himalayas for spiritual Sadhna?" Then he said,
"Yes, Swami." Swamiji showed him a thread hanging from his robe and
asked, "What is this?" He said, "Swami, it is a thread."
Swamiji pointed to the devotees sitting outside and said, "Tell me, how
many people are there?" Then Krishnamurti said, "Swami, there could
be thousands of them." Then Swamiji looked at Krishnamurti and said,
"If any one of them gets this thread, he will dance with joy, won't
he?" He said, "Yes." Further Swamiji said, "You have been
given a wonderful task to make your worship successful. Is it necessary to
leave that and go to the Himalayas? What is the purpose of your penance?"
He said, "To attain Swamiji?"