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Meeting the saints
A little five-year-old boy silently walked by his mother on her way to her next gig. A group of traveling saints were staying in their village for the rainy season, and the boy’s mother had been employed to clean the hermitage.
Out of all the jobs on which he had accompanied his mother, this one was the little boy’s favorite. His mother told him to make himself useful and find some way to serve the saints. The boy, being very obedient, immediately ran to the saints.
He looked at them with wide eyes and shyly asked, “Can I do something to help you?”
The hearts of the saints softened at the sincerity of the sweet little boy. They entertained him with small tasks. Seeing the boy eagerly and obediently run back and forth to fetch flowers, fruits, or water for their worship, the saints took a liking to him.
The grace of the guru
One day, a kid his age caught sight of the boy. “Hey, you want to come play with us?” the kid asked. “We’re having so much fun.”
The boy looked at the saints who were joyfully discussing the glories of the Lord and then at the group of children noisily running around and dribbling balls. He turned back and firmly shook his head—he found more joy in the company of the saints.
Instead, the boy sat in one corner of the saints’ hermitage and silently listened to the saints talk about the Lord. With every new story he heard from the saints, his attraction toward the Lord intensified. The boy’s heart was purified by hearing the instructions, teachings, and simply the divine words of the saints who he looked upon as his own gurus. And his earnest devotion and service earned for him the grace of his gurus.
Immersing himself in thought about the Lord, the boy relished every moment that he spent with the group of saints and had no interest in anything else.
A sampling
In due course of time, when the chilly winds of winter started blowing away the monsoon, the group of saints left the boy’s little village and continued traveling. His mother continued working tirelessly every day to provide for the two of them.
Late one night, she was busy milking cows to prepare for the next morning. A noxious snake stealthily crept into the shed. It slithered up her leg and bit a deadly bite.
The next morning, the boy woke up to the news of his mother’s death. He took it as the grace of God and left his village. What? How could his mother dying be God’s grace? Well, simply because the boy saw every single thing that happened to him as the grace of God. In his eyes, everything the compassionate Lord did was an act of bestowing grace.
The boy walked and walked and walked. He crossed bustling cities, small villages like his own, quiet farms, and mountainous landscapes. He didn’t stop. He continued past gold mines, desolate plains, and frightening forests filled with wildlife.
The little boy was exhausted. He took a dip in a nearby river and was calmed by the soothing embrace of the cool water. The boy sat under the shade of a towering banyan tree and began meditating following the advice given by his gurus. His meditation soon became intense, and the young boy entered a blissful otherworldly state. He was overcome with emotion and could feel the presence of the Lord in his heart.
But as suddenly as it began, this transcendental experience came to a standstill. The boy was dejected. He felt as though he would do just anything to return to that state of pure ecstasy in which he could see the Lord firsthand. Yet all of his rigorous attempts to refocus his mind into that state were futile, and he felt simply hopeless.
As he tried once again to control his mind, the boy heard a loud strike of thunder, and a formless voice began speaking.
“Dear one,” the voice—seeming to represent the Lord himself—said, “in this current lifetime of yours, you will not be able to see me again. Your first vision and experience of me was the result of the service you rendered to the holy ones; however, it is but a sampling, meant to intensify your longing for me. The more you yearn for this experience, the freer you will become from this material world, and as your emotion matures into devotion, you will attain me in your next birth.”
The boy smiled with gratitude and bowed his head reverentially at the invisible voice. He loudly called out the name of the Lord, casting away all shame. After that moment, he spent the remainder of his days gleefully chanting and singing in such a manner.
Narada attains the Lord
Thousands of yugas later, this same boy returned to the world in his next birth as one of Brahma’s mind-born sons and was named Narada. Soon after he was born, Sriman Narayana himself lovingly beckoned him.
“My dear one,” the Lord said, showing him a beautiful veena. “I have a special gift for you.”
Since then, Narada constantly travels around the world singing the limitless glories of the Lord with the accompaniment of his divine veena. Now, whenever Narada calls out the Lord, immediately, the vision of the Lord—that he pined for all last birth—appears before his eyes.
This story is narrated by Narada to Vyasa in the first canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam in pursuit of persuading the latter to write said purana.
