From Vedic Scholar to Doubter
Once, in a well-known holy town, there lived a learned brāhmaṇa named Haridatta. He had studied all the scriptures—the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, and the Purāṇas—and was respected for his wisdom. Every day, he would chant mantras, perform pūjā, and give discourses on the nature of the Supreme Lord.
However, over time, due to bad company and subtle pride in his own intellect, Haridatta began to doubt the personality of God. “Perhaps the Lord is just an idea,” he thought. “Perhaps all these rituals and stories are for common people. Enlightened ones go beyond form.”
As his doubts increased, his faith declined. He stopped his worship. He stopped reciting the names of the Lord. The deity in his home, once adored with flowers and lamps, now stood cold and unattended.
The Dream of Warning
One night, Haridatta had a dream. He saw a blazing fire approaching his house, and a voice declared, “All you have earned through lifetimes of devotion will now be burned, for you have abandoned your Lord.”
He awoke sweating, his heart racing. “It was only a dream,” he told himself. But he could not shake the fear. Still, his pride held him back from returning to his old practices.
A Mysterious Visitor
The next day, an old, saffron-clad sādhu came to Haridatta’s home and asked for water. Haridatta invited him in. The sādhu looked around and saw the dusty deity on the altar.
“Why is your Lord neglected?” he asked.
Haridatta replied with a philosophical tone, “Isn’t God beyond form? Do these rituals truly reach Him?”
The sādhu looked at him deeply and said:
“Yes, the Lord is beyond all. But He becomes accessible to us through these forms. The deity is not an idol—it is His merciful manifestation, meant to draw your heart to Him. If you reject Him, how will He remain in your heart?”
Then, the sādhu gently touched the deity’s forehead, and to Haridatta’s astonishment, the form glowed with divine light. The house filled with an aroma of tulasī and camphor.
When Haridatta turned to speak again, the sādhu had vanished.
Return to Bhakti
Shaken to the core, Haridatta fell at the deity’s feet, weeping. “O my Lord! Forgive me! I became proud and blind. I rejected You. But You never rejected me.”
From that day, he resumed his daily worship, but with deep humility. He spoke less, and loved more. His discourses now spoke of the mercy of the Lord, not of intellectual analysis.
In time, he became a soft-hearted saint, and when he left his body, Viṣṇudūtas came to bring him home, for he had regained what he almost lost—his loving relationship with the Lord.
Lessons to Be Learned:
- Pride in knowledge can lead even learned souls to fall from the path of devotion.
- The deity form of the Lord is real—He appears in this form to receive our love.
- The Lord never gives up on His devotees, even when they stray.
- As stated in Padma Purāṇa: “nāma-aparādha-yuktānāṁ nāma eva haranty agham / aviśrānti-prayuktāni tāny eva phala-dāni hi”
“Even those who chant the Lord’s names with offenses are purified when they do so continuously and sincerely.”
Origin of the Story: Padma Purāṇa – Stories illustrating the danger of pride in knowledge, and the merciful forgiveness of the Lord when we return to Him in humility.
