Missed the Opportunity

A story by Ravindranath Tagore

There used to be a huge temple. There were thousands of rooms in it. There were lakhs of visitors and bakhts who would visit that temple everyday. There were minimum thousands of pujaris(priests). The eldest priest of was almost a hundred years old. He once told the juniors priest that last night in his dream he saw God and he was telling me that he is definitely going to visit our temple today. So let us make preparations to greet our God.

Then the old priest had some doubt that may be God is there or no, will he come or no. He told others that he has worked in this temple for eighty years but has never seen God. We believe in God but we can never see him. Being the senior most,praying to God, still having doubts? He was thinking that it was a mere dream, how can God visit our temple? Till now I have not seen him, how can he come now? But other priest said that if there is definitely God on this earth and if comes to our temple, we must make preparations for him. But the old priest was discouraging them by saying that "make preparation, it is your wish but that was my dream only and I just narrated it to you, do not take it seriously.

The juniors cleaned the temple nicely, cooked delicious food and decorated the temple in beautiful way, whole day they were busy with this work. It was sunrise, time was just flying, they were waiting anxiously and with the hope that God will definitely come. It became very late, the old priest told them to eat their dinner and go to sleep, there is no God. Then they all ate,closed the main gate of the temple and went to sleep. Middle of the night one priest woke up and told everybody that somebody is knocking at the door. The old priest said sleep now that is an illusion. After sometime another priest woke saying that God's chariot has come, I can hear the sound and somebody' footsteps also I can hear, it must be God. The old priest said you have gone mad, how can God come now and forced them to sleep. Again another priest got up saying that somebody is tapping at our gate, let us go and open it. Still the old priest did not believe them.

When next day early morning they opened the main door of the temple, they saw the marks of Gods chariot on the sand and footprints on the stairs of the temple and also there were God's palm and finger print which were clearly visible on the temple gate as though God had knocked there. They all felt very disappointed, started weeping and regretting that God had fulfilled his promise to pay a visit to our temple, but we could not greet him. Despite having made so man arrangement, they could not see God. It is because they did not have complete faith in God. Had the old priest been firm in his belief, they would not have missed this golden opportunity.

Aren't we all like the old priest who do not have faith in oneself and discourage others also from taking chance and in the bargain miss good opportunities in life.