The Lord Vishnu is the naughtiest and the strictest teacher world has ever seen. I’m back with another story of the Lord and his dearest devotee Narad Muni. One-day the Lord was spending quality time with his disciple. Suddenly, Narad started boasting about his austerity and his capacity to restrain his senses. The Compassionate Lord could not tolerate this. He thought,” enough is enough; I must do some thing for this fool.” He thought of something and smiled. The next day when Narad was going somewhere, he came across a city on the way. The city was decorated beautifully and great celebrations were going on. Narad’s curiosity started mounting and he went straight to the king’s palace and summoned the king. The King was a very humble person. He welcomed Narad and told him that celebrations were going on for his daughter’s marriage. She would choose the groom of her choice from amongst numerous handsome, brave and rich young men the next day. The princess too came to take the blessings of Narad Muni.

The princess was beauty personified. The moment Narad saw her; he was enchanted. He forgot all about his vow of austerity. His mind started racing, he was thinking hard on the plan to get the princess as his wife. Then he decided to attend the ceremony as a potential suitor. To ensure his victory, he went to The Lord Vishnu and asked for his form. He said that to win the princess he must look extremely handsome. As there is nobody more handsome than the Lord is, it would be best to have his form. He requested,” O Hari, Please give me your form and beauty.”(Hari is another name for The Lord Vishnu.) The Lord agreed happily and said,” Narad, I can do anything for your welfare. Tomorrow, everything will turn in your favour.” Elated, Narad went back to the city and waited eagerly for the moment. Next day, he got up early and got ready. Then he went straight to the royal palace. There was great fervor. Princes and many other handsome young men were sitting in the area assigned for potential suitors. Another area was demarcated for the Brahmins, priests and Rishis. Royal servants ushered Narad to that area. But he refused to sit there and proudly took his seat in the area reserved for the suitors. For some unknown reason, people were smiling while looking at him. Narad was sure that this way they were showing their appreciation for his beauty. Finally, the much-awaited moment came. The princess stepped into the hall, surrounded by other beautiful girls. Nard was so sure of his success. But when the princess came in front of him, she closed her eyes disgustedly and walked away. Narad was shocked. There was one more shock awaiting him. The Lord

Vishnu himself was sitting in the next row. The princess went straight to him, put the garland around his neck, and thus she chose him as her husband.

Narad was furious. He came out of the town and looked at his reflection in the water. He was looking like a monkey. He was terribly angry, sad and devastated. He never expected that his the Lord would deceive him like this. He was trying to figure out if the Lord himself was interested in the princess, why did he play with the emotions of Narad. Why didn’t he tell him everything straight?

Then he saw the Lord coming happily with the princess. Fuming Narad couldn’t control his rage and cursed him. But the Lord……he was still smiling unaffected. When Narad’s emotions settled, he saw that the princess was goddess Laxmi, the consort of the Lord Vishnu. He was overwhelmed and asked what the matter was. The Lord explained that the city, the king and the princess, everything was a creation of his Maya. He did it to teach Narad a lesson of humility as he had developed an ego for his austerity. But defiant Narad was not satisfied with this explanation. He further asked,” What was the secret of giving me the form of a monkey and making me a laughing stock.” The Lord replied with a beaming smile, “I gave you what you asked for. Don’t you remember? It was you who wanted the form of Hari.” (Hari is a synonym for monkey in Sanskrit.)
We are like Narad, committing same mistake. We keep on asking different things without knowing whether these things are good or bad for us. We ask for something from god and when we get it, we are never satisfied with it.
May the Lord not teach us our lessons in the way as he teaches Narad.