The temple of love¹⁷

An old Muslim once went to a fair with his granddaughter. The granddaughter was so happy to be with her grandfather. At the fair she saw many things she liked, but there was one toy which she liked the most. It was a doll representing Krishna. She asked her grandfather to buy it for her, but he said, “I will buy anything else for you, but not this, because this doll is the God of the Hindus. You know how bad the Hindus are.”

The owner of that particular shop happened to be a Hindu. He got furious: “Who asked you to buy a Hindu God? Go away from my shop!”

The old man said, “Who needs your toy? I am going.” Both the shopkeeper and the old man exchanged a few nasty, foul words. But when the old man started to leave, his granddaughter began crying pitifully. She said, “I won’t go home unless I get the doll.” The grandfather was helpless, and he had to buy it for her. To the Hindu the old man said, “I am helpless. My love for my granddaughter far surpasses my love of my own religion and my hatred for your religion.”

The little child returned home so delighted with her toy. Every day she used to play with the doll, even when she was walking to school. At home also she used to play with the doll most devotedly, and she never played with anybody else.

Some years passed and she became old enough to get married. When her parents told her that they would look for a husband, she said, “How is it that you say you will look for a husband, when all along I have been married to this doll? This doll is my husband.”

The parents got the shock of their life, but what could they do? They said, “All right, you have shocked our religious beliefs. Now tell us what we can do for you.”

The girl said, “Now build a temple in honour of your son-in-law. He is nobody other than Krishna himself.”

As soon as she said “Krishna himself,” the parents saw right in front of them the living presence of Krishna. They were so moved. Krishna said, “She is right. Build a temple so that people can come and worship me.”

“Let us build it,” the parents said. “But this is a Muslim community. No Muslim will come to a Hindu temple, and they will hate us if we build one.”

The girl said, “No, if you don’t listen to my Lord, my husband, then I am leaving you for good. I will never come back.”

They were so attached to their daughter that they said, “Definitely we will do it. You are so beautiful, so spiritual. We can’t lose you. We shall build a temple for your husband, the Hindu God Krishna.” When they built the temple, to their wide surprise hundreds of Muslims began coming there to worship. The parents asked them, “Why do you come to a Hindu temple?” The devotees answered, “It is not a Hindu temple as such; it is a temple of pure divine love. When we come here, we are flooded with love. We feel its presence everywhere, and we get tremendous joy. But when we go to our mosques, we do not get the same joy. Instead, we get only an austere, rigid, lifeless and meaningless feeling. That is why we come to your temple. The Hindu God Krishna is all love, which we all need. What humanity needs is love and more love, nothing else; only love, love, love.”