Just then a very ugly elderly woman with filthy clothes brought him a bag and said to him, “Please hold this bag of food. Let me go and bathe in the pond nearby. Then we shall eat together.”
Nigamananda waited two or three hours, but there was still no sign of her returning. Finally he opened the bag and saw most delicious food and fruits inside. He ate everything himself.
That night in a dream Nigamananda saw the goddess Annapurna. She said to him, “So you see that nobody remains hungry. I feed everyone.”
“You feed everyone?” exclaimed Nigamananda. “When did you feed me? I invoked you when I was hungry, but an ugly, dirty, old woman gave me food. You are so beautiful and luminous!”
The goddess explained, “It was I who came to you in that form.”
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
“I wanted to show you that all forms are mine,” said the goddess. “Still you care only for physical beauty and not for the soul’s beauty, so I wanted to show you that even ugly people have good hearts. From now on try to feel that physical beauty has nothing to do with a kind, sympathetic heart.”
Commentary: The beauty of the body ultimately fails. The beauty of the soul eventually sails in the Boat of Perfection-oneness towards God’s Satisfaction-Shore.From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol.II-5, No. 2, 27 February 1978, Vishma Press, 1978
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