Who is stronger?

There was once a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, a spiritual singer and poet named Surdas, who was blind from infancy. He had six brothers. All his brothers died while fighting a battle against the Muslims, and although Surdas was totally blind, he went in search of the corpses of his brothers. While searching, he fell into a well in which there was no water.

For six days Surdas was caught inside the well. During this time he repeated the name of Krishna, the Avatar of Lord Vishnu, over and over again. At the end of six days Lord Vishnu himself appeared, and with his occult power lifted Surdas out of the well. Lord Vishnu also granted Surdas vision so that he would be able to see everything in a normal way.

For a few days Surdas was extremely happy. Then he began to feel miserable because he saw that the earth is full of ugliness, that people are quarrelling, fighting and hating each other, and that most human beings are in a low consciousness. Finally he said to Lord Vishnu, “O Lord Vishnu, I don’t want to see these things anymore. Please take away my vision so that I am blind once more. When I didn’t see human ignorance so vividly, I was very happy and peaceful. Please make me blind so that I can be happy again.” Lord Vishnu granted his prayer, and once again Surdas became blind.

Surdas had many good friends and relatives, and when he would compose most soulful songs there was always someone who was kind enough to write down the words and music for him. One day he got very high inspiration and he began calling out for one of his stenographers, but no stenographer was available.

Suddenly Surdas felt the presence of someone and said, “Please tell me who you are. Announce your name.” But the person wouldn’t answer. Since Surdas very strongly felt somebody’s presence, he grabbed the person’s body, but immediately it vanished from his grasp.

Surdas said, “I know, my Lord, it is you who have come to me. You have the power to snatch yourself away from my grasp. Physically you are stronger than me; that is why I cannot catch you on the physical plane. But let me see if you are spiritually stronger than me, my heart. Let me see if even for a fleeting second you can go away from my heart. This is my challenge. Spiritually you are not stronger than me, because of the heart that you have given me. You will not be able to leave my heart even for a fleeting second.”

And Surdas was right. Lord Vishnu could never escape from the loving heart of his devotee Surdas.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol.II-5, No. 9,10, September-October 1978, Vishma Press, 1978
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/aum_134