You too can be free⁹

One day a young boy of twelve was playing all by himself under a tree. Suddenly he saw a policeman waving a revolver and chasing a young man. Since the young man was running very fast and the policeman could not keep up, he asked the boy, “Can you help me? If you run with me, I will definitely appreciate you and also I will give you some money.” The policeman was a little bit older than the young man who was running away.

The boy asked, “Why are you chasing him?”

The policeman replied, “Because I was asked by higher authorities to arrest him.”

“For what?” the boy asked.

“Because this young man belongs to a club that wants to overthrow the British rule.”

“But are you not an Indian?” asked the young boy.

“Yes,” answered the policeman, “I am an Indian.”

“Then why are you doing this? Are you not ashamed of your conduct? A young man wants to free his country. I am only twelve years old, but I know how good it is to be free.”

The policeman said, “A little boy has to teach me about freedom? I can shoot you, kill you.”

“Let me see you shoot me,” said the boy.

The policeman said, “I am very pleased with you. But I have to support my family, my children. Do you think I like my job? I have to arrest him so I will get a good reward. Then my children will be able to lead a comfortable life. Forget about comfort; even to give them basic, ordinary lessons I need this money. Otherwise, I also don’t like the British Government. I hate it, I hate it.”

“If you really don’t like the British, if you really want to work somewhere else, you don’t have to work under the British Government directly,” said the boy.

The policeman said, “Who will take care of me? Who will take care of my family?”

“God,” said the boy.

The policeman started laughing. “Oh, your philosophy! God will take care of everybody.” And the policeman mocked at him.

At this point the boy’s father appeared. The father had been looking for his son, who had gone out alone to play. “Come home, my boy,” he said, “it is time to eat.”

“Father,” said the boy, “the policeman was laughing at me because I said God will take care of him. He does not want to work for the British Government, but because of his wife and children he has to take this job. Now I am telling him that if he gives up this job, God will take care of him. He was chasing a young man who is trying to free his country and he asked me to help him arrest this man.”

The father said, “God spoke through you. I am ready to give this man a job in my office if he is really sincere.”

The policeman said, “Definitely I will work there.”

The gentleman said, “I have so many things to do at my office. I will promise to you a higher salary. I want to prove to you that my son was right when he said, ‘God takes care of us if we really want to do the right thing’. To liberate us from the British Government is absolutely the right thing. Not to help them in any way is the right thing. God spoke through my son’s mouth and now God is speaking again through my action. You come and work with me.”

From:Sri Chinmoy,Great Indian meals: divinely delicious and supremely nourishing, part 9, Agni Press, 1979
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/gim_9