This interesting anecdote brings to life a simple truth: never, ever doubt the word of the Lord. Good and bad happen with his will. He rewards patience and faith and as long as these virtues are there the end will be a fulfilling one.
Lord Jagannath Tales 6
Arjun Mishra was a devout person who spent much of his time reading the Gita.
Arjun Mishra was a devout person who spent much of his time reading the Gita. He was so busy in his devotional pursuits that often he would not bother to even go out and earn a living.
One evening his wife told him, “You keep yourself occupied in reading Gita and forget about your family?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing much. There is not a grain of rice in the house. We will have to sleep hungry. But what is the point in telling you. All you care about is your own interest. Nothing else seems to concern you.”
Arjun Mishra was at that instant reading a passage in which the Lord had assured that the one who turned to him had no cause for despair.
‘I don’t quite believe this line anymore. If it were true why would I have to suffer so much,’ Arjun Mishra murmured and scratching the line went out of the house.
‘I don’t quite believe this line anymore. If it were true why would I have to suffer so much.’
It soon began raining. An hour later there was a knock and Arjun’s wife opened the door. She was surprised to see two youngsters, one fair and the other dark, entering the house carrying lots of food stuff. As they placed their burden down, the lady observed a deep scratch on the dark boy’s back.
“What happened to you my child?”
“Mother, your husband got angry with me when I found it difficult to lift this burden and inflicted this on my back.”
The two youth then left the house.
Sometime later Arjun Mishra returned to his house.
“How could you be so cruel towards a tender boy?” demanded his agitated wife and quickly told him about the two youngsters who had come to deliver the food material.
Arjun Mishra was surprised. He had not sent anyone with food or anything else. In fact he had gone looking for work and because of the rain he had been unable to get anything to do. He had come back with empty hands and a heavy heart, ready to face his wife’s anger.
Arjun Mishra sat in silence pondering over this strange mystery. Soon the truth dawned on him. The two boys were none other Balabhadra and Krishna. What the boys had brought was Mahaprasad. BhagvadGita was as good as the body of Krishna and the scratch he had made on the text was reflected on the back of the Lord.
Stunned Arjun Mishra bowed his head before the Lord and sought his forgiveness for casting doubts on him and his word.
These stories have been republished from the book Tales of Lord Jagannath by Ramendra Kumar. This book is available on Amazon.in and has been published by: B K Publications Pvt. Ltd.
The opinions shared by the writer are personal.
Ramendra Kumar’s Effective Parenting: A New Paradigmis available on Amazon and Flipkart.
Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning author, performance storyteller, and TEDx speaker whose 54 books span fiction for all ages, satire, biographies, and inspirational non-fiction. Translated into 33 languages and recipient of 41 All-India awards for children’s literature, his works — known for their wit, warmth, and emotional resonance — have touched readers across India and beyond. His titles with the National Book Trust (NBT), India alone have sold over 1.5 million copies.
Ramen has participated in international literary festivals and marquee Indian events, including the Jaipur Literature Festival. He has served as a jury member for The Times of India’s Women “AutHer” Awards, a mentor for the Scholastic Writers Academy, and was named “Author and Storyteller of the Year” on Talking Stories, London.
His arduous battle with cancer was featured on Humans of Bombay, one of India’s largest storytelling platforms, where his story garnered over four million views. In October 2025, he won the ‘Mr. India Cancer Warrior’ crown at a unique competition for cancer survivors held in New Delhi!
An alumnus of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, Ramen is an engineer and an MBA who left his role as General Manager (Corporate Communications), SAIL, to pursue his true calling — writing, storytelling, and inspiring lives.
Ramen’s website is www.ramendra.in and he has a page devoted to him on Wikipedia.
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