Four Brothers Attract Differently To God

Neel was playing with a magnet. He had learnt in the class that a magnet has the power

to pull the iron pins and needles. Now his dad got him a magnet from the Toysmart and that made Neel really busy playing and observing.

He asked his mom Sita - Mom! Can you give me all the needles that you have?

Sita said - O Neel! You have so many pins already. And now you want my sewing needles. Take them from the drawer and make sure you don't drop them. They can injure someone.

Neel quickly went up to the drawer and quickly pulled out a dozen needles.

Neel observed something and shouted - Mom! Look. These 3 needles do not get attracted to the magnet. And these 2 get attracted really slow. Mom! Why are these needles behaving differently when the magnet is the same?

Sita had a science background in university. So she quickly explained - Listen Neel. Although all needles appear to be made of pure iron, but they are not. Some are 100% iron, others are 50% and still others are made of alloys that have no iron.

Sita continued - The magnet has the same power of attraction. However, it pulls the needles made of pure iron immediately. The ones which are partly made of iron do get pulled but slowly but the ones that have no iron in them do not get attracted by the magnet at all.

Moral Of The Story

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj refers to this example to teach us why four brothers born of the same parents get attracted to God and saint differently. (Here the four brothers have been likened to the iron needles and God and his saints to a magnet.)

The Vedas teach us that the devotional practice or Sadhana done by us humans cleans our mind. And the purity of the mind at the time of death is carried forward to the next life. Also, the purity state of our mind dictates the development of a chitt vritti or personal inclination towards God. This explains why the four brothers in the same family had different purity states of mind and thus had different levels of attraction towards God.