Mixed Blessing

As the sun rose higher & higher, Swami Saraswati Maharaj, who is a holy man and a beggar, got hungrier & hungrier. At last, in the poor Indian village of Jagraon one day last week, he bent his tired footsteps to the door of a large hut.

A middle-aged Hindu housewife opened the door and gave the holy man two freshly baked chapatis (wheat pancakes). "May God have mercy on you," the swami cried, and then added a blessing: "May you have seven more sons."

Before he could take a bite of chapati, the woman excitedly bent low and said, "Sir, I already have nine children. We cannot feed them all adequately. Please, take your blessings back."

The holy man was adamant. "Never," said he. "Once I have uttered a blessing I can do nothing about it." Wailing and weeping, the woman rushed indoors. A moment later her husband emerged, prostrated himself on the ground before the swami, begged him to be merciful, not to afflict him with more sons and drive him into bankruptcy. A crowd of neighbors gathered, and their sympathy was with the husband, for they were as hungry and as poor as he. "Withdraw the blessing, withdraw," they cried, but the swami would not. They set upon him with sticks. By the time the scuffle was over, the holy man was in the hospital and six villagers, including the father, were in jail.

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