The sad devotee

Once, there lived a devotee, who had immense faith in God. He used to pray to God with full dedication. One day, God appeared in front of him and said, "My dear devotee, I am happy with your immense devotion and service. Tell me what do you want? I will fulfill your wish." The devotee, although had immense faith in God; but he believed God had only given him problems in his life. He always used to feel very sad at his destiny. Whenever he used to see other people and compared his life with them, he always felt the other one to be happier. Hence, he thought that today is his chance to ask the reason from God for making his life so miserable.

God was understanding the condition of his mind. God smiled and again asked, "What is your wish?" The devotee replied, "Oh God!! You do not take care of me. I am your devotee. I always remember you. But, why my life is so miserable. Why all problems are in my life only. All others are very happy. Why have you given me only hardships in life." God said, "It is not like this. Everyone has his or her share of happiness and sadness in life. Whatever the person does, he or she receives the fruits of happiness and sadness accordingly. This is the law of nature. Pleasures and pains are two sides of same coin. You should always focus on the path of righteousness that leads to me, irrespective of temporary happiness or sadness in outside world."

But the devotee was not ready to listen anything. God said, "Ok, I can give you one idea. Just write down all your problems on a piece of paper. Then keep that paper inside a cloth and tie that cloth on the branch of banyan tree. All those problems will vanish from your life. But, you have to follow one condition for that." The devotee said, "I can accept any condition. Tell me, what is it?" God said, "You will have to take cloth of someone else, who would be having lesser pains than yours, since you feel you have most painful life." The devotee agreed.

As discussed, the devotee wrote down all his problems of life on a paper and then put it inside a cloth. Then he went near banyan tree and tied the cloth on a branch. Then he started thinking about the cloth he had to take back with himself. He thought, 'That red cloth seems to be fine. But what would be written inside. What if I get some dangerous disease in it!! No... I will take that blue cloth... But I don't know what is the problem written inside. What should I do!!!' He then again started calling God. God appeared in front of him and asked, "What happened my dear devotee? Now you should be having much lesser problems." The devotee felt ashamed of himself and said, "Oh God!! Now I have understood what you were trying to tell earlier. Here so many other people have problems and I don't even know what problems they face. I am sorry for all the wrong I said to you. I will be now content with my life. I will always remember you and will face all happiness and sorrows without complaining."