If you do any reading of the Quran, you find repeated innumerable times that God is the knower, the hearer, aware of all your actions. So how would someone act if they truly believed that? A story I read in the Autumn 2003, "Light Of Consciousness", reprinted from "The Monkeys and the Mango Tree" by Harish Johari illustrates the point:
Once there was a boy named Bachchu who lived in a village in northern India. He was a great devotee of Baba Santosh Dass, who lived in a very simple life in a hut outside of town. One day Bachchu went to Baba and told him that the village chief had found a job for him in a nearby village, and he would soon be leaving. The saint blessed the boy and wished him luck.
One year later some friends of Bachchu's came to Baba and said that Bachchu had fallen in with a bad group of boys in the nearby village and was now stealing for a living. The saint heard this with great surprise, for he knew Bachchu to be a good person at heart. He tanked the friends for this information, but said nothing else.
Shortly after that Bachchu returned home to visit his family. As was customary, he came to visit the saint.
"And how is your life in your new town, Bachchu?", the saint asked.
"Very good, Baba", the boy replied.
"Are you enjoying your new job?"
"I no longer have that job, Baba. I met a group of people who gave me a much better job that is not so boring."
"I am pleased to hear it. Since you are doing so well, I would like to visit your new home."
The boy looked startled, but he said, "I am honored, Baba."
"As you know, I can assume any form I choose. Since you have known me all your life, I still expect you to recognize me. Will you know me when I come?"
"I will know you, Baba, in whatever form you come."
Bachchu returned to his new town. His friends greeted him and said, "Hey Bachchu, come with us. We're going to lift some money from people at the village market."
"Sure", said Bachchu. When he got to the village market he saw a well-dressed stranger paying for home loaves of bread with a large pouch of money. Bachchu followed the stranger to several other stalls and saw where the stranger carried his pouch. He walked up timing it so that he could grab the pouch and run as soon as the stranger took it out, but suddenly he thought, "What if this is Baba? He would never forgive me for stealing," and he stayed back.
On their way back home Bachchu's friends asked him why he had not gotten any money and Bachchu replied that he had been about to make his move when a policeman had come by. When they turned the corner onto their street the gang saw an old man who had just fallen under the weight of the apples he was carrying back from market. Apples had spilled all over the street. Bachcu knew the gang was about to run and grab the apples, and he thought, "This, too, could be Baba. From the time I was a small boy he has taught me to help those in need," and before the rest of the gang knew what he was doing Bachchu came forward and helped the old man up, then collected all his apples and put them back in his sack.
The old man touched him warmly on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your kindness, young man," and went on his way. Bachchu felt a change inside himself. The old man was not Baba, but he was still someone in need, and Bachchu remembered how good it felt to help others. From then on every face he saw, every bird and every tree, he knew might be Baba. He began to see the world in a very different way and to treat it with the reverence he had formerly reserved for his old teacher. His friends became suspicious of his actions, and gradually he stopped associating with them. He found a new job and became a valued member of the village.
A year later Bachchu's old friends again visited Baba. They thanked him and asked him what he had done to turn the boy around so quickly.
Baba said, "It was not me. He changed himself. I simply gave him a new perspective, and I am sure that if anyone sees God in every creature, their whole world will change. And if everyone practices this, the whole world WILL change."
