I hear the story of the child devotee, Nambiyandar Nambi
One day, I went to the temple. In the A r u n a c h a l e s hwa ra te m p l e i n My hometown, almost 300 out of 365 days of the year, there would some festival: deities would be going around in procession, or there would be some spiritual lecture.
During My childhood, I used to attend many satsangs (discourses). One day, the speaker was narrating an incident from the life of Nambiyandar Nambi (a Shaivaite scholar) when he was a young boy. He was born and brought up in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, in South Bharat. His life-story is very beautiful!
These are typical stories. You will see that, in every State of Bharat, there will be at least ten stories like this! See, when a whole civilization is interested in football matches, just because the entire country is interested, huge football stadiums are built; amazing football players are created. Because so many people are dedicating their energy to it, football literally becomes a religion!
In the same way, if there is a huge crowd interested in God, and in the divine sciences, then naturally, a large temple infrastructure is created. Thousands of the best saints who can relate with God are created! That's all! If people ask Me, "How can hundreds of saints happen in one country? How do you have so many saints, and so many stories about so many saints' lives?" I also ask them, "How do you have so many football players, or so many car companies?" That's all! In the U.S., they don't care much about Benzes or BMWs. They are there for regular use. In the same way, in Bharat, saints are there for regular use! Too much is available! In Bharat, it happens! Come on, we are a 'God-producing' country - the country, the civilization which produces gods, which produces incarnations, saints!
I still remember that speaker's name - Selva Ganapathy! He was a famous religious speaker in Tamil Nadu. The first story that impressed Me was about the scholar Nambiyandar Nambi. When Nambiyandar Nambi was a child, his father used to offer worship at a Ganesha temple every day. He was a temple priest. One day, the father was sick, so he told his little son, "You please go and offer worship at the temple today."
So Nambiyandar Nambi went to the temple with the food offering and all the worship articles. He performed all the rituals, like the sacred bath, dressing up the deity, decorating it with flowers and finally, offering the food. He placed the food in front of Ganesha. He thought that Ganesha actually eats the food every day. He was offering food for the first time, and he thought that Ganesha was supposed to eat it! He did not know that his father brought the food back home every day. So, with all his innocence, authenticity and integrity, he sat there, waiting for Ganesha to eat the food.
Half an hour, one hour, two hours went by…and the food was still there! The boy started worrying and asked Ganesha, "What happened? Did I do anything wrong? You are not eating! Come and eat! I have to go back soon…my father is sick." Of course, there was no response. Then he said, "If you don't eat, my father may scold me; he may shout at me - please do something! If I have made any mistake, forgive me, and please eat!" Of course, Ganesha was very silent. Nambiyandar Nambi became very serious. He told Ganesha, "No, no, no! You have to eat! Please eat."