Grudge Against God
Shumaho was witnessing one of the most defining moments of his country. His was a small island that was being ruled by a very cruel dynasty, for the past century. The people spent their lives as slaves. They worked from dawn to dusk, being whipped for every small thing and were given food barely enough for their starved stomachs. No one could do anything to change this situation for every rebellion was crushed at the very onset. Shumaho grew up seeing his parents suffer like this. One day his father died of illness. The mother and son could do nothing to save him. His mother continued with her life of slavery. Shumaho would see her toil through the day and hear her moan with pain in the nights for the floggings that she would get for any little break that she would take during work; break to feed little Shumaho, break to hold her wailing baby to her breast, break to feed her own starving guts; there was no mercy. Shumaho grew up seeing all these sufferings that made him angrier by the day. What could he do? He was angry, very angry with God. He told himself, God did not love him; would he be subjected to such a life of misery, if he did?
Years passed by. Shumaho was now a handsome, young boy of twenty. Suddenly the unexpected happened. The cruel king died of old age, leaving the throne without an heir. The country was liberated of the long tyranny. The man of the highest religious order of the country had a dream in which he saw the face of the new king. Taking it to be a message from God, the man announced his dream and lo! Shumaho was the face in his dream. He was coronated as the new king. Very soon he won over the hearts of his people. He was seen as a benevolent king who loved his subject, with all his heart. He made everybody happy. His mother was very old now and he saw to it that she was made comfortable in every possible manner. With deep love, he wanted to completely, wipe away all her pain of those past years . One thing though, he could not change in all these years was the grudge that he nurtured against God. He held on to the belief that God did not love him.
He got married to a girl he fell in love with and made her the queen of his kingdom.The queen loved her husband with all her heart and gently would try telling her husband to let go off his grudge against God. She would tell him that he was the best king the land had ever had and that was possible only by God’s grace. He would quietly tell her that he would, one day, show her that God really never loved him.The queen would sigh and let him be.
One night the queen woke up to a terrible dream. She told the king about it. She had seen that the king was searching for her, crying out her name in a very dense forest but she was nowhere to be found. Shumaho hugged his loving wife and assured her of it being just a dream that she would do good to forget all about it. The king rubbished her fears, fondly. He was to leave for a country visit the following day. The king set off leaving her in a state of turmoil and fear. Barely had the king left, the neighbouring king, with his huge army attacked the palace. His spies had done a good job and he had come fully prepared to take away all that he had been envious of, for a long time now. He ransacked the palace, looted all the precious gems and jewels along with the most precious one, the king’s beautiful wife.
Hearing of this unexpected attack, in no time, the king rushed back to the palace but alas! He was late. Everything along with his dear wife was gone. Out of his mind in rage, he gathered himself and called out for his army and charged towards the direction his enemy had headed to. A chase of few days brought him to the sea. His enemy had taken the sea route. Suddenly something caught his eye. He was seeing the mast of a ship disappearing into water. Shortly he learnt that his enemy had drowned in the sea, along with his beloved wife.
Shumaho was shattered by this grief. He was devastated and in that state he gave away his kingdom. He did not know what to do . He set out aimlessly and kept wandering from one place to the other. One night, in his troubled sleep he saw God come to him and blessing him with his calm smile. Shumaho said bitterly, “God you have never loved me . Why have you come to bless me now?”
God smiled at him and putting his hand lovingly on his head said, “Why son, I have always loved you so much.Why else would I change the times and make you the king? Give you such a loving partner to make your life beautiful and happy?”God continued, “but son you always held on to a grudge against me and so could never see my love for you.”
“Why did you bring so much suffering to my parents then?”countered Shumaho.
“Son , life is made up of both joy and pain. How would you know ‘Day’ unless you have seen ‘Night’?
“But you took my wife away”cried Shumaho indignantly “She was my love”
“It was my love for you that I warned you of the imminent separation, through her dream.” said God and disappeared.
Shumaho lay there looking blankly up to the sky. His life so far, flashed past his eyes. The unforgettable sufferings of his childhood made him wince in pain. Was it not God, who gave him the strength and fortitude to face it? Who, but God,could bring about such unbelievable change in his life? His blindfold was removed. In the absence of any explanation to his condition Shumaho, in his young mind, had formed a grudge against God. He had stubbornly, held on to the grudge all these years and in the process deep down inside, his heart was always filled with anger and hurt. Tears trickled down his cheeks.
A warm hand wiped his tears, ever so gently. He was startled to see his beloved wife sitting next to him with wet eyes filled with love. She said then how she had been washed ashore by the waves and rescued by a kind fisherman who with his wife, nursed her back to consciousness, and brought her back to the palace.
Shumaho fell on the ground, pleading to God for his forgiveness and thanking him for his benevolence. With no grudge now, he could see the world with a pair of completely different eyes.
