A cup of tea and the existence of God

Hi everybody…
In this phase of turmoil tension…fear…today, I would not like to talk about any astrology or any advice as far as what should be done to prevent yourself from this covid or anything about social distancing or masks. Today I want to share a true story with you all. This is from the Kupwara sector of Jammu & Kashmir I have been reading this again and again quite a few times in the last few years.

A cup of Tea
There was this group of 15 soldiers led by a Major and they were on their way to the Himalayas where they would be deployed for the next three months. The batch who would be relieved was waiting anxiously for them to reach there. It was a very cold winter with intermittent snowfall. It made things really difficult for these people and they all 15 of them just had one wish that if someone could offer them “A Cup of Tea”, though the Major knew that it was a very futile wish but still they continued moving ahead and had the same wish. After an hour, they came across a dilapidated structure which looked like a Tea Shop, but it was locked. “Bad luck” said the Major to the boys, “There is no tea, boys.” “Lets take some rest, we have been walking for 3-4 hours now”. “We can make tea but we will have to break the lock” suggested one of the soldiers, because there was nobody there. The main officer was in great dilemma to this unethical suggestion being from the army, they are suppose to protect. But the thought of a steaming cup of tea for all of these tired soldiers in the winter cold made him to give the permission to the soldiers. So they were in luck. The place had everything they needed to make tea and also infact a packet of biscuit. The soldiers had tea… two cups each and they had biscuits and were ready for the remaining journey. The Major thought… they had broken open the lock, they had all the tea, the biscuits, used the milk without the permission of the owner. They are not a band of thieves, but disciplined soldiers. So he took out a few thousand rupees from his wallet and placed it on the counter pressed under a sugar container so that the owner could see it whenever he would come back. He was now relieved of his guilt, he ordered his people to put the shutter down and proceeded further. 3-4 months passed by and they continued to do gallantly in their work and were lucky not to lose anyone in the intense insurgency situation. It was time for another team to replace them and they had to go back. On their way back, they stopped at the same Tea Shop and as it was early in the evening, they saw the shop was open and the owner was present in the shop. The owner was an old man with a very few resources and was very happy to greet these 15 customers of his. All of them had tea and biscuits and they were talking to the old man about his life, his experience selling tea at such a remote place and what kind of people come. The old man also had many stories to tell them, his faith in God. “O Baba, if god is there, why should he keep you in such poverty then” commented one of the soldiers. The shopkeeper said, “Don’t say like this Sahab…God is actually there and I got proof”. The soldiers asked “What proof do you have?”. He said “Three months ago, I was going through a very tough time because my only son had been severely beaten up by the terrorists because they wanted some information from him. I had closed my shop to take my son to the hospital. Some medicines were to be purchased and I had no money, I had just 20 rupees. No one would give me money because of fear of the terrorists. “There was no hope, Sahab…No hope and that day Sahab I prayed to God for help. Sahab, you have to believe that God walked into my shop that day. When I returned to my shop, I found that my lock was broken, I felt I was finished, I was doomed, I have lost whatever I had but then I saw God had left a few thousand rupee under the sugar pot. I can’t tell you Sahab what that money was worth that day, My son’s life. God exists Sahab, he does”. The faith in his eyes were unflinching. 15 pairs of eyes met the eyes of the main officer and read the order in his eyes clear…Just keep quiet. The officer got up and paid the bill, hugged the old man and said, “Yes, baba, I believe you, I know God exists and yes, your tea was wonderful”. The 15 pair of eyes did not miss to notice the moisture building up in the eyes of their officer, A rare sight.

So, why did I tell you all this story. Walking on the path on truth and compassion, You can be the Messenger of God to anyone. Today everybody needs to be a Messenger of God. We have to have a lot of compassion and if we follow the path of truth, we can be the Messengers and if we can be Messengers of God to anyone today, if we can help anyone in any way, we should, we should go ahead and do whatever little bit we can and let everybody feel that “Sahab, Bhagwan hai”. God is there.

Source: A WhatsApp forward. I wish I knew who wrote this.