Pratap Rai was a great devotee of Lord Krishna. Following family tradition, he had a business of lending money to people in lieu of gold, ornaments, etc. and returning them once they paid the money back. He was always engrossed in chanting the Lord’s name and devotion. With righteous and honest dealings in business and God’s worship, Pratap Rai became prosperous and accumulated a lot of wealth, which he used to serve saints and organise feasts and community meals for the poor. People became jealous of his rising fame and affluence. A few wanted to bring him down and started to plan against him. Sometimes, God brings out such scenarios to test His devotees. A Qazi from that area got three people with him and started planning to disrupt Pratap Rai’s reputation and wealth.
The next day, one of them went to Pratap Rai with a bag full of stones, faking them as gold ornaments. He asked for ten thousand gold coins in return as a loan for his daughter’s marriage. Pratap Rai trusted him, asked him to keep the bag in a box nearby, and gave him the money as asked. A while later, the other two men came with similar bags filled with stones and pledged them as a mortgage, taking some money from Pratap Rai as a loan.
Conspiracy Against Pratap Rai
After five days, those three men returned one by one to return the loaned money with interest. Pratap Rai took the money and asked them to take their bags from that box. As per the plan, they all started to howl against Pratap Rai in front of people and said, “Look! This guy is portrayed as a devotee but is a thief who took our gold ornaments and filled our bags with stones instead.” All three showed their bags individually, and people also started believing them. Everyone was shocked to find out that Pratap Rai could be a fraud.
Then, the Qazi proceeded with the plan, complained about Pratap Rai to the king, and asked to punish him. Orders were given to arrest Pratap Rai and confiscate all his wealth. Hearing of the punishment, Pratap Rai asked his wife, “Take Lord Krishna’s idol and run away to your parents’ home. The daily routine of Thakur ji’s meals and prayers should not be affected. I can survive in prison.” His wife followed the instructions.
The king’s soldiers followed the orders and arrested Pratap Rai while taking over all his wealth and property. Some informants told the King that Pratap Rai had a very expensive Krishna idol made of precious metal. He hid it from the soldiers and sent it away with his wife to her hometown. The king ordered to arrest Pratap Rai’s wife and bring that idol to be kept with the rest of his seized property.
Pratap Rai’s Spiritual Encounter With God In Prison
The soldiers arrested Pratap Rai’s wife as per the orders and also captured Krishna’s Idol and kept it in the prison warehouse. Pratap Rai became restless seeing his wife in chains and understood that the idol was also seized. He started praying to God in solitude, “Lord! I never asked for anything from you, nor did I complain. But today, you are locked in the prison here, and I cannot worship you or feed you anything. I don’t care about my life, but my love for you isn’t letting me stay calm. I request you to help me so I can serve you and bring you food, or else I can’t stay alive. If somehow your meal preparation becomes possible here, I am ready to stay imprisoned forever.”
The Lord became immensely happy seeing Pratap Rai’s dedication. Pratap Rai and his wife were in prison, and they had lost all their property, but Pratap Rai’s only concern was serving the Lord. The Lord blessed Pratap Rai for his devotion and appeared before him in prison.
bole bihasi mahes tab gyaanee moodh na koi.
Ramcharitmanas
jehi jas raghupati karahin jab so tas tehi chhan hoi.
Lord Mahadev laughed and said- No one is wise or foolish. When Lord Ram wants someone to behave in a certain way, he becomes like that at that very moment.
Meanwhile, a landlord came forward in Pratap Rai’s support. He directly addressed the king and said, “Some vicious plan has been devised against Pratap Rai by his enemies. He can never be a thief or hurt anyone. You should re-investigate the allegations and enquire from the three men about what happened.” The king brought the three men to court and threatened to tell the truth, or they would be hanged. They got scared and revealed everything about Qazi’s plan. Instantly, the king ordered severe punishment for the Qazi, and the three men were arrested. Pratap Rai was released from prison with due respect, and all his wealth and property were returned to him.
Conclusion
The Lord gives His devotees such hard times to bless them with divine experience. Pratap Rai and his wife had a spiritual encounter with God in prison itself. Hence, we should keep faith that any difficult situation will bring us joy and blessings. We should endure the tough times with devotion and ask only God for help and no one else, just like Pratap Rai did. Then God Himself comes to the rescue of his aggrieved and forlorn devotee.
Guidance By: Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj
