The Best Offering Is the Dearest One

Worship is tested not by what we offer when it is easy, but by what we are willing to offer when it is not.

According to a tradition retold in the Bengali Krittivasi Ramayana, Rama, preparing for the final battle with Ravana, worshipped the Goddess Durga out of season, in autumn, seeking her blessing before he faced a mighty enemy. He resolved to offer one hundred and eight blue lotuses and gathered them with great effort. As the worship neared its end, he found that one lotus was missing. The Goddess, it is said, had hidden it to test him.

Rama did not look for a convenient substitute or quietly shorten his vow. Remembering that his eyes were compared to lotuses, and that he was called Rajivalochana, the lotus-eyed one, he took an arrow and prepared to offer one of his own eyes to complete the number. At that very moment the Goddess appeared, held his hand, and blessed him with victory.

The story does not ask us to harm ourselves. It asks us to look honestly at what we call an offering. Often we give from our surplus, a little leftover time, a little money we will not miss, and then expect full results from half-hearted effort, in prayer, in study, in relationships and in work.

This Navaratri, choose one commitment you have been keeping only halfway, and offer it your best, not your leftover.