A guru traveling in a luxurious palanquin saw a beggar by the roadside.
"O guru, how do I get to heaven?" shouted the beggar.
"Raise your hands and just stand there," the guru snorted. "And don't move."
Many years later, the guru was traveling that same road and saw the beggar: arms lifted, hair grown grey, his clothes in tatters. He hadn't moved!
Then, as the guru watched, the beggar rose in the air, higher and higher.
"Take me with you!" he shouted as he grabbed the beggar's feet.
The guru finally saw this was indeed the way to heaven.
Inspired by: "The Guru and the Idiot" in Folktales from India by A. K. Ramanujan
Notes: You can read about the Telugu people of southern India at Wikipedia. Ramanujan notes: "This bhakti story places faith, evenan idiot's, above worldly success as a guru." You can read more about the devotion of bhakti at Wikipedia. The original story calls the man an idiot, but I opted to make him a beggar.
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