THE WILL OF GOD

[Pravin Kumar]

Possibly the species at the centre of the story about Ramakrishna and The Will Of God:

One day in the course of a conversation, Mathur Babu observed, "God too must abide by His own law. He has no power to transcend them." Sri Ramakrishna exclaimed, "What an absurd proposition. One who has made a law can repeal it at pleasure and make a new law in its place. Mathur Babu protested: "How can it be? A plant which produces only red flowers cannot produce any other flower such as white for instance, because such is the law made by God. If God can really bend His rules, I would like to see Him produce a white flower from a plant bearing only red ones." Sri Ramakrishna said, "God can do that, for everything depends on His will."

Mathur Babu was not convinced. The next day while taking a stroll in the temple garden Sri Ramakrishna came across a hibiscus plant in which two flowers of different colours were found on the same branch, one was red and the other was snow white. He broke of the branch to show it to Mathur Babu who was very surprised. He assured Sri Ramakrishna that he would never argue with him.

Colin Drake.