7. Ramadoss

A Robin Redbreast in a cage Puts all Heaven in a rage; A dove-house filled with doves and pigeons Shudders hell through all its regions.                         --William Blake Ramadoss was a great devotee of God. He was the Revenue Officer of a town called Bhadrachalam in the days when India was ruled by the Moghul emperors of Delhi. Though Ramados was a good, honest and pious man, he once underwent imprisonment for a period of twelve years. Why? This story will tell us.     The duty of Ramadoss was to collect the taxes of his town and send them on to his emperor. This duty he did honestly for many years and so he was greatly trusted by the Moghul emperor.     Now this good man wanted to build in Bhadrachalam a beautiful temple to God Rama.  Ramadoss devoted his  wealth to the building g of the temple. But before it was completed all his money was spent.     So Ramadoss began to take the money which he had collected as taxes and to use it for building the temple. Of course, it was wrong on his part to do so, for it was not his money.     The Moghul emperor found out that Ramadoss was not sending the money collected by him to the treasury. He sent his officers to demand the money. But Ramadoss had no money. So the emperor ordered him to be thrown into prison. There he was subjected to all sorts of hardships by the prison servants under the orders of the Moghul emperor. But he bore them all cheerfully, praying always to God and singing songs in His praise.     While Ramadoss was suffering many hardships in the gaol, his sad condition aroused the pity of God Rama whom Ramadoss worshipped most devoutly. Rama assumed the form of a man, went to the Moghul emperor and paid all the money that Ramadoss had to pay. The emperor seeing the greatness of Ramadoss not only set him free, but also prostrated himself before his feet and begged his forgiveness.     You will naturally ask,  If Ramadoss was a good man and a devotee of God, why should he suffer in the prison?'     The story tells us that in his previous birth Ramadoss had a parrot which he shut up in a cage. He used to amuse himself with that parrot. But the poor parrot was in a prison. What if the cage was a Dice one? What if the bird was served with the choicest fruits? Did not the poor bird lose its freedom and undergo a life of imprisonment? As a penalty for this thoughtless and cruel act of Ramadoss, he too lost his freedom and he was shut up in a prison where he had to undergo many troubles.     What a lesson to us all! ****  **** Additional Information of Interest Click here to find out more about the pilgrimage town of Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradhesh, India.