The temple lamp

As a child I often heard my mother narrate this story - There was a temple atop a hill; one man would climb this hill every single day faithfully to light a lamp in the temple. And there was another man who would go up there a bit later, without fail, but to put off this lamp. And this practice of theirs continued for years.

However, one day there was a very bad storm and the former man mentioned did not think it worth risking his life and skipped his ritual. But the other person braved the terrible storm and reached the temple, only to see the lamp unlit. The absence of any oil in it proved that it had not been lit at all. The deity of the temple was very pleased with this person and granted him a boon. And I would wonder how a person who put off a lamp in the temple gained favour from God over the person who lit it. On asking, my mother would only smile and say, “Well, that’s how the story goes”. This set me thinking.

I found this tale rather unfair and without a proper moral. Isn’t creating brightness a much better deed than causing darkness in a pious place like a temple? Now after many years of pondering, I have come to some conclusions. I tried to mentally justify the second person’s act – perhaps his role was part of the temple’s routine to prevent fire hazards, or save the oil used in the lamp or just to close the temple for the night. 

But that beside the
point, the one who was supposedly carrying out a virtuous act of devotion, chose comfort and safety over his routine worship. His devotion came across as conditional. And the one whose act of extinguishing the lamp appears as wrong and irreverent proves his commitment, discipline and unwavering responsibility.

For the deity, the key virtue was not what was done with the lamp but the spirit of duty, dedication and integrity and many other qualities like steadfastness, courage and sincerity.
He was rewarded because he performed his task faithfully, regardless of circumstances; because he
valued duty over convenience and remained true even in the face of adversity.

The lesson of the tale is that true devotion lies not in grand gestures or visibly pious actions or rituals, but in sincerity, perseverance and showing up, come what may.