The Empty Chair

Once, a young girl approached a Saint and said, “My father is quite ill. He is unable to get himself out of bed. Would you mind coming over to our house to meet him?”

“Yes, I will indeed come,” replied the Saint.

When the Saint came to the house, he saw the sick and helpless old man lying in his bed with his head resting on two pillows.

However, he also noticed an empty chair next to the bed.

“It appears that perhaps you were anticipating my arrival?” the Saint asked the old man.

“Oh, not at all. By the way, who are you?” the old man inquired.

Introducing himself, the Saint said, “Seeing the empty chair, I assumed you had an inkling I was coming.”

The old man said, “O Saint! If you don’t mind, please close the bedroom door.”

Slightly alarmed at the request, the Saint did

go ahead and shut the door.

The old man spoke, “In fact, to this day, I have not disclosed the secret behind this empty chair to anyone; not even to my daughter.

To be honest, my whole life, I never understood how worship is actually done. Even though, I made a point of daily

going to the temple, I never really understood anything.

About four years ago, a friend of mine came to visit me. He told me that I can pray to God directly.

He advised me, “Place an empty chair in front of you, faithfully imagine that God Himself is

sitting on the chair in front of you and talk to Him in exactly the same manner as we are now talking to each other. He listens to our every calling.” And when I followed his advice, I liked it very much.

Ever since then, I started talking to the Lord for two hours at a time.

However, I used to be very careful in making sure my daughter didn’t see me doing this because if she did, she would have thought I had gone crazy.”

Upon hearing such tender feelings of the old man, tears of love and emotion began to stream from his eyes. “You are indeed practicing the highest kind of Bhakti,” the Saint sighed.

Placing his hand on the old man’s head before leaving, the Saint said,

“Keep your true devotion going.”

The Saint returned to his ashram. Five days later, the old man’s daughter came to see him, and told him, “My father was extremely happy to see you at our house the other day, but he passed away yesterday morning. Just as I was leaving for work the other day, he called me up, and kissed my forehead. His face was gleaming with peacefulness; his eyes were teary. But,

when I returned home from work, my eyes met with a rather peculiar sight – He was sitting on his bed, but his head was on the chair as though he had it on someone’s lap.

The chair was empty as always. Would you please explain why my father lay his head on the empty chair?”

Upon hearing the news of her father’s passing, the Saint began to cry bitterly and pleaded to the Lord, “My Lord! When my time to leave the world comes, I too, want to leave in the same way as did the old man. Please do grant me my wish with Your

Grace.”

Moral: If we wish to leave the world while in the lap of our Guru / God ( even if its an imagined one ) we must realize His presence everywhere at every moment, for someday, we shall be blessed with the desired boon of our human life – the treasure of Divine Love.