66 On the Way to Krsna
supply our order, we say that there is no God. That
is the effect of praying for material things.

In this connection there is a story of a little boy,
about five years old, named Dhruva, who belonged
to a royal family. In the course of time his father, the
king, tired of his mother and deposed her as his queen.
He then took another woman as queen, and she be-
came stepmother to the boy. She was very envious
of him, and one day, as Dhruva was sitting on the
father’s knee, she insulted him. “Oh you cannot sit
on the lap of your father,” she said, “because you are
not born of me.” She dragged Dhruva from his
father’s lap and the boy became very angry. He was
the son of a ksatriya, and ksatriyas are notorious for
their quick tempers. Dhruva took this to be a great
insult, and he went to his mother who had been
deposed.

“Dear Mother,” he said, “my stepmother has in-
sulted me by dragging me from my father’s lap.”

“Dear son,” the mother replied, “what can I do?
I am helpless, and your father no longer cares for
me.”

“Well, how can I take revenge?” the boy asked.

““My dear boy, you are helpless. Only if God helps
you can you take revenge.”

“Oh, where is God?” Dhruva asked enthusiastically.

“T understand so many sages go to the jungle and
forest to see God,” the mother replied. “They under-
_go great penances and austerities in order to find
God there.”

At once Dhruva went to the forest and began ask-
ing the tiger and the elephant, “Oh, are you God?
