The following story reminds us to always honor our promises. Should we fail to do so, we will create a lot of trouble for ourselves. Sometimes, when we have vowed to do this or that, we should do it precisely. Otherwise, our faith will weaken, our prayers will receive no response, and we will not be able to accomplish anything we do.

There are times when we might cheat God. We promise that we will do certain things, but never do them. Thinking that no one hears us, or God does not need it, we ignore it and fail to keep our promise. I have told you several times, for instance, about when some refugees were escaping on the sea, they vowed to the Quan Yin Bodhisattva (the Goddess of Mercy): "If we can reach a third country smoothly, we will definitely keep a vegetarian diet for two years." But, they didn't fulfill their promise afterwards and postponed the two-year vegetarian diet for a very long time. They should have eaten vegetarian every day for two years, but later they could not do it or just forgot about it. Therefore, they said, "Oh! Never mind. I will eat vegetarian once a week or once a month." In the end, the two-year duration was extended to last very long.

This is a similar story. One day, a child had a high fever. He was seriously ill and his parent was anxious. After seeing the child, the doctor declared that his illness was incurable. Therefore, the parent prayed to a goddess named Durga (the first manifestation of goddess-energy in the Indian pantheon, her main task being to punish the wicked). She is a very famous goddess in India, and many people pray to her for help. Perhaps she was an Enlightened Master in the past.

Indian people worship many deities, who must have been Enlightened Masters and who were famous in different places in the past. Perhaps they were very efficacious when they were alive, so everyone worshipped them. Therefore, when we say that Indian people worship many gods, it is both correct and incorrect. Actually, they are worshipping past Masters. Similarly, the goddess that the Chinese call "Matsu" was most probably a famous Master in ancient times. At that time, anyone who prayed to her received a response, so everyone did that and it became a tradition that is still practiced today. It doesn't matter that she may not be efficacious, because it has become a custom to pray to her.

The Quan Yin Bodhisattva was also a living Master in the past. When she was alive, anyone praying to her would get a response. Suppose her disciples kept praying like this and the neighbors of the disciples also did the same and also got a response. Later, their children prayed, and people continue to do so today. The Quan Yin Bodhisattva departed a long time ago, yet people are still praying to her because it has become a custom. They do not know that it is more efficacious to pray to a living Master.

Well, in this story, the man went to pray at a temple of the goddess Durga. Most probably, at that time, this goddess had not left the world for long, so she was still efficacious. His prayer was: "My child is sick. Can you save him? If he is cured, I will bring him here to worship you. I will also make an offering of a hundred rupees to you." Perhaps a hundred rupees was a lot of money then, perhaps equivalent to a hundred or even a thousand U.S. dollars today. Money was more valuable at that time.

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