Duty First

Sri Annamalai Swami

B frequently reprimanded Krishnaswami for not chasing away the monkeys and for allowing them to come into the hall.  

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Finally B told him, "It seems that you are not prepared to listen to anything that I say. You will only do your job properly if Chinnaswami comes and shouts at you." B then reported the matter to Chinnaswami, who promptly gave Krishnaswami a strong lecture on the necessity of a discharging his duites properly. After that, Krishnaswami becaome a zealous monkey chaser. He kept a catapult in the hall and chased the monkeys at the slightest provocation.

There was another attendant called Rangaswami who also went through a period of inattentiveness. After he had been doing service in the hall for sometime he stopped paying attention to his duties and started to meditate instead. He didn't even care about the monkeys. When visitors placed their fruit offerings near B the monkeys were able to steal them without any fear of being molested because Rangaswami, the man who was supposed to be guarding the fruit, would be sitting on the floor with his eyes closed.

B tolerated this behavior for a few days but he eventually rebuked him saying, "If you want to meditate like this, go somewhere else. If you want to live here you must do service like everyone else. Meditation is contained in your service to the Guru."

Rangaswami realized his mistake and went back to discharging his duties again.