An Unwelcome Visitor at Midnight
‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ means that guests and visitors must always be welcomed because they are like God. This statement becomes a bit inappropriate in certain situations when we are unaware of our guest.
Here is a story which describes this clearly.
I jumped out of the bed at midnight when I heard the noise of the opening of a door. I was scared and wanted to tell this to my father. But instead, I walked quietly to the terrace from where the noise had been coming. I saw the shadow of a man.
I realised that it could be no one else but a robber. So, I ran to my father’s room to inform him. My father came out with me. Since, it was midnight and very dark, we decided to take a torch and a dog with us. Then we all climbed up to the terrace to catch-hold of the robber but by the time we reached there, he was already gone. My father said that he must have gone away after listening to the barking of the dog. We all were amazed because the door was still locked the same way as it had been before. The best part was that everything near the terrace was in its right place. All’s well that end’s well. The robber wasn’t able to take away anything because of our presence of mind and alertness.
One thing that surprised me most was whether it was really a robber or someone else, because I had only seen a shadow, the door was locked and nothing had been stolen.
