A large common balance is kept in many Indian temples, notably in the
famous Guruvayoor Krishna temple in Kerala, among others.
Thulabaram is a Hindu religious practice wherein a believer makes a
sacred vow to make offerings to the Lord by weighment in the large set of
scales kept for the purpose.
The offerings can be any single thing which the devotee wants to make,
ranging from rice, sugar, fruits, vegetables, silver or currency coins… as he
or she pleases.
Generally, such offerings are promised to the Lord while praying for
some boon-for instance-recovery of an ailing child. In this case, the parents
might undertake to give sugar, specified fruits or vegetables equal to the
child’s weight as measured on the Thulabaram.
It is a matter of faith, like many other such vows across the world
religions.
But I, as a firm believer had the benediction to see and experience
firsthand the miracle of Lord Krishna in Guruvayoor.
It was back in the late 1990s when I was suspected to have a serious
ailment and had be admitted in a well known hospital. My family members
undertook to do a Thulabaram at Guruvayoor after my recovery.
As the Lord willed, I recovered fast and we proceeded to Guruvayoor to
fulfill the vow. Before our turn, there was another couple with a small child
who were trying to weigh their child against yam. But as we watched in utter
astonishment, the priest who was overseeing the ritual kept on heaping huge
quantities of yam (procured by the parents) on the pan of the balance, but the
Thulabaram balance did not balance! That too against a puny underweight
child!
As we all watched in awe and amazement, the priest slowly turned to the
devotee parents and asked, “What indeed did
you undertake to offer to the Lord?” The mother of the child replied, “Actually
it was raw bananas, but we couldn’t get that in sufficient quantity at that
time…”
Before she could complete, the priest lifted the child off the balance
and told them firmly, but kindly, “Go get the bananas and come back! Else it
won’t balance.”
As we bowed to the Lord with moist eyes, the priest related another
miracle in Guruvayoor Thulabaram history- A very pious but poor lady had
committed to offer her baby’s weight in coins to the lord upon his recovery
from some ailment. But when she came to Guruvayoor for fulfilling the vow, she
had very little money left.
As she came sobbing to the priest who was there at the Thulabaram, he
said, “Let us try with what you have… The ways of the Lord Krishna are
mysterious.”
With a single
coin, the Lord made the Thulabaram balance!
Jai Sri Krishna!