A lady had great faith in the words of her religious preceptor and used to follow all his instructions with scrupulous care. She found that within a short time she developed yogic power which gave her superhuman faculties such as the ability to walk over water. The preceptor who himself had not attained so much power once asked her how she was able to walk over water. She said that when she uttered the mantra which she had received from him,she became oblivious of the outside world and some mysterious power enabled her to overcome all difficulties. The preceptor then asked her whether she could help him to learn walk over water. Going near the a lake with him, the lady asked him to utter the mantra and having faith in it she walked over water. The preceptor saw the lady walking over water without any difficulty, but as he tried to do the same thing he went deeper and deeper into water. He cried out, “My child, how is it that I am not able to walk over water like you?” The lady said, “You are thinking of God and of the difficulties of crossing the lake at same time. Your mind is divided between these two and this prevents you from attaining the power of walking over the water.”

Author: Swami Sambuddhananda

Source: VTS