The Devotion of Life — Page 329
329 Similarly, there is a story of another saintly person. In some city there lived a courtier of a King. Night and day the noise of songs and music came from his house and it had become a nuisance for the neighbours. The people of the neighbourhood went to that saint and complained that they could not worship God because of the continuous noise of songs and music coming from the courtier’s house. They could not sleep at night and were unable to wake up for ‘ Tahajjud’ prayer. What were they to do under the circumstances? Many, including the saint, sent messages to that courtier but there was no effect on him. Then, the people started threatening him that they would take some stiff measures against him if he did not stop the noise. However, he responded by saying that they would not be able to stand against him because he was a courtier of the King, that with the King’s help he could get the police appointed on guard and he could thus teach them a lesson. The saint said to him that he was free to call the police but still he would oppose him. The courtier asked him how could he take a stand against the police and army of the King? The saint replied that he would use the ‘nightly arrows’. Such was the confidence the saint had in the power of prayer and in the acceptance of his prayers that no sooner had he uttered the words they had a most profound effect on the man and he shrieked in awe. He immediately ordered all the musical instruments to be smashed. He said to the saint that he truly could not face the ‘nightly arrows’.