Krishna Meets His Friend Sudama

A poor brahmin friend from the gurukul came to Dwarka with a handful of flattened rice, and Krishna, honouring that gift of love, gave him everything without being asked.

In their boyhood, Krishna and Balarama studied at the ashram of the sage Sandipani in Avanti. There Krishna became close friends with a gentle brahmin boy. The Bhagavatam simply calls him a brahmin friend of Krishna, while popular tradition lovingly knows him as Sudama. Years later Krishna became the king of Dwarka, while his friend lived in great poverty, content with whatever came to him, his mind always fixed on God.

One day his wife, seeing their hunger, gently urged him to visit his old friend, who was the Lord of prosperity. Sudama hesitated, for he did not wish to ask for anything. Yet the thought of seeing Krishna again filled him with joy. Since one should not visit a friend empty-handed, his wife obtained a few handfuls of flattened rice, known as poha or tandul, and tied them in a piece of old cloth.

When the ragged brahmin reached the golden palace of Dwarka, Krishna saw him from a distance, rose from Rukmini's couch, ran forward and embraced him. He seated his friend on his own bed, washed his feet with his own hands and sprinkled that water on his head. Rukmini herself fanned the guest. The two friends spoke of their days in the gurukul, of the stormy night when they had gathered firewood for their teacher's wife and lost their way in the forest.

Then Krishna asked, smiling, what gift his friend had brought. Sudama, ashamed, hid the little bundle, but Krishna pulled it out and ate a handful of the rice with great delight, saying that even a little offered with love satisfies him and the whole world. When he reached for another handful, Rukmini gently held his hand, for one handful was already enough to bless the brahmin with all wealth.

Sudama returned home without having asked for anything, and he even felt glad that Krishna had not made him rich, lest wealth spoil his devotion. But when he reached his village, he found a splendid palace in place of his hut, and his wife adorned like a queen. He lived thereafter with humility, enjoying that wealth without attachment and remembering his friend.

The story teaches that the Lord values the love behind an offering, not its size, and that true friendship knows no difference between rich and poor.

Source

Shrimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, ch. 80–81

Place

Dwarka

Lesson

The Lord values the love behind an offering, not its size.