Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj tells a story about a king who loses a finger, then gets captured by dacoits planning to sacrifice him to Kali. They release him because his missing fingers make him unfit for the ritual. The king realizes his loss saved his life, and his imprisoned prime minister was protected from the same fate.
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I'll tell you a story from the Quran. There was once a prime minister. Whatever would happen, he would say, "It's the will of the Lord." So once the king for whom he was working, he cut his finger. King went to the prime minister and said, "You, PRASAD RAVALAD RAVALAD RAVALAD, you're a great believer in God. Why did I lose my finger?" "Okay, well, the Lord tells, he says we must." So the king was very angry. "This man, instead of sympathizing with me, is laughing at me. Put him in jail." So one day the king had gone hunting. The Vedic age, the kings would go hunting. They would even fight with tigers themselves to keep their art of fighting intact. So the king went hunting in the forest. He got captured by two dacoits. And the Dakshoyins, when they capture the kings, they wanted to offer him to Goddess Kali. It is in the Bhagavatam, you must have read the story, that even Jeth Bahalad was captured and they wanted to offer him to Goddess Kali. So just that we have some standard when we offer our fruits to the Lord, these demons also have some standard. Second, they want to make sure that all the parts of the body are intact. Parts of the body are not intact and they can't offer to Goddess Kali. So when they were getting ready to offer the king to Goddess Kali, they discovered that two of his fingernails were missing. So they said, "We can't offer you. Go home. We can't be offered to the deity, Super God." So as soon as the king came back, he said, "Release the Prime Minister. You were right. Whatever the Lord does, he does for your benefit." When you told me before, I did not understand it. So you were right. I lost my two fingers, and because I lost my two fingers, today I got saved. Otherwise, I would have been killed by these dacoits. So the king released the prime minister. Then the king said, "You are such a great devotee of the Lord. Why did the Lord make you put you in prison?" Prime Minister said, "King, you're foolish. You don't realize that if I, if I was not in the prison, I would have gone out hunting with you today. And since all my parts of my body are intact, I would have been captured and killed by the Nākāya. So by keeping me in prison, God saved me from being killed." So we must understand. A devotee understands whatever the Lord does, He does for my benefit.
