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chief priest had a dream in which the temple deity said he would visit the temple the following night and that suitable preparations to receive him should be made.
When the priest arose in the morning he said to himself, "A dream is just a dream after all. It cannot be true." In general, priests never have any faith at all in the deity of their temple, although the devotees who go to the temple may. The priests of the temple have no faith because they see their calling as a profession. Such people never have, nor can they ever have, any faith in the temple deity. And yet the chief priest was somewhat nervous. He began to wonder if perhaps the dream might come true after all. If no preparations to receive the deity were made it would be terrible; if nothing were ready when the deity arrived he would be in great difficulty, so he decided he had better tell his fellow-priests about the dream. He called them together and told them what had happened. "It is only a dream," he said. "You don't have to believe it, but if it does come true we could be caught unaware." The other priests said, "There is no problem. We will make the necessary preparations and if the god does not come we will enjoy the food ourselves." This is what the priests have always done. They prepare food for their gods and then eat it themselves. They also decided that since the temple had not been cleaned in some time it had better be done as well. No one really had any faith in the dream, and they all kept remarking to each other, "Have dreams ever come true?" In any case they cleaned the temple and made the other necessary preparations. They lit lamps, burned incense and decorated the temple with flowers.
When evening came there was no sign of the god's arrival. Evening turned into night and still he did not come. At last the priests began to murmur among themselves, "We have been very foolish. We believed this dream too. Let's enjoy the food and then go to bed." They were quite tired after the day's activity, so they ate their dinner and went to bed.
The god's chariot arrived at midnight. The rumble of the wheels resounded throughout the temple. One priest was awakened from
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