73.
Secret
of a Happy Family
At
one time there was a severe famine in Bihar. A
family consisting of father, mother and two
children started from Bihar to find livelihood
elsewhere. The father of the family being
responsible to feed this family underwent many
difficulties and hardships. He even starved
himself on some occasions and because of this
frequent starvation, he died after some time.
The mother having lost her husband, suffered
from loneliness and had to bear the burden of
keeping the family alive in this wide world. She
went begging from house to house for food and if
she got some and if it was not enough, she
starved and let her children eat.
In
course of time, she became so debilitated that
she found it difficult to walk from house to
house and beg. The boy of twelve looked at the
pitiable sight of his mother and sitting on her
lap said, "Oh mother, please take rest for some
time. I shall beg and bring food for you." As
she listened to the words of her son, her heart
melted. She felt very miserable that she had to
send her son to beg for food. No mother wants
her child to become a beggar. Because the boy
insisted, the mother consented. From that day
the little boy was begging for food and giving
it to his mother and the little brother and he
himself would starve. After some days, he felt
he could not walk and go out for begging. He
went to a house and found the master of the
house reading a newspaper sitting on an easy
chair. In a feeble voice, he asked the master
for food. The master replied that it would be
useless to give him alms and said that he would
give him food on a leaf. The boy, out of
weakness, fainted. The master of the house
lifted the boy and put him on his lap. The boy
sat mumbling some words. To be able to
understand what he was saying, the master put
his ear close to the mouth of the boy. The boy
was inaudibly whispering "The food that you wish
to give, please give it first to my mother".
After uttering those last words, he passed
away.
We
do not now find this kind of love, this intimate
love existing between the members of a family.
Here we find that the head of the family starved
himself to death for the sake of his family; the
mother starved herself for the sake of her
children and the son starved and killed himself
to save his mother from begging. Look at this
example of affection that bound together as
father, mother and child; they look like the
Holy Trinity. Therefore, each member of the
family must discharge his own
responsibility.
74.
Riches
are a Deadly Temptation
The
desire to raise the standard of life is a thirst
that can never be quenched. It leads to endless
pursuit of sensory pleasures, multiplication of
wants, deeper and deeper involvement in worry.
Riches are a deadly temptation. No whip can
suppress the itch to gain money.
Once,
Lakshmî (the goddess of fortune;
also the name used for money engaged in
devotional service) and
Nârâyana (Her Lord) had a
quarrel over who was supreme in the hearts of
mankind. They decided to settle it by means of
an experiment. Lakshmî came down
among mankind as a spiritual teacher; when
people washed her feet and worshiped her, the
plate and vessels used by the devotees turned
into gold! So, she was welcomed everywhere and
there was a terrible rush of devotees and a huge
pile of brass, copper and aluminium vessels in
evidence everywhere! Meanwhile,
Nârâyana too was upon the
earth as an exponent of the sacred scriptures,
expounding to the huge gatherings the paths to
happiness and joy, marked out by the sages. When
the people heard of Lakshmî
converting metal into gold, they preferred her
visits to those of Nârâyana
and cared little for what He taught.
Nârâyana was actually sent
out of cities and villages when
Lakshmî entered them, for His
discourses distracted them from the profitable
sessions of Lakshmî puja.
Indeed, riches are a deadly temptation.
75.
Enslave
yourself to God and not Man
Maintain
your selfrespect as Draupadî did.
When she was about to be humiliated in the open
court [S.B.
1.8-5],
where her husbands, who had staked her and lost
her in dice-play to the wicked Kauravas,
were present, she was so enraged that if she had
only cast a look on the gang of ruffians who had
won her and dragged her thither, they would have
collapsed into heaps of ash; instead, she looked
at Dharmarâja, the eldest husband
who had staked her and who was sitting before
her with downcast eyes. That look quietened her
a little. The she uttered a curse, which echoed
over earth and heaven. "May the wives of these
vipers who laid their hand on my hair and
dragged me here, lament their widowhood, waving
their loosened hair, in unconsolable grief.
Until then, I shall not plait the hair which
these barbarians have unloosened now". She
proclaimed, in the hearing of all, her lineage,
and its reputation for selfrespect and her
resolve not to tarnish it or demean it. Maintain
the dignity of your lineage of
Râma, Krishna,
Haricandra, Mira, Tyagaraja, Tukaram,
Ramakrishna and Nandanar. The glory
of your lineage is like a carefully rolled ball
of thread. Any slip on your part will result in
its disastrous entanglement. So beware! Enslave
yourself to God and not man. Hold fast to your
sâdhana.
Humiliation
of Draupadî and Krishna's
Rescue
76.
Râsakrida
- Its Significance
When
you dedicate yourselves to the glorification of
the Lord, you will revere the body, the senses,
the intelligence, the will, and all the
instruments of knowledge, action and feeling as
essential for His work. While others will get
intoxicated with pride, the bhakta or
devotee will be intoxicated with prema,
unadulterated love. You have heard that when the
divine cowherd boy played on the flute, the men,
women and children and even the cattle of
Vrindâvana hurried to Him, as if
drawn by the irresistible magic of His music,
divine melody, that stills all the turbid waves
which we name as joy and grief. They left the
work they were engaged in; they had no other
thought than the attainment of the Divine
Presence; the cattle stopped grazing; the calves
stopped guzzling milk. The story of
Krishna and the gopîs or
cowherds has a deep inner meaning.
Vrindâvana is not a definite place on the
map, it is the universe itself. All men are
cowherds; all animals are cows. Every heart is
filled with the longing for the Lord; the flute
is the call of the Lord; the sport called
Râsakrida (the sportive dance; the
dance of Lord Krishna in His boyhood with the
gopîs, see the story in
S.B.
10:33),
in which Lord Krishna is described as dancing
with the milkmaids in the moonlight - every maid
has a Boy-Krishna holding her hand in the dance
- is the symbol of the yearning and the travail,
borne by those who aim at reaching His presence.
The Lord manifests such grace, that each one of
you has the Lord all for yourself; you need not
be sad that you won't have Him, when the others
get Him; nor need you be proud that you have Him
and no one else can have Him at the same time!
The Lord is installed in the altar of your
heart.
'Murali Krishna'
The
Râsadance
77.
Stick
to your Innate Nature - Whatever may
Happen
A
hermit was one day bathing in the Ganga, when he
saw a scorpion. This is God encased in the
scorpion form and name, he felt; he wanted to
save the scorpion, so he took it on his palm,
but, when it stung him, he dropped it on the
waters. Then he was stricken with remorse and
so, he lifted it up again. Thus it stung him
five or six times; but, he persisted in his
mission of mercy and at last, managed to drop it
on dry land so that it could go its way, alive
and happy. Many people who watched his efforts
laughed at him for his stupidly exaggerated
sympathy. The hermit told them that the scorpion
had taught him a lesson and he was thankful for
it. They asked, what? The hermit said, "Stick to
your innate nature; whatever may happen - that
is what it has taught me." Its nature is to
sting, regardless of whom or when. Man's nature
is to achieve jñâna;
ânanda is man's essence; love is
the blood-stream that sustains him; peace is the
vision that guides and directs him. That is the
reason why he is addressed as 'Amritasya
Putra', in the Upanishads; he is the
son of immortality; he has no birth, no
death!
78.
Perform
All Work Intelligently
There
was a pundit who taught grammar and rhetorie to
a group of pupils. After finishing a course of
lessons, he gave them an assignment: 'to
compose four lines of poetry'. One young
man, who struggled with himself to produce an
appropriate rhyme, had the first two lines - The
full moon is shining bright. The tree has fruits
at height - , and in his despair, he completed
the quartrain with two more lines, more absurd
than those two: - The food is not cooked aright!
Ganganna's face is a horrid sight! - The
assignment of course is completed; but how
futile, how pathetic, how worthless the result!
Most of you fulfil life's assignment as absurdly
as this!
79.
Act
Right, then Claim the Fruit
There
is a story of some monkeys who planted a mango
garden. They planted the saplings, watered them
a few days, and plucked them from off the ground
to see how deep the roots had gone! They wanted
them to grow fast and yield fruits, but they
were unaware of the process by which alone they
could get the fruits they craved for. Act
Right: then claim the fruit. Cultivate with care
and collect the harvest.
80.
Words
Reveal the Breeding of the
Speaker
The
tongue is the index of true breeding. "Hey, you
clout, did you hear soldiers march this way?" a
man asked a blind farmer. Minutes later, another
person accosted him, "Blind man, open your mouth
and tell me whether you heard the noise of
soldiers marching this way." Later, a third
voice approached him, "Sir, did you hear some
soldiers marching along this path?"At last,
another person came near and placed his hand
upon his shoulder, "My dear man, please tell me
whether you heard men marching along this road".
The blind man correctly described his
interrogators as a soldier, a captain, a
minister and the King himself. The words
reveal the breeding of the speaker. The
tongue is the armor of the heart; it guards
one's life. Loud talk, long talk, wild talk,
talk full of anger and hate, all these affect
the health of man. They breed anger and hate in
others; they wound, they excite, they enrage,
they estrange. Why is silence said to be golden?
The silent man has no enemies, though he may not
have friends. He has the leisure and the chance
to dive withim himself and examine his own
faults and failings. He has no more any
inclination to seek them in others. If your foot
slips, you earn a fracture; if your tongue
slips, you fracture someone's faith or joy. That
fracture can never be set right; that wound will
fester for ever. Therefore use the tongue
with great care. The softer you talk, the less
you talk, the sweeter you talk, the better for
you and the world.
81.
Absorb
only Good Ideas from Satsang
Many
people do not imbibe good ideas from good
company because they hold on to their
prejudices, preconceived ideas and
preoccupations. To them, Kumbhakarna
(see also RRV-P2,
ch2.)
sends messages of sleep and they go to sleep,
while others who are awake are troubled by
extraneous thoughts of their office and so on.
Yet others keep on looking hither and thither,
and therefore only a small minority of
participants absorb the good ideas from
Satsang.
At
one time, there was a pundit who was
expounding the Ramâyana
and he undertook to do this for a period of
seven days. A woman, who had recently lost her
husband, used to attend the same for some
solace. She was a regular visitor and used
always to sit in the front row. The pundit was
expounding the Ramâyana every day
and this woman was constantly looking at the
book and shedding tears. The pundit presumed
that she had great devotion and so at the end of
the seven days, he announced that because of her
regular attendance and devotion, he would give
the prasad
first to her. While doing so, he asked her if
she had enjoyed the discourses on
Ramâyana. In great sorrow, the lady
replied that she did not know whether the pundit
was reciting Mahâbhârata
or Ramâyana. She further said that
she was however in great grief, because the
black string at the back of the book was
reminding her of the string which her late
husband used to wear around his waist. Thus she
conveyed that her tears had nothing to do with
the pundit's exposition of
Ramâyana!
82.
Happiness
and Your Thinking
It
all depends on the point of view whether you are
happy or unhappy, that colors all attitudes and
opinions. Ramadas sang about the exploits
of Anjaneya (Hanumân) in
Lankâ (see
also S.B. 9:10)
and, while doing so, he mentioned the white
lilies of the islands. Anjaneya heard him sing
it and immediately took exception to the
description. He said that he had never seen a
single white flower there; the lilies of
Lankâ were red, he declared. Ramadas,
however insisted that they were white. Anjaneya
got annoyed at the impudence of poets who tried
to pit their imagination against a firsthand
expert witness and appealed to Râma for
intercession. Râma agreed with Ramadas! He
said that Anjaneya saw them red because his eyes
were affected by rajasic anger at the
entire Râkshasa
brood!
83.
Implicit
Faith is the Road to Spiritual
Success
Once
Lord Krishna and Arjuna were going
together along the open road. Seeing a bird in
the sky, Krishna asked Arjuna: "Is that a dove?"
Arjuna replied "Yes, it is a dove". Krishna told
Arjuna, "It is an eagle". Arjuna replied
promptly, "Yes, it is an eagle." "No, Arjuna, it
looks like a crow to Me; Is it not a crow?"
asked Krishna. Arjuna replied, "I am sorry, it
is a crow beyond doubt". Krishna laughed and
chided him for his agreeing to whatever
suggestion was given. But Arjuna said, "For me
Your Words are far more weighty than the
evidence of my eyes; You can make it a crow,
dove or an eagle and when You say it is a crow,
it must be one". Implicit Faith is the Road
to Spiritual Success.
84.
Mother
Kâlî blesses Tenali
Ramakrishna
Tenali
Ramakrishna,
the famous Andhra poet, humorist and
philosopher, once happened to lose his way while
traversing an area of thick jungle. You know
that he lived in the reign of the famous emperor
Krishnadeva
Raja,
of the Vijayanagara Dynasty, about 1500 A.D. He
was attached to the court and was honored as a
wise and quick-witted minister. While he was
wandering desperately in the jungle, he saw an
old sage. Ramakrishna ran forward and fell at
his feet, in reverential homage, He asked the
sage, how he got caught in that wild forest. The
sage said, "The same mysterious force that
dragged you here has dragged me too to this
spot. The moment when I have to cast away the
body I occupied so long, has arrived! I shall
initiate you, now, into the mantra which
I have recited all these years, as my talisman
and treasure". It was de mantra of Mother
Kâlî, and he whispered it into the
ear of Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna
was overjoyed at the great gift; he retired into
a temple of the Mother, deep in the recesses of
the jungle and was intent on the meditation of
the Mother, propitiated by the mantra. At
midnight one day, the aboriginal Koyas of the
forest came into the temple, with a goat which
they sought to offer as sacrifice to please the
goddess and propitiate Her. Ramakrishna hid
behind the idol and when the knife was about to
fall on the neck of the victim, he exclaimed, "I
am the Mother of all living beings, including
you. If you kill my child, I will curse you, I
cannot bless you!" Believing that it was
Kâlî that spoke, the Koyas desisted
and went away.
Now,
Kâlî manifested before Ramakrishna.
She asked him, what he liked to receive from
Her! She was pleased with his sâdhana.
"Which do you want?" she queried, holding a
plate of curds-rice in one hand and a plate of
milk-rice in another. He wanted to know the
consequences of eating either plate before
deciding which plate to ask for. She explained,
"The curds-rice will endow you with riches and
economic prosperity; the milk-rice will make you
a wise scholar. Now, make your choice".
Ramakrishna thought within himself. "It is not
good being a fool in possession of vast riches;
nor, will scholarship fill the stomach, three
times a day." He was a clever person! So, he
asked a further question: "I see two plates
before me. Before I make the choice, tell me how
each will taste".
Goddess
Kâlî laughed and said, "How can I
describe the taste and make you understand the
difference? You will have to taste them
yourself" and gave him both the plates, for the
purpose.
The
clever Ramakrishna hastily put them both in his
mouth and managed to swallow the curds and the
milk, the entire quantity of rice from both
plates!
Kâlî
was indignant and exclaimed that his
impertinence called for dire punishment.
Ramakrishna accepted his mistake and invited the
punishment she proposed to inflict. But, can the
Mother's punishment destroy the child, however
reprehensible the conduct of the child may be?
"My sentence will certainly save you, do not
tremble", said Kâlî. Then she
pronounced the sentence thus: "Become a
Vikatakavi". That is to say, "Be a clever clown,
having great influence at court, accumulating
much wealth and guiding all those who approach
you with good advice".
God
loves those who have self-confidence and courage
of conviction and who seize every opportunity to
improve their spiritual status. [see
also the story of 'The Supreme Character of Jada
Bharata' in S.B.
5.9]
85.
This
world is a Part of Kalpavriksha
Because
God comes out of our heart in the form of
speech, we must try to make our speech as pure
and clean as possible. God is also in the form
of Truth. So whatever we will be saying will
have an echo: "Let it be so!" There is a small
story for this.
A
traveller was going on his way. After going some
distance, he was tired on account of the summer
heat. By the side of the path there was a big
tree and he went there to take rest under the
shade of the tree. When he went into that cool
shade, he was overjoyed. Then he said to
himself, "I am able to find a very cool place;
how fortunate will I be if I will be able to get
a glass of cool water also here?"
Instantaneously, a tumbler of water came down.
After he drank that water he thought, "Now I
have quenched my thirst, how happy will I be if
there is a good bed here because this floor is
hard and rough". At once a big soft bed came
down. He then thought, "Even in my house, I do
not possess such a pillow. If my wife comes here
and sees, how happy will she feel?" Immediately
the wife also came. He saw here and he thought,
"Is she my wife or is she a demon? Will she eat
me?" No sooner he said this, she ate him. The
tree under the shade of which he sat is
'Kalpavrihsha'.
Kalpavriksha is a tree that fulfills all
desires. When the traveller sat under the
Kalpavriksha, whatever good things he thought
of, he got them instantly. But when he thought
about bad things, bad things also came to him.
This world is part of Kalpavriksha. We are
sitting under the shade of this Kalpavriksha. If
we think badly, bad happens to us and if we
think in a good manner, good happens to us. So
when our thoughts, our contemplation, and our
deeds are pure, the Kalpavriksha of the world
will be giving the good things desired by us.
Both good and bad will come only from our heart.
They never come from outside. That is why in the
beginning we have to make our heart as pure as
possible.
86.
Guru
has to be Himself Brahman
There
was a seeker once who prayed to his elder
brother to initiate him into spiritual life,
with the imparting of a saving mantra; but, the
brother said, "it is always a hard job to teach
one's kinsman, and to teach a brother is harder
still. You should go to Dakshinamûrti
(offering to the object of devotion), who is
S'iva himself come as teacher". The
brother inquired how to discover that preceptor.
Then the brother said, "he who considers all men
and all things equal - he is the preceptor I
have indicated".
So
the young man started his search. He went among
the hermitages with a gold ring on his finger;
he interrogated the hermits, what the metal was.
Some declared it was gold, some brass, some
copper, others said it was tin or some alloy.
So, he moved on. Then, he came upon a young
ascetic with shining eyes. He asked him whether
it was gold. The ascetic said, 'yes'. He said,
'is it not brass?' He replied, 'yes it is
brass'. He said yes, to whatever the seeker said
it was. He could not recognise any distinction.
So, the young man concluded that the ascetic
before him was Dakshinamûrti.
Equanimity comes as a result of the awareness of
unity, not otherwise.
Sanat
Kumâr(a) (see also S.B.
3.8:3,
3.12:14,
4.22:18,
for example) was engaged in extreme austerity
when God appeared before him. He asked him to
place before Him his needs. But Sanat
Kumâr said, 'You are my guest now. You
have come to this place, where I am since some
time; so You may ask anything You need; I am
bound to honor the guest, granting Him what He
needs'.
Having
known Brahman he had become
Brahman himself. So he could talk as an
equal to God. 'I am You', that was the stage
reached by Sanat Kumâr. No wonder he spoke
like that. He is ever present; I is born only
after the individual seperates himself from the
He. So, with the birth of the jîva,
the idea of Deva or God must also be born
in the mind. That is the sign of safety and
success.
87.
The
Dîkshâ
for Acquiring Raksha (security)
The
Lord is all compassion, all grace.
Bhîshma
the grandfather of both the clans that were
battling for supremacy in the field of
Kurukshetra, had led the Kaurava
hosts for eight days, but victory was not in
sight. So the eldest of the Kauravas,
Duryodhana,
approached him and prayed for a more terrific
onslaught on the enemy to be guided and directed
by him. Bhîshma replied that it would be
either death or victory for him, the next day.
Knowing this, Lord Krishna
persuaded the Pândava queen
Draupadî,
who was imbued with the deepest devotion to Him,
to accompany Him to the camp of Bhîshma at
dead of night. Prayer was the source of strength
for that tormented queen; her prayers could not
but move the Lord. She entered the tent of
Bhîshma, with her face hidden behind a
veil. Krishna had asked her to leave her sandals
behind, lest their pit-a-pat should disturb the
silence and alert the guardsmen. He wrapped them
in a silken kerchief and carried the bundle
under His arm!
Draupadî
(see also humiliation
of Draupadî and Krishna's
rescue)
moved into the tent and fell at the feet of
Bhîshma, who blessed her, automatically,
as was his wont, "May you have many years of
happy married life!" Draupadî revealed
herself as soon as she was blessed thus; she
prayed that the Pândava brothers, her
husbands, may be saved from his arrows.
Bhîshma guessed that Krishna must
be the originator of this stratagem;
Bhîshma knew that he was doomed to die.
"We are but puppets in His hands", he said and
when he found Him at the entrance to the tent,
he inquired what the bundle contained. Imagine
his feelings when he was told that the Lord had
condescended to carry under His arms, the
sandals worn by His devotee! Have faith in Him;
He will never give you up; He will guard and
guide, until victory is won. Sincere devotion,
unshaken faith they can never fail to earn
grace.
Draupadî
had the faith to surrender unreservedly; she led
a dedicated life. The five Pândava
brothers who were her husbands are the five
vital airs, the panch-prâna which
activate and vitalise the body. She is energy
that sustains the prânas, by
constant vigilant care.
To
have that faith you must dive deep into the
inner mystery of the avatâras like
Râma
or Krishna, and not lose your way in the
tangle of the outer events and emotional
conflicts, the external adventures and
activities. Do not take Râma as a
brother, son, husband, entangled in the personal
calamity of having his wife kidnapped and
heroically rescuing her (see
RRV).
You can be moved into adoration only by diving
into the cool depths of the inner mystery. This
process was specially discovered by the sages of
India, and so India rose to the status of the
Guru of the whole world. Incessant
humility, insistent reverence, contemplation on
God and His Glory - these shall be your
Dîkshâ for acquiring
Raksha (security).
88.
The
Lord will not be Silent when the Bhakta is
Insulted
There
was a bhakta in Bengal named Madhavadasa,
who realised when his wife died that he had lost
his 'home', for his grihalakshmî
had passed away. So he gave
all his
riches to the poor, donned a robe and wandered
alone as a pilgrim to the Jagganâtha
shrine. There he did such deep penance that the
concrete image soon became the abstract reality
and the abstract reality became a perpetual
vision. He lost all sense of time and space,
of cit and a-cit. Then the Lord,
with Subhadrâ, His sakthi
aspect, moved towards him and placed before him
the gold plate used by the priests to keep food
in front of Jagganâtha in the sanctum
sanctorum. When Madhavadasa awoke to his gross
surroundings, he saw the gold plate with the
pile of delicious food upon it; he ate his fill
and returned to his inner paradise which he had
left for a while.
Jagganâtha,
Subhadrâ, Balarâma
Sing along with: Jagganâtha
Svâmi
Meanwhile, the
plate was reported lost, assumed to be stolen,
and discovered by the seashore near Madhavadasa,
who was promptly arrested and led to the lockup
by some very efficient policemen. He was beaten
mersilessly but did not seem to mind it a bit.
The chief priest that night had a dream in which
Jagganâtha asked him not to bring food for
the Lord again into the shrine, for "You bring
food for Me, and when I eat it, you start
beating Me!" Then the priest realised that it
was the Lord's lîlâ to
demonstrate the devotion of Madhavadasa and
teach others the real nature of
bhakti.
Some scholars
and pundits of Puri did not feel happy at this
sudden rise to fame of a stranger from Bengal;
so they called Madhavadasa into their midst and
challenged him to an intellectual duel.
Madhavadasa was not a pundit of that type, he
had learnt to S'âstras only as a
staff to help him walk, as a guide to action;
not a stick to beat others with. So he accepted
defeat even before the bout began and signed a
statement to that effect, which the leading
pundit was only too glad to accept because
Madhavadasa had a reputation for scholarship
which was really frightening. The pundit hurried
to Kas'i with that token of victory; he waved it
before a gathering of scholars and demanded that
they should all pay him homage as superior even
to Madhavadasa.
But the Lord
will not allow His Bhakta to be
humiliated. When the signed statement was opened
and read, they were all amazed to find that it
was a statement declaring that it was
Madhavadasa who had achieved victory and it was
the pundit who had signed underneath
acknowledging his own defeat! The Lord will
not be silent when the bhakta is insulted or
harmed.
89.
The
Lord's Name and the Chain of Destiny cannot
co-exist
There
was a great saint in Kerala some 500 years ago,
Bilvamangala by name. He would call on Lord
Krishna and Krishna would appear. Such was his
devotion and sâdhana.
One man who
suffered from stomach ache heard about this and
he pestered Bilvamangala to find out from
Krishna whether it would end or not.
Bilvamangala agreed and when Krishna appeared
next, he asked him the question. Krishna
replied, "when the rolling stops, it will
cease". The unfortunate man interpreted it to
mean as, "when he stopped rolling in pain". But
he got desperate, because he had perforce to
roll in agony of that ache. So he left Kerala
and wanted to go to some holy place to meet some
holier persons who would procure for him a more
satisfying answer. Bilvamangala told him that he
had to suffer this trouble due to his
prarabdha; that is, the result of his
activities in previous births. Bilvamangala
understood "rolling" to mean "rolling from birth
to birth".
On the road to
Kasi (a holy place) which he took, the man came
to a free feeding place run by a pious lady,
Kururamma by name. When she saw him hungry, she
spoke to him kindly. He told her that he had
decided to drown himself in the Ganga for he was
told that there was no way to escape the
consequence of his past sins. Kururamma called
him a fool. She gave him the holy mantra,
"Gopî Jana Vallabha Namaha" (name
of the Lord of the gopîs) and asked him to
repeat it. She said the name would cure him
completely. The poor man uttered it when the
attack occurred next and he was surprised to
find that the pain had gone! Yes gone! Even
though he pounded his stomach, it did not
return.
He finished
his pilgrimage to Kasi and returned to Kerala
and fell at the feet of Bilvamangala, who
enquired about his ache, the ache with which he
had to live, for it was earned during his past
lives. When the man replied that it had
disappeared, Bilvamangala called on Krishna and
asked Him to explain what He had meant by
"rolling"; he thought it to mean rolling from
one birth to another and acquiring good and
evil. The sick man took it to mean rolling in
pain when ache comes upon. But Krishna had meant
rolling in this objective world, this
prakriti and its challenging phenomena
and rolling His name by the tongue. When the man
lived in the name of God and had no other
thought, the rolling had ceased; the name and
the chain of destiny can not exist together.
Prarabdha will melt away like fog before
the sun when Namasmarana is done. This
was a revelation even for
Bilvamangala.
90.
Îs'wara
Sankalpa (will, resolve) will always be
Fulfilled
I
shall tell you the story of
Îs'wara-Sankalpa and how nothing could
stop its realisation. Lord S'iva was every day
discoursing on Kailasa to sages and saints and
devas in the evening hours. One day,
Pârvatî suggested that a hall
be constructed for accomodating them all, so
that they could all listen without being
affected by the constant fog and mist and cold
winds. S'iva did not have the sankalpa to put it
up; still, Pârvatî insisted that her
idea must be implemented. The astrologer, who
was consulted before the foundations were dug,
said that 'the stars forecast that the hall will
be consumed by fire, since Shani (Saturn) is not
propitious from the very beginning'. The hall
was completed, nevertheless. Now, that set a
problem for the couple. S'iva proposed to ask
Sani for the favor of saving the hall from his
anger, though He doubted whether the planet,
reputed for his inevitable ire, would ever
agree. Pârvatî felt deeply hurt and
she resolved not to give the tiny tyrant, Shani,
the credit for destroying the hall that She had
got built. She swore that instead of giving him
the chance to declare arrogantly that he had set
fire to the hall, she would herself set fire to
it. But S'iva asked her to first await the
outcome of His appeal to Shani; for He was
Himself proceeding to his headquarters! He told
Her, "If Shani agrees to exempt the hall from
his anger, I shall come back and report the good
news to you; but if he is adamant, I shall raise
My hand and twirl this Dakka. On hearing
that signal, you may set fire to the hall and
rob Shani of the credit for doing so".
Pârvatî
was ready with a burning torch in anticipation
of the signal, so that there may not be a
moment's chance for the wicked planet to execute
his nefarious plan of revenge. Shani, however,
agreed to the request made by S'iva; he said
that he would not burn down the hall in kailasa
and S'iva was happy at his reply. So, when Shani
prayed that he may be granted one small boon,
S'iva agreed and asked him what it was. It seems
Shani had never before seen the famous Dance of
S'iva which all the stellar divinities were
extolling and Shani craved that S'iva may show
him a step or two. S'iva readily assented and
started the Thandava Dance, raising His
hand and sounding Dakka! Listening to the
signal, Pârvatî applied the torch
and the hall was, as per the Sankalpa of
S'iva, burnt to ashes! Divine Sankalpa must
be fulfilled. Shani was just a tool in the
Divine Plan.
