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"One
Little Story"
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| 1o9.
When the Lord Decides on Something it has to
Happen S'unahs'epha
persuaded his father that his wish to proceed to
the yajña and offer himself was
legitimate and approvable, and left for the
capital. On the way, he went to his maternal
uncle, Vis'vâmitra, who tried to
keep the boy away from the sacrifice. "This is
all just foolish superstition; can any one
substitute a man for a cow",
Vis'vâmitra asked?
S'unahs'epha replied that all men are
cattle, for until viveka and
vairagya dawn, they are but animals. So,
in spite of his uncle's arguments - arguments
like the ones used by some to dissuade persons
from coming to Puttaparthi, - S'unahs'epha
managed to reach the yagasala.
In the same
way as the lights before us are lit when a
switch is moved up at Penukonda, when the Lord
decides on some thing, it has to happen so.
Well, the Lord is not a rock or a stone; His
heart melted at the plight of the boy.
Indra appeared in the sacrificial fire
and departed showering blessings on his head. It
was Indra who had carried away the
original Cow and elaborated all this
plot, to bring S'unahs'epha and his
greatness to light and to bless him. 110.
All
Names are His, all Forms are His Her husband
started on a pilgrimage to
Kâs'î (Benares). His mother
while blessing his departure, put on his finger
her own golden ring and directed him to take
good care of it, for it would be a talisman for
him. When he was taking the ceremonial bath at
the Manikarnika Ghat, the ring slipped into the
waters and could not be retrieved. When he
returned and related this story, he said, "Ganga
wanted it, she took it", just to console his
mother. When the wife heard this, she said, "No,
no, Mother Ganga will not hanker after the
property of a poor old lady. She will accept
only what is offered out of love. She will give
us back the ring, I am sure. I shall ask Ganga,
she is in our kitchen". So saying, she went in
and with folded hands, she prayed before the
particular pot named by her as Ganga. Putting
her hand in it she searched the bottom and ...
sure enough, she got the ring back. She had come
to Dwarakamayi with her husband and
mother-in-law. It is faith that matters; the
form and the name on which it is fixed do not
matter. For all names are His; all forms are
His. 111.
Love
All Whom the Lord Loves When he
returned triumphantly to the temple expecting to
be profusely blessed by the Lord for punishing
the wicked woman, he was shocked to find
Krishna's right arm fractured and bleeding,
exactly like the woman's arm! The poor fellow
wept in his agony and said, "I beat her only
through love of You; she spoilt Your charm, oh
Lord." Krishna replied, "You must love all whom
I love, remember". Here too, I
want that you should so behave ... or at least
love yourself, that is to say, love your own
better self and 'best interests'. I will not
tolerate envy or malice or hatred among devotees
nor will I allow you to hate yourselves or think
of yourselves as mean or weak. The parents
were overjoyed and met him at the airport. They
wanted to take their son to the room where the
Goddess was and make him offer worship. As soon
as the boy alighted from the plane, they noticed
that he was in Western clothes. Without bowing
to them he asked, "How are you, mummy?" The
mother did not mind it, she was very
affectionate and blessed her son. They took him
home and he consented to visit the Goddess. On
entering the main gate, he refused to take off
his shoes and became impatient. He thought his
parents were uncivilized. While praying, they
asked him also to pray to the Goddess but he
just put his hands in his pockets and refused to
do so. When they asked him to do namaskar
to the Goddess, he asked instead "How are you,
mummy?" The father was so annoyed that he
slapped his son in the face and said: "You went
to the West with the grace of the Goddess and
after returning home, you have forgotten her.
You have become ungrateful and you are not fit
to be my son. The traditions you learnt in 24
years have been forgotten by you and the manners
and the way of life you learnt in another
country in two years are now with you. Will they
live with you permanently? It is foolish to
imitate. Even ruin is better than to follow
another's habits. If we follow our own habits,
it will give us joy, happiness and sacredness".
113.
Which
Water Bag is Cleaner? During the
summer season, in places round about
Nagpur, water will be very scarce. Things
might have improved now, but in old days things
were very bad. An orthodox old brahmin
lady set out on a pilgrimage. She was so
orthodox that she did not touch anything or
anyone and she did not permit anyone to touch
her. She started on a pilgrimage with such an
orthodox mentality. By the time
she reached Nagpur, she felt that the
weather was very hot. She turned on the water
taps but not a drop of water came out of them.
Her thirst increased. The Government made some
arrangement in that station for supply of water.
The skin of an animal was used to make a bag.
They filled water in such bags and supplied that
water to the thirsty people. When several people
were drinking the water that was served from
that bag 0f leather, this lady, though she was
thirsty, was hesitating in her mind whether the
man who was serving the water may belong to a
low caste; the bag may not be pure and may not
have been cleaned well and so on. She was
hesitating to take water. After much hesitation,
the lady who could not suppress her thirst, went
forward. She questioned
the man who was serving the water. "My dear Sir,
is this bag pure? Is it clear?" The man who was
serving the water was clever. He said, "The bag
of leather from which water is being served, is
cleaner than the bag into which that water will
be poured after service, namely, your body. This
bag is cleaner than your interior." Today we are
cultivating this undesirable tendency of looking
at the impurity of the bag but not caring to
remove the impurity from within our own
body. 114.
The
Three Fishes - Sattva, Rajas en
Tamas As
anticipated, the fisherman came and trapped
them, cooked and ate them. Our life may be
compared to a pond and the length of our life to
the water. The three fishes are the three
gunas, tamas, rajas and
sattva. The sattvic tendency
always decides to follow the path of good and
fixes its attention on things which are
permanent. It decides that before the level of
water runs down, it should save itself and it
always thinks of noble things. Water has been
compared to the length of life and day by day it
recedes and at any time death may overcome it.
The fisherman
is the emblem of death. Tamas and
rajas are antagonistic to sattva and
therefore even the merit of sattva is
counteracted by the other two. These two
gunas, tamas and rajas,
mislead our senses and send them along the wrong
path. We should first try to control
tamas and rajas and thereby attain
mastery over our senses. If we follow good
methods even rajas and tamas may
be conquered by close association with
sattva. 115.
A
Divine Example for Leaders One day
Krishna approached Yas'odâ and
told her that all his cowherd friends had
invited him to go with them and tend the cows
and that he was planning to go. The mother
explained to him that to go to the forest would
mean that he would have to walk on thorns, that
he might have to meet snakes and that he might
get close to bushes. She said that his tender
feet might not be able to put up with the
troubles and she said that it would be better if
he put on foot-wear before going to the forest.
She said that shoes for him would be ready only
the next day and he could go to the forest only
the next day. 116.
God
Never Fails those who Call on Him with
Faith The first son
later repented for his refusal to do what his
father asked; he went and watched the crop. Now,
Christ asked, who among these two pleases the
father more - the son who declared his assent by
word of mouth and disobeyed in action or the son
who disobeyed by word of mouth but obeyed in
action?" "You may
obey in words but disobey in action. My action
reveals that I do acts which God commanded. You
are your own witness, whether you follow the
dictates of the Divine Father. I have greater
authority than you, for, your action shows that
you disobey whereas my action proves that I
follow His commands". While he was
passing through the gate, he saw a fair maiden
with a halo of splendor going out. Curious to
know who she was and why she was making her exit
at that early hour, he accosted her. She replied
that she was the Goddess of Riches,
Dhanalakshmî. "I have been long
here, now I desire a change. I do not stay in
one place long". Sathyavrata told her,
"Go! go! I do not object or obstruct".
After that, a
charming masculine figure was seen quietly going
out through the lion gate. The King asked him
who he was and on what errand he was leaving. He
replied, "I am Charity; when
Dhanalakshmî has left, what do I
stay here for?" The King allowed him to leave
and he moved on. Within a few
minutes, another charming person was going
through. The King found that he was
Sadachara, representing Goodness in
Social Behavior. "How can good social
relations be sustained without riches and the
quality of generosity" he asked. "I am leaving,
because the two here are no more," he explained.
The King agreed; and he moved on. So too, the
next emigrant Fame, lamented the
departure of the other three and himself wanted
to go. The King let him go. He said, "How can
Fame survive the absence of Riches,
Charity and Happy Social Life?" and
the King felt he was right. Meanwhile, a
person with overwhelming splendor came into the
gate from the fort, with the intention to leave
the city. When asked who he was, he said, "I
am Truth". At this, the King pleaded with
him to stay in the city, the Kingdom, the palace
and the homes of the people. He said that if he
would leave, the loss would be irrepairable and
life would not be worthwhile. At this,
Truth decided to stay. And,
Fame returned to the fort in a trice, for
Truth is enough basis for Fame to
flourish. And, Sadachara returned and
grew. So too, Charity and Riches
came back and established themselves in the
Kingdom. All the others were delighted to share
the Glory of Sathya (Truth). [see
also S.B.
8.24: 10] Next day,
after sunrise, she set fire to her own dwelling
house! When the flames rose, and commotion
ensued, the villagers rushed towards her,
sitting, wailing in front of the burning house.
She shook her hands pathetically at the faces of
the frightened villagers, causing the bangles to
jingle and shine in the red light of the high
flames, crying out, "Alas! My house is on fire,
0, pity my fate, God, don't you see my plight ?"
Every time she shouted a sentence, she put out
her arms vigorously at some one; so that she or
he could not miss sighting the bangles. The pity
of it! She was so anxious to exhibit her bangles
that she did not care for her house itself; the
house was on fire but she was happy her bangles
were noticed. The scholars who are lost in
admiration of their own cleverness are as
foolish as this old woman. Agni (the God
of Fire) and Indra (the God of the Heavenly
Regions) took on the forms of a dove and
hawk. The hawk
(Indra) pursued the dove (Agni) across the sky,
until the frightened bird fell into the lap of
Sibi sitting on his throne, pleading for
protection from the hawk. As befitted his
dharma, Sibi gave word that he would save
the dove from its enemy and assured full
protection for it. At that moment, the hawk
presented itself before the Emperor and demanded
its meal, its legitimate prey. "I am hungry, I
had secured my food; you have deprived me of my
meal", it complained. "Of what use is all your
vaunted spirituality if you rob me of my meal?",
it lamented. At this, Sibi
said, "Yes, I shall slice off flesh from my body
weighing as much as this dove weighs; you can
appease your hunger with that." The hawk agreed.
A balance was brought; the dove was placed on
one pan, pieces of flesh cut from the body of
Sibi were placed in the other pan. But lo and
behold, however many pieces of flesh were laid
thereon, the pan on which the dove sat, did not
rise at all. It was indeed a mystery how the
bird weighed so heavy. At last, Sibi said,
"Well, you can take all of me. Eat me whole.
Here I am at your disposal". No sooner did
he utter those words than the hawkbecame Indra
and the dove was transformed into Agni - Gods
effulgent in their glory! They were supremely
happy at the depth of Sibi's spirit of
renunciation; they blessed him profusely and
departed. The wife
therefore hit upon a plan to teach him. She
placed on his plate food that was rotten and
full of worms. When he grew angry and castigated
her, she replied: "The pundit said that every
one has to suffer for the injury he causes
others; you have to eat, in the other world,
rotten food, full of worms. I am giving that
type of food to you even now, so that you may
get used to it. It will help you to eat the
consequence of your evil deed". At this, the
husband realised his iniquity; he repented for
his wrongs and learnt better ways of service to
the poor. This is a
great lesson for man. This
lîlâ is quite unlike earlier
incidents which evidenced the child's
super-human strength and wisdom. He was lifted
away by the storm-demon
[Trinâvarta], he was hit by the
calf-demon [Vatsâsura], he was
felled by the cart-demon
[S'akathâsura], he was pecked at
by the stork-demon [Bakâsura], and
he was poisoned by the nurse-demon
[Putâna]. The sceptics can easily
ascribe these miracles to accident or
coincidence or exaggeration. But, the
Kâliya episode is a parable, it is a
valuable lesson in spiritual sâdhana.
[See
SB. 10:16] Ambarîsha
Mahârâja: the story of
Ambarîsha can be read in S.B.
9.4
and 9.5. Painter-artist
of the painting of Sibi: Vladimir
Holst |
Ambarisha
The
gopîs had no other goal, no other
ideal, no other wish. It was a surrender of the
self - complete, unquestioned, unwavering. Let
me tell you of a devotee, a woman in a small
Maharashtra village, who lived in the last
century. She went through even the little
details of life in this spirit of dedication.
Walking was to her a pilgrimage, talking
japam. Even when she threw off a ball of
cowdung after applying it over the floor used by
her husband to keep his dining plate on while
eating, she said and felt "Krishnaarpanam
- May this be an offering to Krishna!"
Her tapas was so sincere that the cowdung
reached Krishna and stuck to Krishna's
idol in the village temple every day! The priest
saw the mysterious defilement; he was amazed and
was lost in terror. He cursed himself that he
had lived to see that sacrilege. Daily, about
noon, the same size of cowdung! He hung his head
in shame as he walked along, keeping the
disturbing phenomenon all to himself. One day he
heard that particular lady exclaim
"Krishnaarpanam" as she, like many other
house-wives, threw the tell-tale cowdung ball.
He suspected; he noted the timings, the
quantity, the material etc., until he was
convinced that she was the culprit for the
disfiguration of Krishna, the defilement
of that loveliness. Then he beat her so severely
that her arm that threw the dung was fractured.
Immediately
Krishna asked the mother to tell him how she
addressed him. She said that his name was
Gopal and that she addressed him by this
name. The word Gopal stands for one who
tends the cows. He said that he had acquired
that name because he could tend the cows and be
the leader of the cows. Since the cows would
follow him as their leader, he said that he
would have to do something which the cows would
also do. The cows do not have shoes to protect
their feet and therefore he said that he also
should not have shoes to protect his feet. He
said that he would do only that which persons
who follow him could also possibly do. He said
that if he wore shoes, the cows would also want
to wear shoes, because their leader was wearing
shoes. He was not going to wear shoes and allow
those whom he had to protect to go without
shoes. This is how he argued with his mother.
This simply means that when God takes a human
form, men will try to imbibe His qualities and
will behave like Him.
"Once
there was a farmer who had two sons. He asked
his first son to go out to the field so that he
may watch the crops, ready for harvest. The son
refused to obey him. Thereupon, he asked the
second son, and he readily agreed. But, what
really happened was, the second son later
calculated the bother and the
sleeplessness which the watching will
bring to him; so, he did not go. 
Among
all the wondrous adventures that astounded
people during Krishna's childhood,
revealing the divinity that had come among them,
the Kâliya episode is the most
meaningful. The serpent Kâliya was
poisoning the waters of the Yamunâ
and the atmosphere over it with its breath;
all who approached that area, men or cattle,
fell dead. But, Krishna--the divine Boy-jumped
into the depths, forced the foul snake to rise
above the level of the river, and leaping on its
hoods, danced upon them with His tender lotus
feet. The pressure of those soft silken soles
was enough to force the deadly poison out from
the fangs of the monstrous cobra and render it
harmless forever. 
