Doing Sums for the Teacher August 5, 2008
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Once a landlord appointed a tutor for his son on a monthly salary of fifteen rupees plus a monthly stipend of another fifteen rupees for the tutor’s maintenance cost. The landlord’s son was very weak in mathematics, so the tutor would give him a lot of sums to do by himself. In spite of the pupil’s insisting the tutor to do the sums for him, the tutor would tell him, “If I do the sums for you, then you will never learn the methods. Rather, I would like to demonstrate the basic method of solving the sums, or at least I can assist you when you get confused. But you’ll have to do all your sums for your own practice.”
The boy was most inattentive and lazy. He had hardly any interest for learning maths, but he had to engage himself in practising maths with the tutor under pressure from his parents.
One day he was loudly talking to his sidekicks so that his tutor could easily overhear him. “For me my father has engaged a worthless tutor on a monthly salary of fifteen rupees plus an additional fifteen rupees for his food and clothing - in all thirty rupees a month! And look, I am still doing so many sums for him everyday. Really I can’t tolerate this anymore; this strain upon me while spending so much money and still taking the trouble of doing all the sums for him! Why should one pay him any salary when in fact I myself have to do all the sums?”
PURPORT
Many of us maintain a similar concept that we renounce our family life, we sacrifice a lot in the service of our spiritual master, some of us collect donations and do a lot of multifarious direct and indirect service for the satisfaction of our spiritual master, but what do we gain?
Here we forget that we do such sums for our own benefit alone and by such services, we ourselves are uplifted, not the spiritual master.
The spiritual master knows the sums very well and it is only for our own well-being that he is getting the sums done by us. The spiritual master is engaging us in different services for our own satisfaction and welfare in the path of devotion. Those who are averse to their own benefit, only consider such services to be meant for the welfare of the spiritual master, for the temple complex, for the Vaishnavas, for the Lord, and thus foolishly take little interest in them.
The End
Surrender August 5, 2008
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The great Vaishnava saint Parasara Bhattar was told the story of a hunter in the forest who had caught a rabbit. The hunter was about to kill it, but it kept circling around him and it finally placed its head at the hunter’s feet. The hunter’s heart melted, and rather than kill it he offered it protection.
When Parasara Bhattar heard this, tears began to flow from his eyes, his hairs stood on end, and he fell unconscious. Seeing these ecstatic symptoms, his disciples became filled with wonder. They revived their illustrious master and asked him to explain why he had fainted. In a voice choked with transcendental emotion, the Acarya explained:
“The hunter was a brutal person, and he had given no instructions and made no promises. The rabbit was a simple animal which studied no scriptures and performed no austerities. Still, when the rabbit sought shelter at the feet of the hunter, he could not refuse. How much more fortunate then are we that the Lord has explicitly instructed us to surrender to Him and He has promised that He will protect us from all sinful reaction? Just see how merciful the Lord is! If even a common and lowly hunter will protect a creature that takes shelter of his feet, how can we possibly doubt that our Lord will take care of us if we take shelter at His lotus feet!”
Thinking of His beloved Lord in this way, Parasara Bhattar experienced ecstasy.
The End
Prudence of a Woodcutter August 5, 2008
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A woodcutter planned to go to the forest of Sundarban for collecting wood. Sundarban is full of wild animals, so an experienced person warned the woodcutter that it might be fatal if he enters the forest without being adequately armed.
But the woodcutter retorted saying, “I would like to disprove the unfounded notion of common people that one should enter a forest with arms. I won’t expose my foolishness to carry coal to a Newcastle Coalfield. There are so many big trees in the forest. If I use a broken branch from one of those trees all the wild animals will run away here and there. If I see any animal approaching, I will break a branch from a tree and threaten the beast so much that it won’t dare come near me. It will run away when it sees me wielding the branch.”
The woodcutter thought himself to be very prudent, but he did not have the basic common sense that his speculation would be of no use in case a tiger jumped upon him suddenly and bit off his head while he was busy breaking a branch from a tree. He would neither be able to get hold of a branch, nor could he kill the tiger; instead, he himself will be killed.
Actually, that was the case. After a few days of the woodcutter’s entering the jungle, information came that a small tiger had very easily jumped on him and enjoyed his blood and flesh without any problem.
In fact, when he saw the tiger, the woodcutter began cutting a branch of a big tree to make his weapon to fight with the animal. But before he could finish, the tiger attacked him and he was killed almost immediately.
PURPORT
In a similar manner, yogis try to control their material senses through laborious methods of physical feats, but quite often six inherent and cardinal passions and vices of man like furiously untamed tigers may jump upon him and start sucking his blood. In this event it is quite possible that one may fall prey to agitation of the senses.
A devotee’s consideration is not to think of his welfare after controlling the material senses, nor does he decide in favour of collecting several types of weapons for temporary self-defence. A devotee does not behave in such a make-believe fashion. He does not indulge in speculative and egotistic endeavour in controlling his cardinal passions through artificial methods of his own accord.
A devotee of the Supreme Lord firmly believes that sense control will develop automatically along with his development of devotional service, and no other feats are to be practised separately for this. He is not very anxious to control his cardinal passions, on the contrary, those passions become conducive to his devotional service under the transcendental influence of devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In fact, his passions then become his constant friends and their motives are basically reoriented. His lust is then engaged as transcendental Kamadeva in the service of Lord Krishna; his anger is directed towards atheists; his attachment and greed will be anxious in listening to the holy names; his illusion and infatuation will make him engaged earnestly in offering service to the Lord; and his vanity will help him to be totally engrossed in glorification of the Lord. Envy will not stay in a real devotee, because he is never perturbed with the excellence of anyone as he is merciful to everyone through his devotional service.
So, it transpires that only through the practice of devotional service, can one very easily subdue all sorts of evil effects and convert even an enemy into a friendly companion to engage him in welfare services for one and all.
The End
Increasing the Fever August 5, 2008
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There was once a doctor visiting a house to diagnose two patients, a rich housewife and her maidservant. The doctor said, “The maidservant’s fever is 105, so there is some anxiety. I will give her some medicine. But the landlady of the house has practically no fever, 99, so there is no anxiety for her.”
But when the landlady heard this, she became angry and said, “This doctor is useless. I’m the landlady. I’ve only got 99 and my maidservant has 105. The maidservant should have 98, I should have 110!”
This can be compared to the modern civilization which is inclined to increase the degree of its fever up to 110. As in the human body there is death as soon as the temperature reaches 107, so by the nuclear weapons, modern civilization will come to the point of 107 and over. But devotees want to decrease the fever by living the highest, ideal life and decreasing the demands of the body.
The End
Lively Hell August 5, 2008
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A pious God-conscious brahmana once advised a drunkard, “Look here - for your own sake, give up wine. In the holy scriptures it is stated that one who takes wine will go to hell.”
The drunkard replied, “But Suren Babu also takes wine!” The brahmana said, “He will also go to hell.”
The drunkard said, “Barun Babu also takes wine!” The brahmana replied, “He will also go to hell.”
The drunkard said, “Arun Babu also takes wine!” The brahmana replied, “He will also go to hell. Whoever takes wine must go to hell.”
Then the brahmana asked, ”What else must one do to go to hell?” The brahmana told him, “Telling lies, stealing, cheating others, practising illicit sex - all take you to hell.”
So then the drunkard asked him, “Then what will be the fate of Brahmini — the prostitute?” The brahmana answered, “Hell.”
The drunkard paused a while and asked, “Everyone who is a prostitute must go to hell?“ The brahmana replied, “Yes.“
The drunkard then questioned further, “And those who visit a prostitute’s house, where will they go?“
The brahmana said, “Also to hell.“
The drunkard was then beside himself with joy and exclaimed, “Oh, then there must be a hellish pandemonium in hell! If same men flock to hell, then it must be great fun!“
PURPORT
Many people in this material world take into their heads that there should be nothing to worry if many people commit heinous crimes in profusion. In fact, the fallen souls who never care for sincere devotional service to the Lord are in majority on this planet. Accordingly, the brute majority may remain complacent without practising devotional service to the Lord and may come to the conclusion that they will undergo the same fate as other atheists so what’s the use of approaching a few saintly persons to get to hear good sermons! Better to go by the majority.
Thus many people become averse to devotional service to the Lord. This simply reflects the mode of passion.
The End
Mithyachari August 5, 2008
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Once upon a time there was a very cunning fox. He was craftier than all the rest. He would steal burfi, halava, sandesa, and other sweets from the sweet shop regularly. The shop owner saw his stock lessen everyday. “I’ll have to catch the thief,” he thought to himself.
That night the owner sat awake. Around two o’clock at night the fox entered the shop. The shop owner felled him with a chair. He then dragged the fox outside. The fox was dazed but still alive. He decided to just lie there and pretend to be dead. The next morning the villagers got together. They found out that the sweet shop owner had killed a fox. It was decided to punish the owner; he could have taken some preventive measures rather than resort to killing. The fox lay quietly listening to everything. He thought it right that the owner be punished.
After a while a carpenter came by. He said to the shop owner, “I’d like to take away the fox’s tail.” The owner said, “Take it. Cut it off.”
The fox decided, “Let him take my tail. I won’t say a word. But I want that shop owner punished.” The carpenter cut off the fox’s tail and went away pleased. After a little while another man was passing by. He said to the shop owner, “I’d like the fox’s ears.” “Cut them and take them,” replied the owner. He did so. A third man arrived, he said, “I’d like the fox’s teeth.” Hearing this, the fox thought. “If this goes on I’ll end up really dead. How will I be able to eat without teeth?” And so he jumped up and ran for his very life. And now it so happened that a dyer was mixing paint in a small pit. The fox jumped into it. When he came out he was coloured red and yellow all over. No one recognised the strangely coloured fox with no ears and tail. He was thus able to escape into the nearby forest.
News spread in the forest about the appearance of a strange creature. All the animals were scared of the coloured fox and would run away on his approach. The fox named himself Mithyachari. He began making plans to become the king of the forest. One day he proudly declared to those frightened animals, “I am the king of the forest. You shall all obey me from now onwards.” All the wild animals began to come to him and pay homage.
For his protection the fox placed sentries in three circles around him. In the inner circle near to him there were only foxes. In the next circle were tigers and finally the lions. He ordered them, “You should stand guard six kilometres distant from here.” Two months passed in this way. Winter arrived. The foxes began to howl in the cold. Mithyachari would also quietly howl with those foxes around him.
In the colder months they would howl more. One day the lions said to themselves, “We’re the original kings of the forest, and it is not right that we are not allowed to go near the king.” They went to Mithyachari with their request, “Sire, we were the previous kings of the forest. For two months the foxes have stayed near Your Highness. Please send them away and let us stay close to you as your personal bodyguards.” Mithyachari could not stop himself from saying yes. The lions then stood close to him as guards.
In the cold Mithyachari felt an urge to howl as before. In the distance the other foxes began to howl. But what could he do? If he howled, he would be caught and everyone would kill him. The cold soon increased and the desire to howl became even greater. Mithyachari would make strange noises in his throat, “Oohoo, Oohoo.” The lions asked him, “Sire, what is wrong? Does your stomach hurt?” What answer could the fox give. Slowly, the noises increased and Mithyachari couldn’t resist any longer - he began to howl.
The lions at once realised, “This Mithyachari is a fox! He’s fooling us.” With one pounce they killed the pretender. The truth can never be hidden for long.
There are many pretenders who refuse to work in Krishna consciousness but make a show of meditation, while actually dwelling within the mind upon sense enjoyment. Such pretenders may also speak on dry philosophy in order to bluff sophisticated followers, but according to the Bhagavad-gita these are the greatest cheaters. Their knowledge has no value, because the effects of such sinful men’s knowledge are taken away by the illusory energy of the Lord. Such a pretender’s mind is always impure, and therefore his show of yogic meditation has no value whatsoever.
The End
The Fallacy of Custom August 5, 2008
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Every morning some brahmanas would take their bath in the Ganges and offer their daily prescribed prayers to the Lord. All of them were taking their own copper vessels for offering water to the Lord. But through oversight, all the copper vessels invariably changed hands everyday. Finally an elderly brahmana, in order to differentiate his own copper vessel from others, put a lump of sand on his own copper vessel and went to take a bath. Observing this practice, all the other brahmanas assumed that this must be a holy custom and imitated the said elderly brahmana by putting a lump of sand on their vessels. After taking bath, the elderly brahmana came out of the river and found that it was impossible to identify his own copper vessel, because each and every vessel had a lump of sand on it. At this, the elderly brahmana said to himself, “How over-attached to rituals these fellows are! Without realizing the real purpose of anything, they just imitate others. If they had applied their common sense, they would not have marked their copper vessels in the same way.” PURPORT In modern society, practice of religious performances is quite often like this. There are so many customary practices in the field of literature and social conduct in respect of usages and performances that most of the people follow them blindly without making assessment of their validity and authority. The End
