Upakhyane Upadesa
Instructive Stories from Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
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A Lesson on
Geometry
There was once a poor widow who, through great hardship, was
struggling to bring up her only son. As she realised that he was her only hope
for the future, she appointed a tutor for him although she would sometimes have
to borrow the money to pay for the tuition fees.
Once, after being promoted
to class VII, the boy was being taught Geometry by the teacher in English. As
soon as the boy read out loud, “Let ABC be a triangle”, the boy’s mother rushed
into the classroom and screamed at the teacher thus : “This boy is supposed
to be advancing in his studies after being raised to class VII, but you are
still teaching him ABC - he learned all this when he was an infant - and to
think I am paying you 10 rupees a month! From today you are no longer required
here. You are only fit for teaching a primary school if all you can teach is
ABC!”
The widow’s outburst was so violent that it left no scope for the
teacher to argue and he was compelled to leave the place.
PURPORT
The
arguments put forward by persons desiring other than Krishna consciousness,
along with the karmis, jnanis, yogis, ascetics and the like, including so-called
religious communities, are similar to those expressed by the widow. They say,
“We have become totally worthless through serving all the time in this world”.
This sort of slave-like mentality is the root cause of all troubles. If we were
to accept servitude even after entering into the domain of religion, and to
serve Godhead in complete servitude even after liberation, then how will we
advance? Only when we are ignorant, and conditioned under illusion, then our
slave mentality is intensified. But upon liberation, the realisation “aham
brahmasi” that “I am Brahman” should be developed. Upon listening to such an
argument, pure devotees will argue that devotion or service to Godhead is the
eternal position of all conscious living entities. Such devotion, when
cultivated through different stages of performing devotional service (sadhana
bhakti), ecstatic devotion (bhava bhakti), and loving devotion (prema bhakti) ,
confirms verily the eternal utility of devotion itself.
Servitude to Lord
Krishna while performing devotional activities is known as sadhana bhakti
(performing devotion), whereas intimate servitude or service to Shri Krishna,
after liberated realisation, is prema bhakti (loving devotion). Service to
Godhead in the liberated stage is irresistible service (apratihata
seva).
A,B,C,D or ka-kha-ga-gha may be practised while learning the alphabet
on the elementary level; then again even after becoming the topmost man of
letters, one has to cultivate the variegatedness and artistic delicacy of that
very alphabet.
Those who are impersonalists, speculate just like the widow as
narrated in this story, advocating that A,B,C,D should only be practised by
children in the elementary level and that these letters are of no use to any
learned person.
It is not that servitude to Shri Krishna should be offered
only during devotional performance, but it must be renewed even upon attaining
perfection through liberation as service to Lord Krishna is our eternal
profession. Servitude or service offered to Lord Krishna is our eternal
profession. Servitude or service offered to Lord Krishna after attaining the
stage of liberation is to be considered as real and the most perfect form of
service. Servitude to illusion (Maya) and servitude to Lord Shri Krishna should
never be considered equal.
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