Sunday 16 May 2021
The “Golden” Stone Pot
Upakhyane Upadesa
Instructive Stories from Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
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The “Golden” Stone Pot
A wealthy landlord called upon a goldsmith in his village and
requested him while giving him a lump of pure gold, “You are to make a nice pot
for my milk with this gold. You should not make it in any way impure by mixing
any kind of alloy in it.”
The goldsmith agreed, “Yes sir”, and went away with
the gold-lump.
Thus getting a lump of pure gold in his possession, the
goldsmith was tempted to steal it. However, he apprehended that he would be
punished by the landlord if he cheated him entirely, so he made up a plan to
prepare a stone-pot and gold-plate it so that he would not be accused of
stealing the gold.
When the goldsmith took the gold-plated stone pot to
the landlord, the landlord asked him in great astonishment, “What is this thing
you have brought?”
The goldsmith replied, “O sir! This is a golden pot. I
have made it with hard labour.”
The landlord said,” Are you joking? This is a
stone pot!”
The goldsmith told him, “O sir, this is a ‘golden’ stone
pot.
PURPORT
Those who consider casteism among the Vaishnavas,
classifying them as brahmana-Vaishnavas, ksatriya-Vaishnavas, vaisya-Vaishnavas,
sudra-Vaishnavas, or as candala-Vaishnavas, simply indulge in a speculative
inference as "golden" stone pot. Either one should be considered as
`Vaishnava', or as brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, or sudra. Either one should call
it a `golden pot', or a `stone pot.' Mango-cake (amsatva) must be prepared from
mango itself, and no one can call something `mango cake' if it is made of
`jackfruit' (knathaler amsatva). Similarly, it would be wrong terminology to
ascribe the quality of a sudra to a Vaishnava. Whenever one is accepted to be a
`Vaishnava', then it is confirmed that he does not belong to any mundane social
classification such as brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra or low-born candala and
the like, nor even Hindu or non-Hindu. Any terminology such as
`Hindu-Vaishnava' or `Yavana-Vaishnava' is utterly absurd and also
offensive.
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Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
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Hare Krishna 🙏
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The Exploding Frog
There was once a frog that lived in a pond. One day, her son
happened to see an elephant near a tank. The baby frog returned to it’s mother
and enthusiastically told her, “Mother, today I saw a huge animal!”
The
mother frog asked, “Really? How big was the animal?”
The baby frog replied,
“Oh, it was much bigger than you are.”
The frog puffed up her body and asked,
“This much bigger?”
The baby replied, “Oh no, much bigger.”
The mother
puffed up her body more and asked, “Even this much bigger?”
Her child
replied, “No, no mother, much bigger than that.”
In this way the mother frog
gradually puffed up her body more and more and each time the baby-frog would
continue to tell her, “much bigger, much bigger”.
Finally, while trying to
puff up her body beyond limit, the frog’s belly exploded with a big
bang.
PURPORT
The insignificant living entities who consider
themselves as “para-brahma” (para = supreme, brahma = Absolute Being), or as if
nothing is equal to or greater than themselves in spite of the fact that they’re
simply misconceived insignificant entities constitutionally engaged in
devotional service, take a fancy to be equal in perfection with a liberated
soul. They are usually destroyed like a puffed-up frog due to their false
ego.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said :
jnani jivanmukta dasa painu
kari mane /
vastutah buddhi suddha nahe krishna-bhakti vine
//
mayadhisa mayavasa, isvare jive bhed /
hena jive isvara-sah kaha
ta’ abhed //
prabhu kahe-visnu visnu iha na kahiva /
jivahame
‘krishna’-jnan kobhu na koriva //
sannyasi - cit-kana jiva,
kirana-kana-sama /
sadoisvaryapuna krishna hoy suyopama //
jiva,
isvara-tattva-kobhu nahe ‘sama’ /
jvaladagnirasi jaiche sphulingera ‘kana’
//
jei mudha kahe, -jiva isvara hoy ‘sama’ /
sei ta’ ‘pasandi’ hoy,
dande tare yama //
“There are many philosophical speculators ( jnanis)
belonging to the Mayavada school who consider themselves liberated and call
themselves Narayana. However their intelligence is not purified unless they
engage in Krishna’s devotional service.” (Chaitanya -charitamrita - Madhya Lila
24.29)
“The Lord is the master of the potencies, and the living entity is the
servant of them. That is the difference between the Lord and the living entity.
However, you declare that the Lord and the living entities are one and the
same.” (Cc - Madhya Lila 6.162)
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu immediately
exclaimed, “Vishnu! Vishnu! Do not call Me the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A
jiva cannot become Krishna at any time. Do not even say such a thing!”
“A
sannyasi in the renounced order is certainly part and parcel of the complete
whole, just as a shining molecular particle of sunshine is part and parcel of
the sun itself. Krishna is like the sun, full of six opulences, but the living
entity is only a fragment of the complete whole.”
“”A living entity and the
Absolute Personality of Godhead are never to be considered equal, just as a
fragmental spark can never be considered the original flame.” ( Cc - Madhya Lila
18.111-113)
“A foolish person who says that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead is the same as the living entity is an atheist, and he becomes subject
to punishment by the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.” (Cc - Madhya Lila
18.115)
N.B.
By narrating this fable of the exploding frog, Shrila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada used to instruct that it is better
to be a good man than to be a big one. “I am Brahaman,” “I am siddha” , “I am
Vaishnava” , “I am pandita” , “I am self - realized” - this sort of false ego is
the root cause of the fallen entities’ bondage. One who is enlightened with pure
devotion for Shri Hari, never conceives himself to be the lord of this material
nature or the enjoyer of this material world, as a great worker, a great
preacher, and the like. Such a person should realize himself as insignificant as
eternal dust-particles under the feet of his spiritual master and of all the
Vaishnavas. He possesses a very candid humility all the time in his heart. A
living entity can never be para-brahma, just as Ravana can never be Lord Shri
Ramachandra.
A Lesson on Geometry
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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