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September18,2010

WecanbytheprocessofDevotionalservicegetridofalloftheunwantedhabits

cultivatedovermillions of life times.Such is its potency. There isa funny story

aboutasmallboywhogoestoaweddingceremony.Whenthebridegroomwas

being garlanded by the bride , the aunt looked at the smallboy andwinkingly

quipped Next is your turn.Theboywasflabbergasted at this.Howeverhegot

over the event.On another ocassion both aunt and the nephew went for a

funeral.Thenephewhadahardlookatthedeadbodyinfrontofhimandlooking

athisagingauntexclaimedNextisyourturn.Theboyhadgivenafittingreplytohisaunt.OnehastorenderservicetotheSupremeLordSriKrishnawithsingle

pointedattention.ThereshouldbenootherdiversionintheprocessofourBhakti.

Attending a Bhagavat Gita class once in a week for just 2 hours is just not

sufficienttoinvokeourlatentdevotionalservice.Wespend6daysand22hoursin

materialistic life and indulgenceandon one lazyeveningwegoto attendGita

Class.This is simply not enough for elevating ourselves.It is said Nityam

BhagavataSevaya.OneneedstobeintheholyassociationoftheLordandhis

devoteesallthetimeifweneedtoprogressevenalittleindevotionallife.Baldev

Vidyabhushan says that a man engaged in direct devotional service to the

Supreme Lord is freed from any obligations even towards the demigods andforefathers.TheexampleofJadaBharatha isaptin this regards.JadaBharatha

wasanavadhoothawhohadnodutiestoperformandmovedaroundintheforest

likeamadman.Oneday,JadaBharathawasmadetostandlikeascarecrowin

thefieldsbyhisownbrothers.Itsohappenedthatduringthecourseofthedayhe

waskidnappedbysomeadivasisortribalmen.Hewastakentobesacrificedto

the local goddess.They gave him a bath and fed him sumptuously and

subsequentlylaidhimatthesacrificialaltarreadytobebeheaded.JadaBharatha

wasreallyunawareofwhatwasbeingdonewithhimandheremainedinhisown

glory totally unfazed by the pandemonium that shrouded him.Though Jada

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Bharathawasbeingofferedasasacrifice toGoddessKali , thegreatGoddess

couldnotacceptthefactthatagreatKrishnaBhaktawasbeingofferedtoHerasa

sacrifice.JadaBharathawasaselfrealizedeffulgentmuniwhoroamedaroundthe

forestsasifmad.OntheeventofPariskshitMaharajapreparingtoleavehisbody

insevendays,hesatonthebanksofthegreatriverGangaandwasaccompanied

by thousands of thousands of highly self realized sages,saints and muni.

Maharaja Parikshit sat down quitely on the banks and so did the assembled

congregationofevolvedsouls.Itwasevidentthateverybodywasawaitingagreat

Katha to take place at the site.And shortly appeared Sukadeva

Goswami.SukadevaGoswamiwasonlysixteenyearsoldandtheassemblyhad

seniorsageswhowerethousandsandthousandsofyearsold.Sukadevawasnotevenwearingclothes.Hewasabsolutelyobliviousofhisbodilyposition.Hewas

continuouslyfollowedbythevillagechildrenandwomenwhomadefunofhimlittle

realizing hisexaltedspiritual status.SukadevaGoswamiwasanextremely self

realizedsoul pretendingto beamadman.In thismaterialworld therearegreat

foolswhopretendtobeverygreatlearnedmen.AsSukadevaGoswamientersthe

assembly,MaharajaParikshitandthethousandsofRishisatthesiterisetogivea

warm welcome to Sukadeva Goswami. According to the Sastric Injuctions a

personadvancedinspiritualrealizationneedstoberespectedandnotaperson

whoisadvancedinagethatneedstobegivenahighpedestal.

AlthoughSukadevawasaselfsatisfiedAtmarati,hedidhisduty.Whenhelearnt

thatParikshitMaharajawassearchingfortheultimategoodthatcanmakehislife

successfulinthenextsevendays,Sukadevaappearedonthescene.Itisevident

that even a completely self satisfiedMahapurusa like Sukadeva took a lot of

pleasure in narrating the ever sweet pastimes of the Supreme Personality of

GodheadSriKrishna.TheprocessofbecomingAtmaratidoesnotwarrant usto

turnourattentioninwardtooursouls.Theeasiestprocesstoachievingthestatus

ofanAtmaratiisbytheprocessofchantingandhearingtheMahamantraHare

KrishnaHareKrishnaKrishnaKrishnaHareHareHareRamaHareRamaRama

RamaHareHare.Ifwe simply render service to the SupremeLord , the Lord

immediatelycutsourattachmenttothematerialworldandgrantsusHisabode.

Therewas a certain King whowas a great devotee of the Lord and the Lord

admiredhim forhissincerity indevotional service.HoweverArjunadoubted the

Kingsdevotion totheLord.ArjunaexpressedhisreservationsabouttheLoveof

theKingfortheLordandHisdevotees.TheLordtoldArjunathattheyshouldgo

down to the King and test him. The Lord and Arjuna , dressed as brahmins,

approachedtheKingandrequestedtheKingforaparticulartypeofDonation.The

Kingwasmorethanhappytoservethetwobrahmins.TheLorddisguisedasone

ofthebrahmins,demandedhalfthebodyoftheKingtobedonatedtoHimand

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thattheKingsownsonshouldcarryouttheswordsacrificeandfulfill theKings

promise.

When such stories are being rendered by the HareKrishnas ,many devotees

accept the stories with a pinch of salt and do not believe these stories

entirely.Theyoftendonottaketheseeventstobereal.

Continuingwiththeanecdote,theKingwasintearsashissonreadiedhimselfto

sacrificehisfathershalfbodyforthesakeofthebrahmanwhowasactuallythe

SupremeLordhimself.TheLordintheformofabrahmanimmediatelyorderedthe

stoppage of the act.He said that being a brahmin he would only accept thesacrificeiftheKinghappilypartedwithhalfofhisbodyandthatcryingjustatthe

timewhenhewasbeenstruckbyhissonsswordwasanactofreluctanceonthe

partofthekingandthatthebrahmanwasnoteagertoreceivethesacrifice.The

Kingdidnothaveasmileonhisfacewhenhewasgivenapartofhisbodyas

sacrifice and this was an insult to the brahman. The King immediately made

himselfcleartothebrahmanwhowastheSupremeLordHimself.TheKingsaidI

amnotcryingbecauseIamgoingtolosehalfofmybody,IamsadbecauseIam

abletoofferyouonlyhalfofmybodyandnotmyentirebodyforyourservice.This

painsmeterribly.ThusArjunawasconvincedabouttheKingssenseofservice

towardstheLordsdevoteesandacceptedtheKingtobeagreatdevoteeof the

Lord.

ToactatthebehestoftheSupremeLordistoactwithdetachment.Krishnasays

thatoneshouldevengiveuptheattachmenttothenotionofbeingrecognisedas

apiousman or tobe known asa generousman.Thehighestprinciple isto be

obedience to thewill of the Lord.Generally what is known to the people is the

mode of goodness.It is ubiquitously rare to find people in the mode of pure

goodnesswhichisbeyondgoodnessandtranscendentallymotivated.Nomundane

logic can explain the acts of a person inspired beyond the modes of

goodness,passion and ignorance. The Bhagavat Gita is more or less

inconceivable tomankindbecauseit talksaboutthephilosophyof obedience to

theSupremewhichismuchmuchbeyondthemodeofgoodness.PeopleontheplatformofobediencetoGodareatahigherlevelandtheycaneasilyconcieve

the problemsof the people who are situated in lower states of consciousness

namelyonthemodeof ignorance,passionorgoodness.Ahelicopterflyingata

height of 10000 feet above groundlevel can easily detect two trains running

towardseachotheronthesametrackeveniftheyaremilesapart.Apersonon

the helicopter can easily predict an obvious accident taking into account the

speedsofthetwocarriersbutthedriversofthetwotrainsaretotallyobliviousof

theimminentdisaster.

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