Pyaas

प्यास 

आस्थओं के सूखे जंगलों में 

एक कुसुम की तलाश है ।

विरह के तीखे सागर में 

मीठे जल की प्यास है ।

भीड़ में कैद रह कर 

एक अपने की तलाश है ।

चारों और से खिचते मन का 

कहीं और ही खिंचाव है ।

ह्रदय में उठती तड़प 

पर बस प्रभु आपका ही नाम है ।

यह  दूरियाँ चुभती हैं, तड़पाती हैं 

जैसे आग में तपे लोहे के शूल भेदे इस दिल को ।

यह दूरियां मिटा दें प्रभु 

अब और नहीं सह सकता,

बस कुछ क्षण का दर्शन दे दें 

ताकि सांस ले सकू 

आखिर एक कीड़ा और क्या मांग सकता है ।।

Miss you O my Lord! Please call me now.

MY CAREER AS A FORTUNE-TELLER

I don’t know what prompted Aarati, a female helper in the emergency ward of our hospital, to come to me with her open palms, but here she was imploring me to look at the lines of her hands and predict her future.

“I don’t know palmistry,” I confessed.

“No, I know that you know, so please tell me if I will get what I want.”

Nobody gets everything what he or she wants, I thought, not even the devotees. Krishna especially takes away what we want. So what should I say?

“Sorry, I don’t know palmistry.”

“No, sir. Please just take a look and tell me.”

I shut my eyes. What would a young girl want?

“Is there a boy?” I asked.

She beamed. I was right.

“Will I get him?” she asked.

Aarati is a simple girl with modest means. Ordinary looking.

“You are sure your guy is fixed up with you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Just confirm with him. . . if he is really committed to you, there should be no problem, I guess.”

“Thank you, sir.” She rose from the chair.

“And please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Sure sir.

 The next day Aarati came again.

 “I asked the boy,” she said, “he is committed.”

I was happy to know. “Well, who is the lucky guy?”

“Govind,” she replied coyly.

A dashing male helper who works in the evening shift, Govind seemed a sober guy. “Very good,” I said, “and remember don’t about this to anyone.”

“Sure sir.”

I should have known better.

The next day Rohit, another helper came to me. He had overheard my conversation with Aarati. “Please tell my future.”

“I can’t dear.” I said tersely. But he wouldn’t let go off me.

“Please, sir, please.”

“What is your problem?”

“Money doesn’t stay in our family,” he said. “We earn, but it’s gone.”

It’s the same everywhere, isn’t it? I thought. Only person who gets to keep all the money is the owner of this hospital.

 Then I thought of an idea. “Well,” I said, “you can try one thing.”

He leaned forward.

“Keep Tulasi at your home. Water it daily. Do four rounds around it. Bow your head to it, and if possible offer incense and lamp. Then we will see.”

“Will this work?” his eye brows knotted.

“Try it.”

I thought that was the end. But I was wrong. The next day, Navin, an elderly helper came to me. “I have problem at home. Please tell me some solution.”

I realized that in such crisis, people become very gullible, and with little prompting, they open up and share their personal problems. I felt that they might feel better simply by talking to someone who was willing to listen with empathy, and plus they might also be willing to practice devotional service-at least some ritualistic aspects. Who know this might be the beginning of their Krishna consciousness. Perhaps this is the way Krishna wants me to preach.

Such were my noble thoughts, and I must confess, I also liked the attention and reverence I was getting.

I gave Navin the same formula—worship Tulasi at home. Later I would add—offer food; chant Hare Krishna.

***********

One day, while seriously thinking about learning Palmistry as an aid to preach, I called up a relative who is an astrologer. I told her everything, hoping she would be delighted.

She was furious. “Don’t do this,” she scolded. “You know neither astrology, nor palmistry. You might be successful a couple of times, and people may like you. But the same people will speak ill about you once you go wrong. And you are bound to go wrong. Even I go wrong at times. Leave this at once. Just stick to your devotional practices.”

“Then what should I do when people come to me for help, asking about their future?”

“Tell them that you are a spiritualist, not an astrologer. You can pray for them. You can teach them Gita and mantra-meditation. You can connect them to God. But you can’t predict their future.”

It made sense.

But perhaps Krishna wanted to drive home the point more strongly, as I learnt in the course of the next few days.

**************

“Please tell me, if my uncle will survive.” It was Aarati.

His uncle had gas-gangrene of the leg. I was there during his surgery. The moment the surgeon incised his leg, pus mixed with blood and gas bubbles shot up almost to our heads. Such was the infection. Bacterial were eating up his flesh and spreading virulently all over his body. Surgery had helped, but things were still critical. The skin over his remaining leg had started to blister. A couple of days earlier, I had my doubts, but after two blood transfusion the previous day, his uncle looked in good spirits and his condition seemed stable.

“I think he will make it,” I said. “He looks much better.”

I don’t know why, but she kept on repeating this question for almost six-seven times, and all the time I smilingly said he would.

The next day I came in high spirits and found Aarati sitting near the lift. “How is your uncle?” I breezed past her.

“He expired.”

I froze. “What?”

“There was some reaction to a new antibiotic. Whole evening he was in ICU. He died half-an-hour back.”

I was stunned. She looked at me and the continued talking to her relative. Thankfully, she didn’t complain or put me in an embarrassing situation by referring our conversation the previous day.

As I continued my rounds in the ward, a nurse came in the ward looking for something. She was tearful. She gave me a very short but piercing glance and left sniffing in her kerchief.

I remembered she had met me a couple of days earlier.

“I have heard you tell fortunes,” she had asked me.

“No, it’s just God’s grace.”

I realized that she was a Sikh. “Just go to Golden Temple, and offer pranams there. And I think you will be perfectly fine in your life.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah, everything will be OK with you.” I said emphatically.

Now here she was crying.

“What happened?” I asked the other nurse.

“Somebody stole 7000/-Rs from her cupboard. That was her monthly salary. She has been crying since morning.”

I shook my head and remembered the words of my relative. That was the end of my short career as a Fortune Teller.

Song of a Bird

Song of a Bird

Behind my house is a garden with lots of trees. One morning, as I strolled at my terrace chanting my rounds, I heard a beautiful call of a bird. I walked nearer, my mind captivated, but could not see the bird. Wish I could understand what this bird was singing about! Is it happy that it rained? Is it sweetly cooing to attract his mate? What is it? But then I thought: What really can this bird sing about? A verse came to my mind:

The scriptures describe:

Ahar nidra bhaya maithunams cha

Saman etad pashu bhi naranaam

Dharmo he tesham adhiko vishesham

Dharmen hina pashu bhi naranaam

“The process of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending is common between humans and animals. Only dharma separates the two. Without the sanctity of dharma, a human being is as good as an animal.”

 My dear bird friend could possibly only think of the above four activities and nothing else. But we humans are different. The special facility of human life is in its quality, because the human life provides the opportunity to question our existence. There is no other species that has that power. We can ask: Who am I? What is the purpose of life? Where am I coming from? Where am I going? Who is God? What is my relationship with God? Why is there suffering? Is there something beyond?

Human existence is the junction where we can actually enter into the realm of spirituality and realize who we really are.

Mercy of Guru's Words

"My grandmother is on her death bed; please pray for her." Aman Chauhan Prabhu called me up.  Aman is a dynamic and enthusiastic member of our Pandava Sena youth group in Amritsar. His parents and brother are all devotees. A week back, her grandmother had a massive heart-attack and was admitted in a local hospital. She had many medical complications, and just the previous day, we had shifted her to a different hospital for further management of her cardiac condition. A strong woman in her fifties, she was supporting the family of her widow younger daughter, while battling diabetes, heart ailments, asthma and arthritis-all without any complains. She was apprehensive about shifting to this new hospital. "I feel I will not return from there," she had told her family members. Now her fear seemed to come true.

"I am on my way," I replied to Aman. I took Radha-kunda water, Gopi-chandan, and called Aman to arrange for a tulasi kanthi mala. As I was leaving my room, something shone at the corner of my vision. Hanging at the window was a dried up maha-garland of Radha-Shyamsunder of Vrindavan. I had received it about 15 days back, and had hung it on the window to dry. 3-4 days back I was about to offer it to nirmalaya, but a voice stopped me. "Keep it; you will need it," it said. I picked the garland and hurriedly rode to the hospital, praying that mataji be alive to receive the final devotional care. Aman received me at the gate and rushed me to the CCU. She lay motionless, barely holding on, thanks to full dose of life supportive drugs and ventilator. The heart-attack had extensively damaged the cardiac muscles and the it was barely functioning at 15% of its capacity.

I put Gopi-chandan on her forehead, placed the maha-garland and tulasi mala around her neck, a picture of Radha-Gopinath besides her and prayed. Then I played HH Radhanath Maharaj's Hare Krishna maha-mantra kirtan for about 5 minutes. Although her eyes were taped shut, when the kirtan was played, she flickered here eyebrows. Aman P's father too noticed it.

Then I came out, and according to the guidelines I had seen being practiced in Bhakti Vedanta Hospital, advised the family members. "Please go to her and tell her that you all love her. Tell her that she had been a great mother and grandmother. Beg forgiveness for your mistakes and also forgive her for hers. Tell her to not worry about you; that you will take care after she departs. Tell her to go back to Krishna, and not feel attached to anything of this world."

The family members nodded but they were shocked and grieved. Leaving them, I came downstairs with Aman. I had seen how during the departure of Gaurang P's father, HH Radhanath Maharaj had called from abroad and consoled all the family members. He also spoke with Prabhu ji's father. I too wanted to offer words of Maharaj to these devotees. But there was no way I could call Maharaj and make him speak to them. I prayed to Guru Maharaj and felt an inspiration to hear his words. So I just played the lecture I had been hearing on my phone that day. Amazingly, he said: "Spiritually when we forget Krishna we are dead. Spiritually when we are remembering Krishna we have eternal life. A devotee doesn’t consider whether this body lives or dies as very important. A devotee considers spiritually whether I am alive with Krishna. I remember Him always. In remembrance of Krishna there is no fear of material existence because in remembrance of Krishna material existence actually ceases to be within our minds and hearts. Krishna surya sama maya hoye andhakar. jahan surya tahan maya nahi adhikar Krishna is like the Sun and maya, ignorance which is the source of all misery and ignorance is like darkness. In the presence o the Sun there can be no darkness. If we just keep our mind attached to the radiant Sun of Krishna’s name or Krishna’s pastimes or Krishna’s form, then the darkness of ignorance which is the cause of all misery and suffering in this world it ceases to exist."

I was shocked. I had been hearing the lecture since morning, and there was no context of life and death in it. But now that we played his talk, he seemed to be directly addressing our situation.

Then Maharaj described how Prahalad Maharaj was tested in various ways. If we look at the exact moment when Prahalad was being thrown in to the pit of venomous snakes, or thrown from the top of a mountain cliff, at that moment we would feel that the Lord had abandoned Prahalad, that He was no longer caring for His dear devotee. But only when we look at the next scene can we realize how the Lord save His devotee. Similarly, during a certain distressing situation we may feel that the Lord has abandoned us, but if we keep hope and persevere, we will see that the Lord is always with us, and even in the difficulty, He pulls us through to ultimate safety and shelter.

Encouraged by these words of Maharaj, Aman began to intensely chant and pray for his grandmother. After some time, I left the hospital advising them to read Gita beside the patient. Shortly after I reached home I received the news that Mataji had left this material world.

Later that evening I continued hearing that lecture. Maharaj said that we should pray that our dying relatives go back to Krishna. "This is the greatest service you can do," he said, "much greater than anything you have done ever for them while they were living."

These words gave me hope that what we had done was the best possible for Mataji. It also renewed my faith in the words of Guru Maharaj and process of Krishna consciousness. At times we may not have spiritual master's physical presence, but his vani, which is always accessible, has all the power to deliver his transcendental message, blessings and guidance. It's a transcendental connection-functional, effective and potent, least affected by the apparent limitations of material time and place.
We just have to open our hearts and have a little faith. Krishna is there, ready to reach to us.

FINDING SHELTER IN SUFFERING

Finding shelter in sufferings

In the most hopeless situation there is hope—when we turn to Lord Krishna.

 “Can you please speak to my relatives,” a doctor friend requested me after one Sunday feast program in our temple. “Their youngest son died in an accident recently,” he said, “They are much traumatized.”

I agreed and went to meet the family in a corridor outside the temple hall. The father explained to me how the son had gone to a picnic with his friends and there he drowned in a river. He was just 18. I listened patiently and when they asked some questions I offered some answers that I thought would be hope giving in their painful situation. After half and hour of talk some of the family members seemed consoled, though the mother had been silently shedding incessant tears.  

As we parted my thoughts veered to another story I had heard. It  too, took place near a lake, a sudden catastrophe that struck a family, but the attitude of the victim turned a life-threatening crisis up-side down.

NIGHTMARE ON AN EXCURSION

Once a mighty elephant, named Gajendra, the head of his heard, went to a lake to bathe along with his many wives, children, and other members of the herd. Bathing in the cool, clear waters thoroughly refreshed them and then they sported by raising water from the lake with their trunks and spraying it over each other. Suddenly when everyone was laughing and enjoying water sports in the crystal clear lotus filled lake, a crocodile attacked Ganendra and would not let go. The elephant, sure of his mighty strength, fought valiantly, but could not free himself. Seeing him in that grave condition, his wives felt very, very sorry and began to cry. The other elephants wanted to help him, but because of the crocodile’s great strength, they could not rescue him by grasping him from behind. The fight continued for a long time, slowly draining away the strength of the elephant.

 

THE INEVITABILITY OF DISASTER

This story, which is not yet over, is narrated in Shrimad Bhagvatam, which through many such descriptions offers us valuables lessons of life. Here Gajendra can be compared to a perosn and the crocodile to the miseries that afflict him or her. Gajendra was living what any person would consider an ideal life in every possible way—terrific power, presitige, and control, loving family and friends, and luxuriant life-style. But now he found himself trapped in the jaws of a crocodile.  Similarly our world is full of many crocodiles with sharp teeth, great strenght and different appearances. Some may not look as menacing as the amphibian reptile—for example a mosquito or a virus—but can have the same effect as the crocodile had to Gajendra. They come in different forms. Either natural disasters, or miseries arising from others like terrorist attacks, corruption, disease, and exploitation or miseries due to ones own body or mind. These crocodiles seem to be inbuilt in the world. We may feel that we are safe now, but they are there, just a step away waiting to clench their mighty jaws upon us.That is the world we live in.

One may feel that problems are indeed part of life and one should fight them with courage and determination.

I agree. But what generally is our crisis management strategy? When faced with a crisis, we pitch our personal strength, intelligence or finances or garner support of friends, relatives and political leaders.  But there are always situations when all our support systems fail. Disease don’t turn away if one is rich or beautiful, nor do accidents not happen to big scholars and famous personalities, and what can all the money do if a terrorist decides to plant a bomb in the office you work in? Some day when all our support systems fail, then what? Whom will we turn to?

For the answer let us go back to Gajendra.

SURRENDER TO THE SUPREME

When Gajendra saw he had no power to defend himself and none of his friends, relatives, or wives could help him, he became extremely afraid of being killed. He consequently thought for a long time and finally reached the following decision. “It is by the will of providence that I have been attacked by this crocodile, and therefore I shall seek shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always the shelter of everyone, even of great personalities.” Shrimad Bhagvatam (8.2.31-33)

Gajendra began to pray from his heart and soon God manifested right before him. Gajendra had been forcefully captured by the crocodile in the water and was feeling acute pain, but when he saw that Lord was coming in the sky he immediately took a lotus flower in his trunk, and with great difficulty due to his painful condition, he offered it to the Lord. The Lord  Naryana pulled the King of the elephants, along with the crocodile, out of the water. Then the Lord severed the crocodile’s mouth from its body with His disc. In this way He saved Gajendra.

This approach of Gajendra is one that we should consider because by turning to God we, too, can find the ultimate sheltor. We may not have Krishna come in person before us, but surely His help will.

THE CREATION OF CALAMITY

One may still feel reluctant to approach God for a solution and just wait, either because life is comfortable or because one feels that the tragedy will tide over. This inertia is because of ignorance about the unseen powerful dynamics that control this world.

The Vedic texts teach us that this material world is created for the rebellius souls—all of us—who have turned away from God to enjoy independent of Him. Being a loving father, God has created an imitation world for us to enjoy to our hearts’ content. But since He wants us to enjoy the best, and not just be happy with the imitation, He has employed His representative, Durga Devi, the supervisor of material world, to gradually bring us to proper knowledge. So along with the advice of the scriptures and the sages on how to enjoy to our hearts’ content in this world and then eventually transcend it to go back to God, we also have the crocodiles of Durga Devi that by biting us shake us out of our inertia and make us want to escape this miserable place.

The reality is that the moment we come in this material world, these crocodiles have us in their grips and despite our best hopes and efforts, the crocodile will not let go of us. The only thing that can break us lose from the jaws of the crocodile of material energy is when we totally humble ourselves like Gajendra realizing that we are completely helpless and then surrender to Krsna, the supreme Lord .

Our illusion is that we are not aware of our predicament. And even if we are aware sometimes, our illusion is that we think it is going to go away. Unless we surrender to Krsna, it doesn’t. 

KRISHNA – OUR COMPANION IN THE DARKEST TIMES

In every situation, even in the most extreme condition Krishna is always there to help us. He never lets His devotee down. He is ‘suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà: everyone’s best friend. He is right there within our hearts, just waiting to give us a completely blissful life. No matter what we do, no matter what we have done, Krishna never leaves us. Who could be a better friend than Him? Birth after birth we have totally betrayed, blasphemed, and rejected Him, still He is with us. His love is unconditional; He never leaves us. He is always waiting, always willing to give us a chance. There is no time when Krishna will not deliver us, if we just turn to him. And that is what He did to Gajendra.

This choice of seeking sheltor of Lord is one that we have to make moment after moment throughout our sojourn in material world. Because it is easy to forget Lord when we find that the teeth of crocodile are no longer biting into our flesh. Then our dorment desires of enjoying the illusion raise their heads again. Again we should learn from Gajendra.

Gajendra, after being liberated, was not thinking of enjoying again in this world. If it were so then Krishna would have just left him there. Krishna would have said, “Oh! You want to enjoy here, but there is going to be another crocodile. You are not out of the real crocodile’s mouth.” But after he was liberated from the crocodile Gajendra didn’t want to do anything except serve the Lord, love the Lord. He was so grateful. So seeing that that he had no other desire, he lost all his hopes in the blind faith of maya’s false promises within this world, Krishna not only cut him out of the crocodile, He put him on an airplane and sent him directly to Vaikuntha to the spiritual world.

HOLY NAME—THE ONLY HOPE

In this age the Holy Name of the Lord  incarnate to liberate us from the jaws of crocodile of material energy and take us back home to the eternal world of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So in the spirit of Gajendra, not tomorrow but today, we should learn to surrender to Lord with a humble and sincere heart. When we have that humility, that grateful tolerance, offering all respects to others not expecting oneself, that is the spirit by which we can actually take shelter of the Lord. That’s the meaning of surrender. At superficial level surrender means doing what you are told. But deep down surrender means to have that type of humility, “My Lord I am Yours. ashlishya va pada-ratam pinashöu mam: “You can trample on me or You can embrace me or You can make me broken hearted. Whatever situation You put me in My Lord, I am Yours. (Shikshashtaka 8) And all I have is Your holyname.

This is the spirit of Gajendra and the lesson of Shrimad Bhagavatam. To welcome the adversities that come in our lives and transform them in to blessings by sincerely and intensely taking shelter of the holynames of the Lord. The whole material existence is especially designed to give us the optimum scenario in which we can really, seriously from our hearts, following in the footsteps of Gajendra cry out, Krishna’s holy names. Factually in every situation the crocodile of suffering and death is eminent. One who takes shelter of the Lord when difficulties come, for that person alone is the supreme liberation his or her rightful claim. Even when great difficulties arise, impediments, setbacks, disturbances, intrusions, when they come into our lives, with folded palms and grateful hearts we welcome them. “Actually I deserve worse and this is only a token by Krishna.”

All dangers are actually blessings. Because the body dies, today, tomorrow, anyway. But if we can once take shelter of Krishna and sincerely cry out his holynames, the soul is delivered. Krishna is inviting us into His eternal transcendental pastimes to give us total relief and shelter and ecstatic joy. Why wait for the crocodile?

This article is inspired by the discourses on “Gajendra Moksha” given by H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaja.

HOSPITAL

HOSPITAL

Life begins and ends here.

I sit and watch,

As the cycle of life moves all around me.

People are born.

They grow.

And they come here when diseased.

I move, and wait

And sometimes give medicines.

They see me and smile,

 Hoping I will bring

Some good news for their suffering relatives

At times I do have good news.

Then they heal and leave.

Sometimes to heal,

I have to wield a knife.

Cut the diseased part,

 Scoop out the pus and pour in the medicine.

At times I witness the hands of time,

Winding up the final few moments of someone’s life.

I can’t do anything but stand by and pray.

Sometimes the sheer aspect of suffering is overwhelming.

A frail old woman

Living alone and helpless,  

Comes to me,

Brutally assaulted by her greedy neighbors

who leave her to die.

All for a piece of gold.

A young lass of fifteen,

who lost consciousness, while bathing,

due to poisonous gases emanating from her gas geyser.

She lay comatose on the floor,

Her skin being scalded

by the overflowing hot water.

She is still sleeping, her limbs are stiff like wood.

I go in to her room with my senior.

We check her eyes, arms, and legs.

We pinch to see if she can wince or move or cry.

In days she does.

Her mother has watery eyes.

“How is my baby, doctor?

When will she talk?

When is she going to get up?”

The doctor looks out of the window.

“She has a long way to go.”

He touches the corner of his eyes

 and sniffs.

Is he a stone?

You may ask.

 He is not, my friend.

 He has a heart.

But if he cries,

He will not be able to work.

He still has to bring a smile to your lips

—his next patient.

Naked

Naked

I stand before You

O Lord!

Bereft of all my possessions,

prestige, name, fame,

good qualities, glories,

money, knowledge, slickness.

My sores, stigmas,

scars, dirt, sickness,

ugliness, stench, slackness,

sleaze

are all open before You.

I am Your child

O Lord!

But for You

I have no shelter.

I come before You

and confess my sins.

I beg for Your mercy.

Please accept me.

I have no qualification

to seek Your shelter.

Yet I come before You

Shame faced yet shameless.

Full of hope that

You alone can lift me

and restore my soul

to its original position-

a particle of dust

at Your lotus feet.

You are the greatest healer.

Heal my soul O Lord!

By Your divine touch.

By Your kind embrace.

Forgive me please

and keep me with You.

Let my mind not waver

from Your service

from Your lotus feet.

Let it be here

Next to You.

Near You.

My Sweet Lord
Thank You for Your shelter

r

Elements of Nature

Elements of Nature that Remind of God

The reddish golden glow of dawn reminds me of the color of Shrimati Radharani and Lord Caitanya.

Fanning sun rays that pierce the clouds appear like arms of Lord ready to embrace.

The mighty rivers with their gentle currents beckon me like mothers. 

The baby-powder like soft mud of holy dhams pampers my feet as though I walk in the lap of Supreme Mother. 

As the breeze rustles the tree leaves and lightly caresses me, I remember the words of my spiritual master, "When a cool breeze blows in Vrindanvan, it means Lord Krishna is embracing you."

 The trees in Vrindavan with 'Sri Radhe' and 'Sri Krishna' written on them seem like age-old friends. Early morning or in dark evenings, when no one watches, I embrace them. A divine feeling of shelter and love of God enters with in me as I press my heart to theirs.

Time and Waves

Time and Waves

·

Time and waves

They come over and sweep me.
My hair fly off my face.
I shut my eyes as invisible fingers
run through my hair and
caress my cheeks.

As the cold wind embraces me
I feel Your love, O Lord.
I experience Your kindness and warmth
in that cold touch.

As my mother would plant her moist lips on my forehead
I feel Your kiss on my head
You hold me tight, as my father would do.
And You pat me on the back.

I am Your boy.
I know.
I feel Your love
in Your kind compassionate eyes
and those loving glances.
You smile on seeing me
and You talk.
You hold my hand as I falter

You set limits You feel I should not cross
even as I want to do so.
Because I am rebellious
and confused.
You raise the walls.
Not like in a prison with boundaries
But with sweet bonds of love.

You whisper Your messages
That reverberate in my heart.
And You speak through my friends and strangers,
who say different words
but their message is the same:
'Hold on! Don't give up.
Fight. Stay!'

I give up my rebellion for now.
I open my arms
and rush in to Yours
For the deepest, loveliest
warmest of all hugs.

Thank You Lord

I am Yours.
You are mine

Satire 

A Case on Mother Yashoda

 Considering an Indian couple Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya unqualified to raise their kids, Norway's child protective services took away their two children and placed them in foster care. The parents’ fault? They fed the children with their hands and the infants slept in the same bed as the parents.

We have learnt that as the next step, the Norwegian government is planning to sue Mother Yashoda. The government thinks that by feeding little Gopal with her own hands Mother Yashoda is setting a bad example. This practice is highly unhygienic and leads to overfeeding. Moreover by seating little Gopal in her lap, kissing Him, constantly embracing Him even while sleeping, she is endangering the health of the baby. On top of it by circulating the images of such backward practices through internet, books like the Gita and the Srimad Bhagwatam and their discourses in Norway, the Hare Krishna’s are polluting the minds of innocent Norwegian public.  

Believe you me the Norwegian Government is doing the right thing. If parents seat their kids on their laps and feed them with hands, then obviously the kids are going to become obese. And if on being scared the kids are embraced and allowed to sleep with their parents, then how will the kids become bold and fearless. By making them sleep on a different couch and by letting them eat on their own, we teach the kids self-dependence.

Look at the western world. How advanced they are in their food, clothing, life-style, heath, cleanliness, money, education, employment and everything. Look at their standards of enjoying life. When they become bored with their spouse they take divorce and re-marry. The percentage of first marriages ending in divorce is at a highly advanced rate of 50%. And what is our score?...  A measly 1.5%. Shame on us!  And how intelligent they are. Realizing the difficulties in getting divorced, they have now decided to do away with the complications of marriage, instead choosing to “live-in”, so that anytime they want they can move out. Some foolish people say that children born to divorced or separated parents are highly traumatized. In custody battles, the kids are cruelly forced to choose between either of their parents. Such people should realize that this teaches the kids to make the right choices at very young age. This will serve them well later.

Ignorant religious people say, “Material and physical well-being is not the only thing; we should also take care of the mind and soul. Parental affection makes the child feel secured and internally strong. Children from broken homes suffer from inferiority complex, anxiety, depression and are more prone of juvenile criminal behavior. But these are small issues with complete cure available through mental health physicians.

On the other hand, the western world takes such nice care of their elderly. There are first-class old age homes for them, where they can comfortably live their final days in the company of other elderly people. While in India, the youngsters in the family break their back caring for their old folks.

A press-release from the Indian foreign affairs department has disclosed that a high level Indian delegation has requested their Norwegian counterpart to reconsider their decision to sue Mother Yashoda. The Norwegian Government has now decided to send their expert to Vrindavan to meet Mother Yashoda and teach her modern methods of parenting and upbringing.

Our confidential sources have just revealed that before the Norwegian expert could visit India, she lost the court case for child custody, her kids choosing to live with their father. Under profound depression after the court-ruling, our expert attempted suicide by overdosing on narcotics. At present she is undergoing psychiatric rehabilitation.

Due to this delay, currently there is no stopping our dear Nandalal from sitting in His mother’s lap and fondly eating butter from her loving hands.