Leave Godmen Accept God

At any given time in India, there are a number of holy men claiming to cure all by their mystical powers. However, a similar miracle man is now in the news for all the wrong reasons. First the media and now the police are accusing him of spreading superstitions, charging money for his cures, and cheating. On the other hand his faithful followers swear by his magical powers.

What is the truth? Does this miracle baba have the ability to see the past, predict the future, heal the sick and give mercy through his supernatural powers? Or is he a crook?

Our answer may surprise you. He might possess supernatural powers, as many others like him do. Mystic powers that are beyond you, me, and modern science do exist. Srila Prabhupada explains: There are eight kinds of yogic perfection (siddhis): aëimä, laghimä, präpti, éçitva, vaçitva, mahimä, präkämya and kämävasäyitä. A real yogé can become smaller than the smallest, lighter than the lightest and bigger than the biggest. Whatever he wants he can produce immediately in his hand. He can even create a planet. (Teachings of Lord Kapila Verse 13 purport)

So what?

Does it make these people god? No. God is God, the supreme controller, enjoyer and proprietor, the most beautiful, the all-attractive—Krishna.

But then why do people decide to turn to these godmen and not God? Lord Krishna explains this psychology in Gita 4.12, “Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods (or these godmen). Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.” Nothing wrong here, we may feel, it’s a simple case of demand and supply. But surprisingly, Lord Krishna calls this approach less intelligent (Bg 7.20). Because there is catch—these boons and solutions are temporary, barely lasting for a while. They are not eternal and surely not powerful enough to help us cross the cycle of birth and death.

If we are sick and we eat some magical ash, we may find benefit. But if this simple cure turns us into swooning followers of these miracle men, we are in for a rude shock. Either their powers will dwindle or being mere mortals, they will have to succumb before the all-powerful time and death. What, then, will be our shelter?

Surrender to Lord Krishna

If we are still in awe of these mystic powers, let’s see how Srila Prabhupada responded to such cases. (Following is a paraphrased version). When told about someone’s mystic feats like levitation, he dismissed them by saying that even cockroaches fly (TKG’s diary July 26). When someone charged money for giving mantra or mercy, he asked, “Why not give it free?” (Los Angeles, February 18, 1969). When someone claimed to be god, he asked, “When there is some tooth pain, you go to the doctor, and you are God?” (Mumbai, April 11, 1974) Srila Prabhupada’s point was simple—instead of surrendering to these fallible miracle men, surrender to Krishna. Krishna is infallible. He is yogeshwar, the master of all yogic powers and the original source from whom all these powerful personalities derive their power.

Therefore the Bhagwatam implores us to be prudent and  turn to Krishna, “A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead” (SB 2.3.10).

But we may have our doubts. “Will Krishna free us from our terrible sufferings?” Lord Krishna may remove our miseries like these miracle men or He may not, but He will surely make us strong enough to bear them. One may also have reservations due to apparent lack of direct access to Lord Krishna. But thanks to a mentorship process prearranged by Lord in the Gita (4.2), we can access His wonderful teachings through His bonafide representatives. These spiritual masters can guide us to live a holistic and harmonious life even in these turbulent times. The process is simple—a mindful meditation on the holy names of the Lord: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare  Rama Rama Hare Hare. You can chant this mantra anytime, anywhere, anyhow. It can deliver us from this world of miseries and take us to Vaikuntha, the place of all peace and love.

Try it. It’s free.

ICE-COLD

Early morning, I stepped out of my warm room to the dew-covered lawn to pluck flowers for puja. It was icy with 4^o C temperature.  As I took my hands out of my cozy jacket pockets, they brushed against an unclean surface. My fingers had been sore due to cold, and the very thought of washing them with freezing water sent shivers down my spine. But one can't make offerings with unclean hands. I clenched my teeth, picked the hose and put my hand under the running water, ready for the bitter jolt. To my utter surprise the water was warm and gentle. I realized it was the municipal water supply and probably freshly tapped from ground.

My eyes brimmed with tears. Here I was, accepting some pain to serve Lord and how He was reciprocating by saving me that torture. The warmth of that water was overflowing with the infinite love and mercy of Lord. I could feel His care and benevolence.  The bleak moments of my life shone with the light of His grace.

I picked up a rose and offered to Lord Gopinath at the altar. He smiled. And I realized He was there, watching me, His estranged son.

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.