Remembering Srila Prabhupada -Tells a Story About Shah Jahan

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Prabhupada Tells a Story About Shah Jahan

 

 

"I am just trying to explain that the purpose of a

book must be known to the author, and he knows it

better than others. There is an instructive story to

show this. It is not only a story, it is a fact. In

Calcutta a great dramatist, Mr. Rath, who was also a

very well known government official, wrote a book,

Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan means the emperor Shah Jahan.

The title on the book is the name of the book's hero.

So one of the friends of Mr. Rath inquired, 'In your

book, Shah Jahan, the actual hero is Aurangzeb. Why

have you given the book the title Shah Jahan?' He

could not understand it.

 

"The author replied, 'My dear friend, the actual hero

is Shah Jahan, not Aurangzeb.' Yet the Shah Jahan book

is full of activities of Aurangzeb. But the fact is

that Shah Jahan was the emperor. He had four or five

sons, and when his wife died at an early age, he built

her a memorial. Those who have gone to India, who have

seen the Taj Mahal building, that was constructed in

the memory of Shah Jahan's wife, Mumtaz, by Shah

Jahan. He spent all his money constructing that

building. It is one of the seven wonders of the world.

Shah Jahan was a very affectionate father also. He did

not chastise his sons much. He spent all of his money

constructing for the memory of his wife. But when the

sons grew up, the third son, Aurangzeb, came out very

crooked and he made a plan how to usurp the empire. He

killed his brothers, and he arrested his father, Shah

Jahan. So this is the plot of the book Shah Jahan. But

the author says that Aurangzeb is not the hero. The

hero is Shah Jahan. Then he explained.

 

"Why? Because Shah Jahan was living, sitting in the

Agra fort as a prisoner, and all the reactions of

Aurangzeb's activities -- the killing of his other

sons, the usurping of the empire -- all these things

were beating on the heart of Shah Jahan. Therefore he

was suffering and he is the hero.

 

"This is an example that the author of a book knows

very well what is the purpose of that book. That is my

statement. Similarly, these Vedanta-sutras were

compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, or Krsna's incarnation,

or Krsna Himself. So He knows what is the

Vedanta-sutra. Therefore, if you want to understand

the Vedanta-sutra, you must understand Krsna. And

Srila Vyasadeva explains the Vedanta-sutra in the

Srimad-Bhagavatam. Many rascals will comment in

different ways, but the author of Vedanta personally

wrote a commentary, Srimad-Bhagavatam."

 

Lecture, May 21, 1972, Los Angeles.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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