Remembering Srila Prabhupada - I am not stealing

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Srila Prabhupada NectarShort Stories

 

In Washington, D.C., devotees showed Srila Prabhupada

news photos of the planet Mars taken recently by a

space craft that had supposedly gone near the planet.

The news article described how the Martian landscape

was similar to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Prabhupada laughed to hear this and related a story

from Bengal.

A man was in his room at night, when he suddenly heard

a noise. Starting up in bed, he called out, "Who is

there?"

"Oh!" came a voice in reply. "I am not stealing."

Prabhupada said, "This is the psychology. No one

asked if he was stealing, but because that was his

business, he revealed himself without being asked.

Similarly, no one has asked the scientist to compare

Mars with Arizona, but they have done so because

actually that is where their business is. They have

never been near Mars with their spaceship; their real

business is in Arizona."

 

When one of Prabhupada's disciples left Hong Kong, his

area of preaching, without authorisation, Srila

Prabhupada was displeased. Meeting up with him in

another country, Prabhupada reprimanded him. "But why

did you leave, rascal?" said Prabhupada. And then he

told a story, as given by the poet Kalidasa.

A man was sitting on the end of a tree branch sawing

on the portion of the limb between himself and the

tree trunk. Seeing the danger, a passerby called out,

"If you keep on sawing you are going to fall."

Go away, said the man on the limb, "I don't want

anything to do with you. I don't want to listen."

The man continued sawing until the branch broke and he

fell to the ground. He then hurried after the man who

had warned him. "You must be an astrologer - you can

predict the future."

Prabhupada said, "That's the definition of a rascal.

Someone who is going, but he doesn't know where he is

going. So that is like you," he said to the disciple.

"You left Hong Kong, but you didn't know what you

were going to do next."

 

To illustrate the foolishness of becoming a blind

follower, Prabhupada told a story about the death of

Sargal Singh.

Sargal Singh was very much loved by a merchant, and so

when Sargal Singh died, the man shaved his head and

wore darken clothes. When another man came into the

merchant's shop, he asked who had died.

"Sargal Singh has died," said the merchant. The

visitor did not want to seem ignorant so he did not

ask who Sargal Singh was, but he also shaved his head

and wore dark clothes. Other people in town began to

follow, not wanting to appear ignorant. When anyone

asked who had died, they replied, "Sargal Singh has

died."

When a minister of the king saw so many citizens in

mourning he also wore dark clothes and shaved his

head. But when the king saw this, he inquired, "Why

are you mourning and for whom?"

"Sargal Singh", the minister replied. The king asked,

"Who is that?" When the minister couldn't answer the

king told him to find out. The minister then inquired

and inquired and finally reached the merchant.

"Who is Sargal Singh?"

The merchant replied, "Sargal Singh was my donkey,

whom I loved very much."

- From the Nectar by HH Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

 

Please Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna

Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare

Hare And Be Happy

 

 

 

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