suchandra Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Instructive story of Panchatantra ends with, " love once betrayed cannot be regained", it's over, finished, done, gone, out. The Brahmin and The Cobra http://panchatantra.org/the-brahmin-and-the-cobra.html Haridatta was a Brahmin living in a hamlet. He was a farmer but the piece of land he cultivated gave him very little to survive. One day, unable to stand the heat of the summer sun, he went to a big tree in his land to rest for a while. Before he could spread himself on the ground he saw in the nearby anthill a huge cobra swaying with his hood open. He thought, “This cobra must really be the Goddess of this land. I have never worshipped her, which is why I am not able to get anything from the land. From today, I will worship her.” At once he went back to his village and returned with a glass full of milk. He poured it in a bowl and turning to the anthill said, “O ruler of the land, I did not know you were living in this anthill. That is why I have not paid my tribute to you. Please excuse me and accept this humble offering.” He then placed the bowl of milk at the anthill and left the place. Next day when the Brahmin came to his land before the Sun was up, he saw a gold coin in the bowl he had left at the anthill. Henceforth, he came alone every dawn, collected the coin, offered the milk in the bowl and left. One day the Brahmin, leaving for another village on business, asked his son to go to the anthill and offer milk. When the son went the next day, he found a gold coin in the bowl. He collected the coin and thought, “This anthill must be full of gold. If I kill the cobra, I can collect all the gold in one go instead of coming here every day.” He then struck the cobra with a big stick. But the cobra deftly dodged the blow but stung the son to death with his poisonous fangs. Returning to his village the next day, Haridatta heard the story of his son’s death and at once realised that greed was behind it. The Brahmin went to the anthill the day after his son’s cremation and offered milk to the cobra. Without coming out of his hole, the cobra told Haridatta, “You have come here for gold forgetting that you had lost a son and that you were in mourning. The reason is greed, pure greed. From today, there is no meaning in our relationship. Blinded by his youth, your son has struck me and I bit him back. How can I forget that blow? How can you suffer the grief of your son’s death? Finally, I am giving you this diamond, don’t come back again.” Ending the story of the Brahmin and the cobra, Raktaksha told Arimardana, “The lesson is that love once betrayed cannot be regained. source: Panchatantra.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sopatel Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Suchandra, what a true story people have nothing to do with you unless you offer something in return. Nice lesson to learn God Bless Jai Shri Krishna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Yes in wordly relationships once love is betrayed trust cannot be reestablished. The exception to this would be our relationship to Krsna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 “The lesson is that love once betrayed cannot be regained" I am not sure that this is a very good translation. There was no real love between the cobra and the brahmin. There was maybe trust, friendship, etc. but not real love. One in real love quickly forgets everything that is in the way of love, including betrayal. Love is blind, love hurts, and so on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realist Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 suchandra the Instructive story of Panchatantra, " love once betrayed cannot be regained", it's over, finished, done, gone, out", is nonsense, you are not intelligently looking at the bigger picture. You sound lIke a Christian who claims we burn in eternally in hell. That is a vengful angry nasty god where as through the teachings of Srimad Bhagavatam "love once betrayed CAN be regained!!" After all, we betrayed Krishna by choosing to come to the material world. Theist explains this fact The exception to this would be our relationship to Krsna. In the material world nothing is set, Karma is temporary so Love Once Betrayed Cannot Be Regained? is NOT always the case. Why? Because the concept of 'betrayal' is a material thing and memorary of it will eventually fade away with the passing of time and will be forgotten. Love will always be regained EVEN IN THIS LIFE or in the next life or maybe after many lifes of experiencing bad karma. In other words, love that has been betrayed in a previous life and in this life can and will always be eventually regained in this material world and even again in this life if one is spiritual advance enough to hate the sin but not the sinner. To spread the causless mercy of Lord Caitanya a devotee must think this way and achieve what many thought was impossible. The lesson is that love once betrayed can be regained by recieving the mercy of Lord Caitanya again even after offending and betraying devotee's. So never write anyone off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Yes but realist I think the panchatantra was only directed as a teaching on wordly relationships. And I think it correct. In fact is it not the accumulation of these failed loving relationships enmassed over countless lifetimes that ultimately exhaust the soul of the propensity to look for fullfillment in matter? The way I see it is the moral of the story is correct as far as it goes but like everything material it needs to have the Krsna conscious dimension added to it to complete the picture. Suchandra was only opening up a line of discussion and not making a proclamation that all is hopeless in the long run. We can be sure that he agrees with what you have written about Mahaprabhu's mercy reinstating us in Divine love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suchandra Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 suchandra the Instructive story of Panchatantra, " love once betrayed cannot be regained", it's over, finished, done, gone, out", is nonsense, Thanks realist, yes this is what a forum is meant for, to work things out. It is of course nice when here and then some perfect masterpieces of spiritual knowledge are posted, but I also wasn't sure about the wisdom of this story. Looks rather a bit like another mockery against the brahmin caste. I also remember vagely that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja once said to kill a snake doesnt produce karmic reaction. "So long, long ago, sometimes in the year 1933 in this Caitanya Math, there was a big snake came out in my front. I was taking bath. So everyone was looking what to do. So Guru Maharaja was on the upstair. He immediately ordered, "Kill him." So it was killed. So at that time, 1933, I was newcomer. So I thought, "How that? Guru Maharaja ordered this snake to be killed?" I was little surprised. But later on, when I saw this verse, I was very glad. Modeta sadhur api vrscika-sarpa-hatya. It remained a doubt, "How Guru Maharaja ordered a snake to be killed?" But when I read this verse I was very much pleased, that these creatures, or creatures like the snake, they should not be shown any mercy. No. And Canakya Pandita said there are two kinds of cruel creatures. One kind is a sarpah krurah. The snake is very cruel. Sarpah krurah, khalah krurah. And khala, a person who has awakened the quality like snake... Then there is no fault. Why a snake is called so cruel? Because unnecessarily they bite. If somebody commits some offense unto you, if you bite me, that is reasonable. But I have no fault, but you are biting me. The vrscika, scorpion, and snake, they do that, without any offense. A man is passing, an animal is passing--unnecessarily it bites, without offense. A man is sleeping--it bites. Therefore they are very dangerous. Similarly, there are men also like the snake--without any fault, they bite, without any fault. If I do something faulty, you can punish me, bite. But without any fault, if you bite me... So therefore Canakya Pandita says, sarpah krurah-khalah krurah sarpat kruratarah khalah. Such person is called khala, envious, jealous. So there are two living creatures. One is snake, and one is jealous or envious person. So Canakya Pandita said, sarpat kruratarah khalah: "This man, envious man, is more dangerous than the snake. Than the snake." Why? He's a human being. Yes, because he's human being and he has got developed consciousness and he has practiced to use the developed consciousness for becoming jealous, He's more dangerous than the snake." [srila Prabhupada Lecture from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.14, Mayapur, February 21, 1976] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-folktales/panchatantra-tales/gold-giving-serpent.html in this rendition of the story the moral is supposed to be: Excess of greed is harmful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suchandra Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-folktales/panchatantra-tales/gold-giving-serpent.html in this rendition of the story the moral is supposed to be: Excess of greed is harmful. or: "cursing the lack of understanding of his son." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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