The Brahmana & The Prostitute

[Sarva gattah]

 

 

The Brahmana & The Prostitute

 

 

 

 

 

Once, in the peaceful village of Vrndavana, the transcendental place where Krsna manifested His pastimes on earth, there lived a scholarly brahmana (priest) and servant of Krsna. Opposite his home, there lived a prostitute.

 

As a daily observance, the brahmana would sit in his doorway and recite the Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, then cook offering for the Dieties in the Temple. Meanwhile, across the street, the prostitute would tend to her business.

 

As the years passed, the brahmana grew ever more disturbed by the prostitute.

 

“Just see how lowly and disgusting she is, how can such a low life ever leave her disgraceful body in the beautuful land of Vrndavana.”

 

He would proudly and arrogently think to himself, then continued with his recitation while cooking various preperations.

 

It so happened that both the brahmana and the prostitute died at the same time. To the brahmana’s surprise, the Vishnuduttas (the Lord of Vaikuntha's messengers) came to deliver the prostitute while the Yamadutas (the Lord of Death’s messengers) came for him.

 

“What is this?” he protested.

 

“There must be some mistake!”

 

The Visnudutas replied,

 

“My dear brahmana, there is no mistake. While you were busy meditating on the lowly activities of the prostitute, she listened to you recite the Gita and prayed that she could one day elevate herself to your position.

 

In this way the prostitute achieved liberation while you only degraded yourself to take birth on a planet of prostitutes.”

[theist]

 

“My dear brahmana, there is no mistake. While you were busy meditating on the lowly activities of the prostitute, she listened to you recite the Gita and prayed that she could one day elevate herself to your position.

 

In this way the prostitute achieved liberation while you only degraded yourself to take birth on a planet of prostitutes.”

 

We must stalk the mind relentlessly.

[sopatel]

what a wakeup call to the ego.

Very nice story.

 

Jai Shri Krishna

[indulekhadasi]

Yes, amazing. Wonderful and instructive story.

[thehat]

Nice

[yogesh]

 

We must stalk the mind relentlessly.

A similar anecdote regarding the mind. It was written sometime ago on this forum. It goes something like this....

 

Two Budhist Monks, a new initiated junior monk and a more senior Monk, were walking back to their monastary. As they were walking they came across a woman who was in distress. She wanted to cross a stream to get to the other side.

 

The two monks saw the woman and the junior monk thought to himself "We are celibate monks it is not possible to help this woman because we are practicing celibacy so we cannot approach her let alone carry her across the stream!!!!

 

The Senior Monk without any hesitation carried the woman across the stream. Then the Junior Monk just looked at the senior Monk and said nothing and the two carried on with their journey back to the Monastry.

 

After about 2 - 3hours of walk they arrived at the monastary. The Junior Monk could not keep it in any more and turned around to the senior monk and said:

 

"Why did you carry that woman did you forget we are practicing celibate Monks??? We may not speak to any woman let alone what you did by physically touching her!!!!

 

The Senior Monk looked at the Junior Monk and after contemplating for a few minutes he told the Junior Monk...

 

"How long did it take me to carry this woman across the stream??? Maybe 5-10 minutes at most. But You have carried her for 2 - 3hours on our journey back to our Monastary!!!!!" (You Rascal You!!!)

 

Hare Krsna/Krishna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[suchandra]

 

 

As the years passed, the brahmana grew ever more disturbed by the prostitute.

 

 

 

This life of material existence is just like hard wood and if we can carve Krsna out of it, that is the sucess of our life.

[theist]

The Brahman and the prostitute and the two monks give us the same lesson.

 

Now we must see how to apply the lesson in our day to day lives. Stalk the mind. Observe it carefully. This is Sunday and many will attend a Sunday feast.

 

Some new people will come by. Maybe some who are dirty and just looking for a meal. When we see such people (as most of us once were) immediately observe your mind's reaction. Any feelings of superiority of judgment?

 

Hopefully we will teach the mind to see Paramatma bringing some more of His children back to Him in which the temple trip may be a big part. Seeing this reality if we choose to cooperate with Him in that glorious endeavor and forsake all manner of negative judgements then surely we become that much closer to being authentic Vaisnavas.

 

I play this game while passing people walking down the street sometimes and I would be too ashamed to write down my minds initial reactions to others.

[sopatel]

I must agree that cleaning your mind is a very tedious process, as you mentioned there are times when I pass judgement on people based on a 15 second interaction. As I learned more and more about being a true viashnav, things are getting clearer for me and I do try to see the Lord in everyone but I admit there are still times when I judge and get angry.

 

About the monk story...how true our minds are crazy...just the other day I had this awful confrontation with a person who said I was not Indian because I didn't live on the subcontinent. Well that made me angry and I thought of the person for almost two day, trying to think of a come back. Finally, you tell yourself that its not worth it and just forget about it.

 

The mind is crazy....

 

Jai Shri Krishna

[Redsox]

guilty by association, and saved by association.

 

What I don't understand, is how come krishna didn't save the brahmana as he was chanting the vedic mantras. Are the mantras so weak that the brahmana would fall prey to these types of thoughts?

 

I deny it, I think the brahmana was not chanting vedic mantras at all as he was thinking of the prostitute, but prostitute thought of krishna as she was looking at the brahmana do whatever he was doing. So in effect, her mind was raised.

 

So tell me this, was the brahmana her guru in this case?

[Beggar]

 

guilty by association, and saved by association.

 

What I don't understand, is how come krishna didn't save the brahmana as he was chanting the vedic mantras.

 

This was taking place in Vrndavana, so don't think of it as "Vedic" mantras. The story says that the brahmana was chanting the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. If he was chanting Bhagavatam then we can infer that he was chanting Krsna nama.

 

 

Are the mantras so weak that the brahmana would fall prey to these types of thoughts?

 

The mantras were not weak, the brahmana was weak, he could not control his mind. We are getting Krsna nama from Sri Gurudeva and not controling our minds. Are we to think that it is because the mantra is weak? That would be the ultimate pessimism.

 

 

I deny it, I think the brahmana was not chanting vedic mantras at all as he was thinking of the prostitute, but prostitute thought of krishna as she was looking at the brahmana do whatever he was doing. So in effect, her mind was raised.

 

Yes, the brahmana was engaged in mental fault finding so his chanting must have been offensive, aparadha. In essence he was not chanting the "real" mantras or slokas due to his mentality

 

 

So tell me this, was the brahmana her guru in this case?

 

It's just a story if he would have really seen the Visnuduttas then he would have been immediately liberated, as in the history of Ajamila.

[theist]

The brahmana's mouth was chanting but his consciousness was polluted.

 

Supersoul as Caitya-guru was her guru.

 

Was ajamila immediately liberated? I think he still had some unfinished to take care of.

[Inedible]

To be fair, the woman was wearing very expensive clothing which would have been ruined by making the trip across the stream. In contrast, the monks' robes were made of material which could take a bit of abuse. It wasn't just that she was a woman and therefore was emotional and needed to be helped by a man. In her defense.

 

 

A similar anecdote regarding the mind. It was written sometime ago on this forum. It goes something like this....

 

Two Budhist Monks, a new initiated junior monk and a more senior Monk, were walking back to their monastary. As they were walking they came across a woman who was in distress. She wanted to cross a stream to get to the other side.

 

The two monks saw the woman and the junior monk thought to himself "We are celibate monks it is not possible to help this woman because we are practicing celibacy so we cannot approach her let alone carry her across the stream!!!!

 

The Senior Monk without any hesitation carried the woman across the stream. Then the Junior Monk just looked at the senior Monk and said nothing and the two carried on with their journey back to the Monastry.

 

After about 2 - 3hours of walk they arrived at the monastary. The Junior Monk could not keep it in any more and turned around to the senior monk and said:

 

"Why did you carry that woman did you forget we are practicing celibate Monks??? We may not speak to any woman let alone what you did by physically touching her!!!!

 

The Senior Monk looked at the Junior Monk and after contemplating for a few minutes he told the Junior Monk...

 

"How long did it take me to carry this woman across the stream??? Maybe 5-10 minutes at most. But You have carried her for 2 - 3hours on our journey back to our Monastary!!!!!" (You Rascal You!!!)

 

Hare Krsna/Krishna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[yogesh]

 

To be fair, the woman was wearing very expensive clothing which would have been ruined by making the trip across the stream. In contrast, the monks' robes were made of material which could take a bit of abuse. It wasn't just that she was a woman and therefore was emotional and needed to be helped by a man. In her defense.

 

So in your defence of women are you also trying to hint that women are manipulative???

 

To the Women/Matas on this forum no aparad intended:)

 

Hare Krsna/Krishna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[Sarva gattah]

 

The Brahman and the prostitute and the two monks give us the same lesson.

 

Now we must see how to apply the lesson in our day to day lives. Stalk the mind. Observe it carefully. This is Sunday and many will attend a Sunday feast.

 

Some new people will come by. Maybe some who are dirty and just looking for a meal. When we see such people (as most of us once were) immediately observe your mind's reaction. Any feelings of superiority of judgment?

 

Hopefully we will teach the mind to see Paramatma bringing some more of His children back to Him in which the temple trip may be a big part. Seeing this reality if we choose to cooperate with Him in that glorious endeavor and forsake all manner of negative judgements then surely we become that much closer to being authentic Vaisnavas.

 

I play this game while passing people walking down the street sometimes and I would be too ashamed to write down my minds initial reactions to others.

 

This is a very good point, somehow we have to always think of Krishna if we are to get out of this material world, I find that difficult being so materially conditioned.

 

Therefore, we have to understand that what ever we think of at the time of death, who ever we love or hate, or are attracted too or disgusted by, that materially conditioned consciousness and bodily form we will get without a doubt as the Gita tells us.

 

Just like the Brahmana ended up on the planet of the prostitutes

 

Somehow we have to learn to love Krishna, always think OF HIM and and serve His desires which are the desires of His pure devotees, and help every living entity serve Krishna.

[Shakti-Fan]

 

Was ajamila immediately liberated? I think he still had some unfinished to take care of.

 

Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

Feb 25, 2002

 

The stage of nama-abhasa that has the power to destroy all prarabda, aprarabda, kuta, bija, and avidya (forgetfulness of Krsna), is its topmost stage, and that type of nama-abhasa was uttered by Ajamila. At that stage there is no tinge of any offense and there is no tinge of any other mixture. Ajamila chanted pure nama-abhasa, and therefore he attained liberation and later Vaikuntha.

From Chapter Twenty-five of Jaiva Dharma, called Prameya: Namabhasa:

Vijaya: What is sanketya-namabhasa?

Babaji: Sanketya-namabhasa is uttering Bhagavan's name when alluding to something else. For instance, Ajamila called his son Narayana at the time of his death, but Bhagavan Sri Krsna's name is also Narayana, so Ajamila's uttering 'Narayana' was an instance of sanketya-namabhasa. When Muslims see a pig, they show hatred and exclaim, "Harama! Harama!" The exclamation 'harama' contains the two words 'ha' and 'rama', so the person uttering the word 'harama' also obtains deliverance from the cycle of birth and death as a result of taking that sanketya-nama.

All the sastras accept that namabhasa gives mukti. Through sri-nama, relationship is strongly established with Mukunda, (the giver of liberation). Therefore, by uttering sri-nama one is in touch with Bhagavan Mukunda and by that contact, mukti (liberation) is easily obtained. The same liberation that is obtained with great difficulty through brahma-jnana is easily available to everybody without hard labor through namabhasa.

[Beggar]

 

 

(How horrible!)

Harama! Harama!

 

 

[theist]

 

I must agree that cleaning your mind is a very tedious process, as you mentioned there are times when I pass judgement on people based on a 15 second interaction. As I learned more and more about being a true viashnav, things are getting clearer for me and I do try to see the Lord in everyone but I admit there are still times when I judge and get angry.

 

About the monk story...how true our minds are crazy...just the other day I had this awful confrontation with a person who said I was not Indian because I didn't live on the subcontinent. Well that made me angry and I thought of the person for almost two day, trying to think of a come back. Finally, you tell yourself that its not worth it and just forget about it.

 

The mind is crazy....

 

Jai Shri Krishna

I feel for you. There is NO getting through such entrenched ignorance. It only leads to greatf frustration. Just claim your position as spiritualsoul and escape from them quickly if you can.

 

Some will go to any lengths to keep themselves divided from other living beings. This is just another symptom of the soul trying to hide itself deep into the file cabinet of the material gategories and names. Hindu Indian Christian European human demigod demon animal...such hiding spots are endless as well as ultimately futile.

 

About these wonderul stories, we must bring the teaching home with us once heard. 'Bringing them home' does not mean merely committing them to memory and repeating them to others although that is important also. They must become tools for serious honest introspection so that we may free ourselves from our own personal demons of pride, prejudice and separtness from others. Like you did when you noticed your tendancy to judge others. That is the level of serious learning.

[new---new]

 

 

Therefore, we have to understand that what ever we think of at the time of death, who ever we love or hate, or are attracted too or disgusted by, that materially conditioned consciousness and bodily form we will get without a doubt as the Gita tells us.

 

Just like the Brahmana ended up on the planet of the prostitutes

 

Somehow we have to learn to love Krishna, always think OF HIM and and serve His desires which are the desires of His pure devotees, and help every living entity serve Krishna.

cannot agree with you more ...... what you think that you become,whatever you meditate upon..wether out of love hate fear or disgust ..that you will surely become...... this is the eastern understanding.......both hindu and buddhist.....

 

the law of karma is often misunderstood as only the law of action and reaction... when in reality it is also the law of association....what ever you associate with(even if only mentally) ..like that you ultimely become......

 

it is for this reasons that all the great gurus always praise the satsang(association of those who associate with the truth)

 

thats why wehave Buddham sharanam gachami

Dhamam sharanam gachami

and then we have SANGHAM sharnam gachami

 

Lord Swaminarayan says that satsang is the most powerful tool for finding god

 

GuruGranthSahib praises the glories of satsanga

and ofcourse vaishnavas speak about the glories of associating with vaishnavas......

When Jesus says "One who picks up the sword will die by the sword"..this is what he means ...that a war monger will always find himself in the state of war because he will keep taking birth in environments where there is some or the other oppurtunity for war .. there is no way to fight evil ...because fighting it is associating with it ...therefore even in the worst times one must chant the names of god ........and therefore the sane advice

"Do not judge,for as you judge others so will you be judged..All the great spiritual masters understand this property of the law of karma.

thats why "Ahimsa paramo dharma"

You cannot destroy evil in this world .....you can at best free your self and go to a better place....

 

as far as freeing the mind of evil is concerned it reminds me of the story my guru once told me ....its about a student who goes to his spiritual master asking for a way for his liberation ...and the master says " you can get liberation in one day ...all you need to do is to not thinkabout "monkey" for one whole day"... as can be seen mind cannot but think of that which it tries to avoid......

 

the only solution is to give something else to the mind .......the mahamantra ..........that will save him.....

[Sarva gattah]

 

It so happened that both the brahmana and the prostitute died at the same time. To the brahmana’s surprise, the Vishnuduttas (the Lord of Vaikuntha's messengers) came to deliver the prostitute while the Yamadutas (the Lord of Death’s messengers) came for him.

 

“What is this?” he protested to the Yamadutas.

 

“There must be some mistake!”

 

The Yamadutas replied,

 

“My dear brahmana, there is no mistake. While you were busy meditating on the lowly activities of the prostitute, she listened to you recite the Gita and prayed that she could one day elevate herself to your position.

 

In this way the prostitute achieved liberation while you only degraded yourself to take birth on a planet of prostitutes.”

[Sarva gattah]

 

It's just a story if he would have really seen the Visnuduttas then he would have been immediately liberated, as in the history of Ajamila.

 

It so happened that both the brahmana and the prostitute died at the same time. To the brahmana’s surprise, the Vishnuduttas (the Lord of Vaikuntha's messengers) came to deliver the prostitute while the Yamadutas (the Lord of Death’s messengers) came for him.

“What is this?” he protested to the Yamadutas.

“There must be some mistake!”

The Yamadutas replied,

“My dear brahmana, there is no mistake. While you were busy meditating on the lowly activities of the prostitute, she listened to you recite the Gita and prayed that she could one day elevate herself to your position.

In this way the prostitute achieved liberation while you only degraded yourself to take birth on a planet of prostitutes.”

[Beggar]

The story of the brahmana and the prostitute is most likely just a fable to illustrate a point whereas the story of Ajamila is a real history described in the Srimad Bhagavatam. If the brahmana in the story was sent to the "planet of the prostitutes" then that must have been a reaction to nama aparadha. The history of Ajamila shows that one must be qualified to see the Visnuduttas, for they have forms almost exactly like that of Lord Narayana. Ajamila's qualification was that he chanted without offense although he did not chant the pure name, suddha nama, still he chanted namabhasa. This illustrates the glories and the power of the Holy Name.

The brahmana who was sent to "planet of the prostitutes" therefore could not have chanted namabhasa at the time of death. The brahmana therefore had no qualification to see or talk to the Visnuduttas. So in that way the story is contradictory, yet it is used to illustrate a lesson which is certainly valid.

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</td></tr></tbody></table>Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.2 Summary

 

 

 

It was due to Ajāmila's glorifying the holy name of the Supreme Lord that he was not punishable. The Viṣṇudūtas explained this as follows: "Simply by once chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, this brāhmaṇa has become free from the reactions of sinful life. Indeed, he has been freed not only from the sins of this life, but from the sins of many, many thousands of other lives. He has already undergone true atonement for all his sinful actions. If one atones according to the directions of the śāstras, one does not actually become free from sinful reactions, but if one chants the holy name of the Lord, even a glimpse of such chanting can immediately free one from all sins. Chanting the glories of the Lord's holy name awakens all good fortune. Therefore there is no doubt that Ajāmila, being completely free from all sinful reactions, should not be punished by Yamarāja."

As they were saying this, the Viṣṇudūtas released Ajāmila from the ropes of the Yamadūtas and left for their own abode. The brāhmaṇa Ajāmila, however, offered his respectful obeisances to the Viṣṇudūtas. He could understand how fortunate he was to have chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa at the end of his life. Indeed, he could realize the full significance of this good fortune. Having thoroughly understood the discussion between the Yamadūtas and the Viṣṇudūtas, he became a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He lamented very much for how very sinful he had been, and he condemned himself again and again.

Finally, because of his association with the Viṣṇudūtas, Ajāmila, his original consciousness aroused, gave up everything and went to Hardwar, where he engaged in devotional service without deviation, always thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus the Viṣṇudūtas went there, seated him on a golden throne and took him away to Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

In summary, although the sinful Ajāmila meant to call his son, the holy name of Lord Nārāyaṇa, even though chanted in the preliminary stage, nāmābhāsa, was able to give him liberation. Therefore one who chants the holy name of the Lord with faith and devotion is certainly exalted. He is protected even in his material, conditional life.

[Beggar]

Copied from an old Audarya post:

 

'The Search For Sri Krishna' by

Srila Sridhar Maharaj

 

"In chanting the holy name, there are also four kinds of namabhasa.

Namabhasa means a faint connection with the holy name. Namabhasa is neither offense nor service mood, but between the two. Its basis is renunciation, but we must also cast away this indifference and become earnest for serving the name. Namabhasa may be classified into four categories. The first is sanketyam: chanting indirectly, to indicate something else, as in the case of Ajamila."

 

"Ajamila was a brahmana's son. Somehow, he connected with a low-class woman and entered into a degraded life as a dacoit, drinking and doing many other nasty things. After many years, the time came for his death. As he lay in a coma, suddenly he saw three messengers with a horrible appearance come and put a rope around his neck and begin to drag him away. He was horrified.

 

Just before this, he had seen his son Narayana Playing nearby, so he sought the help of the child and called "Narayana!" But in the curse of calling his name, Ajamila thought within himself, "What can this boy Narayana do? How will he deal with these three furious figures? He is nothing." So, by the connection of the holy name of Narayana, Lord Narayana came to his mind.

 

When in his apprehension his call for Lord Narayana was sincere, four agents from Vaikuntha descended. They were sober and mild, and addressed the Yamadutas, the sessengers of death saying: "Who are you? Why have you come?We have come because it is the last day of Ajamila. He was a great sinner, and we have been sent by our king, Yamaraja, the Lord of death, to drag him away for punishment."

"Don't you know what is dharma, duty?Oh yes, we know.""Then why are you here?He committed immense sin.Didn't you hear him take the name of Narayana?" "Yes we have heard. What of that? His whole life he has committed so many sinful acts, and only one name of Narayana will do away with that? It is not possible."

"Oh, you have not been properly directed by your master. Now that Ajamila

has taken the name of Narayana, his juridiction has at once changed. He is

not longer under the juridiction of your master. Has he not given such

instructions to you?No, no, we do not know all these things.Then, go back, and ask him."

 

Ajamila was released. Frightened by the posture and grandeur of the

messengers of Vishnu, the Yamaduttas fled. Ajamila thought, "What is the

instruction to be learned here?"

This is namabhasa. It is a faint connection with the holy name. It was

neither out of faith, nor by the order of his guru, that he chanted the name of Narayana. It was not that he purposely went to take the name, but by accident it flashed in his mind. Still, as a result of his previous pious activity, namabhasa gave him salvation.

 

Ajamila at once awoke; he remembered all his past sinful activities and beganto repent. He began his journey towards Hardwar without speaking a single word to family or friends. There, he chanted the name of Narayana for a long time. At the proper time, those four Vishnudutas descended with a divine chariot and took him to the concious spiritual domain of Vaikuntha."

 

"Indirect Chanting Hela is another kind of namabhasa: neglectfully chanting the name. When we are rising from bed in the morning sometimes, we may negligently say "Hare Krishna". In this way we may cast off our indolence. Even there it may be namabhasa. It may liberate us from our present position, but may not give us entrance into Vaikuntha. That is possible only through devotional service.

 

One Mohammedan, who was being killed by the tusk of a boar, shouted "Ha ram" meaning, "This is abominable" but because of his previous sukriti, or pious credits, it became namabhasa, and he achieved liberation by chanting the name of Lord Rama.

 

Namabhasa may come, and mukti, liberation, may be effected, but we cannot get the opportunity of service there. Only if our mind is surcharged with a serving attitude will it elevate us to the subtle and higher plane, otherwise not. If the tendencies for renunciation and exploitation are mixed with our chanting, it won't yield the desired result.

 

The chanting must be done with a service attitude (sevonmukhe hi jihvadau). What is our aim? We want the service of the Lord: "Die to Live." We want a life of purity which is full of self-giving: we want a generous life. We want to live the life of those who want not to extract, but to give. We want a civilized life in the domain of higher civilization, where everyone is a giving unit, an emanating unit, and not an absorbing unit. There, everyone is especially God-centered and harmonious. They are all of the nature of divinity. And divinity means dedication towards the center of all harmony, the absolute good. So with that spirit, we are to chant the holy name, and every action should be done with devotion for Krishna. We should try to take the positive line of serving Vishnu and Vaisnava, Krishna and His devotees, and with this sort of attitude we should chant the holy name of Krishna."

[Vedesu]

 

When Muslims see a pig, they show hatred and exclaim, "Harama! Harama!" The exclamation 'harama' contains the two words 'ha' and 'rama', so the person uttering the word 'harama' also obtains deliverance from the cycle of birth and death as a result of taking that sanketya-nama.

 

--- image deleted ----

[theist]

 

Ajamila at once awoke; he remembered all his past sinful activities and beganto repent. He began his journey towards Hardwar without speaking a single word to family or friends. There, he chanted the name of Narayana for a long time. At the proper time, those four Vishnudutas descended with a divine chariot and took him to the concious spiritual domain of Vaikuntha."

 

Yes began and after a long time chanting... He still had much work to do internally but the namabhasa gave him reprieve and a chance to conduct such work.

 

That's how I hear it anyway.