The Brahmana & The Prostitute

[theist]

Now this is some scary ****

 

 

[theist]

Gawd I wish I hadn't seen that picture right before bed. Now I'm afraid to go to sleep.

 

Thanks a lot for the nightmares vedesu.

[yogesh]

Lord Narishmha Dev's name. Anyway she has a bit of a cat-like look to her. So meditate on Lord Narsimha Dev When you see those frightfull fangs think about Lord Narsimha attacking the demons.

 

Good Night Theistjee

 

Hare Krsna/Krishna

 

Jay Sirla Prabhupada

[Sarva gattah]

 

 

As the messengers of Yâma were snatching the husband of the maid away from within the heart, did the Vishnudûtâ's with resounding voices forbade it!

 

 

Quote:Beggar

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #666666 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 3ex; BORDER-TOP: #666666 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 3ex; BORDER-LEFT: #666666 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #666666 1px solid" bgColor=#e0e0e0>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 brāhmaṇaAjāmila, 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.

 

 

 

 

 

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Quote:

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The Brahmana & The Prostitute

Once, near 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 Deities in the Temple, his cooking abilities were famous throughout the land. 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 near the beautiful land of Vrndavana.” He would proudly and arrogantly think to himself, then continued with his recitation while cooking various preparations.

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.”

This is a very good poem; 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 without arrogance and selfish pride and serve His desires which are the desires of His GENUIN selfless humble devotees, and help every living entity serve Krishna.

 

 

 

 

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[Vedesu]

Yes, that image was pretty bad. Sorry about that, theist and others. Just sort of joking around here, but actually you're right, it's not a good image to have in one's mind when going to sleep. I went ahead and deleted it this morning. I figure that Beggar's image of a dirty hog is sufficient to get the point across about "harama" and namabhasa.

[theist]

 

Yes, that image was pretty bad. Sorry about that, theist and others. Just sort of joking around here, but actually you're right, it's not a good image to have in one's mind when going to sleep. I went ahead and deleted it this morning. I figure that Beggar's image of a dirty hog is sufficient to get the point across about "harama" and namabhasa.

Oh no. Hey I knew you were joking and so was I. I slept like a baby. Hell that picture was nothing compared to what I see in the mirror at night before bed.

 

I never could tell if it was man or woman or perhaps chimera. Such pictures remind us of all the lovely forms we have to choose from here in the world of death vs. our own svarupa which we have rejected.

 

Such reminders are needed daily.

[Sarva gattah]

 

Oh no. Hey I knew you were joking and so was I. I slept like a baby. Hell that picture was nothing compared to what I see in the mirror at night before bed.

 

I never could tell if it was man or woman or perhaps chimera. Such pictures remind us of all the lovely forms we have to choose from here in the world of death vs. our own svarupa which we have rejected.

 

Such reminders are needed daily.

 

 

 

 

 

It is said if one sees the Yamadutas, the fear is beyond any fear known, their ugly twisted bodies is WHAT IS really scary theist prabhu, according to Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a devotee's vessel after he had left it. The VESSEL was cut in half due to a car accident in 1988, while on our travelling Temple preaching program near the Gold Coast in Australia, afterwards we decorated his broken bodily twisted vessel for the his funeral with devotee markings and clothing while we chanted Hare Krishna. His' vessel' was only 24 years of age.

 

The previous day we had all distibuted books and BTG magazines on the Sunshine Coast. His passing affected me personally because that evening we were going to record a song he had written about our campaign to help win religious freedom in Russia.

 

We had arranged the media to be there at the recording, that night was very sad and many of us cried at his passing. Yes, he was on the front page of the paper the next day explaing the accident and how he gave his life to Prabhupada, Krishna and the devotees in Russia. This young devotee was very attached to his photo of Srila Prabhupada. This is the first time I have spoken about it since it happened.

 

When this material body is damaged by disease, as with the photo you have posted, or is broken up, as I witnessed, it is not a pretty sight and actually was very scary, however we MUST understand that the body is not us, it is a vessel we have in the material world to temporarily get around in.

[Vedesu]

 

Oh no. Hey I knew you were joking and so was I. I slept like a baby. Hell that picture was nothing compared to what I see in the mirror at night before bed.

 

I never could tell if it was man or woman or perhaps chimera. Such pictures remind us of all the lovely forms we have to choose from here in the world of death vs. our own svarupa which we have rejected.

 

Such reminders are needed daily.

 

Thanks, much appreciated. I sort of had a feeling you knew I was joking, but wasn't sure. I got a kick out of it when I first discovered it a few days ago, but at the same time, it's not a form I would want to be meditating on, especially at the time of death. And who knows, even though it was pretty obviously a photoshop creation, there very well may be entities somewhere in this universe with forms like that.

[Sarva gattah]

 

 

Comments by Akruranatha

 

These are good stories. What makes us sometimes act like the brahmana who meditates on the sins of others, even while reciting Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita?

 

The story of the monk who “carries” the woman in his mind, while not originally a Vaisnava story, is also appropriate. It illustrates nicely how over-attachment to the rules and regulations without knowing the purpose behind them can be unfavorable.

 

Sometimes our minds will do anything to avoid being attentive while chanting. The mode of material goodness conditions by a sense of happiness and knowledge.

 

We like to feel superior to others rather than keeping our mind on our service of attentitively glorifying Krishna.

 

Sankirtan is such nice service. We are being engaged in kindly giving the highest thing to everyone. The book distributors get regular lessons in “trnad api sunicena taror iva sahisnuna amanina manadena kitraniya sada hari”.

 

By trying to show mercy to the innocent and avoiding the envious (and making friendship with the devotees), the preachers learn how to engage in the welfare of all.

 

Each new person that walks by is another spirit soul in a human body, and the book distributor’s goal is to find a way somehow to give that soul a favorable contact with Krishna consciousness.

 

Any spark of condescension, exploitation or self-importance on the distributor’s part will immediately produce a negative reaction in the customer.

 

Let’s face it. Pretty much everyone today is as sinful as that prostitute was. We sell books to people who are literally drinking alcohol and eating beef right in front of us (not to mention the rampant sexual immorality of our age, and the casual untruthfulness).

 

But if we present Prabhupada’s books nicely we give all people an opportunity to be relieved from their sins and to meet the Vishnudutas, just like the prostitute did. And if we even momentarily dwell on their sinfulness, it will instantly interfere with our service of preaching.

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I have never made a serious study of the Christian Bible, but I recently happened to be browsing through a modern English verion (”Good News for Modern Man”, American Bible Society, New York, 1966), and came upon this parable in Luke (17:10-14), which had a familiar ring:

[Jesus said]:

 

“Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

 

“The Pharisee stood up and said this prayer to himself: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or immoral, like everybody else; I thank you that I am not like that tax collector. I fast two days every week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.’

 

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast, and said, ‘O God, have pity on me, a sinner!’

 

“I tell you”, said Jesus, “this man, and not the other, was in the right with God when he went home. For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be made great.”

 

I remember one famous recorded lecture where Srila Prabhupada was explaining Deity worship, and he said, “Be careful. You are dealing with Krishna.”

 

Anyway, in that tape Srila Prabhupada says something about the humble mood with which we should make an offering, saying to the Lord that we are very insignificant, fallen (I think he even used the word “rotten”), but we have brought this nice thing Lord, please accept it.

 

At this point in the lecture Srila Prabhupada’s voice cracks and he begins to cry in ecstasy.

 

I do not know much about the history of Judaism, but reading through the Gospel of Luke it seems it was an important part of Jewish life then was to go to the big Temple in Jerusalem and make sacrifices. [i guess that was why there were money changers and people selling birds there.

 

You had to have the right kind of money to offer in the Temple, and people would offer doves and things. (I do not know how the birds were offered, whether they were killed and roasted–I like to think they were just purchased and then set free).]

 

It seems that one tenth of one’s income or crops were supposed to be sacrificed. [Rules for sacrifice are found in the Torah, like in Leviticus]

Reading the Iliad it is also clear how animals were sacrificed to Greek demigods according to specific rules.

 

Of course, the recommended sacrifice for this age is chanting Hare Krishna, according to the “trnad api” rule, and avoiding offenses.

[theist]

Nice instructive parable from Jesus. That is Christianity and thus those that practice that humility when approaching God in the name of Lords Jesus are Christians.

 

The wise know to always assume the lowest position.

 

 

You had to have the right kind of money to offer in the Temple, and people would offer doves and things. (I do not know how the birds were offered, whether they were killed and roasted–I like to think they were just purchased and then set free).]

They were horribly killed. But what a wonderful idea you have for an alternative...setting them free!!! Fabulous.

 

How can the Lord possibly be pleasedby some sinful man killing a bird to supposedly cover his sin? What kind of sadist being would that "God" be to be pleased by such an act.

 

But setting a bird free (after a session of personal reflection and sincere prayerful repentance on the part of the sinful) would be such perfect symbolism representing the inner freedom gained through such prayer for forgiveness.

 

Really a beautiful idea. Too bad you weren't there writing the Old Testament codes Sarvah.