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QUOTE

Satisfaction of the mind can be obtained only by taking the mind away from

thoughts of sense enjoyment. The more we think of sense enjoyment, the more the

mind becomes dissatisfied.

- Bhagavad-gita 17.16 purport

 

Krishna Katha: Doing Sums for the Teacher

Once a landlord appointed a tutor for his son on a monthly salary of fifteen

rupees plus a monthly stipend of another fifteen rupees for the tutors

maintenance cost. The landlords son was very weak in mathematics, so the tutor

would give him a lot of sums to do by himself. In spite of the pupils insisting

the tutor to do the sums for him, the tutor would tell him, If I do the sums for

you, then you will never learn the methods. Rather, I would like to demonstrate

the basic method of solving the sums, or at least I can assist you when you get

confused. But youll have to do all your sums for your own practice.

The boy was most inattentive and lazy. He had hardly any interest for learning

maths, but he had to engage himself in practising maths with the tutor under

pressure from his parents.

One day he was loudly talking to his sidekicks so that his tutor could easily

overhear him. For me my father has engaged a worthless tutor on a monthly salary

of fifteen rupees plus an additional fifteen rupees for his food and clothing -

in all thirty rupees a month! And look, I am still doing so many sums for him

everyday. Really I cant tolerate this anymore; this strain upon me while

spending so much money and still taking the trouble of doing all the sums for

him! Why should one pay him any salary when in fact I myself have to do all the

sums?

PURPORT

Many of us maintain a similar concept that we renounce our family life, we

sacrifice a lot in the service of our spiritual master, some of us collect

donations and do a lot of multifarious direct and indirect service for the

satisfaction of our spiritual master, but what do we gain?

Here we forget that we do such sums for our own benefit alone and by such

services, we ourselves are uplifted, not the spiritual master.

The spiritual master knows the sums very well and it is only for our own

well-being that he is getting the sums done by us. The spiritual master is

engaging us in different services for our own satisfaction and welfare in the

path of devotion. Those who are averse to their own benefit, only consider such

services to be meant for the welfare of the spiritual master, for the temple

complex, for the Vaishnavas, for the Lord, and thus foolishly take little

interest in them.