experience on the day of Gita Jayanthi

[Guest guest]

Balaji dasan a Vaishnava from Chowpatty narrates this experience on the day ofGita Jayanti in Mumbai.I was doing Bhagavad Gita distribution in the trains on the day of Gita Jayanti andit incidentally happened to be the day of bakri-id. So many muslims werealso traveling in the train on that day. After distributing books in thatparticular bogie I got down at khandeshwar station to catch the next train.Five to 6 muslim youngsters also got down from the same bogie and followedme. They had a spokesperson who seemed to be quite well read amongst them.He stopped me and then we started

conversing.Muslim: Oh! You seem to be a well educated person. Have you dedicated yourwhole life for this preaching mission?Balaji: Yes.Muslim: Oh! That's very nice. You are doing such a nice thing. I am alsovery interested in knowing about your religion and I have done quite a lotof study about your religion also. Can I ask you a few questions?Balaji: Sure.The spokesperson' s tone, which sounded very pleasant till now, suddenlybecame sarcastic.Muslim: So you people believe in idol worship?Balaji: No, we believe in deity worship.Muslim: What is the difference?Balaji: The difference is like this. You see post boxes in almost everystreet of Mumbai. When you post a letter addressed to a person staying inDelhi or Chennai in the post box it

will eventually reach him even if thereis a slight mistake in the address. But if you yourself paint a box in blackand red, hang it outside your door and post a letter in it, it will neverreach the destination even if it is addressed to the person next door. Why?Because the postbox has been authenticated by the government, letters postedin that box are regularly cleared by postal department professionals anddelivered to their destinations. Similarly the deities are invested with thecomplete potencies of the Lord Himself and hence can be worshipped.Muslim: Oh! Then, does it mean that if I am at a place where there is noaccess to the deities I cannot worship the Lord?Balaji: No, You can worship Him through His holy names. Holy Quran says

thatthere are 100 names of Lord Allah. The same way our scriptures also mentionso many names of the Lord which are invested with all the potencies. So, wecan always worship the Lord through chanting His holy names(NamaSankirtanam).Muslim: Oh! If the Lord can be worshipped simply through His holy names thenwhat is the need for deity worship?Balaji: Ok. Now I will give you my cell phone and you have unlimited freeminutes for the rest of your life to speak with your mother. Does it negatethe need for having any more personal interactions with your mother for therest of your life? Will you be satisfied by just speaking with her overphone or would you want to personally have some interactions with her and dosome service to her when she is in need?Muslim: I would definitely like to have personal interactions.Balaji: Yes, the same way Deity worship gives us this nice opportunity dopersonal

service to the Lord. Moreover, the many names of the Lord areactually named after their form. For example, the Lord is called Keshava,meaning, the one with beautiful hair. He is also called Padma Lochana,meaning, the one with eyes as beautiful as lotus petals. If just thesenames, which are named after the forms of the Lord, are so much attractive,how much more the forms themselves would attract the hearts of the devotees?Hence the deities are there in order to attract the devotees.Muslim: But I have read in your vedic scriptures that those who do Asambhutiworship go to the darkest regions of hell? (Referring probably to theIsopanishad verse)Balaji: Yes, it is Ishopanishad verse 12, "andham tamah pravishanti yeasambhutim upasate".His face had a completely shocked expression when he heard me actually quotethe verse. May be he never expected any hindu to know and what to speak ofactually

quoting the verse?Balaji: Here the word asambhuti doesn't refer to deity worship, but itrefers to demigod worship. Anyways, you seem to be well read in ourscriptures. What do our scriptures mention about the right process ofacquiring vedic knowledge?Muslim: I don't know.Balaji: See (Opening the Bhagavad gita and showing Bg 4.34) this is theprocess. First one should surrender to a spiritual master, serve him nicelyand then humbly question. Then the spiritual knowledge flows. Did youreceive your knowledge by this process?Muslim: No.Balaji: Then, how did you learn?Muslim: I read from the Oxford university press edition of your Vedas.Balaji: See, that is the problem. Neither the person who wrote the book noryou, who read his book, understood the Vedas in the way it is recommended.One cannot understand the vedic scriptures by a mere knowledge of Sanskrit,the same way a person with just a knowledge of English cannot understand achemistry or physics book, though it may be written in the English language.But I see that you have a genuine interest in understanding our scriptures(with a pinch of sarcasm). So I will introduce you to a spiritual master andyou surrender your life to him, serve him day and night and then humblyquestion him. That way your sincere desire to understand our scriptures willbe fulfilled (again intended sarcastically) . Now, you want to

take thisBhagavad gita?Muslim (With a completely confused look): No, No. I will call you later. Hehurriedly walked away with his cheerleaders.