The Miracle Verse

vanamali · May 18, 2004

Ananyas chintayanto maam ye janah paryupasate

Tesham nityabhyuktanam yogakshemam vahamy aham

BG 9.22: But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form — to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

/images/graemlins/smile.gifTHE MIRACLE VERSE /images/graemlins/smile.gif

There is a story about this verse. It is called the miracle verse, and this will show you why.

There was a poor man in a small village, who was a devotee of Lord Krishna and every day he used to chant this verse from the Gita, and even though he had no money, somehow every day he would get food, by the Lord's grace.

One day the poor man got up early, read Gita as usual, but did not receive any food. Evening came and still no food had arrived, and the mad began to feel very uneasy. "Krishna," he thought. "I depend on You completely for my wellbeing. I live in a poor villiage and have no money to buy food for my family. I trusted You to take care of me, but I see that even You don't care for me now!"

Weeping bitterly, the man took his copy of Geeta out to the river where he was accustomed to reading, and with a blade he cut out these two verses of the Geeta.

Ananyas chintayanto maam ye janah paryupasate

Tesham nityabhyuktanam yogakshemam vahamy aham

Meanwhile, the man's wife was cleaning the house when a man drove up to their house in a cart. The cart was filled with delectable foods, and moreover beautiful new clothes. The wife was startled when the cart-driver spoke to her, saying, "This is for you. Sorry I'm late."

The wife, confused but happy, took the gifts gratefully, touched the man's feet, and said. "Tell me, who are you? Why are you giving us these things? How did you know we were in need?" The cart driver only smiled.

"Please," said the wife. "Give me some indication of who is responsible for this, so I can tell my husband."

The cart driver didn't speak a word, but opened his mouth. There were two lines of blood on his tongue.

When the husband returned, and heard the story from his wife, he knew immediately who the man was... that it was the same Person who had always taken care of him, and always would.

May 18, 2004

I know quite a different version of the above story - the same framework but with completely different contents & purport. Strange. Where did you get your story from? Anyway, here is the version as I know it, from "The Nectar of Govinda-lila" (original version) by Srila Narayan Maharaj. I also heard this same lila from other sources.

"This story illustrates how Krsna cares for those who have really become His devotees: There was a brahmana devotee of Krsna who had read many scriptures and many commentaries on the Gita and Bhagavatam. He read Gita every day, and while reading, many spiritual sentiments would arise within him. He wrote down his realisations and desired to publish them so that ordinary people would be able to easily understand them. In this way he was engaged in bhajan. From the beginning he never took any employment. He would only beg for one hour each day, and the rest of the time he would study the scriptures, take harinama, and perform shravanam-kirtanam.

He married, and he and his wife were very content together, living on whatever Bhagavan gave them. They had no material desires at all. They only read the Gita and contemplated spiritual topics. In the early afternoon, when most people take their main meal of the day, he would go out for begging. His wife would prepare whatever he collected, and the couple would subsist solely on that.

His wife had only one piece of clothing. One day, he took his wife's cloth and tore from it enough pieces to cover himself to go out and beg. Before going out, he had been writing down the meaning of Gita verses one after the other. Then this verse came:

ananyas cintayanto mam / ye janah paryupasate

tesam nityabhiyuktanam / yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

He began to analyse this verse: 'Ananyas cintayanto mam: those whose minds are fully self-controlled, who have no other object of meditation besides Krsna. Ye janah paryupasate: one who worships Krsna in all ways, especially by the medium of shravanam and kirtanam, becomes situated very near to Him. Tesam nityabhiyuktanam: for those who are fixed in performing bhajan like this, then its result is also for the happiness of Krsna, not for themselves.Even if a person of bad conduct engages in this type of exclusive bhajan, then Krsna will accept him. And if that exclusive sentiment is not there, then Krsna will never reveal Himself. This verse is related to sadhana, and not the stage of perfection. To those who have exclusively taken shelter of Krsna, He is their protector and maintainer. Besides Him there is no other.'

This brahmana's nature was very humble and surrendered. While studying this verse, many nice sentiments were arising inside him. Then he came to the last line of this verse: 'Yoga-ksemam vahamy-aham: Krsna is saying that for His devotees who engage in bhajan in this way, He will supply all of their requirements such as food and water, and even collect them and carry them Himself.'

The brahmana stopped and thought, 'How can this be? This is not right. Why? I am now an old man, over seventy years old. Up until today Bhagavan has never directly looked after us like this. We have been engaged in exclusive bhajan, and today there is not a single mouse in our home. Why? Because there is no food in the house! We don't even have earthen pots to catch the rainwater. There is nothing in our home, not even any foodstuffs for today's meal! I will go out to beg and whatever I acquire, we will take that only. Isn't Bhagavan seeing this? Is He not inside all souls witnessing everything? Certainly He hasn't taken care of us as He is saying in this verse. Maybe if we require something, He would inspire another person to come and help us, but He would never carry a burden for us on His own head. I cannot accept this.'

Then with a red pen the brahmana scratched this verse out, thinking, 'It is not possible for Krsna to have spoken this verse. Someone else must have inserted it.'

Then he went for begging, thinking, 'Krsna will carry what we require on His own body? Perhaps He would inspire a king or some wealthy man to come and help us, but He wouldn't carry anything on His own head. The all-knowing and all-powerful Prabhu? We have heard that He made the poor brahmana Sudama into a king, but He didn't physically carry any burden for him. We have never heard of this.'

He put it out of his head and went begging. Wandering and wandering, three o'clock passed and he still hadn't collected a single thing. For instance one man said to him, 'Baba, I am sorry, but our house is impure. For three days we cannot give anything because one of our family members has just died.'

Like this he didn't get anything, so he started for home. Meanwhile, at his home, what was happening? A Beautiful young boy with a dark complexion and wearing yellow cloth arrived at the gate carrying a bahangi (a long stick with a bag of goods on each end) on his shoulders. The bag on one end contained rice, dahl, ghee, and spices, and the bag at the other end contained sugar, vegetables, and different things. He did not appear strong enough to carry it. He was young, perhaps only fourteen years old, and his limbs were very delicate. He was perspiring, and arriving at the gate, he called out, 'Guru-aniji (wife of the guru)! Please open the door!'

The brahmana's wife replied, 'What? My husband has no disciples.'

The boy replied, 'Yes, yes, it is possible.'

She said, 'Then who?'

'I who am speaking, I am a disciple of your husband.'

She thought, 'What is this? Where has he come from?' She was unable to open the door because she didn't even have enough clothing to properly cover herself. But Krsna understood everything, so He handed His own shawl through the door for her to wear. He said, 'Mother, Guruji has sent Me. We have obtained all these things today. He grabbed Me and sent Me here, saying that he will be coming soon. I asked him to please wait a minute so I could get a drink of water, but he said, "No, You can drink water and all of that later. Go immediately to my home." Seeing that I am such a young boy, still he loaded all of this on Me and sent Me here.'

Hearing all of this the brahmana's wife began to weep, and thought, 'Such a tender young boy, and He is perspiring as well! Doesn't this brahmana have any mercy? He himself will come empty-handed, and he has loaded everything on this poor boy? He has no mercy.'

Showing her His back, the boy said, 'Mother, he has also scratched Me with his nails.'

'Oh! It looks like it will bleed!' She took Him on her lap and said, 'My son, when he comes, I will give hi a good talking to! He poses as a big, self-controlled devotee, but he cannot even show mercy to a child! My dear son, please come inside.' She brought Him inside and said, 'Sit here and I will prepare something. You will not leave here without being fed.'

She went to the kitchen and began to prepare the rice and dahl and vegetables that He had brought. Then there was a knock at the door; the brahmana had arrived. 'Open the door!' he said.

Very annoyed, the brahmana's wife went to the door and said, 'Have you brought anything? You have come empty-handed? You loaded everything on that poor boy and then scratched Him with your nails? Don't you have even a little mercy'

The brahmana replied, 'What? What are you talking about?'

'You know very well—that boy on whom you loaded what you had collected and then sent here.'

'Who? I don't know anything of all this!'

'You loaded it all on that poor child and you have brought nothing yourself!'

'Where is He then?'

'Come inside and see!'

They went inside the house, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. They searched the entire house, and all they found was a thread of yellow cloth where He had been sitting. After searching and not finding Him, the brahmana took his Gita in his hands and opened it. Discovering that the red ink with which he crossed out the verse was no longer there, he began weeping bitterly, and said, 'Today, for us, see how Bhagavan has carried our burden! This is our evidence. My doubt is now dispelled.'"

This, my humble contribution, is in no way meant to "correct" your version of the story. Maybe your version is even more authentic, I don't know. It's only interesting (and sometimes bewildering) to see how various versions of the same story exist side by side, up to the extent that not only the form but even the purport seems to differ. I think that is the case here. Prabhupada used to say that Krsna is not our "order supplier." (Un) fortunately He gives and takes by His own sweet will. Especially material assets He takes away, mostly, rather then giving them (to His devotees). Prabhupada liked to quote the following lines from Bhagavatam [sB.10.88.8]:

yasyaham anugrhnami / harisye tad-dhanam shanaih

"My first mercy shown to My devotee is to take away all his material opulence."

I guess Krsna supplies His devotees (even personally, if necessary) only with "the bare necessities of life," in most cases. But for those who can carry the luxury, He may overload them with abundance, even materially (like in the case of Sudama....)

vanamali · May 18, 2004

I think this is very interesting how the similar story gets passed around. I have heard this story from a taped discourse, however I don't think one version is more authentic than the other. Perhaps there are different versions for people at different stages. Really, I have noticed that people giving discourses have a knack for "reading the audience"... in other words, judging the level of the audience's understanding. Whether this is on purpose or not I don't know.