Embrace of the pillar of materialism very tightly

Popcorn Bondage

A wretched beggar stood outside the entrance to a temple, supporting his emaciated
body by embracing a pillar.

A gentleman approached the temple after having bathed in the Ganges. Seeing the
ragged fellow clinging to the pillar outside, the gentleman felt compassionate and
purchased some popcorn. He brought it to the poor man and offered it to him. Without
relaxing his embrace from the pillar, the beggar opened his palms to receive the
popcorn. The gentleman poured the popcorn into his palms, and because of the
beggar's awkward stance, most of the popcorn fell from his fingers to the ground. But
even though the beggar could retain a few kernels in his grip, he was unwilling to let go
of the pillar to bring his hands to his face to eat.

And so the astonished gentleman left the beggar as he struggled vainly to bend his
head around the pillar to his hands so that he could eat the popcorn.

The beggar represents the atheist who embraces the pillar of materialism very
tightly. Thus even when the benediction of God comes to them, they are in too awkward
a position to receive it.

Blind faith
Fallacy of Custom

Each morning the brahmanas gathered on the bank of the holy Ganges and offered
their prescribed prayers to the Lord. Each of them brought with him a copper vessel for
offering water.

Unfortunately, because these copper vessels were indistinguishable from noe

another, they were always getting mixed up between brahmanas. So one old brahmana
got into the habit of placing a lump of clay from the riverbank in his own vessel before
taking bath. That way, when he returned, he'd be able to distinguish his offering cup
from the rest.

But the other brahmanas thought that the placing of a clay ball in one's cup before
taking bath must be an esoteric ritual. So not wanting to appear ignorant of the fine
points of brahmincal observances, they all started placing clay balls in their cups before
going for bath. Thus when the old brahmana came from the river, he again found it hard
to locate his own copper vessel.
 "Fie on these imitators!" he groaned as he examined the different vessels, trying to
pick out his own. "Without understanding the reason for anything, they just follow
blindly.
despite their big learning and priestly positions in society, they have no common sense."

In today's world the practice of religion is quite often like this. Most people follow
sectarian customs blindly without even thinking to ask why. For instance, it has become
a custom in India to address the poor as Daridra-Narayana (poor Narayana), although
this term is unheard of in the scriptural tradition, and is indeed an absurdity. Still, it is
blindly accepted by many, many people as religious to worship a poor man in the street
as being God.

accepting a bogus guru as one's guide in

The Blind Man and the spiritual life.

Cow's Tail

A blind man was once trying to negotiate the path to his father-in-law's house with
the help of only his walking stick. In a field nearby he heard a cowherd boy humming a
tune to himself. The blind man hailed the boy and asked, "Kindly lead me to the house
of my father-in-law. It is nearby, but I can't find the way myself."

The cowherd boy replied, "I'm very sorry, but if I leave this field to go with you, what
will become of this herd of cows I'm tending here? There's one thing I can do for you--
here, take the tail of this cow I'm handing you now. Her calf is at your father-in-law's
house, so she will lead you there out of motherly affection for her young one."

But the cow became alarmed at the grip of the blind man on her tail and tried
everything to shake him off. She dragged him over rough ground and through thorny
brambles, and often gave him hard kicks with her hind legs. By the time he arrived at
his father-in-laws house, the blind man's clothes had been ripped completely off of his
body, and he was covered with scratches, bruises, blood and filth. As the house servants
looked out the door to see who had come, he staggered forward, groaning in pain. They
could not recognize him, and, taking him to be a cow rustler, gave him a sound beating
and drove him from the premises.

This story illustrates the perils of accepting a bogus guru as one's guide in spiritual
life.
 persons who refuse to change their religious
Ancestral Draw-well traditions, even though they have become
spoiled with age

A village pandit was very devoted to the memory of his departed father. He used to
say, "The father is God incarnate. We are able to enjoy earthly pleasures by his mercy
only. I do not accept any other deity except that of my father." The pandita's favorite
verse was

pita svarga pita dharma

pita hi paramam tapa
pitari pritimapanna
priyante sarva devata

To chant the name of the father, to meditate on his image and to make offerings to the
ancestors were this pandit's daily rituals.

Now, the land upon which the brahmana lived had been handed down to him from
many generations. On this land was a draw-well that had been dug by his great-
grandfather. In the past, the water from this well was the sweetest and clearest of all
the wells in the village. But in recent years, at the time the pandit became the inheritor
of his family's property and tradition, the well became extremely putrid and disease-
ridden, unfit for human use. But because the pandit's father made it a rule to never take
water from anywhere else except the ancestral well, the pandit was convinced he must
follow suit. Thus he grew very ill, and because he insisted that his wife and sons stick to
tradition also, they died one by one.

His neighbors urged him to dig a new well or use one of the many other wells in the
village, or take water from the Ganges which flowed nearby. Adamantly, the brahmana
refused. Finally the government stepped in. But when the health officials and workmen
arrived at his house to seal up the well for good, he squatted over it in defiance and had
to be forcibly dragged away from it.

Similarly, there are persons who refuse to change their religious traditions, even
though they have become spoiled with age. An example is the tradition in India of kula-
guru or family guru: a family will have a tradition that each of its current generation
must accept initiation from a professional guru from a particular caste gosvami family.
Thus spiritual instruction is not accepted on the basis of qualification, but family
tradition. When in time the traditions decay, whole generations become degraded by
following blindly the footsteps of their elders.

False propoganda
How Bhagavan Became a Ghost
 A certain learned pandit named Bhagavan was much favored by his king. This special
royal patronage also earned him the envy
of the king's regular ministers. These ministers hatched a curious plot to drive
Bhagavan out of the land.

They informed the palace guards that the king no longer wished Bhagavan to set foot
in his palace. And when the king grew anxious that Bhagavan had not come to see him
that day, the ministers told him, "Oh, your Majesty, bad news—Panditji Bhagavan has
died." They produced a falsified medical statement from the royal physician to this
effect. The king was struck with a sense of great loss.

After a few days, the king went on a stroll in the palace garden. Bhagavan Pandit,
who'd suspected intrigue and had been waiting for a chance to see the king, entered the
garden to join the royal entourage. But the royal ministers deliberately formed such a
tight knot around His Highness that it was impossible for him to come before him and
be seen. So Bhagavan then climbed up a tree and yelled, "Oh king! Here I am, your loyal
Bhagavan Pandit!"

But the ministers acted as if aghast, and said to the king in alarmed tones, "Your
Majesty, look! There in the tree is the ghost of Bhagavan Pandit. Things have become
very inauspicious here. Let us not remain, but return to the palace at once!" Despite the
pleas of the pandit, the king at once withdrew. The pandit dropped to the ground and
sadly concluded that he indeed must have lost the favor of the king. He decided to leave
the kingdom for good.

By a similar a intrigue have demons in human society stifled devotion to God; even a
public expression of belief in God on the part of a leader of state is now looked upon as
inauspicious, like the king's "vision" of the "ghost" of his old friend.

Spiritual laziness
"I'll Cross the River When It's Dry"

A young man named Kaminimohan lived in Nabadwip. He was very introverted, and
didn't like to leave the confines of his own home. When a friend invited him to come
with him to Mayapura Dhama and hear a lecture by a great personality on Krsna-bhakti,
Kaminimohan was very reluctant to go. So the friend, eager to do Kaminimohan some
spiritual good, devised a stratagem. He asked him to come with him to Kuliya, just
across the Ganges river from Mayapura. At Kuliya a travelling amusment park had set
up for a
few days.

Kaminimohan, after a bit of persuading, went with his friend to the park where they
had an afternoon of fun. Then the friend said, "We are just across the river from the
sadhu's place, and he's lecturing soon. So let's just cross the river and see him and then
return home.
 Seeing his friend's determination, Kaminimohan decided not to directly refuse. But
he said, "Oh dear, I am so afraid of rivers. I never cross them. If I get near one, I have
attacks
of nausea, dizziness, and heart palpitations. Let's wait till winter (the dry season). Then
that river will become so shallow we can walk across. But I cannot go now."

His friend said, "You say you'll cross when the river is dry, but this is the Ganges--it
never gets dry. You are just being insincere. You don't want to go at all."

The purport is obvious.

Pious materialists
Safety in Swimming

A very protective mother forbade her son from bathing in the river lest he drown.
One day a neighbor said to the woman, "Did you ever stop to think that by your policy of
preventing this boy from going to the river you are also preventing him from ever
learning that which would really save him if he fell into deep water--namely, the ability
to swim?"

Then the boy, who was standing nearbye, said to mother: "I want to learn swimming
so that I can save myself from drowning. Can you tell me if there is a method of learning
to swim without getting into water?"

The mother, seeing her shortsightedness, permitted the boy to go to the river with a
swimming instructor.

This story is used to illustrate the half-hearted commitment to God of a materially

pious person. Such a person is fearful of falling into hell, thus will strictly follow all
sorts of negative religious principles that forbid him to commit sin. But due to a dearth
of real devotion, the materially "good" person avoids positive spiritual acts of service to
Krsna. Indeed, because service to Krsna requires one to engage his senses in various
ways, the materially pious person may decline on the grounds that such engageent may
be the cause of falldown (for instance, when asked to help raise funds for a Krsna
conscious purpose, he may deline arguing that "Money is the root of all evil"). Thus he
is like the mother who in fear of her son's life forbade him from the very activity that
would make him able to save his own life.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

There was a certain crafty tradesman who was an expert in acquiring goods by shady
dealing. He had a real talent for unloading some inferior item on a person and getting in
return for it something of real value.
 One day he came home with a load of excellent coconuts. He felt himself very clever
that day indeed, for he'd gotten them for practically nothing. But there was one little
problem—he couldn't open the coconuts without a sharp chopper, and all he had at
home was a very old, rusty and dull chopper that was for all practical purposes useless.

He brought it to a blacksmith and asked him to make a new chopper from it. The
blacksmith answered that he could make a good chopper only if good quality steel was
given to him.

So the tradesman fell back on his typical method of dealing. "Look," he told the
blacksmith, "It so happens I'm making a deal with someone that involves an amount of
excellent steel. I'll give you a sheet of this steel for free; all I'll want in return is that you
make me a new chopper from that steel for free." The blacksmith agreed.

But the "excellent steel" turn out to be third-class quality iron. In any case, the
blacksmith accepted the metal--because he could always find some use for it in his
business--and made a chopper from it. But when the tradesman tried to open the
coconuts with this chopper, he discovered that it was useless. He rush to the blacksmith
in a rage and demanded to know why the chopper was no good.

"Sir, be reasonable," the blacksmith said. "Your skill in life is making good deals. For
that you require good fools to cheat. My skill in life is making good metal implements.
For that I require good metal to beat. What good deal can you hammer out of a poor
fool who has nothing to give you? Likewise, what good chopper can I hammer out of
poor-quality iron?"

Acceptance to access
Open the Door to Get Light on Your
Floor

When a spoiled young man who was pampered by his parents once overslept in his
bolted and shuttered room, his family gathered outside to awaken him. Inside his room
it was dark, so he yelled out, "Why are you waking me in the middle of the night? It's
time to sleep!"

The family called back, "Night has passed long ago. It's almost mid-day! The sun is
shining high in the sky

The young man replied, "If the sun is so bright, let it shine into this room. Then I'll
know it is day."
The family called back, "Open the door to get light on your floor!"

This story is used to answer those who say that only foolish people say God is
merciful. God shows no mercy on the world, because it is such a terrible place. But the
answer is, the suffering materialists live in darkness by their own refusal to open their
lives up to the sun-like mercy of Krsna.

Aspirants of hell
Hellish Pandemonium
A pious brahmana once told a drunkard, "Look, if you continue to drink wine, you are
going to go to hell when you depart from this body. This is the statement of the Vedas."

The drunkard replied, "But Suren Babu also takes wine."

The brahmana said, "Well, then he will aslo go to hell."

Drunkard: "Barun Babu also drinks wine."

Brahmana: "Yes, then he'll go to hell too."

Drunkard: "Arun Babu also drinks wine."

Brahmana: "And he too will go to hell. Anybody who drinks

wine goes to hell."

Drunkard: "Are there other activities that put one into

hell?"

Brahmana: "Certainly. These are lying, stealing, cheating

others, having lllicit sex--all are hellish activities."

Drunkard: "So what happens to Bhamini, the famous pros-

titute?"

Brahmana: "Oh, she will go to hell, no doubt."

Drunkard: "And what about any and all other prostitutes in

the world?"

Brahmana: "They all go to hell."

Drunkard: "And those men who look for prostitutes on the

streetcorner?"

Brahmana: "They will go to hell with the prostitutes."

Drunkard: "Well, then who wouldn't want to go to hell? Drunkards, loose women and
women-hunters--these people are such fun to be with! I can't wait to go to hell myself!"
 This story is a good statement about the condition of modern society. It is indeed
hellish, but because "everybody is doing it," nobody minds too much if they will be
punished by sinful reaction.

Pseudo-devotee
Doing Sums for Teacher
A landlord had hired a tutor for his son, who was weak in mathematics. The tutor
gave the boy lots of sums to do, but the boy would continually whine that the tutor must
show him how to add the sums first. The boy was so indulged by his wealthy parents
that he could not bear to do anything difficult alone; for any slightly troublesome task he
was used to calling in a hireling. The teacher would reply, "No, if I do them, then how
will you get any practice?"

When on his lunch break the boy complained to some friends in a voice purposefully
loud enough to be heard by the tutor: "Now just consider this: Father has hired this
tutor for 250 rupees a month plus another 250 for food and clothing--500 rupees a
month! And inspite of earning so much, that tutor cannot even add these sums. Now I
have to do them! What's the use of his being employed at this house?"

This story reveals the mentality of the pseudo-devotee who calculates the material
benefit he gets from acts of devotion to the spiritual master. Only when there is a
chance for him to enjoy some name, fame, wealth and prestige as a result is he
enthusiastic; if it is just "work", he's not. But he should realize that even "work" given
by the spiritual master is for his own good, just as the dull work of adding sums is for
the good of the student.

Valuing birth in India

There are so many Indians who are quick to say, "I know Krsna, I know Krsna." There is
a story in this regard. There was once a man who every day brought water to the
temple of Lord Jagannatha. The man used to think, "I don't need to see Lord
Jagannatha. I come here every day and so I can see Him any time I want. Let the others
see Him." Day after day went by and the man never went to see Lord
Jagannatha. Finally the man died withoutseeing the Lord.

Moral: We have to take advantage of our fortunate situation, and take to Krsna
consciousness thus perfecting our lives.
 Ekeha kurunandana
Sustained, Concentrated Effort

After taking advice from an elderly neighbor, a man began to dig a well in his field. After
much effort he had gone down about twenty feet. Then another villager passed by.
"What are you doing?" the villager asked incredulously. "Why on earth are you digging
there? You´re digging in the wrong place. You should be digging about a hundred yards
to the east. There you can easily get water."

So the man began his well again at the new spot. When he was about ten feet down,
however, someone else came and laughed at him. “You fool,” he said. “Why are you
wasting your time? Don’t you know where to dig for water? Just dig twenty yards to the
west of that mango tree over there, and surely you’ll quickly hit water.”

As the day went on, a number of people came and offered different advice, and the man
followed it every time. Eventually, his field was pockmarked with holes, but he had
found no water. Just as he was beginning his tenth hole, the elderly man who had
recommended digging at the first spot came by, saw what had happened, and said,
“You’ve been working hard and have made many small holes, but had you done so much
digging at the first spot you certainly would have found water by now!”

Insight: This story hints at the secret of life. Krishna consciousness can be attained by
sustained, concentrated effort. Krishna tells Arjuna, ekeha kuru-nandana, "there is only
one thing." Don’t deviate to other paths or go off on tangents. Many people may give
advice, but best to take advice from one who is experienced and whom you can trust
and then stick to it.

An excerpt from The Power of Discipline

By Brian Tracy

Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more
money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than
the great majority?

I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at
menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.

And then I began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" This
question changed my life.

Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success
and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been
discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable
way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the
importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of
discipline."

Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I
was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open
table by myself, even though it was a table for four.

A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant
came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.

With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to
join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to
chat over lunch.

It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew
who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer
had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he
had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books
from cover to cover, more than once.

After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this
situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have
discovered, which do you think is the most important?"

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many
times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was
stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you
should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"

He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my
reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work."

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all
doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average
person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But
without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and
opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

judgemental behaviour

LESSONS ON LIFE

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too
quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a
great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the
youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they
had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it
was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and
looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full
of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen
but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the
essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only
be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of
your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by
one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come sometime or
later.

Krishna in my Wallet
A ticket collector in a train found an old worn out wallet in a compartment full of
people. He looked inside to find the name of its owner. There was no clue. All that there
was in it was some money and a picture of Krishna. He held it up and asked, "Who does
this wallet belong to?"

An old man said, "That's my wallet, Sir, please give it to me." The ticket collector said,
"You'll have to prove that it is yours. Only then i can hand it over to you." The old man,
with a toothless smile, said. "It has a picture of Krishna in it." The ticket collector said,
"That is no proof; anyone can have a picture of Krishna in his wallet. What is special
about that? Why is your picture not there in it like most normal people?" The old man
took a deep breath and said, "Let me tell you why my picture is not there in it. My father
gave this wallet to me when i was in school. I used to get a small sum as pocket money
then. I had kept a picture of my parents in it. "When i was a teenager i was greatly
enamoured by my good looks. I removed my parent's picture and put in one of my own.
I loved to see my own face and my thick black hair. Some years later, i got married. My
wife was very beautiful and i loved her a lot. I replaced my picture in this wallet with a
picture of her. I spent hours gazing at her pretty face.

"When my first child was born, my life started a new chapter. I shortened my working
hours to play with my baby. I went late to work and returned home early too.
Obviously, my baby's picture occupied the prized position in my wallet." The old
man's eyes brimmed with tears as he went on. "My parents passed away many years
ago. Last year my wife too left her mortal coil. My son, my only son, is too busy with his
family. He has no time to look after me. "All that i had ever held close to my heart is
now far, far away

from my reach. Now i have put this picture of Krishna in my wallet.

It is only now that i have realised that He is the eternal companion. He will never leave
me. Alas! If only i had realised this before. If only i had loved the Lord all these years,
with the same intensity as i loved my family, i would not have been so lonely
today!" The ticket collector quietly gave the wallet to the old man. When

the train stopped at the next station, he went to a bookstall at the platform and asked
the salesman, "Do you have any pictures of KRISHNA? I need a small one to put in my
wallet!"

The Saintly person’s blessings

Once when a saintly person was passing on his way, he met a prince, the son of a
king, and he blessed him, saying, “Raja putra ciram jiva. You are a king’s son a
 prince. May you live forever.” Eventually the sage met a brahmacari devotee, and
he blessed him, saying, “Muni-putra ma jiva. My dear devotee, you may die
immediately.” The sage next met a saintly person and said to him, “jiva va maro va.
You may either live or die.” Finally the sage met a hunter, and he blessed him,
saying “Ma jiva ma mara, Neither live nor die.”

Moral: Those who are very sensual and are engaged in sense gratification do not wish
to die. Generally a prince has enough money to enjoy his senses. Therefore the great
sage said that he should live forever, for as long as he lived he could enjoy life, but after
death he would go to hell. Since the brahmacari devotee led a life of severe austerities
and penances in order to be promoted back to Godhead, the sage said that he should die
immediately so he would not have to keep labouring hard but could instead go back to
Godhead. Since the hunter leads a very ghastly life due to killing animals, and since he
will go to hell when he dies, he is advised to neither live nor die. And a saintly person
may either live or die, because during life he is serving the Lord, and after death also he
serves the Lord. Thus this life and the next are the same for the saintly devotee, for in
both he serves the Lord. Raja-putra ciram jiva muni-putra ma jiva/jiava ma maro va ma
jiva ma mara.