Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
We would like to share with everyone an inspiring incident revealing the wonderful dedication of a five and a half year old devotee in Abu Dhabi.
A few days back we got a phone call from Malhar (Maharaj named the child Kishore Chandra Krishna das) five and half years old son of our God brother HG Stithaprajna Prabhuji and HG Vasundhara mataji. That day morning he has told his parents that he wants to offer the entire money in his piggy bank to Maharaj for Shri Radha Neel Madhavji temple construction in Rajkot.
HG Vasundhara mathaji, Malhar's mother, tells that generally Malhar is very possessive about his piggy bank money that he does not like mataji taking some change or he does not want to buy his own chocolates or toys using that money. Now he wants to offer the whole thing to Maharaj and he is asking his mother, "When I offer this Lakshmi to Rajkot, Jagannathji and Gurudev will be pleased know? Then the temple will come up very fast." He called us and asked us to come home in the evening and he said that he will give the piggy bank to us which we have to carefully open and offer everything to Maharaj for the temple. He has counted the whole thing with his mother and it is around 470 UAE Dhirams. And he told his mother that this must be very big money and he thought nobody else need to contribute anymore and the temple can be finished. We couldn't control our tears hearing this. Mataji told us that she was reminded of the pastime of Krishna offering little grains with His small hands to the fruit vendor woman and the whole basket gets completely filled with gold and jewels. We pray that the same happens with this child's contribution done with so much love, purity and innocence. Now we can make sense to what Maharaj used to say, "Don't grow son!" Physically we will grow. However to maintain that pure innocence we have to be always be connected to Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad and Krishna.
On that night in the Srimad Bhagavatam study program, Malhar carried the heavy bag of the piggy bank with the coins so enthusiastically and gave it to us. We returned to him the piggy bank box after taking all the coins and he became extremely happy giving the coins to us and his face was glowing. Here we remember Srila Prabhupada's purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 10.11.11, "With love and affection, one should try to give something to Krishna from one's source of income. Then one's life will be successful. Krishna is full in all opulences; He does not need anything from anyone. But if one is prepared to give something to Krishna, that is for one's own benefit. The example given in this connection is that when one's real face is decorated, the reflection of one's face is automatically decorated. Similarly, if we try to serve Krishna with all our opulences, we, as parts and parcels or reflections of Krishna, will become happy in exchange. Krishna is always happy, for He is atmarama, fully satisfied with His own opulence."
We had no words to describe our feelings except that we fell at the feet of this wonderful little devotee of the Lord. Another astounding thing is that HG Sthita prajna prabhuji was sharing that Malhar has told him, "Papa, I would be careful with my toys and other things henceforth so that it is not broken by me, so that you need not spend additional money in buying it again for me. Then that money can be sent to Rajkot temple and Gurudev and Jagannath will be pleased." What a realisation !!!! We simply bow down to Malhar prabhuji for this wonderful Krishna conscious behaviour and that is the complete success that Maharaj's legacy will be very nicely carried on by the younger generation. We are very much indebted to HG Sthita prajna prabhuji and HG Vasundhara mataji for nicely cultivating the mission of our spiritual master in the young fertile innocent brain of Bhakta Malhar. When we wrote about this to HG Devakinandan prabhu in Singapore, Prabhuji wrote the following:
"I remember a conversation Maharaj had with a disciple in Rajkot - he was quite well to do, but kept saying he had so many committments, children, wife responsibility, and then he said, 'Somehow Maharaj I cannot give to Rajkot now - I am sorry.. but later I will definitely have a big project and then earn and give...' Maharaj heard everything peacefully, smiling all the time, then put his hands together in prayer, turned his face slightly to his left, in his characteristic fashion, and softly said, "... At least then give one rupee now, son....". The disciple realised that Maharaj knew exactly how much he actually had, or how much he actually had wasted in other expenses, and it touched him that even then, Maharaj was giving him mercy to contribute... even with only 1 rupee!
Little Malhar has really taught us that a big heart can exist in a small body, and that age, and any other form of material disqualifications are no barriers to maturity in devotional service. Most importantly, he taught me that love for the spiritual master transcends all material and even spiritual designations. One simply has to have clean and pure faith that whatever is important to the spiritual master is the life and soul of his disciple."
Let us remember the nectarean words spoken by Lord Krishna to his friend Sudama in Srimad Bhagavatam 10.81.3
sri bhagavan uvaca
kim upaayanam aanitam / brahman me bhavataa grhaat
anv apy upaahrtam bhaktaih / premnaa bhury eva me bhavet
bhury apy abhaktopahrtam / na me toshaaya kalpate
The Supreme Lord said: "O brahmana, what gift have you brought Me from home? I regard as great even the smallest gift offered by My devotees in pure love, but even great offerings presented by nondevotees do not please Me."
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