Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
The following is an instructive moral story told by His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddantha Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupada.
Once there lived a person called Kamini Mohan who was very attached to family, wealth and sense enjoyment. There lived a sadhu in that village who was very eager to bring him to spiritual path. So the sadhu went and advised him, "Please come along with me to Mayapur. There are great acharyas residing in that place. Your life will be completely blessed and changed if you take darshan of such great souls." On hearing this Kamini Mohan replied, "That is great news. But I am so busy now with family work, that I cannot allocate time for such travels." The sadhu never gave up. After some months, he again met him. This time he decided to play a trick. He invited Kamini Mohan to a place called Kuliya where there was some festival. He told him, "You will have great gala time in Kuliya as there are lot of entertaining things happening there." Hearing this immediately Kamini Mohan got ready to go to Kuliya. After reaching Kuliya, the sadhu told him, "If you cross river Ganges, we can reach Mayapur. Now that you have come so far, why don't we just take a boat, cross the river and go to Mayapur and hear from saints there?" Understanding the sadhu's mind, Kamini Mohan replied, "What you are saying is a very good idea. But I am very afraid to cross the river using boats. You see, it is very dangerous. We never know when the boat will sink. There is lot of risk in crossing the river. It is better that we wait for the river to dry and then we can cross and go to Mayapur." Hearing this sadhu replied, "This just shows your cheating propensity. You are simply not inclined to go there. Ganges will never dry and so whatever you are saying are just lame excuses."
Prahlad Maharaj says in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 7.5.30:
sri prahraada uvaaca
matir na krsne paratah svato vaa
mitho 'bhipadyeta grha vrataanaam
adaanta gobhir vishataam tamishram
punah punash carvita carvanaanaam
matir na krsne paratah svato vaa
mitho 'bhipadyeta grha vrataanaam
adaanta gobhir vishataam tamishram
punah punash carvita carvanaanaam
Prahlada Maharaja replied: "Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Krishna are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both."
There is a saying that we can only take the horse to the water, but we cannot make it drink. Similarly sadhus and guru can show us the path to go back home, back to Godhead, but if we don't listen to them, we are the ones who are at loss. Unless we realise on our own, that such material enjoyments are cause of sufferings, we will never take interest in spiritual life. Many a times we postpone devotional service saying that we have so many other material problems and commitments in life. But the fact is that all these problems and commitments in material life will never end. Till the end of our life, there will definitely be some problem or the other. So better late than never. We should start following the path of bhakti without any further delay and without giving any lame excuses.
Comments
hari haribol,
thank you