CHOOSE YOUR ALLIES WISELY

A Mouse who always lived on the land, by an unlucky chance, formed an intimate acquaintance with a Frog, who lived, for the most part, in the water. One day, the Frog was intent on mischief. He tied the foot of the Mouse tightly to his own. Thus joined together, the Frog led his friend the Mouse to the meadow where they usually searched for food.

After this, he gradually led him towards the pond in which he lived, until reaching the banks of the water, he suddenly jumped in, dragging the Mouse with him. The Frog enjoyed the water amazingly, and swam croaking about, as if he had done a good deed. The unhappy Mouse was soon sputtered and drowned in the water, and his poor dead body floating about on the surface. 

 

A Hawk observed the foating Mouse from the sky, and dove down and grabbed it with his talons, carrying it back to his nest. The Frog, being still fastened to the leg of the Mouse, was also carried off a prisoner, and was eaten by the Hawk. "Choose your allies carefully"

3 Saints Love Prosperity and Wealth

One women saw 3 saints in front of her house. And she was not knowing any of them.

Women said –
“kindly come inside and have food”

Saint replied – "is your husband inside the house? ”

Women – “no, he has gone out”

Saint –“will come inside the house only when he has come”

In the evening the woman's husband comes home and she tells the complete story about the saints.

Husband – “go and tell them I have come home and invite them inside the house.”

Women went out and called the saints inside the house.

Saint said – “we all don't go inside anyone's house together. ”

“but why?” – women asked

One of the saint replied – “my name is wealth”

Then he pointed  to other saints and said –
“these two saints names are prosperity and love"

Only one of us can come inside your house!

"U go in and discuss with your family and decide which saint you want to invite ”

Women went inside and told all this to her husband.

Her husband became too excited

And said –“if this is the matter then let us invite wealth! Our house will be filled with happiness”

Wife – “I feel we should invite prosperity”

Their daughter was in the next room , she was listening to all this discussions.  She came close to them and said –
“I feel we should invite love. Beside love nothing is important”

“you are  right, we should invite love only” – her parents agreed.

Women went out and asked saints –
“Between you all who is love please come inside the house”

Love started walking towards the house! 

Other two saints started following love.

The surprised women asked the saints –
“i only invited love then why you two are coming inside the house?”

One of the saint replied – “if you had invited prosperity or wealth, then only that particular saint would have entered your house.

But you have invited love!

Love never walks alone,
Where ever  love is, there is always prosperity and wealth. They all go hand in hand.

There is no Miracle

One man went out of his village, and after ten years, he came back, advertised himself that "I have become successful in yoga practice." So naturally villagers surrounded him. "Oh, what yoga practice you have learned?" "I can walk on the water." "Oh?" So the arrangement was that he'll cross the river, walking on the water. 

One old man came and said, "Sir, it is very wonderful, but it is two paise worth." "Why?" "Now, you will walk and go the other side; I'll take a boat, pay him two paise. I'll do the same thing. So what is your credit?" So those who are actually intelligent men, they will question, "What actual profit you have made?” Let us say you are a chemist and you combine acid and base and you make smoke, an explosion or whatever. 

To somebody ignorant, that's a miracle. But for everything there is a process, and so when you see a miracle, it's just ignorance of the process. So-called transcendentalists who have no real stock of knowledge they are fond of these miracles, and for the most part, because the innocent public is generally foolish, therefore they accept these magicians as saintly persons. 

 

So one who does not know these things, they say, "Oh, these are all stories." It is not story. It is no miracle. They are all possible. So there is no such thing as miracle. It is a process of doing. One must know how to do it. There is no miracle. We don't say anything miracle. The real knowledge means science or knowing everything about something. So this Krishna Consciousness is not a miracle, it is science, and because we are Krishna conscious, therefore we know everything.

 

Excerpts from Srila Prabhupada lecture.

REASON TO BE GRATEFUL!!!

A man reached 70 years of age and was affected by a disease which made him unable to urinate. The doctors told him that he needs an operation to cure the disease. He agreed to do the operation as the problem was giving him severe pain for days. 

When the operation was completed the doctor gave him a bill which covered all the costs. After looking at the bill, the man started crying. Upon seeing this, the doctor said "If the cost is too high then we could make some other arrangements for you.

"The old man replied, "I am not crying because of the money but I am crying because God let me urinate for 70 years and He never sent me a bill!"

Beloved, have you thanked God for His countless blessings today? Have you thought about the cost of oxygen in the hospital? Yet, God has given us free oxygen (air) since we were born. Is all that God does for us no worth thanking God for? Can we not see that God is so gracious, merciful and full of compassion?

God helps those who help themselves

Krishna says that He provides for His devotees by giving them what they lack and preserving what they have. People are very fond of saying that God helps those who help themselves, but they do not understand that helping yourself means putting yourself under Krishna's protection. 

If one thinks, "Oh, I can help myself. I can protect myself," one is thinking foolishly. As long as my finger is attached to my body, it is useful, and I may spend thousands of dollars to preserve it. But if this finger is cut off, it is useless and is thrown away. 

Similarly, we are part and parcel of Krishna, and helping ourselves means putting ourselves in our proper position as His parts and parcels. Otherwise we are only fit to be cast away. 

The finger can help itself only when situated properly on the hand and working on behalf of the entire body. If the finger thinks, "I will separate myself from this body and simply help myself," that finger will be cast away and will die. 

As soon as we think, "I shall live independently of Krishna," that is our spiritual death, and as soon as we engage in Krishna's service, as His part and parcel, that is our spiritual life. Therefore, helping oneself means knowing one's actual position and working accordingly. It is not possible to help oneself without knowing one's position. 

The practice of yoga, especially bhakti-yoga in Krishna consciousness, may appear to be a very difficult job. If you are serious about understanding the goal of life, spiritual knowledge, then Krishna will help you. If anyone follows the principles with great determination, the Lord will surely help, for God helps those who help themselves. 

Ref: Path of Perfection authored by Srila Prabhupada (Founder - Acharya, ISKCON)

 

What material deities are made of?

Once a visitor asked adevotee, “Are Radha-Krishna made of brass or gold?”

“Well, what are you made of?” devotee replied.

After a pause, the gentleman answered, “Flesh and blood.”

Devotee told him, “As long as you think you’re made of flesh and blood, then you’ll think the Deity is made of one metal or another. But if you can understand that you’re not the body, that you’re spirit soul, and also that the soul is part and parcel of God, then you’ll understand that you’re of the same nature as Krishna.”

The man wasn’t sure that he had understood, so Devotee continued, “Do you accept that God is in your heart?”

“Yes.”

“So what’s He made of there, brass or gold?”

The man didn’t know.

“On the basis of the revealed scriptures,” Devotee said, “we can understand that God’s form is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. That form, which is present in the heart of every living entity, is made of pure spirit, and that is what the Deity in the temple is also made of. You can’t see the Deity in your heart,” he explained as the gentleman nodded in agreement, “you don’t know who He is. So the Lord comes in a form you can see. Radha-Krishna appear to be material, but They are purely spiritual, and to the extent that you realize your nature is spiritual, to that extent you will understand that Krishna Himself is personally on the altar.”

Going to hell requires Great Endeavor

The Lord is so friendly to the living entity that He remains within the heart so that one can always contact Him without difficulty. One can do this simply by devotional service. As soon as one hears of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one immediately comes in touch with the Lord. Therefore there is no difficulty in coming in contact with the Supreme Lord. 

On the other hand, going to hell requires great endeavor. If one wants to go to hell by illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication, he must acquire so many things. For illicit sex he must arrange for money for brothels, for meat-eating he must arrange for many slaughterhouses, for gambling he must arrange for casinos and hotels, and for intoxication he must open many breweries. (Like a chain reaction)

Clearly, therefore, if one wants to go to hell he must endeavor very much, but if he wants to return home, back to Godhead, there is no difficult endeavor. To go back to Godhead, one may live alone anywhere, in any condition, and simply sit down, meditate upon the Supersoul and chant and hear about the Lord. Thus there is no difficulty in approaching the Lord. Because of inability to control the senses, one must go through great endeavor to go to hell, but if one is sensible he can very easily obtain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because the Lord is always with him. 

By simple method of hearing about the Lord, the Lord is satisfied. He says, "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." One can meditate upon the Lord anywhere and everywhere. Thus one is advised to take this path back home, back to Godhead, without difficulty.

Ref: Srimad Bhagavatam 7.7.38, authored by Srila Prabhupada (Founder - Acharya, ISKCON)