MISSION ABORTED - The Price Of Sin

Hare Krsna,

This is to introduce to you a true story of one of our friends who was a gynaecologist .He was somewhat a supporter of our krsna Consciousness activities and was very helpful to our movement.

As the word gynecologist implies, he was involved in taking care of child birth and women’s pregnancy.He was very much proficient in his area of work and as a result was a very much sought after doctor. As he was also running a maternity home this naturally made much money for him. He had a very big house and a family of wife and two children. His successful material accomplishment would certainly be a reason for everyone to envy. He had all that he had ever dreamt of having; successful business, beautiful wife and adorable children, material opulence etc.

However we did not know that his main source of income was actually by performing abortions. At times he would have to deal with as much as five to ten cases a day! He was very busy with this kind of Sinful activities.

We were very appalled and horrified upon hearing this; it is said in the Bhagavata,

sri-bhagavan uvaca

karmana daiva-netrena

jantur dehopapattaye

striyah pravista udaram

pumso retah-kanasrayah SB 3.31.1

The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.

It is clearly seen here that the soul or the living entity is a living being and it is made to enter into the mother’s body through union of the father. It is not that the foetus is some flesh with no life, it is another living entity and life starts from the moment of inception until it grows fully into a baby. Unintelligent people are of the opinion that the fetus is some flesh with no life symptoms. Here the word, retah-kanasrayah, is very significant because it indicates that it is not the semen of the man that creates life within the womb of a woman; rather, the living entity, the soul, takes shelter in a particle of semen and is then pushed into the womb of a woman. Then the body develops. There is no possibility of creating a living entity without the presence of the soul simply by sexual intercourse. The materialistic theory that there is no soul and that a child is born simply by material combination of the sperm and ovum is not very feasible. It is unacceptable.

To abort a fetus while in the womb of the mother is tantamount to murder of a living entity and it carries the same penalty.

So, according to the scriptures, the result would be that this man who had been indulging in abortion, will be put into as many wombs as the number of babies that he killed life after life. And in every womb he is killed in the same way as he did for all the fetuses. So much so that it will be rather impossible for him for hundreds of lifetimes to see light. He'll remain in the womb and will be killed. Many do not know the nature's law. One cannot violate the nature's law. You can violate the state law. Suppose you kill somebody, you can escape by trick. But you cannot escape laws of nature. As many times you have killed, so many times you have to be killed within the womb. This is nature's law. (Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London)

Naturally out of great compassion and concern for him we tried to educate and warn him of the dire consequences that he is implicating himself in but it fell on deaf ears. He was justifying his actions by saying that he was merely doing a service plus he had invested huge amounts on those costly medical equipment and he wanted to earn everything back. So money was his only concern. Despite our numerous attempts of appeal to him to seriously consider the bad karma that he was getting into, he was unrelenting, he remained adamant.

Soon the reactions of karma started working on him. One day his wife caught him red handed having an affair with one of his nurses; she was utterly shocked and very hurt and could not believe what she had witnessed and therefore decided to end her life. She bought herself some petrol and set herself ablaze in the toilet of her house. Within minutes she burnt herself to death; it was very shocking for all friends and relatives to hear of her sudden suicide. The doctor on the other hand was not too perturbed and was still not remorseful of his action over the death of his wife. He carried on his business as usual.

This time he had some bigger enterprising plans of moving his maternity home to a larger building. He managed to build a new five storey building with all amenities to carry out his business in a much sophisticated and complex manner. For the greed for money, he was not the least concerned about any sort of reaction and for him justification was the means.

In order of making more money he even considered renting of some portion of his building. He was only thinking of maximizing his financial returns more and more.

cintam aparimeyam ca

pralayantam upasritah

kamopabhoga-parama

etavad iti niscitah

asa-pasa-satair baddhah

kama-krodha-parayanah

ihante kama-bhogartham

anyayenartha-sancayan

They believe that to gratify the senses is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus until the end of life their anxiety is immeasurable. Bound by a network of hundreds of thousands of desires and absorbed in lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification.

Bg 16.11, Bg 16.12, Bg 16.11-12

This the mentality of the demonic person he is the least concern in anything else save and except his sense gratification. It is also stated in the Bhagavad gita.

evam pravartitam cakram

nanuvartayatiha yah

aghayur indriyaramo

mogham partha sa jivati

My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain. Bg 3.16

The word Aghar ayur means a life of sin and this doctor was surely a very good example of it and little did he know that the result of his karma was sure to catch up with him quickly. While showing his building to some purported prospective clients, he actually ended up getting murdered by them in one of the toilets of the very same building of his. He was murdered in a very brutal manner with the murderers slicing open his belly and spilling out his intestines. SO with the end of his life, his never ending money-making dreams also came to an end. His young children were orphaned, his beautiful wife died and his huge palace has become haunted.

What a price to pay for indulging in nefarious ghastly works that brings ruination to oneself not only for this life but to the countless number that the sinful souls had to go through.

There is a popular saying that crime does not pay but karma too does not pay if one is not careful of not redeeming one’s life of all sinful reaction then it is only going to be bringing bad news.

The only personality that can possible remove all our sinful reaction is Lord Krsna as he says

sarva-dharman parityajya

mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo

moksayisyami ma sucah

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. Bg 18.66

This is the assurance that Lord Krsna has bestowed onto us we need only to surrender and the all merciful Lord would definitely safe us.

Although this particular doctor too was familiar with the essences of the teaching but he was heavily punished because it is said that one should not commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name. Just like some would go to a church to confess and then soon after is found again back to doing the same sinful thing this kind of behavior is of no use as it is comparable to an elephant taking its bath as soon as it reaches the shore it dust itself again with dirt. One should be careful in transgressing the scriptural tenets as it is said

yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya

vartate kama-karatah

na sa siddhim avapnoti

na sukham na param gatim

He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination. Bg 16.23

We do hope that this true story would inspire many in us as to not follow this path as undertaken by this ignorant and sinful doctor who, with all his so called modern education, has ended up in a very pathetic way, only lord krsna can tell for sure how bad he is suffering.

Please chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama

Rama Hare Hare. And be happy.

The Cambodian Odyssey[Part 3 of 3] - The Ordeal

Some one hour into the ride, tragedy struck! And surely enough, as we had much anticipated, there sprung a leak in the bow section of the boat and it started to sink. There was utter panic and chaos on board and people were running to the stern of the boat and some jumping into the water. There were also women and children aboard. It was very terrifying.

Before anything else could possibly be done, we were all in the water. The boat soon disappeared from our sight. It sunk!

Two of the devotees in our group did not know how to swim and the others were not that good at it either. Then we saw one of the devotees who did not know how to swim lost grip of the wooden piece that he was clinging to and started to drown. That added to our panic. We were all in a state of shock and did not know if we were going to survive. We could not believe what was happening.

The buoyancy petrol tank sprang out of its hold and started to float although the rest of the boat was totally out of our sight. Seeing this, we quickly swam to it with all our might to grab hold of it. It was very difficult to hold it firmly as it was coated with a mixture of petrol and grease. However that was all we had. Another devotee was clinging on to a knapsack that he had found floating in the water but he was gradually drifting away from us and went out of our sight after a while.

We did not know the fate of the other passengers as it was utter chaos and panic everywhere and people trying to save themselves. As the ordeal went on we were merely left with our prayers. Each of us could only try to chant and call upon Krsna to save us as we were practically drowning and had no other hope. The dhotis that we were wearing made it more difficult for us to be in the water as it kept getting into our legs and hampering the swimming. With the shock slowly creeping on, we now faced a mental agony as to whether we were going to survive. It was very difficult to even chant Krsna’s name as the water kept going into our mouth constantly.

It was roughly around 0800 hours when the accident occurred and it was dragging on to almost an hour till we saw a boat passing by at a distance. We were all just hoping that any of the crew members on that boat spot us in the water as it was not possible for us to draw any attention by our endeavor. But to our dismay, no such thing happened. The boat slowly sailed away as we all just kept staring at it helplessly, which was our only hope.

The ordeal dragged on for another hour. With the passing of every second, we were only getting weaker and weaker and we were losing all hopes of survival. The previous day being ekadasi, we were not even well fed and that added to our weakness. But to our fortune, it was a fresh water lake and we could atleast quench our thirst with the water.

As we were entering the third hour of our ordeal we spotted another boat sailing at a distance. This time we were very much skeptical if it would come for our rescue or sail away like the first one. But nay, this time it was heading towards us. All of us were overjoyed that our prayers had been answered. Rescue operations had begun. Panic levels went down. We were very much relieved. It was the most unexpected thing that happened when we were all on the verge of giving up all hopes of survival. We were reminded of one example that Srila Prabupada cited many a times: that a drowning man, although he may be an expert swimmer cannot really save himself by his own endeavor unless Krishna wishes so and that he experiences great relief when someone comes for his rescue. We were so much relieved to have been rescued by the rescue workers!

We all thanked Srila Prabhupada and Krsna, particularly Nrsimhadev for having saved us. We then started calling out for each other to see if everyone has made it safely on to the rescue boat and to our amazement, there were no casualties and everyone made it safely on to the rescue boat; even the devotee whom we all thought had drowned!! But there was one devotee who was pretty badly injured with heat burns all over his body due to direct contact of his body with the tank that he was clinging on to, which became very hot in the sun. So he required medical attention. Everyone else made it safely.

We were then told about a similar accident that took place a few months earlier in the same place wherein twenty people had died. We then realized that it was only because of the prayers of all the passengers on board; the kirtan that we had hosted before the journey had begun, that we had a different fate. We thanked Srila Prabhupada and Krsna again and again.

We were then whisked away from the curious crowd of onlookers who had gathered around, back to the same lodging house that we had stay earlier.

Then it came to our knowledge about the ridiculous reason why it took three hours for the management of the ferry boat to come for rescue. They were haggling among themselves on the price of the rescue efforts. It took them some three hours to finally come to some settlement! We were on the verge of dying and they seemed to be more interested in their own monetary gain. Looks like money takes precedent over life in this part of the world. We were very disgusted to hear this and insisted that we did not want to go back again in another boat ride. We were extremely shaken and very frightened by the very idea of travelling again by any form of transport .

Upon our insistence, the ferry boat management finally agreed to send us back by a helicopter. It was for the first time that any of us were travelling by a helicopter. We were in a dilemma whether to take the helicopter ride or not after all that we had gone through. But we prayed to Nrsimhadev and very nervously took the ride back as we didn’t have any other choice. Everything went on smoothly and it took us an hour and a half to reach the capital city of Phnom Penh.

Once we settled in the capital, the shock of the ordeal slowly started to creep away and all of us had to rush to our respective embassies to get new passports as most of us damaged or lost our passports in the water. We just wanted to return home as quickly as possible as we were all visibly shaken by the ordeal and some of us required urgent medical attention.

With the help of our embassy staff we managed to leave the country without much of a hassle for Singapore. All went well and once we reached Singapore we had to rush the injured devotee to the burns ward of the local hospital for immediate treatment. After a stay of some weeks in the hospital he too recovered fully from his injuries.

On the whole it was something for each of us to remember as the whole incident had a profound impact on each of our lives.

One devotee recalls that just prior to the trip, he was in Vrndavan with his family where his five year old son fell from a tree and broke his arm. He was very disturbed with the incident and was contemplating if it was due to his offences, that his son was having to go through such pain. After the ordeal in Cambodia, he realized the real reason behind it. If the boy had not broken his arm, he was supposed to have been accompanying his father on the tragic trip to Cambodia wherein he would have definitely lost his life as it would have been totally impossible to save him. On realizing this, the devotee couldn’t help but to thank the Lord over and over again for having deliberately made him suffer the injury in his arm just to save him from the mouth of death.

Another devotee recollected how his whole life flashed in front of his eyes when he was on the verge of drowning. This generally happens to people before they die; a near death experience. But thankfully a Swiss National came for his rescue, who happened to be trained in rescue operations in the Army. He helped by holding him up until they managed to obtain a floating life jacket for him to wear on. The devotee thought that he was surely going to die but he was somehow saved by the mercy of the lord.

Another devotee recollected that if at all there had been a little more delay for the rescue boat to arrive, it would have costed him his life as he just couldn’t hold on any longer.

All the devotees were very thankful to the Lord for having saved them from the dreadful ordeal. It was indeed a very traumatizing experience and a lesson to learn.

The Lord is the protector of the devotee as he had declared in the Bhagavad Gita,

ksipram bhavati dharmatma

sasvac-chantim nigacchati

kaunteya pratijanihi

na me bhaktah pranasyati

“He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.”

We can only relish this sweet pastime of the Lord on how He saved all of us through his all merciful qualities!

Again and again we humbly bow down to Him, Hare krsna!!

All Glories To Srila Prabhupada!!!

The Cambodian Odessey [Part 2 0f 3]: The Angkor Wat Visit

After some rest, we left for the famous Angkor War temple. We hired a local car to travel to the various spots of interest. The local driver was again very friendly and was very enthusiastic in taking us around.

We were dumbstruck by the sight of the temple! It was so huge covering a vast area of land and surrounded by a moat of water. It was a very beautiful scene owing to a serene atmosphere.

The interiors of the temple were decorated with carvings from the Vedic scriptures depicting the various pastimes of the demigods in the heavenly planets. There were very huge carvings of the churning of the milk ocean with the demigods and demons on either sides holding on to the body of the giant serpent, Vasuki; the Mandara mountain as the churning rod and Lord Kurma, the tortoise incarnation of the Lord acting as the pivot were also depicted. There were other carvings of the different incarnations of Lord Krishna as well. It was in every sense a Vishnu temple built similar in architecture to that of the Hindu temples generally found in Indonesia.

There were no more deities in any of the sancta and there were also no priests or brahmanas to conduct any services. We then realized how important it was to have the brahmanical culture established for it is very difficult for the Varnasrama society to flourish without it. By this we also deeply understood as to why Srila Prabhupada was always insisting on training Brahmanas in the society to get the system of Varnasrama going. Srila Prahupada aptly said,” Without the head it would be difficult for the body to function.”

Due to lack of proper worship, the temple seemed like a ghost town. It was just a worthless decoration.

bhagavad-bhakti-hinasya

jatih sastram japas tapah

apranasyaiva dehasya

mandanam loka-ranjanam

(Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 3.11)

Without bhagavad-bhakti, glorification of the Supreme Lord, whatever we have is simply a decoration on a dead body.

By seeing this we can understand why Srila Prabhupad took so much pain to establish this movement. And after all that he did, he said that only 50% of his job was done. And the rest 50% was to establish Varnasrama. Therefore how important it is for us, as the disciples of His Divine Grace, to further this movement by strictly following the brahminical principles so as to place the movement on a solid footing. Once the Brahmanical order is established, the others i.e. the administrative, mercantile and the worker orders will automatically fall in place.

If there existed a strong government providing us the necessary administration and security, it would have been easily possible for us to revive this system of worship. With the very simple formula of chanting Hare Krsna as given by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it is easily accomplishable.

It was not possible for us to take over the huge complex as it was very firmly being held in the hands of the Buddhist government. We thought we could at least start somewhere to begin this great movement. With this realization we were keener in firmly establishing a temple in this country. After performing kirtan in the temple and the surrounding area we left for other places of visit.

All the other sites were mostly Buddhist temples, most of which were in a very dilapidated condition undergoing some UNESCO restoration program. We also found out that just near this place was the infamous Killing Fields of the notorious Pol Pot regime where they had killed some 2 million people. We visited the place and saw pictures of victims on display before their execution. Amongst many other scenes depicting the inhuman cruelty were pictures of mothers holding on to their children just prior to their death. It was horrible! We finally concluded our tour and decided to head back to the capital.

The Cambodian Odyssey [Part 1 of 3]: Preaching Opportunities Galore

It was 1996. We, a group of devotees from Sri Krishna Mandir, went on a preaching expedition to Cambodia to see if we could introduce them to Krsna Consciousness and to explore possibilities of opening a Hare Krsna center there.

We landed at Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and since we had no contacts we checked into a lodging house with facilities to cook for two weeks.

We found Cambodia to be a beautiful country just like Malaysia with the people being very friendly and helpful. We soon made friends with some of the locals and saw that there was a good potential for setting up a temple there. We did not have any books in the local language and many did not speak English well enough to be able to read many of Srila Prabhupada's books. There was a need to eventually translate them to Cambodian in order to spread the teachings more effectively.

Nevertheless, we devotees went on regular Harinama to the social hub of the town each day while we were there and many local Cambodians joined us for the Kirtan and were also singing and dancing along with us. They were very easy going people and were very friendly. Since they were predominantly Buddhist, they did not see us as a threat to their beliefs. We soon made friends with people who showed symptoms of being potential devotees. It was very encouraging for us to see that Srila Prabhupada's desire to establish many temples around the world would also take place there in Cambodia. We were very excited and began seriously looking into the possibility of opening a Cambodian Hare Krsna temple.

We then made plans to travel up north of the country to Siem Reap to see the famous Angkor Wat temple. This is the biggest ex-Hindu Temple in this part of the world. It was built by King Jayavarman, a Hindu king, during his reign sometime in the 12^th century.

It is something that Cambodia is famous for; in fact, if anyone coming to Cambodia does not visit the Angkor Wat, they are deemed to have missed the very purpose of their visit to the country. Furthermore, we had read too much of it to give it a miss. In addition, as it had been a Vishnu temple before being converted to a Buddhist one, it was a must-see for us. There was no looking back.

We made plans and soon discovered that it would take a six-hour boat ride to the place as that town was situated on the northern bank of the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia called Tonle Sap. We had two options to go there – either a 45 minutes' flight by helicopter or a 6-hour speed ferryboat ride.

We decided to travel by the ferry and since there were six of us, it was more economical. Soon we boarded one and were travelling. We had a chance to interact with the locals and to witness their day-to-day life style.

It was amazing to see how the people were caught up in the webs of Maya and how they were struggling to maintain their livelihood. The modes of nature do not spare anyone even if they are unsophisticated. The advantage they seemed to have was that they were very simple in their living; if that can be coupled with the mercy of a pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada, it would be to their tremendous gain. Their lives would become successful.

The ferry was stopping at various stations en route and there were a constant pool of people embarking and disembarking. Some were coming in with their children and others with their provisions of daily necessities. It was like taking one of the public buses in a rural area of a third world country.

The ferry was actually a small fast boat with three powerful 750 horsepower outboard engines. On account of these powerful engines, the boat was skimming on the surface of the water at great speed. We were feeling very insecure as this might have caused the hull of the boat to crack, thereby sinking the boat.

Notwithstanding all the water-slapping, it all went well for us and we safely reached Siem Reap town. We again checked into another small lodging house for our stay.

The Lord’s Garland Changes His Destiny

The mention of Prasadam usually gives us an idea of the deliciously prepared food offered to Lord Krsna in devotion. But it means more than that. It also includes anything offered to the Lord, like flower garlands, clothes used by the Lord, neem twigs, etc.

Usually we are very inattentive about the glories of these items and tend to take them lightly. As Lord Caitanya has said in the prayers of the Sikshastaka:

namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis

tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah

etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi

durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah

-- Caitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila 20.16

"My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as "Krsna" and "Govinda," by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not have any attraction for them."

This is our position; although all these paraphernalia are very powerful, we do not have much faith in them. In this regard, there is an incident among the followers of Sri Ramanujacarya. They challenged him on the potency of Prasadam and to prove to them its glories, he took a palmful of rice Prasadam and requested them to follow him. He led them to a tank. In India, most temples have a small reservoir of water for the pilgrims to take bath or to freshen themselves before entering the temple.

There he demonstrated the power of Prasadam by throwing it into the tank. Immediately, the fish in the tank started to partake of it. Immediately after taking the Prasadam, the fish visibly transformed into four-handed forms, similar to those of Lord Vishnu and were seen going upwards to the spiritual world. It was indeed a very wondrous miracle to witness.

The followers of Sri Ramanujacarya were astounded by what they had witnessed and they immediately inquired as to why this had not happened to any of them although they had been honoring the Lord's Prasadam for a much longer period of time. To that, Sri Ramanujacarya replied that they did not have the faith whereas the fish simply ate without any reservation.

There is a similar incident in the Caitanya lila where Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu examined Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya on whether he had given up his attachment for the impersonal teaching that he had been practicing.

The Lord brought him some of Lord Jagannath's Maha Prasadam very early one morning just as the Bhattacarya had risen from his bed. On receiving the Prasadam, the Bhattacarya immediately honored it without rinsing his mouth and finishing his morning rituals. He quoted a verse explaining that if one receives Maha Prasadam, he should immediately honor it as it is non-different from the Lord. This particular behavior of the Bhattacarya pleased the Lord. He was satisfied that the Bhattacarya has then become a Vaisnava – a devotee of Lord Krishna.

If one becomes attached to the Prasadam of the Lord, he becomes cured of the poisonous effect of Mayavada philosophy which promotes oneness with the Supreme Lord, an offensive perception that leads one to a hellish situation.

Narada Muni became a great devotee simply by tasting the remnants of Prasadam left behind by the sages whom he and his mother were taking care of. He mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam that just by tasting those remnants, his heart became purified, similar to those of the pure devotee sages.

We have other incidences like the four Kumaras who smelt the flavor of Tulasi manjaris offered at the lotus feet of the Lord and became pure devotees, giving up their impersonal realization.

All these incidences definitely prove the potency of the Lord's Prasadam but sometime we tend to identify them as some stories of bygone ages and not take them too seriously. To prove to us that this is not true, the Lord enacts His glories time to time to the devotees to strengthen their faith.

Here is one incident that happened in our temple. One day, somewhere in the mid-1990s, a devotee's friend had passed away and to help him further, the devotee decided to place on his body, the Deities' Prasadam garlands to help him on his onward journey. This kind gesture on behalf of the concerned devotee had a profound effect on the departed soul. Usually we do not emphasize much on dreams as they would usually be taken as someone's fantasy. But in this case, however, the departed soul actually appeared in dazzling clothes and was looking very effulgent in a dream to our devotee who had previous helped him with the Deity's Prasadam garland.

He apparently spoke saying that because of the Prasadam garland from the Deities that was placed on his dead body, he had received a higher birth. He thanked him profusely for his kind service of saving him which granted him a promotion to the higher planets instead of degradation to the hellish planets. He was extremely grateful and he thanked him again and again before finally departing in the dream.

Upon awakening, the devotee was stunned by the dream that he just recollected and was surprised by what he had heard. This incident certainly proves the glorious potency of the Lord's Prasadam.

The Nectar of Devotion sheds more light on this topic:

Accepting Flower Garlands

The next instruction is that one should put on flower garlands which are offered to the Deity. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, verse 46, of Srimad-Bhägavatam, Uddhava says to Krsna, "My dear Krsna, I have taken things which You have used and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, saintly articles, garments and ornaments, and I eat only the remnants of Your foodstuff, because I am Your menial servant. So, therefore, I am sure that I shall not be attacked by the spell of material energy." The purport of this verse is that for any person who simply follows these rules and regulations of decorating the body with the marks of tilaka of gopi-candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands which were offered to Krsna, there is no question of being conquered by the spell of material energy. At the time of death, there is no question of such a person's being called by the constables of Yamaräja. Even if one does not accept all the Vaisnava principles, but still takes the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna, or krsna-prasäda, he will gradually become qualified to rise to the platform of a Vaisnava.

Similarly, in the Skanda Puräna, Lord Brahmä tells Närada, "My dear Närada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which was formerly used by Krsna becomes relieved from all disease and reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he is liberated from the contamination of matter."

We are very often caught in the webs of Maya and do not even perceive or believe that there is life after death. We, devotees, should take our devotional lives seriously so that our faith can solidify by remembering these pastimes. We can then be sure of returning to the Lord at the end of this life.

Incidences like these would certainly prove the supreme potency of the Lord which is prevalent at all times. We should not be misled by atheistic philosophies which have scant regards to the very idea of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His pastimes. The only way to understand the Lord and His pastimes is to obtain the mercy of a pure devotee of Lord Krishna. Then we would be able to surely grasp all these pastimes with complete faith.

yasya deve para bhaktir

yatha deve tatha gurau

tasyaite kathita hy arthah

prakasante mahatmanah

"Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed." [Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23]

Thank you very much.

Hare Krsna!

-- By Sundar Gopal Das

Govinda's Gifts

Hare Krsna! Here is another interesting incident.

It was sometime in 1994. When we had moved our temple premises to Mountbatten Rd, we decided to open a Govinda’s Gifts shop in Little India along Serangoon Road to facilitate our preaching activities. In 1985, we had a similar store in Little India where we reached out to several souls whose lives were changed through Srila Prabhupada's books. We had closed the preaching store sometime in 1988 located at the current Serangoon Plaza.

We wanted to revive the store front preaching and with all earnestness, we were seriously looking for another location in the Little India area.

We managed to locate an outlet at No. 3, Kerbau Road. We were very excited with the news and immediately accepted the offer to occupy the place. The purported landlord Mr. Balakrishnan was only too keen in renting out his premises for our intended use. All went well and we soon started our renovation work for the shop. As the renovation work progressed, another interesting event unfolded.

The building had a living quarters behind the shop and the tenant living there was a Muslim gentleman, Mr.Hamid. He approached us to find out what was going on at the shop front. We gladly enlightened him about our new venture of a proposed new gift shop selling Srila Prabhupada's books and other religious artifacts. He was very happy to hear of our enterprise and welcomed us with an open heart although he was a Muslim.

However, he began to reveal that this Mr. Balakrishnan was a cheat and mentioned how he had cheated many other people like us in the same manner by purportedly renting out the property and then evicting the new tenant with them losing all their investment and rental deposits. Mr. Hamid further added that actually Mr. Balakrishnan was not the landlord. The property apparently belonged to Mr. Hamid's relatives and he suggested that we meet them to clarify the matter.

Following this turn of events, we readily accepted the proposal and went along to meet the new landlord who happened to be a Muslim lady. They hosted us in their house very warmly and began to tell their side of the story. The property apparently belonged to their father and this Mr.Balakrishnan rented it from them and soon after, he stopped paying any rent to them. They could not evict him as the property was awaiting repossession by the Government and they were waiting compensation and were not supposed to rent it out. Knowing this, Mr.Balakrishnan wanted to forcefully take over the property and claim that he was actually the person to receive the compensation as he was doing the business and was the rightful claimant. By some kind of trickery, he was trying his luck out.

After looking into all the relevant documents, we were firmly convinced that the property belonged to the Muslim lady and proceeded to deal with her and ignored Mr.Balakrishnan. Fortunately, we had not paid any monies to him and we did not reveal to him of our intentions too; it was a blessing of Krsna.

Once the renovation work was over, Mr.Balakrishnan came over requesting that we give him a set of keys too which we denied and also enlightened him of our intention of paying the rent to the Muslim lady. He was furious and threw himself into a rage and started to hurl abusive words at us but it was all to no avail as we were undeterred.

He was visibly very disturbed and would come daily trying to create a disturbance at the storefront thus making our sales difficult. We tolerated his menace and kept up our determined stand of not submitting to his attack. He was caught in a fix. He had lost his shop, the source of his livelihood, and had every reason to retaliate. Furthermore his chance of claiming a huge sum as compensation benefit was evaporating.

He then decided on his next course of action. It was a Saturday night. He brought some of his friends in a van to the shop after we had closed for the day in the evening to carry away all of our things and then to put a new lock. In other words, he wanted to evict us forcefully.

After we had closed the shop, he started his operation. While he was trying to break the lock, unknown to him and fortunately for us, there were some plain clothes detectives of the Police department doing their rounds and were just standing right in front of the shop. They inquired from him as to what he was doing. He remarked that he had lost his set of keys and was therefore trying to break the lock to replace it. The cops waited till he broke the shop open and they went in along with him.

By Lord Krishna's arrangement, the cop happened to be a friend of our society and and was taken in for a surprise when he saw that it was actually our shop. He immediately questioned and arrested Mr. Balakrishnan and then called us over. Mr.Balakrishnan was at a loss of words in trying to defend himself. The police had caught him red-handed while "shop breaking" which, as we later came to know, was a serious offence that carries a jail term of 7 years.

He was placed in jail while the police recorded our statements and was later released on bail awaiting trial. He eventually was very remorseful of his actions realizing the consequence he was about to face. He was pleading with our lawyer to drop the charges and to save him from this terrible outcome.

Finally, after a year or so, our legal solicitor advised us to pardon him and to receive a compensation for his folly. We too agreed to the proposal and proceeded on with our service of distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books with no hindrance and with greater vigour.

This proves to us how Krsna is always protecting His devotees who are sincerely trying to preach his Holy name. We went on to distribute many of Srila Prabhupada's books and introduced Krsna consciousness to many a soul.

Srila Prabhupada Sankirtan ki jaya!

-- By Sundar Gopal Das

Instant Inspiration At The Gallows

The amazing potency of Srila Prabhupada's distinguished books are beyond anyone's imagination. We are very sure that it is an established opinion in the minds of all the readers of his books.

Here is one incident which took place in Singapore that shows its magnificent glories. It happened sometime in the early nineties.

There happened to be a young man who, in the quest for riches started to get involved in drugs which he thought would bring instant wealth. In the process of dealing with drugs, he was soon arrested by the strong arms of the law. Singapore has very stringent laws governing drugs. Anyone caught in possession of anything more than 14 grams of heroin is punishable by the gallows. Sure enough, he was found guilty and was sentenced to death. It was too late for anything else to be done for his folly and it has cost him his life.

As is stated in the Bhagavad
Gita, the three gates to hell are lust, anger and greed. So anyone caught in these webs of  the material modes of nature progresses
steadily to hell. Unfortunately, many are unaware of this transcendental knowledge.

Fortunately, he had a devotee friend who had heard of his plight and was concerned. In one of the meetings with him in the prison, he gave him one of Srila
Prabhupada's books, The Science Of Self Realization.

We can only imagine how painful it would be for person in this situation. One would be tormented by excessive fear and anxiety. Lord Krsna
also confirms in the Bhagavad
gita
that birth, death, old age and diseases are very painful and are the real miseries of the material world.

How timely that this young man had received the book of Srila Prabhupada! Soon he was very engrossed in it as it was the right medicine that he really needed. A few days later, his time was up. It is a general custom that the criminals are taken to the gallows in the early hours of the day and are hanged at dawn.The guards involved remark that a person in this situation usually breaks down and is unable to walk. They wail and they have to be dragged to the gallows. It would be a very painful scene to witness.

In this case, however, much to the amazement of the guards, the said young man was remarkably undisturbed. He was on the contrary, very cheerful and he bravely walked to the gallows and even told the guards that he was not afraid of death as he had firmly taken shelter of Lord Krsna  through his Holy Name.

             
 

apannah
samsrtim
ghoram

yan-nama
vivaso
grnan

tatah
sadyo
vimucyeta

yad
bibheti
svayam
bhayam

 
 

Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krsna, which is feared by fear personified. [SB 1.1.14]

This is the amazing result  by coming in contact with a pure devotee of the Lord. The Srimad Bhagavatam also says:

etavan
sankhya-yogabhyam

sva-dharma-parinisthaya

janma-labhah
parah
pumsam

ante
narayana-smrti

 
 

The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life. [SB 2.1.6]

With this we can safely conclude that this young man must have made it successfully either to the spiritual world or taken a better birth in the higher planetary systems.

anta-kale ca mam
eva

smaran
muktva
kalevaram

yah
prayati
sa mad-bhavam

yati nasty atra
samsayah

 
 

And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt. [BG 8.5]

 
 

Another wonder: In the Singapore jail's death penalty department, they do allow a priest to conduct the last prayers with the departing soul. If he is a Christian,a pastor does it and similarly for the Buddhist and the Muslim but the Hindus do not have a priest and one particular Hindu guard does it for the Hindu inmates.
We had the opportunity to meet him and question him as to what he does for the dying Hindu inmates.
He said that he did not know the procedures as he was not well-versed in the scriptures and only does what is best to his knowledge.
He said that he would give in the hands of the dying person a bunch of Tulasi leaves and say some mantras.

When we heard this we were astounded as that is what will save the dying soul from going to the hellish planets and promotes the soul to the spiritual world  as anyone coming in contact with Tulasi at the moment of death is saved from the hands of Yamaraja and promoted to Vaikuntha. In the Skanda Purana there is another statement about Tulasi, as follows: "Tulasi is auspicious in all respects. Simply by seeing, simply by touching, simply by remembering, simply by praying to, simply by bowing before, simply by hearing about or simply by sowing this tree, there is always auspiciousness. Anyone who comes in touch with the tulasi tree in the above-mentioned ways lives eternally in the Vaikuntha world."

We were very happy to hear of this and we were very sure that this young man must have undoubtedly made it back to the spiritual world!

Srila
Prabhupada's book distribution ki jaya!!

 
 

By Sundar Gopal Das

The Power Of The Holy Name

We have another interesting story to share with you.

In 1975 we were just beginning our Krsna conscious life and it was very ecstatic. In those early days we were trying to serve Srila Prabhupada to the best of our abilities. It was very trying and challenging as we were all very naïve and green about almost everything.

We were renting a bungalow house at 5 Gardenia Road and were using it as a temple. There were no full-time devotees then and hence we all used to meet regularly on the weekends for a Sunday feast program. The Sunday feast was well attended and we used to have very loud Kirtans, chanting the holy names of the Lord from 5pm in the evenings to 9pm followed by the lovely Sunday feast.

We were all very enthused in trying to be of some service to Srila Prabhupada in trying to spread the movement in this part of the world. It was the beginning and we were very determined to help Srila Prabhupada in his mission.

As our Sunday program began to grow we were having very big kirtans and this was indeed creating a problem with our neighbors as it was a very quiet and posh neighborhood with many rich people residing there.

Soon without our knowledge one particular neighbor started a campaign to have us evicted from the place. He was very determined and was going door to door trying to gain support from all the other neighbors. We believe he must have got a lot of support.

One one fine Sunday program, we had a very ecstatic kirtan and we were all dancing in bliss. The next day we learned that the gentleman on the campaign had a fatal heart attack and had passed away in the night. He was very antagonistic to the chanting and was very envious of the devotees. It was indeed a very high price to pay to be against the chanting of the Holy name. We leave it to the readers' discretion on his circumstantial death but we strongly believe that Lord Nrsimhadeva must have got rid of him for creating these disturbances.

Soon after, the campaign too mysteriously died a natural death as the others saw the outcome of what would be the result. They were very frightened by the death of the gentleman who was not very old but was quite young and healthy. They did not try to intervene again.

We continued our weekend Kirtans without any hindrance thereafter. The neighbors then onwards, were very respectful of the devotees and they too began to relish the power of the holy name.

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we were successful in pushing on the movement despite the many obstacles we had faced as we progressed along.

Sankirtana Maha Yajna ki jai!

Sundar Gopal Das

Sarngapani, the Pigeon

Hare Krsna!

Please accept my humble obeisances at the lotus feet of all the readers of this article. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

We have an interesting story to share with all of you.

It is regarding a pigeon that was coming to our temple sometime in 1989 while we were located at 169D Bencoolen Street. Our temple was on the fifth floor of the building. We had a nice program and many devotees were frequenting our place for our morning program as well for prasadam.

On one particular morning, after our morning program, i.e. after the Bhagavatam class, a pigeon turned up at our temple. We thought that either like any other bird it would eventually leave or that it might have been injured and wanted some safe place till it gets better. On the contrary, we found that it was neither the case. It was perfectly healthy and was not keen in leaving our temple room except for flying out occasionally and coming back soon. In fact, it was very happy to be with the devotees. It would fly and rest on their shoulders and even walk along with them as and when they were chanting their japa. It was very astonishing to see this. It was not frightened at all by the presence of any devotee. This was going on for some days and we were all becoming quite attached to it as well. In fact, we started to call it "Sarngapani", which is another name of Krishna meaning the wielder of the bow, Sarnga.

A couple of days later, while we had our morning kirtan, it actually joined in the kirtan. It was amazing to see this. It was actually dancing with the devotees. Sometimes the devotees, while dancing, twirled around in the middle of the kirtan and this bird too did the same. When the devotees jumped in the kirtan, the bird also jumped. It was indeed a very astonishing sight. It was relishing the kirtan along with the devotees.

We were all very amazed by this as usually when there is a loud kirtan with big cymbals and mrdangas, it is only natural for any animal, what to speak of birds, to be frightened; but it was not the case with this particular bird. The kirtan too went on for a considerable period of time as it was very inspiring for all to see a bird dancing ecstatically in it. We too were all dancing very ecstatically along with the bird.

After the kirtan was brought to a close, the bird left and was never to be seen again. We presume that it must have left for the spiritual world if not for a better birth.

This is all not very wonderful in the kirtan of Lord Chaitanya, as birds, deers, tigers and elephants too had participated in dancing with the Lord but to witness this pastime with the pigeon merely only strengthens one's faith in the holy name of the Lord.

When will I be able to obtain the mercy of the Lord to relish in the kirtan and to dance in ecstasy?

Hoping this would inspire everyone in Krsna Consciousness,

Raghupati Das, Sri Krishna Mandir