B.G. 08.22 : Ram and boatman Kevat

When Lord Sri Ramachandra reached the forest with Sita and Lakshmana they had to cross river Ganga.

Guha had heard about the banishment of Lord Rama and came running to help Him.

One of his boatmen was unloading people on the opposite bank and Guha said to Kevat to bring the boat and take divine personalities  on other side of mother Ganga.

Kevat brought the boat near Lord Rama, got down and did namaskaar with intense devotion to Lord Rama.

He started and ended his days with prayers to Lord Rama and throughout the day he was well known for talking about the glories of Lord.

After washing their feet Kevat place his hands on earth and ask Lord to first step on his hand before stepping into the boat. This way he washed all his sins by having a touch of Lords feet.

After washing the Lord’s feet, Kevat ferried them across the river. As soon as they alighted from the boat, Ma Sita immediately withdrew a ring from her finger and handed it over to Lord Rama, signaling to him to pass it on to the boatman.

Lord Rama: Here Brother, that is all we can pay you for your kind service. Please accept it!

Kevat: (Shaking his head). No, My Lord! I can not possibly accept this from you.

Lord Rama: Why?

Kevat: Because people of the same profession do not charge each other for their services. A barber never takes payment, when he gives a haircut to another barber. Even a washer-man never charges a fellow washer-man.

Lord Rama: Brother, how can you and I be of the same profession? You are a boatman and I am….

Kevat: Lord, both of us do the same work. I ferry people from this shore of the Ganges to the other. You ferry people across the ocean of Samsaara (Bhav-sagar),through the journey of life.

How can I accept payment from you? Prabhu! I don’t want anything. But please, as I have made you cross this river today, when my time comes, take me across sansaar saagar [the ocean of  material existence!]. That would be your return to me.

The Lord was so overwhelmed at this devotional request from Kevat, that he held out his arms and embraced the boatman. Later, the expert ferryman was delivered from the cycle of birth and death just because of this little service done unto the Supreme Lord!

He also asked Lord for endless devotion to lotus feet of Lord Rama.

Lord Rama said that from today you not need to take another birth, and granted Kevat – Mukti from material world.

B.G 08.22 : The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

References:

http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/ramayana-story-lord-rama-and-boatmen-kevat/

B.G 08.12 : Unoffered Mango

In Vaishanav families foods are first offered to deity of Krsna and then eaten in gratitude or honored as prasadam. Once Kedarnath dutt who was belonging to a Vaishanav family, brought mangoes from market. His child, Bimala Prasada inadvertently ate a mango which was not yet offered to Lord Krishna. When asked about this by his father, Bimala Prasada was so upset over this offense to Lord Krishna that he took a vow to never eat another mango throughout his life. Later on when the child grew up, he became a very great vaishanav yogi known as Srila Bhaktisidhanta Saraswati Thakur and spread the teachings of vedas to millions of people.

 

A perfect yogi never thinks of personal sense gratification but offers all sense objects in service of the Lord and accepts only His remnants and in this way he constantly meditates upon the Lord and naturally experiences detachment from sense objects. 

B.G: 8.12 : The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and the life air at the top of the head, one establishes himself in yoga.

B.G. 8.6 :Bharat Maharaj and Deer

King Bharata was a wise and experienced king after whom our country is named as Bharat. He ruled his kingdom for hundreds of years. But while in the prime of life, he renounced everything — his queen, family, and his vast empire — and went to the forest. In so doing, he was following the advice of the great sages of ancient India, who recommend that one devote the latter part of one’s life to self-realization.

Understanding that the real purpose of life is to free oneself from the cycle of reincarnation, King Bharata journeyed to a sacred place of pilgrimage called Pulaha-asrama, in the foothills of the Himalayas. There, he performed his meditations. By his constant meditation upon the Personality of Godhead, Bharata reached a very high level of spiritual realizations. 

One day while Bharata was meditating near the bank of the river, a doe came there to drink. While she drank, a lion in the forest nearby roared loudly. The doe was pregnant, and as she jumped in great fear and ran from the river, a baby deer fell from her womb into the swiftly flowing waters. The doe, shivering in fright and weak from the miscarriage, entered a cave, where she soon died.

As the sage observed the fawn floating down the river, he felt great compassion. Bharata lifted the animal from the water and, knowing it to be motherless, brought it to his asrama. He daily fed the deer with fresh green grass and tried to make it comfortable. Soon, however, he began to develop great attachment for the deer; he lay down with it, walked with it, bathed with it, and even ate with it. When he wanted to enter the forest to collect fruits, flowers, and roots, he would take the deer with him, fearing that if he left it behind, it would be killed by dogs, jackals, or tigers. Thus his heart became bound to the deer in affection.

Being attached to raising the deer, Bharata gradually became neglectful of his meditation upon the Supreme Lord. He thus became distracted from the path of self-realization, which is the actual goal of human life.  One day, as Bharata was meditating, he began, as usual, to think of the deer instead of the Lord. Breaking his concentration, he glanced around to see where the deer was, and when he could not discover it, his mind became agitated, like that of a miser who has lost his money. He got up and searched the area around his asrama, but the deer was nowhere to be found.

As the day wore on and the deer still did not return, Bharata became overwhelmed with anxiety. “Has my deer been eaten by a wolf or a dog? Has it been attacked by a herd of wild boars, or by a tiger who travels alone? The sun is now setting, and the poor animal who has trusted me since its mother died has not yet returned.”

Unable to restrain himself, Bharata set out after the deer, following its tiny hoofprints in the moonlight. In his madness, he began to talk to himself: “This creature was so dear to me that I feel as though I have lost my own son. Due to the burning fever of separation, I feel as if I were in the middle of a blazing forest fire. My heart is now blazing with distress.”

While frantically searching for the lost deer along the dangerous forest paths, Bharata suddenly fell and was fatally injured. Lying there at the point of death, he saw that his deer had suddenly appeared and was sitting at his side, watching over him just like a loving son. Thus, at the moment of his death, the King’s mind was focused completely on the deer.

B.G 8.6: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.

References:

http://iskconbirmingham.org/three-histories-of-reincarnation#A Victim of Affection.

B.G 6.4: Best benediction

Once, a poor brahmana worshiped Lord Siva to get the best benediction, hoping for the solution to all his problems. Lord Siva is known asmidhushtama, the best of the benedictors, and many materialistic people approach him to fulfill their desires. But for this brahmana, Lord Siva granted the best benediction for his spiritual life. He directed thebrahmana to see Sanatana Goswami, a direct disciple and close associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, for only Sanatana could award the best benediction.

When the brahmana approached Sanatana Goswami, he noticed that Sanatana had a touchstone that he kept with the garbage. This powerful gem could turn iron into gold simply by contact. Upon the brahmana’srequest, Sanatana gave him the touchstone, which seemed like the greatest blessing to the brahmana, who went away gratified by the assurance of immense financial success.

As the brahmana left Sanatana’s company, however, a doubt nagged his mind: If the touchstone were truly the greatest benediction, then why did Sanatana Goswami keep it with the garbage, as if it had no value at all? Surely, he realized, this could not be what he was seeking; Sanatana Goswami must have an even greater treasure.

The brahmana returned to Sanatana Goswami and inquired, “Sir, if this is the best benediction, why did you keep it with the garbage?”

Sanatana Goswami replied that the touchstone was not the best benediction.

“But," Sanatana asked, "are you prepared to take the best benediction from me?”

The brahmana eagerly assented, and Sanatana then told him to throw the touchstone into the nearby Yamuna River.

When the brahmana returned, Sanatana Goswami initiated him with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. By Lord Siva’s mercy, the brahmana achieved the best benediction of all: the chanting of the holy names of the Lord in the association of a pure devotee.

B.G 6.4: A person is said to be elevated in yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.

References: 

http://btg.krishna.com/best-benediction