The great mercy of Narada Muni

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Threading elephants through the eye of a needle

 

 

 

A lesson from the travels of Narada Muni

 

 

One day Narada Muni-a famous, pure devotee of the Lord who has the power to travel at will anywhere within the material and spiritual worlds-was on his way to see the Supreme Person face to face in His kingdom. Before he left for God's kingdom, he came upon a mystic yogi who had been undergoing severe austerities and penances for many years, trying to achieve perfection in mystic yoga. Upon seeing Narada Muni, the yogi sensed that he was a great spiritual person, and asked Narada who he was. Narada Muni replied, "I am Narada Muni. I am on my way to see the Supreme Person" The yogi paid his respects and then asked Narada Muni, "Could you please do something for me? When you see the Lord, could you ask Him when I will be liberated from the wheel of birth and death?" Narada Muni agreed and went on his way.

He then came upon a humble cobbler who lived under a tree. As soon as the cobbler saw Narada Muni, he stood up to pay his respects. He then asked Narada Muni, "You seem like a saintly person. Who are you? What is your business?" Narada Muni replied, "I am Narada Muni and I am on my way to see the Supreme Lord." The cobbler was very excited to hear this, and he asked Narada Muni, "Could you please do a favor for me? Could you ask Him when I will be liberated from the wheel of birth and death?" Narada Muni consented and went on his way. Narada Muni saw the Supreme Lord, and when he was just about ready to leave said, "Oh, yes, one more thing. There is a mystic yogi and there is a cobbler. Both of them want to know when they will be liberated." The Supreme Lord said, "You can tell the yogi that he will be liberated only after one hundred lifetimes. And you can tell the cobbler that his present body will be his last. He will be liberated because he is My pure devotee." Feeling very happy, Narada Muni was about to leave when the Lord said, "Oh, yes, one more thing-they will both ask you what I was doing when you saw Me. Tell them that I was threading elephants through the eye of a needle."

 

Narada Muni then returned to the material world and first came upon the mystic yogi. The mystic yogi immediately asked Narada, "Did you see the Supreme Lord, and did He say when I would be liberated from this miserable material world? I've been engaging in so many penances and austerities. Obviously I deserve to be liberated quite soon. After all, I'm a very advanced yogi now. I'm a great mystic." Narada Muni replied, "The Supreme Lord stated that you are very fortunate and you will be liberated after one hundred lifetimes." The mystic yogi, extremely angered, expressed his doubt that this could be possible, saying, "I can't believe you.

I don't even know if you really are the great Narada Muni. Tell me, if you really saw the Supreme Lord, what was He doing when you saw Him?" Narada Muni said, "He was threading elephants through the eye of a needle." The yogi then laughed, saying, "That's ridiculous. Now I know for sure that you are simply a charlatan, you never saw the Supreme Lord at all. No one can thread elephants through the eye of a needle. I should have known you weren't really Narada Muni."

 

Narada Muni continued on his journey and came upon the cobbler, who very humbly, respectfully, and expectantly greeted Narada Muni. "Did you see the Lord? Did you see the Lord? When did He say I would be able to come to Him?" Narada replied, "The Supreme Lord said that this body will be your last. Upon leaving this body, you will go to Him. You will not have to take on any more material births because you are His pure devotee. Your love for Him is unflinching." The cobbler was very happy upon hearing this, and out of sincere inquiry, wanting to hear about the activity of the Person whom he loves, asked Narada, "When you saw my Lord, what was He doing?" Narada Muni replied, "He was threading elephants through the eye of a needle." Upon hearing this, the cobbler jumped with joy and began dancing and chanting the names of the Lord, crying tears of love, sometimes falling on the ground, sometimes dancing. Astonished, Narada Muni asked him, "My dear friend, do you not consider that it is inconceivable that the Lord could be putting elephants through the eye of a needle?" And the cobbler, who lived under a banyan tree, picked a fruit off the ground, opened it, and said to Narada Muni, "My dear Narada, there are countless thousands of these little fruits that fall off this banyan tree. And in each of these fruits you will find there are hundreds and hundreds of little seeds. And in each of these little seeds the Supreme Lord has placed a giant banyan tree. For the Supreme Lord, nothing is inconceivable. He is truly wonderful."

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The following is a pastime (Lila) of the great sage Narada-Muni that took place walking with Krishna outside the walls of Dwarka in Goloka-Vrindavan.

 

Krishna was about to teach Narada a valuable lesson about the powerful effects of Maya (forgetfulness)

Narada Muni, a great Devotee of Lord Krishna, was once walking outside the perimeter of Dwarka (one of Krishna’s great Palaces) with the Lord. As they walked, Narada asked Krishna,

 

“How is it one can forget such a beautiful place as Goloka-Vrndavan? ‘How could a devotee forget Krishna and end up in the temporary material world in an ethereal (heavenly) or biological (earthly) body?”

 

Narada looked at Krishna in total ecstasy and bliss wondering how anyone could leave such beauty. He was confused, as he new the material universe was full of souls, who all were previously with Krishna in their only genuine eternal form that is perpetually endowed with an imperishable identity, personality and individuality, who did exactly that – forgot Krishna and their own real identity by turning their back on Him and manufacturing so many counterfeit identities, personalities and forms outside of Goloka-Vrindavan within the temporary material universe, how could this happen?

 

As they walked through the forest, a young girl caught Narada’s attention; she was struggling to carry two buckets of water near a well. Out of pity, Narada went over and offered his helping hand to the struggling girl; she gladly accepted his offer, as she was exhausted. Gladly and compassionate Narada Muni carried the two buckets of water and proceeded to the girls’ destination at a nearby Village.

 

On the way there, the simplicity and innocents of this beautiful young girl was so sweet and captivating that Narada was speechless in her association. She broke the silence by explaining she was the daughter of the Village elder and her father was a great leader and devotee of Krishna. Narada, however was so captivated by the girl’s sweet voice, flowing long hair and colourful sari, he was not listening. He was totally dumbfounded in her presents.

 

When they arrived at the Village, the girl introduced her new friend to her father. He was very impressed by Narada’s qualities, and thought this man must be a great devotee of Lord Krishna.

 

He immediately further thought ‘what a nice husband this young man would make for my daughter’ The Village elder felt obligated to reward Narada for his service.

 

All the Villagers gathered around thinking Narada must be a great Sage and suggested the best reward for him was the village elder’s daughter in marriage. Narada Muni was so attached and comfortable with the girl that he accepted the offering!

 

The wedding day arrived and everyone in the surrounding area came. The Village Brahmin’s (priests) performed the fire yajna (purification ceremony) and many gifts were given. After the marriage Narada and his new wife settled in performing various duties.

 

Narada eventually became the Head Master of the Gurukula (school). In due course his wife fell pregnant with their first child. A boy was born and the Village was ecstatic, celebrating late into the night.

 

As time went on, Narada’s happiness increased being with his family and living in the Village, he never had a worry in the world. Over the years he was bestowed another six children.

 

He enjoyed watching them grow, becoming educated and playing sporting games with them. All his children were adorned with beautiful qualities.

Twenty years had passed, his father in-law, the Village elder, passed away suddenly due to illness; everyone was saddened and would only accept Narada as the new Village elder.

 

Many more years passed and he eventually gave permission to a young boy to marry his daughter.

 

Everything was so perfect, so peaceful. Narada was totally satisfied with his wife, children, grandchildren and all the wonderful people in the Village.

 

Then one day an enormous storm came to the Village, pelting heavy rain with strong winds that destroyed houses. Narada decided he must immediately evacuate the Village, but it was too late, flooding had made it impossible to escape. The storm became more intense, the water level was rising fast and raging torrents destroyed everything in its path.

 

Narada frantically searched for his wife, children, grandchildren and friends, He found himself trapped on a plank of wood in the raging torrents looking everywhere through the hail, wind and ragging water for his wife, but new she must have been washed away by the flood. His son in law and daughter also found a plank of wood attempting to ride out the storm however, it only got worse and they eventually lost their footing and also perished.

 

Then to Narada’s amazement he saw two of his young grand children high up in a tree holding on to dear life. Narada reached out to them screaming,

 

“Just hold on to me, give me your hand and I will save you!”

 

They reached out and at the same time a huge wave overpowered all of them, frantically Narada searched through the water screaming out for his grandchildren, but they also had perished. He continued calling out,

 

“Don’t leave me, just hold on somehow, don’t leave me!”

 

Then he also perished in the flood.

 

 

 

 

 

At that exact moment, Narada felt a tap on the shoulder, he slowly opened his eyes still lamenting and wanting to be with his family. He found himself sitting against a well; again Narada yelled out in bewilderment,

 

“Where is my family?”

 

Then realized the tap on the shoulder was from Krishna standing next to him. Krishna laughed and said,

 

“You wanted to know how powerful Maya (forgetfulness) was, so I showed you. You have been sitting against that well for no more than a moment!”

 

Coming to his senses, Narada says to Krishna,

 

“You mean all that experience, my wife, my children, my friends, my wealth, my fame, my followers, the Village, was a dream?”

 

Krishna replies,

 

“No, it is all real but everything outside my Kingdom is impermanent, your entire experience was a lesson to show you how easy it is for a devotee in Goloka-Vrindavan, who is eternally liberated, until they choose not to be as you have just done, to be captivated by Maya (forgetfulness and illusion) and fall to a temporary body of forgetfulness birth, disease, old age short memory and death to experience the impermanent nature that exists only within My material universe outside My Eternal abode of Goloka Vrindavan/Vaikuntha.

 

 

 

In My Perpetual Spiritual Universe, there is no death, however as soon as you chose to forget Me and help the girl, you were immediately transferred to My material universe and experienced the fleeting forgetful nature of the transitory universe, including death by drowning.

 

This is because you were attached to something other than loving devotional service to Me; (Krishna or God) you chose to turn your back on me just for a moment to help the young girl and became captivated by your own selfless compassion to help her, so much so you forgot Me! That moment seemed like a lifetime.

 

Genuine selflessness is doing everything for My pleaser and you, along with others, simply become inattentive. Many of my devotees experience this illusion like you have as Lila (pastime), so I can teach them a valuable lesson however, others who turn their back on me and become attracted to the flicking beauty of Maya, can remain in the material universe forgetting their true form, identify, personality and individuality for almost what appears to be an eternity, transmigrating through many millions of counterfeit bodies in their search for so called happiness. Enough is never enough in the material universe.

 

In the material world, this is like chasing after a mirage in the desert that only appears real, but in reality is only an illusion. The impermanent universe is both real and an illusion because it is transitory. This is what temporary ethereal (heavenly or hellish) and biological (earthly) bodies in the material universe are like, they all end in disappointment because they fade away because everything one has accumulated and worked so hard to achieve is lost and ultimately forgotten – everything just fades in material time.

 

Conditioned souls who are trapped in the material universe experience that ‘moment of being away from my Kingdom’ as billions upon billions of life times in billions of different bodies that seem like an eternity, so much so, many foolishly come to believe the Impersonal inactive effulgent Brahmajoyti, or bright light, which is the motionless effulgence of trillions of individual jivas surrounding My body, is the starting and ending point of their existence.

 

All of them have forgotten their real form and relationship with Me in Goloka-Vrindavan

This is very difficult to understand without My favour because it is very complicated for you to understand the eternal stage on which all this illusion within the impermanent material universe is unfolding.

In actual fact, all of those jivas were once like you and had a personal intimate relationship with Me in Goloka-Vrindavan, they still do, but have temporally forgotten. As in your case of sitting against the well and captivated by absent-mindedness just for a moment, the consciousness of those who choose to leave My Personal abode and their real form, identity, personality and individually have also become forgetful, leaving behind their original form, just as you did Narada, in Goloaka-Vrindavan.

 

On leaving your true identity you then fabricate numerus counterfeit forms, identities and personalities like one does in a dream at night.

Some in this way transfer their consciousness to the material universe, as your consciousness had just experienced, to pursue their self intereset and turn their back on Me.

 

In actual fact there is no beginning or ending point of the jiva, this Impersonal conclusion by some lost souls, which includes many learned Vaisnavas and caste Goswamis (My devotees), have miss understood their eternal relationship with Me that is always there in Goloka-Vrindavan, even if they have forgotten.

 

Their idea that the soul originates from the Brahmajoyti is due to the long association they have had within many fleeting bodies within the temporary universe, being trapped within forgetfulness and sensual identity and association for so, so long, that they have forgotten their original form, identity, personality individuality and selfless devotional love in their eternal relationship with Me as you, Narada, have just done by choosing to forget Me.

 

Even a great devotee like you should never underestimate the choice to forget Me, you are marginal and that is your right if you choose however, once under the spell of My maha-maya, you became illusioned and believed the village was your home forgetting your geniun home here in Goloka.

 

What is Maya? Maya: - forgetfulness, illusion, ‘that which is not’, a personality who controls the impermanent energy, i.e., the ethereal (heavenly and hellish) and biological (earthly) container the soul manifests, as well as the mental delusions suffered by the forgetful jiva after leaving the Kingdom of God. Maya’s duty is to make sure no one disturbs Krishna by offering the aspiring devotees wealth, riches, beauty (female or male), and knowledge of the celestial technological heavenly realms and technologically earthly realm as a test to see what one really wants".

 

Human civilizations throughout the centuries have repeatedly attempted to build a permanent existence as well as prepare their present bodies with wealth and belongings to take with them into a heavenly ‘after-life’ where they believe they will live forever, why this is not possible in this temporary world will be fully explained in this thesis.

 

From the beginning of time, so many cultures have tried to prepare, with their inherent instinctual belief in an after life, to enter a Perpetual Kingdom of God. They unfortunately mistakenly come to believe that this transitory universe, with its heavenly rewards, is their real home (Explained later when explaining the heavenly planets within the interim creation in higher levels of the material universe existing in a non-biological sub-space dimension).

 

All things must pass

 

The attempt to achieve happiness, love and sensual pleasures in an impermanent atmosphere will, in due course, frustrates an intelligent human being because; in the end, all they have worked so hard to build up over their lifetime is all taken away.

 

Whatever material acquisitions built up over their lifetime eventually wears out and erodes away.

 

Ultimately they loose everything anyway as forgetfulness, disease, old age and death over comes them. The phenomenon of death, also known as ‘forgetfulness’, is an abnormal state the jiva or individual life force is overcome by while traveling in and identifying with the outward biological human bodily garment or vehicle while contained in the temporary universe.

The attempt to build a perpetual blissful home on earth in a biological body, or in heaven in a non-biological ethereal body is not possible because everything eventually breaks down and fades away in the impermanent material universe.

 

Even in the heavenly planets, that are rewards for Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews and most branches of Hinduism, due to their performance of penance and austerity, exists only a temporary celestial manifestation within the boundaries of the material universe where one can live for thousands of years but also must pass on.

 

Only jivas who fall from the Brahmajoyti, having first originally previously first fallen from Vaikuntha or Goloka-Vrindavan long, long, long before they mistakenly accepted the Impersonal Brahmajoyti as their origins, have to start their active existence from the beginnings of biological life.

Only after billions of life times, do they unfortunately make their way to the Brahmajoyti. They do not know or remember how they were introduced or originally fell from Goloka-Vrindavan/Vaikuntha to the temporary universe in the first place and foolishly believe the Brahmajoyti is both the source of their existence and liberation.

 

Unfortunately the separation of the individual jiva from Krishna’s Personal abode has been so long a period of time they foolishly believe their origins are the Brahmajoyti. These jivas, who think they have originated from the Brahmajoyti, first manifest an ethereal body that stays with them for as long as they exist in the impermanent universe. From that ethereal body all other insubstantial and biological forms are projected.

 

Coming from the Brahmajoyti means these embodied jivas have to start their active existence from the most basic form of life first attained after leaving that effulgent light.

 

From there the now embodied jiva has to go through the billions of biological bodily mapped out by evolution until the human body is again attained.

 

It must be made clear this extremely lengthy process is only for the jivas who have previously merged there identity, individuality, personality and form into a minute spark of individual living light and therefore have entered or merged themselves (individual spark) into the brightness of the Impersonal Brahmajoyti, have to start off at the very basis of biological life when they again re-emerge from their Impersonal slumber.

 

Impersonalism is a very dangerous philosophy to follow and is often referred to by devotees of Krishna as Spiritual suicide.

 

The Impersonal effulgence or Brahman is where unlimited other ‘inactive jivas’ exist and vibrate their form impersonally as individual living sparks of light that collectively make up what is also known as the Impersonal Nirvana. All of them who enter the Brahmajoyti, except for some rare Impersonalist yogis, have to start at scratch (entering the body of a microbe) when they eventually desire activity and fall out of that Impersonal sense of oneness.

 

Followers of Lord Buddha and the Jains practice sever penance and austerities attempting to free themselves from karma. Their austerity however, has the side effect of accumulating pious karma that allows them entry into the heavenly planets. These higher dimensional supernatural worlds, known as the heavenly planets, exist in sub-space which are a insubstantial manifestation of the temporary material energy where the ethereal non-biological body, that is temporary but not material (lifeless energy), contains the eternal jiva or soul and resides separate encased in the ethereal living body apart from that lifeless sub-space-matter that the sub-space heavenly and hellish planets are made of.

 

In this thesis it should be made clear the words material and matter is lifeless substance or energy. In other words we do not live in a material body but rather we live in an ethereal body or vessel that further creates a biological covering. Matter and material refers to the lifeless by products left over by the embodied jivas once they vacate the biological body.

 

Both the jivas ethereal bodies or containments and the surrounding sub-space lifeless material energy are not generally perceived by the embodied ‘jivas projected biological containments’ that the ethereal body eventually manifests as a further extension of the ethereal body.

 

The biological restraint or body covers the ethereal body and resides in a dimension like our earthly planet that is called secular space that is far more gross and solid than sub-space matter however, both realities are material where as the ethereal body and its extended biological body are not material.

 

The ethereal body in material sub-space is also called the supernatural-realm; where as the biological containment in secular-space is called the natural-realm. Both the natural and the supernatural are not spiritual; they are different dimensions within the material realm.

 

 

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Narada Muni, the greatest of all devotees, came to see Krsna in a solitary place and began to talk with Him. "My dear Lord Krsna," he said, "You are the unlimited Supersoul, the supreme controller of all mystic powers, the Lord of the whole universe, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead. You are the resting place of the cosmic manifestation, the master of all the devotees and the Lord of everyone.

 

My dear Lord, as the Supersoul of all living entities, You remain concealed within their hearts exactly as fire remains concealed in every piece of fuel. You are the witness of all the activities of the living entities, and You are the supreme controller within their hearts. You are self-sufficient; before the creation, You existed, and by Your energy You have created the whole material universe. According to Your perfect plan, this material world is created by the interaction of the modes of nature, and by You they are maintained and annihilated. Although You are unaffected by all these activities, You are the supreme controller eternally. My dear Lord, You have advented Yourself on the surface of this world just to kill all the so-called kings who are actually demons.

 

These hobgoblins are cheating people in the dress of the princely order. You have advented Yourself to fulfill Your own statement that You come within this material world just to protect the principles of religion and annihilate unwanted miscreants. My dear Lord, I am therefore sure that the day after tomorrow I shall see demons like Canura, Mustika and the other wrestlers and elephants, as well as Kamsa himself, killed by You. And I shall see this with my own eyes. After this, I hope I shall be able to see the killing of other demons like Sankha, Yavana, Mura, and Narakasura. I shall also see how You take away the parijata flower from the kingdom of heaven, and how You defeat the King of heaven himself.

 

"My dear Lord," Narada Muni continued, "I shall then be able to see how You marry princesses, the daughters of chivalrous kings, by paying the price of ksatriya strength." (Whenever a ksatriya wants to marry a very beautiful and qualified princess of a great king, he must fight his competitors and emerge victorious. Then he is given the hand of the princess in charity.)

"I shall also see how You save King Nrga from a hellish condition," said Narada Muni. "This You shall enact in Dvaraka. I shall also be able to see how You get Your wife and the Syamantaka jewel and how You save the son of a brahmana from death after he has already been transferred to another planet.

 

After this, I will be able to see You kill the Paundraka demon and burn to ashes the kingdom of Kasi. I will see how You kill the King of Cedi and Dantavakra in great fights, on behalf of Maharaja Yudhisthira. Besides all this, it will be possible for me to see many other chivalrous activities while You remain in Dvaraka. And all these activities performed by Your grace will be sung by great poets for all time. And at the battle of Kuruksetra You will take part as the chariot driver of Your friend Arjuna, and as the invincible death incarnation, eternal time, You will vanquish all belligerents assembled there. I shall see a large number of military forces killed in that battlefield.

 

My Lord, let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet. You are situated completely in the transcendental position in perfect knowledge and bliss. You are complete in Yourself and are beyond all desires. By exhibiting Your internal potency, You have set up the influence of maya. Your unlimited potency cannot even be measured by anyone. My dear Lord, You are the supreme controller. You are under Your own internal potency, and it is simply vain to think that You are dependent on any of Your creations.

 

"You have taken birth in the Yadu dynasty, or the Vrsni dynasty. Your advent on the surface of the earth in Your original form of eternal blissful knowledge is Your own pastime. You are not dependent on anything but Yourself; therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet."

Narada Muni wanted to impress upon people in general that Krsna is fully independent. His activities, such as His appearance in the family of Yadu or His friendship with Arjuna, do not necessarily oblige Him to act to enjoy their results. They are all pastimes, and for Him they are all play. But for us they are actual, tangible facts.

 

After offering his respectful obeisances to Lord Krsna, Narada Muni took permission and left. After He had killed the Kesi demon, Krsna returned to tending the cows with His friends in the forest as though nothing had happened. Thus Krsna is eternally engaged in His transcendental activities in Vrndavana with His friends, the cowherd boys and gopis, but sometimes He exhibits the extraordinary prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by killing different types of demons.

 

Later that morning Krsna went to play with His cowherd boy friends on the top of the Govardhana Hill. They were imitating the play of thieves and police. Some of the boys became police constables, and some became thieves, and some took the role of lambs. While they were thus enjoying their childhood pastimes, a demon known by the name of Vyomasura, "the demon who flies in the sky," appeared on the scene. He was the son of another great demon named Maya. These demons can perform wonderful magic. Vyomasura took the part of a cowherd boy playing as thief and stole many boys who were playing the parts of lambs.

 

One after another he took away almost all the boys and put them in the caves of the mountain and sealed the mouths of the caves with stones. Krsna could understand the trick the demon was playing; therefore He caught hold of him exactly as a lion catches hold of a lamb. The demon tried to expand himself like a hill to escape arrest, but Krsna did not allow him to get out of His clutches. He was immediately thrown on the ground with great force and killed, just as an animal is killed in the slaughterhouse. After killing the Vyoma demon, Lord Krsna released all His friends from the caves of the mountain. He was then praised by His friends and by the demigods for these wonderful acts. He again returned to Vrndavana with His cows and friends.

 

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Thirty-seventh Chapter of Krsna, "Killing the Kesi Demon and Vyomasura."