A Krishna Story that WILL Touch your Soul - No one Loved Lord
Krishna Like this | Swami Mukundananda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g11vu1Od9jA
The video, featuring Swami Mukundananda, defines Bhakti (devotion) as extreme love for God [00:05] and illustrates this with two powerful anecdotes showing the nature of complete mental absorption.
[ ] within bracket is the time stamp of video 1. The Gopi's Reverse Meditation • The sage Narada finds a Gopi (cowherd woman) in Vrindavan meditating and is curious about her practice [00:24]. • When asked, the Gopi reveals she was actually trying to take her mind away from Shree Krishna but was failing [01:22]. • She explains that Krishna's form is so embedded in her mind that every mundane activity reminds her of Him [01:40]: o Churning butter makes her see Him dropping the pots. o Cleaning the floor makes her see Him running on it. o Putting children to sleep makes her see Him waking them up. • She concludes that her mind has become so unified with Krishna that His form appears everywhere, and despite her best efforts for detachment, she cannot succeed [02:02]. • Narada is impressed, noting that great yogis struggle to withdraw their minds from the world and attach it to God, yet this Gopi is attempting the reverse sadhana (spiritual practice) and is failing due to her immense love [02:41]. 2. Tulsidas's Analogy of Absorption Saint Tulsidas describes Bhakti by using analogies of intense worldly attachment: the love a greedy man has for wealth, and the love a young person has for their beloved [03:40]. • Love for Wealth: A merchant is so engrossed in counting his money in the evening that when his wife places a spoon of kheer (sweet dish) in his mouth, his mind is elsewhere. He automatically assumes his meal is over and prepares to wash his hands, completely oblivious to his surroundings [03:52]. • Love for a Beloved: A woman is running in the street to meet her beloved. At the same time, Emperor Akbar is performing his Namaz (Islamic prayer), kneeling on his sacred prayer sheet [05:07]. The woman, completely absorbed in thoughts of her beloved, accidentally steps on Akbar's sheet without realizing it [05:45]. • When brought to court, she claims she has no recollection of the act. She then questions Akbar: "You were worshipping the Supreme Lord, and yet you had the recollection of who was stepping on your sheet. I was running after a worldly beloved and was totally oblivious. Do you not even have that much of absorption in your divine beloved?" [06:25]. Tulsidas thus defines Bhakti as this state of complete absorption in God, parallel to the intense, single-pointed focus of worldly attachments [06:57]. Timestamp Transcript Segment [00:05] Narad ji is explaining the external nature of bhakti first So what is the external form of bhakti extreme love for God [00:24] Once he was in Vrindavan and there he found a Gopi sitting in meditation [00:36] So Narad ji thought what does the Gopi meditate upon i have heard of Niranjan Gyan I have also heard of [00:46] Surandhran dhyan but what is the dhyan of the Gopi so Narad ji sat down besides after an hour when the [00:56] Gopi opened her eyes Narad ji said Devi ji can you please satisfy my curiosity what were you meditating upon the Gopi [01:08] said Narad ji forget it no please please forget it Narad ji said you know like now I'm so curious you're [01:16] not telling me my curiosity is increased further You have to tell me and Gopi said I was trying to [01:22] take my mind away from Sri Krishna She's sitting and trying to yank her mind away from God, Narad ji said [01:32] what ? everybody tries to draw the mind away from the world and onto God You're doing the reverse ? Gopi [01:40] said what to do His form is so embedded in my mind Whatever I do He lands up there If [01:48] I am churning the butter it seems that he's coming and dropping the pots If I'm cleaning the floor it [01:55] seems he's running on it If I'm putting the children to sleep it seems like he's waking them up, now [02:02] I understand that it is not him It's my mind playing tricks The mind has got so unified with him [02:13] that his form comes everywhere That is why I was striving so hard to take my mind away from him [02:22] but I was not succeeding. Narad ji was extremely impressed he said [02:41] big big yogis in their meditation strive that somehow or the other they should withdraw the mind from the world [02:52] and attach it at the feet of God and they don't succeed and look at this Gopi she's trying the [03:01] reverse sadhana and not succeeding Narad ji is saying such immense love is bhakti, other saints were asked what is [03:17] the nature of bhakti ? Tulidas was asked So he said [03:40] he says like a greedy man loves wealth he's always hankering for it There is the story of one seth ji [03:52] you know he had his shop and the most blissful part of the day would be in the evening [04:00] when he would count his notes So after he would close the shop he would sit and count one day [04:07] he was going on and counting one was over second third time his wife said that come on it's time [04:14] for dinner she invited him three four times he did not come so finally she got so frustrated she took [04:24] the sweet dish the kheer one spoon and put it in his mouth that this will wake him up but [04:31] his mind was elsewhere and he thought that oh I have eaten the sweet that means the meal is over [04:40] So he said all right now I need to wash my hands my meal is over Tulsi Das ji says just [04:46] like a greedy man yearns for wealth and a young boy yearns for a young girl there is the story [04:58] that one woman her beloved was coming from out of station, so this girl was going running to meet her [05:07] Beloved, at the same time Akbar was touring his kingdom for an inspection so being a Muhammadan he used to [05:18] say the namaz five times and in the namaz they spread the sheet and then they sit on it and [05:26] say the namaz so Akbar had spread his sheet they consider it sacred they consider it a representation of Allah [05:38] And he was saying the namaz when this woman was running to meet her beloved she did not realize she [05:45] placed her feet on the sheet but Akbar saw it so Akbar said to Birbal "This woman should be brought [05:55] to my court." Now the next day the woman was brought to court Akbar said "You ran on my namaz [06:05] sheet." The woman said absolutely not Badshah Salamat I am telling you, you ran. No, I did not. Akbar said [06:16] then am I mistaken ? I very clearly saw you ran over my sheet, the woman said I have no recollection of it so [06:25] the woman said that "Oh great king you were worshiping the supreme Lord and yet you had recollection on who [06:38] is stepping on my sheet I was running after a worldly beloved and I was totally oblivious of what had [06:49] happened Don't you even have that much of absorption in your divine beloved as I have got in my material [06:57] beloved So Tulsi says that kind of complete absorption that is bhakti.