वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही || 22||
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
~ B.G. 2.22
If you know India, you pretty much know that this verse from the Bhagavad Gita, is a typical chant you hear at funerals, meant to drive home the fact that this body is only as good as the clothes you wear and you the person, are a Spirit Soul.
Let me narrate a small incident.
Bhakta Krishna Das lived in Goloka colony with his two kids and wife. They never ate unoffered food at karmi outlets and always cooked at home and promptly offered it before honoring. One day Bhakta Krishna Das decided to take his family to visit the newly opened Prestaurant(Prasadam Restaurant) named "Vaikuntha Varieties" in his neighbourhood.
His kids really loved the ambience of the Prestaurant, especially the water fountains and lights in the porch.
They found a nice corner table beside a large canvas painting of Lord Krishna, as a butter thief. The menu on the table was really exhaustive but they chose to pick out something which was not so frequently cooked at home.
While the daughter and wife of Krishna das chose Creamy Spinach Lasagna, He and his son chose Pizzas. He picked a Margherita and his son chose a Sicilian Pizza.
The chattering of his kids kept him busy and time flew by, making the waiting totally insignificant.
The well dressed waiter suddenly appeared from behind the curtains. He had a fresh tilak on his forehead and a bright red Kurta with a logo, serving as his uniform. He placed two plates full of hot Khichdi on the table, a plate of Chapatis and another plate of Puris with sabji.
He was about to leave but was stopped by Krishna Das.
"Hare krishna prabhu, Wait!", He said, almost gasping for breath in his great astonishment.
He was trying to remember if he had ordered these by mistake or was it only being delivered to the wrong table.
Krishna das showed him the items on the menu that he had ordered and the waiter only smiled in return.
"Its all the same prabhu", he said waving his head sideways.
"Its all prasadam of the lord prabhu but even then I brought you foodstuffs similar to what you ordered", he added.
Krishna das and his wife looked at each other, being dumbfounded by his words.
"I brought Khichdi in place of Lasagna, Puris in place of Margherita and Chapatis in place of Sicilian Pizza... but anyways prabhu, since its all prasadam of the lord, its all non different from the lord", the waiter continued.
It was more than what Krishna Das wanted to hear after a long day of hectic work at office. His face grew red as a cherry and his blood was boiling. He was ready to destroy the entire city by mere sight!
The waiter realised this and tried to calm him down and continued.
"Prabhu, we are after all just spirit souls. So it doesn't really matter what varieties you feed the body, it just needs to be prasadam of the lord. And trying to differentiate in varieties of prasadam is quite offensive. Please try to understand this. We know that you are very knowledgeable and will be able to understand this quite easily"....
Photo credit: Internet
Are you wondering what this is all about and what is the connection between the title and my content?
Well, then let me narrate a real life incident to you.
A friend of mine was trying to find a match to get married but months and years passed by. So he sent his details to one marriage bureau, apparently meant for 'devotees'.
They sent him a few profiles but they either didn't match his astrological charts or didn't go well with his preferences.
One day he got a phone call from the marriage bureau. It was a 'mataji' on the line, who started asking him about why he rejected even ones which matched his charts. He was frank enough and told her about his other preferences.
She then started 'preaching' to him how devotees shouldn't be too much concerned about looks, skin color or other external appearances. She also cared to tell him that he was looking for a movie actress and that is quite impossible and also unnecessary for a devotee to consider externals.
He didn't reply much but just listened patiently and finished the call. Since then he didn't get anymore profiles or phone calls until a few weeks ago.
He recently got a new profile which matched quite well with his horoscope and also suited his liking.
But there was a problem. He had quit his previous job recently. So he promptly replied explaining how everything matched this time but he quit his previous job recently.
You guessed it right! He just never got another phone call or email from the bureau!
So what is all this?
For the girls who were looking for matches, they scrutinisingly enquire about the Salary and status of the 'devotee' boys. He has to be well paid, well settled in life and in a good position. He should be handsome and a great devotee.
But he should be such a great devotee that he shouldn't enquire anything about me. Nothing about what I do, how I look or my skin tone, how much I spend, absolutely nothing. He should just see my 'pure spirit soul' and ignore my bodily disqualifications. He should expect only my spirit soul and nothing less, nothing more.
I say Why even get married when you see only the soul? If I am actually such a realised soul, why would I even be marrying your highness? And what business do you have on a marriage bureau if you have realised that you are a spirit soul? Are you selling a soul?
They preached about seeing the soul when he spoke about external appearances but when he later told about his job for the other profile, why wasn't there a reply from the same mataji? What happened to his soul? Did it get poorer by a penny? Why weren't the girls family looking at his soul now?
Marriage and Money aren't something the soul requires. So why even marry?! Why this hypocrisy?
This is quite similar to the arguments of these 'Feminist Gurus' coming up lately, who claim that the body shouldn't be considered, only the soul. They dare to equate themselves to great devotees like Sri Jahnava devi and claim that they can become gurus since we are able to find 3 bonafide women gurus in the last 3 trillion years.
Well my point is, no matter what time, place and circumstance you are in, if you have a material body, you have its conditioning and its inhibitions. You just cant deny that flatly unless you are an ultra pure devotee. So just calm down, act according to your age, body and time.
If you are in total disagreement with my views and opinion, kindly ignore this article with a smile since you are a pure spirit soul :)
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सत्यम् ब्रूयात् प्रियम् ब्रूयात् न ब्रूयात् सत्यमप्रियम् |
प्रियम् नानृतं ब्रूयात् एष धर्मः सनातनः ||
satyam bruyat priyam bruyat na bruyat satyam apriyam
priyam ca nanrutam bruyat esha dharmah sanatanah
Speak truth in such a way that it should be pleasing to others. Never speak truth, which is unpleasant to others. Never speak untruth, which might be pleasant. This is the path of eternal morality, Sanatana dharma.
~ Manusmṛiti 4:138
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