Stories from Golpe Atma Vidya

The following are translations of four stories from Golpe Atma Vidya – Volume 1 by Smt. Mandira Lahiri

 

 

Story No.— 195

Through this story, Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur depicted the characteristics of the highest, medium and the lowest levels of devotees.

God appeared in front of a very needy and poor devotee of His and asked him: What do you want? The devotee could not ask for anything.

Devotee:  What else can I ask for? I have attained the ultimate by witnessing you. Your appearance is the ultimate thing that anybody can ask for and I have achieved it. After your Darshan, there are no wants and desires left in me which I can ask for. All of my hankerings and cravings have disappeared.

God kept pestering him to ask for something. Then the devotee told God to tell him what he should ask for.

God was in a spot. Now when the responsibility lay on Him to give him something, He had to give the very best to His devotee. He Himself would be the very best for His devotee. God cannot divide Himself but he can be eternally present in His devotee’s heart.

After completing the story, Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur said: This is a quality which is present in the highest form of devotee. A medium level devotee would say: Please always be with me. Whenever I will call You, please appear in front of me. The lowest form of devotee asks for something (material).

Here the science behind the story is all-surrender, but this is not surrender in a conventional sense. God’s Swabhav-Dharma is called surrender here. The science is all-acceptance. This surrender is not in front of a person, but in front of the Supreme Law of the Divine, whose nature and character is all-embracing and all-accepting.

 

Story No. – 193

We cannot identify with the Lord using our mind and intellect. When we realize that each and everything is God’s manifestation only, then only can we become one with God. When internally we don’t have the will to save anything, we don’t have the desire to achieve anything, we don’t have the urge to preserve our possessions — only then God Himself takes us to His abode.

In this context, Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur narrated a story from Mahabharat which goes this way: When Draupadi was being disrobed by Dushasana in the Rajsabha, she held on to her attire with one hand and with the other (raised) hand, kept praying to the Lord to protect her from such disgrace. Draupadi was flummoxed, she did not know how she could save her dignity. Being clueless in the end, Draupadi raised both the hands heavenwards and kept imploring to the Lord. That very moment Narayan responded. In and through Swa-Maya, Narayan became the attire of Draupadi. For how long could Dushasana pull Draupadi’s saree? How could he compete with Narayan? Thus, by way of complete surrender to God, Draupadi was able to retain her respect that day.

After finishing the story Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur said, “A true devotee is a person who does not keep anything to himself. We have to let go of ourselves completely to get Lord’s blessings. It is very difficult to leave everything to the Lord, that is why I talk about Acceptance.  Once we start Accepting, we become aware of its significance.”

 

Story no.— 198 

Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur expressed/elucidated that no amount of outward cautiousness and alertness can prevent the trials and tribulations of life that one goes through. Constant internal remembrance of the lord is the only panacea to sail through this situation. 

Once upon a time there was a king who was so paranoid about his enemy attacking him, that he would keep soldiers on guard all around his bed, even during his sleeping hours. What if the enemy attacked him?  This thought prompted him to keep his army ready at all times. He had instructed them to keep the artillery in shape, and be prepared to face any assault at any time. 

One day while sleeping, he dreamt that a tiger was chasing him. He quickly climbed up a tree, but saw the tiger also jumping on the tree, trying to catch him. Seeing this, the king climbed higher, but saw a big snake on the tree, facing him. The king saw two mice, one black and one white, digging at the base of the tree. The king also saw a deep well beside the tree. He was petrified. There was a tiger down below, a snake above, and two mice digging at the base of the tree which would make the tree collapse, and lead him to fall into the deep well, resulting in his demise in no time. 

After narrating the story Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur said, “Here the tiger is pride and ego, while the tree is this world. The snake is death, the well is hell, the white mouse is day, and the black mouse is night. Life passes by, with these dangers faced at all times, day after day. The whole dream symbolizes the above fact. So, in this condition what is to be done? Death in the form of snake, is always lurking on our heads. Nobody is aware of that. There is a way to get respite/relief from all this. Constant remembrance of the Lord in the inner chambers of our hearts is a significant deterrent. The tiger will stand transfixed, nobody will be able to harm you, no one will be able to touch you. ‘Myness’ brings forth fear, pain sorrow and death. The disappearance of ‘Myness’ will make you a ‘Beggar king’.”

 

Story no.— 202 

Bad deeds take you nowhere. In this context Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur told a story, “There was a king who was a complete philanderer. Being the king, he thought that he could get away with anything and everything.  He had no concern or consideration for anything else. But riches get exhausted one day. Power, glory, majesty are all limited; when these things plummet, retention of the body and kingdom become difficult. One day his kingdom was attacked by an enemy. Being an oppressor, the king could not defeat his enemy, because by that time all his energy had waned. After being defeated, the king and his advisor/minister were imprisoned. The king told his minister, “I cannot imagine that I am in such a state!” Minister said, “Why my Lord, I told you that this will happen.” The king said, “So what?” The minister said, “Why, that itself has happened. My Lord, I can see that you still have a lot of pride and ego, and I am afraid this is going to invite more trouble and woe for you.” The enemy side released the minister and instead put a murderer in the cell with the king. The king asked him, “What have you done?” He said, “I have murdered few hundreds. What have you done? Why are you here?” The king replied, “I am the king but now I don’t have the power and the capability, so the enemy has captured me and brought me to this condition.” The murderer was surprised to hear this and said, “You are a king? You are a bigger murderer than I am. I have killed few hundreds and you have killed few lakhs.” 

Looking at the king’s plight the murderer pronounced his judgement. Whose condition is more pitiable? What is the moral of this story? People who follow the right path don’t slip and fall. The king’s downfall happened because of his self-created misdeeds. That was the reason behind his loss of kingdom and imprisonment by his foe. You have to face the consequences of your wrong doings.

The main moral of the story is: “Good deeds will take you to heaven and bad deeds will take you to hell.” Sat Karma is Divya Karma, Vishnu Yajna in Ishwaratma Bodh, the result of which is bliss, liberation and peace. Asat Karma is for personal or collective gain which is forbidden— low(heinous), abominable, shameful and vile deeds, usurping someone’s things, taking someone’s life etc. The result of such misdeeds is a sorrowful life, and also going to hell again and again. Not only this, but also taking birth in a deficient and inferior household and bearing an abusive and oppressed life.

Living with the pride of intellect itself is demonic in essence. If the intellect does not surrender at the lotus feet of the Lord, then the outcome will be quite unpalatable. One cannot get absolved of the result of those actions. Despite getting a human body, if one ignores ‘Sat Karma’ and takes the refuge of ‘Asat Karma’ to lead one’s life, then there is no scope of ‘Sadgati’. The main objective of acquiring a human body is to get rid of ignorance and to get established in I-Reality.

In today’s chaotic world, one needs a support, an anchor to lead one’s life smoothly. We are very fortunate and blessed to have received Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur’s company. His philosophy is deep, original, scientific and unconventional. Reading through his works is real bliss. In Golpe Atma Vidya, he has put forth the moral of the stories in a very realistic and useful manner which can be applied for the enrichment of our lives.