'Udhava, follow the avadutar’s instructions to lead a detached life. If you practice detachment and concentrate on attaining me, at the end of your life you will reach my abode.' Said Lord Krishna.
' I will now teach you about patience. There was once a Brahmin in Avanti. He was extremely wealthy, but despite being wealthy, he was a miser. He never took any money from his savings. He had a pan shop to make money to meet everyday expenses.
Being a miser, he lived like a sanyasi on simple food. He didn’t enjoy any kind of luxury. His wife and children were upset with him.
‘Father, please let us buy good quality clothes to wear on our birthday,’ they begged.
The Brahmin remained firm and never spent money. He had deposited his money to earn interest with many people who soon ran away with his money. The remaining were taken from him forcefully by his family. He had borrowed money to establish his pan shop. As he was unable to repay the loan, he took up sanyasa and left home.
As he travelled away from home, he soon matured spiritually. He developed the art of patience. Many people mocked him. They recognized him as the Avanti Brahman.
‘Don’t give him food,’ some said. ‘He refused me food when I sought his help at noon one day. I had traveled in the hot sun as I was feeling very tired, I sought shelter in his verendah. He shooed me away without even giving me a drop of water!’
‘Hit him with the stick he is carrying,’ some others said.
‘What an actor!’ said some men. ‘It’s a ploy to escape paying his creditors and to get some free food!’
If by chance the Brahmin obtained some food, some rascal would come and spit on his food or urinate in his bowl. The Brahmin never lost his temper or uttered any thing in his defense.
He thought ,'if I bite my cheeks by mistake, I don’t break my teeth. All these people form the body of the Lord. I see no difference between them and myself.’
He sang the following song over and over again. ‘Happiness or distress is not caused by people, the devas, planetary position, my efforts, or time but is caused by the mind. Giving in to either happiness or distress, people get stuck on the wheel of life – death and rebirth. The mind is affected by the material modes, called the tri guna. Each guna incites either an activity which is influenced by goodness, passion or ignorance. The status of life appears as the fruit of these activities. Paramatma never abandons me. He is ever present with me and acts as the witness of my activities. He is never affected by the material modes of nature, even while dwelling along with me in this body whereas I get entangled in them. Activities like listening about the Lord’s glories, performing charitable acts , following prescribed practices etc help in controlling the mind so that we can fix our concentration on the lotus feet of the Lord. By controlling the mind, all the senses are controlled. If the mind is not controlled, we perceive other people as friends or as foes. Such people start to think that they are the body and they give rise to false ego and possessive nature. A person who has realized that he/she is not the body is never affected by the words/deeds of other people as quarreling with others is equal to breaking ones own teeth because the teeth accidentally bit our own cheek. ’ So singing the Brahmin remained steadfast in his meditation.
With a focused mind, he concentrated on me and attained me. Hence Udhava like the Avanti Brahmin, meditate upon me and thus control your mind.’
Perumal
then instructed about the three gunas.
Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/09/srimadh-bagawatham-krishnas-instruction_21.html
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