Ravana's advice

[Bhakti Vikasa Swami]

(Told by ISKCON's Sridhara Swami)

Finally, he called me and said, "So you want to take sannyasa?" "Yes,
Prabhupada." "So would you like to wait till Mayapur next year and . . ." I had
learned a phrase for preaching to businessmen. Lord Rama, when he shot an arrow
and Ravana was dying . . . Ravana was a brahmana, interestingly, a big demon
but a brahmana. So to get advice from a dying man is usually a good thing, but
to get advice from a dying brahmana is very auspicious. So Lord Rama sent his
brother Laksmana to take advice from Ravana. Ravana was lying down, dying. And
Ravana explained to him: "In my life I had an opportunity to build a staircase
to heaven, but I didn't complete that work. I thought, 'maybe sometime later;
let me see some auspicious date, not now.' " And he said, "That was a good
work, but I avoided it." And he said, "When it came to stealing mother Sita,
that I didn't put off; I did it very quickly without thinking." So he said, "My
advice is that when it is a good thing, do it immediately, and if it is a bad
work, then put it off, or think about it." So the expression is subhasya
sighram. If someone said, "Well, let me think; I'll give a donation later
maybe," I would tell that story, subhasya sighram. So when Prabhupada asked me
about putting off sannyasa, I just said, "Srila Prabhupada, subhasya sighram."
(laughter)

From "The Jolly Swami" by Adbhuta Hari Dasa