all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Krishna consciousness movement
Rammohan G
Subject: [granthraj] Thanks the Lord
Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
The following is an instructive story told by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Once there lived a king who was very devoted to Supreme Lord Krishna. He was not very happy with the behaviour of his ministers. They were neither God-fearing nor were they thankful to Lord. The king noticed that even during the feasts arranged in the palace, the ministers never offered prayers to Lord to thank Him for the food, but simply went ahead to eat the food. So to teach them a lesson the king asked them to invite all the beggars and orphans in the city for feast. So as per king's suggestion they invited everyone for the feast. Many of them were unclean and shabbily dressed. As soon as beggars entered the courtyard, they simply hurried towards the pots of prasadam. They dashed against each other and greedily grabbed the food. The king and his ministers were watching the whole scene from the terrace. But the beggars were simply oblivious of the fact that they are being watched. They were simply engrossed in the thought of eating as much as they can. Later they left the place. Seeing this the ministers felt very disgusted. The king asked them the reason for their disgust and they said, "How ungrateful are these people? They didn't even bother to thank you for the feast." The king smiled and replied, "What is the difference between those beggars and yourselves? Are you people honouring the prasadam in right manner? How many of you are thanking Supreme Lord before every meal?" The ministers realised their mistake.
Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita verse 9.27:
yat karoshi yad ashnaasi / yaj juhosi dadaasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya / tad kurushva mad arpanam
"Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti as an offering unto Me."
In his wonderful purport to above verse Srila Prabhupada says, "Thus, it is the duty of everyone to mold his life in such a way that he will not forget Krishna in any circumstance. Everyone has to work for maintenance of his body and soul together, and Krishna recommends herein that one should work for Him. Everyone has to eat something to live; therefore he should accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Krishna. Any civilized man has to perform some religious ritualistic ceremonies; therefore Krishna recommends, "Do it for Me," and this is called arcana. Everyone has a tendency to give something in charity; Krishna says, "Give it to Me," and this means that all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Krishna consciousness movement."
As we saw in the recent offering in granthraj, "Gratitude is a great attitude", if not for causeless mercy of Lord, we cannot do anything in life. So we must always sincerely thank the Lord for whatever He is giving us. By doing so we will always remember Him and by constant remembrance of Him, we will be able to gradually purify our existence. So let us always remember to thank the Lord before and after every action we do.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Sudarshana devi dasi.
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