Story of a great personality-Good one
Appanna S K
Hare Krishna!
WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
There
was a brilliant young boy, a Josephite from Bangalore
after finishing his pre-university education he cleared the IIT JEE and entered
one of the most prestigious institutions of India,IIT Mumbai. Although he was
studying engineering, he had a great passion for Physics and was fascinated by
its theories He wanted to unravel the mysteries of the universe using the
theories of physics. One thing that drew him deeply towards Physics was 'Einstein's theory of relativity'. He was
very much fascinated by the 'Theory of Relativity' which states that
"Everything in this world is truth only in relation with other. In other
words all that exists is just relative truth."
This brought him to a question which changed the course of his life.. If there
is something called relative truth, then there must be an Absolute Truth as
well.. If so, then WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH? This question became so BIG in
his life that he wanted to find the answer to it at all costs. He started
pursuing the answer seriously by reading many books of Physics. He was
desperate in his pursuit of answer to this one question, WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE
TRUTH!?
He practically pored into all the books of physics available in IIT Mumbai's
library. He would spend whole night beginning from 6pm
to 6am at the library reading
various books of physics to find out the answer to the question, WHAT IS THE
ABSOLUTE TRUTH? After finishing all books of physics in the IIT library he
still didn't find any answer to his question.Not losing hope he continued his
pursuit this time beginning with a thorough reading with all western
philosophies to try and find an answer. He especially read all the works of
Bertrand Russel a famous philosopher. But at the end of it he found that Russel
says, that "My philosophy is flawed and
I have failed in my life".
Although disappointed, he sought refuge in Indian philosophy hoping that he
could find an answer to his question there.... WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
But what he did find was, some vague conceptions which said Absolute truth is
impersonal effulgence Brahman, /God, but Who is God remained an unsolved
question, some said God is impersonal, a
light, brahman, jyothi and what not! He was still not satisfied and
felt the question remained unanswered, WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
He had by now finished all the books on Indian Philosophy available in IIT
library,ranging from Sri Aurobindo, Ramakrishna,
Swami Vivekananda, Chinmaya Mission etc etc etc...
Finally he was frustrated in all his efforts to find the answer to this
question WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
But he was so desperate to find the answer to this question and not finding it
he felt his life was worthless. Then he decided to take an EXTREME STEP.AND HE
TEACH A LESSON TO THE SO CALLED INTELLIGENTSIA OF IIT MUMBAI.
He wrote note, "I,
Madhusudhan Shivashankaran Nair, hereby have decided to end my life out of
frustration, knowing that this life is worthless as I have not found the answer
to My ultimate question, WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH? The intelligentsia of IIT
Mumbai are responsible for my death as they claim to be having all the answers
in IIT but could not give me the answer to this question."
After writing this he decided that night he would go to the top of his hostel
building and jump down, thereby ending his worthless life. However before going
ahead with this extreme step,He decided to give himself one last chance. He
decided to check for the answer one last time in the library. As he entered the
library all the racks and books appeared familiar. There was not a single book
which he had not flipped pages through.
Finally he resigned himself to his fate and went to the mythology and stories
section. There were books which he had never touched. He thought now, "Well, Let me read some interesting story book
before dying."
He opened the rack and picked up a book which had a radiant blue colored shiny
personality holding a flute along with a golden complexioned girl,. There were
silver letters etched on the cover of the book... KRSNA-The Supreme Personality Of Godhead. He decided let me
read these stories of this boy Krishna. He sat
down with the book, as he read and read, he
came to the 87th chapter of the
Krsna book, Prayers By The Personified Vedas. As he was reading this
chapter his hairs started standing on end, he was reading exactly what he had
been looking for! That for not having found answer to which he had just written
a suicide note all determined to end his life! WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH!? AND
HERE HE WAS GETTING THE EXACT ANSWER! What he read left him stunned!
This was what he read,
"The Absolute Truth is therefore the
Supreme Personality, with transcendental mind, senses and intelligence. When
one’s mind, intelligence and senses are purified of material contamination,
one can understand the original feature of the
Absolute Truth as a person."
His eyes were filled with tears of gratitude for he had found the answer to his
question! is life had been saved!
WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
ANSWER: KRSNA THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD!
He immediately looked at the cover page to see who is this great personality
who had saved his life, who was the author of the book. He found the name,
"His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada,Founder Acharya ISKCON"
He went through the list of titles of 60
0dd books by the same author. He decided to read all of them and practice
whatever the author said. He decided, "This life was saved by HIM and this
life was HIS!" he had made up his mind to dedicate
his life for this man-Prabhupada!
In the years that ensued, of course Madhusudhan didnt commit suicide, he
completed all 60 volumes of Srila
Prabhupada's books and also his M.Tech in Civil Engg in IIT Mumbai, after which
he dedicated his life to Srila Prabhupada's mission as he had decided. He
continued and continues to be a guiding torchlightfor many a youth who join to
serve the mission of the Man that saved all our lives.. and he has been leading
that mission- of SRILA PRABHUPADA'S ISKCON(BANGALORE)!
GUESS WHO HE IS? WHAT IS HIS VAISNAVA NAME!? NOT TOO TOUGH! if you still didnt
figure it out,....
He is His Grace Madhupandita Dasa, Chairman The Akshaya Patra Foundation and
President, Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON Bangalore.
Warm Regards,
Anagha Krishna Das,
FOLK Department,
ISKCON,
Hare Krishna Hill,
Chord Road Bangalore-10
Phone:- 9379919894
Please chant...
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
...and be happy !