0 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,501 Story 07 The Brahmana and the Cobbler 1 00:00:00,502 --> 00:00:06,872 PRABHUPĀDA: So, for a devotee these informations of Kṛṣṇa, oh, become so… 2 00:00:06,873 --> 00:00:11,610 “My Kṛṣṇa is so God; oh, my God is so powerful.” 3 00:00:11,611 --> 00:00:17,873 And, I think, sometimes I recited one story. 4 00:00:17,874 --> 00:00:20,246 This is for very instructive, 5 00:00:20,247 --> 00:00:25,236 that Nārada Muni… He used to visit Nārāyaṇa every day. 6 00:00:25,237 --> 00:00:28,178 So when he was passing on the road, 7 00:00:28,179 --> 00:00:35,604 so one very learned brāhmaṇa and taking thrice bath and everything very nicely, 8 00:00:35,605 --> 00:00:36,546 he asked Nārada Muni, 9 00:00:36,547 --> 00:00:39,478 “Oh, you are going to Lord. 10 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:44,720 Will you inquire when I shall get my salvation?” 11 00:00:44,721 --> 00:00:46,868 “All right, I shall ask.” 12 00:00:46,869 --> 00:00:53,740 And then another cobbler, he was under the tree, sewing the shoes, old shoes. 13 00:00:53,741 --> 00:00:55,246 He also saw Nārada Muni. 14 00:00:55,247 --> 00:01:01,993 He also inquired, “Will you kindly inquire from God when my salvation is…?” 15 00:01:01,994 --> 00:01:05,848 And when he inquired Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa… 16 00:01:05,849 --> 00:01:09,837 Nārada Muni goes generally to Nārāyaṇa, in another planet. 17 00:01:09,838 --> 00:01:15,778 So, “Yes, two, one brāhmaṇa and one cobbler,” they inquired like this. 18 00:01:15,779 --> 00:01:19,700 “So may I know what is their destination?” 19 00:01:19,701 --> 00:01:24,882 So Nārāyaṇa said, “Well, yes, the cobbler, this after giving up this body, 20 00:01:24,883 --> 00:01:27,480 he’s coming here at Vaikuṇṭha.” 21 00:01:27,481 --> 00:01:29,219 “And what about that brāhmaṇa?” 22 00:01:29,220 --> 00:01:34,739 “Oh, he has to remain there still so many births, 23 00:01:34,740 --> 00:01:37,384 or I do not know when he’s coming.” 24 00:01:37,385 --> 00:01:40,183 So Nārada Muni was astonished, that 25 00:01:40,184 --> 00:01:44,102 “I saw that he’s very nice brāhmaṇa, and he’s a cobbler. 26 00:01:44,103 --> 00:01:45,607 How is that?” 27 00:01:45,608 --> 00:01:48,795 So he inquired that “I could not, cannot understand the mystery. 28 00:01:48,796 --> 00:01:51,274 Why You say that cobbler is coming this, 29 00:01:51,275 --> 00:01:55,948 after this body, and why not this brāhmaṇa?” 30 00:01:55,949 --> 00:01:57,779 “Oh, that will, you’ll understand. 31 00:01:57,780 --> 00:02:03,425 If they inquire that ‘What Kṛṣṇa, or Nārāyaṇa, was doing in the, in His abode,’ 32 00:02:03,426 --> 00:02:10,382 so just explain that He was taking one elephant from the holes of a…” 33 00:02:10,383 --> 00:02:13,779 What is called…? “Needle,” yes. 34 00:02:13,780 --> 00:02:15,520 “Through the hole of a needle, 35 00:02:15,521 --> 00:02:21,622 He’s pulling an elephant this side and this side.” 36 00:02:21,623 --> 00:02:26,193 All right; so when he again approached the brāhmaṇa, 37 00:02:26,194 --> 00:02:29,086 the brāhmaṇa said, “Oh, you have seen Lord?” 38 00:02:29,087 --> 00:02:30,751 “Yes.” 39 00:02:30,752 --> 00:02:32,776 “So what was [He] doing?” 40 00:02:32,777 --> 00:02:34,282 “He was doing this: 41 00:02:34,283 --> 00:02:35,724 through the point of a needle 42 00:02:35,725 --> 00:02:39,914 He was pushing one elephant this way and that way.” 43 00:02:39,915 --> 00:02:44,033 “Oh, therefore I have no faith in your… 44 00:02:44,034 --> 00:02:52,126 I have got all respect for your garb, but we don’t believe all this nonsense.” 45 00:02:52,127 --> 00:02:57,185 Then Nārada could understand, “Oh, this man has no faith. 46 00:02:57,186 --> 00:02:59,418 He simply reads books. 47 00:02:59,419 --> 00:03:01,084 That’s all.” 48 00:03:01,085 --> 00:03:06,999 And when he went to the cobbler, he also asked, “Oh, you have seen? 49 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,957 What Nārāyaṇa was doing?” 50 00:03:08,958 --> 00:03:13,564 He also said that “He was doing like this…” 51 00:03:13,565 --> 00:03:16,297 Oh, he began to cry, “Oh, my Lord is wonderful. 52 00:03:16,298 --> 00:03:18,852 Oh he can do anything.” 53 00:03:18,853 --> 00:03:20,759 Śrī Nārada inquired, 54 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:28,482 “So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the [hole] of a needle?” 55 00:03:28,483 --> 00:03:29,765 “Oh, why not? 56 00:03:29,766 --> 00:03:31,066 I must believe.” 57 00:03:31,067 --> 00:03:32,609 “Then what is your reason?” 58 00:03:32,610 --> 00:03:34,116 “Oh, my reason? 59 00:03:34,117 --> 00:03:40,620 I am sitting under this banyan tree, and so many fruits are falling daily, 60 00:03:40,621 --> 00:03:48,984 and in each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each seed there is a tree. 61 00:03:48,985 --> 00:03:53,352 If in a small seed there can be big tree like that, 62 00:03:53,353 --> 00:04:00,585 is it very impossible to accept that Kṛṣṇa is putting one elephant through the, 63 00:04:00,586 --> 00:04:02,641 I mean, the [hole] of a needle? 64 00:04:02,642 --> 00:04:07,929 He has kept such a nice tree in the seed.” 65 00:04:07,930 --> 00:04:10,393 So this is called belief. 66 00:04:10,394 --> 00:04:16,870 So unbelievers and believer means the believers, they are not blind believers. 67 00:04:16,871 --> 00:04:19,507 They have reason. 68 00:04:19,508 --> 00:04:25,449 If by Kṛṣṇa’s process, by God’s process, or nature’s process, 69 00:04:25,450 --> 00:04:31,797 such a big tree can be put within the small seed, 70 00:04:31,798 --> 00:04:39,424 is it very impossible for Kṛṣṇa to keep all these planets floating in His energy? 71 00:04:39,425 --> 00:04:42,488 So, we have to believe; we have no other explanation. 72 00:04:42,489 --> 00:04:44,303 But we have to understand in this way. 73 00:04:44,304 --> 00:04:48,791 Our reasoning, our argument, our logic should go in this way. 74 00:04:48,792 --> 00:04:53,122 So those who are devotee… Just like the cobbler. 75 00:04:53,123 --> 00:04:54,895 He may be a cobbler. 76 00:04:54,896 --> 00:04:57,086 They believe everything. 77 00:04:57,087 --> 00:05:02,912 And those who are not devotee, they’ll say, “Oh, these are all bluffs.” 78 00:05:02,913 --> 00:05:04,037 It is all bluff. 79 00:05:04,038 --> 00:05:06,148 But they are not bluff. 80 00:05:06,149 --> 00:05:09,844 It is simply meant for the devotees; they can understand. 81 00:05:09,845 --> 00:05:20,603 The nondevotees, they cannot understand. 82 00:05:20,604 --> 00:05:20,605 Subtitles by Pratyatoṣa Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com