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Stories told by Śrīla Prabhupāda
<< 6 The yogi’s wager >>
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| And now “The yogi’s wager”. A servant of rich man came before his master one day and told him of an interesting yogi he had seen in the river. The servant said that this yogi claimed he could stay in the water all night, in the middle of the river without any outside heat. The yogi was willing to take a bet with anyone to prove that he could do it. When the rich man heard this he decided to bet against the yogi. The bet was made to see whether the yogi could stay in the water all night.
| | So, we want to say that this was in the cold season. Generally India is a warm country, but in north India in the winter it does get quite chilly, so this is in the cold season, so this is quite a feat to stay in the river up to one’s neck all night. The yogi went into the water and the rich man and the servant went home. Of course, there were always some people going by who could make sure the yogi was there in the water. And the next day, when the rich man and the servant came back, it was reported to them that yes, this yogi, he has successfully stayed in the water all night. The rich man, he was thinking: “All right, so this yogi won the bet”. But then the rich man had one clever friend and this clever friend said: “Wait a minute, you see that light?” And he pointed to a far away temple. On top of the temple there was a ghee flame burning. This clever man claimed that this yogi by his mystic power he drew heat from that far away light and brought it into his body and that’s why he can stay in the water all night. Actually it’s not that he’s actually austere, it’s not that he endured the cold. So then the rich man said: “Oh, that’s a very good explanation, so why should I pay him?” Then he refused to pay. Now the servant, he was unhappy.
| | So the rich man went home followed by the servant and the rich man said: “My dear servant, now go to the kitchen and cook me my breakfast”. The servant went into a kitchen and the rich man was waiting, waiting, waiting and he was sure to know by now there should be breakfast, so he was calling: “Where is my breakfast?” And the servant came out and said: “It takes a little time, just be patient”. And he went back in the kitchen and again the rich man waited, waited. “Hey, where is my breakfast?” “Sorry, master, it takes a little more time”. So he waited, waited, then he got very impatient, he came storming in the kitchen: “What’s going on, where is my breakfast?” And he saw that the servant had made on the floor a very small flame and then from the ceiling he had hung a pot and the pot was two meters above the little flame. And the servant was standing there like this and the rich man said: “What are you doing?” And the servant said: “Oh, since you believed that this yogi was taking heat from that far away fire, so I am doing the same. I am cooking your breakfast in this way, but it’s going very slowly.” Then the rich man, he could understand that he had been unfair to that yogi, so he went back and paid him.
| | Prabhupada told this story to illustrate that we should follow the process if we want to get the result. Just like if you want to have nicely cooked breakfast, then you have to put the pot of food to be cooked directly on the flame, you can’t make such kind of foolish arrangement – two meters separating flame from pot. You’ll never get the result. Similarly,when we take to the process of bhakti yoga, chanting the holy name to get the result of love of Godhead, we have to follow the process correctly. That means you cannot chant Hare Krishna and at the same time be doing all kinds of nonsense things in between and than be wondering: “Hey, where is my love of God?” You have to follow the process as it is.
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