GURU AND DISCIPLES – STORY
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Maharaj gave this very nice example.
A king used to maintain a group of monkeys for providing entertainment for his sons. The monkeys were very nicely fed with sumptuous delicacies everyday.
The leader of the monkeys was well-versed in the scriptures of such wise personalities as Sukracrya, Brhaspati and Canayaka, and he used to teach the other monkeys these scriptures.
There was also a pack of sheep in the kings palace and the little princes used to ride them for fun.
One of those sheep was very fond of eating anything from the palace kitchen.
The cooks in the kitchen had to beat the sheep quite often to prevent it from causing mischief.
The monkey leader thought that this kind of behaviour every now and then may result in something disastrous for the monkeys in the long run.
The sheep are extremely gluttonous and the cooks, on the other hand, are very adept in beating the sheep with whatever they find at hand.
In case the cooks any time start hitting the sheep hit a burning stick from the fire, then the furry body of the sheep would surely start burning.
Also read: SRILA BHAKTI SIDDHANTA SARASVATI THAKURA LIFE HISTORY – DIARY OF 50 POINTS!
When such a burning sheep starts running around in frenzy and by chance enters into the nearby horse stable, then the hay inside will catch on fire and the entire stable along with it’s horses will be a blazing fire in no time.
One ancient expert Salihotra, who is well versed in animal husbandry prescribes that burns on horse flesh can be healed by animal skin obtained from monkeys.
Accordingly, the king will have the monkeys killed. Apprehending thus, the wise old monkey leader called along all the monkeys confidentially and told them about the possible danger.
But the young ones didn’t listen. So the old monkey left for the forest alone.
After few days, whatever the old monkey had predicted took place and as the young monkeys lost their lives simply because they disobeyed the elder’s advice.
This story is allegorical of how the proud disciples of a genuine spiritual master do not want to accept his instructions per se, but they use their mental speculation and their mental gymnastics to find a way out of the solutions genuinely offered by guru.
Those who disobey the orders of the acharyas, they will always be in trouble. That is why we always have difficulty in reading Srimad Bhagavatam, because we do not have the mentality that this is what would please our Guru Maharaj, Krishna and Srila Prabhupada.
When you try to do an action in your life that pleases the devotees and Krishna, what comes? Mercy comes. That is how we attract the mercy of the Lord. Mercy is already flowing, but is it the fault of the mercy that the ground on which it is flowing is hard, stony and infertile?