In2-MeC

Satara, Maharastra, India
18 April 2004

Today's follow up on the topic of dimensions is fantastic, I love it. It substantiates feelings that have grown in me since re-reading Substance and Shadow, and is another brilliant poke in the eye of all those smug Know-it-alls. I hate this attitude that all information can be passed through our senses and neatly labeled, catalogued and then filed away leaving us in a nice tidy office with everything in place and ourselves still very much in control, and if something doesn't quite fit within our 'acceptable' understanding of life, or spiritual life, then modify it so it does, or plain disregard it. Plus this trend of seeking verification of the sastra in science has always struck me as insulting and offensive.

We have all chuckled at Prabhupad's story of hell being a place with no newspapers, but then some of us emulate the miners in trying to conceive of what the spiritual world is like. Such wonderful naďve arrogance. What abiding faith in the empirical process. . . . . Give me a few relevant details and by my own powerful intellect I will quickly come up with a working model of the spiritual world.

I don't want Vrndavan to be anything like this material world, a sort of de-bugged version of the very best you can imagine. I cannot think of any way of life that will be eternally satisfying, but I am convinced that there is such a life. Your articles have very nicely sorted out my dilemma of how such truths can be perceived. Not by expanding the imagination and intellect unlimitedly, but by entering a different dimension by the Lord's mercy.

Like so many times before, this realization is nothing different to what I have said a hundred times to different people, but now I can say it with real conviction.

All glories to In2-MeC, and its illustrious author.

There was an extremely miserly man, so stingy that even Lord Krsna became interested to see how far he would go to save money. When the man's father died, this miser thought, "The custom is that I should hire four men to carry my father's body on a stretcher to the cremation ground. I should purchase wood for the pyre, and then hire a brahmana to do the funeral ceremony. But all that is frightfully expensive. Instead, let me drive the body myself to the burning ground in a bullock cart. I'll find the wood myself in the forest. And I'll light the fire myself. "

As he was driving the bullock cart with his father's body in the back, Lord Krsna appeared on the road in the guise of a brahmana. This brahmana stopped the miser and inquired what he was doing. After hearing the explanation, the brahmana said, "The usual cost for a funeral ceremony, all things included, is Rs. 400. But for just Rs. 101, I'll take care of everything for you--transporting the body, gathering the wood, conducting the ceremony. "

The miser agreed and the Lord in His guise as a priest arranged for everything. At the end the brahmana stood before the man, His hand outsretched for His due. The miser said, "Look, you just come to my house tomorrow and I'll pay you. " The brahmana smiled, nodded, and left.

The next day the brahmana showed up at the man's door. The miser peeked out the window and, seeing who it was, was astonished. He thought that this brahmana, being so simple-hearted as to offer to perform the funeral for one-fourth the usual price, and who made no fuss when he delayed payment, would not bother to track him down. The miser ordered his wife to loosen her hair and start wailing that her husband was dead. In the meantime he went into his room and laid down on the bed.

Of course, Sri Krsna wasn't fooled by this. But He played along. . . in His own way. After entering the home, He consoled the woman and assured her He'd take care of all her husband's funeral arrangements for free. The miser heard all this but just lay there, eyes closed, not moving. Krsna personally carried him to the burning ghat, gathered the wood, built a pyre, and laid the man on it. The Lord then ignited a stick and readied to set the pyre alight. The man continued to play dead.

Krsna couldn't help but start laughing. He revealed His true form to the man. "Get up," He told him. "I've never seen a miser as stingy as you. You are prepared to be burned alive before parting with only Rs. 101. I find this so funny; truly today you have pleased Me. Now ask Me for anything. "

"All I want, my dear Lord," the miser replied, "is that You forget about the Rs. 101. Let that be Your blessing upon me. Don't ask me for that money!"

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