Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

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ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

A SMALL STORY

Procedure

Let me tell you a lovely history about a great Kṛṣṇa devotee named Taraṅgiṇī. The history goes that within twelve hours of Kṛṣṇa’s birth, He was handed over to Yaśodā. He took birth at midnight, and before sunrise, He was brought to Yaśodā. This was because of a prophecy that Kamsa, His uncle, would come to kill Him at sunrise. Yaśodā brought Him up until He left his home, Vṛndāvan. Despite her bringing Him up, when Yaśodā asked Him to sing or play the flute, He would not Play. However, when Taraṅgiṇī, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa from a lower caste asked Kṛṣṇa to play, He would play for her. She would stand in a corner and would not come in front of Him. She would quietly enjoy His presence and music from a distance.

A portrait of a young man with a tilak on his forehead

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

Procedure

One day Kṛṣṇa forgot the flute and went away. He pretended to have forgotten the flute. Taraṅgiṇi noticed the flute and with love and care, kept it in her home to hand over to Kṛṣṇa. The next day Kṛṣṇa said, ‘Someone has taken My flute.’ He pretended to search for it. He learned that Taraṅgiṇi had the flute and went to her house. Since He was from a higher caste, He needed a reason to go to the area of the lower community people. Yaśodā would ask Him why he had gone there. She would punish Him, since higher caste people did not go to that area. Kṛṣṇa went to the area which was full of mud, dirty roads, and a hut with a thousand holes in it!

Kṛṣṇa entered the house and asked for His flute. Tarangiṇī was totally shaken to see Kṛṣṇa in her house. She was overwhelmed; she was unable to speak. She ran and brought the flute to Him. Kṛṣṇa continued His divine act, līlā, asking if He should play the flute. And who can refuse when Kṛṣṇa asks? She replied, ‘My Lord, even Gods and Ṛṣis come down to listen to Your music, how can I say no?’ He sat on the steps, and started playing; she sat in a corner filled with ecstasy. Yaśodā arrived at that moment. She felt terribly upset because He had never played the flute for her. She said, ‘I take care of you; I give you food and look after you completely. You never play for me. Yet you come and play here for this urchin girl!’

Illustration of a person with a forehead mark

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved Since Yaśodā disturbed him, Kṛṣṇa stopped playing. The tune that Kṛṣṇa played to Taraṅgiṇi is known as punnagavarali, ‘the broken tune’. Kṛṣṇa told Yaśodā, ‘You served Me, no doubt, but with the space of ‘I’. Taraṅgiṇi is devoted to Me; you are devoted to yourself. As long as I am your Kṛṣṇa, you take care of Me; that means you are devoted to yourself, you are centered on yourself and not on Me. That is why you are unable to digest five minutes of separation.’ Kṛṣṇa continued, ‘You have come all the way here; you are not even giving five minutes of My space to her. Taraṅgiṇi never asked Me to come to her house. She never expected that I would play for her. She is totally dedicated, with only the space of ‘you’.’

Then Kṛṣṇa blessed Taraṅgiṇi uttering, ‘You will have sāmīpya mukti; you will become a shanbaga flower and reside in My garland. You will stay with Me forever.’ So Kṛṣṇa blessed Taraṅgiṇi with sāmīpya mukti. He said, ‘May you become a flower in My garland and be on My body. May you be on Me. He then turned to Yaśodā and said, ‘Because you served with the cognition of ‘me, me, me’, may you not have any temple on planet Earth.’

INFERENCE:

Despite all her service, since it was centered on ‘me’, Yaśodā was unable to achieve Enlightenment. On the other hand, Taraṅgiṇi, being born of a lower community, was never even close to Kṛṣṇa. She was not allowed to serve Him; however, because she lived with the enriching space of ‘you, you, you’, Kṛṣṇa went to her home, blessed her with eternal closeness to Him, and gave her liberation. Many stories illustrate how the ‘I’ drives the Divine away, and the ‘you’ attracts the Divine