Imperceptible Impact of Good Deeds

Imperceptible Impact of Good Deeds Date: 2017-12-25 Author: Vaijayantimala devi dasi Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! All of us have the inherent yearning to live eternally and this is the reason we are all afraid of death. The scriptures remove this fear within by removing the ignorance that, "we are these bodies and we perish when the body perishes." The scriptures also say that one who has done a substantial contribution to the society where he or she lives in the form of any good deed of charity or anything also continues to live forever through his fame. So it is always insisted that we do some contribution to the living entities around us in one form or the other. Some of the contributions we make can create such a great impact on the lives of the people in ways we cannot even conceive of and hence we should just go on doing good without waiting to see what is the impact created. In this regard I came across a very interesting story from Mahabharath which I would like to share here. Once upon a time there was a king was called Indradyumna and after a long reign, he passed away and went to heaven, where he spent centuries, enjoying the rewards of his good deeds on earth. Then, one day, he was told by the gods to leave heaven. "Why?" asked a perplexed Indradyumna. "Because," said the gods, "No one on earth remembers your good deeds. If you can find at least one creature who remembers you for your good deeds, then you can come back to heaven. Otherwise you will have to leave. That is the rule." Time flows differently on earth than in heaven. When Indradyumna reached earth, he realized that centuries had passed since his reign. The trees were different, the people were different, even his kingdom looked different. "Who will remember me, he wondered. The buildings he built were all gone. The temples he built were no where to be seen. The people who were beneficiaries of his largess, were all dead. No one he met remembered any king called Indradyumna. Disheartened, Indradyumna went in search of the oldest man on earth. He found Rishi Markandeya. But the Rishi did not remember him. "There is an owl who is older than me, Go to him", said the sage. When he approached the owl, it said, "No, I do not remember such a king but ask the stork who is older than me." Even the stork did not remember him either, but he referred him to approach an old tortoise who lives in a lake. Indradyumna went to the tortoise and to Indradyumna's great relief, he did remember a king called Indradyumna. "He built this lake," said the tortoise. "But I never built this lake," said Indradyumna, rather bewildered by this piece of information. The tortoise explained, "My grandfather never lied. He told me that this king spent his entire life giving cows in charity, hundreds of thousands of cows. As these cows left Indradyumna's city, they kicked up so much dust it created a depression in the ground; when the rains came water collected in this depression and turned it into a lake. Now that lake provides sustenance to innumerable plants and animals and worms and weeds and fishes and turtles and birds. So we remember the great King Indradyumna, whose act of charity resulted in a lake which for generations has been our home." Even today the Indradyumna Sarovar in Puri stands testimony to this. Indradyumna was pleased to hear what the tortoise had to say. So were the gods who welcomed him back. As Indradyumna rose to heaven, the irony did not escape him: he was remembered on earth for a lake that was unconsciously created, and not for the cows that were consciously given. He benefited not from things he did, but from the impact of things he did. Thus without looking for immediate results, it is very important that we engage ourselves in auspicious Krishna conscious activities and this will definitely be rewarded. The good deed of Krishna consciousness like distributing a book, or prasadam or Nagar kirtan may impact the lives of the living entities in imperceptible ways and this in turn pleases the Lord to no end. Our beloved Gurudev used to narrate how Harinama in London created a temple in Mauritius just because the Mauritian Prime minister heard the Sankirtana while in London and he donated land for temple. The Lord assures in Srimad Bhagavad Gita 6.40 śrī-bhagavān uvāca pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Son of Prthaa, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or in the spiritual world; one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by evil. Srila Prabhupada says in a conversation in 1977, "So I am not going to die. Kirtir yasya sa jivati: "One who has done something substantial, he lives forever." He doesn't die." Thank you very much. Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Vaijayantimala devi dasi Abu Dhabi..

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