Page 5 - Developing Faith

spiritual life. The follow-
ing Vedic history of the
saint Narada Muni illus-
trates this important
point.

One day Narada Muni
was on his way to visit
the Supreme
Personality of Godhead,
Lord Narayana (a plena-
ry expansion of Lord
Krishna). He met a
Outcome of a stock market is beyond Brahmin priest who re-
the control of individuals quested him to question
the Lord when he would
attain salvation from birth and death. Narada agreed and con-
tinued. He encountered a humble shoemaker who was sitting
under a banyan tree repairing shoes. The shoemaker also re-
quested Narada to ask the Lord when he would attain liberation
from birth and death and return to the spiritual world to be
with the Lord.

Narada reached the spiritual world, Vaikuntha. He asked the
Lord about the Brahmana and the shoemaker. The Lord replied
that the brahmana would remain in the cycle of repeated birth
and death for a very long time. The shoemaker, however,
would return to the Lord at the end of his present life. Narada
Muni was perplexed by the Lord’s answer. The Brahmana was a
learned Vedic scholar who performed Vedic ritualistic sacrifices.
He had a large following of disciples and admirers. The
shoemaker was a humble worker with very little formal educa-
tion. He spent his entire day repairing shoes made of animal
hides. His trade was considered very lowly. It did not seem
plausible that the Brahmana priest would remain in the cycle of
birth and death indefinitely and the lowly shoemaker would be
liberated in this life.

Narada asked the Lord how was it possible the shoemaker
would be liberated and the Brahmana remain in the material
world? Narayana replied you will understand. “If they ask you
what I was doing when you saw Me, tell them I was passing an
elephant through the eye of a small sewing needle.”
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