Death Notices

A man made an unusual agreement with the God of Death. He told the God of Death that he would be willing to accompany him (as though he had a choice) only if God would send him a notice well in advance. The agreement was made.

Weeks became months and the months into years. One bitterly cold night, as the man sat alone thinking of his success in life, the God of Death tapped his shoulder. “You are here too soon!” the man cried out. “You sent no messenger. I thought we had an agreement!”

The God of Death whispered “Notice your hair, once it was full and black, now it has streaks of silver in it! Observe your face in the mirror and see the wrinkles. Yes! I have sent many messages through the years! I have kept my part. I am sorry that you are not ready for me but the order of Almighty Lord cannot be averted!”

Srila Prabhupada explains: “The principle is that one should take it for granted that the death warning is already there, and thus at any stage of life one should prepare himself for a better next life. The system of the sanatana-dharma institution is so made that the follower is trained for the better next life without any chance that the human life will be spoiled.

It is really foolishness to engage oneself all the days of one’s life in material enjoyment and fruitive activities, because as long as the mind remains absorbed in fruitive work for material enjoyment, there is no chance of getting out from conditioned life, or material bondage. No one should follow the suicidal policy of neglecting one’s supreme task of attaining the highest perfection of life, namely going back home, back to Godhead.”

Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra (kirtanad eva krsnasya [SB 12.3.51]), one can become so pure that one becomes free from all the contamination of this material world (mukta-sangah) and goes back home, back to Godhead (param vrajet). The Krishna consciousness movement, therefore, is teaching people not to adopt artificial means of happiness, but to take the real path of happiness as prescribed in the shastra—the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra—and become perfect in every aspect of material existence.

THE BRAHMANA AND THE MERCANTILE MAN

Long, long ago there lived a brahmana devotee of Lord Krishna. One day a mercantile man came to the brahmana’s house and said, “My dear brahmana, will you marry my daughter? She is very pretty and nice. Please marry her.”The holy brahmana said, “I cannot marry her on my own free will. I can only marry her at Krishna’s will. If Lord Jagannatha will come to witness this marriage, the big Lord Jagannatha who is six feet tall, I will marry your daughter.” Of course, the huge Jagannatha Deity installed in the temple was never seen to move at all, except by pure devotees who can see transcendentally.

So, the mercantile man went home happy and told his son about all that had happened: “O my sons, I have good news! A holy brahmana has said he will marry my daughter. Isn’t that nice?”
The sons said, “Oh, father-what have you done? This brahmana has no money! What have you done? You cannot allow this marriage to take place.”

“But I have promised,” said the mercantile man. “I cannot go back on my word.”

“We have a plan,” said the sons. “Just do as we say and all will be well. Tell everyone you meet in the village that the brahmana is crazy and that you never agreed to get your daughter married to him. They will all believe you over him, and he will become the laughingstock of the village.”

And so it happened. When next the brahmana walked down the village road, all the people laughed at him. He asked them why they were laughing, and they said, “Oh, you’re the one who thinks you are going to marry the rich man’s daughter! You are so crazy!” And immediately they would fall into fits of laughter, because everybody knows that no rich man would marry his daughter to such a poor fellow.

When the day came for him to marry the mercantile man’s daughter, the brahmana went to Lord Jagannatha and said, “O Lord Jagannatha! If You want me to marry the mercantile man’s daughter, please witness this marriage.”

Lord Jagannatha replied, “I want you to be married to her, so I will witness this marriage. Go to the gate now-but you must not look back.”

As the brahmana walked to the gate he heard the beautiful sound of Sri Krishna’s ankle bells and he knew that the Lord was walking behind him; but he would not turn around. Finally at the gate he could resist the sound of the bells no longer; it was too beautiful. He looked back and immediately Lord Krishna turned back into His wooden incarnation, Lord Jagannatha!

At once all the village heard the news and came to see Lord Jagannatha standing before the gate. They all knew that the brahmana could not have picked up Lord Jagannatha and moved Him out of the temple, for He was too heavy. Those that had laughed before laughed no longer. They knew now that this was not just a poor man, but a very holy brahmana, and that the Lord had bestowed great mercy upon him.

The wedding took place that very afternoon with great feasting and rejoicing in the Holy Name of Hari. Through the association of such a holy brahmana, the rich man’s daughter also became a great devotee of the Lord, and together the holy brahmana and the rich man’s daughter are eternally chanting the Holy Names of God: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.