Noticing Krsna…
A construction supervisor, working on the sixth floor of a building, calls a worker on the ground floor. Because of the construction noise, the worker doesn’t hear his supervisor.
To draw his attention, the supervisor throws a dollar bill at the worker. It falls right in front of him. He picks it up and puts it in his pocket and continues working.
In hopes of capturing the worker’s attention, the supervisor throws a ten dollar bill at him. Again, the worker simply picks up the money without looking up, puts it in his pocket, and goes back to work as if nothing happened.
The supervisor realizes he must do something more drastic to draw the attention of the worker. He now picks up a small stone, throws it at the worker, and hits him on his helmet. This time the worker looks up, sees his supervisor, and thinks, “Why did he hit me on the head with a stone?” The supervisor tells him he was the one throwing the money in an attempt to get his attention, but since that didn’t work he threw a stone.
The worker soon realizes that the stone was the only way the supervisor could get his attention. Now the the worker and the supervisor are finally communicating.
This is often the story of our life. Krsna wants to communicate with us, but when He gives us gifts we might not notice Him as the gift-giver. Maybe we think that our life is going well because we are doing the right things and working hard, or that for some other reason we deserve the gifts we receive.
Or maybe we do notice He is giving the gifts. But this often doesn’t bring us closer to Him. In this case, Krsna helps us by hitting us with the stone of life’s troubles. This causes us to begin thinking of and communicating with Him more. Such events usually cause us to become more serious about our Krsna consciousness.
Sometimes, when Krsna wants to get our attention, giving us trouble is the best way to do it – or the only way to do it. If this is required, we should be grateful that He is bringing us closer to Him no matter how He must do it.
The devotee prays, “Oh Krsna, whatever difficulties You must give me to bring me closer to You, please give them. And whatever pleasures and attachments You must remove to bring me closer to You, please remove them.”
Mahatma das