Pearl 19

Sudama embarassed to offer few hands of rice grains to lord krishna

The ‘Bhagwad Gita’ is a stupendous chronicle of Lord Krishna’s Vaishnavism and the ‘Shrimad Bhagavatam’ meticulously traces the spirituality of India. A certain verse duplicated in both the Holy Scriptures contains valuable information about whatever a devotee offers with true love to the Lord is readily accepted by Him.

Kindly open the ‘Bhagwad Gita’s’ Chapter 9, verse 26. Here Lord Krishna affirms:

"patram pushpam falam toyam , yo me bhktaya prayachhati ,
tadaham bhaktuprhatmshnami prayatmanah ....”

Chapter 81, verse4: Now please go through this piece of the ‘Srimad Bhagavatam’. Here too Lord Krishna ascertains:

"patram pushpam falam toyam , yo me bhktaya prayachhati ,
tadaham bhaktuprhatmshnami prayatmanah ..."

• Precisely the same verse is replicated at two places by our Lord Krishna in two entirely different scenarios.
• Hence my obvious query is how many such verses exist? The timing of the statement is totally different. While prince Sanjay related the ‘Gita’ to Dhritrastra during Arjuna's battle, Mahatma Shukdevji narrated the ‘Srimad Bhagavatam’ to King Parikshit after a time span of several decades. Parikshit is the son of Abhimanyu, which means He is born after the Mahabharata war, Arjuna being his grandfather!
• *The verse is highly significant. In true essence it means that whatever a devotee offers with pure love is readily accepted by Lord Krishna who is delighted in the process. But a whole lot of things offered without devotion are of no value to Him. “Whosoever offers to Me with love, leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, I accept and heartily enjoy that offering of love by that devotee of purified intellect”.
• And we notice that Lord Krishna’s: “Whosoever” includes the entire gamut of living beings not merely humans. This range is comprised of demons ( Prahalada ,Vibhishan ), tribals ( Kewat / Shabri /,Nishadraj ), poor people ( Sudama , Vidura ), sinners( Kubja , Kaikeyi ), animals ( elephant Gajendra , monkeys (Hanumanji), bears (Jambwantji) and so on. *The Lord is so gracious that when a Devotee calls for Him, He ventures there Himself. Just go through the examples of Gajendra, Droupadi, Arjuna, Pandavas and Jatayu who authenticate this truth.
• Similarly in the ‘Bhagwad Gita’ 16th Chapter’s first three verses, Lord Krishna elucidates the marks of a man born with divine virtues and heartens Arjuna by confirming that he is one such person. This signifies a typical great quality of the Lord. Spotting an opportunity, He lauds His Devotees in whichever Yonis they may be! The wise folks evaluate a Brahmin, cow, dog and elephant on the same stratum. ( verse 18 }.

Chapter 81, verses 41: Mahatma Shukdevji is so delighted that He blesses King Parikshit, Whoever sincerely listens to this Lord Krishna-Sudama episode, exhibiting Lord's sublime reverence to Brahmins, shall certainly attain Divine Love and be freed from the bondage of Karmas. “The Lord always shows Brahmins special favour. Anyone who hears this account of the Supreme Lord's kindness to Brahmins will come to develop love for the Lord and thus become freed from the bondage of material work.”