Tattva-viveka
"Big Fish" Bhakti
Margaret Dale - May 9, 2007 9:36 am
I wasn't quite sure where to post this. It just occured to me that there's a bit of the movie "Big Fish" that gives a nice display of what bhakti means, although the character is directing his love toward a girl and not toward God. The main character catches a brief glimpse of the girl, and spends the next three years doing hard labor for one piece of information about the girl each month. He then meditates on that bit of information for a month until he gets his next gem. After three years, he finally learns how to find her, and immediately rushes to where she is. He finds that she is engaged to someone else. He uses all that he has learned to try and woo her. One day he overwhelms her by gathering 10,000 of her favorite flowers for her. She comes out to see him and her fiance approaches. She asks our hero to promise not to hurt her fiance. Her fiance then proceeds to beat the daylights out of our hero, who simply stands and takes it because that is what the girl asked. Because of her fiance's behavior, the girl breaks her engagement. Our hero, bloody, black eyes, barely able to stand up, is the happiest man in the world.
I just thought it was a great example of what our love should be like for Krsna, how focused we should be, what sacrifices we should be willing to make, how much we should tolerate out of obedience to him and to guru, and how joyful we will be when he so much as glances at us.
Sorry if this is too mundane.
Swami - May 9, 2007 11:43 am
Jason - May 9, 2007 1:56 pm
I really like that Margaret, thanks!
Syamasundara - May 13, 2007 2:09 am
Sorry if this is too mundane.
Thank you for making my GM smile, Margaret, and you just proved that mundane is really only our consciousness and how we apply it.
There was a period in which all I would watch on TV seemed to be about Krsna or Krsna-related stuff, and watching TV was actually a quite inspiring exercise.
Of course, this is a very delicate and risky attitude, and it's very easy to slip and get sucked into a more mundane behavior and approach if we don't have enough experience, good guidance, or sincerity; might as well stick to activities that are more anukula.
There is a very endearing story of two gaudiyas walking together, at one point one sees vultures circling in the air and starts dancing and chanting hari bol. The other devotee looks at him a little perplexed and asks him what the problem is with him, and the other says that vultures in the sky made him think there may be a dead cow somewhere (the other more and more puzzled), with the hide of a cow you can make a mrdanga, and mrdanga means nama kirtana!
Hari bol! Hari bol!
I had a few similar experiences, and it's really potent. The world is in the mind. Krsne matir astu everyone (Me first of course)