Krishna will take care

 “Krishna will take care.”; “Oh, Krishna will take care?”; “Yes, Krishna has said in the Gita, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham - ‘I will provide for my devotee.” He had unflinching faith in Krishna, but his wife had little or no faith, soft faith, komala-sraddha. So she again created disturbances in his bhajan. He could not sit and peacefully worship the Lord. She said, “You should go out and borrow some money. Otherwise how can you perform this ceremony in four days from now? Lakhs of rupees are needed! You will have to give saris and ornaments to your daughter. You will have to arrange a big feast; feed all your friends, relatives and neighbours. The bridegroom will come with a big procession, and you have to pay for it. He’ll demand some dowry. You have to give it.” This is social prestige, social custom. “Krishna will carry. I am a poor man. Who will give me money? If I go and approach a wealthy man, ‘Please give me some money. I want to take a loan,’ he’ll never give money because I have no wealth to pay it back. What shall I do?” The wife said, “Here! Take some of my ornaments.” In villages in India the women’s bangles, earrings, silver and gold ornaments are their bank. At the time of need they will sell them or put them somewhere as collateral, get money, and perform these ceremonies. So she gave them. “Alright, take these. Put them somewhere with some wealthy man and get some money.” So he took them and went out.

Narsinh Mehta was a premi-bhakta, very fond of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Krishna-katha. When he went out in search of someone to lend him money, he entered a village where he saw that a Bhagavata recitation was going on for seven continuous days. Being very attached to hearing the Bhagavatam, he sat there for 7 days. He forgot that he had come to get money to perform his daughter’s marriage, which would take place after four days. When the 7 days finished, he asked someone, “Oh bhai, what day is today? Alas! Everything must have finished, 7 days have gone by. The marriage of my daughter was after four days. I came to get some money. My wife gave me these ornaments. What has happened to the marriage ceremony? Everything must have been spoiled! There will be so much criticism! How can I go back? How can I show my face there? If I go there my wife will beat me with a broomstick! Oh Krishna, why did you keep me here, making me completely forget? What is your lila, I cannot understand! This is your family. You will be criticized.”

He thought, “What shall I do? I’ll tell a lie to my wife. ‘I went to a very far off place. I went to many villages and met many wealthy persons. No one was prepared to take these ornaments and give me money. I went to such a far off place, so returning took time.” He was thinking like that. As he was coming he was chanting and thinking of Krishna. “Alright Krishna, such a wonderful lila you are doing. Why you made me forget, I don’t know. You know everything.” As he came nearer to his village he heard people talking about the marriage. “Such a marriage! Narsinh Mehta’s daughter’s marriage was like a king’s. We have never seen such a marriage! We have heard that great kings do like that, but for the first time we saw such pomp and ceremony. Such a grand feast we had never eaten before, such palatable dishes, and such a grand procession like a royal procession. And he gave so much dowry, so many ornaments. Where did he get the money? This was like a king’s royal marriage.”

Hearing these talks, Narsinh Mehta asked, “Whose marriage?”; “Your daughter’s marriage.”; “My daughter’s marriage is already done?” “Oh yes. With such pomp and ceremony, like a king’s royal marriage. We have never seen!”; “Oh Krishna! You are so merciful! Yogaksemam vahamy aham - You have said, ‘I will provide for my devotee.” Then he came to his house and saw that his wife was very happy. He asked, “The marriage was done nicely?”; “Yes, very nicely!”; “How was it performed? Who brought money? You were in anxiety, always creating disturbance in my bhajan. You had no faith in Krishna’s words, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham. Who brought money? How was it done?”; “A ten or eleven-year-old black boy came. He was carrying a heavy load. He brought so much ghee, oil, subji, rice, dal, flour, sugar, and molasses. He brought so many saris, clothes, ornaments, and money. We had no place to put everything in our small mud hut. I asked him, ‘Hey, where are you bringing these from?’; “He said, ‘Oh, gosai is sending.’ You are sending, he said. You are sending. He was carrying such a heavy load.”; “Krishna has said, ‘I will carry - yoga-ksemam vahamy aham.’ You have no faith in the words of Krishna?”

This is a true story. A pure devotee of Krishna is completely, exclusively, dependent on the mercy of Krishna. Every moment he only thinks of Krishna, with no other thought. He is completely surrendered, and has dedicated everything to the Lord. His attitude is that it is Krishna’s family. The only means for a householder devotee is complete surrender. Enter Krishna’s family – Krishna-samsara. Don’t stay in maya-samsara. Krishna is the only the object of love. Develop love and attachment to Krishna. Give up material, temporary bodily attachments. They are all troublesome like thorns and pointed pebbles. Krishna is the only object of loving attachment. Dedicate your family and everything to Krishna. It is Krishna’s family. Only think of Krishna and Krishna will make all arrangements. If you develop your love for Krishna then everything will be very good. If the husband and wife relationship is based on loving relationship with Krishna, then it is a real relationship. Don’t develop bodily, material relationships. They are only temporary, troublesome, and based on misery. Develop your eternal loving relationship with Krishna, wherein the husband is Krishna-dasa and the wife is Krishna-dasi. (-- His Holiness Gour Govinda Swami lecture on 13 March 1995 at Gadei-giri, Orissa; Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu issue#286)