One can see enlightenment among the elderly at pilgrimage sites in India, especially in Vṛndāvana.
There one sees many old people visiting temples with intense devotion
early in the morning. Hundreds of old people walk the circumambulation (parikrama)
paths despite physical debilities. Some are bent nearly double! Someone
might criticize that these people are not being provided with the
Western medical treatment that could add a few years to their lives or
ease their pain. But the sincere bābājīs and widows of Vṛndāvana who somehow make their way every morning to see Kṛṣṇa in the temples and who call out "Jaya Rādhe!" are actually fortunate and most intelligent. They are taking the kṛṣṇa-rasāyana, the elixir that will grant them eternal life in Kṛṣṇa's
spiritual abode. The Vedic śāstras recommend that one drink this elixir
from the beginning of life, but even if one neglects to do so earlier,
one should by all means drink it during the waning days of life and thus
cure the disease of repeated birth and death.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Intense Devotion
One can see enlightenment among the elderly at pilgrimage sites in India, especially in Vṛndāvana.
There one sees many old people visiting temples with intense devotion
early in the morning. Hundreds of old people walk the circumambulation (parikrama)
paths despite physical debilities. Some are bent nearly double! Someone
might criticize that these people are not being provided with the
Western medical treatment that could add a few years to their lives or
ease their pain. But the sincere bābājīs and widows of Vṛndāvana who somehow make their way every morning to see Kṛṣṇa in the temples and who call out "Jaya Rādhe!" are actually fortunate and most intelligent. They are taking the kṛṣṇa-rasāyana, the elixir that will grant them eternal life in Kṛṣṇa's
spiritual abode. The Vedic śāstras recommend that one drink this elixir
from the beginning of life, but even if one neglects to do so earlier,
one should by all means drink it during the waning days of life and thus
cure the disease of repeated birth and death.
