Radhanath Swami at the Traffic Lights
During the course of his travels, Radhanath Swami had become quite attached to the spiritual books he carried. He had gradually gathered a small library in a cloth bag. Except for this heavy bag of books, his only possession was a begging bowl and a branch used as a walking stick. Many times he considered reducing the weight of this burden, but every time he looked through the books, trying to decide which ones to give away, he found he could not part with a single one.
Among them were the Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Upanishads, Autobiography of a Yogi, books on Buddhism, one by Shankaracarya, and the Krishna book personally given to him by Srila Prabhupada. Because each was special to him and he worried he might never find it again, he lugged this bag of books wherever he went, often exhausted from the load. Now, near Connaught Circus in New Delhi, he set the books down on a street corner. Auto rickshaws zoomed by spewing trails of black diesel smoke. Cars jammed the street, each trying to squeeze ahead of the other. Bicycle rickshaws, handcarts, and ox-driven bullocks moseyed by, while battered trucks blared their horns and blasted out clouds of carbon monoxide. Amid it all Radhanath Swami waited for the traffic light to turn green.
Suddenly, a man stormed at him, grabbed the back of his neck with a vice grip and stuck a metal stick into the hole of his ear. He gouged him deeply, scratching away painfully. Radhanath Swami shivered. Who is this man? What was he doing? Would he puncture his eardrum? The man kept gouging and Radhanath Swami found himself totally under his control, afraid to move. Next, he released Radhanath Swami’s neck, yanked the metal out from his ear, and held it up for him to see. Attached to man’s stick was a big lump of earwax. Radhanath Swami was delighted, as he could hear better than he had in years, at least in one ear. The man then demanded one rupee as the price to clean the other ear. But Radhanath Swami had nothing. The man bargained but to no avail, leaving Radhanath Swami with a dirty ear.
Radhanath Swami says in his book, “I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea how filthy my ear had been until I felt what it was like to have it clean, especially compared to the other one. With a rueful smile, I drew a parallel to the spiritual journey. Perhaps, I thought:
The dirty wax of egotism accumulated in the heart prevents us from clearly hearing the Lord’s voice within. A guru, with the stick of knowledge, cleans our hearts. It’s really ugly to see what may come out, but by following patiently, we keep cleaning.
Another lesson I took from this experience was this:
Sometimes the Lord gives us a free sample of religious experience, but for more, we must pay a price with the currency of sincere dedication to the process of cleansing. My hearing was now like an unbalanced stereo system. I knew I had cleansing still to do, and on many levels.”
Radhanath Swami waited on the street corner until the traffic light turned green, but when he reached down to lift his bag of books—it was gone. He was frantic. He searched the four directions, running here and there, asking everybody around, but to no avail. He had to come to grips with the reality that his books had been stolen. Standing on that corner, he lamented.
These precious books enlightened me with knowledge and inspiration. They were an irreplaceable treasure in my life.
I received them from the benevolent hands of my teachers. My precious wealth has been ripped away.
Terribly sad, hopeless of their recovery, he walked away.
Radhanath Swami recollects in his memoir The Journey Home, “After taking a few steps, I became aware of how easy it had become to walk. The heavy burden that had troubled me for so long, the bag of books, was gone. Just as suddenly as I had felt despair, I felt liberated. Almost skipping, I reflected:
The nature of the mind is to interpret nonessentials essential. The mind creates artificial needs, believing it cannot live without them. In this way we carry a great burden of attachments throughout our life. Attachment is itself a great burden on our minds. We may never understand the extent of the burden till, like my books or the earwax, we’re free of it. But if we find joy within, we can live a simple life, free of endless complications.
I had begun to develop an attachment to finding the right path and teacher by my own will. Paradoxically, I now understood that in order to truly find what I was seeking, I needed to be detached and sincere. Whatever obstacles I was to encounter along the way would serve, I hoped, to bring me to ultimate freedom.”
Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.
What fantastic realizations from seemingly small incidents!
Wonderful lesson
Thanks for sharing such nice realization.
Amazing one. Thanks for sharing it.
Radhanath Swami’s realizations humble us and make us aware of how far we must go to reach such a stage in our spiritual life.
Thanks for sharing these wonderful ralizations of Radhanath Swami.
How Radhanath Swami saw every situation with a spiritual outlook is so inspiring and it teaches us so many lessons ! Thank you !
Hare Krishna !
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj…Maharaj ki jai hooo…!!!.Really Maharaj its being sensational
to see you coming out as world’s best Humanitarian,Spiritualist,Socialist and Loving father.
My heart fills with joy and eyes filled with tears. What a sacrifice you have done for all humanity.
What an example you have set in front of the whole world. Maharaj ki jai hooo…!!! jai hoo jai hoo…
I want to continue serving you life after life after life. I pray to Sri Sri RadhaGopinath that i may never
become ungrateful to you and to your disciples and followers. I want serve you birth after birth in any form. Hare Krishna
Your servant
anshu jaiman
Hare Krishna,Maharaj,Maharaj ki jai hoo…wow its so wonderfull to see the love of a GURU for his disciple..I am impressed.Why people say that GURU BINDS us.GOOD, we follow his instructions.With that LOVE evolve and expands. Bind yourself in that LOVE.Must do!!! thanx for sharing this..
YS- anshu jaiman
Very inspirational article. thank you very much
hilarious yet full with wisdom. thanx for sharing.
great realization
Thank you for sharing this incident from Radhanath Swami’s life.
Amazing article. Thank you very much
” It’s really ugly to see what may come out, but by following patiently, we keep cleaning.”
Thank you for the reassuring words of solace: patience is indeed the key.
Thank you for sharing.
“Attachment is itself a great burden on our minds. We may never understand the extent of the burden till, like my books or the earwax, we’re free of it. But if we find joy within, we can live a simple life, free of endless complications” – very powerful
Thank you Maharaj for sharing such a valuable realization. Only a prayerful heart like that of yours could bring such deep lessons from such simple events in his life. We pray, someday, we can also become a pure hearted person and do some benefit to the world.
Very nicely explained by Radhanath Swami “we carry a great burden of attachments throughout our life. Attachment is itself a great burden on our minds”
great lesson. thank u.
All Glories To Maharaj.
Very nice article and it clearly explainse how sensitive is HH Radhanath Swami and also how detached.
Thank you for sharing!
wonderful article.
Hare Krishna, Maharaj ki jai hoo..All Glories to Maharaj…
Thanks for such wonderful article. Thanks for enlightening this useless soul. Really, very nice article. Maharaj knows in and out how to make his disciples a perfect vaishanava. Nice to learn this.
Thank you!!!
Ys-anshu jaiman
Hare Krishna, Maharaj ki jai hoo..All Glories to Maharaj…
Thanks for such wonderful article. Thanks for enlightening this useless soul. Really, very nice article. Maharaj knows in and out how to make his disciples a perfect vaishanava. Nice to learn this. Maharaj is the real spiritualist, humanitarian, social worker and Real well wisher. I am his eternal servant. I know for a fact that if my spiritual master is not strict with me, I will fall down. I am always grateful for this
Thank you!!!
Ys-anshu jaiman
Hare Krishna, Maharaj ki jai hoo..All Glories to Maharaj…
Thanks for such wonderful article. Thanks for enlightening this useless soul. Really, very nice article. Maharaj knows in and out how to make his disciples a perfect vaishanava. Wonderful point here “determined perseverance in following instructions is essential for spiritual progress, while sneak-out excuses are detrimental”.
Thank you!!!
Ys-anshu jaiman
sometimes small things teach you big time..
Thank you for sharing Maharaj’s personal experiences which provide inspiration to all of us.
” The dirty wax of egotism accumulated in the heart prevents us from clearly hearing the Lord’s voice within ” – Amazing lessons brought out by Radhanath Swami Maharaja, thank you very much
just wonderful
Hare Krishna
Hare Krsna………….
simply wonderful- The nature of the mind is to interpret nonessentials essential. The mind creates artificial needs, believing it cannot live without them. In this way we carry a great burden of attachments throughout our life. Attachment is itself a great burden on our minds. We may never understand the extent of the burden till, like my books or the earwax, we’re free of it. But if we find joy within, we can live a simple life, free of endless complications.
Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful stroy from the life of Radhanath Swami!!!