Srimad Bhagavatam – day 572
Maharishi Śuka continued, “On the day Krishna flipped over, Nanda and Yashoda gifted raw food grains, ornaments, clothing and healthy cows to Vedic Brahmins and thus honoured them”.
In these present days, people find it impractical to donate cows, hence they offer a little money as dakshina to the priest in lieu of cow. The person who seeks to obtain the benefit of donating a cow stingily offers five rupees in lieu of cow-donation (Godāna); three rupees as a substitute for cloth-donation (vastra dāna) and five rupees in lieu of food grains (anna-dana). To be practical, can any human buy his lunch with mere five rupees?
There are instances where people offer one rupee or half-rupee in lieu of items to be donated. They then brag that they have completed all the eight major charities stipulated by our elders. Do you know that the eight biggest charities include gifting away a house, giving a daughter away in marriage, gifting of cows and so on? If someone were to ask them the cost incurred towards completion of these charities, they proudly reply, ‘I spent eleven rupees in total’. ‘O my God! How could you complete the eight biggest charities with merely eleven rupees?’ They will brag, ‘I began by giving away half a rupee in lieu of house-donation. I could have used a lower denomination sadly, they are no longer minted. So, I had to give away half a rupee’. They take pride they have spent a lot of money in charitable activities.
Aha! Isn’t it amazing? The person brags of his ability in completing the eight biggest charities with merely eleven rupees. More importantly, he hopes to reach heavens on the strength of this charity! To be frank, this attitude is incorrect. It is not appreciable.
When giving food grains in charity, should you not give away at least that quantity of grains using which the priest can enjoy a decent meal? When gifting clothing, should you not give at least the minimum cloth required to cover the body? People give away a napkin sized transparent cloth and are proud of their generosity. The flimsy cloth which they give cannot be used even to blow the nose. Such stinginess is incorrect.
If at all you seek to engage in charitable activities, then whole-heartedly give away substantial quantity of one item. Instead of trying to squeeze in multiple charities within your limited financial resources, select any one charity and complete it satisfactorily per the right procedure. Instead of distributing thousand rupees between the many different types of charities, use your thousand rupees to complete one charity decently.
In those eons, people took pride in gifting thousands of healthy cows of good breed. These are days when people donate one feeble, sickly, malnourished cow which dies even before the Brahmin who has accepted the charity reaches home. The person desiring to give a cow in charity should give a healthy cow which yields plentiful milk. Giving the cow along with its calf is truly appreciable. Before giving such a cow to the Brahmin priest, enquire whether his house is equipped with a proper backyard wherein the cow can be sheltered properly. If not, give substantial money in lieu of the cow and not just a rupee or two.
Anyway, in a nutshell, magnanimous charities of those eons cannot be compared to the meagre charities of the present period. Such comparison is only a waste of time.
“Amulets were tied to the infant.”
Many of us tie Swetārka raksha or Hanuman raksha to the wrist. Hanuman raksha has thirteen knots. Swetārka raksha has a single knot within which is the root of the calotropi (arka) plant. In addition, according to their tastes people tie Devi raksha, Durga raksha or amulets pertaining to other deities. These amulets are tied to protect from evil eye.
What is evil eye? It is also known as nazar. There is a proper procedure to remove the ill-effects caused due to another’s evil gaze. Using red coloured water, coconuts or other ingredients, the effect of the evil eye is negated.
Very often, people burn a dried broom in order to ward off the effect of evil eye. It is but natural for a dried broom to burn fiercely creating many sparks. Then, seeing the intensity of the sparks, they claim that the person, for whom they are performing this ritual, was badly afflicted due to evil eye. They also claim that the bad smell emitted from the burning broom is indicative of their success in negating the evil eye. Isn’t it true that when a dried broom, which was used for cleaning the dirty surroundings, is burnt, the air will be filled with unbearable stench? Is it possible for a burning broom to release aromatic fragrances? Anyways let us accept this custom and assume that the effect of evil eye definitely gets negated through this procedure. Even then, frankly how many homes still continue this custom of negating the evil eye? This custom is also fading away.
The multi-storied apartments have rendered it impossible to ignite fire. Neighbours immediately alert the fire brigade, who rush to our apartment fully equipped to douse the fire. The entire team arrives at our doorstep to extinguish the fire, which emerged from a tiny broom. Hence this procedure of negating evil eye using broom is impractical for city dwellers. In villages to a certain extent these customs are still prevalent.
“Amulets were tied to little Krishna. A black dot was put on his cheek to ward off evil eye”.
When tying amulets and when putting the black dot there are certain mantras to be chanted. The Lord is to be thought of. Screaming and abusing others or being irritable when tying amulets is inacceptable.
“Krishna was now very sleepy”.
After an enjoyable hot water bath accompanied by melodious chanting of hymns and joyous singing who will not feel drowsy? This is the real sleep. In such sleep all tiredness vanishes. Even ten minutes of such deep sleep drives away all fatigue and energizes the person completely.
“Yashoda then laid the child to sleep in the cloth swing that was tied beneath a bullock-cart.”
In villages, cloth swings are readily arranged all through the house. When the infant is sleepy, he/she is rocked to bed in that swing. Swings are tied to trees, to bullock carts, and at all other convenient places within the courtyard of the house and within the rooms.
Krishna’s home was in a sprawling compound. His father Nanda owned lakhs of cows. In accordance to the number of cows owned by a person his position in society was defined. With so many cows and cowsheds, Nanda’s compound was in itself the size of a large village.
In lieu of cloth swings, battery operated baby bouncers are the trend today. The joy of sleeping in the traditional cloth swing can never be replicated by any bouncer.
“Having ensured that her son slept peacefully in the cloth swing, Yashoda went in to receive the guests”.
Narayanaya namah