{"id":3260,"date":"2018-11-13T08:53:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T08:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2018-11-13T11:44:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T11:44:26","slug":"p-the-sadhus-blessings-karma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/further-information-and-teaching-resources-primary\/concepts-stories-further-information-and-teaching-resources-primary\/p-the-sadhus-blessings-karma\/","title":{"rendered":"(P) The Sadhu\u2019s Blessings (karma)"},"content":{"rendered":"

STO-105<\/a><\/p>\n

A sadhu (saintly person) and his disciple were passing through a city. \u201cLet us see whether we can make our journey a learning experience,\u201d the teacher said to his disciple. By chance, just as they were walking by the prince of the kingdom was mounting his fine white stallion<\/p>\n

\u201cGreetings holy man,\u201d the prince called out. \u201cPlease give me your blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raising his palm, the sadhu replied, \u201cMay you live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prince happily galloped off, and the sadhu\u2019s disciple enquired, \u201cWhy did you bless
\nhim to live forever, master?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sadhu answered, \u201dHe is now enjoying his life of sense pleasure. However, he hunts animals for sport, so when he dies he\u2019ll suffer for his sin. So it\u2019s best for him to live forever and stay as he is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later they saw a young student of spiritual science, a brahmachari, dressed in saffron cloth, collecting alms for his teacher. When he saw that the sadhu he touched his palms together, offering him respect.<\/p>\n

In reply, the sadhu said, \u201cMay you die immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again the disciple queried, \u201cMaster, why did you curse him to die?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sadhu laughed. \u201cThat was not a curse, but a blessing. At present he is pure and sinless. However, if he continues to live his future is uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is that?\u201d the disciple asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there is always the danger of falling into worldly ways. But if he dies right now, he will certainly be promoted to the higher worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they approached the market place, the disciple had to hold his nose. The air was filled with the sickly smell of death wafting from the corpses of skinned animals, cut into pieces and hung on hooks in front of the butcher\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n

A red-faced man, the shop owner, called out to the sadhu, \u201cHello! Any blessings for me today?\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again the sadhu raised his palm. \u201cYes, I bless you that you neither live nor die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The butcher scratched his head and muttered, \u201cWhat a strange blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After they left the market place the disciple enquired, \u201cWhat did you mean by that greeting?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think the butcher is in a hellish condition right now?\u201d the sadhu asked. His disciple nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has killed so many innocent animals that he will surely go to hell for many thousands of years,\u201d the sadhu explained. \u201cSo he will suffer if he lives or if he dies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, they passed a temple entrance where a devotee was offering her heartfelt prayers to the Supreme Lord. She did not even notice the sadhu approaching, but he called out, \u201cMay you live or may you die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me guess why you said that,\u201d ventured the disciple. \u201cConstantly remembering God, a devotee is always happy. Therefore, it makes no difference to her whether she lives or dies. She will go on remembering God in this life and in the next.\u201d Smiling, the sadhu replied, \u201cMy disciple, you are learning well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STO-105 A sadhu (saintly person) and his disciple were passing through a city. \u201cLet us see whether we can make our journey a learning experience,\u201d the teacher said to his disciple. By chance, just as they were walking by the prince of the kingdom was mounting his fine white stallion \u201cGreetings holy man,\u201d the prince […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concepts-stories-further-information-and-teaching-resources-primary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3745,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions\/3745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}