Bhagavatam-daily 133 – 11.09.05-08 – Use presence of mind to deal effectively with practical problems

Carefree level by purifying oneself and renouncing attachments thank you foreign so once a kumari kumari refers to young unmarried girl and she was herself so she was at her she was alone by herself at home so in her house came who came prananam those who were desiring to marry appropriately she received them offered hospitality to them at a time because as she arrived she received them at the hospital her relatives had gone away to other place now in the traditional culture as is described in the bhagavatam there was adequate and appropriate arrangement for a very important social institution we could say or a social function that is marriage so the bride’s family the prospective bride and the prospective bride’s bridegroom’s families would meet each other talk with each other generally there is a ceremony called the bride viewing where the groom’s family comes and sees the bride and normally at that time all the relatives are there and at least the father mother the brother sister of the of the bride are there and then there is a discussion but sometimes if but in this is an exceptional situation that the groom’s family came without any previous intimation and at this time she was it happened that all her family members had gone away to some other place and she was all alone now it’s not at the in the traditional marriages also it’s not that the girls were completely in dark about whom they were going to marry they would normally defer to their elder’s wishes and in the traditional society the elders where there was a proper structure the elders would also know and would be the they would be the well-wishers and they would choose wisely so it’s clear here that she also knew whom who was the prospective groom’s family and when she saw them coming she thought they had come she naturally received them very kindly this could be possibly her in-laws with whom she may have to her husband and her in-laws with whom she may have to live the rest of her life and apart from that consideration there’s a basic consideration that that the guest has to be treated very warmly because because the guest it said that guests should be received like the way God has received so she received offer proper hospitality now the various items of offering hospitality are offering a seat offering water and then offering some eatables saw some food so now because these guests were unexpected and because she was all alone so there was no way that there could have been food for all of them already so so now there was no one else to cook also so she herself went inside and she excused herself and as the guests were waiting she decided she started cooking for them so now for to offer them something to eat you know there’s a normal human reciprocation is conviviality is called that means you know people eat together so some guests come offering them something to eat is basic human culture so naturally she was trying to do that to offer them something to eat so now food in the traditional culture was always offered in terms of fresh food you know there are people who do not keep stock foods for a long time Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that food that is cooked and preserved for a very long time is not the best food it is not in the high modes so so now she went inside to start cooking and now as she was beating the rice to Rahasi so Shalini she was beating the rice at that time Chakru means to make Shankhan she had bangles made of conch shells or bracelets which are made of conch shells they started making a sound which was loud in general when we go to an unfamiliar place then we try to make sense of the place we try to see what is happening why is it happening and normally we look around to see and then also when we hear some sounds we try to make sense of the sounds so now she was inside in the kitchen cooking but when they when her bracelets started making sounds then naturally the question came up that now the the guests who are the outside would naturally be curious that where is the sound coming from so when they would be curious like that where is the sound coming from so what would be her reply so she knew that if it’s one thing to say that there are no guests at home there are no family members at home but it’s quite another to say that there are no no assistants no servants and no helpers at home also that indicates that the family is poor or whatever it may send a negative impression and she did not want to send that impression so so because when this loud noise was coming she was sensitive what do i do about this loud noise that is happening i cannot avoid my duty of cooking i need to cook and offer them something at the same time this noise will not be appropriate so she thought that this idea that oh we have no servants that we are somewhat poor and that’s why we have the bride herself has to cook. Now at one level, often when the family comes, the groom’s family comes, they would like to know whether the bride knows to cook and they would be happy to taste her cooking. But then the bride may just cook some special items.
But if all the cooking has to be done by the bride itself, then that might be seen as a sign of poverty. So then she thought there should not be any misrepresentation like this. So she was a clever, she was intelligent.
She was also shy. Modesty is a desired virtue in women. And so she decided what should I do now? So now the bracelets, there are different kinds of bracelets and often the bracelets which are worn in the hands, they are not very easy to remove because they don’t expand and shell bangles especially are difficult to expand.
So what did she do? She started breaking them because removing all of them would take time. So and then traditionally women would decorate themselves in various ways and she had apparently many bracelets. So she broke most of them, only two remained and even with the two, noise was coming.
So still because there were two, they were grinding against each other, rubbing against each other and they were producing a noise. So then especially when she was husking the rice, from those two sides they were coming out. So then she removed and then on the case she broke one more and only one remained on each hand.
So one more was removed and only one remained. And there was no more sound. And in this way she dealt with the issue.
Now the principle behind this, the Avadhut Brahmana will tell later, but the point here that is being made is that in this world, when practical problems come up, we have to use practical intelligence to deal with the solution. This may seem to be like a very mundane situation and somebody’s girl’s marriage is there and then what is so great in a transcendental book in Amal Purana to talk about a girl’s marriage and somebody might even say that, isn’t she trying to misrepresent? If there are no helpers at home, there are no helpers, that’s a fact. Why does she have to conceal that fact? So we can go in all directions and somebody may say the bracelets won’t be expensive, breaking them is an advisable course of action.
So if we want to take a skeptical role, we can take the story and go in various directions. But every story has a particular point and that we need to focus on. The focus, the lesson which we will be discussing will come in the next and the next two verses.
But here let’s focus on this one point that in her context, for whatever may be the reason, maybe the family had servants also, they were wealthy, but the servants were away. Servants had also gone away. Or maybe the shell, now the shell, conch shell is a natural product.
If it was on the beach, if they were living on some area which is close to a coast or maybe conches were readily available. So it was not a very expensive thing. So breaking was not a big issue.
But the point is that she had the presence of mind to find an appropriate solution to her problem. And that’s what she exactly did. So we all need to have the presence of mind when practical problems come up, we will seek and find practical solutions to those problems.
So the Bhagavatam is not just transcendental wisdom, definitely it is, but even the Bhagavatas when they are living in this world, they deal with practical issues and they have to find practical solutions to those problems. So there’s no mention that this particular girl was a great devotee. It’s a great soul who takes a great lesson from a seemingly ordinary incident.
But even in that ordinary incident, there is presence of mind that is exhibited. So we also need to have presence of mind to deal with practical problems in practically effective ways. Thank you.