Muddled Mind

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Translated from Bengali, part 9
27 January 2018, Sri Ekachakra Dham

Srila Prabhupad also told another story about Lalu and Kalu.

Once, there was a shopkeeper who had two very naughty sons who did not want to study. Their father tried in many ways to get a teacher for them, he thought, "I have got old, who will take over the shop after me? These two do not want to learn anything, how will they run the shop?" So, he decided to give an advertisement in a newspaper, he wrote there, "Looking for a good teacher who would come to the house and teach two children. The salary is ten thousand per month."

One day, a poor but educated brahman came to him and asked what he must teach them. The shopkeeper said, "I have two sons, they are foolish and very naughty. They neither want to go to school, nor want to study anything. Will you be able to teach them?"

"Yes, I will try."

"All right, but you must always stay with them—eat with them, even when they go to the bathroom, you must stay with them. They are very naughty."

"All right, I will."

So, he began teaching them. One day, they had lunch and the brothers said they were going to sleep. The teacher did not sleep because he had to watch the naughty children, but the boys told him, "Teacher, you sleep, do not worry." Now, Kalu was naughtier than his brother, so he told his brother, "Brother, let's start snoring, then the teacher will think we are asleep." The teacher was surprised that both of them had fallen asleep so soon and soon dozed off himself. As soon as the children understood that the teacher had fallen asleep, they sneaked outside and went for a smoke. Then, they returned and the teacher did not notice anything.

After a while, the teacher woke up and felt the smell of tobacco.

"Hey, you two, wake up! Why does it smell of tobacco in the room?! Where did the smell come from? Have you smoked?!"

"What are you talking about, Sir? You were with us in the room and we were asleep—you felt asleep before us. When would we smoke?"

"Give me your hand!" He smelt their hands. "You have smoked!"

"No, someone else must have come and smoked on my hands."

"So naughty!! Come with me now!"

They went to a field. There were some cows in the field and the teacher asked one of the brothers, "How many legs does this cow have?"

Lalu started counting, "One, two, three—"

"Do not say, brother! The teacher is trying to trick you! He is trying to teach you maths!"

We are like that too—even though we are taught to chant the Holy Name, but nobody wants to say Hare Krishna. Guru Maharaj also told jokingly that some people walk around with a big mala but if somebody hits them in their stomach, they will cry, "Ma! Baba! [Mother, father]"—no "Hare Krishna" at that time...

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