“‘Whatever may come by Your mercy, let it come.’ That’s our
philosophy. That’s our siddhanta. But if you know it’s going to rain,
it’s better to take an umbrella.” – Srila Prabhupada (to Pradyumna, in
Hyderabad)
A devotee of Krishna uses everything in service of Krishna. Srila Rupa
goswami has said:
Anasaktasya visayan yatharam upayunjitah
Nirbandha Krishna sambanda yukta vairagyam ucyate
“That renunciation is best where we understand everything belongs to
God and we use them for service to Krishna.”
One of my dear friends Gauranga Priya prabhu’s mother is also an
astrologer. Some years ago, he called her on the phone and gave her
the astrological details of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the
incarnation of Krishna who appeared in Bengal, five hundred fifty
years ago. He didn’t tell his mother anything about the person except
the planetary details as presented in the scripture Chaitanya
Charitamrita.
A few hours later, his mother called Gauranga Priya frantically and
desperately sought to know who is this person with such an
extraordinary chart. My friend simply said, it’s his close friend; he
again resisted telling her it’s about the Lord he worships in the
temple. She asked her son if at least he could send his friend’s
photograph; she said she is really keen to see how he looks. Again
Gauranga Priya pr evaded the request and asked her why is she so
excited and he’d rather prefer she explained the chart to him.
What followed next was simply mind blowing for all of us in the
ashram. Here was a lady who had no idea about the Lord’s life and
pastimes; yet simply by seeing the chart she began to explain to her
son, as follows:
“Your friend is exceedingly beautiful. Unfortunately he’ll have two
marriages and has no marital bliss in either of them. He surely has a
huge fan following. He’d also dance and sing, and party a lot. But
strangely, he has a powerful spiritual life as well and would be
indifferent to all the fame. Also, please don’t tell him, but I fear
he won’t live long after fifty years of age.”
For those who know the life and pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,
everything she said was perfect externally. Of course, we know that
the Lord is not bound by any laws of the material world; yet the
astrological chart explained the events that followed perfectly. Later
Gauranga Priya commended his mother and revealed to her who his friend
was.
Today she is also a devotee of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and chants
Hare Krishna daily.
“Astrology is like a game of chess with an invisible partner. We set
out the board and the rules, make a move, and then find that the
pieces are moving themselves, as if by an invisible hand.” – Noel Tyl
