Dina Bandhu (Krishna as friend of the poor.)

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There is a little story, very interesting. So one poor boy, he was student in a school, and the teacher's annual ceremony of father's death would be held. So he requested all his student, "What you will give me, contribution?" Formerly, the teacher was not taking any salary. But whatever he wanted, the students will bring either from parents' house or by begging. That was the system. The teacher would not charge anything. A brahmana cannot be..., charge anything. Generally, the brahmanas were teachers. That is one of the profession of the brahmana. Everyone must have livelihood. So brahmana livelihood is pathana pathana. He must become a learned scholar, and he will make others also learned scholar. That is brahmana's business. Pathana pathana yajana yajana dana pratigrahaḥ. Sat-karma, six kinds of profession for the brahmanas. And ksatriya's profession is to give protection to the citizen and levy some tax, twenty-five percent, not more than that. Whatever is income your, give twenty-five percent to the ksatriya king. That's all. That includes sales tax, this tax, that tax, so many tax, income tax. All finished. You give twenty-five percent. And if you have no income, no tax. Not like that even you have no income, "No, last year you gave so much tax. You must give it. Otherwise your property will be sold." Not like that. So that is ksatriya's income. Similarly, vaisya's income, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam [Bg 18.44], agriculture, cow protection, and if there is excess foodstuff, then he can sell, make trade. And sūdras, they will simply help. (More...)

So this teacher, the original story, the teacher asked the student for... Somebody said, "I will contribute this cloth," somebody said, "I'll rice," somebody said something, something, something. There was one poor student, he had no means. He was very poor. So when he was asked, so he replied that "I cannot say anything without asking my mother." "All right, you ask your mother and tell me tomorrow." So he asked, "My dear mother, all my class friend has promised the teacher to contribute this, that, this, that. So my turn is there. What shall I promise?" The mother said, "My dear son, we are so poor, we cannot give anything. But if Krsna gives, He is dina-bandhu, the friend of the poor. So if He gives something to you, you can promise." "Oh, where is Krsna? What is His name?" "Now, His name is Dina-bandhu, 'friend of the poor.' " "Where He is?" "I understand that He is in the forest." So he went to the forest and called, "Dina-bandhu brother, Dina-bandhu brother, where You?" He began to cry. So Krsna came. When a devotee is very much eager to see Him, Krsna comes. He very is kind. So "Why you are asking?" "My mother... You are Dina-bandhu?" "Yes." "So this is my condition, Sir. What can I promise?" So he said that "You promise that you will supply yogurt, dahi. You will supply dahi." So he was very much satisfied. And he came to the teacher that "My Dina-bandhu brother, dada, He will supply dahi, or yogurt, for whatever you require." "Oh, that's nice. Very good." (More...)

So on the day of ceremony, so he went to the forest again and called Dina-bandhu dada, and He gave him a small pot of dahi, yogurt, a small pot. Oh, he was a child. He did not know. And the..., he brought it to the teacher, "Now, this is my contribution. My Dina-bandhu brother has given. So you take." "The hundreds and thousands of people will be given foodstuff, and this much dahi?" He became very angry. He became angry, he did not care, and the pot fell down, and the yogurt also fell down. But after some time, when he came, he saw that although the yogurt has fallen down, the pot is full. Then he again dropped it; again it is full. He dropped it; again it is full. Then he could understand it is spiritual. Pūrnasya pūrnam adaya pūrnam eva avasisyate. You take the whole thing; still, the whole thing is there. That is Krsna. Not that because you have taken something, one minus one equal to zero. No. In the spiritual world, one minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is called advaya-jnana. There is no duality. Plus and minus, they are two things. But in the spiritual world, either plus or minus, the same. That is to be understood. That is called absolute, advaya-jnana. (More...)

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