tree | Radhanath Swami | Marriage and Parenting Advice

Mango Loving Husband

Once there was a man who liked to eat mangoes. One day he decided to get the sweetest mango available, from the very top of the tree. Mangoes which are most exposed to the sun are the sweetest. So he climbed up to the top, where the branches were thin. He managed to pick up a few sweet reddish fruits, but in attempting to go back down, he slipped and started falling towards the ground.

Fortunately, he caught a branch as he was falling and remained helplessly hanging on the tree. Then he started to call nearby villagers for help. They immediately came with a ladder and sticks, but could do little to help him.

Then after some time his wife arrived. People were very curious as to what she would do. The wife was silent for a minute and then picked up a stone, and threw it, hitting the hanging husband.

Everybody was surprised. Hanging mango lover started to shout, “What are you doing?! Are you crazy? Do you want me to break my neck?”

His wife was silent. Then again, she took a stone and threw it so that it hit her husband in the tree. The man (the husband) was furious, “If I could just come down, I would show you…!” That’s what everybody wanted, that he comes down, but how?

Now everybody was tense, what would happen next! Some wanted to chastise the wife, but they didn’t. The wife picked up another stone and threw it again at the man, even more forcefully. Now the man in the tree completely flipped out and developed a great determination to come down and get revenge. He then used all of his skill and strength and somehow managed to reach the branches which were safe enough for him to climb down, and he made it!
Everybody was amazed.

“Where is my wife?” – exclaimed the rescued man.
“Oh, she is wise, so she didn’t wait for you to beat him,” said the villagers.”I will really smash her completely when I get hold of her,” said the man.
“Hey, wait a minute, she is the only one who helped you, she is the one who provoked you, who induced you to help yourself,” said one of the villagers.

Mango freak stopped for a second, thought a little and admitted, “Yes, all your good intentions and compassion didn’t help me, but my beloved wife expertly induced me to do my best and save myself, I should be thankful rather than angry.”

So this is an instructive story. A real spouse helps you, sometimes in strange ways, to take initiatives in your life.

Our greatest enemy

In the heart that harbors the weed of selfish greed, the flower of love cannot survive. However, to conquer one’s envy, lust and greed, now that is truly monumental – Radhanath Swami

In a certain place, the fishermen were catching fish. A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about twenty crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing. Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it. The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after
it. The kite went east and west, but the crows chased it nevertheless. As the kite began to fly about in confusion, it got tired and let go of the fish from its mouth. The crows at once let the kite alone and flew after the fish. Thus relieved of its worries, the kite sat on the branch of a tree and thought, “That wretched fish was the root of all my troubles. I have now gotten rid of it and therefore I am at peace.” As long as a man has the fish, that is, lusty desires, he must perform actions and consequently suffer from worry, anxiety and restlessness. No sooner does he renounce these lusty desires than his troubles fade away and he enjoys peace of the soul. The kite cannot live without the fish, for it needs the fish to survive. But luckily for us, there is no such compulsion, as we can survive without lust. However, when we learn that lusty desires and suffering come bundled together in a take-it-or-leave-it package, we are exposed to a choice. What we choose thereafter leads us to the path of suffering or onto the path of liberation and eternal bliss. The choice is ours!

Lord Krishna tells us in the Bhagavad-gita that, “It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.”

An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend,excepting lust, the indulgence of which increases its enmity – Saadi