(HD Photo, Hindustan Times)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The material life means animal life.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So when the animal comes to higher consciousness, that is spiritual consciousness. We are combined at the present moment. We are actually spiritual, but some way or other, we have come in contact with matter, and we are covered by the material body, and… But we cannot become happy with this material interest. That’s a fact. Just like the fish cannot be happy on the land. The example is: just like the other day we saw one crocodile. One or two… two, three?Paramahaṁsa: Two or three.
Prabhupāda: In where?
Paramahaṁsa: Caracas.
Prabhupāda: Caracas, yes. So one of the crocodile was on the land, and two were in the water. So in the water they were very living, alive. But in the land it was like dead.
Ambassador: I had two crocodiles in my bath in Delhi for a month.
Prabhupāda: Oh, ācchā. You like them very much?
Ambassador: Given by the chief minister of Rajastan, and I had to get them to Canada.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Ambassador: I never managed to love them. I can love most things, but not crocodiles.
Prabhupāda: No, they are also God’s creature, but covered by the body. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]. Those who are spiritually advanced, they see equally because they know that within the body the spirit soul is there. The spirit soul is part and parcel of God. He is encaged somehow or other in a particular type of body. So a devotee of God is very kind to everyone. Brahma-bhutaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na ka…, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu [Bg. 18.54]. Samaḥ sarveṣu…, mad-bhakti labhate param. That is the stage of making advance in devotional life—equality. That equality is possible when we are on the platform of spiritual understanding. Otherwise not possible. The United Nation will never be able to unite the nation. That is not possible.
Ambassador: Of course.
Prabhupāda: Not possible. If they unite, if they try to unite on Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is possible. Otherwise not possible. But we are all part and parcel of God. Accidentally, or somehow or other, we are now all differently dressed although we are one. They have to come to this understanding. Upādhi, designation. Now just like you are Canadian; I am Indian. Then I was just… In the noon I was thinking about the, what is called, goo goo, dodo? Do? The bird? Do? What is called? There is one class of bird, do?
Atreya Ṛṣi: Doves, doves.
Prabhupāda: So there are doves, there are pigeons, there are sparrows, there are crows. Now Iran, the same doves, same… Why they are not called “Iranian sparrow”? Why they are called only sparrow?
Ambassador: (chuckles) It’s only people.
Prabhupāda: So simply we have designated, “Iranian,” “Indian,” and “Canadian,” “German,” this, that. So we have to give up this designation. Then there will be unity. Otherwise not. But they are very much proud of this designation. Therefore bhakti means sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ [Cc. Madhya 19.170], when one is completely free from designation. The designation is material. It has nothing to do with spiritual life. And the whole world is being ruled by designation. “I am Indian,” “I am American,” “I am this,” “I am that,” “I am that.” Ahaṁ mameti [SB 5.5.8], this is.
Ambassador: There is a hierarchy of consciousness, of course. But it’s not…
Prabhupāda: So that consciousness should be without designation. If I try to develop my consciousness with designation, it will not be effective. It will not be effective at least in the matter of advancing spiritual consciousness. That we have to give up. Now in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have got men from all parts of the world, but they are not thinking in terms of their original national designation. They are not thinking. They do not think that they are American or they are Indian or Canadian or African or Hindu, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vai…, nothing of the sort.
On Tuesday morning, the residents of Bawamohatra, a village in Bemetra district of Chhattisgarh, gathered near the community pond and started weeping after they saw that a crocodile, called Gangaram, had died.
The over three-metre-long reptile was buried in the village after his last rites were performed by the villagers.
A forest department official estimated that the crocodile was 130 years old.
RK Sinha, sub divisional officer (forest), told Hindustan Times the post-mortem was conducted in the presence of the villagers, after which the body was handed over to them. The crocodile died of natural causes.
The crocodile was carried to its funeral on a tractor decorated with flowers and garlands and 500 people attended its last rites.
Basawan, a villager, said Gangaram was friendly. “Even the kids of the village could swim around him and Gangaram had never harmed or attacked anyone. Gangaram was not a crocodile but a friend and a divine creature for us who was worshipped in this village,” said Basawan.
“He would even eat rice and dal which was served by the villagers and kids. Gangaram was very understanding. If he saw anyone swimming near him, he used to go to the other side of the pond,” said Veer Sing Das, a resident of village Dhara .
Village sarpanch Mohan Sahu said: “We used to identify ourselves with the crocodile as people used to call this village – Magarmachha vala gaaon.”
“The villagers were sentimentally attached with the crocodile. We have decided to hand over the body to them and they have buried the crocodile near the pond. They want to build a statue near the pond to remember Gangaram,” said Sinha.
I heard about this crocodile some 20+ years or so ago. This is one of those stories that smashes our preconceived ideas about what is ”generally understood” to be ”prehistoric reptiles!”
Apparently temple priests would feed him prasad also. The story about Gangaram is really quite amazing as there is no doubt that a very advanced soul inhabited the body of this crocodile.
In Australia the only time one hears of crocodiles is when someone is attacked and rarely do they survive such encounters as they are formidable predators. They are considered almost the same as dinosaurs and also cold blooded, so it is really mind-blowing that Gangaram was such a friendly, considerate, gentle soul that never harmed anyone and was loved so much by the villagers. Amazing really amazing!
Apparently there is another vegetarian crocodile in Kerala called ‘Babiya’ and he lives in a large pond where there is a Temple. ‘Babiya’ wont eat fish and only eats prasad from the temple and refuses ‘un-offered’ food.
The temple brahmins feed him rice and jaggary (prasad) mmm,……. yum!……he must have a sweet tooth!