Only God Can Save Us

In ancient times in India, there lived a very famous Sculptor. He was very much proud of his achievements and was very ambitious to achieve more. Once an astrologer told him that he would die within few years.

He was very upset and wanted to outsmart God's decision to take away his life. So instead of spending the rest of his precious time in the service of God, he decided to make 10 statues of himself perfectly resembling him in every way, except that they did not have life. On the day he was destined to die, he stood among those statues like a statue. As the astrologer predicted, Yamarâja (Lord of death) came to take him and Yamarâja was very confused to see the eleven statues. He found it hard to differentiate the real sculptor from his perfect statues. Then Yamarâja meditated on Lord Vishnu and a bright idea came to his mind.

Yamarâja said loudly to himself: "One of these statues is defective. Not all of them are equally perfect & same."

The arrogant, real sculptor who was pretending to be a statue jumped out and shouted: "Who is a better sculptor than me to say that one of my statues is defective? All of them are perfect replicas of myself."

Yamarâja confusion was cleared instantly and he took the sculptor away against all his protest. He tried to resist, he cried, he tried to hang on to his beloved statues, but nothing helped him to stay back in the same body.

Yamarâja said: "Nobody can outsmart God. If only you had surrendered to God and spent your remaining life in the service of Him, then end of your life in this body would have been more peaceful and smooth and you would have been experiencing eternal bliss. Arrogance and selfishness destroys one. When I was confused, did you see what I did? I meditated on Lord Vishnu and He persuaded me to say that "one of the statues is defective". Now I have to take you. Please remember Lord in pain and pleasure alike. He is the only one who can change or not change things."

May Lord bless us with an attitude of total surrender!

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which tells that Lord Krishna too loves His devotees & always fulfills their desires & always protect them:

"sannyasas tu maha-baho
duhkham aptum ayogatah
yoga-yukto munir brahma
na cirenadhigacchati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Five verse 6)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: Merely renouncing all activities yet not engaging in the devotional service of the Lord cannot make one happy. But a thoughtful human being engaged in devotional service can achieve the God without delay."

"tesam jnani nitya-yukta
eka-bhaktir visisyate
priyo hi jnanino ’tyartham
aham sa cha mama priyah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 17)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me."

"purushah sa parah partha
bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya
yasyantah-sthani bhutani
yena sarvam idam tatam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eight verse 22)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: The Lord / God, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him."

So let's have full devotion towards Lord Krishna. As per the "Bhagwat Puran":

"Once the mind of a person is full of surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna & the mind is full of hankering after Lord's qualities, then that person shall never encounter Yamarâja (Lord of death) and his superintendents, or even in one's dreams meet his servants carrying the ropes to bind, because doing such Devotional service to Lord Krishna is the right atonement for all sins."

Jai Sri Krishna