KRISHNA & THE SNYAMANTAKA JEWEL

A friend of mine gifted me a two-book collection of Krishna stories called "Krshna: the Supreme Personality of the Godhead" for a Christmas present a few years ago. The author of this collection is A.C. Bhitvendanta Swami Prabhupada. This swami came to America in the 1960's when his guru told him to come here and teach us how to chant the Maha Mantra and about the concept of Krishna Consciousness.

Some people have heard about Christ Consciousness, acting and thinking like Christ. Christ Consciousness is living the golden rule of loving your neighbor as yourself. Krishna Consciousness is very much like that concept of having a consciousness like Krishna. Acting like Krishna in their everyday life. Some people ask: what would Jesus do? Hindus would say: what would Krishna do?

In Hinduism we like to tell stories to each other to instruct each other on how to live and how to treat each other. The story of Krishna & the Synamantaka Jewel is a fascinating story about values. In this story people get obsessed with a jewel which created wealth every day, so people wanted to possess it. Greed is not encouraged in any spiritual tradition. Chasing material wealth can become more important than anything else. This story illustrated how people can get hooked on obtaining wealth. It's the unusual person who develops spiritual wealth first as the most important form of wealth.

In the region of Dvarakadhama there was a King Satrajit who was a great devotee of the sun god, Surya. In Hinduism we believe in the one God, but we believe God is so vast that God takes many different forms and aspects. Keep this in mind when you read this story. As a reward for Satrajit's devotion, the sun god gave him an unusual jewel called the Syanmantaka Jewel. Those who wore this gem shone like the sun and whoever possessed it had nothing but prosperity and good fortune. This jewel also created gold every day. King Satrajit would sometimes visit Krishna, so many thought the sun god was visiting this region because Satrajit shone like the sun when he wore this jewel.

The king was actually not there to visit Krishna. He was there to install the jewel in a temple to be worshiped by the brahmans who were priests in this temple. Krishna later on had asked for the jewel because he thought King Ugrasena should have it because it would benefit more people, since Ugrasena was the King over all of India. It would then benefit everyone in the whole country. Krishna thought wealth should be shared by everyone and not be in the hands of just a few individuals. This is a very good philosophy to have making sure that everyone is cared for and has wealth to survive.

Satrajit's younger brother, Prasena, wore it one day to show it off, so people would know his family had wealth. While he was in the forest, a lion killed him and took the jewel to his cave. The Gorilla King, Jambavan, heard about the jewel and went to the cave of the lion and killed him and took the jewel.

Meanwhile people were concerned that the king's brother had not returned. Some thought Krishna had killed him to obtain the jewel. Krishna, as the Divine Consciousness, would never have any need personally for such a jewel. To stop these rumors Krishna went to the forest to investigate. Krishna and his party found that Prasena had died on the path. Eventually they found the lion which had been killed by the Gorilla King. They searched further and Krishna discovered a large tunnel. He decided to investigate and he went into the tunnel which was connected to the Gorilla King's cave. Krishna found the jewel in the hands of the son of Jambavan. The nurse started crying out loud and Jambavan appeared to find out what was going on in the cave.

Krishna and Jambavan fought for twenty eight days. Finally the Gorilla King realized that only the Divine Consciousness, the Supreme Personality of the Godhead, could be so strong to keep fighting so long. Jambavan had been with Ram, who was the 7th incarnation of Vishnu, many years before and had helped Ram to defeat Ravanna, the demon king. He realized that Krishna was another incarnation of Vishnu who he knew from these times. He said, "My dear Lord, I can now understand who You are. You are the Supreme Personality of the Godhead, Lord Vishnu." Krishna healed Jambavan of his pains from the fight. Krishna asked him for the jewel in order to clear His name because people thought Krishna had killed Prasena to get the jewel. So Krishna brought the jewel back to Dvaraka and explained everything to King Ugrasena. The king invited many other kings, chiefs and King Satrajit to a meeting with Krishna who told the whole story.

Krishna returned the jewel to King Satrajit, but the king felt bad about the incident. So he gave the jewel back to Krishna and also gave his daughter, Satyabhama, to Krishna to marry. Satyabhama became his third wife and was an incarnation of Mother Earth, Mother Bhumi. She is considered one of most significant of his wives along with Rukumini, his first wife. Lord Krishna decided to leave the jewel at the temple, so that everyone would benefit from it. In Dvaraka there were no famines, pestilence or extreme weather. The obsession with the jewel ended, at least for awhile, and spiritual wealth became the most important wealth in Dvaraka again. All shared in material wealth and were prosperous.

I want to wish you a Happy Janastami today and every day. May spiritual wealth always be in your consciousness first. Material wealth is meant to be shared with others. Greed happens when people get obsessed with material wealth and it is not shared with others. Wise is the ruler who is moral and wants everyone to benefit not just a few individuals. In America we have a democracy and can choose our rulers. We are most wise when our rulers are more like Krishna and believe in spiritual wealth as being most important and that material wealth is shared. The "Srimad Bhagvatam" states: "Those who hear the story (of the jewel) will live in peace!"

JAI SHRI KRISHNA! JAI SHRI JAMBAVAN! JAI SHRI MA!

Radhapriestess