Bimala Prasada (1881 -
at the ripe old age of seven,
three years after his vow)
I 💗 mangoes. They are a perfect juicy combination of tartness and sweetness. So tasty.
Srila Prabhupada said they are the "King of Fruit."
For a major portion of my devotee career, I have been what has been termed in ISKCON vernacular a "picker" - one who collects donations from the general public for various ISKCON projects. Sometimes I would say, "Instead of being a 'picker' in this material world, I can't wait to instead be picking mangoes in the spiritual world!"
When I repeated my saying to a much more advanced Godbrother, he told me that I have to remember "for Whom I am picking the mangoes." Then, I realized, to my great embarrassment, that the personality he was referring to was Kṛṣṇa, and that I hadn't even thought of that. I thought to myself, "My God, I've got a long way to go before I get to the spiritual world with my selfish mentality!" This is a place that is not easy to get into. I have heard it said that after one leaves one's body, and as the soul is traveling past the upper planetary systems, if one has even the slightest desire to taste - a sweet ball, for example, one cannot get into Vaikuntha. "Long way to go" indeed.
Recently my shame was compounded exponentially when I read the following passage from Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta Chapter 3: "A Very Nice Saintly Person" within a short bio of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who was given the name Bimala Prasada by great father Bhaktivinoda Thakura.
"One day, when Bimala Prasada was still a child of no more than four years, his father mildly rebuked him for eating a mango not yet duly offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Bimala Prasada, although only a child, considered himself an offender to the Lord and vowed never to eat mangoes again. (This was a vow that he would follow throughout his life.)"
I am 62 years old. I've been a devotee for 4 decades, and I have broken my vows to follow the 4 regulative principles countless times, what to speak of the discipline of properly offering food to Kṛṣṇa. I thought I was somewhat advanced, having read much of Srila Prabhupada's books, but due to the lack of steadiness caused by my indulgence in all manner of sense gratification, it took me decades to vaguely understand what devotional service and renunciation is.
So, who am I compared to this toddler - this 4 year old child, who "considered himself an offender to the Lord and vowed never to eat mangoes again. (This was a vow that he would follow throughout his life.)"?
My only hope is to pray for the mercy of little Bimala Prasada to give me strength, so I can, in some future lifetime, acquire the steadiness to desire only Kṛṣṇa's sense gratification instead of my own, so that I may someday gain entrance into the spiritual world and finally pick mangoes for Kṛṣṇa, not for me.
