Vaishnava Kathamrita

A king used to maintain a group of monkeys to entertain his sons. The monkeys were fed with sumptuous delicacies everyday. There was also a herd of sheep in the king’s palace and the little princes used to ride them for fun. Some sheep were fond of stealing food from the palace kitchen, and the cooks in the kitchen quite often would be forced to beat the sheep to inhibit this mischievous behavior. The monkey leader thought that the sheep's behavior and the cooks reaction to that behavior may in the long run result in disaster for the monkeys. He thought: “ The sheep are extremely gluttonous and the cooks, on the other hand, are intent on beating them with whatever they find at hand. If the cooks at any time hit a sheep with a burning stick from the fire, the wooly body of the sheep would surely start burning. If a sheep, burning and in a frenzy, starts running around and by chance enters into the nearby horse stable, the hay inside first will catch on fire and in no time th...

Many years ago, there lived a South Indian Brahmin. He is Bilavamangala ; he born in a rich & respectable family. By the will of providence he attracted to a prostitute; her name is Chintamani . He was so captivated by her beauty that even when the priests were performing his father's death ceremony, he was so impatient that he left crematorium in between just to see her. Bilva to priests “ I have to go, can't you hurry up, I have to go, how much longer is this going to take ”. He desperately wanted to be with Chintamani. He could think of nothing else. As soon as he could, he left the funeral ceremony & set off to meet his beloved Chintamani. That evening there was a terrible storm raging but that didn't stop him. When he got to the river it was a raging torrent but without a thought for his own safety he dived into the river & swum across to the other side. Chintamani thought “ Oh! it's such a terrible night, I don't think Bilva will come, not in ...

Gopal, Lover of Cows Story: Once, in one of the forests of Vrindavan, a cow named Bahula was peacefully grazing when a tiger attacked her. Bahula requested the tiger to allow her to return to her newly born calf, feed it, and bid it farewell before it made a meal of her. After a long discussion, the tiger agreed to her proposal and waited for her return. In the meantime, the cow went to her master, a brahmana, and to her calf and told them what had happened. When they heard her pitiful story, they volunteered to go in her place as the tiger’s meal. Brahmana said - " My dear Bahula, you please stay here and take care of the calf. I am an old man, I will go in your place to be the meal of Tiger ".  The calf said - " My dear mother,  I am just born a few days ago, there won't be much loss whether I die or alive. Please let me go ". Bahula declined their selfless offer, but in the end, all three – cow, calf, and brahmana – returned to offer themselves...

Story from Brahma-vaivarta Purana: Once there lived a poor brahmana in the city of Pratishthanapura in South India. He was a very sincere devotee of Lord Narayana and was satisfied with whatever the Lord had given Him. Knowing well that his present material condition is due to his past deeds, he is always peaceful and grateful to the Lord. He was very open-hearted and used to hear the glories of the Lord from realized souls. At one such meeting, while he was very faithfully hearing about Vaishnava activities, he was informed that these activities can be performed even by meditation. As part of his daily routine, he used to take bath in river Godavari. After taking bath he would sit in a secluded place on the bank of the river and then started meditating on the Lord in his mind. When he had fixed the form of the Lord in his mind, he began to imagine in his meditations that he was dressing the Lord very nicely in costly clothing, with ornaments, helmets and other ...

Once a man was chased by a rogue elephant in a forest. Seeing no respite, he climbed a tree to save himself but unfortunately slipped off. Before hitting the ground he could hold on to one of the lowest branches of the tree. He looked around and found that the elephant is lingering just nearby waiting to crush him with its mighty mountain like legs. He then looked above, there were two rats, one black and another white, were slowly nibbling the branch he was hanging on to. As the man looked down, he discovered that there were many venomous snakes awaiting to suck his life out. He understood that very soon the branch would fall to the ground and his life came to an end.  Suddenly a drop of honey fell on his face. He pulled his tongue out and licked it. Tasty! There was a honeycomb between the two branches he was holding. Due to disturbance caused by his holding and shaking the branch, bees were out to bite him. But at the same time honey was also oozing from the comb. He jus...