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Arjuna´s Pride
Swami Satyamitrananda Giri
Once Arjuna was overcome with pride, “Who is stronger than me in all the world? Great Krishna drives my chariot, there’s none to match me.”

Krishna said to himself, “I drive his chariot out of compassion and this fool thinks I am serving him because he is great. Let me teach him a lesson.”

One day Krishna drove Arjuna all around and finally took him to a forest. “I am tired, let me sit here and have some rest. You go ahead and walk around the forest. Several great ascetics have made this forest their abode. Why don’t you go and pay your obeisance to some holy man?” Krishna counseled.

Having dispatched Arjuna, Krishna sat by a stream, dropped his feet into the cold water and started playing his flute.
Arjuna walked for a bit. He came across a cave. A great ascetic lived in it. Dry leaves from the trees nearby were piled next to him.

“Maharaj, where do you have your meals?” asked Arjuna.
“I sustain myself on these dry leaves,” the ascetic replied.
“Why don’t you eat green leaves?”
“Because they have life. And I live on leaves which drop on their own. And I drink water from this stream.”

Arjuna suddenly noticed three swords lying in the cave. What purpose could such sharp swords serve in an ascetic’s cave? Arjuna could not resist asking.
“If you don’t mind, may I know why must you have these weapons in your possession?”
The ascetic smiled and said, “I am extremely angry with three people. I want to finish them. First is Draupadi. If ever I meet her, I’ll cut her to pieces. She had the audacity to summon Lord Krishna barefoot all the way from Dwaraka. Second is Prahlad, if I see him I am sure to chop his head off. How dare he make the Lord manifest out of a scorching pillar?”
“And the third?” Arjuna asked with great curiosity.
“That impudent Arjuna! I have reserved the third sword for him. If I bump into him, consider him dead! He is so shameless and conceited that he gets Krishna, my Kanhaiya, to drive his chariot.
Arjuna promptly bowed down, placed his head on the ascetic’s feet and rushed back to see Krishna.
As soon as he saw the Lord, he fell at His feet and offered his obeisance. Krishna was a little surprised at this sudden display of devotion.
“Arjuna, what’s the matter? I hope everything is fine?”
“Everything is your Divine Sport, my Lord...You know it better!” said he.

Excerpt from HUNDREDS OF SHELLS from The Spiritual Sands of SWAMI SATYAMITRANANDA GIRI compiled by Raj Supe (Kinkar Vishwashreyananda)