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DISCOURSE 4
words, my wife said, “You may remain in Vaikunta with all your heart. To you Vaikunta and our house are equal, My desire is that you may go to Vaikunta after our son has got some children. If you go to Vaikunta now, probably, there a desire will arise in you to know whether your son has got children or not. That won't be good. You can stay here for a year".
Naradji fell into a state of deep reflection after hearing the words of the Seth and said, “Then, what have you decided ?”
The Seth said, "O great sage, I felt it was not proper to frustrate and dissappoint my wife with whom I have spent my life and to go to Vaikunta. Yes. Surely, I have no attachments. For the sake of my wife and her desires, I will remain here for a year. Then, nobody would be unhappy. Kindly come here after a year, I will never forget your benevolence."
Naradji remembered the words of God. God had said, “That Seth will not come to Vaikunta". Yet, Naradji had decided to make an attempt because it had become a question of prestige for him. Naradji had said that what God had said was not true and had vowed to bring the Seth to Vaikunta. When it is a question of safeguarding one's prestige, one puts forth all his efforts to solve that problem. "If I do not bring the Seth to Vaikunta, I would become a laughing-stock, in the eyes of God, and I would lose my prestige and self-respect.” Of course, it is natural for any person to go to Vaikunta himself but it is very difficult to take some other person to Vaikunta.
Naradji was really caught in a tangle. He had been misled by appearances. The Seth was outwardly a devotee but at his heart he was deeply attached to worldly life. Naradji was deceived by seeing his external appearance and pretentions which he considered to be true and genuine and so he was caught in a tangle. In this world, the man who is caught in the snares of appearance is caught in the external shows and pretensions. Of course, in this world most people are ensnared thus by appearance on account of their own selfishness or avarice. Naradji had no such selfish motive. His purpose was absolutely impersonal and lofty. He had the lofty objective of enabling
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