Do Lotus Flowers Really Blossom out of Muddy Waters?

by Candra das

Do lotus flowers really blossom out of muddy waters? Or, can something pure really emerge out of a contaminated environment? The Vedas illustrate this analogy by citing the emergence of Prahlada Maharaja, a pure soul from birth, with respect to familial association with his first-class demon father Hiranyakasipu. Yet these and many historical facts from the Vedas are being covered, as similarly natural habitats are being covered by the expanding concrete jungles we call urban cities or metropolises.

It is symptomatic of Kali-yuga that wetlands and marshes are being destroyed due to economic development. The many wonders of nature are fast becoming storybook tales told by a generation that grew up witnessing these specialties of nature; those of us who still have access to the wonders of natur are the few links to these past truths that are quickly becoming fiction for the nonbelievers.

Now I bear witness to this phenomenon through the newly found devotion of an inmate who has recently been released from our maximum security housing. His past--tainted, tarnished, and sullied--reflects the nature of his conditioning, his demoniac disposition, but everyone in Kali-yuga competes for this dubious position. However, due to Lord Caitanya’s mercy, he has been attending our weekly program and relishing it.

Restricted due to substantial monetary fines, this inmate lacks resources to purchase books, beads, or other paraphernalia for sustaining an inspiring bhakta, yet somehow or other he maintains his enthusiasm and keeps coming back. During our first program for the month of Janurary, this inmate expressed his frustration at not being able to contribute to IPM by purchasing the previously mentioned items. I suggested that he could instead contribute something produced of his own hands. He responded that he could do art work. I responded that Krishna would be pleased with any effort.

The following week, that inmate made the most beautiful rose from rice paper and some jewelry. I was reminded of Krishna’s dialog with Uddhava: “If a human being is engaged in sinful, irreligious activities, either because of bad association or because of his failure to control his senses, then such a person will certainly develop a personality full of material desires.” Certainly this inmate had had an endless amount of bad association, yet somehow or other he was given the mercy to catapult beyond the atonement required of a sinful person and directly engage in bhakti. Is this not the remedy for both inauspicious and auspicious activities?

Therefore I am glad to be a witness to how the timeless sastra continues to sprout lotus flowers out of the abysmal environment called "prison within the prison." It again validates that Lord Caitanya’s mercy is for everyone. I am ever encouraged and enlightened by what I witness emerging from this discarded group. Moreover, I am blessed and privileged because this sinner, myself, is receiving Lord Caitanya’s mercy vicariously through the wonderful display of bhakti of those who are presumably so fallen.     

Your most fallen servant,
Candra das