KRISHNA MAST

 
In North India there was a certain railroad train guard, an important position involving responsibility for the whole train, who was most conscientious in his duties. He was also a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and whenever possible, he would attend evening programs of devotional music in praise of Lord Krishna.

One night while attending such a program, he lost himself completely in repeating Krishna's name and in singing His glory. He forgot everything except his joy in praising his Lord. At dawn the program ended and he came to with a shock. In his rapture he had totally forgotten the time and he was supposed to have reported to the station for duty at two A.M. and now he was hours late.

He rushed to the station in great anxiety. The train might have been a minute or two late, but he knew since he was hours late that he would have missed the train. This was the most serious breach of duty, and he was sure he would lose his job because of it.

When he reached the station he rushed straight for the stationmaster to explain and apologize. But before he could say a word, the stationmaster, seeing him rush in, exclaimed, "What's happened? Where is the train?"

The guard began to apologize for missing the train, and the stationmaster interrupted him and insisted, "Has there been an accident? What's happened?"

"I don't know," the guard replied.

"I missed the train."

"What do you mean, missed the train? Where did you miss it?"

"Here. I didn't get here in time last night to leave with the train," the guard explained.

"You took the train out last night. Now what's happened? Has there been an accident that you're back again so soon?"

"But I never left," the guard insisted. "I'm only arriving just now for duty."

"What nonsense!" the stationmaster exclaimed, "We had tea together last night before you left. Look, look in the duty book if you don't believe me. You signed your name when you took charge of the train!" The stationmaster called a clerk, who brought the duty book, and sure enough, there was the man's signature. The clerk also testified that he had served them both tea last night. Then others came in who also swore that they had seen the guard when he came in and took the train.

Suddenly the guard realized what must have happened. He knew that he had been at the bhajan program. Therefore it could only have been the Lord Himself who had come in his place, had tea, signed the duty book, and taken charge of the train. While he was singing the praises of the Lord, the Lord had come to attend to his duty for him.

This realization made the man a mast, and he resigned on the spot and spent the rest of his life restlessly roaming from place to place, remembering his beloved Lord, Krishna, glorifying Him, and writing His name, "Krishna, Krishna," wherever he went.

Well, during our travels we came to hear of this mast who was known by the name of Krishna Mast, and Baba expressed the desire to contact him. Baba traveled all the way from Ahmednagar to northern India to see him. Krishna Mast was found most often in a small town in Nahan State, and for several days we scoured the areas looking for him. But he was so restless that he never stayed long in any one spot. We would hear that he was somewhere, but by the time we got there, he would have left for someplace else.

For two days we trailed him, just missing him time and time again. Baba became more and more anxious to contact the mast, and, meanwhile, the mast was spending all of his time searching for his Beloved Krishna. We could always tell where the mast had been, because we would see "Krishna, Krishna" written on the walls of the buildings of any street we had passed by.

We spent the night at a rest house and we were going to go out the next morning is search of Krishna Mast once again when, early in the morning, just as we were getting up, from afar we could hear the distant chant, "Krishna, Krishna, Krishna."

Baba was quickly out the gate and into the street, and then we saw him, Krishna Mast, at last, walking down the street toward us. He caught sight of Baba and instantly started running towards Baba even as Baba quickly ran toward the mast. They rushed together and embraced.

It was a sight for the Gods to see! — the lover and Beloved locked in a seemingly inseparable embrace. So intense was their meeting that they fell down and rolled together on the road, locked in each other's arms. I will never forget that demonstration of Real Love. Such is the love of the Lord for His lover, and such, when the longing is intense and sincere, is how the lover gets drawn to his Beloved.

That is the story of Krishna Mast, who lost all consciousness of the world in search for his Lord and eventually found Him. Baba used to call the masts His beloved children, and we could see why. Their love for Him was so great, so pure, so touching, and Baba's love for His children was even greater.

That is how it is. The Divine Beloved comes for us, wanting us to love Him, longing for our love. And when He creates love in us, we then long for and search for Him. And when our love reaches a certain intensity, He comes in person, searching for His lovers to receive His love. It is all the interplay of love.