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A cruel hard-hearted murderer turns into a flowerlike

soft-hearted savior
Mrgari the hunter
There is one instance of a hunter who attained salvation and engaged himself
in the devotional service of the Lord simply by associating with the pure
devotee Nrada. Indeed, Lord Caitanya told Santana Gosvm the following
story of the hunter's meeting with Nrada.
Once there was a hunter in the forest of Prayga who was fortunate enough to
meet Nrada Muni when the great sage was returning from Vaikuha after
visiting Lord Nryaa. Nrada came to Prayga to bathe in the confluence of
the Ganges and Yamun. While passing through the forest, Nrada saw a bird
lying on the ground. The bird was half-killed, being pierced by an arrow, and it
was chirping pitifully. Further on, Nrada saw a deer flopping about in agony.
Further, he saw that a boar was also suffering, and, in another place, he saw a
rabbit twitching in pain. All this made him very compassionate, and he began
to think, "Who is the foolish man who has committed such sins?" Devotees of
the Lord are generally compassionate upon the miseries of living entities, and
what to speak of the great sage Nrada? He became very much aggrieved by
this scene, and after proceeding a few steps, he saw the hunter engaged in
hunting with bow and arrows. The hunter's complexion was very dark, and his
eyes were red. It appeared to be dangerous just to see him standing there with
his bow and arrows, looking just like an associate of Yamarja, death. Seeing
him, Nrada Muni entered deeper into the forest to approach him. As Nrada
Muni passed through the forest, all the animals who were caught in the
hunter's traps fled away. The hunter became very angry at this, and he was just
about to call Nrada vile names, but, due to the influence of saintly Nrada, the
hunter could not utter such blasphemies. Rather, with gentle behavior, he
asked Nrada: "My dear sir, why have you come here while I am hunting? Have
you strayed from the general path? Because you have come here, all the
animals in my traps have fled."
"Yes, I am sorry," Nrada replied. "I have come to you to find my own path and
to inquire from you. I have seen that there are many boars, deer and rabbits on
the path. They are lying on the forest floor half-dead and flopping about. Who
has committed these sinful acts?"
"What you have seen is all right," the hunter replied. "It was done by me."
"If you are hunting all these poor animals, why don't you kill them at once?"
Nrada asked. "You half-kill them, and they are suffering in their death pangs.
This is a great sin. If you want to kill an animal, why don't you kill it completely?
Why do you leave it half-killed and allow it to die flopping around?"
"My dear Lord," the hunter replied. "My name is Mgri, enemy of animals. I am
simply following the teachings of my father who taught me to half-kill animals
and leave them flopping about. When a half-dead animals suffers, I take great
pleasure in it."
"I beg one thing from you only," Nrada implored. "Please accept it."
"Oh, yes sir, I shall give you whatever you like," the hunter said. "If you want
some animal skins, come to my house. I have many skins of animals, including
tigers and deer. I shall give you whatever you like."
"I do not want such things," Nrada replied. "However, I do want something
else. If you kindly grant it to me, I shall tell you. Please, henceforth from
tomorrow, whenever you kill an animal, please kill it completely. Don't leave it
half-dead."
"My dear sir, what are you asking of me? What is the difference between halfkilling an animal and killing it completely?"
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"If you half-kill the animals, they suffer great pain," Nrada explained. "And if
you give too much pain to other living entities, you commit great sin. There is a
great offense committed when you kill an animal completely, but the offense is
much greater when you half-kill it. Indeed, the pain which you give half-dead
animals will have to be accepted by you in a future birth."
Although the hunter was very sinful, his heart became softened, and he
became afraid of his sins by virtue of his association with a great devotee like
Nrada. Those who are grossly sinful are not at all afraid of committing sins,
but here we can see that because his purification began in the association of a
great devotee like Nrada, the hunter became afraid of his sinful activities. The
hunter therefore replied: "My dear sir, from my very childhood I have been
taught to kill animals in this way. Please tell me how I can get rid of all the
offenses and sinful activities which I have accumulated. I am surrendering unto
your feet. Please save me from all the reactions of my sinful activities which I
have committed in the past, and please direct me to the proper path so that I
can be free."
"If you actually want to follow my directions, I can tell you the real path by
which you can be freed from sinful reactions."
"I shall follow whatever you say without hesitation," the hunter agreed.
Nrada then told him to first break his bow; only then would he disclose the
path of liberation.
"You are asking me to break my bow," the hunter protested, "but if I break it,
what will be the means of my livelihood?"
"Don't worry about your livelihood," Nrada said. "I shall send you sufficient
grains in order to live.',
The hunter then broke his bow and fell down at the feet of Nrada. Nrada got
him to stand up, and he instructed him: "Just go to your home and distribute
whatever money and valuables you have to the devotees and the brhmaas.
Then just come out and follow me wearing only one cloth. Construct a small
thatched house on the river bank and sow a tulas plant by that house. Just
circumambulate the tulas tree, and every day taste one fallen leaf. Above all,
always chant Hare Ka, Hare Ka, Ka Ka, Hare Hare/Hare Rma,
Hare Rma, Rma Rma, Hare Hare. As far as your livelihood is concerned, I
shall send you grains, but you will only accept as much grain as you require for
yourself and your wife."
Nrada then relieved the half-dead animals, and, getting freed from their
dreadful condition, they fled away. Upon seeing Nrada execute this miracle,
the dark hunter was struck with wonder. After taking Nrada to his home, he
bowed down again at his feet.
Nrada returned to his place, and the hunter, after returning home, began to
execute the instructions Nrada had given him. In the meantime, news spread
amongst all the villages that the hunter had become a devotee. Consequently
the residents of the villages came to see the new Vaiava. It is the Vedic
custom to bring grains and fruits whenever one goes to see a saintly person,
and since all the villagers saw that the hunter had turned into a great devotee,
they brought eatables with them. Thus every day he was offered grains and
fruit, so much so that no less than ten to twenty people could have eaten there.
According to Nrada's instructions, he did not accept anything more than what
he and his wife required for sustenance.
After some days had passed, Nrada told his friend Parvata Muni: "I have a
disciple. Let us go to see him and see if he is doing well."
When the two sages, Nrada and Parvata, went to the hunter's home, the
hunter saw his spiritual master coming from the distance, and he began to
approach him with great respect. On his way to greet the great sages, the
hunter saw that there were ants on the ground before him and that they were
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hindering his passage. When he reached the sages, he tried to bow down
before them, but he saw that there were so many ants that he could not bow
down without crushing them. Thus he slowly cleared away the ants with his
cloth. When Nrada saw that the hunter was trying to save the lives of the ants
in this way, he was reminded of a verse from the Skanda Pura: "Is it not
wonderful that a devotee of the Lord is not inclined to give any sort of pain to
anyone, not even to an ant?"
Although the hunter formerly took great pleasure in half-killing animals, since
he became a great devotee of the Lord, he was not prepared to give pain even
to an ant. The hunter received the two great sages at his home and offered
them a sitting place, brought water, washed their feet, took water to them to
drink, and finally both he and his wife touched the water with their heads. After
this, they began to feel ecstasy and began to dance and sing Hare Ka, Hare
Ka, Ka Ka, Hare Hare/Hare Rma, Hare Rma, Rma Rma, Hare
Hare. They raised their hands and danced with their clothes flying. When the
two great sages saw this ecstasy of love of Godhead manifest in the body of
the hunter, Parvata Muni told Nrada: "You are a touchstone, for by your
association even a great hunter has turned into a great devotee."
There is a verse in the Skanda Pura which states: "My dear Devari [Nrada],
you are glorious, and by your mercy, even the lowest creature, a hunter of
animals, also became elevated to the path of devotion and attained
transcendental attachment for Ka."
At length, Nrada inquired of the hunter-devotee: "Are you getting your
foodstuff regularly?"
"You send so many people," the hunter replied, "and they bring so many
eatables that we cannot begin to eat them."
"That's all right," Nrada replied. "Whatever you are getting is all right. Now
just continue your devotional service in that way."
After Nrada had spoken this, both Nrada and Parvata Muni disappeared from
the hunter's home. Lord Caitanya recited this story in order to show that even a
hunter can engage in the devotional service of Ka by the influence of pure
devotees.
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