Stories That Will Change Your Life

Monk in a Lamborghini

This is not a story, but an incident happened with His Grace Gaur Gopal das, he's a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, who is the author of two books, The Journey Home, an international bestseller; The Journey Within, a NYT bestseller.

If you are not aware of who Gaur Gopal das is, then I must say, go to YouTube and search his name, you'll get plenty of seminars delivered by him. His lectures have millions of views, and famous for its blend of humor into spirituality, so that anyone can digest life-transforming messages. And believe me, he's such an exceptional speaker that even a gross materialist, atheist, agnostic, and so on, await for his new lecture to come. So here's the story. Basically, this story is his self-realization.

Gaur Gopal das was in his Brahmachari ashram in Iskcon Chowpatty, Mumbai. He has a reputation of being friends with influential personalities. So one of his friends (whose name he kept secret, but let's call him Mr. B) phoned him, asking: "Would you mind doing pagala on my newly purchased Lamborghini?"

At first Gaur Gopal became confused, what Mr. B even meant by that? Because according to Hindi language pagala means "mentally retarded." His friend told him, it's a Gujarati ritual, pagala is a ceremony of touching one's leg on a particular stuff you purchased. Basically, it's a process to get blessings from holy people, still in India this tradition is reverently followed.

Well-known for his humorous nature, Gaur Gopal said, "Of course, why not? After all, when a monk gets a chance to have pagala on a Lamborghini."

Mr. B came to receive him on the temple premises in his sleek, yellow Lamborghini. He asked Gaur Gopal for a ride. Both of them went on a ride, which was planned for fifteen minutes.

Gaur Gopal was sitting on the passenger and Mr. B was driving the car. Of course, everyone was drooling over Mr. B's car. To see a sleek, yellow Lamborghini is a rare sight on the streets of Mumbai.

After a while, they stopped at a traffic signal. Then came a man in a dilapidated car. His eyes went big when he saw a Lamborghini standing by his side. And his eyes went even bigger when he saw Gaur Gopal sitting on the passenger seat.

A monk in a Lamborghini!?

Gaur Gopal understood things would go really crazy if he didn't tell this man, whose car is this. Because he could see the look on that man's face "a monk in a Lamborghini." Gaur Gopal burst out, "Hey man, look, it's not my car."—he pointed his thumb at Mr. B—"It's his car."

Gaur Gopal heaved a sign of relief, because nowadays spiritual gurus have a bad impression on the mind of most of the Indians. People have developed a tendency to generalize all spiritual leaders as fake. And this was something that Gaur Gopal didn't want to happen.

The fifteen minutes ride turned into thirty-five minutes. Gaur Gopal said to his friend, "I have a meeting to attend, can you drive me back to the temple?"

What Mr. B did next give a shock of life to Gaur Gopal. The owner of the Lamborghini, started crying like a child. Now this took quite a time for Gaur Gopal to understand what happened to his friend all of a sudden. He told Mr. B to park the car and talk on the reason for his distress. He gave a tissue paper and a bottle of water to Mr. B, pacifying him.

Mr. B said with a voice cracking every now and then, "Just three days back my wife filed papers for divorce. I really love her. My children love her. I'm trying my best to sort out our problem, but I really don't understand why she wants to leave us?"

Gaur Gopal was stunned with that bad news. Somehow or other he consoled Mr. B.

A little later, he was contemplating on this incident that had happened to his friend. People say, happiness is directly proportionate to what you have in your life. But a sleek, yellow Lamborghini couldn't wipe Mr. B's tears, that posh Lamborghini couldn't bring him any hope, that car couldn't uplift his spirits.

So he concluded that if someone wants to know how rich one is, then count on things that money can't buy. Some people are so poor, so poor, so absolutely poor that all they have is money.

Sometimes people say, it's better to cry in a BMW, instead of a bicycle. But here we have a real life example of Mr. B. His Lamborghini couldn't help him with anything.

It's not that things should not be purchased. But have things with values, don't equate your happiness with things you possess. Because simply having things won't add quality to your life.

Gaur Gopal das often say, if you want to know how rich you are, drop a tear, and see how many hands come forth to wipe it. That's how wealthy you are.