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Māyā is doing a necessary sevā
to purify jīvas, to elevate them,
to bring them into a higher position, actually.
That’s what this is all meant for.
[By Fire Shall Hearts Be Proven]
Well, that it’s a service, the house of correction.
What’s the word? Like judicial system, but …
penitentiary … I mean, these are English words.
What is it called? Criminal justice system …
can’t think of the precise word right now.
It’s not meant really to punish … oh, I know where I’m going …
punish, as much as to rehabilitate.
That’s the word they use.
Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākur says just as
to purify gold, you burn it, put it in fire.
I’ve seen this in Bengal, going to the goldsmith.
Just like Goldsmith is a name in Europe,
in India so often the gold shops would have names like Lucky Narayan Babhu.
Lucky is the Bengali extrapolation of Lakṣmī—
from Lakṣmī, to Lakmi, to Lucky.
And still, girls refer to ladies as Lakṣmī, Lucky. Lucky.
So you give them the gold
and they take out a lamp and a flame,
and they burn the gold.
“Stop!!”
They just immerse it in the flame,
and the piece of gold you gave them
becomes covered in black soot.
It’s not looking very golden at that point,
it’s just covered in this black soot,
but then you wipe it away and there’s the pure gold.
So, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur says,
“If the suffering— so-called suffering—
inflicted upon the jivās— the conditioned souls—by Māyā Devī
is like that flame, and they’re temporarily covered in soot
but ultimately they achieve the golden position
—pure gold, pure cognition;
jyotiḥ priti-tanum hiraṇya-puruṣaṁ—
then is it an objectionable thing?”
So this suffering brings about their liberation, ultimately.
And as I’ve mentioned, when I lived next to
the fire chief’s residence in San Francisco,
there’s a plaque outside—you know, brass shiny brass plaque—that said,
BY FIRE SHALL HEARTS BE PROVEN, LEST VIRTUE'S GOLD GROW DIM.
So the case is being made there
that you need the fire.