Conclusion of Teachings to Sanatan Goswami 149

Narada then relieved the half-dead animals and, after getting free from
that dreadful condition, they fled away. By seeing the miracle executed by
Narada, the black hunter was struck with wonder, and after taking him to his
home, he again bowed down at his feet.

Narada returned to his place, and the hunter, after returning to his home,
began to execute the instructions which Narada had given him. In the mean-
time, the news spread among all the villages that the hunter had become a devo-
tee, and therefore the residents of the villages came to see the new Vaishnava.
It is the custom of persons following the Vedic way of life to bring some grains
or some fruits whenever they go to see some saintly person. All the villagers
saw that the hunter now had turned into a great devotee, and they began to
bring eatables. So every day he was offered grains and fruit, so much that no
less than ten to twenty people might eat there. But, according to Narada’s
instruction, he did not accept anything more than what he required to live
on, for both himself and his wife.

After some days had passed, Narada said to his friend Parbut Muni: “I
have a disciple. Let us go and see him, and see if he is doing well.”

When the two great sages, Narada and Parbut, came to the place of the
hunter, and the hunter saw his Spiritual Master coming from the distance,
he began to go to him with great respect. But while he was going to receive
the great sages, there were ants on the field, and it was a hindrance to his pass-
ing. When he reached the sages, he wanted to bow down before them, but
he saw there were many ants and he slowly cleared away the ants with his
cloth. When Narada saw that the hunter was trying to save the lives of the ants
in such a way, it reminded him of a verse from the Skanda Purana. That
verse states: “Is it not wonderful for a devotee of the Lord, that he is not in-
clined to give any sort of pain, even to the ant?”

The purport is that, formerly, the hunter took pleasure by half-killing ani-
mals, but now that he had become 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 house, and he offered them
a sitting place, and brought water and washed their feet, and took water to them
for drinking, and both the husband and wife touched the water on their heads.
After this they began to feel ecstasy, and began to dance, singing Hare Kri-
shna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama
Rama, Hare Hare—raising their hands and dancing with their clothing flying.

When the two great sages saw the ecstasy of love of Godhead in the body
of the hunter, Parbut Muni addressed Narada: “You are a touchstone, and so
by your association even a great hunter has turned into a great devotee.”
