The period of Lord Rama's avatar had come to an end. Kali Yuga had come, and it was the time of Lord Krishna. There was a great devotee of Lord Rama, a bear by the name of Jambuvan, who was still alive, living in a cave in the mountains. Lord Krishna set out to meet the devotees of the Lord, and came upon Jambuvan sitting in his cave, with his head bowed in prayer reciting the divine name "Rama Rama!"

When Lord Krishna entered the cave, Jambuvan perceived his shadow, looked up and saw him at the cave entrance. He was a bigot. He had no love for Lord Krishna, and thought of him as a profligate, a magician, a trickster, and so on.
He told Lord Krishna, "Please leave me alone. I have no desire for your company."
Lord Krishna smiled his enchanting smile, and requested Jambuvan to spare him a few moments, but Jambuvan only repeated his demand to be left alone.

Suddenly he heard the beloved voice of Lord Rama saying, "Look at me Jambuvan."
He looked up and saw his beloved Lord, and fell at his feet in adoration.
Again he heard the voice, which said, "Look at me now!"
And there he saw Lord Krishna again. He was disgusted, dismayed, and moved away from the feet of the Lord. Then once again he heard Lord Rama's voice ordering him to look up and see him, and there he stood, resplendent and glorious to behold. As Jambuvan stooped to touch the divine feet of his Lord, the form changed again and behold, there was Lord Krishna once again.

Jambuvan was confused and prayed for clarification.
Then Lord Rama's form appeared for the last time before him and said, "I am the same. I was Rama, and now my form has changed and I am in the form that you detest. Know that the divine is ever the same, thought the name and the form can change at His will. Don't make the serious mistake of differentiating between us because of your bigotry."
Then Jambuvan fell at His feet, begged for His mercy, and prayed for liberation.

Adapted with permission from the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, from Down Memory Lane, Volume Two, 1998, by Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari, and Teachers' Guide for Value-based Spiritual Education. Curriculum for Classes I to X, 2000, Sahaj Marg Research and Training Institute of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Chennai, India. For information contact Santosh Khanjee, Secretary of International Affairs at info@srcm.org.

Q: Why did Jambuvan have a problem accepting Krishna as the divine Lord?

Q: Does prejudice ever stop you from recognizing the divinity in everyone?

Q: A principle of this story is that we cannot judge divinity by outward appearances. In fact, we shouldn't judge anyone by outward appearances. How could this principle change the way you behave towards others?

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.