Chintamani, the dancing girl advised Vilvamangal, who was later known as Surdas:
"O Vilvamangal! You are mad after this nasty body of mine full of all sorts of impurities. This is the day o your father's death. You have come to me at dead of night by crossing the river. Your whole body is stinking now. You have crossed the river by taking hold of a female corpse. The dead body that was floating in the river would have attracted several young men an hour ago when there was a little gloss in the skin and a little puffing in the cheeks. It is all flesh, bone and fat. Had you directed your mind Godwards - the fountain source of this beauty, the beauty of beauties, the embodiment of undecaying beauty - You would have become a great saint and attained everlasting peace and bliss. What a fool you are!"
This chiding and admonition opened the eyes of Vilvamangal. The illusion set up by ignorance immediately vanished. He directed his mind towards Sri Krishna and later became a great saint 'Surdas'.
If you always remember the dead body of a woman, her skeleton, and the parts it is composed of blood, flesh, bone, ... - if you place before your mind the image of an old woman with wrinkled skin and rotten teeth or the image of a sickly woman who has mere skin and bone with a ghastly look; you would never run behind them. you can also become a great Saint.
"O Vilvamangal! You are mad after this nasty body of mine full of all sorts of impurities. This is the day o your father's death. You have come to me at dead of night by crossing the river. Your whole body is stinking now. You have crossed the river by taking hold of a female corpse. The dead body that was floating in the river would have attracted several young men an hour ago when there was a little gloss in the skin and a little puffing in the cheeks. It is all flesh, bone and fat. Had you directed your mind Godwards - the fountain source of this beauty, the beauty of beauties, the embodiment of undecaying beauty - You would have become a great saint and attained everlasting peace and bliss. What a fool you are!"
This chiding and admonition opened the eyes of Vilvamangal. The illusion set up by ignorance immediately vanished. He directed his mind towards Sri Krishna and later became a great saint 'Surdas'.
If you always remember the dead body of a woman, her skeleton, and the parts it is composed of blood, flesh, bone, ... - if you place before your mind the image of an old woman with wrinkled skin and rotten teeth or the image of a sickly woman who has mere skin and bone with a ghastly look; you would never run behind them. you can also become a great Saint.