GITA - Glorification of Chapter One

Susharma, although born in a brahmana family, was a sinful, wicked man devoid of piety. He particularly enjoyed hurting others. For his livelihood he sold leaves he had collected and sewn together to make plates and cups. One day Susharma entered the garden of a sage to collect leaves, and a snake slithered in and killed him. Because of all his sins, he was cast into many hells and suffered a longtime.

Afterward, he received the body of a bull. As a bull, he was purchased by a crippled man and for many years had to carry heavy loads. One day the bull, his back piled with such an extremely heavy load, fell unconscious. Bystanders felt sorry for the bull and bestowed upon it some results of their pious acts. One person there, a prostitute, doubted she had ever performed pious acts, but upon learning that everyone was offering pious credits to the bull, she also offered whatever results of pious activities, she might have had.

After the bull died and entered the abode of Yamaraja, the god of death, Yamaraja, informed him, “Now you are freed from the reactions to all your previous sinful deeds because a prostitute gave you her pious credits.”

In his next life Susharma again took birth as an elevated brahmana, but this time he could remember his past lives. He decided to find the prostitute who had caused his liberation from hell. When he found her, he asked her what pious acts she had performed. The prostitute replied that her pet parrot had daily recited verses that had completely purified her heart.

Thereafter the parrot told them about the recitation. In a previous life the parrot had been a proud and envious yet learned brahmana who had insulted other learned persons. He had now, therefore, received the body of a parrot.

But as a parrot he had often heard certain sages reciting the first chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, and he had also begun reciting it. So he had become purified. After being sold to the prostitute, the parrot continued his recitations and thus earned the prostitute pious credits. Susharma eventually became completely pure, and within a short time he attained Vaikuntha, the supreme destination.

source : folknet