GITA : - Glorification of Chapter Fourteen

After narrating the glories of thirteenth chapter Lord Shiva then asked Parvati to listen attentively to his narration of the glories of the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

Once a king named Vikrama-vetala went to the forest to hunt, with his son and two dogs. Upon reaching the forest, they released a dog to chase a rabbit, which of course ran quickly away. After some time the dog and rabbit reached a beautiful hermitage. There the deer were sitting happily under the shade of trees, monkeys were eating the fruits of those trees, cubs of tigers were playing with baby elephants, and the snakes were crawling over the peacocks.

At the hermitage dwelled a great sage named Vatsa, who worshiped Lord Krishna by reciting the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. On this particular day, a disciple of the sage was washing his own feet, while he himself chanted the fourteenth chapter, and the water was moistening the earth. Suddenly the rabbit and dog appeared. Running fast, they both slipped in the mud, gave up their animal bodies, and attained heavenly bodies. An airplane then descended to take them to the heavenly worlds.

Seeing these amusing events, King Vikrama-vetala and the disciple laughed, and the king inquired from the disciple how the rabbit and the dog had gone to heaven before their very eyes. The disciple replied, “In this hermitage lives the great sage Vatsa, who has completely conquered his senses and is always chanting the fourteenth, chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

I am his disciple, and I was also reciting the fourteenth chapter. Because the rabbit and dog slipped on the water that had washed my feet, they both attained the higher planets.

“Now I will tell you why I laughed. Once a brahmana named Keshava and his wife, Vilobhana, lived in the town of Pratyudaka. She was a loose woman, and he was a cruel man. He murdered her because she kept company with other men. Therefore she became that dog in her next life and he became that rabbit.”

Thereafter, Lord Shiva said, King Vikrama-vetala also began reciting the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita daily. When he finally gave up his body, he went to Vaikuntha, where he eternally serves the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu.

Sources:ISKCON