[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on July 5th, 1997, in Holland, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 21]
Srila Gurudeva: Once there was a deer. He was grazing the ground. He was ignorant and was very happily grazing green grasses. At once a very big cruel hunter came and he threw some nets on one side of the deer. On the other side, there were very strong and furious dogs ready to attack the deer. On another side, the hunter had started a huge fire. Like this, in a moment the deer was in the midst of all of this. At once the hunter came from the jungle and he was trying to shoot the deer. The deer saw this and became so afraid, “What to do? What to do?” He wanted to jump but he saw that there was a river and a very big current was there. The river was so wide and he could not cross that river. At once he wanted to jump to the other side but saw, “Oh, this large fire is burning. If I jump, I will go in the fire.”
He wanted to jump towards the other side but he saw, “Oh these furious dogs like tigers are there running to catch me. What to do?” On another side, there was a big net. He could not determine what to do. He closed his eyes and began to chant, “Hari Hari Hari. O, Hari save me! O, Hari! O, Krsna save me! There is no one to save me, please save me.” He kept himself far away from all problems and was only chanting and remembering. All of a sudden the storm came. A big cloud appeared in the sky and strong winds started blowing. The wind blew the net away, very far away. There was so much wind which caused the hunter's eyes to become full of dust. So much dust came into the eyes of the hunter and caused him to miss the deer when he shot his arrow. That arrow then went towards the dogs and the dogs were killed. And the fire? It was subsided by the rainfall. Everything was okay.
The deer opened his eyes and he saw that the net had gone far away, the dogs were gone, the hunter was rubbing his eyes, and now everything was okay. That deer quickly ran away from that place and went into the forest. We are all like this. Above us, there is danger - death. On another side - death. Below us - death. We don’t know when an arrow will come and hit us. On another side, a dacoit is coming, very quickly running towards us. Diseases are coming, the net is ready. The world is burning around us, there are so many problems. But if you will chant and remember, “O Krsna, I have taken Your shelter, please give me Your shelter. Save me.” At once, quickly, without delay, Krsna will come and help you and save you forever. So try to do like this.