1. Big belly, but cannot jump like Hanumanji

    “Big, big monkey, big, big belly–Ceylon jumping, melancholy.” With big belly a monkey comes forward, and if you ask him, “Jump over like Hanumanji,” finished, belly finished. These are Bengali words. Baro baro badare baro baro pet lanka dingake mata kare het. “I cannot do it.” And why you have got so much belly? So this is not good.

    Srila Prabhupada — August 26, 1975, Vrndavana

    From Vrndavan Vyasa-puja offering 1998:

    Twice in Vrndavana you quoted a little poem to the devotees:

    Big monkey,
    Big, big belly;
    Lanka jumping,
    Melancholy.

    The first incident was just after you opened the temple in April 1975 and then left Vrndavana for three months of preaching. A huge amount of work remained to complete the project. The devotees struggled throughout the summer months to prepare the temple, guesthouse, and your house for your return in August. On your arrival, the temple managers proudly showed you all the improvements. On your first morning walk they gave you a tour of the grounds and temple building. A Life Member preaching room had been established at the entrance of the temple, with book displays, etc. It was very attractive, and as you entered the room the devotees expected your appreciation of their efforts. You looked around and saw what everyone else failed to notice. You pointed to some scattered twigs and broken pigeon eggs on the floor. Above, pigeons were nesting on a ledge in the room and had created a mess on the floor during the night. The devotees were speechless and hung their heads in disappointment. You then said, Feed a monkey a lot of chapatis, he gets a big belly. Ask him to jump over the wall, and he just puts his head down. Their reaction of despair elicited from you this Vrndavana monkey story to bring them out of their state of inertia. Then again you quoted this poem when you were describing the babajis of Vrndavana who collect a lot of chapatis throughout the day by begging. But when they are asked to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu — no, that they cannot do.