Brother Krishna, wake up!
Long long ago, in the medieval times, in the kingdom of Puri in Kalinga, there lived a humorous poet by the name Chintamani. His father Mukund was a very talented stone carver and a great devotee of Lord Sri Krishna. He once engraved a splendid statue of Sri Krishna out of a large rock. He called his son Chintamani to show him the statue. Chintamani was completely spellbound by the magnificence of the statue. He asked, " Father, where should we position Sri Krishna?". "We will construct a temple for the Lord", pronounced his father and exhausted all his riches in constructing the temple. The man was so feeble and old that this extensive campaign made him sick and poverty-stricken. While he was breathing his last and his great campaign was still unfinished, he called his son and said to him, "I started making Krishna's statue much before you were born. He is your elder brother and I want you to build his temple even when I am not there. This will bring peace to my soul."
Now that old Mukund was no more, Chintamani was in a fix as there was no money left with him to execute his father's last rituals, completing his unfinished work was a far far cry . He had the idea that only the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri was capable of helping him. But he had no idea how to approach him. He had no idea how to convince the Gajapati to help him do the last last rituals of his father and finish the great effort that was initiated by him. It was high noon and the doorways of the temple were shut. Chintamani, on the spur of the moment, realized that it was the time when the Gajapati usually passed by that direction. He rushed up to the temple and started banging on the doors. "Brother Krishna, wake up! Brother Krishna come alive!"
The Gajapati's palanquin arrived that way. He was taken aback at the view of a man banging on the doors of the temple. He called for one of the palanquin carriers and asked him to go and check out who the man was. As the Gajapati held back in his palanquin, the carrier went up to Chintamani. "Gajapati Maharaja!", Chintamani shouted out and muttered something to the palanquin carrier. He then accompanied the palanquin carrier who prefaced him to the Gajapati, "Maharaj, this is Chintamani, son of Mukund who carved out the great statue of Lord Sri Krishna".
The Gajapati said, "What were you trying to do at the temple doorways, young man? Have you gone completely out of your mind?" Chintamani bent low before him and said: "Krishna is my elder brother. My deceased father created him even before I was born. Being the elder son, is it not his responsibility to execute his last rituals? But see, he does not wake up! I was just trying to bring him alive!"
The Gajapati brought out a sack of gold coins. "Your brother Krishna will not wake up now. Here, take this gold, and perform the last rites of your father without any delay. Also, finish the construction of the temple that was started by him and come to my court once the job is done. I would have relished your wit to a great extent if it had not been on such a sad and gloomy moment".
In this way, by the grace of Lord Sri Krishna, poor Chintamani not only performed the last rituals of his father and finished the great endeavor started by him but also found an esteemed position in the court of the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri.
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