The Exploding Frog

The Exploding Frog

There was once a frog that lived in a pond. One day, her son happened to see an elephant near a tank. The baby frog returned to its mother and enthusiastically told her, “Mother, today I saw a huge animal!”
The mother frog asked, “Really! How big was the animal?”
The baby frog replied, “Oh, it was much bigger than you are.”
The frog puffed up her body and asked, “This much bigger?”
The baby replied, “Oh no, much bigger.”
The mother puffed up her body more and asked again, “This much bigger?”
Her child replied, “No, no mother, much bigger than that.”
In this way, the mother frog gradually puffed up her body more and more and each time the baby frog would continue to tell her, “Much bigger, much bigger.”
Finally, while trying to puff up her body beyond the limit, the frog’s belly exploded with a big bang.

Purport

The insignificant living entities who consider themselves as ‘para brahma’(para =supreme, brahma = absolute being), or as if nothing is equal to or greater than themselves. This is in spite of the fact that they’re simply misconceived insignificant entities, constitutionally engaged in devotional service. They take a fancy to being equal in perfection with a liberated soul. They are usually destroyed like a puffed up frog due to their false ego.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said: jnani jivanmukta dasa painu kari mane /
vastutah buddhi suddha nahe krsna bhakti vin-e //
mayadhisa mayavasa, isvarejive bhed /
henajive isvara sah kaha -ta’ abhed //
prabhu kahe visnu visnu iha na kahiva/
jivahame ‘krsna’ j-nan kobhu na korivaI/
sannyasi — cit k-anajiva, kirana k-ana s-ama/
sadoisvaryapuna krsna hoy suyopama//
jiva, isvara ta-ttva k-obhu nahe ‘sama’/
j va2adagnirasi j aiche sphu2ingera ‘kana’//
j ei mudha kahe, jiv-a isvara hoy ‘sama’/
sei ta’ ‘pasandi’ hoy, dande tare yama //

“There are many philosophical speculators ( jnanis) belonging to the Mayavada school who consider themselves liberated and call themselves Narayana. However
their intelligence is not purified unless they engage in Krisna’s devotional service.”
(Caitanya car-itamrta — Madhya Lila 20.29)
“The Lord is the master of the potencies, and the living entity is the servant of them. That is the difference between the Lord and the living entity. However, you
declare that the Lord and the living entities are one and the same.” (Cc — Madhya Lila 6.162)

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu immediately exclaimed, “Visnu! Visnu! Do not call me
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A jiva cannot become Krisna at any time. Do not even say such a thing!”
“A sannyasi in the renounced order is certainly part and parcel of the complete whole, just as a shining molecular particle of sunshine is part and parcel of the sun itself. Krisna is like the sun, full of six opulences, but the living entity is only a fragment of the complete whole.”
“A living entity and the Absolute Personality of Godhead are never to be considered equal, just as a fragmental spark can never be considered the original
flame.” ( Cc — Madhya Lila 18.111-113)
“A foolish person who says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the same as the living entity is an atheist, and he becomes subject to punishment by the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.” (Cc — Madhya Lila 18.115)

N.B.
By narrating this fable of the exploding frog, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada used to instruct that it is better to be a good man than to be a big one. “I am Brahaman,” “I am siddha,” “I am Vaisna,” “I am pandita,” “I am self-realized.”

 This sort of false ego is the root cause of the fallen entities’ bondage. One who is enlightened with pure devotion for Sri Hari, never conceives himself to be the lord of this material nature, or the enjoyer of this material world, as a great worker, a great preacher, and the like. Such a person should realize himself to be as insignificant as eternal dust particles under the feet of his spiritual master and of all the Vaisnavas. He possesses a very candid humility all the time in his heart. A living entity can never be para brahma—just as Ravana can never be Lord Sri Ramachandra.