Question answered after a discussion on the Life of Christ at The Aum Centre in San Juan on November 8, 1969

Question: Master, what caused Christ to curse the fig tree that failed to produce fruit for Christ and His disciples?

Sri Chinmoy: My own feeling is that the fig tree was not aspiring, so Christ wanted to give it a new life by showing his outer and utter displeasure.

An analogous situation was when Krishna and Arjuna were drinking milk provided by a very loving devotee of Krishna's. She was a very poor, old widow, and owned nothing but one cow, from which she earned her livelihood. While Krishna and Arjuna were drinking their milk, Krishna said, "May this cow die now!" Arjuna was shocked. He said, "Krishna, why do you want the cow to die? The cow is all she has."

Krishna replied, "At present, her whole life is the cow and the milk, the milk and the cow. If the cow dies, she will have nothing whatever, and then she will come to me fully. Then I will receive her and spiritually give her everything."