HH KKS: We must become the personal servant of our spiritual master. Not serve the way we want to serve. “I want to do this and this can you please bless it?”
“Bless, bless all right,” but that is cheap. It is cheap there will be
blessings but greater blessing will be attained when we are becoming
attentive, attentive to the need, the need of our master. Whatever he
requires! So that is a very difficult position to take for one who is proud
because pride means a personal agenda, pride means we want things for
ourselves. Such a servant who is a personal attendant can have no claim for
himself, no claim. Simply a few leftovers on the side may be just for the
minimal maintenance but nothing beyond.
It was on that footing that Srila Prabhupada started this movement. This
movement started by his inspiration as a very powerful, as a very
transcendental preaching movement with not much consideration for personal
needs. They were kept quite minimal and preaching was really the main
meditation. Thus Prabhupada didn’t make much distinction between those in
more renounced orders of life like brahmacarya and so on and grhastha …it is
almost the same.
Now it doesn’t look so much almost the same anymore. Now it looks more
different because we came down…. May be. I mean I shouldn’t speak so strong.
May be we came down because in Prabhupada’s presence we were uplifted to do
things that were beyond one’s limitations, beyond one’s personal
limitations. Somehow or other devotees in his presence did things they could
not have done alone. Inspired to live on the level of sacrifice, which
didn’t come gradual.
Vedic culture is the gradual culture. It is the culture of dharma. Dharma
means prescribed religious duties. It has everything to do with training and
one is trained again and again. “This is your prescribed duty.” It is
drilled within people. “This is your prescribed duty, act according to your
prescribed duty. Don’t follow your impulse.” Prescribed duty, prescribed
duty, prescribed duty. And then gradually increase the surrender.
But this movement is completely different. This movement is the movement,
which immediately asks for surrender. It is not gradual ….it is a huge change.
For me, it is said in Bhagavad-gita that night turns into day, and that was
exactly my experience because I use to go to bed at 4 am and then I had to
get up at 4am!!! So it was a huge change from one day to the next and you can
fill in the rest of the blank as to the other differences that were there
between my life before and my current life or the life in devotional
service.
So bottom line is that such a change we cannot make on the strength of
dharma because we don’t have a history of dharma, we don’t have a training
of dharma. Therefore it is very difficult for us to be dharmic. We are weak
when it comes to dharma. We need that the strength ……..must come from
inspiration. The strength must come from taste. Therefore especially in the
sankirtan movement our strength is not so much dharma, our strength is
higher taste.
We must look for it everywhere; we can’t wait for it to come. We must find
it. Those who are eager to serve they have the secret. Service attitude!
That is the key. That is actually what makes the difference between
struggling in spiritual life and sort of beginning to taste an inspiration.
Service attitude! That’s where somehow or other we go through the barrier.
So we pray to Krishna.
Krishna is most wonderful we must learn to appreciate how amazing Krishna
is. Krishna is Bhagavan. One meaning of Bhagavan, I read the other day, He
is, bhajaniya guna-visista. Bha is bhajaniya ga, guna and va, vishishtha.
He whose qualities are irresitable, one has to worship Him; one has to serve
Him ……that is Krishna!
So sometimes we get so busy in our lives that we just even in living in the
temple we get so busy that we have no more time for Krishna. So let us make
sometime for Krishna and let us make some time specially for directly
glorifying Krishna, directly hearing about Krishna and remembering Krishna.
These three things, sravanam, smaranam, kirtanam – these three things, if
they remain strong within our life then we can find the motivation and
remembrance to try and develop our service attitude. This is the key to
success in spiritual life and developing our relationship with Krishna. Then
we can leave the material energy. Then we can become free from material
desire. Then we can remember Krishna at the end of our life and then we can
go back to Godhead this lifetime and that’s all we want.
It doesn’t matter which ashram we are in but at every position everyone has
the same mission – to go back to Godhead. It really doesn’t matter what our
position is. Somehow or other let us take advantage of this movement this
lifetime and go back to Godhead.
Thank you very much!
Srila Prabhupada Ki, Jai!
(Applause.)
Thank you for your patience. It’s easier to speak then to listen. I can
speak for hours but listening for hours is tough. So thanks for your
patience. Any questions, any comments? ……(More in part5)