(H H Kadamba Kanana Swami, Modra, Slovakia, 28th February 2012) Lecture: BG 9.18
Many people say they are very happy and you look at their life and say:
‘Well, I don’t want to change to be like them.’
You work in a horrible factory from Monday to Friday in hell, and you are very happy. This kind of happiness is not real happiness. Real happiness means that everything must be perfect. Some people would say:
‘That’s not realistic! That’s for dreamers. The problem with your Hare Krishna’s is that you are all dreamers. You should do something practical. Dreaming about the big spiritual world and so many things but what are they doing here?’
No….no we are not just dreaming about the spiritual world. Certainly we believe that there is a eternal spiritual world, and within that eternal spiritual world everything is perfect! But we also realise that actually this world can also be spiritualised. You can take anything and use it for Krishna and suddenly it becomes spiritual.
A simple example given is a knife. I take the knife and put it on your throat, and because I am a barber, I slowly start shaving. So in that case the knife is useful. My grandmother used to say if you can peel an apple all at once without breaking the peel then you will get married very soon! Grandmothers know these things. So whatever it may be, a knife can be a good or a bad thing, since it depends on how it’s used. In this way one can make a selection in this material world! We simply live in this world and use everything for the pleasure of Krishna! Everything can be used for Krishna. The people who made these things never thought that it was going to be used for Krishna! You think:
‘Why is she using it? She doesn’t really need it. But she is using it to purify the factory where these things are made.’
Because this is how it is. If we use anything that is made for material purposes and we use it for Krishna then the makers become purified! So in this way devotional service can change everything!
