(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 September 2013, Durban, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.38)
There is a part in us that does not want to surrender. That is the lazy part; it is a fight with the mind. Laziness is an affliction of the modes of ignorance and one has to fight the mode of ignorance by acting according to a proper standard. Out of laziness, when something is not a hundred percent clean then we may say, “I’ll clean it tomorrow.” But no, it must be done now!
So, by determination, one has to try and conquer this laziness. For laziness, there is no easy cure. A lazy man, because he is lazy, does not want to take the cure himself. He thinks, “Isn’t there a cure; something easy where I don’t have to do anything and I can just get rid of my laziness.”
No! Actually, one has to work to overcome laziness. That is the only solution, by doing something. Therefore we must take responsibility in devotional service because it forces a lazy person not to be lazy. Sometimes, they say that I was in charge of the samadhi construction in Mayapur and did all that. To be honest, I didn’t want to do it but they told me to do it! I still didn’t want to do it but I did it and when I was doing it, I was thinking, “I don’t want to do this.” But what to do, I was forced to do it. So, taking responsibility helps to overcome our laziness and our independent mind that doesn’t want to surrender.
