Vaisnava generosity

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 December 2012, Phoenix, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture)

Vaisnava gives everything he has and a vaisnava gives his life.  He is ready to put his life on the line…YES! A vaisnava is ready to trust in Krsna when it comes to his generosity.

“Can you give?”

Vaisnava, “Yes!”

“But how will you do it?”

Vaisnava, “I don’t know, but I hope that Krsna will help.”

So with that faith in Krsna (that Krsna will help), Krsna WILL make it possible. In this way, vaisnavas can do miracles. In this way, vaisnavas can overcome all limitations. We see, in this way, that Prabhupada single-handedly went to the West with the idea of making the whole world Krsna conscious – at an age suitable for retirement and so on.  Logically, it didn’t add up but he went anyway and he did it. He did so much. So in this way, we can see the power of vaisnava generosity which is the result of devotional service. And, it is in this way, the more we give, the more we will overcome all desires for personal prestige. So in this age, generosity is our saving grace, somehow or other. Therefore it is said, “One must preach Krsna consciousness otherwise it becomes dry!” We must give otherwise it doesn’t absorb us. There are many ways to do that and one must be creative.  Some people are right now out on the street distributing books. Others are preaching on the internet. I met one devotee who made a Facebook page and had 140 000 hits; so many ways to preach.

Unless we try to develop this mood of giving Krsna consciousness to others, we will remain self-centred, even in spiritual life. So generosity must really be developed in us – the mood of service and the mood of giving must be developed as much as possible and then we become spiritually advanced and spiritually strong. That is the way!