(Kadamba Kanana Swami, June 2008, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)
The mercy of Lord Caitanya is our saving grace. But how to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya is the question. We know that the mercy is there but our problem is that we are not taking shelter of it; we are not serious about taking it.
We chant casually, we do not always take prasadam, we could go to the temple but we do not always go, we could do so much more to spiritually “stay in the fire” so to say but we do not… We all know the analogy of iron in fire: the iron becomes hot and acts like fire. But there is the other side of the story. When the iron is out of fire, iron cools down and stops to act like fire!
Then we go, “Oh, it’s so difficult!” This is our problem. This part is really up to us and this part is called surrender! Although Lord Caitanya’s mercy is very elaborate and there is unlimited variety of maha prasadam, there is still one complication with maha prasadam which is: you have to get it and then open your mouth! It does not automatically fly into your mouth! It is not that you just open your mouth and the rasagulla flies in! You actually have to take the trouble to get it!
This is where the problem is. We have to make the endeavour ourselves. That is the one difficulty that we have… that is the part where we lose out… that is the part where we drift away… that is the part where gradually weakness sets in… that is the part where maya catches us… that is the part where in spite of the mercy of Lord Caitanya we do not get it! Therefore, we must endeavour.