Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 147, How to depend on Lord

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Digest 147, December 13th, 2005. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami

Maharaja

**You are welcome to send in your questions to HH Romapada Swami at

iskcondc with the word "Question" included in the subject line.

 

How to depend on Lord Krishna in difficulties?

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Q) Can you also please describe more on how to depend on Krishna? I will be

very happy to take shelter of your instruction on this.

 

Answer: In Digest 127 it was already discussed how one can depend on Krishna

and remain undisturbed in case of unexpected reversals and difficulties in

life.

(http://iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest127)

 

To summarize: we can practice taking shelter of Krishna beginning with

tolerance & knowing the material world to be a place of suffering, having firm

faith in Krishna's protection, being grateful for the numerous blessings we do

have rather than become overwhelmed by the difficulties and going further,

seeing the difficulty itself as Krishna's special blessing to help us come

closer to Him in some way.

 

Further, by fixing the mind on the transcendental destination we want to

achieve, it becomes easy to transcend the material situation. As discussed in

the above answer, how did King Pariksit respond when given the notice that he

would die in 7 days? How was he able to easily give up everything material,

even his body, without difficulty of attachment? This was because he was

confident of his ultimate destination and knowing the transcendental process by

which to approach that transcendental destination.

 

Difficulties with health could sometimes prove more challenging, by affecting

our ability to perform devotional service and other normal duties, but it is

possible to overcome these obstacles with enthusiasm. The external modes of

your routine functioning may have to be adjusted as needed, but internally you

can prepare your consciousness to stay fixed on achieving the goal of life --

nurture the desire to chant intensely, study scripture and so on, and with

great enthusiasm look for opportunities to serve and please Guru and Krishna

even slightly, within your ability at any given time.

 

When the mind is engaged in this way in thoughts of Krishna and enthusiastic

devotional service, you may find your overall health itself improving - as

physical health is affected by the disposition of the mind; and even otherwise

the ability to transcend the body and take shelter of Krishna will steadily

increase. Many devotees in our movement have demonstrated through their

personal lives that it is possible to completely transcend the needs of the

body - not by our own strength but definitely through the agency of descending

mercy.

 

 

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This digest on the web:

http://iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest147

 

All previous digests in one file (with responses to about 400 questions):

http://iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest00

 

Responses to Some Frequently Asked Questions (Karma, free-will, demigods, Lord

Siva, why are we here, how to control the mind, Deity worship, marriage, Jesus

Christ, spiritual and material relationships and morality of Lord Krsna's

conjugal pastimes, spiritual master, spirit soul/jiva/living entity):

http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest999_faq

 

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** A brief biography of His Holiness Romapada Swami is available at:

http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl?ndx=2

** This and all previous digests are available on the web** They can be

accessed at: http://www.iskcondc.org -> Inquiries into the Absolute

http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?ndx=132

ISKCON DC Philosophy Website:

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Related Sites: http://www.romapadaswami.com, http://www.caitanya.com

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