Respect and honour godbrothers and godsisters

[Guest guest]

Recently Shashika Chowdhary posted the following item by H.H.

Radhanath Maharaj to BTG-Talk. I thought it was so nice it should be

shared with all devotees everywhere.

 

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We should not be in the spotlight of our devotional service. Sometimes

Krishna puts us in spotlight by His own inconceivable arrangement. But

we should never think that we are better than our godbrothers and our

godsisters. If you give credit to your godbrothers and your

godsisters, no one in the world may know that the credit belongs to

you. But Krishna knows and that is what is necessary to receive His

causeless mercy. So we should not be after position. We should not be

after an advanced position of either management or spiritual

realization. We should simply be after service.

 

Recently our godsister Kunti devi (left her body) She was such an

ordinary devotee! She was a mother. She used to wash people's clothes,

wash the clothes for the devotees, cut wood for the devotees, cook for

devotees. She was such a humble soul!! Actually non envious, never

recognized by anyone except Krishna. Always honoring and praising

other Vaishnavas. Always taking the humble position of serving other

Vaishnavas. Never competing. Always trying to do the best she

could. She was unheard of. And she was very happy that "let other

devotees be heard of. Let me serve them." And toward the end of her

life, she was manifesting in her simple and humble, motherly way, the

most exalted vaishnava qualities. Even great sannyasis and devotees

were coming to honour her, and to respect her. She left this world as

a legend in the Krishna Consciousness movement. How is it she ended

her life in that consciousness? Because she was non envious. She

wanted to give all glories to her godbrothers and godsisters and

didn't want any for herself. She wanted to serve and let everyone do

the great things. And ultimately Krishna made her great. You try to

make yourself great; Krishna will make you small. If you try to make

others great, Krishna will make you great. If we are not properly

respecting and honoring our godbrothers and godsisters, the false

pride which is created through that ultimately goes from vaishnava

apradha to guru aparadha which is aparadha to Krishna Himself!

 

So the basic principle that will keep us in our Krishna Consciousness

movement is honor and respect to our godbrothers and godsisters and

fellow vaishnavas. This is how we show that we are non envious. And we

should pray to Krishna to free from this envious nature. The mind is

such a wicked creature in the sense that whatever we are good at

doing, we want no one else to do as good as us. If you are a cook, you

don't mind if someone does arati better than you. But if someone cooks

better than you, then it is very disturbing to the heart. If you are a

preacher, you don't mind if someone manages better than you. But if

someone preaches and gets more recognition than you, it burns the

heart. That is the nature of the ego. We have to pray to Krishna to

help us to overcome this ego. It is the beginning of our downfall. We

should be simple and understand what it means to be a servant and not

an enjoyer. It means to give all our glory of whatever we have done,

to our godbrothers and godsisters. Not only to our spiritual

master. Because without the support of your godbrothers and

godsisters, you cannot serve your spiritual master. So whatever we do

that has any importance, we should give credit to guru and all

Vaishnavas. That is Krishna Consciousness.

 

- His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj