Living in this world

[Guest guest]

How should we live in this world?

 

Go on hearing hari-katha from the pure devotees and seeing this material

world from the vantage point of the Lord's servant. Then you will have

nothing to lament. Please concentrate your mind on subject matters related

to Krsna. Hear attentively what the Supreme Lord instructs. What does He

instruct? He says, "O living entities! Although you have been averse to Me

from time immemorial, you were originally God conscious. You could have

served Me, but instead you have been demanding service from Me. You are

trying to become masters by forgetting Me. But know for certain that you are

never masters but are always My servants."

Lord Hari alone is everyone's master; we are all His servants. Therefore,

our engagement in this world is to hear hari-kathå. Those who glorify Hari

are spiritual masters, and those who hear from spiritual masters are

disciples. Listeners must be submissive and eager. That day is inauspicious

when we fail to discuss hari-katha.

You should hear Srimad-Bhagavatam every day. Srimad-Bhagavatam tells us that

we have attained the human form of life after many births; a human birth is

extremely rare. Although it is rare, however, it awards us spiritual

perfection. By sincerely worshiping Hari with full surrender while

renouncing our false independence, we can attain the Supreme Lord in this

lifetime. Therefore a sober person will try to attain the ultimate goal of

life, working at learning to surrender until he leaves his body. He will not

waste a moment. Eating, sleeping, mating, and defending are available in any

form of life, but spiritual life is available only to humans. We can find

sense gratification in any species. We should not use the human form of life

to cultivate sense gratification but Krsna consciousness, which is the

ultimate goal of human life. Service to the Lord is the supreme destination

for the living entities.

And we should know what service is. Pleasing the object of our service is

called devotion. Lord Hari is the origin, Lord, master, and object of

everyone's service. We are all His servants. Attaining Him and His

devotional service is our only duty, nature, and engagement.

The Supreme Lord is the complete whole and the worshipable Lord of the

living entities. In order to achieve His service, we must take shelter of

His representative, the spiritual master. We must serve the spiritual

master, for he gives us information about the Lord. The spiritual master is

our only selfless friend and relative in this world. We can achieve

perfection if we treat him as our best well-wisher. By serving him with love

and devotion, we will awaken our identity as the Lord's servant and develop

love for guru and Govinda.

 

(From Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Amrta Vani, an upcoming book)