Realistic Expectations in Spiritual Life

[vaisnavapada]

Happy New Year to everybody and my pranams

[mahak]

 

Yet we are still too dull to see through our own sham as we stand tall dressed in saffron for the play, expecting soon to be gopis. We shrink Sri Krsna until we feel He is qualified to enter our world. It is not that Krsna that I want.

Haribol. This is a great thread, one which discusses dhira and this multiple krsnas that gHari alludes to. Srila Prabhupada taught of these different krsnas, one the sublime master, the other a tool which we use to establish our rightful place as the all in all.

 

Smarta brahmanism is the process where one takes up the process of bhakti yoga in order to become God. Krsna is worshipped, but only as a process for ones selfish aspirations. While we may not think we are krsna or will become krsna (or gopis for that matter), if we do not eventually become dhira, unconfused about our swarupa, then our desires are still our priority. We still aspire to become great, great devotees, great philosophers, great leaders of spiritual society. However, the true vaisnavism is where we become less and less, lower than the straw in the street. From there, we actually engage in bhakti yoga, selfless service in the spirit of Lord Chaitanyas Siksa Stakam, the true bhakti yoga practice without any other motive than krsnas pleasure. Even at our own expense, as he prays:

 

 

 

(1.)

 

 

Glory to the Sri Krsna sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.

 

(2.)

 

 

O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings,

and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krsna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.

 

 

(3.)

 

 

One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.

 

 

(4.)

 

 

O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.

 

 

(5.)

 

 

O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krsna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.

 

 

(6.)

 

 

O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs on my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?

 

 

(7.)

 

 

O Govinda! Felling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.

 

 

(8.)

 

 

I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly in His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.

 

 

 

This is the krsna we should aspire to, not the one who is designed to serve our superficial whims.

 

 

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa