It’s All Good
By Swami B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami
“Who and what am I” is all mentioned in the formula, given through the spiritual advice of the guru-parampara. And we must reach that goal. Through following that line in a strict sense. If I take advantage of the carrying current of dedication through yogamaya, I can see Krishna everywhere. If I go with the outgoing current of exploitation, I will find myself in this material world of birth and death. Krishna is there, everywhere, behind everything. With a deeper vision, we will detect his hand in everything. Bhagavatam states that everything is positively good to you.
Through every incident, Krishna ‘s will is approaching you. With sincere attention you try to read your environment like this. All transaction is with Krishna, all affection, no bitterness. Always search for service to Krishna, the heart satisfying Lord, and you will find he is by your side. He is waiting with his hankering heart for everyone. It’s only imitation love we find here, like Romeo and Juliet, but unfortunately we are mad for that. But how beautiful and desirable the center and source of all real love must be. Love personified, how beautiful and attractive he must be. Just as the dogs cannot understand human society, so we cannot see that world, from our maladjusted consciousness. Vrindavan is where everything is beautiful and all are loving. Vrindavan is where our soul can experience the happiest environment. The deepest conception of our soul we shall find in that soil, and its highest utility can be experienced in the land of love and beauty, where God is called by the name Krishna. So dive deep to find the plane of reality, leave this dream world, and find that most fundamental reality within you.
Sincerity is everything and the sincere souls will never be really troubled. By coming to a genuine guru we can learn who we are, where we are, who is our guardian, who can save me, who is my own, and what I want from my inner heart. Why I am imperfect, why I am uneasy, and why I feel no comfort. For all these answers you must cry out for that, search yourself and you will find help is coming to you through those agents from the plane of truth. They will come and interfere with your mundane predicament saying, “Don’t dig your own grave and enter it, you are our own brother, come back home with us.” This kind of search is helping your own search, eliminating all other proposals that come to take you away from that highest campaign.
So that formula from sukriti to sraddha, sadhu-sanga, bhajana-kriya, anartha-nivritti, then nistha and ruci, asakti, and bhava. When we reach the stage of bhava-bhakti then we can have some glimpse. But only then can we be lifted to that plane of prema where we can see Krishna through the eyes of divine love and then we may enter raga, anuraga, bhava, mahabhava. Through these progressive stages we must pass, if we wish to live in his divine civilization.
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Pretty hard to get out of the grave once having been entered, especially after being covered with eons of dirt. Thanks Swami for removing some of the dirt. Hare Krsna
What a beautiful article!
When I visualize the above I think of Krishna’s interaction with me like two walkie-talkies trying to talk to each other. The walkie-talkie named Krishna is always on. But it is the other walkie-talkie, that is my heart, that is turned off. Krishna’s signal calling me is always happening from his walkie-talkie. I claim to not hear his signal for me, but that is not Krishna’s fault. Rather it is my walkie-talkie of my heart that needs to be turned on so that I can receive Krishna’s signal. So if we turn our heart on and search for the signal of Krishna, we find that it is ever-present. Krishnas signal of love is always there for us but our signal of love for Krishna is often missing.
What I understand from the above article is that the goal of Gaudia-Vaishnava philosophy is for both the signals from both walk-talkies to seek each other spontaneously.
This is a nice point. There is never a lack or deficiency on Krsna’s side, it’s us who are not open to receiving his grace. Thus the baddha-jivas are referred to as bahirmukha–we are facing outward toward matter, and consequently away from the internal world of consciousness, the heart world where Krsna lives.
The term bahir-mukha (outside facing) is very significant. As cultural traits, the West has idealized extroversion. Eastern cultures have typically idealized introversion. We can see this especially during the highschool and college years where extroverts are idealized in Western cultures as cool and popular. (Below, amongst all the other instructions from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, I found #10, about extroverts to be very significant.)
So typically, being bahir-mukha, or an extrovert, is considered less beneficial for spiritual life. The East, which typically has valued spirituality over materialism, has valued introversion, and so sought to put the focus within rather than without. It is interesting that there are some psychiatrists that speak of introversion as an anti-social trait, even a pathology. Without spiritual life, introversion does not make a lot of sense. Smaranam, or meditating on Krishna in the heart, is all about introversion.
Pearls of Instruction from His Divine Grace Om Vishnupada Paramhansa Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada:
1. We are constantly put to test and trial in this world. Only those who attend and participate in the kirtana of the devotees can succeed.
2. Every spot on earth where pure discourses on God are held is a place of pilgrimage.
3. Possession of objects not related to Krishna is our main malady.
4. Let me not desire anything but the highest good for my worst enemies.
5. As dalliance with the body in luxury increases, so wanes the spirit of service of the Lord.
6. Those favored by God find their paths set by thorns.
7. There is no peace or happiness in our worldly life. Circumstances create turmoil and annoyance.
8. Chant the Holy Names loudly and with attachment. This will drive away inertia, worldly evils and pests.
9. Be indifferent to bazaar gossips, stick firmly to your cherished goals, no lack or impediments of the world will ever stand in your way.
10. Pay due respects to the extroverts of the world, but do not be appreciative of their manners and conduct. They are to be shaken off from your mind.
11. A devotee feels the presence of God everywhere, but one averse to the Lord denies His existence anywhere.
12. You cannot appreciate transcendental matters with the reasoning of the world. It is sheer nonsense to decry them with the measuring stick of your intellect.
13. To recite the Holy Names of Shri Krishna and Shri Krishna Chaitanya is Bhakti.
14. Life is for the glorification of topics on Hari. If that is stopped, then what need is there to carry on life.
15. Physical illness with Hari-bhajana is preferred to physical fitness without Hari-bhajana.
16. Our span of life on earth is short. Our life will be crowned with success if the body wears out with constant discourses on Hari.
17. We are here on earth not to work as artisans for making big buildings with wood and stone but to work only as messengers for the teachings of Shri Gauranga Deva.
18. A sycophant is neither a guru or a preacher.
19. To transform the adverse desires of the jivas is the supreme duty of the most merciful. To rescue one person from the stronghold of Mahamaya is an act of superb benevolence, far superior to opening innumerable hospitals.
20. Unless we are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us.
21. Look within. Amend yourself, rather than pry into the frailities of others.
22. In this world of Maya, averse to the Lord, full of trials and tribulations, only patience, humility and respect for others are our friends for Hari-bhajana.
23. The Lord, Gaurasundara, puts His devotees in various difficulties and associations to test their patience and strength of mind. Success depends on their good fortune.
24. When faults in others misguide and delude you – have patience, introspect, find faults in yourself. Know that others cannot harm you unless you harm yourself.
25. I wish that every selfless, tender-hearted person of Gaudiya Math (Gauranga’s followers) will be prepared to shed two hundred gallons of blood for the nourishment of the spiritual corpus of every individual of this world.