Hare Krishna to all,
I have a doubt.
It is said that we should be depend on God and it is also said that we should strive for Ahaituki-Apratihata-bhakti ( Devotional service without any personal desire).
The problem is that if we are dependent on God then how we can strive for Ahaituki-Apratihata-bhakti ( Devotional service without any personal desire) because we require something and therefore we are dependent. We are dependent on someone when we want something from him and if we want something from God this is not Ahaituki-Apratihata-bhakti.
I elaborate few points that it is said
(i) we should have confidence that God will protect us.
(ii) we should have faith that God will not let us die of hunger.
(iii) we should have faith that God will help us.
etc etc ...
These are very common sentences.
Please solve my doubt of the contradiction between practicing dependency on God and practicing Ahaituki-Apratihata-bhakti ( Devotional service without any personal desire).
Replies
Devotional service without any personal desire ?? Hmmm.. You can practice devotional service with desire of improving someones material status, but still can be called without any personal desire. Therefore this is not pure devot. service.
The pure devotional service is devotional service without any material desires. No personal material desire for you , neither for someone else. In another words, pure devotional service is not materially motivated.
Considerin the faith in Lord, i can tell just one thing.
Even if person walk alone blind and deaf in the middle of desert , surounded with cobras, with no watter or food, he will safely reach his destination, if he has just a drop of the faith in God.
What to talk about other things.
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
Depending on God and striving for ahaituki aptaihata bhakti is not contradictory to each other. One cannot get bhakti without the mercy of devotees, Radharani and Krsna.
What does depending on God mean? It means that one has to do one's karma, at the same time, not be greedy for the result - one has to do nishkaam karma, without motivation for results. In normal life,it is results that motivate us to do anything in the first place. So if we are told - do your karma, but you have no right over the results - then we wonder - wy do karma? The answer is - do your karma as a service to Krsna. So what the results of that karma is - we depend on Krsna for the results.
Eg: suppose we are trying to build a temple for Krsna, we are collecting funds - if we are sincere that the purpose of fund raising is for completing the temple for Krsna, and we depend on Krsna to send the funds, we will surely get enough funds to make the temple as per Krsna's desire. Then if we become puffed up that we have made the temple for Krsna, then it is not right. We depended on Krsna to send the funds, He did and the temple was built. Effectively, we were just instruments in the hands of Krsna to manifest that temple on earth. This understanding and practical application is only ahaituki apratihata bhakti - is it not?
I dont see any contradiction. If your question is something else, I may have not understood or you have any further query on this topic, pls do revert.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
By Google Search:
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 7 - 12
O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
Unlike the miscreants, these are adherents of the regulative principles of the scriptures, and they are called sukṛtinaḥ, or those who obey the rules and regulations of scriptures, the moral and social laws, and are, more or less, devoted to the Supreme Lord. Out of these there are four classes of men—those who are sometimes distressed, those who are in need of money, those who are sometimes inquisitive, and those who are sometimes searching after knowledge of the Absolute Truth. These persons come to the Supreme Lord for devotional service under different conditions. These are not pure devotees, because they have some aspiration to fulfill in exchange for devotional service. Pure devotional service is without aspiration and without desire for material profit. The Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.11) defines pure devotion thus:
"One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service."
Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.
Free from all contaminations of material desires, the distressed, the inquisitive, the penniless and the seeker after supreme knowledge can all become pure devotees. But out of them, he who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth and free from all material desires becomes a really pure devotee of the Lord. And of the four orders, the devotee who is in full knowledge and is at the same time engaged in devotional service is, the Lord says, the best. By searching after knowledge one realizes that his self is different from his material body, and when further advanced he comes to the knowledge of impersonal Brahman and Paramātmā. When one is fully purified, he realizes that his constitutional position is to be the eternal servant of God. So by association with pure devotees the inquisitive, the distressed, the seeker after material amelioration and the man in knowledge all become themselves pure. But in the preparatory stage, the man who is in full knowledge of the Supreme Lord and is at the same time executing devotional service is very dear to the Lord. He who is situated in pure knowledge of the transcendence of the Supreme Personality of God is so protected in devotional service that material contamination cannot touch him.
One should therefore engage his mind in the eternal form, the primal form of Kṛṣṇa; with conviction in his heart that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, he should engage himself in worship. There are hundreds of thousands of temples in India for the worship of Kṛṣṇa, and devotional service is practiced there. When such practice is made, one has to offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. One should lower his head before the Deity and engage his mind, his body, his activities-everything. That will make one fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa without deviation. This will help one transfer to the Kṛṣṇaloka. One should not be deviated by unscrupulous commentators. One must engage in the nine different processes of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. Pure devotional service is the highest achievement of human society.
http://vaniquotes.org/wiki/Pure_devotional_service_is...
(3) point any service other than Simply chanting. Is considered stiff mimicry. I.e. Krishna only Loves unconditional service & Krishna's Love is the purpose of Bhaktee in that we earn Hi's guidance from within the heart.
So chanting alone is the process of self & God realization in full)-in & of it's self. Time factor + Service requirements all point to- the immediate & attentive application of the Maha Mantra. Prabupoda said " (Mastering (KC) is simple can't untill you recognize that Krishna's the Supreme Personality of God and that's it your studies are finished"
Otherwise no show of wealth or performance of (Rites) nor study of the Vedas can or will impress Krishna. Just chanting selflessly
It's the one recasit, (the one way) "No Other WaY? Where's the question? Eternal Servents chanting externally!