Hare Krsna to all Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisance,
All glories to Srila Prabhupad,
I have these doubts...
1)After reading the scriptures while applying those principles in our daily life, how do we set the limit i.e it is a well known saying...that do not cross your limit...how do we assess in our daily life whether we are within the limits of Nature's laws or are crossing it, in order to modify or alter and be a law abiding person
2) How is fame/publicity harmful to us according to scriptures? How to deal with sudden fame?
3) Is it good to seek to always be in limelight?? How should we carry on our duties?
)Also, how is Praise harmful to us? How to differentiate between false praise & real one?
4) I keep wondering/thinking...why in this world...there are lots of people , some are aware of Krishna, some are not, some accept him and some not...some are not even aware about him..even within family...What could be the reason.Why only selected people know about Krishna?
5) Since few days....I have started hating people close to me..who are not readily accepting Krishna consciousness as their goal in life and are instead indulging in materialistic activities.....Is it okay?
It would be kind if devotees help me in this.....
Thanks..
Haribol
Your servant..
Subhashini.
Replies
The funny thing is that it is said to destroy your desires. In reality all desires come from above. Even coarse desires. It is in the realization of desires being coarse that you can then transmute them to more pure desires. Just as love and hate are actuslly the same energy just at different octaves. The more darkness the more potential for light. The darkness is there to reveal that light. So about limits, if u truly listen to your heart, you yourself will know at a given time what the proper severity of action is. One can not be desireless or one would be dead, but you can remain unattached to the outcome. You may say you want something, but how big really is that desire. I want to know God but I give up after a week, clearly whoever did this wants to know god but not all that bad. The lord gives you certain desires and if the desire is strong enough and aligned with your purpose and function here you will naturally accomplish it. Just allow yourself the freedom to not be perfect by some ideal or standard and try things out. Try austerities in certain areas, see how they work for you. Its a funny paradox where we worry about if we are doing the right thing, yet in truth we are always doing the right thing for where our soul is at, God can not help but to express himself and you are part of that expression. Maya, pain, all this is absolutely necessary for experience and the learning process. Make best friends with your demons, for the demon is a guru too.
Praise in of itself is not bad. It is also not bad to feel good from a compliment or praise. What is bad is becoming attached to that praise and let it build our small ego. When we must remember all praise to you is just praize for god acting through you which god is of course in all of us. So that being said, praise is not individual, it is not "you" that is being praised at all. It is bad to seek limelight because that is definitely small ego and a huge attachment. And in truth many times working at our purpose out of the limelight has more benefits. Prides higher octive is not bad. Like pride enou to stand up for your truth, without of course making it so that your truth is the only truth or that your special for having it or anything of that sort. Every desire has a higher version of itself. Alchemist used to try to turn lead into gold, this is actually what that meant. Change a coarse desire to its higher octave. Don't hate certain patterns and traits, flip them and use them for good.
Many can not see the Lord. Not because they are bad people, ut because it is simply not their time to. They may even and probably do still serve a purpose in the world, even in ignorance. Removing, if you could remove fully, one atom from the universe will make it all collapse. So this universe is a functioning universe, it is functional and therefor everything even in illusion what may seem insignificant has its function and purpose. Even some of the greatezt tragedies in the world had a function...if it didn't we would not be sitting here right noe still functioning in a functional universe.
You should instead of getting mad them, realize they are not making you mad. They can't hand you mad, or build you a "mad" to take with you to work or whatever. So that feeling is arising I. You. Which means its your feeling and your producing it, in a sense :p . Everyone is a guru, for if a man makes me angry he is at that moment a guru of patience, teaching me to react better.so if you are mad, look at yourself instead. Everyone will wake up one day in their own time and place. If your path is the path of Krishna then follow it to the bext of your ability all the meanwhile giving yourself room for imperfection and keeping your mind open.
Hope this wasn't a horrible rant lol.
Much love.
Hare Krishna..
Here are the answers to your questions.
1) Krishna said, do your duty as prescribed in the scriptures and do not expect any results. So, if you follow His advice, you wont land in any trouble. There is no limit while following the prescribed duties. There are only two things, following them or not following them. So, go through Manu Smriti and learn the prescribed duties of a woman. Follow those rules in every walk of your life. Rest assured, you will be safe under the shadow of Lord Krishna.
2) In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna asks us to treat everything as equal. So, you have to be in a state where you don't get excited if you get sudden fame and you shouldn't feel sad when dishonour comes to you. Because whatever you get in your life is with respect to your material body and does not affect the spirit soul within. So, sudden fame, honour or dishonour shouldnt matter at all.
3) If you are seeking to be in limelight, that means you have that desire. Krishna says, suppress your desires.Be it any desire. Only then you would achieve peace. Because, you desire for something and if it doesnt happen, you will get frustrated, and then anger arouses and finally your mind will be deluded and lost. So, pls try to suppress your desire of being in limelight. Only fools run after such things and not the people with true knowledge.
4) Some are aware, some are not. Some accept and some not. This is because of the illusion which has been created by Maya(Material energy). People fall prey to the inferior material energy. The internal spiritual energy of a person is much stronger than the material enery, but they fail to recognize it. The selected few has the Supreme Lord's blessings and hence they are able to surpass the illusion created by Maya. It is said that, only after many births, would we strive to know about the supreme. Till then, because of our past deeds, we will be in this cycle of birth and death.
5) It is a fact that people won't accept even if they know, because of their ignorance, and their love towards material energy. Krishna says, the knowledge of Supreme should be given only to the devotees who believe Him and not to everybody. And you need not hate them for not accepting Krishna, because its not that everybody cuts across the material energy. They are deliberately kept behind by the Lord himself because of their past deeds. As Krishna says, do not expect anything. In your case, you have an expectation that whosoever listens to you, should accept the Lord. And since they didnt accept, you got frustrated and started hating them. So, do not expect. If you want, you can explain them about the Lord. But, whether they accept it or not, leave it to the Lord.
Regards,
Subash
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
Thanks for the detailed answers. It cleared my doubts.
Haribol.