Improvement in Love & serivice of Lord Krishna

Replies

Aditya Agnihotri May 15, 2013 at 11:14am

hare Krishna!

you have put all this very beautifully, whatever you are doing, you know you are doing best of yourself, so be happy ...

my limited understanding says - one must not 'control' oneself but slowly observe oneself, this helps in self improvement automatically...

hare Krishna...
- Dhara Acharya > Aditya Agnihotri May 15, 2013 at 1:13pm
  
  Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
  
  Thanks for your suggestion.
  
  Hare krishna
  - Alka > Dhara Acharya May 15, 2013 at 6:46pm
    
    Hare Krishna Madhavi Lata Mataj. Dandavat pranam.
    
    Very Nice answer.
    
    I beg to ask you something from your statement
    
    "When we take shelter of spiritual master, all the devotional practices become really powerful and effective."
    
    The spiritual master here indicates having a Guru as per initiation?
    
    Hare Krishna
    - Volunteer
      
      Madhavi-lata devi dasi > Alka May 16, 2013 at 10:25pm
      
      Dear Alka Mataji,
      Please accept my humble obeisances.
      All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
      
      Every devotee who gives us some instructions to advance in spiritual life is our spiritual master, called Siksa Guru, Guru who gives instructions. But by hearing instructions from many devotees gradually we may become especially attracted to a particular devotee, whose instructions help us the most in our spiritual life. So normally we would then approach that devotee and request to receive initiation from him, so he becomes our Diksha Guru, initiating spiritual master.
      
      So initiation, taking shelter means taking instructions very seriously. Of course, spiritual master also has to accept us, but most spiritual masters are very merciful and accept disciples quite easily if they show some sincerity. But if we formally receive initiation but not take instructions very seriously, then it will not be so effective. In Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition initiation is the confirmation of serious siksa relationship, relationship based on giving and receiving instructions, it is not just some ritual.
      
      When we decide with all our heart to dedicate our life to great devotee spiritual master, then all our practices of chanting, hearing, worshiping etc. immediately become very, very effective.
      
      Your humble servant,
      Mldd
      - Alka > Madhavi-lata devi dasi May 17, 2013 at 2:15pm
        
        Hare Krishna dear Madhavi-lata mataji
        
        Thank you for you reply. I have heard that with few gurus the initiation queue is 15 years waiting.
        
        Anyway, it's all Krishna's mercy to connect with a guru.
        
        Thank you for your response
        
        Jai shree Krishna
        
        Volunteer
        
        Madhavi-lata devi dasi > Alka May 18, 2013 at 7:42pm
        
        Dear Alka Mataji,
        
        Please accept my humble obeisances.
        
        All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
        
        Even Srila Prabhupada got initiated 11 years after first meeting his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. But from the first meeting he was always thinking of his Guru Maharaja that "I have met such a great saintly person." So that means he was actually initiated, although the ceremony was 11 years later.
        
        So when in our heart we are dedicated to spiritual master, that makes spiritual practice very strong. Even if there is long initiation queue... Better to wait 15 years and be really serious about becoming disciple instead of getting initiation easy in a few years and later deviating and leaving the Guru.(Unfortunately I have seen the 2nd option happen more often... Therefore I wrote this.)
        
        Your humble servant,
        
        Mldd
Volunteer

Madhavi-lata devi dasi May 15, 2013 at 1:02am

Dear Bhaktin Dhara,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Gopal Prabhu has given here many links to Srila Prabhupada's quotes, please take advantage of them. Noboy can speak to us so nicely as Srila Prabhupada about Krishna consciosness.

I would beg to share some of my experience and realization. Hope it helps you in some way.

Chanting Japa, reading Srimad Bhagavatam (I hope you read Srila Prabhupada's translation and purports), offering food and flowers, listening to devotional bhajans etc. are all bonafide practices of devotional service that help our purification. But these practices really become strong and efficient when we take shelter of devotee association and especially when we seriously take shelter of pure devotee spiritual master. In fact, Srila Rupa Goswami mentions it as the first item of devotional service (In Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 6). When we take shelter of spiritual master, all the devotional practices become really powerful and effective. So one reason why you may be feeling not satisfied is that Krishna is inspiring you to take more shelter of devotee association.

And please allow me to share some thoughts regarding becoming lover/wife of Lord Krishna.
It is a nice feeling for a devotee in woman's body to have a feeling of becoming lover or wife of Krishna. I also started Krishna consciousness in that way. I grew up in western country, during my school years many girls had boyfriends, but I did not. I was much absorbed in studies and also I could not see a boy whom I would really like. So when I first learned about Krishna at the age of about 18, I became really excited that here is finally a boy whom I really like and I really want to become His wife/lover! One of the first questions that I asked my spiritual master while still completely new devotee was whether I could participate in Lord Krishna's Rasa Dance while still living in this body! He appreciated my sentiment saying that in a woman's body it is easier to appreciate the feelings of the gopis, but he also warned me not to take it cheaply. A little later I took up ISKCON temple life and services very enthusiastically with the desire that I would become Krishna's wife/lover.

So it is a nice feeling, it can help us in our devotional life. But at the same time we should be very careful not to confuse our soul with our material body. We cannot actually become truly conjugally attached to Krishna or thus satisfy Him with our temporary material female body. That is not possible. It is only possible in spiritual body. All Krishna's wives and lovers have purely spiritual bodies without any material contamination. Before we attain such body we should not become too much carried away by the thought of being His lover. Rather we should always try to be His humble servant. The services we can render in this body are hearing, chanting, bowing down to Him, serving Deities etc. So we should always stick to those practices, associate with pure devotees and try to serve them and then naturally we will gradually develop our spiritual body.

There are 9 stages of devotional service, beginning with faith
(mentioned here http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/profiles/blogs/the-nine-stages-of-b...),
and only beginning from the 8th stage, bhava, it is possible to truly have a conjugal attraction to Krishna. First we associate with devotees, seriously practice devotional service, then our heart becomes purified, we become steady, then we attain taste for chanting the holy name, then overwhelming attachement to Krishna and then comes the stage of spiritual emotions, bhava, which transforms into prema, pure love, when it becomes completely perfect. So only from the level of bhava one can seriously think of becoming Krishna's lover. Bhava is a stage of very serious spiritual advancement. Some of the external symptoms are that person can completely forget their material body, for example they can sleep only 2 or 3 hours, because they are always rapt in spiritual emotion and they are completely unconcerned with any material position. Such as Meerabai was a princess, but she could just go live on the street being attracted to Krishna. We cannot jump to that stage artificially but we can gradually attain it sincerely practicing devotional service according to our position.

There is some danger if we think too much of Krishna's conjugal affairs while our heart is not yet completely pure. The danger is that we may develop lust and that is completely contrary to devotional service. There are many groups of people who indulge in sinful activities in the name of devotion. There are sahajiyas who say that just by emotions, just by listening to Krishna's conjugal pastimes, we can progress in devotional service, there are sakhi bekhi who advice even males to dress up as gopis to develop their "bhava", and there are many others similar to them. But their tru character is seen in many sinful activities that they are attached to, in spite of speaking about high spiritual emotions. Their mistake is that they mix up material body and soul. They try to get into spiritual emotions without clearly distinguishing between this material body and soul. So we should always cultivate the philosophical understanding of differences between body and soul, the temporary nature of this world, we should carefully follow disciplined devotional lifestyle and then we can also hear a little about Krishna's conjugal love to keep inspired.

Being women we should always stay under protection, because unfortunately there are many men (and, sorry to say, even devotee men), who may exploit women's sentiments and feelings even if woman is sincerely trying to serve Krishna. I lived in the temple for 3 years and often had the experience that even when we try with all sincerity to serve Krishna, men may look at us wrongly. We may dance on kirtan for Krishna, but some men will take it that you dance for them, we may do service enthusiastically trying to meditate on Krishna, but some men may still try to approach us in an improper way. So even though I hoped and still hope to become Krishna's lover I got married and thus my life became more peaceful.

In the Nectar of Devotion you can find a lot of information about practice of devotional service and development of rasas for Krishna. An important consideration is that the rasa of servitorship is the basis of other higher rasas, namely friendship, parenthood and conjugal love. If we are not firmly fixed being humble servants of Krishna, we can never become His lovers.

Becoming Krishna's lover is internal thing. It is not something that is discussed openly by those who really have it. Devotees who actually have it hide it by all means. They hide it deep into the heart and externally simply perform their duties as humble practicing sadhana bhaktas.

And just the last thing, in our sampradaya we do not try to serve Krishna directly, as lovers or anything else. Krishna already has His most dear direct devotees, such as Radharani and Asta Sakhis, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja, cowherd boyfriends Sridama and Sudama and so many others. We should never think of taking the place of these associates. Our eternal position and our highest aspiration is to one day be accepted as the humble servant of the servant of the servant of those devotees. Radharani is the greatest lover of Krishna and if we try to help the love of Radha and Krishna as the servant of the servant of the servant, that will give Krishna the greatest pleasure.

I wish you all success in your devotional service.
Your humble servant,
Madhavi-lata d.d.
- Dhara Acharya > Madhavi-lata devi dasi May 15, 2013 at 12:52pm
  
  Hare Krishna madhavi lata Mataji!!
  
  if some one (new devotee) facing lots of problems in following devotional services like serving food, having association of devotees because of busy schedule like i am married and i am working as well in private firm so it's very difficult for me some time to follow all devotional services like chanting of 16 rounds at least, association of devotees, Arch Vigarh of Lord Krishna's statue, Sankirtan with devotees etc.. so please suggest me on this.
  
  if any family member would not support at all & put on us all burdens of huge responsibilities like earning money, house hold works etc.. then should person leave all devotional services and keep chanting of hare Krishna mantra only ( HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE) or the person should face the problem & strictly follow devotional services as many as he/she can.
  
  let me share with you my situation, as i am married so i've some responsibilities of making food & earning money (it's bit requirement for 5 years at least) so working whole day in the office so i myself become so much weak physically & sick as well, could not take out time for chanting, reading shrimad bhagwatam - by shril Prabhupada for long time (only can read for half an hour daily), can not meet pure devotees at temple, some times can not attend class on Bhagwad geeta at temple etc...so i become so upset & as i am newly married so family also does not like me to do devotional services, they are always trying to prevent me except my husband. no one in my family is devotee so it's very difficult for me to have association of pure devotees outside.
  
  i remain so upset as i am not able to follow Navda Bhakti ( 9 practices of devotional services) not even i can follow single one strictly & regularly. i feel that if in this life, i am unable to follow devotional services then ho can i meet to my Krishna? i am so worried Mataji, i can not leave home as all loves me & they need me, i can not hurt them. i do not have shelter of spiritual master, i do not know where i should find the pure Spiritual master.
  
  Please suggest me how should i go for devotional Services?
  
  Your Servent!
  - Volunteer
    
    Madhavi-lata devi dasi > Dhara Acharya May 16, 2013 at 10:12pm
    
    Dear Dhara Mataji,
    
    Please accept my humble obeisances.
    
    All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
    
    Please forgive me, I am not so experienced giving advice and do not have much life experience. I can simply give some suggestions, maybe something helps you.
    
    The main services in this age are hearing and chanting. Modern life has made things difficult in many ways, but one advantage is that the modern techologies make it quite easy to find time for hearing, even with busy schedule. Here on ISKCON Desire Tree there are many devotional audio and video lectures, kirtans, seminars etc. spoken by many wonderful senior devotees and spiritual masters. If it is at all possible for you, try to hear them on earphones or otherwise while doing your duties at home, while going to work or at workplace. It is very potent. You can try hearing some and you can pray to Lord Krishna to guide you to choose those lectures that would be more understandable and inspiring for you.
    
    Even if you have very little time for reading, Srila Prabhupada has also written many small books about Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada is such a genius that even in his smallest books he has given the highest knowledge and conclusions of all the Vedas. HH Indradyumna Maharaja told in a lecture that once Srila Prabhupada met with a military captain in Paris who was interested in Krishna conciousness, and since he was a very busy person and did not have time for reading, Srila Prabhupada advised him to just read the 9th chapter of Bhagavad-gita, the Most confidential knowledge. So even with little time things can work out.
    
    And after hearing, chanting Japa is more important than other services. We will develop Krishna consciousness more quickly by chanting nice Japa then by, for example, making elaborate offerings for Deities and neglecting Japa. But if we chant our Japa and still have time, we can serve home Deities or do other services. In any case, we should offer our food to the Lord, but it can be offered to pictures of Radha-Krishna, Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada, it is not absolutely necessary to have Deities.
    
    Maybe in your nearest temple it is possible for you to find a conselour/advisor devotee whom you can ask specific questions and who will help you in Krishna consiousness. It is very nice to be able to come to temple and associate physically with devotees, but still the main aspect of association is hearing and discussing about Krishna, so if for some reason we cannot attend temple very often, we can still always keep devotee association through hearing and reading. This website also offers nice devotee association.
    
    Devotees should deal nicely with their relatives and friends, but if such people are not intersted in devotional service, we should not put our heart in such association. We give our heart to devotees. With others we are polite and nice, but not get too close. My experience is that if you simply keep your determination to be Krishna conscious, then people who are materialistic gradually will leave you alone. For some time they will come to you and try to gossip or something like that but when they see that you are not interested in gossip, they will find somebody else to gossip with and not disturb you anymore. Then you have more time for service. Or some of them may appreciate your sincerity and also become interested. Then you have nice association even in your home.
    
    It is normal for family devotee to dedicate some time to earn money, maintain home, deal with relatives etc. But of course it can become a burden. So if we find ourselves very entangled we can simply dedicate to Lord Krishna whatever time we find and pray to Him to gradually relieve us from material duties and give us chance for more service. He will surely help, because He is more eager to get us back to Him than we are. When we take one step towards Him, He takes a hundred towards us.
    
    You can find many lectures of spiritual masters here on ISKCON Desire Tree. The main aspect of accepting spiritual master is hearing his instructions very carefully and trying to apply them in our life. I found my Siksa Guru in this way, I simply started listening to lectures and became attracted to his instructions. If you become really attracted to particular spiritual master's instructions then with time you can find a way to receive initiation from him.
    
    Your humble servant, Mldd
    - Volunteer
      
      Mohini Madhavi > Madhavi-lata devi dasi May 17, 2013 at 5:35pm
      
      hope it will be a small addition to Your answer Madhavi Lata Mataji, i mean these lectures and seminars for all those who are in the same situation as us, Dhara Mataji
      
      Mahabharata
      
      Seminars of Manu Samhita for girl and many more...
      
      Your servant,

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