Service in holy dham gives multiplied benefits. So I believe unless one is preaching or has occupational duties to earn money, one should serve in the holy dham to get more benefit. is that correct understanding?
by more benefit, i was talking of spiritual purification or quick spiritual progress as we don't know what our past karma has to bring.
Replies
Hare Krishna Prabhu, my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
First thing we should do is accept a bona fide Guru.
Second thing is to follow his instructions. If he says we stay in Holy Dhams like Mayapur or Vrindavan then we can go ahead.
But if we do that by our own result may not be so good. We may get frustrated out of loneliness, or out of premature renunciation.
So if one has enough money one can select to stay with those Devotees who inspire him to chant the Names of Krishna. For example, Devotees in Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai all try to stay near to ISKCON Temples and attend Temple programs. So that is nice.
Personally i cannot live alone. I need people around me. I need friends around me. So i select to be in a hellish city like Mumbai but with Devotee friends but not Holy Dham like Mayapur but alone.
So most important thing is ASSOCIATION.
I may have a palace like house in my home country but i prefer to stay in a tiny room along with many people but people who are very dear to me; people who inspire me to chant ...
So Prabhu, try not to look to external situations but to the people who surround You.
If in Holy Dham You will be with Your Devotee friends then that is perfect. But if not then it will be boring. When we are bored we start to sleep more, eat more, ... in this way get degraded easily.
Conclusion:
If You have money then stay in some nice Devotee community no matter in which city it is.
Your servant,
Hare Krishna respected Dean Prabhu,
Please be kind to us and could You tell us more about Yourself!
We want to know You more: what You eat, what You do in life; from where You are;
Who are Your Diksha and Shiksha Gurus; How many rounds of Hare Krishna Maha Mantra You chant on beads daily; Which Shirmad Bhagavatam You read; do You do job? If not then how You maintain Your soul in Your body?...
I am sure that You won't reply to all these questions but out of Your kind mercy You may wish to do that.
It is interesting how You are so renounced and attached and depended on Krishna. It is really amazing.
So it would be great if we know more about You please!
Thank You!
Your servant in serving to Srila Prabhupada,
The problem is we cannot artificially subdue our material desires.
If we stay in Holy Dham and do not earn money for food but chant Hole day that means we have to eat once a day and thing which comes on its own accord.
Sleep less, and stay in Brahmachari ashram under the care of a bona-fide Guru or in Vanaprastha ashram again under the guidance of a bona fide Guru.
We cannot just shift to Holy Dham and live as like as we want.
No.
That is not proper according to Vaishnava culture.
So we have desire to eat 3 times a day. And we have desire to eat particular food not everything and all.
We have desire to sleep till Sun rise...or etc.
So that means we have to work and earn money honestly and after buying food, cloths we have to offer to Krishna then accept back His Prasadam.
In that way we will satisfy our material desires also at the same time that will be a pure Bhakti Yoga.
Holy Dham is there where Devotee chants the Holy Names.
Holy Dham is there where a Devotee of Krishna is.
Your servant,
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
One should have service attitude, regardless of holy dham or any other place. Why are we trying for maximum benefit? This is not a one on one free program going on...imagine if Krsna did the same to us. When Prahlad was calling out to the lord, the lord didnt say "sorry, wrong janma, you are born in a demon family, I cannot help you".
Its like this, if you want to serve, you will serve anywhere. Yes, it is true that if you serve in holy dham, the benefit is more. It is also true that if you commit any aparadha in holy dham, the sin is also more. Therefore we need to purify ourselves and develop loving service attitude towards the lord and His associates and devotees.
Then when we visit a holy dham, by His desire, we will get service also and satisfaction from serving. Since we will have already rendered some service, we will know how to do what and will be able to please senior vaishnavas.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
pranams, so pleasing senior devotees is the way to bhakti. correct?
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
By pleasing senior vaishnavas, what happens? They give us Krsna bhakti as prasad. That way, we can get into the realm of bhakti. Our effort has to be there of course, but the mercy is garaunteed because we are recommended to God by His own servant/ devotee.
I hope you have understood.
Haribol,
Rashmi