When I stand in front of the individual altars at our Temple I have different experiences. In front of Rama I feel courage, in front of Krishna I feel love, and in front of Lord Caitanya I feel a strong sense of acceptance.
The gift of Lord Caitanya is the gift of acceptance. Lord Caitanya is Krishna himself in the guise of a devotee. He is not only teaching us how to love Krishna; He’s also wishing to experience that love Himself. In the Gita, Krishna asks us to surrender and trust Him before love starts to flow. Lord Caitanya doesn’t ask anything of us – he just gives. He has opened a storehouse of divine love and is distributing it freely.
That’s his first gift of acceptance – Take! Take! Accept Krishna’s name and start loving Him. Accept Krishna’s love for you. Lord Caitanya is giving us an open invitation to experience the highest love. He is pushing it into our tightly clenched fists. He doesn’t care who we are, where we are from, what language we speak, or whether we are tall, small, fat, thin, have too many freckles or are missing toes. It doesn’t matter what psychic scars or baggage we are carrying, what mistakes or horrible things we may have done – he says, take Krishna’s holy name and chant with an open heart. “Accept it”, he calls out to us. He raises his arms and says “Take!”
Lord Caitanya asks us to accept the process of devotional service and by answering the call of that request he accepts us. That is why he is known a the most magnanimous–he accepts us and freely gives to us. If we can just lift our head for a moment from our busy lives, from our fears, hopes, and desires, from our study of philosophy, from our charity, austerity, or daily exercise…and breathe in this sense of acceptance, this generous offer of love, we can achieve a huge leap forward in our spiritual life.
Acceptance is part of life in general but it is especially pivotal in spiritual life. When we feel accepted by Lord Caitanya, we can accept ourselves, despite all the faults we know we have. Then we can accept others. And that becomes the basis for true respect and humility. This great and complicated world we live in that is full of great and complicated people doesn’t have to be mine to judge. Rather it is mine to accept and do my part to free myself from this cycle of birth and death, while helping others do the same. The wide arms of Lord Caitanya’s acceptance have room for us all.
Source:http://iskconofdc.org/a-sense-of-acceptance/
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