Appointment with Krishna 7/12

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

I am summarising herewith some of the nectarean instructions of our beloved spiritual master when he was here in Abu Dhabi in continuation of the series on ‘Appointment With Krishna’.

You can only remember Krishna, If Krishna remembers you:
We have to always request Krishna for His mercy. If we keep on doing that, Krishna may be merciful. In order for Him to be merciful, our behavior should be one hundred percent Krishna conscious. It is not very difficult because that is our natural position. The child naturally goes to the parents and in the same way we have to go to Krishna. But the problem is that we are obstinate and we have impediments in the form of so many impressions in the mind from outside. Our natural position is vanishing because of that. That way we are in Kali yuga. It is our choice to be in Kali yuga. If we do not want to be in Kali yuga we have to be ‘satata yuktaanaam’ – always engaged in His service. According to our own position, we have to find out a way to be ‘satata yuktaanaam’. There is no choice. We have to do it and we have to only see how to do it.

Thorough Honesty:
The first step to achieve the above is to be thoroughly honest in all our dealings. We see that everywhere there is cheating. If we are not honest, our forms also change for the worse. Lying, cheating and grabbing tendency are the three sins to be completely avoided by us. In this world, there is no safe way. Land is encroached, gold is stolen, and banks cheat the people. Thus everywhere there is cheating. Hence we have to be behind Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad gita. The best use of intelligence is to be always with Srila Prabhupada through his books. We are all on a tottering platform and hence we are unsettled, but with Krishna we are settled.

Don’t harm anybody:
In dream also, we should not harm anybody. We should pleasingly speak with others. The sign of detachment of a person is that he speaks smilingly with others. An attached person has so many things in his mind that he is not able to smile and speak. Everything should be done in the mode of goodness. We should not mistreat even our clothes. If we mistreat the clothes, the clothes will mistreat us. We should not squeeze the clothes too much thus destroying the thread. Our whole lifestyle should be in devotional service. If we do not want to trouble the clothes, how much more we have to be careful with the other living entities!

Transcendental approach to material problems:
Ours is a transcendental approach to all the material problems. Problems are bound to come to everyone. But the effect is less because of our approach. If the consciousness is pure, the bodily existence will also be smooth. The body will function properly, if only we ignore it a little bit. But too much ignorance should not be there.

Minimize artificial necessities:
Artificial necessities should be kept to the bare minimum. Money is really a curse if it stops us from a simple life. The more the money, the less simple life becomes. As the age increases, austerities also should increase. We should drag the body to the best of our ability. Sense gratification should be kept to the minimum. The more we control our diet, old age becomes tolerable. We should come to the conclusion that enough is enough. If we increase the artificial necessities throughout our life, it takes its toll in the old age.

Controlling anger:
We show our anger in a place where there is no opposition. Anger disturbs everything. The whole system gets upset because of anger.

No loans: Life must be completely peaceful and for this, we should not owe anything to anybody. Maharaja insisted that we should sincerely practice these things in our life and thus sincerely change for the better and this is reflected in our faces. Preaching is not the goal of our existence. Our goal is to do sincere devotional service and go back home, back to Godhead. But our unfulfilled desires hold us back. We should become aware of the powerful influence of time factor and thus become serious.

Srimad Bhagavatam warns us in 3.30.1:

kapila uvaaca
tasyaitasya jano nunam
naayam vedoru-vikramam
kaalyamaano 'pi balino
vaayor iva ghanaavalih

The Personality of Godhead said: "As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the time factor, by which he is being carried."

Hence we cannot remain complacent, but we should continue the momentum of our devotional service by keeping up our appointments with Krishna.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.