BECOMING HOPEFUL
The Lord comes and manifests His grace through His devotees
to give us hope that there is no situation that is ever hopeless.
By associating with people who have faith we acquire faith
and in that faith there is unlimted hope and unlimited possibilites.
-Story of Gajendra-
When Gajendra the elephant was caught by the crocodile in the water,
he fought with all his strength but gradually his strength began to wane.
In that situation he was very depressed and he realized that
neither my family, my friends, my own power,
whatever I have acquired as the king of this jungle,
nothing material can save me.
In a helpless state he remembered the prayers he learned in his previous life.
And he began to pray to the Lord
not to save him but to accept him as His servant.
He took shelter in the heart of his heart
and the Supreme Lord descended on Garuda and saved him.
Gajendra offered a simple flower,
but Krsna doesn't accept what we offer
but accepts the intention with which we offer.
That flower was enough to conquer the heart of God;
that very day Gajendra was transported the spiritual world.
-The Lord sees our intent-
The Lord and the great devotees see our intention
One time, in the area of Sri Rangam,
the were little children playing in the sand
and they were trying to imitate the pujaris.
They would make offerings out of sand.
Oneday just after they made the raj bhoga offering out of sand
Sripad Ramanujacarya came walking by.
And they saw, "Oh! A sannyasi is coming. We must give alms."
So they ran up to him and said, "Swamiji we have alms for you."
Ramanujacarya humbly put out his begging bowl and they filled it with sand.
But it was not ordinary sand,
it was the sand that was symbolic of their offering of wonderful bhoga.
Ramanujacarya accepted that sand with great happiness, love and gratitude.
In the Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu there is a story of a brahmana
who was mentally preparing a wonderful feast for Lord Narayana
and the Lord tasted that offering.
Krsna says that he accepts a little fruit or water or leaf which is offered with devotion.
The Lord may be satisfied by a simple offering but we offer the absolute best we have.
-Devotees: Embodiment of Hope-
Hope is very important in this age of kali,
especially in the world, in the state it is going today-
so much disease, so much pollution,
so much stress and anxiety, so much suffering.
Devotees are meant to embody the principle of hope for everyone
and in order to do so we have to be filled with that hope ourselves.
From a material perspective everything ultimately is useless.
We are all going to die!
We are all going to grow old.
We don't know how old we are.
Prahlada told his 5yr old class mates that old means proximity to death,
and nobody knows when that moment is going to come.
With all the nuclear arsenals, terrorism and all kinds of diseases
we just don't know what's going to happen next.
From a spiritual perspective we understand that we are all eternal souls,
part and parcel of Krsna.
Love of Krsna is within our hearts and it simply has to be awakened.
So from a spiritual perspective each one of us,
young or old, whether we are in good health or dying physically,
whether we have a good job or we just got fired,
whether we have a happy marriage or a difficult relationship,
we should have infinite hope like Gajendra, like those little children playing in the sand,
and like the brahmana.
For one who takes shelter of the Lord, the ocean of material existence
is reduced to the water contained in the hoof print of a calf.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains that this is possible by really sincerely
taking shelter of the Lord's devotees-
by serving them, by sharing our gift with the conditioned souls,
by seeing every living being as our brothers and sisters and as a child of God,
and by being instruments of compassion,
and in that spirit crying out the holy names.
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
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