“It occurred to me that it’s possible to be connected to Lord Caitanya’s movement, which is the topmost theology, and practice love of God, yet practice it poorly. Then we would find vaidhi-bhakti dry, chant with offenses, not love the Vaishnavas, not feel real devotion. It’s possible. It’s possible a Christian or even a Mayavadi might have more taste and devotion in his meditation than we do. That doesn’t prove that Buddhism or Christianity or impersonalism are better than Krishna consciousness, but just that we are poor, offensive followers in Srila Prabhupada’s camp. Still, we’re well situated, and we can hope to improve. One of our anarthas might be pride, thinking ourselves better than all other religionists with nothing to learn from anyone, where as actually we need to be humble.”
“In a place like this [a health care center], with so much emphasis on the body, you have to bring your own bhakti program and practice it. Nourish your Krishna consciousness. It’s up to you to draw yourself close to the fire in the heart just as someone who has been out in the cold draws near the fireplace. The fire of bhakti is kindled by the holy names. Try for it.”
“Sign in prayer hall: ‘No prayer means no peace.’”
“When Prabhupada says that chanting will soon bring me to pure love of Krishna, I can only conclude that it hasn’t happened to me because of my offenses to the holy name.”
“Taking care of the body or doing anything isn’t enough unless we have a purpose and think of it often. Smartavyah satatam vishnur. What am I trying to gain in becoming free of headaches and in lightening my body? How will I use health to better contribute to Lord Caitanya’s mission? How will being free of headaches improve my chanting and hearing? Improved health is only to increase my devotional life.”
“A happy moment this morning was when the attendant was spraying warm water from a pressurized hose at me to wash off the caked-on mud. I helped by pushing it off with my hands. It felt like a ritual—I was shedding a dirty covering. Wish it were that easy to wash dirt off the soul.”
“I can only take so much health talk— pontification about the pancreas.”
“Purusottama, Lord of all,
dear Guru, please
let me
let me
learn what I
must learn, although I’m afraid to ask,
‘Give it all to me now.’
You know this—
You know all—
please take me to You.
Take away the
stones I carry that
weigh me down, my
misconceptions and false possessions,
my ego.”
“Sometimes I doubt that process. Actually, I doubt it every day. The poor readers have to read through it all. It’s like having a neurotic husband and having to listen to the same complaints every day. A good wife will encourage him, and he may try to free himself, but the path is not always clear.”
“This body is meant for pain. There is no way to free myself from it. Even while sitting in the hip bath this morning, a fierce mosquito bit me in four places, causing big swellings. I could become absorbed in the misery and meditate on mosquitoes as my enemies instead of thinking of Krishna, but that is only more misery.”
“But surrender
to Nama Prabhu, the holy name.
Fall at His feet
like the lost offender you are.
Beg Him to sprinkle a few drops
of His mercy on you so
that you may rise from
the pit of despair
where you are distracted by
a thousand mental mosquitoes.
Please give me the strength to work in
Your sankirtana movement
in this world.”
“Humility’s the dad of other virtues.”
“The doctor just blew my mind with his sensible advice. I asked how to eat in the West. He said I should eat according to where I am, how I work, and how I feel. I must be my own judge of what’s good for me. He said what Prabhupada said: ‘Eat what you can easily digest.’ When you have digestive trouble or illness, eat only fruit. Or skip a meal.”
“These mosquitoes don’t even rest during the day. They have day shifts and night shifts.”
“Everything is revealed as we read Prabhupada’s books. I see how he wants us to preach in order to give both offenders and the innocent a chance to chant the holy name.”
“We are many times smaller even than a four-headed Brahma, and we are outcasts, so we don’t get to see Krishna. But He sees us. If we want to attract His mercy, we have to demonstrate sincerity in our endeavors, a service attitude (a servant a thousand times removed, a servant of His servants).”
“M. said he discovered himself remembering Krishna in a simple way and wants to pursue that during the day. He thinks how Krishna is his well-wisher. Rather than forget Him, he remembers. When misery comes, remember Him; when good fortune comes, remember Him. That’s how we should live, entering ever deeper into devotional service.”
“Read the Gita and become
a strong man—not physical bala
but self-realized, in love with Krishna.”
“We have to be here for a mission: to gain health to preach. Therefore, we are protected, but also have to protect ourselves from the mundaneness of the environment.”
“There is no easy cure for the conditioned souls’ illness. Pride, envy, material lamentation—all of these are deep-rooted problems—sense addiction, disinclination to serve Krishna, mental speculation, laziness. We have so many ills. We also have the best science with which to heal them.”
“A pious booklet about Indian Nature Cure advocates that we pray to God twice a day. That’s nice, but he discusses it as a health measure, on the same level with drinking lots of water and eating only two meals a day. Don’t they know that health is for serving Govinda? He is not a mere paragraph in the discussion, something to elevate the consciousness out of the mire that causes disease, but He’s the whole purpose of life.”
“Taking care of the body doesn’t mean identifying with the body. You take care of your car, but you don’t identify with it. You do this in Krishna’s service, so it is spiritual.”
“My headaches prove that without health you can’t do anything. Didn’t Canakya say that? It’s true. I can’t even prosecute my usual duties properly, although they are meant to sustain me. To try to gain health is certainly not maya, but important service. As Srila Prabhupada ended all his letters to his disciples, ‘I hope this meets you in good health.’ Without at least tolerable health a devotee can’t work. And this is an active movement.”
“I feel the responsibility to imbibe Prabhupada’s teachings in my heart and intelligence and to live my understanding of them as is best suited to my nature. We all have this great, personal responsibility. That’s how it is.”
“I admit I’m still a beginner, still haven’t attained the higher stages, don’t have symptoms of prema. Alas. But I’m persistent in my attachment to the mercy of His Divine Grace.”
“Lord Caitanya lifts His arms and implores us to chant and dance with Him. He personally distributes the fruits of prema from His own tree. Why hold back? Let’s take it and taste and distribute.”
“The doctor said the stomach can be extended beyond the size of the uterus, which is capable of containing a full-size baby. But it’s not meant to be so misshapen.”
“The man is a brahmacari, quite old, but the doctor was not pleased that ‘his material desires are increasing rather than decreasing.’ What is the proof? The priest requested a personal TV for his room. Yesterday the new antenna for the TV arrived, and the workmen installed it on his roof.”
“When I accept the inflated praises, it creates a karmic reaction for me. This obscurity allows me to serve the Lord with a pure motive, without expecting to be honored in return.”
“O Krishna, without You I am a fool, wandering and lost. You are my mother and father, my friend and my beloved. Your pure devotees are my well-wishers. All living beings are part of You. Your spiritual abode seems so far away, yet still You tell us we can reach it. Please help me.”
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=105987
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