Posted by Ravi Chandran on August 26, 2011 at 2:23pm
Hear Personally, Read Personally, Serve Personally!HH Romapada Swami during Puri Yatra Dec 2010April 25, 2011Another point is that when you are carrying out a service in “the mood of humble service”, it is a person who you are serving. It's not just a matter of doing something and then putting a little mark by your name, "I did this service, I did that service", like making a report card. You are serving a person.We get so many services that are assigned to us, "Prabhuji, can you clean the temple room?" Or, "After the feast, can you wash the pots?" So, when you are doing a service, it is not "Ok, done", now I get to move onto the next thing. It is service to Krishna. The kitchen is Srimati Radharani's place, because She serves Krishna from the kitchen...So one should be in the mood of assisting. If one is to get out of the four walls of the material universe and into the spiritual realm, one has to enter into the mood of serving the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, or into the mood of serving those who are representing the Divine Couple. You are serving them in a very personal way.Hearing should also be done in a very personal way. When you are reading, read in the mood that Krishna is speaking to you, and, in the purport, Srila Prabhupada is speaking to you. He knows the condition we are in, and he is speaking to us. Read in that way, and see what happens. When you hear, receive the messages personally. Hearing should be done in that way. It's a personal message. I can honestly say that as I am speaking, I am making a particular point, thinking of different circumstances devotees are passing through in their lives. The point is in fact person-specific or categories of person-specific, who are struggling in this current time frame with a particular thing. So, hear personally and receive personally. When there is that personal communication and a relationship in which one understands the instruction, it can carry us beyond our struggles. That's how we should hear. We serve a person, and we hear in a personal way.From a lecture by HH Romapada Swami titled "Process of Hearing", delivered during Vyasa Puja Celebrations in Chicago, Jan 22 2011
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