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Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

 

We all have so many desires. In purport to verse 4.8.34 His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada very nicely says, "Desire must exist, either material or spiritual. Material desire arises when one wants to satisfy one's personal senses. One who is ready to sacrifice anything to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be said to have spiritual desire". So His Divine Grace clarifies that we cannot be devoid of desires. Based on whether we want to satisfy our own senses or whether we want to satisfy Krishna's senses we can understand whether our desires are spiritual or material. We sometimes wonder whether it is correct or not to approach Supreme Lord with material desires. Krishna is so kind that He says in Bhagavad Gita that even if we have material desire or spiritual desires, He considers us as maganimous souls if we approach Him for the same. Dhruva Maharaj's life gives us very good teachings for us in this regard. When the step-mother Suruchi scolded him for sitting in the lap of his father, Dhruva Maharaj was very much hurt and as per his mother Suniti's advice, Dhruva Maharaj left for the forest. Seeing his determination Narada Muni appeared in front of him and advised him to go back home and not to take such things to his heart. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 4.8.33 Narada Muni says that, "One should try to keep himself satisfied in any condition of life — whether distress or happiness — which is offered by the supreme will. A person who endures in this way is able to cross over the darkness of nescience very easily."
 
In the subsequent verses we find Dhruva Maharaj very humbly and honestly accepts to Narada Muni that although whatever he is telling is good, he is not unable to follow his advice, because of his kshatriya spirit. So he is requesting him to provide an advice which will be possible for him to follow. He frankly accepted to Narada Muni that he had material desires and says in verse 4.8.37

 

 

"O learned brahmana, I want to occupy a position more exalted than any yet achieved within the three worlds by anyone, even by my fathers and grandfathers. If you will oblige, kindly advise me of an honest path to follow by which I can achieve the goal of my life."

 

  Since he was honest in expressing his desires and was determined to follow the advice given by his spiritual master Narada Muni for the same, we find that in the end, not only was his material desire satisfied, but Lord also blessed him with priceless gift of bhakti. So sincere and honest surrender to spiritual master pleases the Supreme Lord a lot and that is the key for success in life. On the other hand we foolishly try to cover up material desires in the name of spiritual desires and approach the Lord. Since Lord is omniscient, it is not possible to cheat him by such hypocritical talk. Lord as Paramatma knows the sincerity of purpose of each of our actions and will reciprocate to us accordingly.

 

Few days ago one devotee shared with us how there is a very nice dedicated devotee couple living in US. In the initial days, that Prabhuji and Mataji were performing very active service. But after some months the health condition of that mataji got so worse that she had to be bed-ridden in hospital for so many months. During those tough moments, they started losing faith in Krishna. They frankly told the other devotees that the only reason why they came to bhakti was with the hope to get rid of the fatal disease from which that mataji was suffering. But now after so much of dedication and service, still when the conditions didn't improve they had lost faith. The doctors gave up all hope and had told that Prabhuji that his wife will not be able live for more than few days. Although they had lost faith in Krishna, one good thing which that Prabhuji continued in all those trying circumstance was that, since they had earlier taken a vow to their spiritual master to chant 16 rounds, he continued chanting the rounds, both his quota as well as for his wife. Seeing this sincerity in him, the all merciful Lord inspired and arranged for that couple to meet their spiritual master and take his shelter. So by Krishna's mercy and merciful prayers of spiritual master, within a month her health condition improved so much, that she miraculously got discharged from hospital and now for the past so many years both of them are doing tremendous service to Guru and Krishna.
 
So irrespective of whether our desires are spiritual or material, instead of any hypocrisy, if we sincerely and honestly admit our inebrieties to Guru and Krishna and just try to follow the instructions of Guru, then Krishna takes care of both our spiritual and material needs and removes away all our inebrieties. 

 

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Sudarshana devi dasi.