Almost every living entity feels that there is something missing, something empty in their lives. Different people try to fill this emptiness in various ways. At the grossest level people try to fill their stomachs with varieties of foods and try to get rid of the emptiness within them. Others try to fill their houses with various gadgets and luxuries hoping that that will get rid of their inner emptiness. Still others try to fill their bank account with big, big figures with the same hope. At the subtler level some intellectuals try to fill their brains with facts and figures and their name-plates with various degrees hoping that that will satisfy them. Still others who have some special talent try to fill their showcase with various medals and trophies hoping to get relief from their existential emptiness. But all these people miss the point. It is heart that is empty. And the heart can be filled only with love, divine love.
As long as one does not experience God's love, Krishna prema, in one's heart, one's heart and life will be empty, no matter how filled one's stomach, pocket, bank account, name plate, brain or showcase or whatever else may be.
The well-known theologian Michael Novak has said "Filling the empty shrine which lies at the heart of modern civilization is the greatest of all intellectual and human adventures" Krishna consciousness is precisely the method of filling the void in the heart.
Krishna is the all-attractive Supreme Person full of all the opulence that attract us to the things and the people of this world – wealth, beauty, strength, fame, knowledge and renunciation. Therefore when we chant Hare Krishna, the chanting invokes the divine presence of Krishna in our hearts. Krishna appears on our tongue, enters through our ear holes into our heart and fills the void there. That is why attentive chanting of the Holy name is the most satisfying activity in the entire creation. And the devotee who regularly and attentively chants the holy names finds tremendous, incomparable inner fulfillment, which makes him happier than the wealthiest person in the whole world. Thus we can better appreciate the profundity of the Founder Acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Srila Prabhupada's cherished instruction, "Chant Hare Krishna and be happy."
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