Janmastami is coming up… we celebrate the appearance of Lord Krsna in this world. Remember that this week is especially a week for serving Krsna, and the more we do so then the more Krsna will reveal Himself and we begin to see right here and now, and at the end of our life, we can go back the spiritual world!
In this world, there are churches, mosques, temples – there are so many different religious groups. Sometimes, in the airport, I see Jews with their black hats and curls on the side of their faces; I see Arabs in their full Middle-Eastern outfits; I see a Christian priest; a few nuns from Africa; some Buddhists from Thailand… and then, there is a Hare Krsna devotee walking in the middle of it all!
In the airports, there is just an exhibition of world religions. So many religions in the world and the reason is because God is invisible!
When an atheist walks past and says, “There is no God!”
Then someone else argues, “HE is the only way.”
There are so many opinions on religion because HE is invisible in this world… that is the issue. Everyone has some information – this group has one prophet and the other group has another. Nobody else has seen ‘it’ but the prophet has and he has written about it. People accept traditions and beliefs from their teachers. This is the reason why there are so many religions in the world and why one group looks at the other without trust and with suspicion.
The more people take to their traditions very seriously and to heart, the more they get realisations and then religion is not just an idea from a book which is taught in some institution… but it begins to manifest within the heart! And the more it manifests within the heart, the more we find the same common experience – that there are no differences in religion actually since these differences exist only externally. If you go deeper then you will see that people in different parts of the world, in different traditions, actually have the same deep experiences however, it may not always be understood in this way.
Beyond this world, there is a spiritual world where pure living beings can go and live eternally with the Supreme Lord. We have heard this in the descriptions of all traditions – some say heaven but we say spiritual world but it is the same thing. In the spiritual world, we should understand that the Supreme Lord is always visible and present, and He appears in His all attractive form. Therefore, He is the one who attracts the attention of everyone! In the spiritual world, everyone can recognise Krsna as being in the centre.
Whether we look at the Vedic tradition, Christianity or Islam, people are practising with the desire to get blessings for good health, beauty or other materialistic things. Ultimately, such things are the lower aspects of spirituality because these things are temporary… so what is the point in praying for something temporary!? This Hare Krsna movement is not interested in that since we should only be interested in the eternal benefit!
Eternal is not after this life, eternal is also right now, eternal is always. So eternal is after this life and it is also now. Therefore, blessings come after and also for the present and this is truly how Krsna Consciousness works since it brings blessings for the present and for the future!
The devotees are not asking for materialistic things because they ask the Supreme Lord Krsna for service, to be allowed to serve Him. And when we serve the Supreme Lord, then a change of heart takes place and then our whole life will become auspicious and very nice!
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=49695
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