Tolerance Yields Huge Dividends

One of the most difficult qualities to consistently manifest is tolerance. In spite of it being very difficult to always be tolerant, it is well worth it for us to expend a tremendous amount of endeavor to develop this quality. Why is that? Lord Caitanya taught us that we should be more tolerant than a tree, that we should offer all respect to others without expecting any respect for ourselves. He said that the advantage of doing this is that in such a state of mind we can chant the holy names of the Lord constantly. As soon as we become intolerant our minds become disturbed and we are not able to peacefully absorb ourselves in the Lord's holy names. Even though they are unlimitedly sweet, as soon as we become disturbed by intolerance, the names lose their sweetness and become bitter.

Of course, this does not mean that we should tolerate blasphemy against the Lord and His devotees. What this does mean is that we should be tolerant of any and all things that may be a disturbance for our sense gratification. Such investment of our energies will pay off with huge spiritual dividends.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: How Can I Give Up Lust?...

How can I give up lust? Sometimes it is very strong desire and still there within my heart. I really want to give up this desire and to be Krishna Consciousness. Please help me.

Your student

Answer: Experience Genuine Pleasure on the Spiritual Platform...

Lust is a desire to enjoy the contact between your material senses and the object of the material senses in the form of a member of the opposite sex. In order for sex pleasure to be enjoyable one has to come down to the platform of identifying the body with the self. This is a false concept which prolongs one's enslavement within the cycle of birth and death. By coming down to the bodily platform, on which there is only a perverted reflection of actual pleasure, one simply cheats himself out of factual happiness in the worst possible way. Why it is the worst way? Because there is no material pleasure greater than sex pleasure, there is nothing that reinforces the false bodily conception of the self more than sex. It causes one to very strongly identity as a male or as a female making transcendental realization impossible.

The first step in giving up lust is remember that you are not your body and that therefore sex pleasure does not actually touch the soul. You should realize that it is superficial, not real pleasure and that therefore it is tenth class pleasure at best. Remember that the first class pleasure, the real pleasure, comes from re-establishing one's lost relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no pleasure anywhere in the universe that comes even close to pleasure derived at every minute by one who has awakened the dormant love of God within their heart. So if one is seeking real and lasting pleasure and satisfaction, he should know that the best pleasure and satisfaction comes from developing one's love for God.

The next step is to experience genuine pleasure on the transcendental platform. This pleasure, once tasted, will be experienced as a higher taste, a greater pleasure, that what can be derived by any amount of material sense gratification. This pleasure can be easily experienced by one who engages himself in the sankirtana yajna, the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of God in the association of advanced transcendentalists:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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