Everybody Loves God

Just as everyone has a natural affection for their homeland, the place of their birth, everyone has a natural affection for God. This is so because He is our origin. Indeed it is from Him that we derive our very existence. Our identity depends on Him because we emanate from Him.

It is only due to the deluding influence of maya or illusion that our affection is directed towards His inferior material nature. Of course, this is still Him. The Lord and His energy are non-different. So we are still loving Him. But it is just that we are going about loving Him in the wrong way, in the indirect way, and thus deriving unsatisfying results. If we can simply rechannel our love through His spiritual energy by adopting the process of devotional service, we will regain our original natural position of pure direct love of God and thus experience an eternal life, full of bliss, and full of knowledge.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

ISKCON Temple--Suva, Fiji

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Frustration

What to do? From my experience (I don't know about others) when I start off endeavoring for the transcendental bliss of Krishna consciousness I always meet with frustration.

Regarding bliss, how do you know whether it comes from God or not? and is there any chance that the bliss one experiences may come from maya? What is the test?

What is the best motivation that I could have for performing devotional service? (also, what are the not-so-good motivations I could have for performing devotional service?) And can you say anything to inspire the best attitude within me?

Yours sincerely

Alex

Answer: Capturing the Elusive Butterfly of Bhakti Bliss

It is a fact that transcendental bliss is an elusive butterfly. If we endeavor for it, we do not get it. It is only when we take the mood of service by trying to give bliss to Krishna, to Guru, to Vaisnavas, and to the general population by giving them Krishna consciousness that we begin to taste the nectar. In other words we only receive to the extent that we give. If we simply want to receive without giving, we will always remain frustrated.

It is not difficult to distinguish between material bliss and spiritual bliss. The bliss coming from Krishna is eternal and ever-increasing, while the bliss coming from Maya is diminishing and temporary. Maya's bliss is like nectar in the beginning and poison at the end. Krishna's bliss is nectar in the beginning and nectar without any end.

The first motivation for performing devotional service is to get out of our suffering situation in the cycle of birth and death. As we advance we gradually learn to perform devotional service for the pleasure of Krishna instead of for our own happiness. The more we advance in this mood of pleasing Krishna, the more we experience genuine spiritual bliss. In the beginning we only get sneak previews of this bliss. But gradually as we learn to become more and more Krishna centered and less and less self-centered, we become solidly situated in transcendental happiness.

So as I know from all of the correspondence I have received from you, you are a genuine, honest person who is seriously seeking the answers to the mystery of life and willing to do whatever it takes to realize the highest truth. You have many doubts and you are honest about them. You should continue bringing your doubts to me so that I can gradually help you to conquer over all of them with the weapon of the knowledge. As you have been dedicated to sticking with me in spite of so many doubts, I am dedicated to sticking with you no matter how long it takes until that glorious day comes when the shining sun of Krishna bhakti fully arises within your heart and then beyond that forever.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari