Krishna's Plan

4 October 2008. It is 8:07 am. I am sitting here beside Vishnupriya Mataji in the neurosurgery section of the Odense University Hospital in Odense, Denmark. She is fully conscious, but still not feeling well. She is most simply resting in the hospital bed with her eyes closed, and is due for extensive testing of her brain this morning so the neurosurgeons can decide what to do.

In regards to our preaching tour, we have our plans but on a higher level we have to always be surrendered to Krishna's plans. We were scheduled to fly to Helsinki this morning and then take a voyage across the Gulf of Finland this afternoon to Tallinn, Estonia where I was to be giving the Sunday feast lecture and then to travel on to Tartu, Estonia for a public hall lecture on Monday 6 October. Those plans have now been derailed by the higher arrangements of the Lord. I am on hold here in Odense waiting to see what will be the outcome of today's testing of Mataji's brain and then remaining her with here until the treatment or surgery is complete and she has recuperated sufficiently to be allowed to travel.

Of course, on the one hand while it is always good for us to make our plans how we can be fully engaged in Krishna's service, at the same time we have to always remember that Krishna can step in at any time with his plans to override ours. We have to always be ready to humbly submit ourselves to Krishna's plans whatever they may, whether they are pleasing to us or not pleasing to us. By this surrendered detached mood of always gratefully accepting the Lord's arrangements, the devotee is always fully satisfied and peaceful within his heart in spite of so many upheavals of the material energy.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Counteracting Controversy

Here is my question for the Ultimate Self Realization Course. It is quite open and can be interpreted in any way you see fit:

"How can we, as members of the Hare Krishna movement, combat the Western controversy generated by our movement?"

Varun,
Sydney, Australia

Answer: Become Ideal Devotees

Any spiritual movement which becomes prominent in this material world is bound to stir up controversy. So the fact that we are controversial is actually a good sign. It means that we are actually doing something to have an impact on the material society. The way to counteract controversy is that each of us must be an ideal devotee solidly fixed in service to Krishna, and we also must be very merciful to all of those who have not yet had the greatest good fortune of becoming Krishna conscious by introducing them in an intelligent, compassionate way to the wonderful world of Krishna consciousness.

It has been stated that there are three phases of the Krishna consciousness movement: ignore, abhor, and adore. In the beginning no one knew we existed and we were completely ignored. Then by our enthusiastic preaching activities our presence became strongly felt and being misunderstood we were feared and hated. But now we are moving into the third phase as we become more mature in our ability to intelligently present Krishna consciousness to the world society in a way that is highly palatable and attractive to them. This is phase of our being widely appreciated throughout the world.

I do not know why you refer to the controversy as "western". Our movement has been controversial both in the west and in the east. In India we were so controversial that in the Indian parliament the idea was raised that the Hare Krishna devotees are CIA agents working for the US government. It was also rumored that the chakra on the dome of our temple in Juhu, Mumbai was a radio transmitting tower for sending spy messages to the USA. Of course, these claims were all false, but this goes to show that ISKCON has also been highly controversial in India.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari