Don't Ask God to Serve You

Instead of asking what Krishna can do for us, we should be asking what we can do for Krishna. This is the secret of success in spiritual life. Even though millions of people believe in God, it is indeed very rare to find a person who has realized God. This is because everybody is approaching God to serve their own purposes. Practically no one is approaching God to serve God's purposes. In the Bhagavad-gita God Himself, Lord Sri Krishna, states that He rewards us according to our degree of surrender. Approaching God to fulfill our desires is not surrender. It is business. I flatter the Lord that He is great because I want to get something out of Him. This is not love of God. This is love of my own desires. But when we approach Him to serve His desires, we are blessed with the ultimate privilege of becoming one of His eternal associates. He personally gives Himself to us. There is nothing sweeter or more rewarding that this. A person who has fully surrendered to and has thus fully realized God cannot be lacking in anything spiritual or material because that Supreme Person who owns and controls everything has become his personal property.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Krishna Exists Far Beyond the Constrictions of Material Time and Space:

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: The Character of the Spiritual World

Dear Gurudeva,

The material world is a world of duality. There is light and darkness, hot and cold, and many such pairs of opposites. There is also the duality of self and other. For instance, you and I are separate jivas (living beings), correct?

Now, in the spiritual world, are there opposites? Is it dualistic? Is there oneself and another person, the perceiver and the perceived? I ask because you said that if you take away all the negative sentiment of this world and keep only the positive, one will have an idea of what the spiritual world is like. It sounds like there is only one side of the coin and therefore no dualism. But if there are separate jivas, fully Krishna conscious, then must there be the duality of self and other?

Also, how can the spiritual world be labeled eternal, that is, beyond space and time, if there are activities taking place there? The act of dancing at every step or touching a touchstone house suggests movement through the dimensions of space. Also, all activities take time to perform.

Please enlighten me as to the character of the spiritual world, for I am very eager to hear what knowledge you have to impart.

Yours in Krishna,

Michael

Answer: Timeless Boundaryless Bliss

Yes, we are separate living entities. In the spiritual world also there are separate living entities. The spiritual world is not varietyless. If it were varietyless, it would be very dull and uninteresting. Therefore it is instead full of unlimited varieties of delightful activities and relationships all in blissful connection with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Time and space do not exist in the spiritual world as they exist here. This is why it is stated that Krishna exists beyond time and space. This, however, does not mean that the spiritual world is a void. What it means is that it is an abode of transcendental time and space.

In regards to time, one in the spiritual world can go on eternally enjoying any activity without it ever coming to an end. In this material world time is always a limiting factor. But in the spiritual world there is no restrictive influence of time. This is why everyone there is an eternal youth. They never get old.

In regards to space, it exists there, but that space is unlimited and places no restrictions upon anyone. From the Srimad Bhagavatam we learn that Krishna has pastimes with an unlimited number of calves. From this we can understand that there must also exist an unlimited amount of space to accommodate that unlimited number of cows. In the material world there is space but it is limited. In the spiritual world there is also space but it expands unlimitedly.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari