Don't Take Guru as a Pet

Srila Prabhupada used to always say that we should not take the guru like we keep a pet dog trying to manipulate him to satisfy our desires. Rather it is the position of the disciple to satisfy the bona fide spiritual master in every respect. The spiritual master is the external manifestation of the Supreme Lord who is situated within our hearts. If we fully surrender unto him as menial servants, we are immediately connected with the Supreme Lord within our hearts. But if instead we try to manipulate the spiritual master to fulfill our desires we are prolonging our entanglement in this material existence.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Always Be Tolerant?

Please accept my humble obeisances,

May your mercy always be on me,

Srila Gurudeva, is it true that one should be tolerant to both happiness and distress? If yes, how can one increase the threshold of tolerance so that it becomes easy to tolerate and also at the same time increase bhakti?

Regards,
Sunil

Answer: Become Like a Tree

An advanced transcendentalist is someone who has mastered the art of being equally happy both in happiness and distress. In fact, the highest level transcendentalists such as Queen Kunti prefer distress because they find it more conducive for their Krishna consciousness.

A first class technique for increasing one's tolerance is to always remember Lord Caitanya's order that one should be more tolerant than a tree. Just consider how tolerant is a tree. The trees provide us with cooling shade in the summertime and firewood to keep us warm in the winter. And no matter what we may do to the tree it simply tolerates it and continues rendering service. If we cut off its branches, it does not complain. And even if we come to kill the tree by chopping it down, it simply silently tolerates. The tolerance of the tree is the example chosen by Lord Caitanya to teach us how to be tolerant. So if we always remember this sublime example, our tolerance level will increase more and more.

If we are very tolerant, our minds will always be peaceful even in the midst of the most disturbing circumstances. This will make it much easier for us to remember Krishna and thus reawaken the bhakti, which is lying dormant within our hearts.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more