As the Ganges Flows to the Sea

Just as a river is flowing constantly to the sea, the devotee's heart is always flowing closer and closer to Krishna. In this connection Queen Kunti has prayed as follows:

tvayi me 'nanya-viṣayā
matir madhu-pate 'sakṛt
ratim udvahatād addhā
gaṅgevaugham udanvati

"O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else."
--Srimad Bhagavatam SB 1.8.42

In this way Krishna consciousness is never stagnant. It is ever-increasing, dynamic, and ecstatic.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Sunset over the River Ganges Mayapur, West Bengal, India

Sunset over the River Ganges Mayapur, West Bengal, India

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Desire for Profit, Adoration, and Fame

My dear Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to You! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Our past acaryas have mentioned that there are 3 weeds that grow well along with bhakti (due to nama aparadha) and choke the devotional creeper:

1. Desire for profit
2. Desire for adoration and worship
3. Desire for name fame, fame, distinction, prestige..

Like lust, anger and greed, can the above bad qualities also be used in Krishna's service in order to become purified? Or should a devotee try to cut them out completely from the root?

Your servant,
Bhaktivinode das

Answer: Only for Krishna, Not For Ourselves

For Krishna's sake we can desire unlimited profit. If we can acquire millions and billions of dollars, we can use this to push forward the Krishna consciousness movement. But we should not collect a penny for our own sense gratification. For ourselves we should accept only what is necessary to keep body and soul together and nothing beyond that.

We want to see that everyone adores and worships Krishna, but we should not desire any adoration or worship for ourselves. In this way all name, fame, distinction, and prestige should be offered to Krishna. It is natural that someone who preaches the glories of Krishna all over the world will become famous. Such fame should only be utilized for awakening the fallen, conditioned souls to Krishna consciousness. It should never be utilized for one's sense gratification. If it is thus misused, the preacher will lose his Krishna consciousness and fall back down again into material existence.

Srila Prabhupada taught us by his ideal example how not to be carried away by fame. Whenever he was glorified for his amazing accomplishment of spreading the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world, he would never accept the credit for this. He would always say that it was by the mercy of his Guru Maharaja and that if he had any credit at all, it was only that he always obeyed his spiritual master's instructions.

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