Devotional Service in All Circumstances

Another lesson to be derived from the fire calamity of ISKCON Austin is that under all circumstances devotional service can go on. We are not dependent on material circumstances to engage in devotional service. For example, many years ago here in the early days of ISKCON Austin we were evicted from our temple building and there was anxiety how our programs would continue if we did not have a building. Srila Prabhupada mercifully reassured us in a wonderful letter that he wrote to us from Delhi, India on 20 November 1971:

"It is not so important that you have no temple building just now. The main thing is that somehow or other preaching work goes on and literature is distributed. We are prepared to sleep under a tree, so what is there need for a fancy house?"

We are temporarily situated in the home of my disciple, Abhay Charan Das, until we can find a proper rental facility. It could possibly not be until January that our building will be fully repaired and suitable for once again conducting our preaching mission activities. But by Krishna's grace we are carrying on with our standard activities of deity worship and preaching Krishna consciousness without any interruption.

We are very grateful that most of our personal and temple paraphernalia escaped the fire and water damage. Our beautiful temple room, altar, festival deities, and all deity paraphernalia were completely untouched by the fire and water. Some things were destroyed beyond repair but mostly it is the building itself which took the bulk of the damage.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Six Goswamis Lived Under the Trees of Vrindavan

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Overcome Laziness?

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

I want to know how can I overcome my laziness. I have been engaged in Krishna consciousness for the past 5 years. I am chanting 16 rounds daily without fail. I read Srila Prabhupada's books. But I have found it difficult to get up early in the morning, I have tried but I failed, I have lost my hope. Please help me to overcome my laziness.

G. C.

Answer: Realize the Rareness of Human Birth

Laziness is a symptom of the mode of ignorance. To overcome this tendency one has to understand the urgency of the human form of life, that it is the rarest opportunity to escape from the cycle of birth and death. To spend time unnecessarily sleeping like a dog or a pig means to take the risk of taking birth again in this material world. Therefore you must rise early every morning before the sunrise, take your bath, and chant the holy names during the period known as the Brahma muhurta, which begins 1.5 hours before sunrise.

If you can’t wake up, get two or three loud alarm clocks and place them in different parts of your bedroom so that you are forced to get up out of bed to turn them off. Or you can have a devotee give you a wake up call on the telephone every morning to make sure that you are up.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari