I humbly ask you to read first the translation and Bhaktivedanta purport to today's verse, the 44th verse from the 8th Canto, 7th Chapter.
tapyante loka-tāpena
sādhavaḥ prāyaśo janāḥ
paramārādhanaḿ tad dhi
puruṣasyākhilātmanah
̣It is said that great personalities almost always accept voluntary suffering because of the suffering of people in general. This is considered the highest method of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone's heart.
Deep within my unconscious. the fear of what needs to be gone through, of what needs to be done, to fully have the realization of this verse lurks like a hungry crocodile, waiting to chomp down on my big comfortable elephant-leg.
It very rarely bubbles to the surface, because if I am expert in anything, I am expert in hiding myself. At the slightest tings of distress or discomfort, looking for the nearest secluded location to sleep it off. Any tendency to future bloom is instantly retracted.
But I misunderstand again...the real meaning of renunciation, of austerity. Prabhupada simply says in the purport that the true realization of this verse is to simply engage in this process of Krsna consciousness for the welfare of the whole world. Nothing else pleases the Lord more.
It is not a matter of cutting off, of whipping oneself, or working or fasting into sickness. This is life?
As my boy Balarama Chandra says "For me as an "American boy", following the regulative principles, chanting my 16 rounds, reading each day, speaking pleasantly, keeping good relationships, and sharing Kc with others is hard enough. I don't know what else I can do? All the American comforts keep calling me, emailing me, text messaging me, and standing before me with folded hands begging "how can we serve".
Dancing and singing and soaring while others sit in traffic jams and offices with stale coffee, relishing the transcendental surprise, clean, fresh air, stepping out on a limb, not sitting in a self-mediated stupor, learning to truly help others, feeding their souls. Breathing deep...
Everyday I pray to discover a little bit more and more about what it really means to live.
Only by bliss, knowledge, and realization can one reach the point of humbly and effectively spreading the mission of sankirtana-yajna, even at the expense of personal comfort and happiness, which is all I've ever known. There is no other way. Any other way dries the heart, and causes it to crumble.
