The Humble Musings Of The Manhattan Monk 5/15/11

We need to come to the realization that our struggles are impossible roads to cross without the grace of the Lord. This realization must not sink our spirit. How do we center our whole life and being around this grace? By learning how to pray for it constantly, in many sincere permutations of feeling, according to our circumstance and need.

We also come to this center by the habits of our reactions. Patience, firm faith, and hope born of experience, with a determination that never goes wayward, instills in us a gravitational pull towards this grace. Our reactions to our struggles never take us away from this grace.

We must feel the clear relief of giving ourselves to this grace. We earn this right slowly, only through clearly seeing the many-layered mistakes of having turned away from this grace. We feel the painful sear of this error, and this instills within us the transcendental instinct to turn deeply into constant prayer for this grace.

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The sweetest and greatest shelter we receive in this world is Krsna's reciprocation to our pure intention to love, serve, and know Him and His devotees. What comparison of relief can we find in trying to build a roof over our head that is destined to leak and fall? A materialistic peace cheaply earned and cheaply used is the poorest excuse for the satisfaction we will actually find in the courage and resolve to give our love based on this pure intention.

Our pure intention is the jewel in the dust of our heart that captivates Krsna's attention and affection towards us. This pure intention is what my Gurudeva sees in me, in his affectionate gestures and glances, in his implicit trust in my young devotion and his service to guide it

We must tenderly shine our best light on our pure intention. Its most natural reality should come to saturate our every thought, will, desire, and deed. It is the best of us, and the great privilege of our devotional life is to understand and make tangible the reality of this intention, this desire to serve with our most clear and loving heart, and to help to unveil it in the hearts of the lost souls who surround us.