Merely Beggars

"We are all sojourners on the path of death. Everyone has to die, therefore, in this state of life whether one is male or female, high or low, king or subject, rich or poor, learned or foolish-everyone can make this very rare human form of life successful by becoming a servant of the servant of the eternally pure, completely blissful Sri Hari. Even in this conditioned life one can become liberated. Therefore, it is overwhelmingly necessary to try..."

-Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur 12-13-36, Auditory Hall, Gaudiya Math

"We must not look at the world by being weighed down with the mentality that is oppressed with the sense of deficiency or othewise, by the poverty or otherwise, of the display of worldly erudition, rank, etc, by any particular person. This is the state of forgetfulness of our real selves.

All persons of this world are really superior to us in every way as far as this world is concerned. All those matters are not any commodities that are fit to be coveted by us. We are merely beggars with the triple-staff of renunciation devoted to the chanting of the Words of Sri Caitanya.

We have no more nor any higher desirable object than the Pleasure of serving Sri Hari-Guru-Vaisnavas"-Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, 3-18-33, Madras

Missing Krsna, Missing Ourself

Yesterday we were speaking on our own experiences of the process of self-realization. To many, self-realization is supposed to be an all-bliss, all the time hoedown-go and check your local chain bookstore in the "new age" section if you don't believe me.

In our experiences on the devotional plane, we can actually experience actual, honest self-realization, not sugar coated by speculations, schemes, or slippery slopes. The catch is that it's not easy, and it's not something you can easily purchase.

In this process, one begins to see the best and the worst of our character and conditionings. We can see and actualize the confident, loving, humble servant we eternally arer, but at the same time, we must deal with, face-to-face, all the roadblocks and weeds that are in the way.

Self-realization doesn't mean we try to stuff away our problems with some "secret" or some fancy poses and diet-tricks. It means we face up to what we're not so that we can become who we actually are.

Prabhupada writes in the preface to the Nectar of Devotion what real self-realization must include..

"At the present moment we are inventing so many ways to utilize our propensity to love, but factually we are missing the real point: Kṛṣṇa. We are watering all parts of the tree, but missing the tree's root. We are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but we are neglecting to supply foodstuffs to the stomach. Missing Kṛṣṇa means missing one's self also. Real self-realization and realization of Kṛṣṇa go together simultaneously. For example, seeing oneself in the morning means seeing the sunrise also; without seeing the sunshine no one can see himself. Similarly, unless one has realized Kṛṣṇa there is no question of self-realization."

The real reason for the global economic downturn?

From Prabhupada's purport to Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Chapter 15 Verse 21

"It is also stated here that in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the goddesses of fortune are faultless. Generally the goddess of fortune does not remain steadily in one place. Her name is Cañcalā, which means "one who is not steady." We find, therefore, that a man who is very rich may become the poorest of the poor.

Another example is Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa took away Lakṣmī, Sītājī, to his kingdom, and instead of being happy by the grace of Lakṣmī, his family and his kingdom were vanquished. Thus Lakṣmī in the house of Rāvaṇa is Cañcalā, or unsteady. Men of Rāvaṇa's class want Lakṣmī only, without her husband, Nārāyaṇa; therefore they become unsteady due to Lakṣmījī. Materialistic persons find fault on the part of Lakṣmī, but in Vaikuṇṭha Lakṣmījī is fixed in the service of the Lord. In spite of her being the goddess of fortune, she cannot be happy without the grace of the Lord. Even the goddess of fortune needs the Lord's grace in order to be happy, yet in the material world even Brahmā, the highest created being, seeks the favor of Lakṣmī for happiness."

Cutting

We have been reading, from the First Canto of the Bhagavatam, the heavy sauce that the saintly Vidura laid on his elder brother Dhrtarastra, as Dhrtarastra was rotting away the last moments of his life in the palace of his Pandava cousins.

The straightforward nature of Vidura's speech can certainly be disarming, if we do not take into account the deep compassion within his heart towards his elder brother and towards all living entities in general.

Can compassion and chastisement go together? As devotees, we know that Krsna's kick and His kiss are one and the same, and when an exalted devotee let's us know, in no uncertain terms, what we are doing wrong in our spiritual and material lives, then we should consider that the greatest compassionate mercy upon our poor fallen selves.

Of course, in our college outreach programs, the mode of communication must be very different. Prabhupada has warned on numerous occasions that we, as neophytes, should never be so cutting and direct in our communications with those who are newly exposed to Krsna Consciousness.

One defintion of sadhu is one who cuts, but if anything, we are only sadhus in training, still in our diapers as it were.

Prabhupada could cut directly at someone's false ego because he had no false ego, because he was directly and always absorbed in the Absolute Truth, and also as he said sometimes. because he could get away with it because he was an "old man"

So, this is the challenge we face as young preachers. We can't smash all the students who come to our programs for being "lusty drunkards" or "unabashed quasi-intellectual speculators". We can't even have these kind of judgemental mindsets towards them, or anybody, if we are going to be able to open the compassion in our heart to properly give out the reality of Krsna.

We may be frustrated by this so-called "political correctness", but it stands as a great test of our tolerance and intelligence to be able to communciate deep, profound, and challenging spiritual truths in a palatable way for the youth of America, the next generation of potential devotees.

Speaking from my own perspective, how I can chastise somebody for being addicted to sex, drugs, and rock and roll when I myself am still addicted to these things?

Going back to the essence...humility is our greatest tool, our greatest weapon. Unless and until we are free from false ego, then we don't have the potency to remove someone else's false ego in direct and surgical matters.

If we try to do so, before we are ready, we'll just come off as Gita-beating fools, as just another religion, just another group of fundamentalists.

Discard All This Quibbling

You may have noticed two things in recent days. The election of Barack Obama, the first African-American to become the President of the United States, and nationwide protests to the passing of Proposition 8 in California of all places, which strictly defines marriage as being between a man and a women, leaving out people of same-sex relationships from this social status and benefit.

The people of America, our friends and family, find themselves once again staring into the face of the question of equality, as they attempt to define and re-define the seemingly essential part of the mission of this nation, which is to give equal rights and opportunities to every person, regardless of their race, sexual preference, or any other physical category.

Abraham Lincoln said to a group of Chicago abolitionists in 1858 that we should "Discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal."

Nelson Mandela wrote in his book Long Walk to Freedom that "No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Only the hardest heart would disagree with the sentiments behind these statements, and behind the drive and urge to create and live by these ideals, but as devotees, we can understand that unless one adds the true platform of equality, the spirit soul, to the equation, then all efforts, however sincere, may end up being eternally frustrated.

In our college programs here at the University of Pittsburgh, we are surrounded by warm-hearted students who really want to make a difference, and what we try to share with them is that the real way to change, to hope, is to rise up...to the spiritual platform, opening one's eyes to the Absolute Truth.

We are doing this by revealing the timeless wisdom and lessons of Vedic culture passed down to us by the greatest acaryas. The ideal Vedic system, represented by daivi-varnasrama, brings to life a real system of equality for the ultimate benefit, which is the understanding and practical realization that we are the eternal, blissful servants of the Supreme Person, Krsna.

Vedic culture, properly applied, takes into account the inevitable differences in physical form and mental makeup and proplerly applies these differences in a way to put each and every individual living entity in the best position for the highest self-realization.

There were and are no such things as racism, sexism, and bigotry in properly applied Vedic cultural values. Everyone is seen as they are, as eternal spirit soul, and from their unique individual makeups are placed in the proper order and asrama that will give them the best chance to realize their true, eternal constitutional position.

In his purport to the 2nd verse of the Nectar of Instruction, Srila Prabhupada writes that the mahatma, or greatly realized spiritual personality "refers to those who are broadminded, not cripple-minded. Cripple-minded persons, always engaged in satisfying their senses, sometimes expand their activities in order to do good for others through some "ism" like nationalism, humanitarianism or altruism. They may reject personal sense gratification for the sense gratification of others, like the members of their family, community or society — either national or international. Actually all this is extended sense gratification, from personal to communal to social. This may all be very good from the material point of view, but such activities have no spiritual value. The basis of such activity is sense gratification, either personal or extended. Only when a person gratifies the senses of the Supreme Lord can he be called a mahātmā, or broadminded person."

Where our modern-day seekers of justice may be missing the point is in trying to force everyone onto artificial platforms of social and economic equality, which tries to vainly erase all differences, but diversity is essential to the human condition. Our differences cannot be erased, but only considered and applied in such a way that ignorant discrimination, based on the bodily platform, does not rear its ugly, ugly head.

It is our duty as devotees to make active these timeless principles of Vedic culture. We shouldn't go into fundamentalist mode and blindly condemn the efforts of progressive peoples worldwide to get their voice heard, and even to preserve their lives.

After all, we can admire the rare goodness in their hearts in this fragile, chaotic world. Let us unite with them in their efforts, in a respectful, active dialogue, and bring about real, spiritual equality in the here and now.