I spent one week visiting the devotees in Nigdi outside of Pune enjoying life in deep discussions with eager devotees. Although the community is not huge, nevertheless a good crowd assembled for every program, and devotees eagerly accepted the books I have published. The temple is a small version of Chowpatty, and devotees cultivate the same mood here - sweet, personal, with a humble service mood....
On the 12th of November I moved on to Chennai. Also here the devotees had arranged house programs, morning programs at the temple and a seminar on the false ego on Sunday which were well attended and received.
On the 12th of November I moved on to Chennai. Also here the devotees had arranged house programs, morning programs at the temple and a seminar on the false ego on Sunday which were well attended and received.
In The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter Three, Srila Prabhupada explains:
"Therefore, anyone who has any desire or aspiration for satisfying his senses by becoming more and more important, either in the material sense or in the spiritual sense, cannot actually relish the really sweet taste of devotional service."
Reading this statement for the first time with attention deeply affected my heart. It struck me how we have to give up this deep-rooted desire of becoming a more and more important person – even in a spiritual sense – if we want to eventually taste the sweet fruits of pure bhakti. Unless we give up the desire for fame and recognition, we will simply taste the fruits of ego satisfaction. Such fruits have a very different taste than the fruits of pure devotion. We may often confuse those two kinds of fruits, and we may easily mistake the taste of ego satisfaction to be the taste coming from devotional service. But there is a vast difference between them – as different as iron is from gold.
If we are not fully satisfied in our devotional life, not relishing the sweet taste of our services, we may ask ourselves, “What is my motivation? Maybe I desire fame and recognition? Maybe I am not truly selfless and unmotivated?”
In Sri Guru-vandana, His Holiness Gour Govinda Maharaja warns us:
"Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati says, jadera pratistha, sukarera vistha. Labha, puja, pratistha – desires for name, fame and adoration – are the stool of a she-hog. [From Vaishnava Ke?] The Vaishnava who runs after this name, fame, and adoration is merely running after the stool of a she-hog, sukarera vistha. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta has cautioned us that we should be very, very careful not to run after name, fame and adoration because it creates a great obstacle to the growth of the bhakti-lata. Instead of making advancement, your advancement will be checked and you may fall down."
The desire for recognition may manifest in very subtle forms, and thus we may not so easily detect it. The process of Krishna consciousness offers ample opportunities to place ourselves in the centre and feed our false ego. Giving classes and leading kirtans may create an ideal forum for trying to receive such gratification.
In the name of Krishna consciousness, we can do the opposite of what we should be doing: Instead of subduing and dissolving the false ego, we can feed and expand it to the maximum. It is all going on in the name of devotional service. In this way, we can miss the target of spiritual practice entirely. Instead of developing pure devotion to the Lord and His devotees, we may simply use the process of devotional practice for our own self-aggrandisement.
It requires introspection and honesty to detect those weeds within our hearts. We have to reflect: “What am I trying to do here? Am I trying to cultivate pure devotion to the Lord, or am I on an ego trip, running after the fruits of satisfying my ego? What is my motive?”
We can easily maintain our hopes and illusions, thinking that these fruits of ego satisfaction are also very tasty and juicy. We may even mistake them to be the fruits of devotional service, believing that we are doing the right thing. But we are not. We are missing the goal.
As Srila Prabhupada explains, when we run after such ego satisfaction, trying to become a more and more important person – even in a spiritual sense – we cannot experience the really sweet taste of devotional service.
Therefore, we do need a confidential, well-wishing friend on our side who has no other interest except assisting us in our spiritual growth. Such a person will be able to help us distinguish the weeds from the bhakti-lata. On our own, we may be lost.
On the 19th of November I moved on to Trivandrum/Kerala.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
"Therefore, anyone who has any desire or aspiration for satisfying his senses by becoming more and more important, either in the material sense or in the spiritual sense, cannot actually relish the really sweet taste of devotional service."
Reading this statement for the first time with attention deeply affected my heart. It struck me how we have to give up this deep-rooted desire of becoming a more and more important person – even in a spiritual sense – if we want to eventually taste the sweet fruits of pure bhakti. Unless we give up the desire for fame and recognition, we will simply taste the fruits of ego satisfaction. Such fruits have a very different taste than the fruits of pure devotion. We may often confuse those two kinds of fruits, and we may easily mistake the taste of ego satisfaction to be the taste coming from devotional service. But there is a vast difference between them – as different as iron is from gold.
If we are not fully satisfied in our devotional life, not relishing the sweet taste of our services, we may ask ourselves, “What is my motivation? Maybe I desire fame and recognition? Maybe I am not truly selfless and unmotivated?”
In Sri Guru-vandana, His Holiness Gour Govinda Maharaja warns us:
"Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati says, jadera pratistha, sukarera vistha. Labha, puja, pratistha – desires for name, fame and adoration – are the stool of a she-hog. [From Vaishnava Ke?] The Vaishnava who runs after this name, fame, and adoration is merely running after the stool of a she-hog, sukarera vistha. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta has cautioned us that we should be very, very careful not to run after name, fame and adoration because it creates a great obstacle to the growth of the bhakti-lata. Instead of making advancement, your advancement will be checked and you may fall down."
The desire for recognition may manifest in very subtle forms, and thus we may not so easily detect it. The process of Krishna consciousness offers ample opportunities to place ourselves in the centre and feed our false ego. Giving classes and leading kirtans may create an ideal forum for trying to receive such gratification.
In the name of Krishna consciousness, we can do the opposite of what we should be doing: Instead of subduing and dissolving the false ego, we can feed and expand it to the maximum. It is all going on in the name of devotional service. In this way, we can miss the target of spiritual practice entirely. Instead of developing pure devotion to the Lord and His devotees, we may simply use the process of devotional practice for our own self-aggrandisement.
It requires introspection and honesty to detect those weeds within our hearts. We have to reflect: “What am I trying to do here? Am I trying to cultivate pure devotion to the Lord, or am I on an ego trip, running after the fruits of satisfying my ego? What is my motive?”
We can easily maintain our hopes and illusions, thinking that these fruits of ego satisfaction are also very tasty and juicy. We may even mistake them to be the fruits of devotional service, believing that we are doing the right thing. But we are not. We are missing the goal.
As Srila Prabhupada explains, when we run after such ego satisfaction, trying to become a more and more important person – even in a spiritual sense – we cannot experience the really sweet taste of devotional service.
Therefore, we do need a confidential, well-wishing friend on our side who has no other interest except assisting us in our spiritual growth. Such a person will be able to help us distinguish the weeds from the bhakti-lata. On our own, we may be lost.
On the 19th of November I moved on to Trivandrum/Kerala.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
RSS Feed
