After visiting the devotees in Phoenix for one week and having a great time churning various topics centered around the cultivation of bhakti, I flew to Sacramento in California to spend one week in the association of the devotees there.
The community is a young sanga with a recently acquired preaching centre. We had nice programs, and devotees were eagerly accepting the books I offered.
I also had an opportunity to visit the temple in Berkeley and give the Sunday feast lecture. It was a great honour and pleasure for me to visit this temple which Srila Prabhupada had established. The Jagannath Deities are unique and historic, being carved by Syamasundara Prabhu for the very first Ratha Yatra in 1967 at nearby San Francisco! Such temples are truly historic holy places...! I always feel fortunate to connect with some of these disciples of Srila Prabhupada who sacrificed themselves for his mission in the early days....
I also had an opportunity to visit the temple in Berkeley and give the Sunday feast lecture. It was a great honour and pleasure for me to visit this temple which Srila Prabhupada had established. The Jagannath Deities are unique and historic, being carved by Syamasundara Prabhu for the very first Ratha Yatra in 1967 at nearby San Francisco! Such temples are truly historic holy places...! I always feel fortunate to connect with some of these disciples of Srila Prabhupada who sacrificed themselves for his mission in the early days....
On my visit, the topic of the false ego was once again fascinating to explore. In a nutshell, the false ego makes us imagine we are something that we are not. These false designations certainly compare to various temporary roles we may play – serving as a wife and mother, a husband and father, a teacher, sankirtana leader, and so forth. We can understand them to be just like different hats we may be wearing at certain times and in different circumstances.
A family man, for example, may play the role of a lover when wearing the hat of a husband. He may play the role of a caretaker when wearing the hat of a father. At the office, he again wears a different hat when playing the role of a boss. This is rather natural.
However, the problem arises when we start identifying with the hat instead of merely wearing it, forgetting our true and eternal identity as being a humble servant of the servant.
Since these temporary roles may give us some limited sense gratification,
being in ignorance of our true identity, we therefore become attached to them. They may award us the satisfaction of being important – some small pleasure and recognition, which the false ego especially hankers for. Due to this subtle sense enjoyment we develop attachment, which in turn increases our identification with those designations. Accepting Krishna consciousness and reading the scriptures does not mean we are exempt from this cycle. Since it takes place on such a subtle platform, it continues to affect us even within our practice of devotional service.
I remember speaking privately to a senior devotee who had been serving in a very high position within ISKCON. The idea had arisen for this person to give up their position of leadership, and this thought created some disturbance for this devotee’s mind. In our conversation I remarked, “Well, there is life beyond such managerial positions.”
And the person spontaneously exclaimed, “Yes, maybe. But what am I then?”
My response was: “Simply a humble servant – a Vaishnava. Sooner or later we will have to give up these positions anyway!”
However, my response was not satisfying to my associate, who replied, “OK, of course. But who am I then? I have to be something!”
Our identification with these designations is so subtle and deep. It is not so easy to truly shake them off and give them up. And thus we can face an identity crisis when we have to let go of these temporary roles and positions.
We may also have experienced the conflicting situation it can lead to, when a devotee is removed from their managerial position, for example as a temple president or department head. If we identify as being a humble servant, such a change of positions will not turn into an ego battle and conflictual situation for us. All we will want to do is to serve! Whether we serve in this capacity or another will not be so important to us. We will simply request the Vaishnavas to let us know how we can serve and please them.
But if we have become attached to the subtle sense gratification and recognition that a managerial title brings along, then we will protest. We will object to such a change of positions, since it brings along the loss of our subtle enjoyment.
We may vehemently oppose the change because we have no idea how we are subtly attached, and how our false ego is in play. We actually think we are offering pure devotional service, unmotivated and unconditional. We object because we have no clue that our false ego is alive and our service is indeed mixed. We literally have no understanding of who we are separately from these roles and identities! Thus we may face an identity crisis.
By citing such examples, I by no means intend to criticise our leaders or managers. I only want to establish that it requires conscious endeavour to even recognise, let alone subdue and dissolve, the false ego. It does not take place automatically, simply by time passing by. Otherwise we would not have to face such situations, even after 30 or 40 years of practicing Krishna consciousness.
The Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila 19.170) quotes Bhakti Rasamrita-
sindhu (1.1.12) with the following statement:
"sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam. Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service to the Lord."
This statement sounds very promising, almost as if these two side effects appear automatically. But unfortunately it requires conscious effort and endeavour. Nothing of high value will be awarded to us simply by the automatic passing of time. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.14), Krishna instructs us how we are advised to serve: "yatantas ca drdha-vratah – endeavouring with great determination".
We have to muster up great endeavours in order to reach the goal of being able to give up the tendency to accept our temporary roles and designations as being our true identity.
Another very common example from our practical life in ISKCON is a brahmachari who has become very attached to this designation. Even though it may be the right moment for him to consider changing ashrams and enter married life, due to his attachment to the subtle gratification and recognition that the position as a brahmachari brings along, he may refuse the idea of entering family life.
Thus he may create further difficulties and stumbling blocks for his future spiritual progress. In due course he may even fall down since he may not be properly situated within the brahmachari-ashram and thus may lose his spiritual strength. Or he may have to face the fact of entering married life when he is already 45 or 50 years old – an age when he should be preparing for the next ashrama of the vanaprastha phase of life. In this way we can observe how, for example, entering family life may be a true challenge to the false ego.
On the 22nd of April I moved on to Salt Lake City....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
A family man, for example, may play the role of a lover when wearing the hat of a husband. He may play the role of a caretaker when wearing the hat of a father. At the office, he again wears a different hat when playing the role of a boss. This is rather natural.
However, the problem arises when we start identifying with the hat instead of merely wearing it, forgetting our true and eternal identity as being a humble servant of the servant.
Since these temporary roles may give us some limited sense gratification,
being in ignorance of our true identity, we therefore become attached to them. They may award us the satisfaction of being important – some small pleasure and recognition, which the false ego especially hankers for. Due to this subtle sense enjoyment we develop attachment, which in turn increases our identification with those designations. Accepting Krishna consciousness and reading the scriptures does not mean we are exempt from this cycle. Since it takes place on such a subtle platform, it continues to affect us even within our practice of devotional service.
I remember speaking privately to a senior devotee who had been serving in a very high position within ISKCON. The idea had arisen for this person to give up their position of leadership, and this thought created some disturbance for this devotee’s mind. In our conversation I remarked, “Well, there is life beyond such managerial positions.”
And the person spontaneously exclaimed, “Yes, maybe. But what am I then?”
My response was: “Simply a humble servant – a Vaishnava. Sooner or later we will have to give up these positions anyway!”
However, my response was not satisfying to my associate, who replied, “OK, of course. But who am I then? I have to be something!”
Our identification with these designations is so subtle and deep. It is not so easy to truly shake them off and give them up. And thus we can face an identity crisis when we have to let go of these temporary roles and positions.
We may also have experienced the conflicting situation it can lead to, when a devotee is removed from their managerial position, for example as a temple president or department head. If we identify as being a humble servant, such a change of positions will not turn into an ego battle and conflictual situation for us. All we will want to do is to serve! Whether we serve in this capacity or another will not be so important to us. We will simply request the Vaishnavas to let us know how we can serve and please them.
But if we have become attached to the subtle sense gratification and recognition that a managerial title brings along, then we will protest. We will object to such a change of positions, since it brings along the loss of our subtle enjoyment.
We may vehemently oppose the change because we have no idea how we are subtly attached, and how our false ego is in play. We actually think we are offering pure devotional service, unmotivated and unconditional. We object because we have no clue that our false ego is alive and our service is indeed mixed. We literally have no understanding of who we are separately from these roles and identities! Thus we may face an identity crisis.
By citing such examples, I by no means intend to criticise our leaders or managers. I only want to establish that it requires conscious endeavour to even recognise, let alone subdue and dissolve, the false ego. It does not take place automatically, simply by time passing by. Otherwise we would not have to face such situations, even after 30 or 40 years of practicing Krishna consciousness.
The Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila 19.170) quotes Bhakti Rasamrita-
sindhu (1.1.12) with the following statement:
"sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam. Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service to the Lord."
This statement sounds very promising, almost as if these two side effects appear automatically. But unfortunately it requires conscious effort and endeavour. Nothing of high value will be awarded to us simply by the automatic passing of time. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.14), Krishna instructs us how we are advised to serve: "yatantas ca drdha-vratah – endeavouring with great determination".
We have to muster up great endeavours in order to reach the goal of being able to give up the tendency to accept our temporary roles and designations as being our true identity.
Another very common example from our practical life in ISKCON is a brahmachari who has become very attached to this designation. Even though it may be the right moment for him to consider changing ashrams and enter married life, due to his attachment to the subtle gratification and recognition that the position as a brahmachari brings along, he may refuse the idea of entering family life.
Thus he may create further difficulties and stumbling blocks for his future spiritual progress. In due course he may even fall down since he may not be properly situated within the brahmachari-ashram and thus may lose his spiritual strength. Or he may have to face the fact of entering married life when he is already 45 or 50 years old – an age when he should be preparing for the next ashrama of the vanaprastha phase of life. In this way we can observe how, for example, entering family life may be a true challenge to the false ego.
On the 22nd of April I moved on to Salt Lake City....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
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