Devotional Service is All Action - 2

Kalpatararu Co-operative Housing Society

Community Hall

CBD Belapur Navi Mumbai

Sector 8-B

July 10, 2010

A person seeking spiritual solace should not be whimsical. He should approach a

Vaishnava and seek guidance from him regarding his course of action in spiritual life. This
is the message of Bhagavat Gita. One of Lord Krishna’s names is Keshava which means
master of Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva. Arjuna told the Lord that he had no business to
disobey the Lord since Brahma and Shiva themselves were servants of Lord Krishna.
There are many devotees who attend the Satsanga program. They are however not very
serious in applying the philosophy to their lives and come to basically waste their time.
They go ahead and even advise interested devotees, their own philosophy of filtering
information that is being said in the Satsanga Classes. In the name of pragmatism, these
so called devotees fully misguide innocent devotees. Satsanga means to associate with
sincere devotees and who are dedicated.

Two principles are discussed here. One is Karma and the other is Gyana.Krishna clearly
states that Arjuna is not the right candidate for Gyana and should stick to Karma. The
Mayavada philosophy states that anybody who has taken up Sanyaas has attained the
status of being labeled as God. This philosophy is outright rejected by Lord Krishna. One
has to first indulge oneself into the service of the Lord through Karma Yoga and thus
purify one’s actions and senses. Thus through the purified senses one needs to attain the
proper knowledge which educates one in the Science of God. If this process is not
followed in the right manner and one tries to attain Gyana before doing Karma Yoga, the
mind of such a person will be flickering since the purificatory process of the mind and
senses through the practice of Karma Yoga has not been practiced. The question of
seeking God with so many impurities in the mind and the senses simply does not arise
through Gyana.

One should learn from senior devotees or representatives of the Guru. Learning their
lifestyles and adopting that will be an essential part of sadhana Bhakti. This can lead to
purification of the heart. Children do not sit quite even for a single moment. They have to

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be continuously be engaged in activity all the time. Otherwise they can create havoc. This
is exactly the nature of the soul. The soul cannot be inactive even for a moment. This is
its dharma unlike what mayavada preaches. Children take pleasure in playing. Children
are even very active while playing sack race; in a similar way, the soul is extremely active
even when this is entrapped in the sack of the material body. Thus it is evident that one
needs to be always active and should engage consciously in activities that are directed
towards the Lord’s service. Children are often encouraged in book coloring activities like
coloring ‘Mickey Mouse’ .This is a inappropriate activity since the children are forced to
take up ‘Mouse Consciousness’ due to constant engagement in coloring ‘Mickey Mouse’.
Children should be given similar activities which are focused around Krishna. Activities
like painting pictures of Krishna, Balarama, Radha, and Yasoda are highly recommended.
This activity will help to raise the consciousness of children a great deal and can lead to
realizations early in life.

There are various philosophies that propound experience of God Consciousness. One
such philosophy is to undertake the vow of Silence for a continued period of time. Belief
is that, as one does this, he experiences God. However Srila Prabhupada strictly rejects
this idea. Such undertakings are for neophyte devotees. Some people have a habit of
yapping all the time and this practice can at the most help conserve the vocal chords and
bring satisfaction and contentment in the heart for a while. Hence this can be regarded
as a preliminary practice.

Prahlad Maharaja in the Srimad Bhagavatham says, there are 10 types of spiritual
practices that one needs to undertake as a preliminary endeavor to Bhakti and mauna or
Silence is one of them. However he clarifies that these practices are for people who have
not conquered their senses and do not restrain them from performing activities which
are non-conducive for spiritual progress. Process of forsaking work for spiritual progress
is only a temporary suggestion for conquering certain non-conducive propensities of the
practitioner. One needs to go beyond for further realizations. The greatest punishment
that one can undergo is to lose one’s freedom. Jail life is such an example. People are not
given positive engagements and hence they get into bad habits. Thus activities like
chanting, doing Sankirtan, doing Aarti become very important so that the heart becomes
focused in service to the Lord. Before one expects positive habits from one’s children, the
parents have to set examples and walk the talk so that children are able to follow the
footsteps of their parents. It becomes baseless to give instructions to one’s children
which the parents themselves are not capable of following. There are parents who
disallow their children from watching Television when they themselves are stuck to the
Television. This is hypocrisy. People get into bad habits because they do not have
anything positive to follow. Activity is the very life of the soul.

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One needs to be very strict with one’s mind. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati used very
strong words to tackle the mind. He would say, in the morning, hit the mind with shoes
so that it gets engaged in chanting. In the evening use the broom stick to temper your
mind so that chanting happens. The greatest example that is set before us is the
movement of Srila A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He had trained Westerners to
surrender to Krishna and lead a life of utter austerity for the pleasure of Krishna. This is
quite a lesson for people who have taken birth in India. They find it very difficult to live
this sort of a life where as our foreign counterparts are ably following the Vedic System
of lifestyle.

Our business is to chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra and request the Lord earnestly to ask
for service. This should be our only aim , object and ambition.