Assisting the Gopis

Every mornig at Mangala Arati we sing 'nikunjayuno ratikeli siddhyai' glorifying our spiritual master for being dear to Radha and Krsna because of always assisting Their gopi friends by arranging delightful rendezvous for the Divine Couple in the spiritual world. While he was here on earth, Srila Prabhupada served a gopi--Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Now he is in the spiritual world assisting the gopis. So this verse of Gurvastam was always applicable to our spiritual master, both here in this world and in the spiritual world.

Insulting Assumption

Anyone else ever had the experience of being told that their undiagnosed chronic pain is psychosomatic? "It could be referred pain, or it might be imagined." How insulting is that? I've had chronic pain in my lower right inguinal region for three years. I have had three sonograms done to try to find out what the heck is causing the pain. Nobody can find the source. So when confronted with their own inability to discover the problem, some doctors have had the audacity to blame it on my mind. Say what???

Garland Seva by Guest Author: Bhakta David Heal

I was blessed to make garlands for Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara last night and also for Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. As I was working on the garlands, I thought of Bhakta David Heal, who is a florist up in Virginia. I wondered if he had ever been engaged in the delightful service of making garlands for Their Lordships and the Acaryas. I just received a WhatsApp message from him today. He gave me permission to share his post on my blog. From Bhakta David: "I always love serving the deities in the flower department. I remember a few years back when I was in PV (Prabhupada Village) for Janmastami. There weren’t many devotees around that year. I picked marigolds all day a couple days before and made all the garlands for decorating the altar and vyasasana. I spent many hours stringing marigolds by myself while listening to Srila Prabhupada's lectures. I also made massive pamades (big round spheres of marigolds to hang from the garlands as added accents). It was so blissful for me. I was extremely tired at the end, but I couldn’t sleep! When I laid down to rest that night I wept with joy because I was overwhelmed with emotion having served so intensely for days. What a gift Prabhupada Village has been for me. Hari Hari!"

Eternally Playful

 I have a hard time surrendering to going to bed at night. I always feel like I'm going to miss out on something fun. 

In the spiritual world, people are always playing and having fun. We are originally from the spiritual world, so that is what we're used to. We are used to an atmosphere where everyone is joyful, joking, playing and having fun all the time. So it's natural for us to expect happiness and joy around every corner. It is natural that we feel anxious to return to that place where we used to always have fun at every moment.

Tonight I am praying, "My Dear Lord Krishna, You are the most fun Person and I am Your eternal servant. I am meant for giving You pleasure and by giving You pleasure, I feel pleasure. My Dear Lord, if You so desire, please allow me to experience the pleasure of always giving You pleasure."

When we pray to return to our natural engagement of rendering loving service to Krishna, Krishna hears our prayer, and He arranges for us to be engaged in various kinds of service for His pleasure. By pleasing Krishna, we become happy. 

Tomorrow is the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, the Supreme Goddess who is eternally engaged in the most pleasing pastimes with Sri Krishna. We can pray to Srimati Radharani to involve us in those loving pastimes. She can show us how to please Krishna and thereby become pleased ourselves.

"My Dear Srimati Radharani, if you so desire, please engage me in some pleasing service to Lord Sri Krishna. I hope in this way He will become pleased, and you will also become pleased. By pleasing Lord Krishna and you, I will experience the bliss that is natural to me."

To be eternally playful is our natural propensity, an important feature of our eternal relationship with and service to Krishna. So it's to be expected that we want to play all the time. But while we're here in the material world, we have to practice regulation and adherence to duty in order to learn how to transcend material proclivities and desires. Upon achieving freedom from identification with the body--the bodily concept of life--and giving up all material inclinations and hankerings, we will come to the level of pure goodness. At that point, life becomes full of joy, and we experience the natural affection for Krishna that is native to our heart.

So I'm telling myself tonight, Go to bed. Leave your desires to stay up and have fun in the care of Srimati Radharani and Lord Sri Krishna. They are the original authors of all fun activities. When you become regulated in your duties, performing your work for their pleasure, you will eventually become purified so that you can resume your eternal duties in the spiritual world--as an assistant to the Lord and His eternal consort Srimati Radharani in their pastimes of eternal play. Till then, take rest.  

Give Up Meat-Eating

"Those who are animal killers, their brain is dull as stone. They cannot understand anything. Therefore meat-eating should be stopped. In order to revive the finer tissues of the brain to understand subtle things, one must give up meat-eating." (Srila Prabhupada, Lecture, London, August 24, 1973) 

Forgiveness

Krsna is the most forgiving Person and we are part and parcel of Him. If we want to forgive someone, He helps us to forgive. If we know that resentment is counter-productive to our happiness and we want to want to forgive, He helps us want to forgive, then He helps us to forgive. We can't do anything without Krsna's help. We can't even be Krsna conscious without Krsna's help. So we can't forgive without Krsna's help. And if we work with Him to forgive, He will fill our heart with such satisfaction that we will be inclined to come to Him again and again to ask for His help whenever we have trouble forgiving someone. 

Rama's Monkeys

The monkey servants of Lord Rama want nothing more intensely than to see Sita and Rama reunited. That's why they're willing to give up their lives to help Rama defeat Ravana and get Sita back. To those warriors, reuniting Sita with Rama is worth everything, including the loss of their lives.

Of course, there is also the desire of the Lord to relish different mellows, including viraha, or separation. If the Lord desires to taste the intense sweetness of separation from His beloved, then the devotee assists Him in that arrangement. But always, the devotee is desiring to see his Lord, the King of his heart, reunited with His beloved Queen, the Queen of the devotee's heart.