Standing in Two Boats! "Bhaktivinod Thakura gives and example of a person trying to stand with his feet in two different boats. Obviously when the boats separate, the person falls in the water. This is the situation we are faced with. We are trying to accommodate material desires and our spiritual desires too. There is a saying in the west, 'to have your cake and eat it too'. Someone wants material comforts, sense gratification, and at the same time wants to experience the ecstasy of pure Krishna Consciousness - this is a contradiction. Sometimes a person in the Grihasta Ashrama thinks that here is a good alternative: I can enjoy sense gratification and at the same time do devotional service. But that is not how it should be. There is a difference between pure devotees who are Sanyasis or Grihastas and those are mixed devotees. There is no happiness in material life - a pure devotee knows this and with this in mind he is serving Krishna. We have to be very careful and completely sincere not to increase our material situation. We have to keep devotional service priority in our life and everything else if adjusted accordingly. Grihastas deal with different situations concerning children, money, etc, but they have the prime responsibility to be attached to Krishna and engage everything in Krishna's service." HH Jayapataka Swami From the book: Vaishnava Vani Courtesy: Mathuradesh Publications |
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