Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Mathajis,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

We are living in this world wherein we have so many distractions. Internet, TV, gossips, news-papers, criticisms, cheating, politics, social-pressures and the list is endless. How to save ourselves from these things ? In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.8.42,  Kunti Maharani very nicely prays to Lord Krishna to help her to remember Him always without any deviation. She says,

                                           tvayi me 'nanya-vishayaa / matir madhu-pate 'sakrt
                                          ratim udvahataad addhaa  / gangevaugham udanvati

"O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else."

This indeed is a very important verse which we need to pray to Lord all the time as our mind always gets distracted to other things very easily. Lord Krishna declares in Bhagavad Gita verse 9.18

                                            gatir bhartaa prabhuh saakshi / nivaasah sharanam suhrt
                                         prabhavah pralayah sthaanam  / nidhaanam beejam avyayam

"I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and the most dear friend. I am the creation and the annihilation, the basis of everything, the resting place and the eternal seed."

If only we sincerely hear and understand the truth behind Lord's statement, we will never get deviated or distracted by any other thing in our lives. In his purport to the above verse Srila Prabhupada very nicely explains what gati means.  He says - "Gati means the destination where we want to go. But the ultimate goal is Krishna, although people do not know it. One who does not know Krishna is misled, and his so-called progressive march is either partial or hallucinatory..And since Krishna is the source of our generation, or the supreme father, no one can be a better friend than Krishna, nor can anyone be a better well-wisher. Krishna is the original source of creation and the ultimate rest after annihilation. Krishna is therefore the eternal cause of all causes."  So our only goal in this life is to reach our destination - Krishna. Even in this material world when we want to go to some destination, we need to purchase ticket, go to the station and board the right train. If in the above process, we get distracted by some frivolous talks and as a result, miss any of the above process, then we will miss the train. Similalry to reach the supreme destination - Krishna, we need to meticulously  follow the process  prescribed by the Lord and His dear devotees, without getting deviated.  Unfortunately instead of taking shelter of  Supreme Lord Krishna, we take shelter of every thing else other than Him and voluntarily drown ourselves into a whirl-pool of miseries and land up in undesirable destinations birth after birth.

In one of the Bhagavatam classes our beloved spiritual master, HDG Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj was says that inorder to overcome the influence of bad thoughts and behaviour we need to take shelter of Krishna's names, Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Even if we fail, we need to repetitively endeavor to chant/recite shlokas and by doing so our consciousness will definitely be purified. But the problem in our case is that we do this for few days and then one day we miss it. We very lovingly excuse ourself for that and over a period of time, slowly that good habit slips out of our life and we start meditating on other things. Recently I came across an article wherein it was mentioned about how frog reacts to boiling water. If the temperature of the water is suddenly increased, the frog realises it and jumps out of the water. But if the temperature is very slowly increased, one degree at a time, the frog does not realise it till it boils to death. Bad habits also creep into our life, like the slow increase of temperature and boils us to death even before we realise it. So it is very important for us to be alert and introspect ourselves regularly and pray for the mercy of Guru and Krishna to remain focussed in devotional service to the Lord. The key is determination to serve Guru and Krishna under all circumstances. If we have this intense desire - then no matter how weak we are physically or economically, no matter whether we have any other support or not, Guru and Krishna arranges all the conditions required for our progress. In the purport to verse 6.24 of Bhagavad Gita, Srila Prabhupada quotes the very nice story on power of determination wherein the sparrow in her attempt to get back her eggs that were washed away by the ocean attempted to dry up the ocean by picking out water in her beaks. Even the ocean who made fun of her, atlast gave back the eggs as Garuda, the bird carrier of Lord Vishnu ordered him to do so. So when our determination to serve Guru and Krishna is intense, nothing can be an impediment in the path of devotional service.

We might have heard about the story of farmer and the donkey. One day the farmer's donkey fell into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway - it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to scoop dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realising what was happening, cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he became quiet. A few shovels later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He shook it off and took a step up. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he shook it off and took a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off!

The lesson to be learnt from the above story is that when we understand our real "gati" is to go back to Krishna, then no matter how many ever shovels of dirt are thrown upon us, we will not get bogged down by it. As Gurudev has advised we should never give up and simply continue with our endeavours in serving the Lord. When we shake off the distractions and criticism and take a step up, then all merciful Lord definitely help us as it is said that Lord takes 10 steps towards us if we just endeavour sincerely to take one step towards Him.

I pray at the lotus feet of Vaishnavas, Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada so that I understand my gati and restrain from wasting the remaining precious time available in this lifetime and use it in a manner pleasing to Them.
 

Hare Krishna.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Sudarshana devi dasi.