(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

I was travelling to India, and there was a lady sitting next to me who was a yoga teacher. She was going to India for training with Iyengar. She was a serious yoga teacher, because Iyengar is serious yoga.

So anyway, she was a serious person, wasn't just in general but a thoughtful serious person. We had a nice discussion and she was interested in Krishna Conscious and everything, but I didn't immediately tell her that I was from the Hare Krishna Movement, since I was just preaching.

Anyway she said:

"So, actually what are you?"

So then I explained:

"Well okay I'm a member of the Hare Krishna Movement".

"Oh…no! Oh no… oh Hare Krishna…oh no!"

So I asked:

"Well, what happened to you? Did you have a bad experience with the Hare Krishnas?"

She replied:

" Oh…oh…I got so badly cheated. You know I have one problem. I cannot say no!"

So you can just imagine a sankirtan devotee found a lady who just couldn't say no!

So she got a full set….the whole set….the complete everything…all the small books and everything. I don't know how much she paid but, she must have paid thousands for it. Then her husband came home later, and there was a big drama! She spent thousands on these books, and these books they had been standing there…and they are like the joke of the family. Whenever there was a family gathering, they have to make some jokes about her books:

"Oh! Look at them! They're they are!"

She cannot throw them away, because she spent so much money on them. So how can you throw them away. The books were just standing there to testify for her stupidity…now she got cheated! So this is the story she had told me on the plane, and then I said:

"Well, how do you know that you got cheated? Did you read them?"

She replied:

"No…actually no…I never read them".

So I said:

"Why don't you read them…maybe they're really nice…if you read them and find them really nice, then you can tell your whole family":

'Actually I didn't get cheated they are good books…they're really nice'.

She said:

"This is great! I'm going to read these books!"

So sometimes just a conversation with someone can make a world of difference – that is also giving!

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

Happiness is natural. It is said that,

'Anandamayo 'bhyasat', – every living being by nature is looking for happiness, and every living being is meant to be happy! So the art though is to know that the greatest happiness is to see happiness in others. If by our actions we can create happiness in others – that is greater than if by our actions we are concerned with our own happiness. And the greatest happiness is found, when we are trying to please Krishna! When we are trying to make Krishna happy, and then with all others, when we give them Krishna….then we give them happiness!

So there in giving happiness is found and not in taking. So we have to get out of this mentality:

"What's in it for me? What am I getting out of this? I've been a member of Iskcon for so many years – so what am I getting? I am disappointed…no really. I had expected more! First of all, I thought that devotees would be more elevated. But now I know the truth! I just thought that really there would be much more support… I thought that I would get much more support. If I would have known that I would have gotten only so little support than I wouldn't have started this…so little!"

So the mentality is:

"What am I getting? I'm not getting enough. I'm not getting what I need. I'm not getting".

But actually, we have to think:

"What am I giving? I should give?"

And if we start to think about this 'giving' then automatically the happiness follows…automatically!

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