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No rights… no claim

Kadamba Kanana Swami, New Ekacakra, Slovakia, 2011)

You know how it is when a lady gets married. Before the marriage everything is romantic, and then there is the marriage. Once he has the ring on his finger, then something has changed. Now you have responsibilities. He's your husband:

"You have to protect me! You have to provide. It's your duty to bring in the money!"

"Yes dear…of course….yes!"

The relationship that Krishna has with the gopis is 'parakīya', paramour.

Paramour – no rights… no claim… nothing. In married life some claim is there. But with paramour there is no claim – that's Krishna Consciousness!

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We have to change

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, New Ekacakra, Slovakia, 2011)

We have to try and understand what Krishna is teaching us. Krishna is the teacher. He is teaching Bhagavad Gita. So Krishna says:

"In this material world there are three modes of material nature. We gradually have to rise from the lower modes of nature of passion and ignorance to the mode of goodness!".

In the mode of passion, we don't think, we react immediately! If someone says:

"You stupid!"

We say:

"What!!"

No thinking in between, since in the mode of passion we respond immediately! But in the mode of goodness, we don't respond immediately, since we have to think first! So if someone says to us:

"You stupid!"

"I have to think about that. Or maybe he's right… but still I wish he didn't say all of that to me."

Well Krishna says in 'The Nectar of Instructions' that:

"There are six loving exchanges between devotees".

It says that one of these exchanges is that you have to give gifts to devotees.

"Maybe I'll try that… or some prasadam – maybe that will work".

Even if the other devotee still doesn't change, and continues to say:

"You stupid".

At least we will change by trying to act as a vaisnava, and gradually we develop the qualities of the vaisnava, and then we become more tolerable by doing all of these things. So we are no longer disturbed.

The fact that we are disturbed when someone doesn't behave very nicely with us, means that we are still under the influence of the three modes of material nature. So we are not transcendental.

So lets first come to the mode of goodness and think before we act, and look at what Krishna says, to do in these situations. That's how we deal with these situations!

Everyone has somebody or a few people who they don't get on so well with. Some people don't get on with anybody! We have to try to change, by becoming more in the mode of goodness. It will take some time, but we have to practise it!

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Conquering Krishna

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Helsinki, Finland, 2011)

We are chanting in a matter of routine – the same everyday…….and everyday we are not making a fresh attempt. It's because we are affected by impersonalism, because we are chanting the holy name without appreciating that the holy name is Krishna. In the relationship with Krishna, one has to always conquer Krishna. We have to always keep in mind, that each time we want the mercy of Krishna than we have to conquer Krishna and never think:

"I did it yesterday, so I have a special relationship with Krishna. I have done all this service in the past and therefore Krishna will grant me special mercy!"

No! One has to conquer Krishna again and again! That is what we see….Krishna in Vrindavan…..he disappears from the rasa lila. The devotees have to conquer him again and again! So we also have to think like that, that everyday again we have to try a special endeavour.

It's difficult to do….it's not so easy. It is for that reason that the acaryas have selected quotes from the scripture about the special dates in Krishna Consciousness. For example, Ekadasi, and on such days we try and do something more. Or in Janmashtami, we try and do something more, in terms of chanting and service.

Those special occasions are very important, because they break the routine of getting into an automatic level of chanting. But then when we sometimes try something special, then we can break out from this mood of routine.

So Srila Prabhupada did not recommend that the devotees would regularly take time off from active service to chant very large numbers of rounds. We don't see that, that Prabhupada started a day with chanting sixty four rounds like everyday or on Ekadasi, or regularly. But Prabhupada at least recommended that one would chant twenty five rounds on Ekadasi. Prabhupada was certainly in favour in chanting more rounds. In one letter he said:

"Why sixteen rounds? Why not sixteen thousand rounds?"

So he definitely was wanting us to do more.

And at the time of initiation, we also ask devotees to chant inimum of sixteen rounds, but not just sixteen but a minimum!

So one must have the attitude of trying to chant more and especially on special occasions!

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Realizing the mission of the spiritual master

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Why the Lord tests His devotees?

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