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KC Nectar - Jul 03 | |
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Excerpts from HH Sacinandana Maharaj and HH Radhanath Maharaj Submitted by Gopinath das. Excerpt from letters of Sacinandana Swami Maharaj Recently I have thought a lot about the invisible strengthening which can take place through spiritual contacts. It is a wonderful thing if suddenly one enters the spiritual field of power of Krsna consciousness and like that miraculously comes in contact with persons and incidents. I would like to give you a few examples to express more clearly what I want to say. Satsvarupa Maharaja describes the morning when for the first time he chanted the Maha-mantra in the presence of Srila Prabhupada. He experienced the wonderful feeling of not only sitting in a small room in New York, but of taking part in something much greater than what would fit in such a room: an old and venerable but still living tradition. When I entered the holy sannyasa-asrama and received my new dress and danda from Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana, I had a similar experience: the contact with a very powerful tradition. In India to enter the sannyasa-asrama means to begin a new life and to end an old one. The Sanyasi expresses this in a symbolic way by stacking up wood for a funeral pyre, by ascending it and by symbolically burning his old life. After descending the pyre again he sets fire to it. Then he takes his bath, and when he emerges from the lake or ocean, this is considered the same as coming out of a womb. He is ready for a new life. It goes without saying that he doesn't utilize anymore the articles from his "past" life - e.g. no more old clothes. As I fetched my new clothes I had the distinct feeling that now one phase of my life had ended. A door closed and at first I felt almost a little lonely. Naturally Sanyasis are expected to take shelter at Krsna only and consider Him their only security in life. Wonderful! A third example is one of the last initiation ceremonies I could conduct as a representative of the parampara and of Srila Prabhupada. It was at the Veden-Akademie. While the priest was chanting the mantras to call for the presence of Lord Vishnu in the sacrificial fire I suddenly had the overwhelming and strong feeling of God's presence in the room. But with Him there were also more present: Before my inner eyes I could see many monks who in the past had taken similar vows. I saw temple halls where believers paid their Obeisances. I saw Mother Ganga flowing towards us in a large stream and I heard a loud call accompanying Her - the eternal call of Krsna to the conditioned souls: jiv jago - wake up and come back to Me! At this moment miraculously persons, incidents and places were all assembled in the room of the Veden-Akademie - or better - in the expanded room of the tradition. To engage in spiritual life automatically means to "link" with this spiritual "field of information" which is present and awaits us beyond the limitations of time and space. Excerpt from lecture by HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj HOW TO RENDER SERVICE ? Devotional service should not be rendered in a proud way. We should not think that rendering service is to show how nice we are, how good we are, how devoted we are. Rendering service in a proper state of mind means to always take a position of being menial and insignificant. We may not have this consciousness of menial significance frame of mind, but we should aspire for that in our service and we should aspire for that when we hear the glories of the Lord. And we should aspire for that when we chant the holy name of the Lord. Das das das dasanu das. When we aspire in all our devotional practices for this most glorious position of das dasanu das, then Krishna will take our prayers seriously and then by His Grace, He will remove ahankara, the false ego. Until He removes it, we will all be imprisoned by it. You do not have the power to remove it. But by your humble menial service to the Lord you will attract His Divine Mercy. He removes it. And for Him, nothing is impossible. FALSE PRIDE Unless you very diligently strive to free yourself of false pride, that pride , that pride will creep into your spiritual life and cause you to be envious and inimical towards other devotees. This is the greatest danger. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that Maya cannot harm us in any way, by attacking outside. All outside attacks will only make us stonger if we are sincere. They cannot break us. But when she attacks from within, which means, attacking from from within our minds, that creates a sense of pride, a sense of competition, which ultimately results in a breakdown in love and trust and the mission is crippled. It is love and trust amongst the devotees of the Lord that attracts the empowerment of the Lord. It gives potency. [BACK] |