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Appreciation
submitted by Krpa Moya Gouranga Das
"Simply by appreciating the Vaisnavas you can go back home back to Godhead."- Srila Prabhupada
If you study what Srila Prabhupada has given us then it's nothing but appreciation. Right from Mangala Arotik, Narsingha Prayers, Tulsi Arati upto Prema Dhvani prayers it's nothing but appreciation. One should always appreciate his spiritual master, whenever he meets him.
How does appreciation help us in our Spiritual life?
We can strengthen our relationships with devotees by appreciation. Appreciation is an art, which should be practiced privately and exhibited publicly. We find in the Caitanya Caritamrta that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is
always appreciating the devotees and the others relish hearing this
appreciation. We can judge how much we have advanced in spiritual life based on how much we relish other devotees being appreciated.
We are working so hard to please Krishna and the best and easiest way to please Krishna is by appreciating His devotees. Krishna's love for His devotees is beyond compare. Which master agrees to become a chariot driver of his servant? Which master does not reject his servant, inspite of being abused and rejected again and again? Krishna has been accompanying us for millions of lifetimes in the form of the Paramatma, though we have not only been neglecting Him but also abusing Him, envious of Him and trying to usurp His Supreme Position.
A couple of incidents display Srila Prabhupada's compassion and his art of appreciating even the minutest of details. Once a sanyasi sent back his danda along with a letter mentioning that he could no longer continue in the sanyasa ashram. Srila Prabhupada appreciated the fallen sanyasi for his sincerity in sending the danda back.
On another occasion, there was this lady who would always visit the temple in the weird of dresses and the weirdest of hairdo. The brahmacaris tried to explain to her about her style of dressing but to no avail. When she was severely reprimanded by the temple leader, she decided never to sit the temple again. One day she heard that Srila Prabhupada was visiting the temple. She decided to visit the temple for the last time, because she always had a desire to meet Srila Prabhupada. When she reached the temple Srila Prabhupada was about to start the class. When she entered with her weird dress and hairdo, Srila Prabhupada glanced at her and to the surprise of the local devotees, said `You look very beautiful today.' She was dumbfounded and amazed at Srila Prabhupada's compassion. She understood that Srila Prabhupada was not looking at her body, but at her soul. At that instant she decided that henceforth she would dress up in proper vaisnava attire.
Devotees appreciate because they see that quality in the devotee and when a devotee is appreciated, he understands that the devotees expect him to become like that.
His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur would regularly carry out this exercise with his disciples whenever they quarreled. He would seat the quarreling devotees in his presence and ask them to appreciate each other. He would ask them to appreciate genuinely and not to flatter. The quality should actually be present in the devotee. Thus when the devotee would probe into the other devotee's character, he would find that there are so many good things in that devotee and that there was no need to quarrel.
We also have the classic case of H.G.Jayananda Prabhu, who would always treat everybody equally. He never saw their background or their negative qualities. He had the knack of engaging all kinds of people in devotional service.
As one spiritual master said `it's an act of cruelty if a devotee does not appreciate another devotee.'
One devotee has shown us how to act when another devotee is criticized in our presence. Whenever anybody comes to him criticizing a particular devotee, he will immediately start glorifying that particular devotee's good qualities. This would not only silence the criticizing devotee but even he would end up appreciating that devotee. Only one in a superior position can criticize another devotee. Like a spiritual master criticizing his disciple. This is for the disciple's benefit. A relationship develops by starting with appreciation.
Like they say in the school of Psychology, ` In a positive environment, a marginal performer's output goes up. In a negative environment, a good performer's output goes down.' So let's create a positive environment by appreciating the devotees around us, so that we can please the Supreme Positive - Krishna.
Usually we get to hear the good qualities of a devotee only after he has departed from this material world, especially during the sraddhanjali ceremony. At that stage we lament for not having associated properly with that devotee. Let's not wait till the sraddhanjali ceremony - LET'S START APPRECIATING FROM TODAY ITSELF.
[Based on the discussions held in the councilor's meeting in Pune, last month]
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