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The
purpose and Celebration of Discipline - from Manoj
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Several things come to my mind when thinking about Discipline. I know I
am totally unqualified to write about "being disciplined".
Actually that's one of the things I expected when I suggested the topic
- some tips from all you great Vaisnavas on how to be disciplined.
However, I thought I'd share what I've learnt is the purpose of
Discipline. The real problem with me is that despite knowing its
importance, and purpose, I still cannot get myself to be disciplined.
To perform these spiritual disciplines, we need so much strength and
blessings of the Vaisnavas, Guru and Gauranga. So ... please all
you kind Vaisnavas ... Please pray for me! Only by your prayer will
Srila Prabhupada be kind enough and give me the strength to be a part of
his program !!! Kabe ha'be bolo se-dina amar (Please tell me, When will
that day be mine) !!!
Anyway, quite some time ago when I was browsing thorough in Barnes and
Noble, I picked up a book called 'Celebration of Discipline - The path
to spiritual growth' by Richard Foster, a Christian theologian. It was
quite an interesting title I thought
Because discipline and
celebration are not usually seen together that often ! Ofcourse in
Krishna Consciousness, it is always together. Kevala ananda kanda
Saba avatara - Sara siromani, Kevala ananda kanda - "Lord Caitanya
and Nityananda are the essence of all incarnations. Their way of
self-realization, is simply joyful." And one of the prime factors
that attracted me to Krishna Consciousness was this mood of
"Celebration".
Though I've heard of discipline quite a lot throughout my upbringing, I
never quite understood what was the importance of discipline. It always
seemed to me as a dull drudgery (ofcourse as Srila Prabhupada has said -
not the exact quote, but
- when the results are material, the means
seem dull). But anyway, read this
it's a excerpt from the
celebration of discipline. It blessed me with quite a paradigm shift,
especially in this age when so much buzz is going on about
"Self-Help".
"Our ordinary method of dealing with ingrained sin is to launch a
frontal attack. We rely on our will power and determination. Whatever
may be the issue for us - anger, fear, bitterness, gluttony, pride,
lust, substance abuse - we determine never to do it again; we pray
against it, fight against it, wet our will against it. But the struggle
is all in vain, and we find ourselves once again morally bankrupt or,
worse yet, so proud of our external righteousness that "whitened
sepulchers" is a mild description of our condition. In his
excellent little book entitled Freedom from Sinful Thoughts, Heini
Arnold writes, "We
want to make it quite clear that we cannot
free and purify our own heart by exerting our own 'will'".
"Will worship" - what a telling phrase, and how
descriptive of so much of our lives ! The moment we feel we can succeed
and attain victory over sin by the strength of our will alone is the
moment we are worshipping the will.
Willpower will never succeed in dealing with the deeply ingrained habits
of sin. Emmet Fox writes "As soon as you resist mentally any
undesirable or unwanted circumstance, you thereby endow it with more
power - power which it will use against you, and you will have depleted
your own resources to that exact extent." Heini Arnold concludes,
"As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own will power,
we will only make the evil in us stronger than ever."
"Will worship" may produce an outward show of success for a
time, but in the cracks and crevices of our lives, our deep inner
condition will eventually be revealed. It is not that we plan to be this
way. We have no intention of exploding with anger or of parading a
sticky arrogance, but when we are with people, what we are comes out.
Though we may try with all our might to hide these things, we are
betrayed by our eyes, our tongue, our chin, our hands, our whole body
language. Willpower has no defense against the careless word, the
unguarded moment. The will has the same deficiency as the law - it can
deal only with externals. It is incapable of bringing about the
necessary transformation of inner spirit.
When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of
will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization:
inner righteousness is a gift from God to be generously received. The
needed change within us is God's work, not ours. The demand is for an
inside job and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or
earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God; it is a grace that is
given
.
The moment we grasp this breathtaking insight we are in danger of an
error in the opposite direction. We are tempted to believe that there is
nothing we can do. If all human strivings end in moral bankruptcy (and
having tried it, we know it is so), and if righteousness is a gracious
gift from God, then is it not logical to conclude that we must wait for
God to come and transform us? Strangely enough, the answer is no. The
analysis is correct, but the conclusion is faulty. Happily there is
something we can do. God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual
life as a means of receiving His grace. The Disciplines allow us to
place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.
We should not think of spiritual disciplines as some dull drudgery aimed
at exterminating laughter from the face of the earth. Joy is the keynote
of all the Disciplines. The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation
from the stifling slavery to self interest and fear. When the inner
spirit is liberated from all that weighs it down, it can hardly be
described as dull drudgery. Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize
the Disciplines of spiritual life.
.
Quite amazing I thought
Disciplines liberate us from slavery to self
interest and fear !!! The only way to purify ourselves is through the
causeless Mercy. And though the Mercy is causeless and whatever we
do, we won't be in a position to be "eligible" for it, the
spiritual disciplines - Sravana, kirtana, smarana, vandana, Pada sevana,
dasya re, Pujana, sakhi-jana, atma-nivedana - certainly are, as
said in the book Celebration of discipline, "God's way of getting
us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and
transform us. God has ordained the Disciplines of Spiritual life
as the means by which we place ourselves where he can bless us". We
should also of course perform these disciplines with the thought that
these processes are the means and the goal themselves. They are
non-different from our goal, Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada always said 'Don't try to see Krishna
Act in a way
that Krishna will see you.' If discipline is going to help us place
ourselves before Krishna, isn't there a reason for celebration !!! And
to add to it, we're so lucky that the discipline itself is Kevala Ananda
Kanda
This process is simply full of joy. "Bhajahu re
mana sri-Nanda-Nandana
Abhaya Caranara vinda re" - O mind, just
worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which makes one fearless.
And when there is no fear, I don't see any other reason for not being
full of joy !!!
Srila Prabhpada has taught us that if we please Srimati Radharani, She
will request to Krishna for us. And the way to please Srimati Radharani
is to please Lord Balarama through pleasing Srila Prabhupada and the
parampara. Gosh, quite an awesome goal to strive for. And so many
devotees have told me, the only way to please Srila Prabhupada is to
follow the program Srila Prabhupada has laid down for us - Chanting 16
rounds, following the four regulative principles, reading Srila
Prabhupada books, serving the Lord and His devotees, Harinama,
preaching, and guarding ourselves against the offenses. Thus by
disciplining ourselves in these processes Srila Prabhupada has given us,
we can place ourselves where we can be blessed with the ultimate goal of
Krishna Prema. 'je prasade pure sarva asa'. By the mercy of the
spiritual master, all desires for spiritual perfection are fulfilled'.
Once I asked Balabhadra Prabhu, "When we are not able to follow our
sadhana, though we want to - due to laziness and other obstacles, what
do we do
". The answer he gave was so simple (but ofcourse the
most effective). He said 'Vandanam - Pray to Krishna that He give you
strength'. Just after I heard this, I came across the book 'The Beggar'
by HH Bhakti Thirtha Swami. And I read the prayer 'Take away my will
Krishna', which I shared with the news group couple issues back. It was
quite an amazing change of perception for me
So please Vaisnavas,
pray for me to get situated in the spiritual disciplines that
Srila Prabhupada has laid down for us.
Hare Krishna !
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Disciplinary
Thoughts - from Hardik
To dearmost Prabhus in my true family, Please Accept my most Humble
Obeisances at your Feet. All glories unto Srila Prabhupada, the
fulfiller of every desire of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Since Manoj has suggested such a valuable word as discipline, please
allow me to take this opportunity to discuss it a little bit.
As Srila Prabhupada says, DISCIPLE comes from the word DISCIPLINE. I
have yet to research nicely on his statement, but I will and convey to
you what I learned upon discovery of his lotus like statements and
examples.
Here are some excerpts from a book by Dr. John Maxwell, who is a world
class leader and successful Christian minister, The 21 Indispensable
Qualities of a Leader. (My personal thoughts in parenthesis). What he
says about discipline is so wonderful.
"The first and best victory is to conquer self." Plato, Greek
Philosopher (Self-explanatory! As it is said, to spiritually rescue
others, one must be on the path to save oneself first! Practice what you
preach!).
"A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to
himself...He belongs to whatever can make captive of him." John
Foster, Author (Certainly, if I don't discipline myself for Srila
Prabhupada and Nitai-Gauracandra, anything can make me captive to it!).
Dr. Maxwell lists five points of action for self-discipline.
1. Develop and Follow Your Priorities
2. Make a Disciplined Lifestyle Your Goal
3. Challenge Your Excuses
4. Remove Rewards Until the Job is Done
5. Stay Focused on Results
On the first point, he writes something so interesting: "Anyone who
does what he must only when he is in the mood or when it's convenient
isn't going to be successful. Nor will people respect and follow him.
Someone once said, "To do important tasks, two things are
necessary: a plan and not quite enough time." As a leader, you
already have too little time. Now all you need is a plan. If you can
determine what's really a priority and release yourself from everything
else, it's a lot easier to follow through on what's important. And
that's the essence of self-discpline."
On the second point, he writes: "Learning about any highly
disciplined person, such as Jerry Rice, should make you realize that to
be successful, self-discipline can't be a one-time event. It has to
become a lifestyle. "One of the best ways to do that is to develop
systems and routines, especially in areas crucial to your long-term
growth and success. For example, because I continually write and speak,
I read and file material for future use every day. And since my heart
attack in December 1998, I exercise every morning. It's not something
I'll do just for a season. I'll do it every day for the rest of my
life."
WOWSERS! This is so powerful. Anyone or any organization, like our
wonderful ISKCON, Atlanta, to succeed requires discipline of individual
members, culminating in collective discipline. We want to most
importantly succeed spiritually so that we can develop pure love of
Godhead. Certainly, disciplined people are simply NOT MOODY! They don't
let their emotions get hold of them. Personally, discipline was such a
problem in the past, more so than now. Thankfully, our leader Sriman
Balabhadra Bhattacarya Prabhu, worked with my personal self improvement
in terms of discipline. Everyone, be she/he an child or an adult, needs
discipline. People who are not disciplined are not successful in
anything. Whatever they do seems to fail over and over.
One thing that makes me so proud is the individual and thus overall
discipline of our Sunday Feast Team (JAI!). They are quite disciplined!
I am astonished how wonderfully they execute the task in a disciplined
fashion! No excuses, PERIOD!!! Such devotees make me realize how
wonderful it is to be nicely disciplined for the Lord.
Being disciplined means being consistent. Recently, HH Bir Krishna
Goswami Maharaja mentioned that consistency is the key to success.
Without it, we can't be successful as a Temple. Leaders such as himself
and Balabhadra Prabhu are highly disciplined people, who strive for
excellence (personally and collectively for their organization). Also,
when a person is not consistent, trust is shaken! How can I trust a
person who talks the talk, but can't discipline himself to execute the
task at hand! How can I trust his or her word, when they may not be
bound to it even themselves.
Now to personal discipline, personally speaking! To me, my greatest
disciplinary task at hand is to be 100 % loyal to His Divine Grace Abhay
Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the incarnation of pure mercy. No
matter what happened and what it took for him, he showed so much
incredible discipline as a person and a world class leader. When we read
statements of discipline by such leadership/personal development
authorities such as Dr. Maxwell, we are most delighted to see all such
great qualities in our dearmost Srila Prabhupada. Through thick and
thin, he had TOTAL DISCIPLINE. He did not shy away from any task, and
faithfully executed the mission of his Guru Maharaja. Not only did he
personally show the greatest disciple as a leader, he empowered his
disciples with it! After all, if it wasn't for discipline, how would his
disciples (our spiritual masters) ever have been able to maintain a
worldwide ISKCON? Simply not possible. Recognizing truth, I feel great
joy at the discipline of our great leaders.
So, what is on my personal list of priorities, to discipline myself
over? What else but the chanting of Krishna's holy name day and night,
specifically chanting 16 Rounds and following the four regulative
principles. Chanting the holy name on my beads should be my all in all,
what I live for, for it allows me to connect to the Supreme,
Gaurasundara, and His purest Srila Prabhupada. I have had a personal
struggle with chanting my rounds forever now. How to discpline myself to
do it. Certainly, now all of you know, you can nicely check on me, and
help me if possible. Devotees have over and over suggested that I simply
chants 4 rounds or so so many specific times a day, i.e. before work,
during lunch (if possible), after work, before bedtime. I must take a
time block every day just for chanting the holy name. I admire the
example of Sriman Ramlakshman Prabhu and his wife, Vimalahari Mataji.
They chant all of their 16 rounds in the morning, rising early.
Ramlakshman Prabhu is a working professional, a family man. He makes no
excuses to chant the holy name 1,728 times a day (16 Rounds=1,728 names
of Krishna uttered). I like that! What excuses do I have? Certainly,
disciplined people show that anything is possible with discipline.
So, that's my greatest priority that I am going to discipline myself
over. I shall let you know how it goes, since I couldn't keep my mouth
shut to the fellow Vaishnavas!
Sincerely, Hardik.
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