Sastra Caksusa

seeing through the eyes of scriptures

when strange situations occur in devotional service

when strange situations occur in devotional service
We may think when we join ISKCON , all is smooth , no there is so much struggle ,we are in the material world .We know what Krsna has said in Bhagavad Gita :

TEXT 7
mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
manah-sasthanindriyani
prakrti-sthani karsati
SYNONYMS
mama—My; eva—certainly; amsah—fragmental particles; jiva-loke—world of conditional life; jiva-bhutah—the conditioned living entities; sanatanah—eternal; manah—mind; sasthani—six; indriyani—senses; prakrti—material nature; sthani—situated; karsati—struggling hard.
TRANSLATION
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
Sometimes even some devotees may hate us .That happens in the material world also.I had a stepmother who tried to have affection for me but often she hated me ,when I became a devotee, one time some mataji came to my family house distributing Srila Prabhupadas books and she cried that ISKCON "stole my son ".But she never showed me such affection ,when I was not a devotee.Karmi families wants yo uto come home from ISKCON and do all the sins you used to before you became a devotee.So there is problems with dealing with family ,Srila Prabhupadas family rejected him when he took sannyasa,he wrote about it in Radha Damodara temple so beautifully .My brother that I used to be so close with told me some years ago I do not never want to see you again as long as you are a Hare Krsna .Though in the past sometimes we stayed overnight at his apartment on sankirtana in 1980 and 1981 .So there are so many complex relationships in this world .We all have experience.With devotees too.One momement some devotee like you and next ignores you .sometimes devotees wants to exploit you also..because they are envious Kanistha adhikaris or want to comtrol you .I even had one sannyasi accuse me to be fired up, others tried to marry me to their female disciples, at one point I realized there are many sannyasis in ISKCON that are total neophytes and should be avoided at all costs .In this way life goes on I could write so many things about this .Look up the last slokas of Bhagavad Gita 12 Chapter and read Srila Prabhupadas purports
Srila Madhavendra Puri composed one sloka that he said goodbye to so many Vedic rituals ,and to family members and friends and people that say he had become to proud being Krsna devotee, and he writes that I will simply worship the lotusfeet of Sri Krsna that will be enough
Maybe you are familiar with the story of the Avanti Brahmana ?
The song of the Avanti Brahmana
SB 11.23.42: The brāhmaṇa said: These people are not the cause of my happiness and distress. Neither are the demigods, my own body, the planets, my past work, or time. Rather, it is the mind alone that causes happiness and distress and perpetuates the rotation of material life.
SB 11.23.43: The powerful mind actuates the functions of the material modes, from which evolve the different kinds of material activities in the modes of goodness, ignorance and passion. From the activities in each of these modes develop the corresponding statuses of life.
SB 11.23.44: Although present along with the struggling mind within the material body, the Supersoul is not endeavoring, because He is already endowed with transcendental enlightenment. Acting as my friend, He simply witnesses from His transcendental position. I, the infinitesimal spirit soul, on the other hand, have embraced this mind, which is the mirror reflecting the image of the material world. Thus I have become engaged in enjoying objects of desire and am entangled due to contact with the modes of nature.
SB 11.23.45: Charity, prescribed duties, observance of major and minor regulative principles, hearing from scripture, pious works and purifying vows all have as their final aim the subduing of the mind. Indeed, concentration of the mind on the Supreme is the highest yoga.
SB 11.23.46: If one's mind is perfectly fixed and pacified, then tell me what need does one have to perform ritualistic charity and other pious rituals? And if one's mind remains uncontrolled, lost in ignorance, then of what use are these engagements for him?
SB 11.23.47: All the senses have been under the control of the mind since time immemorial, and the mind himself never comes under the sway of any other. He is stronger than the strongest, and his godlike power is fearsome. Therefore, anyone who can bring the mind under control becomes the master of all the senses.
SB 11.23.48: Failing to conquer this irrepressible enemy, the mind, whose urges are intolerable and who torments the heart, many people are completely bewildered and create useless quarrel with others. Thus they conclude that other people are either their friends, their enemies or parties indifferent to them.
SB 11.23.49: Persons who identify with this body, which is simply the product of the material mind, are blinded in their intelligence, thinking in terms of "I" and "mine." Because of their illusion of "this is I, but that is someone else," they wander in endless darkness.
SB 11.23.50: If you say that these people are the cause of my happiness and distress, then where is the place of the soul in such a conception? This happiness and distress pertain not to the soul but to the interactions of material bodies. If someone bites his tongue with his own teeth, at whom can he become angry in his suffering?
SB 11.23.51: If you say that the demigods who rule the bodily senses cause suffering, still, how can such suffering apply to the spirit soul? This acting and being acted upon are merely interactions of the changeable senses and their presiding deities. When one limb of the body attacks another, with whom can the person in that body be angry?
SB 11.23.52: If the soul himself were the cause of happiness and distress, then we could not blame others, since happiness and distress would be simply the nature of the soul. According to this theory, nothing except the soul actually exists, and if we were to perceive something besides the soul, that would be illusion. Therefore, since happiness and distress do not actually exist in this concept, why become angry at oneself or others?
SB 11.23.53: And if we examine the hypothesis that the planets are the immediate cause of suffering and happiness, then also where is the relationship with the soul, who is eternal? After all, the effect of the planets applies only to things that have taken birth. Expert astrologers have moreover explained how the planets are only causing pain to each other. Therefore, since the living entity is distinct from these planets and from the material body, against whom should he vent his anger?
SB 11.23.54: If we assume that fruitive work is the cause of happiness and distress, we still are not dealing with the soul. The idea of material work arises when there is a spiritual actor who is conscious and a material body that undergoes the transformation of happiness and distress as a reaction to such work. Since the body has no life, it cannot be the actual recipient of happiness and distress, nor can the soul, who is ultimately completely spiritual and aloof from the material body. Since karma thus has no ultimate basis in either the body or the soul, at whom can one become angry?
SB 11.23.55: If we accept time as the cause of happiness and distress, that experience still cannot apply to the spirit soul, since time is a manifestation of the Lord's spiritual potency and the living entities are also expansions of the Lord's spiritual potency manifesting through time. Certainly a fire does not burn its own flames or sparks, nor does the cold harm its own snowflakes or hail. In fact, the spirit soul is transcendental and beyond the experience of material happiness and distress. At whom, therefore, should one become angry?
SB 11.23.56: The false ego gives shape to illusory material existence and thus experiences material happiness and distress. The spirit soul, however, is transcendental to material nature; he can never actually be affected by material happiness and distress in any place, under any circumstance or by the agency of any person. A person who understands this has nothing whatsoever to fear from the material creation.
SB 11.23.57: I shall cross over the insurmountable ocean of nescience by being firmly fixed in the service of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. This was approved by the previous ācāryas, who were fixed in firm devotion to the Lord, Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
SB 11.23.58: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: Thus becoming detached upon the loss of his property, this sage gave up his moroseness. He left home, taking sannyāsa, and began to travel about the earth. Even when insulted by foolish rascals he remained unswerved from his duty and chanted this song.
SB 11.23.59: No other force besides his own mental confusion makes the soul experience happiness and distress. His perception of friends, neutral parties and enemies and the whole material life he builds around this perception are simply created out of ignorance.
SB 11.23.60: My dear Uddhava, fixing your intelligence on Me, you should thus completely control the mind. This is the essence of the science of yoga.
SB 11.23.61: Anyone who listens to or recites to others this song of the sannyāsī, which presents scientific knowledge of the Absolute, and who thus meditates upon it with full attention, will never again be overwhelmed by the dualities of material happiness and distress.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says '"SO TO ACCEPT ANY SITUATION AS KRISHNA'S MERCY IS TO ADVANCE IN SPIRITUAL LIFE. YOU JUST TRY YOUR BEST TO SERVE LORD KRISHNA AND IF ANY PERPLEXING CIRCUMSTANCES ARISE, JUST PRAY TO KRISHNA TO GIVE YOU STRENGTH Srila Prabhupada 21, 1972 Ref May @SrilapabhupaquotesInsagramFceok'

Views: 44

Comment

You need to be a member of Sastra Caksusa to add comments!

Join Sastra Caksusa

© 2024   Created by Paramananda das.   Powered by

Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service