“Our only business is to love God, not to ask God for our necessities.”
– Srila Prabhupada
If we live in quadrant 3, Krishna will guide us to quadrant 4.
If we predominantly live in quadrant 1 or 2, we’d find Bhakti Yoga practises hackneyed. Our spiritual life would be dull and unexciting. Or worse,…
“Because we are Krishna’s children, we have a very intimate relationship with Krishna and since we have given Him up and we have forgotten Him, therefore we are suffering.”
– Srila Prabhupada (December 11, 1974, Bombay, lecture on Shrimad Bhagavatam 3.25.43)
As you manage your busy schedules and fulfil your various responsibilities, you also remember…
“Being attracted by external opulence, the non-devotee always forgets his intimate relationship with Krishna. Such a person does not like the idea of becoming Krishna conscious.”
– Srila Prabhupada (Purport to Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya, 12.184)
The four quadrants of a relationship with God
Now, let us merge both figures 1 and 2.
You have four…
“Religion means to know God and to love him.” – Srila Prabhupada
An exercise will help you discover where you stand in your relationship with Krishna/God:
Open your mind’s eye. Now visualize a screen/board and draw a vertical line - the line of struggle. (Figure 1).
The space on the left of the line denotes ‘No…
“For man, the mind is the cause of bondage and the mind is the cause of liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and the mind detached from the sense objects is the cause of liberation.” – Amrita-Bindu Upanishad (Mantra 2)
I was now ready for tracking yoga, writing, and hearing Srila…
“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.” - Bhagavad Gita (15.7)
Habits unknown to us
I wanly said I have no habits as if I had resigned myself to being inadequate and unable to…
“Every disciple should always remain busy in some work for Krishna. We shall not allow our mind to remain vacant, and if the mind is always filled up with Krishna consciousness activities, there is no chance of Maya to sit on the mind and force us to act under her spell.” - Srila Prabhupada (Letter to…
“Time is eternal and is compared to a sharp razor. A razor is meant to shave the hair from one's face, but if not carefully handled, the razor will cause disaster. One is advised not to create a disaster by misusing his lifetime. One should be extremely careful to utilize the span of his life…
“Living like an animal, not understanding the goal of life, one foolishly thinks that there is no eternity and that his life span of fifty, sixty, or, at the most, one hundred years, is everything. This is the greatest foolishness.” - Srila Prabhupada (Purport, Shrimad Bhagavatam 6.5.19)
In our inner world, we have a natural attraction…
“Therefore, any comfort of life or any material happiness which does not warrant an eternal life is but an illusion for the eternal living being. One who factually understands this is learned, and such a learned person can sacrifice any amount of material happiness to achieve the desired goal known as brahma-sukham, or absolute happiness.…
“One whose happiness is within, who is active within, who rejoices within and is illumined within, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.” (Bhagavad Gita 5.24)
Although our external lives are important, it can’t be at the cost of our inner growth. We may analyse…
“Spiritual strength means sincerity and sincerity means spiritual strength.” – Srila Prabhupada (May 14, 1975, Perth)
A song from the 1954 award winning Bollywood film Boot Polish, graphically explains how empowered we are: John, a bootlegger teaches little children self-respect and asks - nane munne bacche teri mutti mein kya hai? – ‘Oh dear children,…