We may chant Hare Krishna for many years, and put on the robes of renounced monks, and still be far away from accessing the grace of the Lord. In the Vaishnava scripture, Chaitanya Charitamrita, the author asserts that despite chanting for many lifetimes, one may not attain love of God if the chanter’s mood is devoid of service attitude. On the other hand, a sincere practitioner of the Krishna yoga, who always aspires to be the servant of all, accesses the Lord’s divine grace. His life is filled with spiritual happiness, and his joyful service attitude is contagious; all who come in contact with him also feel spiritually enlivened.
I witnessed this principle in action during our yatra, a holy pilgrimage, with temple employees, and a few brahmacharis, the residents of the temple ashram. Two devotees in particular touched the hearts of all; Vasudev das and Keshava Chandra das. The former is materially qualified as an engineer from the most prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, while the latter, a professional charted accountant, worked as a senior manager with the Tatas group in Mumbai. For over twelve years now they are serving in the temple as full time residents, and leading a life of disciplined monks.
Although both are managing critical areas of service of temple management, and are leaders in their own right, yet their humble disposition and menial service attitude made the whole yatra possible. Both of them left for the pilgrimage as the advance party to make all the arrangements for the forty plus devotees who were to join later. Both of them got accommodation at Guruvayoor in a guest house that had not been used since the last five years. First they personally cleaned all the twenty rooms and then ensured that all food and staying arrangements were perfectly arranged. They also hardly slept during the week long yatra while all others focussed on visiting different holy places, and chanting and hearing the Lord’s glories. However the silent, sacrificial spirit of these two sincere devotees made everything possible.
At Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala and the abode of Lord Anantapadmanabha, the small ISKCON temple hosted us. The temple residents led by Sushant Ram prabhu were busy all the four days cooking for us, breakfast, lunch and dinner. As we were returning back to Mumbai, Sushant Ram, with tears in his eyes begged forgiveness from all of us for all mistakes and shortcomings in his services. Although the devotees had extended themselves and stretched fully to serve us and despite the services being excellent, their mood was of sincere desire to serve more and better. They even refused to accept any money that we wanted to give as a reimbursement for all the expenses they incurred during our stay.
Later during our travel back in the train, Vasudev’s 75 year old parents cooked lunch and dinner for us and profusely thanked us for giving them a chance to serve us. I returned totally humbled, and inspired after the yatra. I also realized that I have a long way to go before I can truly practise Krishna Consciousness in the spirit it has to be followed. Maybe I am still licking the bottle of honey of Krishna Consciousness only from outside. Hopefully, by remembering the sincere service attitude of all these devotees, and cultivating their spirit, I’ll one day be able to truly relish the nectarine honey of Krishna Consciousness.
