“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…
“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…
“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.…
“If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, his life is successful.” – Srila Prabhupada (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 9.36, Purport)
He fights harder, struggles to perform more austerities, takes up more responsibilities, busies with day long services – hoping that he’d get so busy that he’d have no…
“He thus makes all things complicated, and he is always in trouble.” – Srila Prabhupada (Purport to Bhagavad Gita 15.5)
The first step though is to get more awareness. But we can’t stay stuck there. When Journal writing is clubbed with good association and studying wisdom literature with an open heart, self-awareness leads to a…
“Every living entity, especially persons in the human race, must feel grateful for the benedictions offered by the grace of the Supreme Lord.” - Srila Prabhupada (purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 3.19.36)
4. Gratitude journal
A one week experiment would reveal to you the incredible power of gratitude journal.
Write your inner most desires and don’t…
“I see all people rushing full speed into Your mouths, as moths dash to destruction in a blazing fire.”
– Bhagavad Gita (11.29)
My close shave and the subsequent epiphany taught me a sacred lesson.
‘Slow’ gives spiritual insight
If I hadn’t slowed down, I’d have likely carried the fearful experience with me for the…
“We must chant with the proper service attitude – not demanding love of God, but chanting for Krishna's pleasure.”
– Radhanath Swami
Krishna dasa does the needful on his various roles, and then sits to chant. For him, chanting is important but not the first thing in the morning. He confessed that during his initial…
However, when I spend time with Krishna, mind’s crafty schemes are not necessarily checkmated. He is biding his time, and would pounce on me at the least expected moment. He is determined to keep me in the external world, and he does that with myriad thoughts. But the more attentive I am in my Krishna…
“The key is not in spending time, but in investing it.” - Steven Covey
Don’t look at the watch when you meditate. Relax and slow down.
To reduce the influence of Time, look at Time, and not at the watch!
Acknowledge Time’s presence in your life and observe without judgement. Reduce your activity for some…
He fell asleep and in his dream goddess Saraswati appeared and said, “You are very fortunate today. You had the darshan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna who has mercifully appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the source of brahman and paramatma; He is Bhagavan! He is even my Lord. Whatever knowledge…