Faith Filter
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. O Supreme Being! Please help me surrender to You completely!
In my early ISKCON days, I was naive and enthusiastic. I wanted to fling myself into Krishna Consciousness and I did all the things that a devotee should do, to get Krishna.
Except, you're asleep. You, the spirit soul, are asleep. The material mind is awake and chattering incoherently. Meanwhile, when you chant, Krishna is giving you intelligence so you can wake up.
Now, the test of faith works on all levels. If you think someone poisoned Prabhupada, then what was Krishna doing while His pure devotee was being mishandled? You think Krishna is not Supreme, that He is powerless? You think even a blade of grass can move unless He sanctions it? You think you have to ask Him to intervene? That you care more about the people around you than does He?
Krishna is always on top of things. Sit back and enjoy the adventure. Because guess what. You're not even the doer. He is. If you choose to surrender to Maya - she promts the body through sattva, rajo, tamo. If you choose to surrender to Krishna - He prompts through Yogamaya. If you don't surrender, you're still forced to be under Maya. Freedom is an illusion. You are always under the control of Maya - be it Mahamaya or Yogamaya.
All that a soul can do is desire. And purifying your desire is the sole purpose here. The desire should be to serve Krishna. Then you can stop serving Maya. And what's the harm? Krishna is your super self - He is not going to wish ill for His own little self. In fact, He is your servant even when you are not His servant. He supplies the material world, material bodies, material infrastructure, rain, sunshine, technological promptings of the intelligence, trees, birds, whatever you need. And He fulfills your desires - that He has been doing since time immemorial - you propose, He disposes. That's the reason the "secret" works - there's a person behind that universe fulfilling all your desires. So instead of concentrating on a material desire, why not purify the desires? You will receive more than you can imagine. Overwhelming amounts of love. Just follow through with this plan, just trust Prabhupada and the scriptures, just have some faith.
So then you try to find a guru. And you have your little measure tape, with which you're trying to measure the guru. Okay, this guy looks fine, but his smile is wicked, he has fallen disciples, he's too good to be true, he might be a cheater, blah blah. No dependence on Krishna. Why not let Krishna choose for you - you'll be safe only that way. Just surrender. NOW!
So everyone I see as fallen - its just me being fallen that causes me to spot these sores. I'm puffed up, wanting admiration for being spiritual, and of course I'm going to be in trouble. Another major falldown is likely - unless I can uproot this anartha early on somehow. Stop sadhu ninda. That guy who you think is a fallen devotee - lusty guy - might've abused his daughter - thats just another sleeping soul - suffering. That's a special sleeping soul though, because it approached Krishna. Other's are bound up by Maya - unwillingly doing henious things - by her force. Can you blame a drunk guy for thinking that he's the King of the World? He's drunk, he doesn't know what he's saying - he's in illusion. Give him some water so he can sober down. Then he might talk a little bit of sense.
All the people around you - even if some of them try to hurt you, are unfair to you, call you names, abuse you - they're just drunk on illusion. Have pity on them. No need to defend yourself, Krishna's doing that already. Just take shelter of His names when you're afraid. Be fearless. What can possibly happen? You can dissociate yourself from the body if it gets very painful.
The only thing is - how to utilize this time well. How to offer your services so you can start akarma and move out of karma, which always produces papa and punya.
And surrender - have faith in Krishna - then the veil of Maya will be lifted, and you will be able to see the guru as guru - instead of a human being - you will be able to go past all the reports in the media about how this is a bogus person. All that media rubbish is maya's way of throwing off people who have no faith. So its a faith filter. If you make it - you see the truth. If you don't - you feel safe and think you were saved from a bogus thing. But being in Maya's lap is anything BUT safe. Don't rely on her offers of safety. Reject her false allurements. Recognize them for what they are - filters to keep you away from Krishna.
In my early ISKCON days, I was naive and enthusiastic. I wanted to fling myself into Krishna Consciousness and I did all the things that a devotee should do, to get Krishna.
Except, you're asleep. You, the spirit soul, are asleep. The material mind is awake and chattering incoherently. Meanwhile, when you chant, Krishna is giving you intelligence so you can wake up.
Now, the test of faith works on all levels. If you think someone poisoned Prabhupada, then what was Krishna doing while His pure devotee was being mishandled? You think Krishna is not Supreme, that He is powerless? You think even a blade of grass can move unless He sanctions it? You think you have to ask Him to intervene? That you care more about the people around you than does He?
Krishna is always on top of things. Sit back and enjoy the adventure. Because guess what. You're not even the doer. He is. If you choose to surrender to Maya - she promts the body through sattva, rajo, tamo. If you choose to surrender to Krishna - He prompts through Yogamaya. If you don't surrender, you're still forced to be under Maya. Freedom is an illusion. You are always under the control of Maya - be it Mahamaya or Yogamaya.
All that a soul can do is desire. And purifying your desire is the sole purpose here. The desire should be to serve Krishna. Then you can stop serving Maya. And what's the harm? Krishna is your super self - He is not going to wish ill for His own little self. In fact, He is your servant even when you are not His servant. He supplies the material world, material bodies, material infrastructure, rain, sunshine, technological promptings of the intelligence, trees, birds, whatever you need. And He fulfills your desires - that He has been doing since time immemorial - you propose, He disposes. That's the reason the "secret" works - there's a person behind that universe fulfilling all your desires. So instead of concentrating on a material desire, why not purify the desires? You will receive more than you can imagine. Overwhelming amounts of love. Just follow through with this plan, just trust Prabhupada and the scriptures, just have some faith.
So then you try to find a guru. And you have your little measure tape, with which you're trying to measure the guru. Okay, this guy looks fine, but his smile is wicked, he has fallen disciples, he's too good to be true, he might be a cheater, blah blah. No dependence on Krishna. Why not let Krishna choose for you - you'll be safe only that way. Just surrender. NOW!
So everyone I see as fallen - its just me being fallen that causes me to spot these sores. I'm puffed up, wanting admiration for being spiritual, and of course I'm going to be in trouble. Another major falldown is likely - unless I can uproot this anartha early on somehow. Stop sadhu ninda. That guy who you think is a fallen devotee - lusty guy - might've abused his daughter - thats just another sleeping soul - suffering. That's a special sleeping soul though, because it approached Krishna. Other's are bound up by Maya - unwillingly doing henious things - by her force. Can you blame a drunk guy for thinking that he's the King of the World? He's drunk, he doesn't know what he's saying - he's in illusion. Give him some water so he can sober down. Then he might talk a little bit of sense.
All the people around you - even if some of them try to hurt you, are unfair to you, call you names, abuse you - they're just drunk on illusion. Have pity on them. No need to defend yourself, Krishna's doing that already. Just take shelter of His names when you're afraid. Be fearless. What can possibly happen? You can dissociate yourself from the body if it gets very painful.
The only thing is - how to utilize this time well. How to offer your services so you can start akarma and move out of karma, which always produces papa and punya.
And surrender - have faith in Krishna - then the veil of Maya will be lifted, and you will be able to see the guru as guru - instead of a human being - you will be able to go past all the reports in the media about how this is a bogus person. All that media rubbish is maya's way of throwing off people who have no faith. So its a faith filter. If you make it - you see the truth. If you don't - you feel safe and think you were saved from a bogus thing. But being in Maya's lap is anything BUT safe. Don't rely on her offers of safety. Reject her false allurements. Recognize them for what they are - filters to keep you away from Krishna.
posted by Vyoma at Saturday, March 30, 2013
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