H.H Kadamba Kanana Maharaja was here in South Africa from June 28- July 9. We will try to send as much nectar of Maharaja as we can. Here's a little drop from Maharaja's first class in Durban:
(see also www.kkswami.com for upcoming pics)
What to do when the senses attack, when the senses push very hard? What to do? We say, “No, how can you?” For how long? So therefore spiritual life can be difficult and we are on the slippery deck. And when you are board on the boat, the waves are not nicely behaving, the waves are not just staying under the boat- oh no- the waves, they come over the edge as well, from the front and the roll over the deck. And that’s where you are! So in the same way, in the midst of our spiritual life, suddenly a big wave of passion comes and suddenly the Bhagavad-Gita looks different! Suddenly, we know it’s still true but it looks so far away. Like, “Yes, the Bhagavad-Gita, I know…” we look with binoculars trying to see the Bhagavad-Gita but it seems to be so hard to really bring it to your heart. At that stage what do we do? What do we do?
So the mercy of
Lord Caitanya is obviously our savior and how to sufficiently get the effect of the mercy of Lord Caitanya is maybe the question. We know the mercy is there but our problem is that we are not taking shelter of it, we are not serious about taking it. It is there, “Yes, yes, yes…” we chant but casually, we eat but not always prasadam, like that we could go to the temple but we don’t go, we couldn’t do so much more to spiritually stay in the fire so to say. We all know the analogy- iron in the fire, iron becoming hot, iron acting like fire- that we know. But there is the other side of the story- iron out of fire, iron cooling down! And iron stopping to act like fire and iron having to be put back into the fire! And then we go, “Ooooh, it’s sooo difficult! Ooooh…” this is our problem. And that part is really up to us and that is the part called surrender! That is the part called surrender because although Lord Caitanya’s mercy is very elaborate and there is unlimited variety of maha prasadam, there is still one complication with maha prasadam…and that is this- you have to go and open your mouth! It doesn’t automatically fly into your mouth! It’s not that you just open your mouth and the rasagulla flies in! You actually have to take the trouble to get it! And that is where the problem is- that we have to ourselves make the endeavor. That is the one difficulty that we have, that’s the part where we lose out, that is the part where we drift away, that is the part where gradually weakness sets in, that is the part where Maya catches us, that is the part where in spite of the mercy of Lord Caitanya we don’t do it!
So this is the part where we have to be conscious, where we are actually aware, where every devotee has to struggle. This is the part where we have to fight. There’s no such thing that spiritual life is without the fight, that it comes just to those who are spiritually weak, to those who have no strength and then boinggg… “I’ve got the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu….!” No, that you read sometimes in the Caitanya-caritamrta but we don’t really see that happening here in Gandhi park...
So the mercy of
Lord Caitanya is obviously our savior and how to sufficiently get the effect of the mercy of Lord Caitanya is maybe the question. We know the mercy is there but our problem is that we are not taking shelter of it, we are not serious about taking it. It is there, “Yes, yes, yes…” we chant but casually, we eat but not always prasadam, like that we could go to the temple but we don’t go, we couldn’t do so much more to spiritually stay in the fire so to say. We all know the analogy- iron in the fire, iron becoming hot, iron acting like fire- that we know. But there is the other side of the story- iron out of fire, iron cooling down! And iron stopping to act like fire and iron having to be put back into the fire! And then we go, “Ooooh, it’s sooo difficult! Ooooh…” this is our problem. And that part is really up to us and that is the part called surrender! That is the part called surrender because although Lord Caitanya’s mercy is very elaborate and there is unlimited variety of maha prasadam, there is still one complication with maha prasadam…and that is this- you have to go and open your mouth! It doesn’t automatically fly into your mouth! It’s not that you just open your mouth and the rasagulla flies in! You actually have to take the trouble to get it! And that is where the problem is- that we have to ourselves make the endeavor. That is the one difficulty that we have, that’s the part where we lose out, that is the part where we drift away, that is the part where gradually weakness sets in, that is the part where Maya catches us, that is the part where in spite of the mercy of Lord Caitanya we don’t do it!So this is the part where we have to be conscious, where we are actually aware, where every devotee has to struggle. This is the part where we have to fight. There’s no such thing that spiritual life is without the fight, that it comes just to those who are spiritually weak, to those who have no strength and then boinggg… “I’ve got the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu….!” No, that you read sometimes in the Caitanya-caritamrta but we don’t really see that happening here in Gandhi park...
