WORKING FOR KRISHNA Part5
So there are different levels given, if you can’t do this, then do that, then do that but we should understand that if you are in connection with the temple then we should help the mission somehow or other …..We can see that devotees have a mission, like this afternoon, boy I was tired because of a late night programme last night , not much sleep last night so I had thought of taking a little rest this afternoon and in the evening there is a programme right but Paraveeta said “Are we going to the park?” in his usual intense nature and I just knew that there is no way that I am not going to go to the park or Paraveeta is going to be upset with me “Well, you know I guess” I got used to it instead of going like” Raaaah Paraveeta raahhherrahh.!”
I was like “Sure sure Paraveeta, sure sure whatever you say , you know”
So in that mood I went to the park and of course when we went to the park we had the perfect spot, but Paraveeta as soon as we were sitting nicely Paraveeta then appeared “Here’s another spot”
“Alright , Paraveeta sure sit in your spot no problem whatever you say”
Eventually we get in this mood, yes, whatever you say we will do, tell me and we see how Vaishnavas amongst each other are acting like that, …. “Is it alright if I with your permission if I now eat something?”
“yes yes yes yes”
Not like “Got to eat something now got to eat something NOW, MOVE OUT MY WAY! RAHHHHHH where IS IT!?! I’m Hungry!!”
No, Vaishnavas are asking for permission “With your permission can I eat something now?”
And they depend so much on other devotees, tomorrow we will remember Jayananda prabhu. And Jayananda prabhu very much had this spirit that. Jayananda prabhu was depending on everyone, he was depending on the new bhaktas, he was asking the new bhaktas who were in the temple for three days if they thought it was alright if he took a little rest, do a little this, little that because he was working with them and he would sleep less then them and he was working all night on the ratha cart and other things and he was up after them and up before them and sometimes a little tired but he was very submissive to other people so Jayananda from the beginning became a very advanced devotee, so tomorrow we will really speak on Jayananda and……. That is very nice…but a little preview of what to come: Jayananda was a special devotee, he was such a nice person, such a nice person , everybody loved him, even the people outside loved him and Prabhupada liked him so much and he worked so hard that one time Jayananada during class was…..snoring sitting in the back, leaning against the wall “ZZZZZZZZ ZZZZ”……………………. Prabhupada was giving Class!
Jayananda was sleeping. And Prabhupada said, “ HEY what is that?” basically, but someone said oh it is Jayananda and Prabhupada said “OH! Let him sleep let him sleep, he is very tired he works very hard”
Prabhupada didn’t mind that he slept, he worked so hard he had so much appreciation for him. So Jayananda cared so much for the mission, he cared so much for the mission he had so much enthusiasm for the mission to spread Krishna consciousness he was ready to do anything, to do anything with all his might and energy up to the very last moment, so that is the spirit that we should cultivate, that is the trick, that we should get into this.
We should get into spreading this Krishna consciousness, being part of it, being part of the movement and therefore cooperate with each other. Like I was giving an example, right now I was going to America and going to come back on the 30th of June, and someone came all the way from the Haque to please ask me personally to come to the ratha yatra and then what can I say, guess I’ll have to squeeze my America tour and come back a little earlier, how can you deny.
We have to be sensitive to the devotees, that is one of the essential codes to spiritual life, you see it in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and we should give up this rigid mood which we brought with us from material life. “ Can you do this? “
“ No no no no no no no! Not possible, sorry I have to wash my clothes, I really have to wash my clothes”
Something you were planning, you were planning all along, between 3 and 4 I am going to wash my clothes and then something else happens…” NO NO NO”
But then gradually as years go by we let devotees take control of our life and the devotees begin to control our movements, our whereabouts and we became flexible and this way relationships become very nice because the devotees begin to deal with each other like that instead of everyone being rigid with his own opinions, so many ideas because this rigidity , this being very fixed, your own opinions and your own idea, that is the problem, that is the problem where sparks are flying, this stone like mood, like this is me, this is me, where friction causes sparks, sometimes flings and sometimes burning fire, this happens and there is crisis and a big conflict.
We have seen when devotees have tried to strangle other devotees, we are remembering…… there have been fist fights…in front of Prabhupada!
So things have been wild and Prabhupada of course just shook his head “ Far from the Vaishnava platform”
But this is due to two different people are fixed in opposing ideas and are going to clash so we should become flexible in our Krishna consciousness then we can altogether in spite of different natures, different ideas work together in this mission. And sometimes one gets his way and sometimes another, that is natural, everyone gets his way sometimes…..any questions or comments?
Devotees speaks
Maharaja: It doesn’t work? What doesn’t work?
Devotees speaks
Maharaja: That’s because you are fruitive then, it doesn’t work means you are fruitive. You are only flexible because you actually want the other one to bend toward you but that is not what I am proposing. I am not saying that the vaishnavas ought to be fruitive in his flexiblility and he should bend thinking now I am bending now the other person will also bend, I will be very very bending, I will not even measure if the other person is bending as much as I am bending! I bend a little bit and now are you bending as much I did, oh you bent a little inch less, that’s alright but I am writing it down, but if you do this too often I will not bend to you anymore, I will have nothing to do with you anymore……..
That is mundane, that is just mundane flexibility, people have that, that is just social behaviour where one person bends to another, each time he bends he measures very carefully, the other one will also bend just as much now or otherwise he rejects the person … but spiritual life….. No we are not fruitive so we become submissive and flexible to all the vaishnavas but we don’t expect that they become submissive and flexible to us…..contd tomo
