Vaishnava Seva

Parvati: What is the highest worship of all?

Shiva: The worship of Lord Vishnu is the highest worship

Parvati (feeling somewhat dejected): But my lord, I always worship your lotus feet.

Shiva: The worship of Lord Vishnu is the highest worship but even higher than that is the worship of His devoted servitors.

Parvati (again feeling joyful): You are certainly the greatest of the servitors of Lord Vishnu (Vaishnavanam yata Shambu) and so my worship is perfect.

In my first days at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in the early 1980s I noted that without exception that if asked the question, "What is your service?" the reply was invariably, "Vaishnava seva."

This thinking was ingrained in the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math to such a degree that the designation of 'pujari,' or 'cook,' or 'preacher,'or 'kirtttan leader,' or whatever one's duty was, was always secondary to this fundamental identification and aspiration of 'servant of the devotees.'

At the same time the devotees understand that their service duty is what constitutes that Vaishnava seva.
(sri- vigraharadhana-nitya-nana, shringaira-tan-mandira-marjanadau, yuktasya bhaktams cha niyunjato pi, vande guroh sri-charanaravindam) Service to the Vaishnava can never be divorced from the service of Lord Krishna because the Vaishnava is always engaged in the service of that Lord.

We should not think that because the service of the devotee is higher then I can neglect the service of the Deity in the temple. The Lord's Deity form has been established in the temple by the very Vaishnava that we wish to serve. He has given us this service charge for the pleasure of his Lord and mercifuly agreed to engage us in this service as his instruments and in this way we are factually connected with the Divinity.

What a wonderful arangement! Then if we serve the Deity in our master's temple very nicely we will begin to understand the reality of the service world. And because it is the order of our master it is certainly and perfectly, Vaishnava seva.

I we understand this truth then we will make wonderful and opulent arrangements for the worship of the Deity and will see that all the activities in the temple are for Their pleasure.

Delicious foodstuffs will be prepared with great joy and offered to Thier Lordships.
The kirttans will be performed with a new sweetness and joy for the Lord's pleasure.
We will rush to see our Lord in the Arati.
The Scripture will be recited even in the absence of others, knowing that Their Lordships are feeling great happiness to hear Their glories.
The cooking pots will be cleaned with great vigour and attention, the floors swept and everything kept spotless so that the temple shines in joyful reflection of the devotees hearts.
Sri Guru will be immensely pleased to see the devotees happily engaged in this way and when he is pleased then we will have realised the real purport of 'Vaishnava seva.'

On Humility

He that is down needs fear no fall,
He that is low no pride.
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide
                              John Bunyan

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has implored us to practice humility if we wish to be able to properly serve the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. But what actually is real humility and what does it mean to be truly humble?

Humility by its very definition is a true realisation of our utter dependence on the Lord and an appreciation of  the miniscule and insignificant nature of our very existence. So why does our ego tell us that we are important and deserving of recognition? The concept of humility seems to go against our nature, our very sense of being and seems to seek to reduce us to nothing, an abject non-entity. Can this really be desirable?

If we examine the character of the great Vaishnavas we must conclude that they are inordinately exalted but at the same time we see that they express genuine humility to an almost unbelievable degree. And those expressions are not merely poetic hyperbole but their genuine heartfelt sentiment.

Genuine humility is commensurate to ones advancement in spiritual life and ones advancement is largely dependent on the degree of ones humility. Therein lies the conundrum.

If I have no humility then how will I advance in spiritual life?

We will have to practise humility as a sadana or discipline for it to become our natural inclination. So what does that mean in a practical sense, in our day to day lives?

A cloying, servile attitude along with a show of being a 'very fallen soul' will not cut it. That may very well make us Uriah Heap rather than Krishna das. Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad is quoted as saying, "too much humility is the sign of a thief." So how do we practise humility?

The first step in embracing humility is to accept an inward vow of obedience to our master. As much as I am able I accept whatever is asked of me by my Lord and in the practise of my devotional life this will necessarily require constant adjustment, sincere introspection and personal sacrifice

It is not humility if I become proud of my obedience, and as long as I want recognition then I am again automatically barred.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "humility means to the sadhu and not to the mad people", but that doesn't mean we should show arrogance to all but the sadhu. If we are really obedient to our master then that will reflect in our dealings towards everyone. The natural companion of humility is respect and if I am humble then my dealings will naturally be respectful to all.

Ambition will be our enemy if we desire humility. Our only ambition should be to sincerely serve and that will help us to be humble.

Wealth, success and independence are all part of Maya's trap and foster our false notions of self-importance, but no less seductive is the allure of fame and for the aspiring devotee this manifests in the desire to receive recognition as a noteworthy devotee. This is known as pratistha and is only yet another subtle snare in Maya's arsenal.

We all desire encouragement in our devotional lives and we want to know that our Gurudev and the Vaishnavas are pleased by our service attempt but ultimately we will have to be satisfied that we are allowed to serve in whatever meagre capacity and count ourselves as blessed to have the company of the Vaishnavas.

If we are truly sincere then we will see that service and the company of loving devotees is in itself its own reward.

In my humble opinion.

Prayers to Lord Narasimha in the mood of a Krishna Bhakta

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has written five beautiful prayers in his "Sri Navadvipa Bhava Taranga" for receiving the mercy of Lord Narasimha. These prayers show that the devotees of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu aspire only for devotion to Sri Sri Radha Govinda and when they worship any other form of the Lord, that worship follows the mood of the residents of Sri Vriaja Dham who pray only for the eternal service of that Divine Couple.

e dusta hrdaye kama adi ripu chaya
kutinati pratisthasa sathya sada raya
hrdaya-sodhana ara krsnera vasana
nrsimha-charane mora ei to' kamana

Within my sinful heart the six enemies headed by lust perpetually reside, as well as duplicity, the desire for fame, plus sheer cunning. At the lotus feet of Lord Narasimha, I hope that He will mercifully purify my heart and give me the desire to serve Lord Krsna.

kandiya nrsimha-pade magibo kakhana
nirapade navadvipe jugala-bhajana
bhaya bhaya paya yan'ra darsane se hari
prasanna hoibo kabe more daya kari

Weeping, I will beg at the lotus-feet of Lord Narasimha for the benediction of worshipping Radha and Krsna in Navadvipa, perfectly safe and free from all difficulties. When will this Lord Hari, Whose terrible form strikes fear into fear itself, ever become pleased and show me His mercy?

yadyapi bhisana murti dusta-jiva-prati
prahladadi krsna-bhakta-jane bhadra ati
kabe va prasanna ho'ye sa krpa-vachane
nirbhaya karibe ei mudha akinchane

Even though Lord Narasimha is terrifying toward the sinful souls, He offers great auspiciousness unto the devotees of Lord Krsna headed by Prahlad Maharaja. When will He be pleased to speak words of compassion unto me, a worthless fool, and thereby make me fearless?

svachchhande baiso he vatsa sri-gauranga-dhame
jugala-bhajana hau rati hau name
mama bhakta-krpa-bale vighna jabe dura
suddha chite bhajo radha-krsna-rasa-pura

He will say, "Dear child! Sit down freely and live happily here in Sri Gauranga-dham. May you nicely worship the Divine Couple, and may you develop loving attachment for Their Holy Names. By the mercy of My devotees, all obstacles are cast far away. With a purified heart, just perform the worship of Radha and Krsna, for such worship overflows with sweet nectar."

ei boli' kabe mora mastaka-upara
sviya sri-charana harse dharibe isvara
amani jugala-preme sattvika vikare
dharaya lutibo ami sri-nrsimha-dvare

Saying this, will that Lord in great delight place His own divine lotus-feet upon my head? I will experience sublime love for the Divine Couple Radha-Krsna and undergo the ecstatic transformations called sattvika. Falling on the ground, I will roll at the door of Sri Narasimha's temple.

Wait and See!

One advice that we heard many times from Srila Sridhar Maharaj was, "Wait and see." 

Srila Govinda Maharaj considered it such an important advice that he had it printed and posted around the Math in Kolkata and it was of course his own advice to us and certainly his own practice.

In my own service life and indeed all other aspects of my life this advice has served me well, whenever I have been able to follow it. I say that because being the foolish fellow that I so often am, I have many times reacted to any given situation with a knee jerk response indicitive of one who is not self-controlled.

And the result? Well I'm sure I don't really have to say that more often than not the outcome has been less than auspicious if not completely disasterous.

Especially today with our immeadiate response lifestyle (you can reply to a message from someone the other side of the world in a few moments now through the media of email, text and instant messaging) we need to be even more self-controlled and stay that itchy keyboard hand!

Wait and see!

When we do follow this simple yet profound advice miraculous things can happen and sometimes without any need to even engage directly, the solution presents itself.

Wait and See!

If we have faith that the Lord is in control of everything and that He has my best interest at heart then we can wait, can't we?

Wait and See!

A little introspection and prayer before we decide what to do can never be a bad thing.

Then we can think, everything will be okay, just wait and see!

Teach Your Children Well - Expect the worst and you may be pleasantly surprised!

"Teach, your children well, their father's hell did slowly go by

And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick's the one you'll know by."

(Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)

In February this year I informed Srila Govinda Maharaj that a number of devotees in London were requesting initiation from His Divine Grace. On my recommendation he most graciously accepted those devotees as his disciples and this last Saturday His Holiness Sripad Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj was in London to conduct the ceremony on behalf of our Divine Master.

As you probably know I am blessed with two beautiful daughters, Nadiarani, who will be fifteen this year, and Malini who will be six. I would have waited for Malini to reach eight years before requesting Harinam for her (as I did for Nadiarani) but it was my feeling that Srila Gurudev may not stay in this world for much longer and so I asked for his merciful connection now and he so generously agreed.

So Malini received her Japa Mala via Janardan Maharaj and Nadiarani received Gayatri Diksha and I was a little tearful and very happy father.

As I am sure any parent will tell you, raising children is very taxing and as much as you try you can never be sure that you are doing the right thing. I asked Srila Govinda Maharaj about this once and his (always) sage advice was, " Never force them but just give them love. Be there for them and try to teach them by your own example."

I think in this advice lies the secret to our success or failure as parents. We have to teach our children by our own example. If I am a cheat and a thief then the chances are my children will learn cheating and thievery from me. So as a parent I am acutely aware that I have a very grave responsibility to be the best person that I can and to be the best devotee that I can be. Like it or not we are automatically Guru to our children and this is an enormous weight if we consider the truth of this. No matter how we instruct our children they will inevitably recognise if we are hypocrites and likely reject our advice because of that. Ultimately we will have to live what we teach if we want our children to have a chance of accepting Krishna Consciousness as the path of their lives.

Of course all living beings have free will and so even perfect teaching supported by perfect practice may not be enough. Srila Govinda Maharaj lived with the sons of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj like their brother and he often remarked to us, "Srila Prabhupad gave Krishna Consciousness to the whole world but he was not able to give that to his own sons." So remembering that I think it prudent to expect the worst, however much we hope for the best for our kids.

The influence of material nature is extremely strong and we are easily persuaded by her charming proposals, still we should not give up our attempt to do what's best and to pass on what we have found most valuable in our own lives. And if we have the support of a strong devotional community and make sure our children have the opportunity for regular association and devotional service, we may well be pleasantly surprised.

When I see how important Krishna Consciousness is to the children of the devotees as they themselves become adults I am constantly amazed. It is their religion, not just the beliefs of their parents. They own it and they live for it. This is a real testimony to the reality of devotional life and finally our children become our teachers and nothing could make us happier. Isn't that the truth?

"Teach your parents well, their children’s hell will slowly go by.

And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick's the one you’ll know by."

Are you an addict?

She wakes up in the middle of the night and has to get a fix. Before she even gets out of bed in the morning she needs it. She sneaks her gear into the bathroom with her so no one will know. She leaves her dinner to get it. She knows it’s become a problem but she can't leave it. She hides it and denies she's using. Even when friends are round she has to get her fix. Everything else is secondary. It’s damaging her relationships with others, with her family, but it doesn't matter. It’s taking over her life and threatening to consume her.

What is her terrible secret? Is it Heroin? Cocaine? Alcohol? 

No, its Social Networking.

According to a recent study undertaken by Retrevo Inc (a US consumer electronics shopping and review site) all of these symptoms are common amongst nearly 50% of Facebook and Twitter users (that they polled) and may be causing serious problems in their 'real' lives as it takes over more of their time and attention. Recently a bride groom updated his Facebook status and then tweeted from his Twitter account, that he was now 'off limits.' The crazy thing is he did it from the altar. "You may now kiss the bride" "Yea, I will just as soon as I finish this post!"

Andy Warhol famously said, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." Is this phenomenon the fulfilment of his prophecy? Maybe not quite, but many Social Network users now 'post' about themselves in the third person as if they have attained celebrity status amongst the circle of their 'friends.'

Not only are we already caught in the illusion of our body/mind/ego identification, now there is a real danger of becoming caught in this 'virtual world' illusion as we crave our 15 minutes. Could looking for Vaishnava sanga on the web be only another 'siren's song' of Maya leading us to yet another shipwreck in our life?

I have a Facebook account and admittedly I don't use it very much but when I do I am struck by the amount of utterly cringe inducing rubbish that I see. Don't get me wrong, there are many devotees who maintain perfectly respectable, chaste and dignified Facebook pages but for every one of those, there are ten which are at the best embarrassing and at the worst disgraceful.

If I am claiming to be a disciple (and proclaiming such on my Facebook page) then I should be aware that whatever I put into the public domain will reflect on my Gurudev so I need to be very careful not to be an embarrassment to his name.

One problem with the Internet is I can hide behind my computer screen and say things that I might never dream of saying or doing in normal life. Suddenly I lose all sense of modesty or propriety and with the click of a mouse I am exposed to the world. 

Here I am in this photo the very model of devotion, my head covered, tilak perfect, sitting next to my Gurudev. Jai, what a lovely photo! Click on 'next' and oh dear there I am in a photo that wouldn't be out of place in a top shelf men’s magazine! 

Here I am professing my undying devotion to Guru and Krishna and then there I am commenting on 'today's favourite lover' or letting the world know how 'wasted I got last night' or 'Wow you look so sexy in that photo. Awesome!"

What anyone does in their 'private' life is their own business but Facebook and other social networking sites are not private. 

Self-control, chastity, modesty, perfect behaviour and morality—these are the qualities of the devotees. Without them we dishonour our Gurudev and all that he embodies.

Put down that mouse and pick up your japa mala. You know it makes sense.

Friendface - A diseased face of Friendship!

The Prayer of St Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much

Seek to be consoled as to console;

Not so much to be understood as to understand;

Not so much to be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.