The Higher View - 4

CBD Belapur Navi Mumbai

Kalpatararu Co-operative Housing Society
Community Hall
Sector 8-B

September 18, 2010

People on the higher levels of transcendence can perceive things which ordinary
men of limited intelligence cannot estimate or comprehend.Obedience of God is
considered to be superior to piety and Charity.This is a confounding theory which
most pious people fail to understand.This is a philosophy that needs to be
accepted at face value.The efficacy of the same can only be valued by whoever
has abided and lived by this principle.

Srila Prabhupada recounts the story of “Honesty amongst thieves”.There are four
thieves who loot a bank and with the booty they decamp to a hideout.Each one
sits alongside the loot and talk of honesty in distributing the money equally
amongst themselves.The basis of their agreement itself is on utter dishonesty.The
loot does not belong to them and all of them agree on being honest while
distributing it amongst themselves.On the same lines , everything on this planet
and beyond belongs to Lord Sri Krishna and he is the Absolute sole proprietor of
all that is and all that can be. However all of us are disobedient to the Supreme
Lord and talk about being honest in our day to day dealings.It is better to be
violent abiding by the will of God than to be naïve , pious and kind , being
disobedient to the Lord. It is a well known fact that Yudhishtir Maharaj’s chariot
never touched the ground until the time he disobeyed the Lord’s command. The
Lord asked Yudhishtir to proclaim that Ashwatthama had been slain in the war to
unsettle Dronacharya.Yudhishtir had a reputation of being a “Satyavaadi” or
Truthful person. Yudhishtir Maharaj showed great reluctance in uttering a lie even
at the behest of the All Supreme Lord.Immediately his chariot which floated on air
all the time , touched the ground.One would wonder why Sudama was honored so
much by the Lord and what special quality he had for the Lord to give His own
opulence to Sudama.

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Sudama was in a way attached to his poverty and he was extremely proud of his
poverty.The Lord wanted Sudama to be free from this pride which was a cause for
his false ego.Thus the Lord puts an end to any sort of attachment.For some , he
relieves them by taking away all their possessions and for certain others , he
relieves them by benedicting them with all sorts of riches.

The Lord once told Narada to search for His greatest devotee in the Universe. He
gave Narada a mission statement so that it would be easier for Sri Narada to
arrive at the conclusion.The Lord told Narada “Go round the Universe saying that I
have a severe headache and that I desire the dust of the Lotus feet of the
devotees which is the only medicine for this predicament “.Sri Narada approached
various classes of the Lord’s devotee with the Lord’s command and His
predicament.Sri Narada approached the Jnanis first.The Jnanis considered this as
an offence and rejected giving the feet of their dust.The Yogis also responded with
a similar answer.The Queens of the Lord also were approached by Sri Narada.
The Queens said that they did not desire to be cast into Hell on account of giving
the dust of their feet as a medicine to relieve the Lord of His headache.They too
sent of Sri Narada empty handed.Even after approaching millions of the Lord’s
presumed elevated devotees, Sri Narada could not have a handful of dust to cure
the Lord of his headache.Finally Sri Narada approached the Gopis of Braja.As
soon as the Gopis heard the Lord’s woes , they immediately filled sacks of dust of
their own feet and gave it to Narada and asked him to be in the Lord’s service at
once.They could not bear to hear the Lord suffering from headache. Sri Narada
told the Gopis that since they were giving the dust of their feet , they may be
doomed into Hell forever and would have to suffer unlimited agonies there.The
Gopis were ready to be pushed to Hell for an unlimited period if that could bring
relief to their most beloved Lord ,Sri Krishna.Thus Narada concluded that the
Gopis of Braja were the topmost devotees of the Lord.Thus service to the Lord is
the Supreme activity that man can engage himself in.

There are some people who say that after they have started their Bhakti process ,
they simply do not feel like engaging in any other activity.This is actually a good
indication and one need not be concerned of such a state of mind.This necessarily
does not mean that we have to abandon materialistic work.This cannot be done
especially by those in the Grihastha order of life.One should continue materialistic
work in the mode of detachment.Just abandoning work because one does not
have interest in such fruitive activity is not recommended.There was a certain
visitor to the temple who confided that he could not approve of the Bhakti process.
The Bhakti process declares that Service to the Supreme Lord is even greater
than serving one’s own parents.This was unacceptable to this visitor and he was
of the opinion that serving one’s own parents was the topmost form of sacrifice.
This person even went to the extent of telling that if somebody even hinted a slight

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opposition to the idea of serving his parents , he would become violent against
such a person.This gentleman stopped visiting the temple due to this unusual
principle of his. It was later learnt by the temple authorities that the visitor went
abroad to pursue education much against the wishes of his dear parents. He
further married an American woman also to the disgust of his dear parents. He did
not return to India even once to see his now ailing parents.This is the state of
things in Kaliyuga. Here is a person who forsook Bhakti for his parents and later
forsook his parents for mundane sense enjoyment.It may not be an
understatement to conclude that Kaliyuga is verily another name for hypocrisy
People find all sorts of excuses to excuse themselves from Bhakti on the grounds
of goodness and piety and then get themselves rid from those very qualities for
which they abandoned Bhakti and further indulge themselves in false
engagements to satisfy their sensual urges.If one is not honest to God , then one
cannot be honest to anyone else Krishna declares that He is our original father
and mother and the person who does not revere Him and be obedient to Him
cannot be honest to anyone else.Honesty devoid of Krishna Consciousness is
simply the principle of Honesty amongst thieves.Honesty becomes a matter of
convenience rather than a principle that needs to be upheld at any cost.Srila
Prabhupada vehemently concludes that if there is no surrender to God there
cannot be any moral principles in this world.

What is the definition of Love.What would two people in love do? What are the
symptoms? They are care and sacrifice.However definition of sacrifice warrants
one to be free from the want of a particular commodity to be able to sacrifice
it.One does not expect love in return if one really becomes qualified to love the
other.This is true love.This is true sacrifice.Sacrifice is done not of things that one
does not need but of that which is very dear to one’s heart.There is a small joke
that talks about the competition of a Re 1.00 and a Rs 1000 note.The Rs .1000
note is extremely proud and declares itself to be superior.Immediately the Re 1.00
immediately laughs and says there is one place where the Re1.00 coin always
enters where the Rs1000 note has never entered and may possibly never enter.
The Rs 1000 note was eager to hear about that place.The Re 1.00 immediately
said that it is the Donation box place inside the Krishna Temple where the Re
1.00 coin has Supremacy.This also shows the reluctance of the general public in
parting with the dearmost thing for the sake of the Lord and that is Vitamin M or
MONEY.

Krishna Consciousness is not an activity to be engaged in, once the body is good
for nothing , at the fag end of life, after the body has been burnt by sense
enjoyment.True sacrifice is done when one gives his best years for the service of
Krishna , when one’s body and mind are young and fit for Bhakti.