Krishna’s way of revealing His plans to His devotees is dynamic. It is not that Krishna has a plan for each of us, and once having executed his desires through us, He pushes us out of the way so He can use the next person. Krishna has unlimited services for the living entity to perform in this apparently unlimited material world. With each new service we have a new opportunity to please the Lord
Even a moment of real turning to Krishna, of offering Him our service free from material motivation, can draw Krishna’s attention to us. Then we can make progress on the Krishna conscious path. Therefore, we should both be patient and confident that the ultimate goal can be achieved.
If we are actually dependent upon Krishna, then we are free to hear and chant His glories without the details of our lives interrupting us.
The conditioned soul is so attached to enjoying the material world that Krishna fulfills his desire. He allows him to stay in the material world for millions of births. But a Vaishnava prays to Krishna to save the conditioned souls. To whom will Krishna be more inclined? Krishna is inclined toward His devotees—so much so that even though the conditioned soul thinks he wants to remain in the material world, Krishna listens to the Vaishnava’s prayer and responds by opening the nondevotee’s heart.
When we say hard work, we are not just talking about going out and digging holes and lifting bricks by the sweat of one's brow. We are talking about hard work internally. It is hard because we still have false egos. We still have attachments for the material world. But we should have one thing-sraddha. We should have faith in the goal. Without faith in the goal nobody can work hard internally.
If we satisfy Krishna by both glorifying Him and hearing about Him, we can conquer Krishna, just as Prahlada Maharaja conquered Krishna by his unalloyed love. Prahlada demonstrated that even in the face of incredible disturbance he was able to instruct his demonic classmates. He ran the risk of angering his teachers and especially his father, but still he preached. We too should take all risks and thus conquer the Lord.
(SB 7.6.25 Boston, October 1995)
When Krishna becomes our life and soul, then preaching will be our life and soul; then we will be devotees. Every other form of striving is secondary. Srila Prabhupada gave such a wonderful, merciful opportunity to make preaching our life and soul. Devotees can have access to such superior pleasure when they preach. Never turn your back on an opportunity to tell someone about Krishna. That is our most important duty.
(SB 7.6.25 Boston, October 1995)
Without a devotee’s mercy, we may simply hanker for relief from our suffering without ever having the chance to taste pleasure.
(SB 7.6.25 Boston, October 1995)
Krishna consciousness does not deny the devotee the right to gratify his senses; it orders that we do it only in an authorized way. If we don’t accept such spiritual discipline, how can we expect to advance in Krishna consciousness to the point where we attain Krishna? The material world is a dangerous place. If we don’t come to Krishna consciousness and accept austerities on Krishna’s behalf, then we will not be able to negotiate this world safely. Actually, austerities performed on the Lord’s behalf deliver nectar. Narada Muni states that one who has actually experienced the taste of devotional service will not forget the ecstasy ever again. He may foolishly go out and try to again enjoy separately from Krishna, collecting the seeds of karma in this world, but he will always be haunted by the taste of surrender to Krishna.
(BG 6.32 Moscow, 1.8.97)
Krishna is not easily attained. We have to be prepared to pay the highest price for Him. We have to continue performing our austerities for the Lord’s satisfaction and know that we cannot gratify our senses separately from Krishna. If a devotee is going to gratify his senses, he should do so in an authorized way. Such discipline is a stage in spiritual advancement. When we become disciplined, we can become disciples. When a disciple accepts initiation from the spiritual master, he makes a firm vow to give up unauthorized sense gratification.
(BG 6.32 Moscow, 1.8.97)