Niranjana Swami's Quote Of The Day

Topic

August 2

Often, we cannot see our anarthas ourselves. This is why it is important to associate with other devotees. What we cannot see is often obvious to other devotees; the other devotees act as a mirror to reflect our attachments. We have probably all experienced periods where we like what we see in ourselves, but often, when our words and behaviors are reflected back to us in the association of devotees,we see ourselves differently. Ultimately, we have to make ourselves susceptible or open to hearing from others if we wish to clear our hearts. We have probably also all had the experience of seeing our chief attachments—attachments to which we are usually blind—in others. The tendency to find fault in others is quite deep. It means we take our faults and blame them on others. Or, we are so busy looking for faults in others that we do not have time to look for them in ourselves. We become too absorbed in seeing others’ faults. We have to overcome this obstacle if we wish to deepen our devotional surrender.

August 1

We actually have to be advanced before we can detect all the subtle attachments within the heart. Lord Caitanya revealed that to the devotees when they cleaned the Gundica temple. After the cleaning had been finished, Lord Caitanya said, “Let’s clean again, this time searching for the fine particles that were not so easy to find the first time we cleaned.” Then all the devotees again began to clean. All of them discovered that there were still many grains of sand and tiny pieces of straw that had not been swept up the first time. These fine particles were more difficult to see. Because this pastime has been compared to the process of anartha-nivrtti, we can understand that first we have to remove the large anarthas before we will be able to see the smaller ones. These smaller particles are compared to the attachments within the heart.

July 31

By distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, we can actually experience satisfaction, real satisfaction of the self, because there is definitely a certain satisfaction that is there within the heart when the devotee of the Lord is pleased. And when you feel that confirmation within your heart that, “Actually, by this activity, I am pleasing my spiritual master, I am pleasing Srila Prabhupada” - there is nothing more satisfying than that. Even despite so many external obstacles and difficulties and anxieties and pressures that one may experience, still even a moment of feeling satisfaction can immediately subdue all these other anxieties and distresses in the mind.

July 30

Spiritual competition means, you always want the other devotee to do more, to do better. Although you'll try extremely hard to do the best you possibly can, you'll always be pleased when you hear that somebody does better. Because it's for Krishna. Why shouldn't we be pleased if somebody does more than we do? Why shouldn't we be pleased when somebody distributes more books than we can distribute? Prabhupada is pleased!

July 29

Srila Prabhupada always placed great emphasis on the importance of establishing this Krishna consciousness movement on the authority of his books.He not spoke about that, but he also demonstrated by his own example, as shown by the amount of time he dedicated every day for translating. Wherever Srila Prabhupada would go, not only would he lecture, not only would he take care of managerial affairs, not only would he take personal care of the devotees, but he was also translating books.

July 28

The Srimad-Bhagavatam explains that Krishna helps us surrender to Him from within the heart as caitya-guru. Caitya-guru means the Lord in the heart. However, before we are able to perceive the Lord’s dictations, we must purify our existence. To purify our existence, we must accept some discipline by which our hearts can become cleansed. Lord Brahma is an example of this. He was the first created being within the universe, and he had no one he could accept as spiritual master except Krishna. Lord Brahma wanted to understand his origin. Therefore, he voluntarily accepted the discipline the Lord Himself prescribed. When Lord Brahma entered the Garbhodaka Ocean through the stem of the lotus, he heard the syllables “tapa”. Brahma accepted that these syllables were of divine origin, so he agreed to follow them and underwent great austerities for a thousand celestial years by sitting on his lotus seat in meditation. The result of Brahma’s obedient austerity was that the Lord personally revealed Himself to him and showed him the expanse of the Vaikuntha planets.
(Lecture SB 1.8.29 St.Peterburg)

July 27

And the most wonderful taste is not only when you are doing something that Prabhupada asked you to do but when you get the confirmation in your heart that Prabhupada is pleased. That taste drives you mad. There is nothing like it, it just drives you mad. You always want to do more and more, to get that confirmation in your heart, 'Yes, Prabhupada is pleased, Prabhupada is pleased.'

July 26

To be able to reveal our mind in confidence means we have to trust the person, but trust is something that takes time to develop. Trust is not something that can be legislated or imposed on us by someone’s position. The best way to learn to trust is to observe him or her. See how the person speaks and behaves. If we want to cultivate trust, we have to both observe people’s behavior and hear from them. Is their character consistent with their speech? If they speak well but cannot control their senses, how can you trust them? If we speak in confidence and notice that they speak about others in our company, we can know that they will also discuss our confidences when we are not present. Behavior must be consistent with speech. This is the criterion we use to develop trust in the association of devotees.
(Bhaktyaloka QA, Boston, 1997)

July 25

Our aspiration in Krishna consciousness is to live in a society of devotees and to render service together in that society. By serving together, we will learn how to overcome mundane competitiveness and become happy to see one another benedicted by the Lord’s mercy. A Vaishnava’s real mentality is to push others forward in Krishna consciousness. By taking the humble position ourselves, we will find ourselves recognized by Krishna without any extraneous effort on our parts.
(SB 4.30.12-13)

July 24

Living in the association of devotees is an ideal opportunity for us to overcome our envious mentality. It forces us to learn tolerance. We have to learn to overlook others’ shortcomings. We have to learn to improve our own character and to concentrate more on our own humility than the lack of humility in others. We also have to overcome the tendency to see faults in others rather than confront faults in ourselves. The desire to find fault is envy. If we dwell on it and become focused on the shortcomings of our immediate associates, then we will never be able to see our own shortcomings and we will not be able to improve. Better we seek out the good qualities of devotees and overlook the faults. Srila Prabhupada asked us what benefit we would derive from criticizing someone for having dirty hands when he is at the sink washing.
(SB 4.30.12-13)

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