That is the nature of the material world, the nature of material consciousness. Often times we cannot understand that there is a greater plan. We simply have our plan. We simply have our objectives that we want to see fulfilled. If we see wrong, we want it to be corrected. If we want something, we want to get it quickly. We fix our mind on the particular goal and we make our plan. Yet there is a greater plan, and we are simply part of that greater plan.
July 29, 1993, Kiev
Only if the Lord becomes pleased by one’s firm faith in devotional service can one actually see the Lord with happiness. So the Lord withdraws all happiness from one who has no faith in Him.
Boston 1997
So why would service appear to be very bitter? Probably we are still in a diseased state, and therefore we are not in the proper consciousness when we are rendering service. We may still be thinking that ultimately that fruit or the result of that service is meant to give me pleasure and because I don’t have immediate pleasure from the service, it’s bitter. But as long as we maintain that consciousness we will never be able to relish that truly sweet taste of devotional service.
July 27, 2010, Lithuania festival
To accept responsibility for conditioned souls and helping to elevate their consciousness means that one has to be willing to voluntarily accept suffering. I have already accepted that weight of responsibility. I am not thinking that I am going to be able to avoid suffering, but I am suffering when I see my disciples suffering. That's what causes my suffering, when I see that my disciples are not strictly following and they have deviated. I know that they are going suffer so much. It is painful.
July 26, 1997, Kharkov Darshan
And this is a connection which connects the disciple to the eternal guru parampara, it is the connection through knowledge because without transcendental knowledge, without divya jnana, the diksa is incomplete. There must be knowledge, and that knowledge must awaken the desire within the heart to render service to Krishna.
July 25, Moscow
To face it properly, however, those who are “devotees” should not allow themselves to focus exclusively on the projects themselves as their connection to devotional service, but must also focus internally, on the work which they themselves need to accomplish to achieve pure devotional service.
July 24, 2004, Letter
Because Krishna doesn’t want to see us stay in the material world any longer, He becomes so pleased even by the smallest effort to just simply turn somebody’s attention to Krishna. And that’s how we get Krishna's attention.
July 23, 1997, Bryansk
So if we actually offer sincere prayers, even if we are put in difficulty, we will experience Krishna's direct participation in our life and we will see how He helps us to overcome such a difficult situation. Even that which is apparently painful still becomes a source of relief when we remember Krishna.
July 22, 2005, Vladivostok
Conditioning can be overcome, but only with spiritual strength, otherwise we make artificial adjustments, but we don’t come any closer to Krishna.
July 21, 2005, Vladivostok
Grihastas need to hear about Krishna. Everybody needs to hear, but especially grihasthas. Why especially grihasthas? Because grihasthas are those who tend not to take the time to do it.
July 20, 1997, Vilnius