Continuing Devotional Service letters on surrender
…”So when we are put into difficulties while discharging Krishna Conscious duties, it is to be understood that Krishna puts us in a field of austerities and penances which help us making progress towards realization of our goal of life.“
…”There is a word in Sanskrit; bhava grahi janardana: This means the Lord accepts service in devotional emotion.“
…”One who can show the whole cosmic manifestation within the hole of His mouth, what service can we render unto Him? “
…”The secret of success in Krishna Consciousness is to render service to Krishna to the best of our capacity. There is no other alternative to this.”
..”Knowledge means to know Him, and success means to please Him. And how He is pleased, that can be known through the transparent medium of His confidential servant.“
May 8 1969 letter Jaya Govinda
Regarding your future status in Germany, Krishna will save you; don’t bother yourself about it. For the time being, engage yourself in His service, and I think it is the desire of Krishna that you live in Germany and be engaged in His service. I understand from Krishna Das’s letter that there is great possibility of pushing our movement in Germany, so it is a great advantage for you to be there. I understand that you had some difficulty in reaching Hamburg, travelling for two weeks, but do not mind this trouble, because you underwent it for Krishna’s sake. I was on the sea for one month and ten days continually, and that was a horrible account. Perhaps you have read it in my diary which you collected in Vrindaban. So let us forget our past difficulties and in Krishna Consciousness, if anyone faces difficulties, it is considered as blessings, because without tapasya, or voluntarily accepting some inconveniences, nobody can realize the Transcendence. So when we are put into difficulties while discharging Krishna Conscious duties, it is to be understood that Krishna puts us in a field of austerities and penances which help us making progress towards realization of our goal of life.
May 25 1965 lertter Mandal bhadra
I am writing to Ananda also, and you may kindly hand over to him the letter enclosed herewith. Ananda has good experience, and you also have seen how we worship the Deities in the temple and offer prasadam, so you may kindly follow in the same way. But in everything we do devotion and sincerity are the real things. There is a word in Sanskrit; bhava grahi janardana: This means the Lord accepts service in devotional emotion. If we are sincere in offering something to the Lord in devotional love, He will accept it. The procedure may not be very right, but the desire being sincere, He accepts our offering. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that He accepts foodstuffs from devotees because they are offered to Him in complete love and affection. That is required.
June 16 1969 letter Visala
Your final question is how can you become a pure devotee, and the answer to this is given in Bhagavad-gita. Krishna instructs Arjuna that the mahatma, the pure devotee, is he who has fully surrendered himself unto the spiritual nature. And how can we tell if one is completely surrendered unto the spiritual nature? He is always fully engaged in devotional service to Krishna. So this is the process of becoming a pure devotee. We have to engage all of our words, thoughts, and activities in Krishna Consciousness under the direction of the Spiritual Master. Therefore, at every moment you should be busy in some way in serving Krishna and His pure devotees, and automatically you will become purified in Krishna Consciousness. Krishna is always willing to shower His mercy upon His devotees, so we have simply to become receptive to this mercy by devotional service, and then the path is very easy. I hope this will sufficiently answer your questions.
June 24 1969 letter Upendra
So far as your duty is concerned, you are doing your best. That is your spiritual qualification. The best qualification for a Vaisnava is to act sincerely, and to his best capacity, for the service of Krishna. Otherwise, Krishna is so great, and we are so small, there is no question of our giving any service to Krishna. But Krishna is so great, and He is so greatly merciful, that any small service we offer to Him in devotion and sincerity He will accept. Krishna does not require anyone’s help or service, but if we serve Him, even in a very small capacity, He will accept it. So that is our only hope. One who can show the whole cosmic manifestation within the hole of His mouth, what service can we render unto Him? So the best thing is to employ all of our talents and energies in His service. That will help us to progress. So now Seattle is in your charge for introducing Krishna Consciousness, and you are doing your best. Krishna will surely bless you.
June 27 1969 letter Madan mohan
The secret of success in Krishna Consciousness is to render service to Krishna to the best of our capacity. There is no other alternative to this. The more we render service therefore, the more we are able to advance. You have taken the work of indexing, so you may continue to do this. And if you want to remain, it doesn’t matter, but your full energy should be engaged in the Lord’s service. That is the secret of success.
Aug 3 1969 letter Robert Hendry
Your question about not chanting while attending class is also welcome. I don’t mind if you do not chant Hare Krishna Mantra, but if you kindly sit down while chanting is going on, and if you simply hear with attention, that will also act. Wanting to become Krishna Conscious is also as good as being in a state of Krishna Consciousness. There is no actual difference, but the difference is only just like the difference between green mangos and fully ripened mangos. The ripened mango is not a separate mango, but it is another condition of the green mango. So if the green mango is properly taken care of, it will surely come to the stage of the ripened mango. Therefore, as a mango, there is no difference between the two stages. So far as your dress is concerned, that is immaterial. But as a soldier you know that every soldier has got a uniform dress according to the army etiquette of regulation. Therefore, the army of Krishna Consciousness must have at least the tilak on the forehead in all conditions. For your business you can wear your naval service uniform; similarly, if you have tilak on your forehead as a soldier of Krishna Consciousness, you may not have so much objection, because it is essential. Your ideas are great, and your efficiency is laudable. The best thing would have been if you could come here and live with me at least for a week. We could have discussed it very nicely, so in the future you can become a great commander of the Krishna Consciousness soldiers.
Aug 16 1969 letter Damodara
I very much appreciate the nice sentiments you have expressed, and Krishna is available only through service. We cannot demand from Krishna to know about Him. When you actually learn to serve Him, He reveals Himself. That is the process. And the success of life is simply by pleasing Him. That is the version of all Vedic literature. Knowledge means to know Him, and success means to please Him. And how He is pleased, that can be known through the transparent medium of His confidential servant. This is the process of understanding Krishna Consciousness.
Sept 22 1969 letter Bhagavan
Regarding your question, we must utilize our intelligence fully for serving Krishna. Serving Krishna does not mean that we sit idly and say that Krishna will take care of all our business. That is not depending on the Lord; rather it is laziness. Depending on Krishna means to act always in Krishna Consciousness, realizing that Krishna is the Ultimate Controller of all results. I hope you understand this properly.
Oct 15 1969 letter Jaya Govinda
In the meantime Kulasekhara has gone to Germany along with his wife to assist you. Of course, weakness in Krishna Consciousness we should always feel. That is a good symptom. We should never think that we are strong enough. But the source of strength is Krishna and His manifest representative, the Spiritual Master. We get this instruction from Caitanya-caritamrta that we receive the seed of Krishna Consciousness through the Spiritual Master and Krishna. Therefore, we should serve both simultaneously for continuous supply of spiritual vitality. So you are now serving Krishna under the instruction of your Spiritual Master, so there will be no scarcity of supply of strength unless there is some weakness on your part in the matter of absolute faith in these two shelters. So if you have still some doubts in pinching your faith in the service of your Spiritual Master and Krishna, then you can clear it up. I am always prepared to assist you.
Oct 21 1969 letter Yamunacarya
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of October 4, 1969 and I have also duly received your beads sent by Brahmananda. Your initiated name is Yamunacarya. Yamunacarya was a great devotee. Formerly he was a great king, and later on he became a great devotee and acharya of the Ramanuja Sampradaya. There are many such Mahatmas, or great souls, in the past, and if we follow in their footsteps carefully, that is the perfection of fulfillment of our human form of life. To follow in the footsteps of the Mahatmas means to give submissive aural reception to the words and instructions of the bona fide Spiritual Master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. This acts like electricity, and if you touch a wire anywhere which is connected to the powerhouse, then you will be in contact with the electric current. But if the wire is broken or separated from the powerhouse, then there will be no electric current. Similarly transcendental atmosphere; but if we listen to someone who is presenting a broken, concocted version of Bhagavad-gita, that will be useless. So try to understand our philosophy very sincerely and carefully.
Nov 2 1969 letter Kulasekhara
These feelings of loneliness are simply temporary manifestations due to past conditioning, and we should try to concentrate our attention to our eternal friendship with Krishna. That will relieve us of all such botherations. So both of you depend on Krishna and try more and more to serve Him nicely by spreading Krishna Consciousness. As you are both very sincere devotees, surely He will bestow His Grace upon you for this.
Nov 9 1969 letter Bhagavan
Regarding your final question, it is a fact that when one is contact with Krishna, His Name, His Qualities, His Form, His Pastimes, immediately he becomes purified. But because we are conscious living entities, the proportion depends on our conscious acceptance. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that Lord Krishna responds proportionately to the service of the devotee. Another example is that the sunlight is open for everyone and for every place, but to enjoy the sunlight or to take advantage of the sunlight depends on the proportionate arrangement by the receiver. Prosecution of devotional service means gradual purification and proportionate revelation of Krishna Consciousness
Nov 11 1969 letter Rudra
Regarding the vows and chanting method you have adopted, it is very nice. But do not impose something which will be difficult to execute. There is no need of fasting once every week. Two days fasting per month on Ekadasi is sufficient. Besides that there are other special fasting days. Spiritual realization depends on austerities and vows, but in this age, by the Mercy of Krishna and Lord Caitanya, we need not undergo very severe penances, as we are unable to do it. The rules and regulations which we have already prescribed, that is sufficient for ordinary men. But as you have increased the chanting of beads to 25 rounds daily, that is very nice.
Nov 16 1969 letter Gopal Krsna
Please accept my blessings. Thank you very much for your letter dated November 11, 1969 with enclosed BTG, French edition. Krishna is giving you gradually more and more strength to serve Him. Just like a wrestler, simply by practicing wrestling amongst friends, gradually becomes stronger and the body is built up very nicely, Krishna Consciousness is exactly like that: The more you serve Krishna, the more you get better strength to serve Him. Please remember this valuable advice and you will find it very convenient for your progressive march.
Jan 16 1970 letter Madhusudana
You have admitted that it is something like the tricks of the mind. May I ask you if you are regularly chanting 16 rounds of beads? The tricks of the mind or influence of Maya will infiltrate if we do not follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the prescribed Names without any offense. Perhaps you know that there are 10 (ten) kinds of offenses in chanting the Holy Name. The first offense is not to obey the order of the Spiritual Master, and the second is to minimize the authoritative value of the Scriptures. These things are infiltrating within you as I see from your writings that Vedas or Bhagavatam or Gita seem not so universal.
What is the reason of your thinking like that? What do you mean by universal? Do you think that there is any other Scripture in the world which is more universal than the Vedas and Bhagavata etc.? Is there any literature in the world which is more sublime in knowledge than the Bhagavad-gita? The word “Krishna” means “All Attractive,” so where you get the foreign element in Krishna? Does it mean that He is attractive for all except yourself? And if He is not attractive to you, why it is so? So you kindly answer all these questions from me.
You say that you will do as I say and you also prayed to Madhusudana to slay the demon of your doubt but unless you act according to the direction of Madhusudana how can Madhusudana or Madhusudana’s father help you. You are with us practically for the last four years and still if you think you cannot surrender to Krishna without any doubt, then what kind of progress you have made by this time?
So this Krishna science can be understood through the process of sincere service, and so far any doubt which may sometimes arise in our mind there are the devotees, the Scriptures and the Spiritual Master. Did you discuss all your doubts with your contemporary Godbrothers and devotees? So there are many questions like this about you.
You say that within your heart you know that Krishna is the Original Personality of Godhead but when you think of Krishna or try to feel Him you think Krishna as foreign on account of Sanskrit language. Please, therefore, be careful that Maya is peeping at you and if you do not take care timely it may prove fatal. Please, therefore, chant regularly without the offenses and be steady in your situation without any tottering of the mind. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead without any question. He is accepted as such beginning from Arjuna through all the great Acaryas—Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Sankaracarya, Lord Caitanya, Lord Brahma, the Vedic authorities Vyasadeva and Narada—like that, down to ourselves. So this knowledge descends through bona fide disciplic succession. You have accepted this chain of authorities, now you are feeling doubts means certainly you are being attacked by Maya.