— { LOVING SEARCH FOR THE LOST SERVANT } —

4 | THE ENVIRONMENT

Devotion to Krishna means sacrifice—“die to live.” By devotion to Krishna, our whole conception of mundane, self-centered, self-interested life will be finished totally.

sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat paratvena nirmalam
hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir uchyate

(Narada Pancharatra)

“Pure devotion is service to the Supreme Lord which is free from all relative conceptions of self-interest.”

In his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, Srila Rupa Goswami quotes this verse from the ancient Puranas. Upadhi means “all relative conceptions of self-interest.” We must be totally free of all upadhis.

And Rupa Goswami also gives us a parallel verse describing bhakti:

anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena-krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

“Pure devotional service is the favorable cultivation of Krishna consciousness free from all traces of ulterior motives, such as karma, self-promoting activities, jnana, mental achievement, and so on.” Bhakti, devotion, must be free from any fleeting desires (anyabhilasa), such as karma—the organized attempt for self-elevation—and jnana, the attempt to depend on our own ability, knowledge, and consciousness to reach the ultimate goal. To attempt to put one’s own self as the subject, to become the judge of one’s own fate—that is jnana. Here adi means yoga and other external things. These are all overcoatings (avrtam). In the soul proper, however, these elements are not found. The soul is an eternal slave of Krishna (krsna-nitya-dasa).

Mahaprabhu said: Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’: “Slavery to Krishna is the innate nature of the jiva soul.”

In order to realize the absolute, we must come to the standard of slavery; it will take nothing less than that. We must submit ourselves as slaves to the play of His sweet will.

Once, the British government had to entertain the Persian Shah, the king of Persia. They invited him to England and tried to please him in various ways to gain his sympathy so that he would not be converted to the side of the Russian Czar. They showed him many things, and at one point, he was taken to the place where men condemned to capital punishment were beheaded. There the Shah was shown the place of execution. They explained to him how that was the place where so many great men, including even one king, Charles the First, had been beheaded. When that place was shown to the King of Persia, he asked, “Oh, bring someone there and behead him! Let me enjoy how it was done.”

They were astonished. “What is he saying! For his pleasure, we shall have to murder a man? No,” they said. “We cannot allow this; British law cannot allow that a man can be beheaded like this.” The Shah said, “Oh, you do not understand the position of a king? I am a Persian king, and for my satisfaction you cannot sacrifice a human life? This is dishonor. Anyhow, if it is not possible for you, I will supply one of my own men. Take one of my attendants and show me how you execute people here in your country.”

With humility, they submitted to him, “Your Highness, the law of our country cannot allow this. You may do it in your own country, but here, your men also cannot be murdered simply for the pleasure of a man.” The Shah replied, “Then you do not know what a king is!”

This is the meaning of slavery: A slave has no position; by the sweet will of his master he may be sacrificed. Of course, in the lower material plane such things may be quite abominable and unthinkable, but we should understand that in the higher realm of divinity, in principle, such a degree of sacrifice is shown by the servants of the Lord. The depth of their love is such that they are prepared to sacrifice themselves wholesale, to die to live, for Krishna’s slightest satisfaction or whim. But we should remember that whatever is His pleasure, He is the absolute good. So by such sacrifice we do not actually die, but live by gaining entrance into a higher plane of dedication.

In Srimad Bhagavatam (7.5.23-24) it is written:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam
archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam
iti pumsarpita visnau bhaktis chen nava-laksana
kriyeta bhagavaty addha tan manye ‘dhitam uttamam

“Hearing, speaking about, and remembering Krishna, serving His lotus feet, worshiping His Deity form, praying, becoming His servant, cultivating His friendship, and surrendering to Him utterly are the nine processes of devotion. One who cultivates these nine processes of devotion, offering himself completely to Krishna, can easily attain the ultimate goal of life.” What are the forms of sadhana? What are the means to attain krsna-bhakti? How can we revive our innate love for Krishna? We are told to hear about Him, to talk about Him, to meditate upon Him, to praise Him, and so on.

But in his commentary on this verse, Sridhar Swami has explained that we should not anticipate what benefit we shall derive from sravanam-kirtanam, hearing or talking or thinking about Krishna. Rather we should pray, “May whatever service I do go to my Lord. I am not the enjoying party—He is the sole proprietor.” All these functions (sravanam, kirtanam, etc.) will be considered devotion only if one condition is fulfilled; otherwise they may be karma, jnana, yoga, or anything else. They may even be vikarma, polluted misdeeds. One condition must be there to insure that all these different forms of devotional activity are actually bhakti: We are His property; we are not the owners of any wealth or property. We must think, “My Lord is the possessor and I am in His possession. Everything is His property.”

Krishna says, aham hi sarva-yajnanam: “I am the only enjoyer of every action. You must be fully conscious of this fact.” The stern reality is that devotion is not a cheap thing. Pure devotional service, suddha-bhakti, is above mukti, liberation. Above the negative plane of liberation, in the positive side, He is the only master. He is the Lord of everything.

He is the Lord of the land of dedication. We must try to obtain a visa to enter there. There, His sweet will is the only law. It is very easy to pronounce the word “absolute.” But if we are to enter into the meaning of the word, then it must be recognized that His sweet will is all in all. To get a visa to the world of reality we must recognize this.

And this is especially true in Goloka, where complete surrender is demanded. In Vaikuntha there is some consideration of justice; for those who are entering there, some sort of lenience is given. But Goloka is very tight. Complete surrender is demanded in that place. Otherwise, the atmosphere there is very free. After one has been tested and the superiors are satisfied that the souls who have come there are wholly sacrificed, then we gain their confidence. And when it is seen that one is fully surrendered, there is complete freedom; one may do anything.

WHIPPING KRISHNA

And freedom there is so great that Krishna’s mother Yasoda is whipping Him! If we inquire deeply into where Yasoda is taking her stand, we will come to the “die to live” plane. Yasoda can embrace death millions of times to remove a bead of sweat from the brow of her son; she has so much affection for Krishna that she is ready to die a million times rather than find the sweat of labor on His forehead. And that consciousness is in the background of everything she does. This is why she is given so much independence as to be able to whip Him. Such is the play of the absolute.

If we have an idea of the infinite broadness and depth of the absolute, how can we value anything here? The Himalayas may be very big according to our standard, but from the standard of the infinite, the Himalayas are so small that they can’t even be seen. This world is all relative. We must not allow ourselves to be cowed down by any events here. We must go forward in our march towards the truth. We may fail anytime, anywhere; it does not matter. It may be our master’s will. Still, we have no other alternative than to try for His mercy, His grace.

This is our natural position. Even constitutionally, there is no possibility of living separately from Him. If, in ignorance, we sometimes think that it is possible to live separately from Him, that is only temporary insanity. To attempt to do so is only to create further disturbance, to be covered with ignorance.

While ignorant, we may be concerned for many things that have no value. But actually it is as in play: so many parties are playing—one must win, another must be defeated—but we are told that we must accept victory or defeat in the mood of a player. And everything is the play of Krishna. He is playing His lila. When we think that something is a great loss or gain, we are not seeing the lila of the Lord. Then we are outside the divine flow, we are not in harmony with the flow of lila. Then it appears that reality is not His lila, and we find some other reason for being, see some other objects, conceive of relative interests, and find loss and gain, victory and defeat, and so many other misconceptions. But everything is His lila, and that is nirguna, without fault. In that plane, everything is all right. Everything is perfect. Every inch of movement there is fully perfect.

“I SHALL CURSE YOU!”

Once, after the Kuruksetra war, the brahmana Utanka came to Krishna and said, “Krishna, I curse You!” Krishna said, “Why, My dear brahmana, do you want to curse Me?” Utanka said, “Because You are the cause of all the disasters of Kuruksetra. Because of You, so many widows and orphans are crying in distress. The bounds of their sorrow knows no end, and You are the cause.”

Krishna answered, “You may have collected some power by your penances in sattva-guna, but that will all be finished when you curse Me. It won’t produce any result in Me because I am situated in the nirguna plane.” This is the nature of the nirguna plane. It is ahaituky apratihata: it is causeless and it cannot be checked—it is irresistible. The wave of the most fundamental plane is bhakti, devotion, where everything follows the sweet will of the center—nirguna. That divine flow is causeless and can never be opposed. We should try to take our stand in that plane. Bhakti is nirguna, beyond the influence of material nature, and it is ahaituki, causeless—that divine flow is eternally going on. And it is apratihata: bhakti can never be checked by anyone. It is irresistible.

This is the nature of the flow of devotion. Anyone who takes their stand in consonance, in harmony with that flow, will find the same thing: it can never be checked or given any successful opposition. This is the nature of bhakti according to Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.6):

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati

Bhakti is the highest function of the soul (paro dharmo). Our duty here must have its origin in the plane of bhakti; we must be able to read and catch and utilize that flow. We must dance in the waves of that flow. Everyone’s highest duty will be full submission to the unseen, undetectable causal power, which has no cause, no rhyme, no reason. It is automatic, eternal, and can never be opposed by any forces here.

And then only will we find our soul’s greatest satisfaction. We will feel real satisfaction only when we come in touch with that most fundamental harmonious wave. Then we can feel the highest ecstasy. That is bhakti.

So in coming to such a great idea of life, whatever obstacles we must cross are only small losses and gains, victories and defeats. We should not allow them to disturb our march towards the truth.

BHAGAVAD-GITA

Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita (2.47):

karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango’stv akarmani

“Give your full concentration to discharging your duty and not to the result of your work. The result is with Me; all responsibility is with Me.” Higher calculation is like that. The generals say, “March! Go forward. Onward! You have to go. You are my soldiers; whatever I shall ask, you must do. You may die and the victory may come afterward; that is not your concern. You are soldiers; many of you may be finished, but the country as a whole will gain.” In this way, so many important lives may be sacrificed.

And as soldiers, we have no right to calculate whether we shall gain or lose in the long run. There are two things we must be very careful about. We shouldn’t think that if we can’t enjoy the fruits of our labor, then there is no reason to work. At the same time, we shouldn’t think that we must get some share of the fruits. Remembering this, we should go on discharging our duty to Krishna. That is devotion, and that is the meaning of Bhagavad-gita.

Bhagavad-gita says, “You can’t change the environment. If you want peace, you must regulate yourself according to the environment.” The whole gist of Bhagavad-gita’s advice is found here: Try to adjust yourself with the environment, because you are not the master of the environment. All your energy should be devoted to regulating yourself and not the outside world. This is the key to success in spiritual life.

Bhakti does not depend on the environment or on the dealings of others. It is ahaituky apratihata. Nothing can obscure that flow except our own ego. I am my own greatest enemy.

uddhared atmanatmanam
natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur
atmaiva ripur atmanah

“We can elevate ourselves or degrade ourselves. We are our own best friend or worst enemy.” No force outside can check us if we are sincere. Of course for beginners there is some concern about a proper environment for spiritual cultivation, but even that is also dependent on the nature of their sincerity, or sukrti: na hi kalyana-krt kaschid durgatim tata gachchhati. The assurance is given here by Krishna. He says, “I’ll be there to look after you in any unfavorable circumstance. I am omniscient. And I am omnipotent also. So if anyone is directed towards Me, I’ll look after him.” And it has also been seen in history, in the cases of Dhruva, Prahlada, and so many others. Sincerity is invincible. Even obstacles may improve our position if we can take them in the right way. From a higher angle of vision it may be seen that everything is coming to help us.

SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM

tat te ‘nukampam susamiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya bhak

Srimad Bhagavatam (10.14.8) gives us a most hopeful suggestion for all stages of life: blame yourself and no one else. Maintain your appreciation for the Lord, seeing everything as His grace. At present we think our circumstances undesirable because they do not suit our present taste. But medicine may not always suit the taste of the patient. Still it is conducive to health. This verse is the highest type of regulation given by the sastra. If you can follow this law, then in no time you will have a very good position. We must be careful not to blame the circumstances, but to appreciate that Krishna is behind everything. Krishna is my best friend; He is in the background of everything. Everything is passing through His attentive eyes. So there cannot be any defect there.

Even Srimati Radharani says, “He is not to blame. This long separation from Krishna is only the outcome of My fate. He should not blamed for this.” Although outwardly it is admitted by all that He had cruelly left the gopis, Radharani is not prepared to blame Krishna. “No wrong can be found in Him,” She thinks. “There must be something wrong in Me which has brought about this unfortunate situation.” The competition between the groups of gopis in the service of Krishna is also harmonized in this way by Radharani.

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has explained this most important point. According to him, it is not that Radharani does not like any other party to serve Krishna in competition with Her, but She feels that they cannot satisfy Krishna as well as She can. And this should be noted very carefully. She knows that they cannot give proper satisfaction to Krishna, so She cannot appreciate their trying to take Her place. That is Her contention. She thinks, “If they could serve Krishna well and fully satisfy Him, I would have no complaint. But they can’t. And still, aggressively they come to serve? I can’t tolerate this.”

THE BRAHMIN LEPER

Kaviraj Goswami has cited as an example of this sort of devotion a historical reference from the Puranas. There was once a chaste wife whose brahmana husband was a leper. She always tried her best to serve Him. One day, while she was bathing her husband at a holy river, he became infatuated with the extraordinary beauty of a prostitute by the name Laksahira. Her name indicated that she possessed the luster and beauty of a hundred thousand diamonds. The leper brahmana was irresistibly charmed by her.

Upon returning home, his chaste wife detected some dissatisfaction within her husband, and inquired, “Why are you so unhappy?” Her husband replied, “I felt some attraction for the beauty of that prostitute. And I can’t take my mind off her.”

“Oh. You want her?”

“Yes. Ido.”

“Then I shall try to make the arrangement.”

Then, because she was poor, the chaste lady, although a qualified brahmana, began to go to the house of the prostitute every day and work as a maidservant. Although she was aristocratic by birth, she accepted the work of a maidservant without any remuneration. And she did her duties so diligently that she attracted the attention of the prostitute, the mistress of the house, who began to inquire. “Who cleans everything so neatly and beautifully?” And she came to know that a brahmana lady was coming every morning and performing many menial tasks. The other attendants said, “We tried to stop her, but she would not hear of it. She wants to meet you.”

The mistress replied, “All right. Tomorrow, you may bring her to me.” Then, the next morning, when she was taken to the prostitute, the brahmana lady expressed her inner motive. “My husband is so attracted to you that it is my desire that you may satisfy him. It is my concern as his devout wife that he be satisfied, and this is his aspiration. So I want to see him happy.” Then the prostitute understood everything and said, “Yes. Bring him tomorrow. I invite both of you to dine in my house.”

This was intimated to the brahmana and the following day they came. Many dishes were prepared fitting the occasion. Two entrees were served. One was prasadam on a plantain leaf accompanied by Ganges water in an earthen pot—all pure vegetarian food. Side by side with that in gold and silver pots were so many meats and rich dishes. They were served with a very nice table arrangement and sitting places. Of the two kinds of foodstuffs, one was sattvik, pure, and the other was rajasik, filled with passion. Then, with folded palms, the prostitute invited the brahmana and his wife and indicated, “This is bhagavata-prasadam, and those are rich dishes prepared with meat. Whichever you like you may take at your sweet will.”

Immediately the leper brahmana chose the prasadam, and began to take his meal. After he had finished taking prasadam, the prostitute said, “Your wife is like this prasadam—sattvik—and all these rajasik things—meat, rich dishes, gold, silver—this is like me. I am so low and your wife is the purest of the pure. Your real taste is for this sattvik prasadam. Externally, the meat is very gorgeous, but internally it is very impure, filthy. And therefore you are repulsed by it. So why have you come here to me?”

Then the brahmana came to his senses. “Yes, I am wrong. God has sent a message to me through you. My fleeting desire has ended and now I am satisfied. You are my guru!”

Kaviraj Goswami has quoted this in the Chaitanya-charitamrita. The chaste lady went to serve the prostitute. Why? For the satisfaction of her husband. So Radharani says, “I am ready to serve those in the opposition camp, if they can really satisfy My Lord. I am completely ready to serve them if they can really satisfy Krishna. But they can’t. Yet still they have some demand. But I differ on that point. It is not that I am concerned that My share is being lessened. That is not My attitude. Whenever any unfavorable circumstances come, I think it is always coming from within Me (durdaiva vilasa); I don’t find anything corrupt to be traced outside.”

That should be the attitude of a true devotee of Krishna. With this attitude, we shall be able to see within ourselves that everything is ultimately part of the absolute good. Although it is not very easy, still, our energy should be devoted only to collect good will from external circumstances. In this way we should take care to see things in such a way as to purify our own position.

DEEP VISION REALITY

And so, we are encouraged by Srimad Bhagavatam to look deeper. We must try to look deeper and then we will find our friend; if we are liberal in our attitude towards the environment, we cannot but come in connection with the plane which is really liberal. That is Krishna consciousness in its ultimate reach. If we look deeply into reality with this sort of vision, we will find our real home. Prahlada boldly met all adverse circumstances and ultimately he was victorious. The calculation of Prahlada’s demonic father about the environment was falsified, but Prahlada’s deeper vision saw reality correctly.

He saw that Krishna is everywhere. And Krishna consciousness is commanding the whole. So we must not allow ourselves to be discouraged under any circumstances, however acute they may apparently seem to us. Krishna is there. As much as the circumstances appear to oppose us, it is really not so. If only we can develop the right vision, the smiling face of the Lord will appear from behind the screen. That is Krishna consciousness. Krishna is beautiful, and He is eagerly awaiting to accept our services.

GOD AND HIS MEN

Our inner wealth can be discovered only by the help of sadhu, guru, and scripture. Our vision should be that it is all nectar, but we have drawn a screen between the nectar and ourselves and are tasting poison, thinking that it is very useful. On the whole, we must think that no blame is to be put on others, and it is actually the truth. We are responsible for our disgrace, our fallen condition. And the path to self-improvement is also similar: we must learn to critique ourselves and appreciate the environment. Our appreciation should especially be for Krishna and His devotees, and then gradually everyone else. He has not given anyone the authority to harm us. If it appears that way, it is only superficial and misleading. That anyone can do harm to anyone else is misleading. It is only true on the superficial plane. Of course, this does not condone harming others or ignoring oppression, but from the absolute standpoint there is no harm. When we reach the highest stage of devotion, we shall see that everything is friendly and that our apprehension was wrong. It was a misconception.

Misconception: maya means “what is not” (mriyate anaya). When everything is measured from the standpoint of selfishness and not the universal interest—that is the cause of all our troubles. We must gradually realize, “My angle of vision was guided by selfish, not absolute, consideration. So I am suffering. But now I have come to understand that my interest is included in the absolute interest.”

To parody an old saying, “A bad workman quarrels with his stools.” According to our karma we produce the environment. What I am blaming was produced by my own karma. When I take food, stool comes as a natural reaction. It would be foolish to blame the stool for appearing. It is the effect of my having eaten. In the same way, I have acted in different ways, and the karmic result is my present environment. So to quarrel with the reaction to our own misdeeds is a useless waste of energy.

The advice of Srimad Bhagavatam should be our guiding principle under all circumstances. Whatever is coming to us is under His sanction, under His eye, so it cannot but be good. Everything is perfect. The only imperfection is within us, and therefore we should try with all our energy to do our duty. In no time, we shall find ourselves released from all troubles. That is the key advice of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

OUR GUARDIAN’S EYE

The environment is not dead—an overseer is there. Just as the sun is over our heads, every action is under our guardian’s eye. This comparison is given in the Rg Veda: Om tad visno paramam padam sada pasyanti suraya diviva chaksur atatam. We should approach any duty thinking, “My guardian’s eye is always vigilantly watching over me, seeing everything I am doing, and whatever is happening to me. I need not worry about this environment or circumstance.”

So Bhagavatam says, “Don’t worry about the environment. Do your duty. Concentrate fully on what you are doing, and in no time, you’ll be relieved of the black box of the ego and will join in the universal flow of dancing and chanting, singing and rejoicing. You will gain entrance into the lila or pastimes of the Lord.”

We are all suffering from separate interest, clash and reaction, good and bad, pleasure and pain, happiness and distress, but there in the spiritual domain, everything is conscious and filled with happiness. So not only total self-forgetfulness is required, but the whole good will of the Lord should be invited. We shall merge in the flow of the good will of the Lord. That is Vrindavan.

Our guardians say: “Do this,” and according to our capacity we shall try to execute their order. And accepting that what they say is really coming from Krishna, the more we are able to follow their instructions, the more benefit we shall accrue. Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, the Vedas and Upanisads, and so many agents who represent divinity are all helping us go back to our real home. At present we are living in different stages of the consciousness of separate interest, but our guardians are all trying to take us into that higher plane of dynamic movement, lila, to enter into the pastimes of Krishna.

ENEMY EGO / REAL EGO

Here, everything is but a reflection of the perfect world. Originally everything is there, including all types of service, but here we have only a perverted reflection. Leaving this variegated world behind, we should not attempt to merge into nonconsciousness so that we won’t be able to feel any pleasure or pain. At present we are under the influence of our enemy ego. Real ego exists in the spiritual world. All experience is found there, but it is full of beauty and charm.

Krishna consciousness means full-fledged theism. This means that we can have a relationship with the infinite up to consorthood. Everything that we need to help us and lead us in the right direction is really to be found in the spiritual world in its purest and most desirable position. What we find here is only a shadow, a black imitation. But reality means full-fledged theism—Krishna consciousness—where the infinite embraces the whole finite. The infinite comes down to welcome, to fully embrace the finite—that is Vrindavan. And this is full-fledged theism: through Krishna consciousness, one negligent part of the finite may experience the blissful embrace of the whole infinite. And in Vrindavan, not a corner is left neglected. Every grain of sand, every blade of grass, is well-represented there with personality. Here, what to speak of a particle of sand, so many things are insignificant. But in Vrindavan, everything is cared for. Nothing is ignored. That is full-fledged theism. This is explained in Srimad Bhagavatam (10.21.5):

varhapidam nata-bara-vapuh karnayoh karnikaram
bibrad vasah kanaka-kapisam vaijayantin cha malam
randhran venoradhara-sudhaya purayan gopavrndair
vrndaranyam sva-pada-ramanam pravisad gita-kirtih

Sukadeva Goswami reveals something astounding to Pariksit Maharaj. When Krishna enters the forest of Vrindavan by the touch of the soles of His lotus feet, the earth feels the pleasure of His embrace—the personal embrace of the Sweet Absolute (vrndaranyam sva-pada-ramanam). This is inconceivable! By the touch of the holy feet of Krishna, the sand and the earth feel the pleasure of consorthood! Glorified by His cowherd friends, He enters the forest of Vrindavan, and the earth, the forest, and everything that comes in connection with Him feels a higher, closer sense experience of pleasure to the happiest degree.

CONSORTHOOD

In Vrindavan, the earth feels the mood of consorthood. So the vrndavana-lila of Krishna is so wonderful that even Brahma, the creator of the universe, said, “How can we understand You, my Lord? I know something about my Lord Narayana, who is near to me. He and I have some direct connection so that I may discharge my official duties. But You have come within my circle and I can’t understand You. What is this?” He tried his best to test Krishna by kidnapping His cowherd boyfriends and calves, but he was astounded to find that, “Although I have removed them, everything is as it was before; Krishna is still surrounded by His friends and their calves, engaged in their pleasure pastimes. So He is infinite. Even as the lord of the universe, my interference could not disrupt anything under His control. By His own sweet will He conducts His play. I tried to test Him, but now I am bewildered by His inconceivable potency. I could not understand that although an apparently human cowherd boy, He is nonetheless the supreme-most, higher than even Lord Narayana.” He pleaded with Krishna,”Now I have come to my senses; please forgive me, my Lord.”

What use is a particle of our intelligence? How much can it measure the infinite? Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, “Don’t try to apply your brain to the infinite. The brain is not a unit for measurement in that plane. Your intellect is cancelled by the infinite. Try to measure it only by feeling, by taste, by heart—the brain will be your enemy. It will always deceive you in its measurement, and that will disturb you and limit your progress.”

Only faith can help us. Otherwise nothing can reach that plane. We can reach the sun or moon only with the help of advanced technology. We can’t reach out and touch it with our hand or with a long stick. In the same way, to connect with the highest reality, faith alone can help one. Faith is the most spacious medium. But even that is very meager in consideration of the high thing with which you would like to connect, the supreme cause of all causes.

We are teeny souls. How much can we accommodate with our faith? How wide and how broad is our faith? What can we catch within our faith? What we are seeking is infinite, and we are very much afraid, “Oh, if I rely on faith, something may go wrong. I may be deceived.” But within our teeny hearts, how much faith can we contain? Only by analogy with the sky or the ocean may we understand anything about the infinite, but what is that in comparison? Nothing.

And what is the infinite? That from which everything is coming, by which everything is maintained, and into which everything is ultimately entering; the all-comprehensive, all-permeating, all-controlling, all-attracting, all-feeling Absolute.

So everything is all right with the infinite and the environment. We have only to correct ourselves, to adjust ourselves. This is the conclusion—“Try to adjust yourself; everything is all right with the environment. We must leave everything to the Supreme Lord and conduct ourselves accordingly.” That will bring us real peace and progressive realization in spiritual life.

CONTENTS:

• Invocation
• Introduction
• Planets of Faith
• The Environment
• Beneath the Loving Eye of God
• Lord of the Cows
• Brahma's Illusion
• Sonhood of God
• Knowledge-Free Devotion
• The Holy Name
• The Service of Sri Radha

Download (epub)
Download (pdf)
Download (BENGALI)