Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 12 [granthraj]

DAILY SB/BG 31-Aug-2009 Monday MALA:5 BEAD:099
NITYAM BHAGAVATA SEVAYA SB 1. 2. 18 (Regularly reading/hearing Srimad Bhagavatam or Serving the pure Devotee)
Karma Yoga	(Do Your Duty, Leave the result to Krsna)	Great (easy to do)
Gnana Yoga	Realising Self by controlling senses and mind	Very Great (tough)
Bakthi Yoga	Realising the Paramatma is Everything and	Very Very Great
KC	Surrender to Krishna is the Ultimate goal	(very easy to do)

In continuation of the mail on "Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service", let us learn from pure devotees like Maharaj Ambarish, Srila Prabhupada and Guru Maharaj as to how we can use our desires in Krishna’s service.

kaamam ca daasye na tu kaama kaamyayaa – Ambarish Maharaj engaged all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day.

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 11 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 10 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 9 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 8 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 7 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 6 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 5 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 4

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 3 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 2 [granthraj]

Engaging the Senses in Krishna’s Service – Part 1 [granthraj]

Desires arise from the mind. And senses are the instruments by which the mind satisfies those desires. It is very interesting to see a logic in this set of verses that Srila Shukadeva Goswami started with "engaging the mind" and ends with "engaging our desires" in Krishna’s service and has sandwitched the engagement of the various sensory activities between the two.

We may be able to engage our minds in the lotus feet of Krishna (sa vai manah krsna padaaravindayoh) but unless we go with the intense desire to relish that mood of serving His lotus feet always (kaamam ca daasye), we will not be able to prolong with our engagement of the mind and the various senses in His service. Advancement in devotional service depends on the intense desire we cultivate to be a servant of the Lord in all possible capacities. Devotional service is dynamic because Krishna is dynamic. And our desire to serve must sustain its high intensity level to cater to the dynamic nature of Krishna and devotional service. In other words, we should be ready to do whatever it takes to please Guru and Krishna. That is real service attitude.

To cultivate the desire to serve the Lord, we should first of all desire to give up the desires for sense gratification (na tu kaama kaamyayaa). Still we are hanging on to so many material attachments and this is because we have not desired to give them up. We have not desired to give them up because we have not realized the futility of these desires for sense gratification. And our desires for material attachments acts as a stumbling block in engaging our mind and other senses in the service of the Lord. Thus our advancement in devotional service (development of the attraction for seva bhava) is stunted. Even within devotional service, we only do that service which we like (to put it more bluntly, we only do that service for which we get maximum glorification). This is subtle form of sense gratification. Real service means, doing that which Guru and Krishna likes, that which is the need of the hour.

In SB 7.15.22, Srila Narada Muni gives a powerful solution to get rid of the desires for senses gratification. He says,

asankalpaat jayet kaamam – By making plans with determination, one can give up lusty desires for sense gratification.

Since desire is the root cause of all our entanglement, we should carefully make plans to avoid unwanted desires. And these plans have to be made with unflinching determination because mind has its fickle nature. Since it is the source of desires, every time we face a challenge in our desire to serve the Lord, it will give ample justification, "I told you already that this devotional service is not our cup of tea. We are better off enjoying our material desires and gratifying our senses." It will cajole us, "Why do you want to struggle so much that too in becoming someone’s servant? By listening to me and engaging all the senses in satisfying me, you can become the master of all." But we have to make strong plans to get out of the mind’s juggleries. Suppose we come very late from the office, and we have some pending rounds to do, the mind will plead to us, "It is too late for you to chant. Guru and Krishna will not mind it if we do not complete our promised rounds." But it will never ever tell us that it is too late to take prasadam. This is how the mind tricks us to avoid service to Krishna but very careful in fulfilling the sense gratification. To bring the mind under subjugation, we should make plans with determination – "No matter what, I will complete the quota of my chanting and reading for the day", "No matter what, whether it rains or shines, I will go to the temple / satsang today". To bring this strong determination within ourselves, the seed is unflinching desire to serve Krishna and His devotees.

Srila Prabhupada very beautifully says in his purport to SB 1.2.17, "The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Sri Krishna helps in all respects."

This whole Hare Krishna movement was started by the sincere desires of great Mahatmas. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s intense desire was that the entire world should be filled with Sri Krishna sankirtanam. The acaryas in the disciplic succession intensely desired to satisfy Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s desire and wrote so many commentaries on the transcendental scriptures and built magnificent temples to establish beautiful forms of the Lord. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s desire was also to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the whole world and he strived in all possible and impossible ways. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur continuing in the same line established so many centers to expand the sankirtan movement. Ultimately Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the desires of all the acaryas by spreading the glories of Sri Krishna sankirtanam all over the world. He realized the desires of all the previous acaryas by himself oozing with intense desire to serve their desires.

Srila Rupa Goswami says that the only ingredient required from us to perform devotional service is intense greed to serve Krishna - tatra laulyam ekam mulam. Greed is the superlative term of desire. It means to desire that which is beyond our capacity and reach. It is very true that we do not deserve to do devotional service. And we do not have the capacity too. But inspite of that, if we still become greedy to do it, then Krishna and Guru will be extremely pleased with us and give us the opportunity as well as the capacity to serve them.

Even though we are completely incapable and unworthy, we humbly offer our dandavat pranams at the lotus feet of our Guru Maharaj and the Supreme Lord to bestow upon us the intense desire (greed) to serve Them and also the capacity and opportunity to render devotional service with full velocity and force.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Kalacakra Krsna das and Sudarshana devi dasi.

Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/granthraj/ by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.