Blogs

Saturday February 7, 2009 is the appearance day of Lord Nityananda, the eternal associate and expansion of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Nityananda (Nitai) is none other than Shri Balarama, while Lord Chaitanya (Gaura) is Shri Krishna himself in the mood of his greatest devotee. Krishna and Balarama appeared on this planet 5,000 years ago, while Lord Chaitanya and Nitai appeared 500 years ago. Lord Gaura and Nitai are amazingly, and unlimitedly merciful forms of God, who have come to Earth to deliver the especially fallen souls (i.e, us!) living in the current time of quarrel and hypocrisy or Kali-yuga . Their lila (divine activities) are very deep and confidential and only the fortunate can enter into them or describe them--we will pray to do our best.

Enough sleep's essential
wasting time lamentable--
the joy is waking up
to the soul's purpose.

Here is a story from the Jewish scripture, the Talmud:

"When Akiba was on his deathbed, he
bemoaned to his rabbi that he felt he was
a failure. His rabbi moved closer and asked
why, and Akiba confessed that he had not
lived a life like Moses. The poor man began
to cry, admitting that he feared God's
judgment. At this, his rabbi leaned into his
ear and whispered gently, "God will not judge
Akiba for not being Moses. God will judge Akiba
for not being Akiba."

Some may laugh at the logic here since after all we are not the body, yet there is truth to be gleaned from this narration. We have to engage in devotional service or Krishna conscious activities and thoughts ( or whatever our spiritual practice is) with the help of our material body and mind. To make the best use of our various bodies--gross and subtle--it is important to understand them--what do we have a natural affinity for, or what are our strengths and weaknesses. Our conditioned nature can be a weight bringing us down, or a springboard for our spiritual life. The Varnashrama system (ancient Vedic method of organizing society) is meant to help people understand themselves physically so they can find a satisfying occupation and ashram (married or celibate) and ideally lead a life which compliments them in the context of spiritual cultivation.

Do you do this? Occasionally or habitually? As a general rule I would say this is not a good practice. I have counseled couples where one of the partners said yes when they meant no, and their marriage didn't last a year. We can't please everyone or avoid difficulties by avoiding the truth of who we are--though we are not the body, we have to acknowledge its nature. This doesn't mean that we will have no unpleasant duties if we are honest about our feelings, yet we will live more authentically. It also doesn't mean we agree to unnecessary sensual desires, or avoid getting up early or chanting because we don't feel like it. There is some inconvenience in spiritual life, but that is a different thing than I am speaking about. Basically we have to understand our material self on the path of understanding our soul. As the saying goes, "To thy own self be true"--though I would add--but do so in the service of who you really are spiritually. The whole Bhagavad-gita is based on this principle.