Desiring is Deserving - Part 1

Date: 2018-03-28 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

In material life, any who wants to accomplish material ambitions, should not only desire for it but also need to qualify himself for achieving that. So usually it is said if one wants to attain anything, then three steps are involved - namely desire, deserve and accomplish. Just desiring alone will not lead us anywhere. So we desire many things in material life, but do not get them because we do not have the qualification to get it either in terms of effort or good pious (good luck) to achieve them. For example, one may desire to buy a rich house or to go abroad. But unless one possess the material qualification needed for this, one will not achieve it. In some cases, even if one puts the efforts and one is qualified, still he may not achieve a few things if it is not in one's destiny. But when it comes to spiritual life, success does not depend on material qualification or one's good karma, since devotional service is beyond karma and modes. It depends on our sincere desire and Lord's mercy to attain success. In spiritual life, desiring itself means deserving.

There is a nice incident in explaining this fact. Lord Krishna came as a messenger to on behalf of the on a peace mission. He wanted to advice Kauravas to return the Pandavas their rightful kingdom after the completion of their 13 years exile. Lot of discussions happened in the Kauravas side on how to receive Lord Krishna. , and advised to listen to the Lord's advice and return the kingdom whereas Dhrtarashtra wanted to please Lord Krishna with lot of gifts and somehow pull Him on their side so that Pandavas become weak. Duryodhana wanted to arrest Lord Krishna. After variety of discussions, everyone left to their palace and Dhrtarashtra was alone with Sanjaya in his room. When they discussed about the Lord's arrival the next day, Dhrtarashtra told Sanjaya his heart in the following sloka (Mahabharata 5.69.1):

cakṣuṣmatāṃ vai spṛhayāmi saṃjaya; drakṣyanti ye vāsudevaṃ samīpe vibhrājamānaṃ vapuṣā pareṇa; prakāśayantaṃ pradiśo diśaś ca

O, Sanjaya I really envy those who have eye sight and will be in our court tomorrow. Because they will be able to see Lord Vasudeva very closely whose beautiful form shines with effulgence and which illuminates all the directions.

After this he glorified the Lord's form, and its greatness to Sanjaya in many slokas.

Krishna willing we shall continue to see what happened on the next day when Lord appeared as a peace messenger in the assembly of King Dhrtarashtra in the subsequent offering.

Hare Krishna.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Desiring is Deserving - Part 2

Date: 2018-03-29 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Desiring is deserving" wherein we were seeing how Lord fulfills the sincere spiritual desires. In this regard we were discussing the pastime of Lord Krishna entering as a peace messenger for the Pandavas in the assembly of Kauravas and how Dhrtarashtra felt very sincerely for not being able to see the beautiful form of the Lord. Now we shall continue further.

The next day when Lord entered the assembly of Kauravas and the peace talks seemed to fail, Duryodhana had planned a big pit below the Lord's seat which would make Krishna fall into the pit and he arranged for wrestlers inside the pit to capture or kill Him. When the pit below the seat opened and seat was about to fall in the pit, the Lord exhibited His unparalleled universal form which illuminated the entire assembly. Due to its glaring effulgence none of the people in assembly except Drona, Bhishma, Vidura, Sanjaya and great rishis (who were given divine eyes by the Lord) could see that form. But Dhrtarashtra could see the Lord as Mahabharata states as follows (Mahabharata - 05,129.013):

dhṛtarāṣṭrāya pradadau bhagavān divyacakṣuṣī dadarśa paramaṃ rūpaṃ dhṛtarāṣṭro 'mbikāsutaḥ

The Lord gave divine eyes to Dhrtarashtra and with those divine eyes Dhrtrashtra was able to see the Lord's wonderful glorious form.

Dhrtarashtra did not have the eyes even to see normal things of this world, but the Lord gave him divine vision which even the great warriors like , Duryodhana with great eye sight could not get. The Lord offered to retain his power of sight permanently but the reply given by Dhrtarashtra is very astonishing. (Mahabharata - 05,129.014d)

tvam eva puṇḍarīkākṣa sarvasya jagataḥ prabhuḥ tasmān me yādavaśreṣṭha prasādaṃ kartum arhasi bhagavan mama netrāṇām antardhānaṃ vṛṇe punaḥ bhavantaṃ dṛṣṭavān asmi nānyaṃ draṣṭum ihotsahe tato 'bravīn mahābāhur dhṛtarāṣṭraṃ janārdanaḥ adṛśyamāne netre dve bhavetāṃ kurunandana

Oh, lotus eyed Lord, you're the Lord of all the worlds. So please be merciful to me O best of the Yadhus. I pray that my eyes become blind again. After seeing you I don't want to see anything else here." Hearing this Lord replied "Let your both eyes become blind again".

The previous night Dhrtarashtra expressed his sincere desire to see the Lord’s form to Sanjaya. Lord Krishna who is in his heart understood it and promptly fulfilled his genuine spiritual desire. At the same time the king also had a material desire that the Pandavas should continue in exile or lose the battle(in case war happens) and his sons should continue to enjoy the kingdom. But this desire was not only unfulfilled but also frustrated by the Lord and all his sons were killed. (Though the desire was there, he did not deserve it and this desire was against the Lord's will).

So once the Lord sees the sincere desire in us for any spiritual activity, even though we may be materially crippled, He gives His mercy to enable us to attain that desire. That is the reason we see for devotees, in many cases, genuine spiritual desires are easily fulfilled even though the devotees do not have resources to have them fulfilled. We also see that material desires are not generally fulfilled and sometimes they are even frustrated. But the catch is the desire to attain material things/success easily arise in our minds whereas intense desire for spiritual things does not come so easily. So spiritual life is all about cultivating spiritual desires and even if they're beyond our reach (considering our material situation), we should keep nurturing them and pray for Lord's mercy so that eventually they will be fulfilled. Srila Prabhupada states this in the purport of 5.19.7, "One's devotion and sincere desire to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead are the only qualifications. Rupa Goswami has also said that the price for achieving God’s favor is simply one's sincere eagerness to have it (laulyam ekaṁ mulyam).”

So I pray at the lotus feet of our beloved Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord to cultivate genuine spiritual desires (with no hidden material agenda) and remove the material desires from our heart.

Hare Krishna.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Narahari Krishna das Chennai.