Wait to Serve - Part 1 Date: 2014-01-14 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! In Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, devotional service is joyfully performed - susukhaṁ kartum avyayam. When our body and mind are in good condition and when circumstances are all favourable, we find it easy to perform service joyfully. But the real test of our unmotivated bhakti, comes when our body and mind does not co-operate and circumstances are also unfavourable. When we are suffering from some chronic illness or when we have some problem which is just prolonging for years, we get dejected and demotivated. We lose faith in bhakti and lead a remorseful life. The following pastime in Ramayana very nicely teaches us how to handle such situations. When Sugriva sent his army of Vanaras to different directions in search of Sita, Angada and Hanuman were sent to South. After vigorous search for over 6 weeks, they were still not able to find Sita. Angada and few other monkeys thought that they should sit and fast to death. As they sat there roaring in dismay, they suddenly saw an enormous vulture approaching them. Looking at the vulture come near them Angada told Hanuman, "Surely this is Yamaraja come in person to punish us for failing to serve Rama's purpose. This bird reminds me of Jatayu, about whom we have heard from Sugriva. That glorious bird laid down his life for Rama in a fierce battle with Ravana. We shall also now give up our lives in Rama's service. Alas, like that heroic vulture we too have failed to save Sita". On hearing Jatayu's name, the bird inquired them about the whereabouts of Jatayu as he was his brother Sampati. When Anagada narrated the story of how Jatayu had died protecting Sita from Ravana, Sampati cried out in anguish. His eyes filled with tears and he said to Angada how Jatayu was dearer to him than life. Sampati told them that he had seen Ravana kidnapping Sita to Lanka. Sampati also recollected the good times he had spent with Jatayu and how once when they reached the track of that fiery globe of the sun, they became over-powered by its heat and they fell back to earth, where they became separated. Sampati fell onto the Vindhya mountain, with his wings completely destroyed by the scorching rays of the sun. There he met Rshi Chandrama and related his sad tale. Weeping, Sampati had said that he wished to throw himself from the mountain peak and end his life. The Rshi restrained him, telling him that in the future some monkeys would arrive at that spot, searching for Rama's divine consort. "Although I am able to give you your wings back, I will not do so, as you are destined to render a service to Rama through those monkeys. You must remain here and tell them where to find Sita. At that time your wings will again be restored." The Rshi further said that bodily sufferings must be borne by everyone as a reaction to their own past deeds. One should nevertheless reallize that the real self is different from the body. Without being overly attached to the body one should try to fix the mind on the Supreme Lord, with whom all beings have an eternal relationship. Thus Sampati should not lament for his broken body. He should live there patiently, thinking of Rama and waiting for his chance to render him some service. Sampati concluded, "That was eight thousand years ago and I have survived here all this time, being brought food by my son. Now at last I have performed my service to Rama". Even as Sampati spoke a beautiful pair of wings sprouted from his body." Krishna willing, we shall continue to meditate on the lessons to be learnt from the above pastime in subsequent offering. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Kalacakra Krsna das & Sudarshana devi dasi. Wait to Serve - Part 2 Date: 2014-01-15 Author: Sudarshana devi dasi Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! This is in continuation of the topic, "Wait to Serve" wherein we were meditating on the conversation between Sampati, the elder brother of Jatayu and the Vanaras led by Angada and Hanumanji, when they were travelling South in search of Sita. In the previous offering we heard from Sampati the powerful instructions he received from Rshi Chandrama when he was deprived of his wings. Now let us try to meditate on those instructions one by one. 1. Abide by Will of the Lord: The sage Chandrama told Samapati, "Although I am able to give you your wings back, I will not do so, as you are destined to render a service to Rama through those monkeys. You must remain here and tell them where to find Sita. At that time your wings will again be restored." Sages of those ages and even now, the spiritual masters are all very powerful souls. They are empowered by the Lord as they are all fully surrendered to the Lord's lotus feet. So even though they are capable of solving even the material miseries of their disciples or whichever living entity who comes and surrenders to them, they don't misuse their power. They abide by the will of the Lord. In this instance we see that Rshi Chandrama knew that Sampati was destined to stay there without wings as the Lord had chosen him for some service. So he told Sampati, that although he had the ability to give his wings back, he will not do so. How Sampati reacted to this instruction is worth meditating. The constitutional position of a bird is to fly. And when it is deprived of its wings, it is next to impossible to survive. Sampati did not get upset when the sage told him that although he has power to restore the wings, he will not do so. He simply accepted his words, unlike our rebellious nature of questioning Guru and Krishna as to why don't they help us as per our own will, when we are lashed by material miseries. If someone tells us that we have to suffer for some more time, we will become very upset and ask them why they are not merciful to us. We will also try to act smart by saying, "I will definitely serve. But you please give back my wings right now." But here we see that Sampati simply accepted the instructions of the sage and abided by the will of the Lord. We are reminded about the glorious life our dear God-brother HG Anadhinidhanam Prabhuji from Kerala, who at an young age became bed-ridden for almost 12 years due to train accident. At that time, our beloved spiritual master HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj gave him all courage to accept his destiny and also encouraged him to translate Srimad Bhagavatam from English to Malayalam. Prabhuji had taken Gurudev's instructions to his heart and had wonderfully translated the first two cantos of Prabhupada's Srimad Bhagavatam in Malayalam before leaving his body. Although from material perspective it looks like a terrible life, his life is indeed very very glorious as he had served his spiritual master, Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam and Sri Krishna according to Their plan. 2. Accepting our own past karma as reason for our sufferings: The sage Chandrama did not simply stop with the news of Rama's service. He also gave spiritual enlightenment to Sampati. He said that bodily sufferings must be borne by everyone as a reaction to their own past deeds. One should nevertheless reallize that the real self is different from the body. Without being overly attached to the body one should try to fix the mind on the Supreme Lord, with whom all beings have an eternal relationship. Thus Sampati should not lament for his broken body. This is a very powerful instruction. When our body fails to co-operate and when we have to depend on others for every single movement, it is a very very painful situation. It could be done only by the causeless mercy of Guru and Krishna. And when will we get that mercy? Only when we take shelter of pure devotees and accept whole-heartedly, that we don't deserve any mercy for all the bundles of sins we have committed so far. When there is acceptance of our sins and total surrender to Lord's pure devotees, then Lord makes us powerful instruments in His hands, in ways which are completely inconceivable to anyone. Krishna willing, we shall continue to meditate on the lessons to be learnt from the above pastime in subsequent offering. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Sudarshana devi dasi. Wait to Serve - Part 3 Date: 2014-01-16 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! This is in conclusion of the topic, "Wait to Serve" wherein we were meditating on the instructions given by the sage Chandrama to Sampati, the elder brother of Jatayu, when he was deprived of his wings. In the previous offering we saw how Chandrama Rshi insisted on the importance of 1. Abiding by the will of the Lord. 2. Accepting our own past karma as the reason for our suffering.