By Suvarna Radha Devi Dasi
Everyone is running their own race of life, in their own time. People around you may appear to be moving ahead of you while others may appear to be behind you. Never belittle or mock them. While you are in your " Time Zone" others are in theirs. Los Angeles is three hours behind New York, yet this does not make Los Angeles slower. You are very much “On Time”, and in your “Time Zone.” Life’s destiny is set up for you. But take note of how transient everything is in this world. With the tides of time, everything changes. Time is the ultimate winner of life where it triumphs over us. Therefore, it is wise to focus on the necessity of understanding and seeking a reality beyond time. We ought to make changes to our way of living to make this possible. This entails being content with the privileges that Krsna has granted us and not endeavoring ever-increasingly for greater material gains (this is called prayasa, in the language of Upadesamrita, medieval book written by a great devotee Srila Rupa Goswami, and it destroys bhakti). That is possible when we recognize that the Lord as proprietor, we would work only for His interest and use everything at our disposal – including our body, our mental faculties, and social relationships, etc., in His service. Krsna says in Gita: 5.29 – Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam Sarva- loka-mahesvaram – “A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.”
Srila Prabhupada often described nicely how young brahmacharis were trained within the Vedic system in this spirit in the gurukula. The students would collect and bring alms for the guru, and whatever they bring becomes the property of the spiritual master. The student will eat only when invited by the spiritual master and if the guru neglects to call him, he will fast; although it was the student that labored to collect the alms, he was trained to see it as guru' s property and not
think of eating without permission. Thus, from the outset, they are trained to, later on, see everything as the property of guru and Krsna. So, our approach shall be " to work – but not attached to results – neither takes credit nor debit for the happenings – act selflessly and offer all the results to Krsna.” Gita: 3.9 – " Yagnaardhath karmanonyathra lokoyam karmabandhanah. -Work done as a sacrifice for Vi?? u has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way, you will always remain free from bondage.” As Krsna says in Gita: 2.47 “Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana,” we are to perform our prescribed duties without claiming proprietorship over the results. One who is living by the principles of “isavasya” would not envy or covet the position or possessions of others but is satisfied to execute the duties given to him nicely to his utmost ability, for the pleasure of the Lord. ‘Isavasya’ means – Owned and controlled by the Lord. Isavasya also implies conducting our activities according to the laws of God as given in Vedic scriptures, without being affected by undue attachments and aversions. Srila Prabhupada says, " One should accept only those things that are set aside by the Lord as his quota". How do we know what is set aside for us as our quota? ? Krsna says in Gita 4;22 “He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady in both success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.” ? Our quota is that much which enables us to do our service to Krsna, no more, no less. The purport of the instruction to accept only as much material enjoyment as necessary is that one should not accept material enjoyment for sense gratification. Rather, one should accept only as much material enjoyment as will help one establish his relationship with Lord Krishna (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Chaitanya-Sikshamritha, as cited in page 310 of ‘Bhaktivinoda Vani Vaibhava’) ? Our spiritual master assigns our services, directly or indirectly, and the spiritual master arranges our services. ? We can strive for as much as possible, with no upper limit, if our goal is to engage all that in the service of Krsna – no harm if you want to be a multi-billionaire, but use it all for Krsna. ? If we engage in what we have very nicely, then Krsna may give us more. ? If we don' t properly engage what we have, then Krsna may take it away. In this way, our quota is determined by Krsna, and we can know about this through our services, Krsna will provide our quota depending on our service to Him.
All this, of course, does not apply to a materialist – their quota is whatever it is, but they will borrow and steal well over their quota if they can, and pay for it by having utter deficiencies later on in another lifetime.
Therefore a thoughtful, sober person will cultivate thoughts of Krsna at every moment. He will always try to connect everything that he is doing with Krsna. This process is described by Krsna in Gita: 9.27 as follows: " Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me." Altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism, and humanitarianism create karmic bondage. These ‘isms’ are certainly very attractive forms of karmic bondage but if one follows the Vedic instructions of Sri Isopanisad i. e. if one wants to live above them, he should make them God-centered i. e. one should execute his activities in relation to Isavasya , or the God-centered conception. Humanitarian activities that lack a connection to Krsna are in the mode of goodness and as such on the material level, rather than spiritual activities. However, they can be stepping stones towards a higher level, and as such, they are valuable but do not give the ultimate value of reaching the Supreme Lord. They are less beneficial than direct spiritual activities. This is because the benefits of direct spiritual activities benefit the soul directly, not just the body, and have eternal benefit. Feeding the hungry, for example, helps people temporarily by relieving their hunger, but that benefit is no longer felt after some time. Spiritual progress, however, is eternal, and – though sometimes it seems individuals regress spiritually – never diminishes. Thus, whatever benefits one accrues from spiritual activities in this life, will remain in future lives. While facilitating each jiva’s desire to exist independently of Him, Krsna tirelessly maintains them in all aspects of their conditional existence and provides countless opportunities for their spiritual upliftment. When they finally do begin to turn to Him, Krsna gives His full support, no matter how many mistakes that jiva has made or continues to make: “Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination. He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes” (Gita: 9.30-31). In conclusion, embrace the “Isavasya” principle, don' t rush to get things, and don' t be sad if things turn out to be slow. In Krsna’s hands time is a tool (“Time I am” Krsna says in Gita: 11.32). He makes all things beautiful in His time. It works reciprocally. We serve the Lord unconditionally and the Lord reciprocates by making us unconditioned from the reactions of our work.