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Been serving for so long but still\u2026 not even the aroma of Krishna?
\nBB Govinda Swami: Sometimes devotees say: \u201cOh, He has forgotten us. Oh, I\u2019ve been chanting Hare Krishna for five years, so much sincere service I\u2019m doing, but still\u2026. not even the aroma of Krishna. What to speak of seeing Krishna! Has He forgotten us? Is He hard-hearted? Is He indifferent? Why doesn\u2019t he respond? Why doesn\u2019t He reciprocate with us?
\n\u00abEven when it\u2019s cold in Almaty we get up and we go to Mangala Arati!\u2026 when Maharaja is there\u2026. [audience laughs] \u2026 the rest of the time we just sleep till seven and think \u2018Oooh, no one will ever find out\u2026.\u2019 [audience laughs]\n\u00abWe\u2019re making so much tapasya! Virabhadra, he is going out on the street and he is saying \u2018Pojaluysta [eng. please], take this book!\u2019 And they are saying, \u2018Aaaah! Useless person! Oh, parasite! Ohhhh, donkey! Oh get a job! Aaaaghgh! [audience laughs] I\u2019m gonna give you something!\u2019 [sound of punching]\n\u00abSo much tapasya! So much austerity! And Krishna is not hearing. Krishna is not reciprocating.\u00bb And maybe it\u2019s not even you that feel that way.
\nOne time when Srimati Radhika was feeling separation from Krishna her heart was burning in separation and then bzzzzz\u2026. Bumblebee came, she looked at the bumblebee and said: \u201cI know who you are! I know who you are\u2026 You are an unreliable servant of an unreliable master. I know, I know about your master! We have heard from Purnamasi about your master, in the previous life we know that he cut the nose of a woman, had her ears cut off, we know that he mercilessly killed monkeys. Cruel person. So cruel and heartless! We know who your master is!\u201d
\nIt\u2019s not even us. Sometimes the great devotees they speak in that way also. They do it in the madness of love. We do it just because we\u2019re mad.
\nAnd Krishna, you don\u2019t think He hears? Of course He hears. What does Krishna think, He is thinking: \u201cMy God\u2026 they don\u2019t understand. The only reason I\u2019m not showing Myself to them is because their love has not become ripe yet. And if I keep myself away from them, they\u2019ll hanker for me more and more and by that hankering then their love will become ripe. And then I can show myself. They don\u2019t understand that I\u2019m doing it for their benefit. And then they\u2019re speaking bad about me when actually I just want to be with them. But I can\u2019t be with them now because they\u2019re not ready. So I have to do this! I have to do this!\u201d
\nLike sometimes when I was a boy my father would bring his stick and he would look and me and he would say: \u201cBoy\u2026 this hurts me more than it\u2019s gonna hurt you\u201d [audience laughs]\nKrishna is actually saying \u201cIt hurts me more than it hurts them, cause I want to be with them, but they\u2019re not ripe, their love has not become ripe. So I have to do this to them. And they\u2019re cursing me when I just try to do good for them. Oh my situation is so horrible!\u201d But actually He is the most compassionate.
\nIt\u2019s a lesson! It\u2019s a lesson!
\nWhen you read Srimad Bhagavatam: what is the first lila of Bhagavatam? Narada Muni. And what happened to Narada Muni?\u2026 and then? For a fraction of a second the Lord appeared in his heart. And then the Lord disappeared. And what did Narada do? He went mad, isn\u2019t it? And the rest of his life: \u201cHare Krishna Hare Krishna! Krishna Krishna Hare Hare! Hare Rama Hare Rama! Rama Rama Hare Hare!!\u201d
\nAnd finally by his intense chanting (!) and by his intense hankering (!) Krishna revealed Himself. First Lila of Bhagavatam.
\nIt happened to Narada Muni – so don\u2019t feel bad it happens to you. And don\u2019t curse Krishna. Don\u2019t complain. Because He is just making our love become ripe. Because He wants us to come to Him. He wants so that we can serve in that atmosphere. He wants that we can love in that atmosphere.
\nLove in this atmosphere is not so good. Because we try to manifest love through the body that\u2019s made of material modes. And we try to show love through the body that has lust inside – and it\u2019s always a little nasty. It doesn\u2019t work. Bad feelings come.
\nIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re loving because we don\u2019t want anything in return, but we want something in return and that\u2019s not love. That\u2019s lust. But on that platform they don\u2019t have bodies like this, they have spiritual bodies. No material modes. Therefore the transfer of love is pure. The devotee doesn\u2019t ant anything in return from Krishna. And Krishna doesn\u2019t want anything in return from His devotee. It is like competition.
\nCaitanya Caritamrita describes this. Ramananda Ray tells Lord Caitanya: \u201cIn the highest position there\u2019s so much competition to love that their identities become lost. And the only conception that exists is ananda. Again, in that highest level of transcendental exchange there is so much ecstasy of love that one doesn\u2019t even think \u201cI\u2019m a servant\u201d, one doesn\u2019t think \u201cI\u2019m the master\u201d, but the only conception that exists is ananda or bliss. Transcendental joy. This is what Krishna wants.
\nThis is what Krishna wants. So don\u2019t criticize Krishna. Don\u2019t criticize Krishna that after 5 years, or 10 years, or 20 years or 30 years you\u2019re still not seeing. That you have not even caught His aroma. But understand that Krishna is purifying us, so we would become qualified to meet him.
\nAnd we should always have the great transcendental hope, that if we will always stay on the path, despite whatever may happen, just stay on the path. And Krishna will give His mercy.
\nThis is called asha-bandha. Bandha means bound, asha means hope. And the sincere devotee, his life becomes bound by the transcendental hope: \u201cSurely one day Krishna will give me His mercy. He will give me His mercy and He will bring me to Him. And He will give me direct service\u201d. Direct meaning to serve the servant of the servant of the servant on the transcendental level.
\nSo we should become bound by that hope. The path may go like this. Sometimes the curve, it may be too sharp. And we may start go \u201cAaaaaah!\u201d But keep your feet on the path. Even if it\u2019s just like one toe. Keep connected by that one toe and always come back. And just keep going. Keep going. Keep going.
\nJust like Prabhupada, he had his mantra. Prabhupada would always go \u201cCome on\u201d. Prabhupada during the initiation ceremony, hold out the beads and say \u201cCome on. Come on.\u201d Prabhupada would always say: \u201cCome on. Don\u2019t get off the path. Come on. Little further. Little further, little further. Just keep going across the path like that. Bound by the hope that Krishna will give us His mercy.\u201d
\nPoor people of this world are bound by the hope that matter will make them happy. If I get the right woman I\u2019ll become happy. If I get the right man I\u2019ll become happy. If I get the money in the bank I\u2019ll become happy. If I get the new Pentium III computer I\u2019ll be happy. If I get sons I\u2019ll be happy. If I get daughters I\u2019ll be happy. If I get all these things I\u2019ll be happy. Things can never make us happy. We become bound by hope.
\nSurely one day Krishna will give us His mercy. Bound by that hope we chant the Holy Names and we cross the path back to Godhead.
\nThe Name becomes our food that we eat on the journey, The Name becomes the best association that we keep on the path. And the Name, it becomes the beautiful garden that we take rest in while we\u2019re on the path. The Name becomes the association of saints on the path. The Name becomes the means of attainment and the Name becomes the end. The Name is the means, the Name is the end when we become bound by that strong hope that surely one day He will give His mercy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Been serving for so long but still… not even the aroma of Krishna?
\nBB Govinda Swami: Sometimes devotees say: “Oh, He has forgotten us. Oh, I’ve been chanting Hare Krishna for five years, so much sincere service I’m doing, but still…. not even the aroma of Krishna. What to speak of seeing Krishna! Has He forgotten us? Is He hard-hearted? Is He indifferent? Why doesn’t he respond? Why doesn’t He reciprocate with us?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-66869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media","tag-nectar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66869"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106154,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66869\/revisions\/106154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}