![](\"https:\/\/66.media.tumblr.com\/fee40f68ee21cfc56f4ff87a476d9961\/tumblr_pkeaxl9Te11sbj0vuo1_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Who we are and who we are not.
\nPrahladananda Swami: We have to remind ourselves again and again who we are and who we are not.<\/p>\n
Most people seek only to increase their sense gratification rather than to understand who they are.<\/p>\n
Everyone is in a rush going nowhere.<\/p>\n
If people can understand their bodies are changing but they are not changing, that is a second birth.<\/p>\n
If we cannot give up hankering and lamenting and see all people on the spiritual plane, we cannot begin devotional service. [Bhagavad-gita 18.54]\n
Neither Brahma nor the insignificant ant is satisfied with his standard of sense gratification.<\/p>\n
Everyone is seen, either as a friend or an enemy, in terms of whether they can help us in our God project.<\/p>\n
Loving the holy name begins with paying attention.<\/p>\n
Paying attention to Krishna also means paying attention to what Krishna wants.<\/p>\n
A relationship means surrender. Without surrender, there is no relationship.<\/p>\n
We cannot live in the association of devotees and not like any of them.<\/p>\n
We please the devotees who are trying to please Krishna in disciplic succession.<\/p>\n
If we are in the mood of wanting to help others to become Krishna consciousness we are properly situated.<\/p>\n
We are simply the servant of the servant, and we trying to help others to become Krishna conscious.<\/p>\n
We are thinking of ourselves as controllers, but we are always frustrated because it is difficult to control anything in this world.<\/p>\n
We should not think, \u201cI have made so many devotees, I have distributed so many books, I am such a great devotee, I do not know how Krishna will ever repay me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone is thinking they are saving some part of the universe. The parents think they are saving their children. The guru is thinking he is saving his disciples.<\/p>\n
We have to give up the conception being controllers, enjoyers, and saviors, in order to engage in pure devotional service.<\/p>\n
We have to see if the symptoms of the disease of material existence are decreasing and that we are not just doing sense gratification in the name of devotional service.<\/p>\n
Whatever maya we are in, we should regulate it and reduce it.<\/p>\n
Varnasrama is meant to bring us to the point of understanding the value of performing devotional service.<\/p>\n
If you follow varnasrama, but you do not ultimately accept devotional service you could end up becoming the biggest demon in the universe, like Hiranyakasipu, Hiranyaksa, or Ravana.<\/p>\n
Some elements of varnasrama can be accepted to make our minds peaceful so we can focus on hearing and chanting about Krishna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Who we are and who we are not.
\nPrahladananda Swami: We have to remind ourselves again and again who we are and who we are not.<\/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-70006","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\/70006","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=70006"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105076,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70006\/revisions\/105076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}