{"id":72205,"date":"2022-10-23T15:43:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T13:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/183137919501"},"modified":"2022-10-23T15:44:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T13:44:54","slug":"dare-to-think-of-krsna-as-your-friendhh-sacinandana-swami-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=72205","title":{"rendered":"Dare to Think of Krsna as Your Friend!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Dare to Think of Krsna as Your Friend!
\nHH Sacinandana Swami: For many devotees in our movement, Krsna is anything but a friend. They do not dare to think in this direction. Some feel it is sahajiyaism, or taking things too lightly, while others think, \u201cHe is so far away and inaccessible. A friend is someone I can call with my smartphone or write a whatsapp to. Krsna is a friend? Is this just a swami-hype? How can we relate to this?\u201d My dear devotees, you can only find peace in your life if you become aware that:
\nKrsna is your best friend and there are definite things you can do to establish a firm friendship with Krsna.
\nLet us look at the first point and how the acaryas (spiritual teachers) explain it and then discuss the second point. Srila Baladeva Vidya-bhusana cites the well-known line from Bhagavad-gita (5.29) suhrdam sarva-bhutanam \u2013 which describes Krsna as the good friend of all living entities in this world and comments that this means that Krsna is an unprejudiced wellwisher and He doesn\u2019t judge you. He also has no place in His heart for the mistakes of His devotees. He is a true friend.<\/p>\n

If you make a mistake, He will say \u201cNo problem, we are friends.\u201d Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says Krsna is such a friend that even though we are separated from Him and live in the material world, He gives us mercy through His devotees that walk this earth. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (canto 11, ch. 29), Uddhava addresses Krsna as his dear friend and calls out to Him: \u201cYou have not forgotten the living entities, even if they have forgotten You. For this, transcendental poets have difficulty expressing their gratitude to You! You have proven Your dedication to the friendship to the soul in two ways: You accompany the soul as the Supersoul in the heart \u2013 a place that is closer to the soul than its own breath. You are always there \u2013 accessible \u2013 and if someone turns to You, You turn to him or her and give all facilities for advancement. <\/p>\n

Secondly, You come as the instructing spiritual master.\u201d As proof, Uddhava concludes: \u201cLook, Krsna, You have not forgotten me, even though I wanted to forget You. You came with me, although I wanted to leave You. You are present in the heart as the most reliable friend.\u201d In the Bhagavad-gita (5.29) the Lord says, \u201cIf you are conscious about our relationship and you see Me as your benefactor and wellwisher you attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.\u201d My dear devotees, are you peaceful? Not always, isn\u2019t it? It may be that you have not entered into a friendship with Krsna. We may have some relationship with Him \u2013 we visit Him on the altar, He is always there \u2013 but a friend is someone we take along on our experiences. If you have a friendship with Krsna and you turn to Him and He turns to you, you will become supremely peaceful. Everything will be alright.<\/p>\n

What could happen with such a friend next to us? It is seen that when people are in a loving relationship, when they feel loved and secure in the support of that relationship, their resilience is very strong \u2013 this means they have inner strength and psychological security to deal with obstacles. On the other hand, if people feel alone and rejected by the world, others and God, they are weak inside and break easily. Therefore, the fact that we may need more inner strength can indicate that we don\u2019t yet fully have that ultimate loving context to hold us. On his way to Vrndavana, Akrura was in a troubled state. A part of him thought, \u201cI don\u2019t know if Krsna will receive me.<\/p>\n

To date, he has killed everyone who has been sent by Kamsa.\u201d Then he had another thought, \u201cKrsna is here in my heart as my best friend. He will understand me. He will look at me and He will know that on the inside I am His devotee although externally I\u2019m engaged by a cruel king.\u201d Later Akrura expressed his thoughts directly to Krsna: \u201cWhat learned person would approach anyone but You for shelter, when You are the affectionate, grateful and truthful well-wisher of Your devotees? To those who worship You in sincere friendship, You reward everything they desire, even Your own self, yet You never increase or diminish.\u201d (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.48.26) Thus, Akrura praises three of Krsna\u2019s qualities that make Him truly our best friend. First, He loves His devotees and is affectionate towards them; He has a soft spot for them. Second, He keeps His promises; devotees can utterly rely on Him. <\/p>\n

Queen Kunti echoes this sentiment when she says that even if the sunshine were to become cold or the moonshine to become hot, Krsna\u2019s promises will never fail. And third, Krsna is grateful for any little thing someone does for Him. How can we establish a friendship with Krsna? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu quotes a verse from the Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.55) to explain how we can bind Krsna to our hearts. He says that chanting, even if it is done inattentively, binds the Lord to the devotee\u2019s heart because Krsna likes to be praised, called upon and addressed with His Name. Krsna immediately comes to that person who calls upon Him to find out what they desire from Him. <\/p>\n

This is His mercy to all of us here in Kali-yuga. So, kirtana and japa are the way to enter into our friendship with Krsna. Krsna wants to see our love! If you think \u201cKrsna will never be my friend, I am too fallen\u201d you are most probably right \u2013 Krsna will never enter a concrete relationship with you. But if you understand, \u201cHe is waiting for me! He is waiting for me to come back to Him! He is waiting for me to give me his mercy!\u201d then you will do what is necessary to become His friend and that means you will chant with affection and you will no longer do your services mechanically but with a favorable intent to turn to Him. And He will reciprocate a million-fold.<\/p>\n

I think it is time for us to go to Krsna and say \u201cIt is me again. I want to enter our relationship. Please accept me in Your service.\u201d My dear devotees, if you take this step, if you conquer your false ego and give up your reserved attitude towards Krsna, please expect miracles to happen! You might find that He has been waiting for you all this time\u2026
\nFrom a lecture by Sacinandana Swami in Buckland Hall (UK), Feb. 10, 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Dare to Think of Krsna as Your Friend!
\nHH Sacinandana Swami: For many devotees in our movement, Krsna is anything but a friend. They do not dare to think in this direction. Some feel it is sahajiyaism, or taking things too lightly, while others think, “He is so far away and inaccessible. A friend is someone I can call with my smartphone or write a whatsapp to. Krsna is a friend? Is this just a swami-hype? How can we relate to this?” My dear devotees, you can only find peace in your life if you become aware that:<\/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-72205","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\/72205","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=72205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103139,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72205\/revisions\/103139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}