{"id":85794,"date":"2022-06-07T09:05:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=9944"},"modified":"2022-06-07T09:05:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:05:50","slug":"back-to-godhead-or-back-to-serve-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=85794","title":{"rendered":"Back To Godhead, or Back To Serve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Kesava Krsna Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a devotee were to ask, \u201cPlease bless me so that I\u2019ll never take birth again in this horrible material world,\u201d would this be asking for some kind of liberation? Hundreds of times, Srila Prabhupada encouraged us to \u201cGo Back home, back to Godhead.\u201d Would it be a form of boldness or naivet\u00e9 to desire to come back to this world and serve by preaching?<\/p>\n

That would depend on our level of perception and spiritual progress. There were times when some disciples indicated to Srila Prabhupada that they would perhaps like to take birth again and help with preaching Krishna consciousness. Even then Srila Prabhupada would variously say, \u201cDon\u2019t try to come back\u2026simply go back to Godhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

If going back to Godhead is what we must seek, then does this fare somewhat less to an ideal expressed by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, as paraphrased by Srila Prabhupada: Nitya-dasa prati tuwa adhikara: \u201cYou have got every right to do whatever You think right in relation with Your servant. I am Your eternal servant.\u201d Janmaobi moe iccha jadi tor: \u201cIf you so desire\u201d \u2014 because a devotee goes back to Home, goes back to Godhead – therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura proposes, \u201cIf You like that I shall again take birth, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bhakta\u2014grhe jani janma hau mor: \u201cThe only request is that if I have to take my birth, please kindly give me the chance of taking my birth in a devotee\u2019s house.\u201d Kita\u2014janma hau jatha tuwa das: \u201cI don\u2019t mind if I am born as an insect, but I must be in the house of a devotee.\u201d Bahir mukha brahma-janme nahi as: \u201cI do not like non\u2014devotee life.<\/p>\n

Noticing that Srila Bhaktivinoda said, \u201c\u2026IF I have to take my birth\u2026\u201d in a mood of allowing Krishna to do whatever He wants, does this appear more surrender\u2019ful than our \u2018conditional\u2019 Back to Godhead wish, as encouraged by Srila Prabhupada? We can look at this in different ways, and the way Srila Prabhupada emphasised it so much points in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Here is one of many examples: \u201cAnd after passing 5,000 years, we find so many difficulties, and the more we grow in this Kali-yuga, the days will be more and more difficult. So best thing is that you finish your Krishna consciousness business and go back to home, back to Godhead. That will save you. Otherwise, if we come back again, the difficulties, the difficult days are ahead. We have to suffer more and more.\u201d (SB 1.8.32 – Los Angeles, April 24, 1973)<\/p>\n

A daunting prospect of rebirth in Kali-yuga is discouraged. Srila Prabhupada also knew that most of us are rules and regulation types and will struggle mightily to ascend the path of devotion. For these reasons it would be an extraordinarily rare event to actually go back to Godhead, and the extraordinary is made clear and simple for us by him – and many devotees are going back to Godhead.<\/p>\n

An interesting question can be raised at this point: Srila Prabhupada sometimes said that many of his disciples were sent by Krishna, or by his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta to come and help him spread Krishna consciousness all over the world \u2013 from where did they come?<\/p>\n

To have the desire to go back to Godhead, or not to ever take birth again in this world, is the correct thing for those of us who are unsure of our eternal position in Godhead. If we haven\u2019t yet realised our spiritual identity, then better we pray to go back to Godhead where we might discover something wonderful. This is the greatest fortune.<\/p>\n

Then there are those rare souls who are certain and assured of themselves spiritually. This certainty enables someone like Srila Bhaktivinoda to know that wherever he is in the material world, he is already in Godhead. \u201cIf one has a strong desire to serve the Lord, even if he accepts a material body, there is no cause of anxiety, since a devotee, even in a material body, is a liberated soul.\u201d (SB 9.13.9 purport)<\/p>\n

On this level, going back to Godhead or not, being in heaven or hell, are inconsequential so long as service or devotion is rendered in the company of devotees. \u201cEven if I am born as a Lord Brahma. I want to remain with the devotees.\u201d Bhukti-mukti\u2014sprha vihina je bhakta: \u201cI want such devotee who doesn\u2019t care for material happiness or spiritual liberation.\u201d Labhaite tako sanga anurakta: \u201c I simply desire to be associated with such pure devotees.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while serving with devotees an assured soul knows, \u201cWhen he gives up his body, he goes directly to become an associate of the Lord and serve Him, although he does the same thing even in a material body in the material world.\u201d (SB 9.13.9 purport)<\/p>\n

If we try to express our desires to take birth again in this world without having the certainty and assurance of eternal spiritual grounding, we could be moving ahead of ourselves. This is why Srila Prabhupada encouraged a more realistic prospect of desiring to go back to Godhead. Besides, having a genuine realised desire to go wherever Krishna wants us to go, stems from relishing real taste for chanting Hare Krishna.<\/p>\n

When Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu says in the forth verse of Sri Sikastakam, \u201cI only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth,\u201d He is \u2013 \u201cBy saying “life after life” (janmani janmani), the Lord referred not to an ordinary birth but a birth in which to remember the lotus feet of the Lord. Such a body is desirable.\u201d (SB 9.13.9 purport)<\/p>\n

According to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur\u2019s analysis in his writings like Sri Bhajana Rahasyam and others, this Siksastakam verse equates with having deep taste or Ruchi. In other words, someone possessed of this quality of spiritual progress can have more realisation when and if, the desire for rebirth arises, and is expressed with proper understanding.<\/p>\n

It could be that one wants to go back to Godhead because – (SB 9.13.9 purport) \u201c\u2026whereas a nondevotee, having no engagement in the service of the Lord, is very much afraid of accepting a material body or giving up his present one,\u201d could reflect some of the uncertainty. This uncertainty is due to not knowing one\u2019s eternal relationship with Krishna, or even retaining or practicing impersonal concepts in the realm of personal service to the Lord and His devotees.<\/p>\n

\u201cMah\u0101r\u0101ja Nimi continued: M\u0101y\u0101v\u0101d\u012bs generally want freedom from accepting a material body because they fear having to give it up again. But devotees whose intelligence is always filled with the service of the Lord are unafraid. Indeed, they take advantage of the body to render transcendental loving service.\u201d (SB 9.13.9)<\/p>\n

To seek relief from material suffering and from bodily inconveniences in order to go back to Godhead, can be a selfish motive. Then again, we are encouraged to use this selfishness for a higher purpose. The fact that we somehow came here at \u2013 Anadi \u2013 time for some selfish reason, and now wanting some selfish relief, is well worth our effort in going back to Godhead.<\/p>\n

At least having returned back to Godhead there will be some capacity to serve the Lord. And in that service one may want to come back down to the material world to help bring back other suffering souls – from an already liberated position. With an assured Godhead situation as this, who would not want to go back home, back to Godhead to render eternal loving service, either here, there or anywhere?<\/p>\n

Ys Kesava Krsna Dasa \u2013 GRS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kesava Krsna Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a devotee were to ask, \u201cPlease bless me so that I\u2019ll never take birth again in this horrible material world,\u201d would this be asking for some kind of liberation? Hundreds of times, Srila Prabhupada encouraged us to \u201cGo Back home, back to Godhead.\u201d Would it be a form of boldness or naivet\u00e9 to desire to come back to this world and serve by preaching? That would depend on our level of perception and spiritual progress. There were times when some disciples indicated to Srila Prabhupada that they would perhaps like to take birth again and help with preaching Krishna consciousness. Even then Srila Prabhupada would variously say, \u201cDon\u2019t try to come back\u2026simply go back to Godhead.\u201d If going back to Godhead is what we must seek, then does this fare somewhat less to an ideal expressed by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, as paraphrased by Srila Prabhupada: Nitya-dasa prati tuwa adhikara: \u201cYou have got every right to do whatever You think right in relation with Your servant. I am Your eternal servant.\u201d Janmaobi moe iccha jadi tor: \u201cIf you so desire\u201d \u2014 because a devotee goes back to Home, goes back to Godhead – therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura proposes, \u201cIf You like that I shall again take birth, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d Bhakta\u2014grhe jani janma hau mor: \u201cThe only request is that if I have to take my birth, please kindly give me the chance of taking my birth in a devotee\u2019s house.\u201d Kita\u2014janma hau jatha tuwa das: \u201cI don\u2019t mind if I am born as an insect, but I must be in the house of a devotee.\u201d Bahir mukha brahma-janme nahi as: \u201cI do not like non\u2014devotee life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85794","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94417,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85794\/revisions\/94417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}