Lord Krishna In The 21st Century
Chapter
Two
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Appreciating God
In each chapter I want to reemphasize the purpose of this book. Everything I have to say is dedicated to the fulfilment of a very special dream. And in all frankness, the dream has not yet come true. Far from it. Every day I either read or listen to the news. Sadly, in the past four years, Lord Krishna has been seldom mentioned. But the dream is a great one, the greatest goal I know of. So again, please read anew these beautiful words of Shrila Prabhupada and the "dream" he wanted fulfilled:
Let us try to make them Krishna conscious. That is our only interest. Because I love Krishna, I want to see all—everybody in the world to become Krishna conscious.
In the previous chapter I said that the greatest challenge facing the preaching movement is to present God as He is. Why is this so important and what are the consequences? In any marketplace you will find many vendors advertising their wares. "Please stop and see what I have to offer you." And in the global marketplace of ideas, goods and services, devotees of Lord Krishna are also advertising. "Please stop and examine what we have." This is good. The most important thing, however, is to get the public to stop and take notice, in the first place. And again, when this happens, here we find our greatest challenge: to present Lord Krishna as He is. Once you have gained their interest, where does this lead? In one, very important word—appreciation—appreciation of Lord Krishna. And if you think about it, the word "appreciation" has many meanings and they all apply: to prize, regard, cherish, relish, savor, acknowledge, thank, comprehend, realize, recognize and understand. Once this appreciation has been kindled within the heart, the blessings bestowed upon those fortunate souls are enormous. Shrila Prabhupada states:
1. August 19, 1972, Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.2.16—"This is the beginning of spiritual life—people are praising our activities—this appreciation is a lift for such persons. If he doesn’t hear, doesn’t come, simply says, ‘it is very nice.’ Yes!" 2. May 9, 1975, morning walk, Perth, Australia—"If they simply appreciate, (they say) ‘It is very nice,’ then in (their) next life, human life is guaranteed. In a very nice family. Simply if he appreciates."
"...the beginning of spiritual life." This makes so much sense—the consequence when this appreciation is awakened for Lord Krishna. And to my way of thinking, appreciation is where love of God starts. This, we all know, is the goal of human life. Shrila Prabhupada loved Krishna with all his heart, and he simply wanted the whole world to love Him, too. This was Shrila Prabhupada’s heart’s desire—his "dream," if I may. And the fulfillment of our Guru Deva’s dream is the mission of our great society. A mission that begins with presenting Lord Krishna as He is and ends with love of God, the world over. I have named this book, Lord Krishna In The 21st Century. It is a book about a common-sense approach for best accomplishing Shrila Prabhupada’s mission. Remember, Shrila Prabhupada wanted everybody in the world to love Lord Krishna. So we have to think big. And although this book is big in scope, it contains a very practical formula that is both easy to understand and easy to execute. We can do this. It’s a piece of cake. Here is a blueprint that can produce success within our lifetime. I am 100% certain of this fact. What could be more inspiring than this? Now my task is to convince you.
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