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 Beautiful Stories of the Lord
 
 

 

 

Profound Moments of Truth

 

 



Shrila BR Sridhar Maharaja

 

We must be prepared for anything: anything from the environment may come to us, but we are to face it with optimism. That is the key to success in our life. The highest advice is given in Srimad Bhagavatam:
tat te ‘nukampam susumiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidhanam namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya bhak
(Srimad Bhagavatam 10:14:8)
“One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, tolerates all kinds of adverse conditions due to the karma of his past deeds, and passes his days practising devotion to You with his mind, words and body, is truly eligible for becoming your unalloyed devotee.”
We have no ability to interfere with the environment; to do so will only be a useless waste of energy. Rather, we must try to correct ourselves, so that we can adjust with the circumstances we find surrounding us. We have been advised that the best estimation we can make about the environment, of what is coming to me from the environment, is to see it, to understand it, as a grant. A grant means something which is given. But from where is this grant coming? It is coming from my Lord; and He is my Guardian. He is Supreme, He is Autocrat. So, what is coming from Him is His grace. We are living by His grace, always, and not as a matter of ‘right’. That we are living at all, that we are alive, we exist- this is not our birthright! If we exist at all, or not- it does not matter to the Infinite Whole. So, tat te nukampam susumiksamano: whatever is coming, it is His grace, it is not earned by my right, my ability, or my qualification. All and everything that is coming, and every part of it, is a grace coming to me.Our well-guided estimation about the environment will be such.

And we must be satisfied with whatever grant we get. It is not a matter of right; we are not to see with the eye of any right, whether we are getting our own ‘quota’ or not. “Am I getting my own portion, my own share?”- this should never be our attitude. At the same time, we must try to see that whatever trouble we find, is self-acquired: “Due to my own defective position, I am in such a condition. I am so low, so mean.” And our vanity will have to disappear forever, when we realise fully our dependence on His grace: “I have got no position; I am fully dependent on His grace. My whole existence, whole prospect, everything- it is only on account of His grace.”


Mahaprabhu said, krsnera nitya-dasa: consider yourself, know yourself, to be the slave of the Supreme Lord. A slave has got no rights; he is property, the property of another. Like animals who are someone’s property- like cows, or cats, or dogs- our position is such. The slave has no rights; but at the same time, by his master’s grace, he can enter the highest place, highest position. Such is the prospect of the slave of the Supreme Lord, of Krsna.


And it is possible only through service. Service means, to satisfy Him- not to satisfy me, not service for myself. But when I am determined to exist only for Him, to maintain my existence for Him, when I can think: “I am for Him, and everything is for Him”- then I have got some position. As Hegel told, “Reality is by Itself and for Itself”, so, everything is for Krsna, it is for Himself; and when I am for Him, then I have got some position. And as much as I can dedicate myself to Him, to being for Him, so much of a concrete or substantial position I may acquire. My position depends on my rendering sincere service to the Prime Cause. Mahaprabhu said:

jivera ‘svarupa’ haya- krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’
krsnera ‘tatastha-sakti’, bhedabheda-prakasa
(Cc Madhya 20:108)
“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krsna because he is the marginal energy of Krsna and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, as a molecular particle of sunshine is one with, and different from, the sun.”
The soul is of the marginal potency. From the independent standpoint, it can be seen that he has something in common with the Lord, and something different from Him; and such a position is inconceivable. Krsna is all-in-all, and the soul has a dependent position, as His potency. The Owner is He, and if we are conscious of that fact, we can thrive. We can improve our position, and we may also get the higher position, we may enter into the higher, most confidential service, only if we can satisfy the permanent servitors of that highest conception. Who is the highest servitor, Who can serve Him best- they should be the subject of our highest reach. Our aim should be to enter into Their group. And that is Radharani’s group. To enter into Her group, Her camp, Her association- that is radha-dasya.


Service is our life, it is everything for us. We thrive only there. And whenever we want to do the work of a master, we deviate from that; we go away, we degrade. By serving, we live, and by trying to make ourselves master, by lording it over others, we die.
So, you will have to ‘die to live’- by dying to your false ego, your self-aggrandizing tendency, you can live, live in the world of service, divine service. Everyone is trying to live in this world avoiding death, physical death. They are trying to ‘live without death’, and that of course is not possible. Just as it is not possible in the ordinary sense to live without death, so you also, who are aspiring for divine life, don’t try to live, without death! Die now! Die, to both your exploiting and renouncing tendencies, to really live in service divine.


Don’t try to live in the plane of exploitation; that type of ‘living’, in our estimation, is to face death. But to die for Him, for Krsna, is really to live. The position of the Centre, and our relation with the Centre, is such. The Hegelian theory, that we should ‘die to live’, because ‘Reality is by Itself and for Itself’- it is very applicable in Vaisnavism. Our false ego should be dissolved, and the ego of self-searching should awake. And, God-searching is self-searching: to search for Krsna is really to search for our own interest, our own higher interest. If you search for Krsna, your own searching-interest is also included therein, it is represented there. So, only search for Krsna- and with the spirit of service, not with the spirit of enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness, they would tell you to make it a rule to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity befalls you, if you can thank a praise God for it, you will turn it into a blessing.  A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law (1728)

 

 

 



 Shrila BR Sridhar Maharaja

 

When we reach the highest position of disappointment, then sometimes, somehow or other, from the core of our heart we pray, “Oh Lord, I am helpless, save me! I am under the control of so many enemies in the form of friends. Such a hopeless position I hold, my Lord. From time immemorial I am serving all these masters, but they are not satisfied with my service. Now I find myself in this helpless position, my Lord. You should only come on Your own accord, and assert Yourself. Then they will fly away in fear of You. Otherwise I have no hope. This sort of ardent prayer from the core of the heart towards the Savior, that is what is necessary for us.
 With our faith and earnestness we can aspire after that mercy. If we increase the quality of our negativity, the feeling that we are so low, the positive will be automatically attracted. We must try to increase the power of our position as a negative unit.


Trnad api sunicena (feeling lower than the grass), dainyam (humility), atmanivedana (surrender). Hankering in surrender is our wealth. We are the sakti, the potency, and potency refers to the negative unit of the Positive, the Potent. We should increase our negative side, our hankering. The Positive will be automatically attracted to us.


Whatever beautiful and valuable things we come across, we cannot but surrender ourselves to them. That is the criterion. If we find anything higher in our vicinity, our appreciation means surrendering unto that. According to the degree of our surrender, we have to measure what degree of quality of truth we have found. That can be measured only according to the degree and intensity of surrender, how much we can surrender to what we have found, to the point of no return. And the true devotees know no satisfaction or fulfillment. They feel no trace of satisfaction that they have achieved anything. Never. The inner sweetness of the truth and its infinite characteristic are such. The truth attracts. It can attract to the highest degree and magnitude.

 

 

 

 

SShrila Prabhupada

 

So one day I (Deenanath das) went in, I been his servant for just a month, 1972 - I was 21 years old. He was reading Bhagavad-gita. At this time there was only half a dozen books. First Canto Srimad Bhagavatam was there, Nectar of Devotion, Krsna Book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is….and Prabhupada was reading Bhagavad-gita and he rang his bell so I went in. And I offered obeisances and sat up, and he is holding his book, he has his reading glasses on and he just looks at me. I said, ‘Yes Prabhupada.’ And he said, ‘If you just read this one book, you can become Krsna conscious.’

 

 

 

 

Joey Lomangino

 

 

 

“In the beginning it’s all Joey, Joey. But as they pray, Joey decreases, God increases- because they get the grace to understand. I’m only an instrument. We are all instruments and God wishes that the particular charisma that each person has be used to bring others to know, to love, and to serve Him.”

 

 

Shrila BR Sridhar Maharaja

 

As much as we are able to engage in deep, responsible service, the effect of our impure tendencies will be minimized.  They will come and peep, and will step back when they discover that we are deeply engaged.

 

 

Saint John Chrysostom

 

Listen carefully to me, I entreat you.   Procure books that will be medicines for the soul.   At least get a copy of the New Testament, the Apostle’s epistles, the Acts, the Gospels, for your constant teachers.   If you encounter grief, dive into them as into a chest of medicines; take from them comfort for your trouble, whether it be loss, or death, or bereavement over the loss of relations.   Don’t simply dive into them.   Swim in them.   Keep them constantly in your mind.   The cause of all evils is the failure to know the Scriptures well.

 

 


Nennolina


When I suffer, I immediately think of Jesus so I don't suffer anymore!   It's simple not to suffer: don't think of your pain, but think of Jesus', because He suffered so much for us that you won't feel anything yourself.

 


 

Nennolina was born on December 15, 1930. She was a lively and joyful child, quick to join in games at school. One day she fell while playing in the school yard and injured her knee on a stone. The pain did not go away: the doctors diagnosis was osteosarcoma. Her leg was amputated. A long way of the cross ensued. Hospitalized, she suffered atrocious pain. Nennolina died on July 3, 1937. She was not seven years old.

Nennolina left behind a diary and more than one hundred letterine (little letters) addressed to Jesus, to the Madonna, and to God the Father. Nennolina's letters reveal an extraordinary mystical union with Jesus Crucified. Her tomb, at the entrance to the Chapel of the Sacred Relics of the Cross and Passion in our Basilica, has become a place of pilgrimage. If canonized, Nennolina will be the youngest saint, not a martyr, in the history of the Church.

 

 

 

Saint Catherine Labouré


When I go to the Chapel I place myself before the good God and I say to Him: Lord, here I am, give me what You will.   If He gives me something, I am very pleased and I thank Him.   If He gives me nothing, I still thank Him because I do not deserve anything.   And then again, I tell Him all that passes through my mind; I recount my pains and my joys and ... I listen.   If you listen to Him, He will speak to you also, because with the good God it is necessary to speak and to listen.   He will always speak to you if you go to Him simply and sincerely.

 

 

 Saint Bernadette Soubirous
 

While I was saying the Rosary, I was watching as hard as I could. She was wearing a white dress reaching down to her feet, of which only the toes appeared. The dress was gathered very high at the neck by a hem from which hung a white cord. A white veil covered her head and came down over her shoulders and arms almost to the bottom of her dress. On each foot I saw a yellow rose. The sash of the dress was blue, and hung down below her knees. The chain of the rosary was yellow; the beads white, big and widely spaced.