Akrura Katha 2 – Devotional disposition in association deepens our devotion
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
It started from the point of Akrura entering Vrindavan and I talked about how Krishna takes all the cows out for grazing and brings them back and he is careful as a servant of the cows. He is the lord of the world but he considers himself the servant of the cows and he makes sure that no cow is left behind. If a cow strays away, he brings it back.
So just as Go refers to cows, Go refers to our senses also. So Krishna, we can pray to him that when our senses wander, he gets our senses back. So in the path of self-mastery, I talked about human endeavour and divine intervention.
Human endeavour is for sense control and mind control. Just like I talked about the incident of my laptop being stolen, in a few minutes the door was left open. So like that, the thief is just waiting outside.
Thief of temptation, thief of illusion, he is just waiting outside the door. So if we just leave the door open, he will come inside and steal the treasure of our integrity, of our intelligence, of our devotional intentions. So best is we lock the door and don't let the thief in.
That means just control the mind and don't think about anti-devotional things. But if somehow the door is left open, somehow we entertain some thoughts and the thief comes in. That doesn't mean that we let the thief steal everything away.
What do we do? We fight and push the thief out again. Like that, even if our mind is agitated, we don't act at the level of the senses. But this is our human endeavour.
When the divine intervention comes, what happens? At that time, the desire itself disappears. Like the thief is driven away from there. We all can think about desires, such as desire for meaty tooth, which may not even tempt us now.
So, even the desire that are tormenting us now, they will stop tempting us in future. We just have to keep practicing bhakti. And we should never lose heart.
Sometimes in the battle against temptation, we will win, sometimes we will lose. But if we just keep our eyes fixed on Krishna and have confidence that Krishna's love for us is not based on whether we are winning or losing the battle against temptation. Krishna is there in everyone's heart, even those who are very sinful.
Then we are lifting our vision to Krishna and trying to connect with Krishna that will give us the moral spirit, morale. We boost our morale so that we can keep fighting. And we will attain inner peace not by giving in to desires, but by conquering desires.
So, Akrura, as Krishna was the last person to enter Vrindavan, the Vrajavasis eagerly are waiting from ahead to see him. Akrura saw him from behind and Krishna welcomed him and very honorably took him inside. And he discussed about how the Vrajavasis never accepted that Krishna is the son of Vasudeva.
And here also Akrura did not explicitly reveal that. So, Akrura knew when Krishna leaves Vrindavan, he is not likely to come back. But he did not interfere with the Vrajavasis' mood of devotion.
And Krishna and Vrajavasis decided to leave, Krishna and Balram decided to leave. Krishna made it a general invitation for all the Vrajavasis also. So, the elders, Nanda Maharaj and others came with him.
And when they left, the Vrajavasis did not suspect so much. I discussed how Nanda Maharaj was not a diplomat like Vasudeva. It's a simple cowherd.
But the Gopis not only suspected, they were devastated. That is because their love for Krishna was so intense. They felt if Krishna goes out of Vrindavan, goes to Mathura, he may forget us, he may get attracted to someone else over there.
It's all their transcendental possessiveness. So, first we want to give up material possessiveness. We want to understand that we give the mamatva and we get tadiyatva.
Krishna, everything belongs to you. But eventually, our goal is not just to be detached. Our goal is to be attached.
Krishna, you belong to me. So, the Gopis were so intensely attached to Krishna that they just couldn't think of anything other than Krishna. So, our process of bhakti is not about becoming hard-hearted or cold-hearted.
It's about becoming soft-hearted. Yes, sometimes our various relationships and our various emotional relationships can come in the way of our bhakti. But rather than seeing them as competitors, we can see them as also the two are not as competitive, they can also be cooperative.
So, every relationship forces us to become selfless. To think of something more than ourselves. And it can expand from ourselves to our family, immediate family, then our extended family, then our community, then our nation, humanity at large.
The problem comes when this expansion of consciousness stops. Then the place where it stops can become a competitor to Krishna. But if we see all of it as progressive, then we can expand our consciousness to Krishna.
So, the process of bhakti is about becoming soft-hearted. And rather than thinking about, I have to give up this attachment, I have to give up this desire, we focus on the desires that we have to take up. We talked about Prabhupada's special qualification was not just his detachment from the world.
It was his attachment to Krishna. Because of which he was ready to risk his life to go all alone at advanced stage abroad. So, Prabhupada's climbing up Jaludha was an act of extraordinary, even unprecedented courage.
So, the sacrifice of life is glorious. But the life of sacrifice is even more glorious. Life of sacrifice requires fighting against our lower desires.
Or it requires fighting against the hostile circumstances in the world. And Srila Prabhupada did not think, I am preaching. He was letting the holy name act through him.
And that was what made hundreds and hundreds of people dance in Tonkin Square Park. And that was from there, the Hare Krishna movement began under the Hare Krishna tree. So, Srila Prabhupada was attached to Krishna.
That was his qualification. We also can strive to become attached to Krishna. The Gopi's qualification was, they were attached to Krishna.
And their attachment was so great that even that which is considered to be a woman's greatest virtue, her chastity, her purity, her shyness, the Gopis were ready to give up that. To go publicly and express their affection for Krishna and stop Krishna from going out of Vrindavan. Their sacrifice brought tears to Krishna's eyes.
Krishna assured them that I will come back. And as Akrura saw this extraordinary devotion of the Vajvasis, he felt himself enriched. So, similarly, as Akrura came with a prayerful mood, with a devotional mood, and went back with an even more devotional mood from Vrindavan.
So, the temples are like Vrindavan. And if we approach them in a devotional mood, and appreciate the devotion there, then when we leave, our devotion will be enriched much, much more. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna.