How to Discharge Devotional Service

NoD 6-1970: How to Discharge Devotional Service

Chapter Six
How to Discharge Devotional Service

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé states that his elder brother (Sanätana Gosvämé) has compiled Hari-bhakti-viläsa for the guidance of the Vaiñëavas and therein has mentioned many rules and regulations to be followed by the Vaiñëavas. Some of them are very important and prominent, and he will now mention these very important items for our benefit. The purport of this statement is that Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé proposes to mention only basic principles, not details. For example, a basic principle is that one has to accept a spiritual master. Exactly how one follows the instructions of his spiritual master is considered a detail. For example, if one is following the instruction of his spiritual master and that instruction is different from the instructions of another spiritual master, this is called detailed information. But the basic principle of acceptance of a spiritual master is good everywhere, although the details may be different. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not wish to enter into details here, but wants to place before us only the principles.

He mentions the basic principles as follows: 1) accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, 2) becoming initiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devotional service from him, 3) obeying the orders of the spiritual master with faith and devotion, 4) following in the footsteps of great äcäryas (teachers) under the direction of the spiritual master, 5) inquiring from the spiritual master how to advance in Kåñëa consciousness, 6) being prepared to give up anything material for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Çré Kåñëa (This means that when we are engaged in the devotional service of Kåñëa, we must be prepared to give up something which we may not like to give up, and also we have to accept something which we may not like to accept.), 7) residing in a sacred place of pilgrimage like Dvärakä or Våndävana, 8)  dealing with the material world only as far as necessary, 9) observing the fasting day on Ekädaçé, and 10) worshiping sacred trees like the banyan tree.

These ten items are preliminary necessities for beginning the discharge of devotional service in regulative principles. In the beginning, if a neophyte devotee observes the above-mentioned ten principles, surely he will quickly make good advancement in Kåñëa consciousness.

Mukunda Mala Stotra

SUTRA 5
TEXT
nastha dharme na vasu-nicaye naiva kamopabhoge
yad bhavyam tad bhavatu bhagavan purva-karmanurupam
etat prarthyam mama bahu matam janma-janmantare 'pi
tvat-padambhoruha-yuga-gata niscala bhaktir astu
SYNONYMS

na--not; astha--special regard; dharme--for religiosity; na--nor; vasu--of wealth; nicaye--for the accumulation; na eva--nor even; kama-upabhoge--for sense enjoyment; yat--whatever; bhavyam--inevitable; tat--that; bhavatu--let it happen; bhagavan--O Lord; purva--previous; karma--my deeds; anurupam--according to; etat--this; prarthyam--to be requested; mama--by me; bahu matam--most desirable; janma-janma--birth after birth; antare--during; api--even; tvat--Your; pada-amboruha--of lotus feet; yuga--in the pair; gata--resting; niscala--unflinching; bhaktih--devotion; astu--may there be.

TRANSLATION

O my Lord! I have no attachment for religiosity, or for accumulating wealth, or for enjoying sense gratification. Let these come as they inevitably must, in accordance with my past deeds. But I do pray for this most cherished boon: birth after birth, let me render unflinching devotional service unto Your two lotus feet.

PURPORT

Human beings advance toward God consciousness when they go beyond the gross materialistic life of eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating and begin to develop moral and ethical principles. These principles develop further into religious consciousness, leading to an imaginary conception of God without any practical realization of the truth. These stages of God consciousness are called religiosity, which promises material prosperity of various degrees.

People who develop this conception of religiosity perform sacrifices, give in charity, and undergo different types of austerity and penance, all with a view toward being rewarded with material prosperity. The ultimate goal of such so-called religious people is sense gratification of various kinds. For sense gratification, material prosperity is necessary, and therefore they perform religious rituals with a view toward the resultant material name, fame, and gain.

But genuine religion is different. In Sanskrit such genuine religion is called dharma, which means "the essential quality of the living being." The sastras say that this essential quality is to render eternal service, and the proper object of this service is the Supreme Truth, Lord Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead. This eternal, transcendental service of the Lord is misdirected under material conditions and takes the shape of (1) the aforementioned religiosity, (2) economic development, (3) sense gratification, and (4) salvation, or the attempt to negate all material variegatedness out of frustration.

Genuine religion, however, does not culminate in either economic development, sense gratification, or salvation. The perfection of religion is to attain complete satisfaction of the spirit soul, and this is accomplished by rendering devotional service to the Lord, who is beyond the perception of the material senses. When the living being directs his eternal service attitude toward the eternal Supreme Being, such service can never be hampered by any sort of material hindrance. Such transcendental service is above even salvation, and therefore it certainly does not aim at any kind of material reward in the shape of name, fame, or gain.

One who engages in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Being automatically attains detachment from material name, fame, and gain, which are aspired for only by those who do not understand that this name, fame, and gain are merely shadows of the real thing. Material name, fame, and gain are only perverted reflections of the substance--the name, fame, and opulences of the Lord. Therefore the pure devotee of Lord Vasudeva, enlightened by the transcendental service attitude, has no attraction for such false things as religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, or salvation, the last snare of Maya.

The purpose of performing real religion is to attain attachment for hearing and chanting the messages of the kingdom of God. Materialistic people are attached to ordinary newspapers on account of their lack of spiritual consciousness. Real religion develops this spiritual consciousness and also attachment for the messages of God, without which all labor in the performance of religious rites is only a waste of energy.

Therefore one should not practice religion with the aim of improving one's economic welfare, nor should one use one's wealth for sense gratification, nor should the frustration of one's plans for sense gratification lead one to aspire for salvation, or liberation from material conditions. Instead of indulging in sense gratification of different grades with the fruits of one's labor, one should work just to maintain the body and soul together, with the aim of inquiring into the ultimate aims and objects of life. In other words, one should inquire into the Absolute Truth.

The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases, namely, the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramatma, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person who attains the highest stage of spiritual realization--realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead--automatically prays as King Kulasekhara does here.

Only one who renders devotional service to the Lord can attain this stage of indifference to the false and temporary assets of material nature. Such devotional service is not a mental concoction of depraved persons but is an actual process of God realization characterized by full cognizance and detachment and based on the Vedic literature. So-called devotional practices that have no reference to the rules and regulations set down in such books of Vedic literature as the sruti, the smrti, the Puranas, and the Pancaratras are not bona fide. The self-realized souls advise us to reject such pseudodevotional practices, which simply create a disturbance on the path of spiritual realization. Only by sincerely engaging in the service of the Lord according to the injunctions of scripture can one gradually become a qualified devotee of the Lord, and it does not matter whether it takes many repetitions of birth and death, life after life.

Krishna Community Faces Forced Eviction

10 Acres in Exchange for 116
On September 11, 2008 the assistant Hakim of Almaty province, S. Mukanov, informed the directors of the Society for Krishna Consciousness that the court has accepted the proposal of the Karasai district Hakim to declare the Society's buildings legally invalid.  

Mukanov stated that the Kazakh authorities expect this proposal to be sustained by

court, and that the Temple and other buildings of the society would be declared illegal, demolished, the Society's members forcibly evicted.

In August the Krishna Society received the resolution of the Hakim of the Karasai
District stating that the Kazakh government’s 2001 act of acceptance of the Society’s buildings into official usage had been annulled. The Hakim’s resolution was not on government letterhead, had no official document number, had no signatures, and had no official stamps.

The directors of the Krishna Society had first seen this document in a meeting with the assistant Karasai Hakim in July 2008. During the meeting the Krishna Society directors were not accompanied by their advocate. Thus, despite being forced by the Hakim, they refused to sign the document.

The assistant Hakim angrily responded to their denial by saying, "Be prepared for new
court cases."

On July 30, 2008 the Council for Connections with Religious Organizations of the Kazakh Government held a meeting in Astana to discuss the situation with the Society for Krishna Consciousness.

At that time, an attempt was again made by the chairman of the National Religious Committee, A. Dozhan to force to the Krishna Society to sign an agreement to relocate to unusable land in the Iliy district of Almaty Province.

The directors of the Society have rejected this land, which is an active garbage dump.
The land is unsuitable for constructing a place of worship, has no essential communications, devoid of drinking or irrigation water.

As an alternative to the Kazakh government proposal, the Krishna Society has appealed that the government allow them to use the land where their temple and other buildings are situated. This land was legally purchased, privatized, and developed at huge expense by the Society’s members and cultivated for 9 years.

According to Article 17 of the Law on Freedom of Faith and Religious Organizations in Republic of Kazakhstan, religious organizations have a pre-emptive right to receive the religious buildings with the adjacent territory.


The assistant Hakim of Almaty province, S. Mukanov, responded that there would be no other concessions. He stated, "We have already filed a claim for demolishing the remaining buildings.”

The Karasai government has initiated trials against the Society for Krishna Consciousness since 2005. This has resulted in the demolition of 26 homes of Hindu practitioners in 2006 and 2007.

The court cases have also resulted in the confiscation of 116 acres of the Society's  land. This prime property was transferred to the Karasai district land reserve without compensation to the Society.

The proposed compulsory Temple demolition and forced eviction will be the final stage of the Kazakh government’s  campaign to destroy the largest established center of the Krishna Society in Central Asia.

http://www.kazakhkrishna.com/en-news/315.html

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