NITAAI-Veda.nyf > Spiritual Questions & Answers > 2007 QnA Swami Gaurangapada > How to get hope |
Title: How to get hope
User: Swami Gaurangapada Date: 2007-03-13 20:11:07
Dandavat Pranams Gurudev,
Please accept my obeisances unto your lotus feet. All Glories to all the Gaura
Bhakta Vrinda and All Glories to All Acharyas,
Is there really hope for
fallen souls steeped deep in materialistic life??? Externally - I am trying to
follow the regulative principles, chanting a fixed no. of rounds of Nityananda,
Gauranga, & Hare Krishna. But still there is no love, no attachment.
Actually I feel that having received so much mercy from the lord in terms of
his holy names, a bonafide spiritual master and bonafide sampradaya, some
knowledge about the most merciful incarnation of the Lords in their forms of
Nityananda and Gaurahari - yet I feel caught up in the routines of life trying
to fulfill family responsibilities and taking care of the external bodies of my
family members and myself and still worring about their well being and fearful
for their health and security.
At times the scriptures
say that in just few days, you will attain love of God by chanting Nityananda
Gauranga at other times the scriptures say without developing the qualities of
humiliy, tolerance and giving respect to others without expecting any in return
, we cannot achieve the Lord. How to develop these qualities of humility,
tolerance and giving respect without expecting any in return??????
How to attain the mercy
of devotees and how to please Gurudev and Acharyas??
Thank you very much,
Your servant forever
Preeti Nityananda dasi
Answer by Swami
Gaurangapada:
Nityananda! Gauranga!
Hare Krishna! The very fact that you have written this post about attaining
attachment to the Lord means that you already have some attraction for the
Lords and Their Holy Names because no one can chant for more than a week or two
unless one has some attraction for the Holy Names and Their Lordships
Nityananda Gauranga. So you should be happy and grateful to the Lord that he
has given you at least this much mercy and strength to chant His Holy Names.
They are known as the qualities of grateful and patience in devotional life
which attract the Lord towards us.
Once we know that we are
on the right path, we should be patient and happy that one day we are going to
attain our destination at the Lord's lotus feet. Shrila Mukunda started dancing
with bliss when Lord Gauranga told him and he will see Him after 10 million
years because he was so happy that he will ultimately see the Lord who is even
rarely achieved by the greatest of all demigods. The highest consciousness is
that one is performing our daily chanting, bhajan, hearing and reading for the
pleasure of the Lord and even if the Lord does not give me more and more
attraction for Him, I will continue to do it for His pleasure, happiness and
satisfaction. If one develops this selfless mood of no expectation in return
then the Lord will be quickly merciful on that soul. This is called as the real
sambandha connection. Oh Lord, I am yours, even though you do not appear before
me or make me revolve more in this cycle of birth and death. I will never leave
your lotus feet and I will never get dejected or frustrated while chanting Your
Holy Names and serving you.
At the same time, one
should not be satisfied with one's spiritual progress and service to the Lord
of hearing and chanting as the realization of the Lord's characteristics while
chanting the Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna is an
ever-expanding experience which makes us hanker for more and more bliss. So the
secret is always be patient and grateful to the Lord and at the same time
always endeavor to increase our devotional service more and more and pray to
the Lord for more mercy so that we can serve Him better. That is why we have
the progressive stages of chanting Naam. These two qualities combined together
develop into the most important quality of humility which attracts the mercy of
Guru, Acharyas and Lord Nityananda Himself.
Ultimately, simply by
crying out the Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna with great
feeling and prayer will enable to us to automatically develop the qualities of
patience and humility required to attract the Lord because every thing is in
the Naam and nothing is to be sought or to be achieve outside of the Naam.