Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.
After many births and death, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
When we are Maya Conscious we have to helplessly
undergo the painful cycle of 84 lakh species and we are not sure after how many
millions of lifetimes we will get another chance to practice Krishna
Consciousness.
Many times we find people come in Krishna
Consciousness with high enthusiasm but cannot continue long, because of a
simple reason, Maya is stronger than their self-defense (sadhana). She gives
them innumerable logics and reasons to avoid becoming Krishna Consciousness.
Because of weak Sadhana, they believe those reasons.
It is seen very practically, the
association or assembly of devotees is a place where everyone comes
together, learn together, glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead- Krishna.
As time passes, we are taught the basics of our self-defense mechanism, i.e.
Sadhana, Chanting - Hearing - Reading-Serving-Associating. Most important of
the 4 are Regular Chanting and Association. This is the only defense we have
against Maya.
Some of us take it seriously, some don't.
In a matter of time, we can see a change in the
level of interest. As the months pass we can see a difference in attendance.
Eventually, some unfortunate souls permanently leave the association. Surviving
Maya alone is impossible even for yogis what to speak about we fallen souls of
Kaliyuga.
This is the worst misfortune a soul can have. They
get an extremely rare key to get out of this prison and then they carelessly
misplace it, thus undergo the 84 lakhs species and repeated cycle of birth and
death!!!
They must be having very very very strong reasons
for doing so, but in reality most of the times, those reasons are nothing but
an illusionary spell of Maya.
Krishna never manifests Himself to such a foolish
soul, that is why they don't get any interest in Krishna Consciousness.
I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency.
All of us must have done some pious activities
for many lifetimes due to which we got this extremely rare chance to associate
with devotees. This is confirmed by Krishna.
Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination.
Each moment Maya is looking for an opportunity to
attack us. The only defense system is our regular Sadhana. Let
us not be fooled by Maya and take the path of life imprisonment.
Also we must not run into Maya's claws by
committing a Vaishnava Aparadh or offending a Vaishnava.
Never let our ego make us insult or offend any
Vaishnava. This Vaishnava Aparadh is the final Knock Out blow from Maya to our
Krishna Consciousness and she will give us infinite reasons and opportunities
to commit such an offense. *We must never ever indulge in Gossip regarding a
devotee (senior junior or peer).
Acharyas suggest keeping 108 arms
distance from such people who try to gossip or influence our mind with gossip.
Only
when we serve Krishna and His devotees with love, Krishna gives us the
intelligence to kill the darkness of Maya.
To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
Let us all pray to Narasimha Dev for each others
defense system and may we all progress in the blissful path of Krishna
Consciousness as shown by our Acharyas.
***
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