Skip to main content

NO GAURANTEE

There is no guarantee that a strong person will live long or a weak person will die soon. There is no guarantee that an educated person will be successful or an uneducated person will be a failure. There is no guarantee that a pious person will not become sinner or an impious person will not become a saint. There is no guarantee that a rich man's son will not become poor or a poor man's son will not become rich. There is no guarantee that one who joined the race early will be the first to finish it or one who joined late will be last to finish it.

Life is such that nothing is guaranteed - everything is predictably unpredictable. God's plan and logic will defy all our logic and short-circuit it. If He wishes, He can make a plum into an apple or an apple into a plum. If He wishes, He can make a King into a pauper or a pauper into a King. God's ways of working are inconceivable. We are always subordinate to His wishes. That's why, whenever any disciple of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati (a great Vaishnava reformer) asked him about his plans. He would invariably answer - "If Krishna so desires then I will do so and so." He knew that ultimately only His wish prevails. We also should add the words, "If He so desires" in our language and in our thoughts.

In conclusion, we need to be always humble and never arrogant about "who we are" and "what we have" while being completely nonjudgmental about "who others are" and "what they have" for if He wishes things can change in a moment.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TWO DECADES OF HARE KRISHNA

"Sometimes the longest journey we make is the sixteen inches from our heads to our hearts." -  Elena Avila Coming December 2019 marks 20 years of my consistent and daily chanting of 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, one of the prerequisite for a committed practitioner of Krishna consciousness. I started, chanting 16 rounds in December of 1999 and now, 20 years have passed by so quickly. One thing that helps me, be focused in spiritual life is watching the passing of the imperceptible time. How weeks turn into months, how months turn into years and how years turn into decades is a great wonder of life. This article is in no way to glorify my two decades of chanting Hare Krishna but it is just meant to share my little thoughts and my little experiences in my spiritual life at this junction in life. I feel so grateful to Krishna and His wonderful devotees who have been extremely kind to me by showering their grace...

REQUEST TO & FROM A MOTHER

  Today on the occasion of Mother's Day, I went to meet the cow, our mother to wish her for Mother's Day and make a request to her. I requested her to shower her blessings and mercy on her children who are suffering so badly due to the deadly covid virus. The good news for all of us is that, she mercifully agreed to shower her heartfelt blessings, prayers, mercy on all her children. After all, that's the heart of a mother - always wanting and desiring best for her children. I was elated, my mission accomplished - now, the suffering of humanity will reduce. As I was leaving, the cow also had one personal request. She requested me with tears in her eyes to request her children not to abuse, exploit and slaughter her mercilessly. I could literally feel her pain and suffering as she made this request. This was the pain of a mother. Tears swelled up in my eyes. I didn't know what to reply her. I did tell her that I will pass on her request to her other children and I walked ...

CHANNELISING MIND'S CURIOSITY

We all have heard the saying "The grass looks greener on the other side". The mind by nature is never satisfied, always looking for "what others have that I don't have". It is always curious to find newer and newer ways of enjoyment and material nature seems to understand our mind by offering us unlimited varieties to enjoyment. There seems to be no end to the fascinations that are available in this world. Why is the mind always looking for newer ways to enjoy? Because it soon gets bored of what it has. It looks for release from this boredom through newer experiences. But the problem is that as soon as we get the new experience that we are looking for, it's not a long till that also becomes old and boring. The point we miss to understand is that " the newness that material nature provides in its variegated forms are all the same oldness packaged in new ways. " As they say - Old wine in a new bottle. But we never really believe this fu...