Skip to main content

THE ART OF HEART


"Devotion means attention to details." - Radhanath Swami

As I was having my breakfast at our ISKCON-run restaurant at Vrindavan, I saw one lady chef cut a piece of cake, neatly place it on the center of the plate and wipe the excess cake markings very meticulously with a tissue paper. It was then served to the customer with a knife and fork. I very much appreciated the devotion this lady put in her job. No wonder, why people spend so much extra money in going to high-quality restaurants which not only focuses on the quality of the preparation but also on the quality of the presentation of the preparation. When "the giver" puts their heart in something, it is felt in the heart of "the receiver". Eating is not just an activity of filling one's belly and satisfying one's palate, it is also about satisfying one's heart.

I took a lesson from this incident. In life, we are all "givers" in some instances and "receivers" in some instances. As receivers, we all want to receive the best but very often in our role as givers, we don't give our best. We don't put our hearts fully into what we are giving God, giving others and giving society. We do a lousy job, shortcut job and try to get on to our main job of putting our heart in satisfying ourselves. Our philosophy is - best for ourselves and average for others. This is the life philosophy for the less evolved. The more evolved people believe in giving the best for others because they know that, that is the only way best comes to oneself. One cannot have the best crop if one's neighbors have the worst crop - one cannot be happy if one's neighbors are unhappy. By giving our best to others, we receive the best.

And doing our best and giving our best is not dependent on whether the job in hand is small or big. Giving one's best and doing one's best is an attitude. It should take hold in us and become part of our very nature. Then, life becomes beautiful. "Our job is not just to do our job- our job is to do our job well." Imagine, how God will feel if we put our heart in every Holy-name we chant and in every service we perform. He is also a person with feelings and emotions. He becomes pleased when someone offers and serves Him with love and devotion. Therefore, the most important art we need to master is the art of putting our heart in every art we do.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

  1. FREESPIRITED6 November 2019 at 20:53

    Very well said, unless we put our hearts in things we do we would never contribute wholly. Giving comes with a choice, service comes with love, to serve is to please.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

STEP OUT to STEP UP

Don't live the same day over and over again and call that a life. Life is about evolving mentally, spiritually and emotionally . -   Germany Kent We all have our own comfort zones which we don't want to leave. Why? Because life is very predictable and set according to our convenience. "Why should you leave all this to embrace a life of risk, unpredictability and inconvenience", reasons the mind. This may be true but it also true that life without challenges is not life at all - it is just survival. We are born not to survive but to thrive. Thrive means growth and growth means the growth process. And the growth process is always not easy but the result is always amazing.   THE PROCESS OF GROWTH Just like a caterpillar goes through a struggle to come out of the cocoon, but that struggle, that growth, transforms it into the most beautiful butterfly similarly coming out of our cocoon of comfort may be difficult but the fruits are exceedingly wonderful. Or just li
Post a Comment
Read more

CHANTING BEYOND REASONS

"Chanting attentively is not a matter of circumstance but a matter of choice." Everyday there is a different reason to not to be chant attentively. Someday, it's because someone hurt us and we keep thinking about it, someday our health is not good. Someday, it's simply because we are not in mood. Someday, it's because a plan of ours didn't work out....And the list goes on and on. Very rarely do we chant attentively. All these reasons are valid and true. But the question is "When will there be a day when the mind will stop offering reasons to not chant attentively?" Material world is a place of continuous drama and happenings and the mind knows how to perfectly en cash on it. Even if all our problems went away, the mind will not allow us to chant attentively.....a new set of problems will come or even if there are no further problems, the mind will make one. After all, it's expert at it - creating problems where none exists. CHANTING BEYOND
Post a Comment
Read more

GAINING by GIVING - WINNING by SERVING

"Life is like a game of tennis - in order to win, you have to serve well." For two consecutive years, 2011 and 2012, we organised a contest for the school children across Goa called Gita Champions League (Henceforth referred to as GCL). We had a massive success with 3800 children participating the first year and 8600 children participating the second year. But, all this didn't come easily, we had to literally slog it out. Well, for that matter nothing wonderful comes easily, does it! THE BURDEN OF LOVE I took up GCL or rather GCL came to me at a time when I was going through intense personal struggles on literally every front - physically, mentally and institutionally. Yes, I was desperately praying for a service that could literally pull me out of the quagmire of my problems. I have always believed and witnessed the power of service. Service has always saved me in difficult times. The only reason, I am intact in my spiritual life despite the numerous challenges is beca
1 comment
Read more