"At the end of the day I would rather be humbly sitting at God's feet than proudly bowing down to illusion." - Mahatma Das (Author, Spiritual master and Lifestyle trainer)
Better to be a servant in the spiritual world than a King in the material world because the King of this world also has to call it a day. As the Italian proverb goes - "Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box." That's why all the scriptures and saints from all traditions implore and inspire us to shift our focus from this temporary world to our permanent home, from "being this worldly" to "being other worldly" or from "here" to "there". The following verse from the Bible captures this essence brilliantly - "Don't make your treasures in this world - the moths will eat it, thieves will steal it and rust will corrode it. Better to make your treasures in the spiritual world where neither moth nor rust nor thieves can harm it." That's intelligence. Here are few stories and thoughts that will throw a little more light on this topic.
WHEN LOOSER BECOMES A WINNER
In the pages of the Srimad-Bhagvatam there is a very interesting story of the fight between a King of demons and the King of demigods. One time Vritrasura, the King of demons took an army of ferocious and powerful demons to fight with Indra, the King of demigods. Externally even though he was in a body of a demon, internally he was a devotee. But Indra, even though he was externally in the body of a demigod internally he still had a lot of material desires. The fight between both these powerful personalities went on for a long time. It was the match of all matches. The entire universe stopped to witness this fight, after all, the results of this fight would decide the fate of everyone in this universe. Slowly Indra started to loose hope seeing the power of Vritrasura. It is at this time that Vritrasura displays his elevated consciousness to the world. He preaches and encourages Indra, to not give up. He tells him to have more faith in Lord Vishnu and in His plan. Just see, who is preaching to whom! Vritrasura assures Indra that "You are desitined to win and I to die in your hands. So, go ahead and kill me." Indra inspired by the words of Vritrasura and uses his thunderbolt to cut the head of Vritrasura.
During this entire yearlong painful ordeal of his head being cut, Vritrasura was equipoised waiting to die because he knew that better to loose this war and win the battle of repeated cycle of birth and death than the other way around. Ironically Indra won the fight but lost the battle in the ultimate sense because he was stuck in this world as the King of heaven but Vritrasura lost the fight but won the battle in the ultimate sense because he got entry in the spiritual world. So, the question is - who was a demon and who was a devotee? That is for you all to decide but through this fascinating story it is very clear that the difference between a devotee and a demon is not a matter of externals but of internals - It is a matter of one's consciousness and one's heart. Wearing the dress of a devotee is the easiest part but truly becoming one is the difficult part.
WHEN JUNIOR BECOMES A SENIOR
There is nothing wrong with becoming worldly successful as long as we don't become "prisoners of success". That means we should not become attached to our success and derive our entire sense of identity from it. Yudhishtira was a successful, influential and affluent King but he wasn't attached to it. He utilised the facility that was given to him by God to serve Him and His children to the best of His ability. He didn't see position as a facility of enjoy but as opportunity to serve. In the same family, one generation previous, his uncle Dhritarashtra was also a King but completely opposite of Yudhishtira. He was completely attached to the throne to such an extent that even at the fag end of his life, he didn't want to give it up. In fact his very name, Dhritarashtra suggests it. It is made of two parts - Dhritha - "determined" and Rashtra - "nation". In other words Dhritarashtra is one who is determined not to give up the throne of the nation.
Between Indra and Vritrasura the question was - who was devotee. Here, between Yudhishtira and Dhritarashtra the question is - who is the elder? Of course by age, Dhritarashtra was, but in terms of maturity and consciousness, Yudhishtira was far more elderly and superior than Dhritarashtra. Seniority is not just a matter of age but a matter of maturity in wisdom and consciousness. Another interesting fact is that even though Yudhishtira didn't want to be a King, the Supreme Lord, Krishna made him one and even though Dhritarashtra desperately wanted to be a King, Krishna didn't allow him to. God's ways are inconceivable and defy normal logic. Spiritual logic is sometimes completely opposite to mundane logic. When His logic works....our's stops. God gives glory to one who doesn't want it.
WHEN SERVANT BECOMES A KING
What we have to realise is that, the greatest title one can achieve in this world is not becoming a King, an Emperor, a Billionaire, a Millionaire, a CEO or a President. The greatest title one can achieve is to be called a "Servant of God". There is no higher status than this - becoming a "Das" or a "Dasi" of God. After wandering in this universe in millions of species and changing so many titles, one rare and highly fortunate soul gets the chance to be awarded this title of being called a "Servant". Even, very big and powerful Kings are forgotten with the passing of time but devotees and servants of God are remembered fondly after centuries and sometimes even after millenniums. They are the ones who stand the test of time and in fact conquer it by transcending this world of time to enter the timeless eternal realm. And the most amazing and ironical part is that, such pure saints and servants of God are addressed with the title, "Maharaj" or "King" even if they are paupers. Here we go! A King of this world reduced to dust but a servant of the spiritual world crowned as the King of this world. Didn't I tell you that God's logic is inconceivable. Why are they called "Kings"? Because they have indeed conquered this world by renouncing it. So why settle for anything less and substandard. Let us strive to achieve this highest title of being a "Servant of God" and live up-to it's mark.
In essence, let us not get caught up in making our palace "here" and becoming a King "here", let us try to be a genuine servant of God and enter the spiritual world. Remember a servant "there" is a far greater achievement than becoming a King "here". And taking it one step ahead, by becoming a servant "there", you automatically become a King "here". That's a small gift from God's side.... the biggest gift is a life beside Him.
- Achyut Gopal Das
Better to be a servant in the spiritual world than a King in the material world because the King of this world also has to call it a day. As the Italian proverb goes - "Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box." That's why all the scriptures and saints from all traditions implore and inspire us to shift our focus from this temporary world to our permanent home, from "being this worldly" to "being other worldly" or from "here" to "there". The following verse from the Bible captures this essence brilliantly - "Don't make your treasures in this world - the moths will eat it, thieves will steal it and rust will corrode it. Better to make your treasures in the spiritual world where neither moth nor rust nor thieves can harm it." That's intelligence. Here are few stories and thoughts that will throw a little more light on this topic.
WHEN LOOSER BECOMES A WINNER
In the pages of the Srimad-Bhagvatam there is a very interesting story of the fight between a King of demons and the King of demigods. One time Vritrasura, the King of demons took an army of ferocious and powerful demons to fight with Indra, the King of demigods. Externally even though he was in a body of a demon, internally he was a devotee. But Indra, even though he was externally in the body of a demigod internally he still had a lot of material desires. The fight between both these powerful personalities went on for a long time. It was the match of all matches. The entire universe stopped to witness this fight, after all, the results of this fight would decide the fate of everyone in this universe. Slowly Indra started to loose hope seeing the power of Vritrasura. It is at this time that Vritrasura displays his elevated consciousness to the world. He preaches and encourages Indra, to not give up. He tells him to have more faith in Lord Vishnu and in His plan. Just see, who is preaching to whom! Vritrasura assures Indra that "You are desitined to win and I to die in your hands. So, go ahead and kill me." Indra inspired by the words of Vritrasura and uses his thunderbolt to cut the head of Vritrasura.
During this entire yearlong painful ordeal of his head being cut, Vritrasura was equipoised waiting to die because he knew that better to loose this war and win the battle of repeated cycle of birth and death than the other way around. Ironically Indra won the fight but lost the battle in the ultimate sense because he was stuck in this world as the King of heaven but Vritrasura lost the fight but won the battle in the ultimate sense because he got entry in the spiritual world. So, the question is - who was a demon and who was a devotee? That is for you all to decide but through this fascinating story it is very clear that the difference between a devotee and a demon is not a matter of externals but of internals - It is a matter of one's consciousness and one's heart. Wearing the dress of a devotee is the easiest part but truly becoming one is the difficult part.
WHEN JUNIOR BECOMES A SENIOR
There is nothing wrong with becoming worldly successful as long as we don't become "prisoners of success". That means we should not become attached to our success and derive our entire sense of identity from it. Yudhishtira was a successful, influential and affluent King but he wasn't attached to it. He utilised the facility that was given to him by God to serve Him and His children to the best of His ability. He didn't see position as a facility of enjoy but as opportunity to serve. In the same family, one generation previous, his uncle Dhritarashtra was also a King but completely opposite of Yudhishtira. He was completely attached to the throne to such an extent that even at the fag end of his life, he didn't want to give it up. In fact his very name, Dhritarashtra suggests it. It is made of two parts - Dhritha - "determined" and Rashtra - "nation". In other words Dhritarashtra is one who is determined not to give up the throne of the nation.
Between Indra and Vritrasura the question was - who was devotee. Here, between Yudhishtira and Dhritarashtra the question is - who is the elder? Of course by age, Dhritarashtra was, but in terms of maturity and consciousness, Yudhishtira was far more elderly and superior than Dhritarashtra. Seniority is not just a matter of age but a matter of maturity in wisdom and consciousness. Another interesting fact is that even though Yudhishtira didn't want to be a King, the Supreme Lord, Krishna made him one and even though Dhritarashtra desperately wanted to be a King, Krishna didn't allow him to. God's ways are inconceivable and defy normal logic. Spiritual logic is sometimes completely opposite to mundane logic. When His logic works....our's stops. God gives glory to one who doesn't want it.
WHEN SERVANT BECOMES A KING
What we have to realise is that, the greatest title one can achieve in this world is not becoming a King, an Emperor, a Billionaire, a Millionaire, a CEO or a President. The greatest title one can achieve is to be called a "Servant of God". There is no higher status than this - becoming a "Das" or a "Dasi" of God. After wandering in this universe in millions of species and changing so many titles, one rare and highly fortunate soul gets the chance to be awarded this title of being called a "Servant". Even, very big and powerful Kings are forgotten with the passing of time but devotees and servants of God are remembered fondly after centuries and sometimes even after millenniums. They are the ones who stand the test of time and in fact conquer it by transcending this world of time to enter the timeless eternal realm. And the most amazing and ironical part is that, such pure saints and servants of God are addressed with the title, "Maharaj" or "King" even if they are paupers. Here we go! A King of this world reduced to dust but a servant of the spiritual world crowned as the King of this world. Didn't I tell you that God's logic is inconceivable. Why are they called "Kings"? Because they have indeed conquered this world by renouncing it. So why settle for anything less and substandard. Let us strive to achieve this highest title of being a "Servant of God" and live up-to it's mark.
In essence, let us not get caught up in making our palace "here" and becoming a King "here", let us try to be a genuine servant of God and enter the spiritual world. Remember a servant "there" is a far greater achievement than becoming a King "here". And taking it one step ahead, by becoming a servant "there", you automatically become a King "here". That's a small gift from God's side.... the biggest gift is a life beside Him.
- Achyut Gopal Das
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