Skip to main content

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 on me and thus helping me sustain my spiritual life for so many years. I know that without the grace of God and His devotees, it is impossible to chant Hare Krishna even for one day, what to speak of so many years. Srila Prabhupada would always remind devotees that Maya is extremely strong and impeccable. It is not within our power to resist her forces. Thus, we need to feel very humble, helpless and constantly seek and plead for the mercy of God and His devotees. Without their mercy we have no other hope.


I am also extremely grateful for all the wonderful and exciting opportunities to serve, that I was blessed with. I got to be part of so many successful projects and events in the course of pushing on this great movement of compassion. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve so many elevated and sincere lovers of God. I am so grateful to visit so many holyplaces in the company of holy devotees, chanting and hearing the holy Katha of the Lord. I also feel blessed to have gone through so many difficult tests and challenges in my spiritual life, which have helped me become a little humble, a little mature and a little wise.

At this junction in my spiritual life, as I feel grateful for all the wonderful things, I also feel simultaneously a little shameful and regretful for all the time I wasted in wasteful mental imagination, sheer laziness and in wasteful mundane engagements. I strongly feel that I could have advanced to a much higher spiritual stage than the stage I am at present. If I was more focused in my spiritual life all these years, I could have gone more deeper into my understanding of scriptures, developed genuine attachment to the chanting of the Holynames of Krishna and performed greater services to Guru and Gauranga. Now, that the time that is gone is gone and can't be relieved again; the least I can do, is to be more focused in my spiritual journey from this point on firstly, to make up for the spiritual time lost in the last 20 years and secondly, so that 20 years from now, I can be proud and unregretful of my life. Seeking your blessings and good wishes for my journey ahead.
 
- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...
1 comment
Read more

FOREST OF THE GRACEFUL MOTHER

Thank you Oh Srimati Radharani, Oh Divine Mother for giving this fallen and sinful soul entrance into Your personal abode, Sri Vrindavan. I know that I am fully unqualified to step onto this holy land of Yours but Your mercy is unfathomable, unimaginable and incalculable. A day before our departure from Goa, I had developed some throat infection and was feeling slightly feverish. I was not sure if I could make it. All the more, we didn't get a direct flight to Delhi. We were supposed to hop over in Mumbai and then take another flight to Delhi. With the increase in Covid cases across India and especially in Maharashtra, there was news that we might have to go through Covid tests in both Mumbai and Delhi airports. Being a little sick, I was not sure what the test results would turn out to be. But by the mercy of Radharani, there were no tests conducted in either of the airports. Radharani arranged everything so nicely for us because of our tiny, little desire to vi...
Post a Comment
Read more

SEEING THE UNSEEN HAND OF GOD

"kartum akartum anyatha kartum"  "Everything happening, not happening or otherwise happening is His happening." A few days ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a retreat for brahmacharis (monks) connected to the Radha Gopinath temple, Mumbai at the Govardhan Eco Village - the farm project of Radha Gopinath temple. Among other feelings, retreats like these always leaves you feeling a little more grounded and humble. You feel small in front of hundreds of other accomplished monks. The saying - " a big fish in a small pond becomes a small fish in a big pond " aptly summarizes the feeling one experiences in these Yatras. Another interesting experience was the experience of saving my slipper. May sound a little silly. But, it wasn't that silly given the fact that most monks have a similar kind of slipper (paduka type sandals). It was a kind of fun to try to hide my slippers in different places so that it wouldn't get interchanged with those of...
Post a Comment
Read more