My dear devotees. Receive all my affection from Hungary. At this time we are traveling to Bulgaria.
These past days have been very nice making plans for the family of Srila Prabhupada in Europe.We had istagosthis, seminars of Faith education, conscious art, sacred baths in the river. We shared very special moments with all the devotees.
Today I want to share a few words about the connection to true happiness. Eternal happiness and not the apparent satisfaction of the senses. First of all, I offer my most humble obeisances to my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, who rescued me from the greatest ignorance. I'm completely indebted to him for eternity, since before I met him I had no idea who I was and did not understand why I'm here. My spiritual teacher found me when I was in dark and terrible ignorance, surrounded by a meaningless world without values, and on the edge of being completely influenced by it. At that time he opened my blinded eyes with the torchlight of spiritual knowledge and saved me.
My spiritual teacher told me that life is full of spiritual beauty and consciousness of God is a divine gift that descends as the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord Himself.
Before I met my spiritual master I was just lost in the pleasure of my senses. Sensory desires are the reason why we get caught again and again in the material world. There is no limit to those desires. One serves them constantly, yet they never show any mercy towards us. But thanks to Gurudeva awakening spiritual intelligence in each of us we can begin to reject and fight to abandon them. For that, I take refuge in the lotus feet of my spiritual master, who removes all fear of the heart. So I ask you all again and again to occupy me in his personal service and save me. Sensual desires are like a fire that is burning inside. A fire that never ends, because one will think that satisfying a desire, even a little bit, then it will calm down, but on the contrary, when you try to satisfy your lustful desires it is like adding fuel to the fire. So the flame grows and consumes all that you have around you.
Vaishnavas insist that sexual activity is very powerful, so powerful that it can generate life. It is the energy that brought us to this world. It is not something to underestimate. Life is not an accident, it is a manifestation of the Divine. Then if such a sacred activity is used just to please grossly lustful desires, then your own energy of being a conscious human being is completely undermined. If you are sexually active or you occupy yourself by fulfilling lusty desires without the intention of creating new life, then your power is cut, just like when you use drugs and your energy decreases.
Devotees teach that there is a world of happiness without exploitation. A world of fun and pleasure without spiritual harm, or exploitation of others, or without considering that others are objects of my selfish enjoyment. Vaishnavas have fun without excess, no frills nor do they need large sums of money to be happy. Devotees have fun singing and dancing for God. Fun with a simple life, with elevated feelings that helps one to explore more and more. There is no need of having contact with illicit enjoyment for entertainment. Ultimately that's more a problem than a pleasure.
The real sense of fun and joy, happiness, can be perceived when one gives love and establishes heart to heart relationships. But that's not easy to find in the material world. Here you only find people looking to meet their selfish needs.Real fun and happiness is what a mother feels for her son, who has so much love that she is filled with joy.So the key is to put our energy into making others happy, respect and appreciate them as part of a universal family, a family united under the protection of God.We have many tools to do this; You have your hands, that are amazing tools that can be used successfully for others through painting, dancing, writing, tending a garden, cleaning, playing music, cooking, taking care of your children ... So many wonderful things that can be made by us ... you only need to be focused in the right way.
Appreciating the wonderful tools that God gave us helps us to always remember that this body is a temple where Paramatma Himself resides. Therefore we should be very grateful. I thank my Lord for allowing me to serve with the instruments of this body which is His Temple.
This human body is the most sophisticated thing we've ever seen. Even the most renowned scientists have not managed to create something like that ... because it is a registered trademark of the Supreme.
We think of everything wonderful that we have and what we can realize through our spiritual master, then it becomes amazing to see people lose their connection very quickly to true happiness.
In today's world people think that happiness is about sex and drugs, in power and money. People do not know the meaning of true relationships of the heart. They just think about relationships based on sex, contaminated by lusty desires. They do not know what it means to bring a life through responsible sex life. A life that will be educated on values and spiritual awareness as an offering to Krishna.
People today do not know what it means to cook, sing or serve those around us. The contamination of the material world lead us to lose honesty. And develop apathy through being honest. And then we get honesty in a world of lies, betrayal, temptations, competition, disease of loneliness ... "of no importance" That is to say, I do not care: I do not care about the impact I have on others, I do not care if I do harm to nature or not, I do not care if others suffer with my actions or not, I do not if what I eat a result of violence or not ... I just care about pleasing my own lustful desires that plunge me deeper and deeper into ignorance.
The materialistic mind is always suggesting that we are the center of everything and that we should take the best part.It puts hundreds of problems in our way, but no matter what, the focus is to just please the senses. That helps us to assess at what level we really are. As always the trend is to be the enjoyer, the controller and the proprietor. But we should be clear (and if you do not understand it by the good, karma will help us to understand anyway). We do not control anything. We do not even control our bowel movements :)
It is only by the grace of the spiritual master we can remember we are not the controllers.
The spiritual master gives us to the devotees, who stay around us like a protective barrier against Maya and who are always reminding us what is the right thing to do or proper way to behave. And because they are merciful, if we do wrong, they again accept and support us. The spiritual master gives us appreciation for people. Where there is appreciation there can be no exploitation. Where others are considered part of the same universal family then selfish desires of exploitation can not enter.
Lust is selfish. Love gives everything. Where there is appreciation there can be no exploitation, that means not only appreciation for people, but for what we have received. I thank you again and again to my spiritual master to constantly save me from my lustful desires and for allowing me to use all my energy in service to his beloved devotees.
With these words I end today's message. Thanks to all who read this Chat every week, it's my chance to stay in touch with all of you.
Your always well wisher,
B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami
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