How to keep all the devotees happy? Let them do whatever they want? Nice, but one devotee’s needs conflict with another devotee’s needs.

Should devotees want anything? Kardama Muni fulfilled his duties and had only one thing to ask from the Lord: let me leave home and simply think of you, without like or dislike for anything in this world!

With devotees like that, management would be unnecessary. Maybe we should concentrate on training the devotees to that stage.

“Krs” means “the cause of existence” and “na” means “cause of bliss.” Because of this, he is the supreme form of God. “Cause of existence” sounds good for philosophers, but what does it mean for the devotees of Krsna? For the devotee, everything is in terms of love for Krsna. Their very lives depend on him.

O lotus-eyed Lord, whenever You go away to Mathura, Vrindavana or Hastinapura to meet Your friends and relatives, every moment of Your absence seems like a million years. O infallible one, at that time our eyes become useless, as if bereft of sun. SB 1.11.9

The trouble with unconditional love is we want to receive it but we are lazy to give it. Krsna give me mercy! But how much do we do for him without motivation?

Visvanatha Cakravarti writes at the end of his commentary of Bhagavad-gita that a mouse unfortunately ate the manuscript containing the commentaries on the last few verses. He addresses the mouse as carrier of Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles. Accepting the situation as the will of Krsna, he did not bother to rewrite them.

Bhisma says, “O King, no one can know the plan of the Lord Even though great philosophers inquire exhaustively, they are bewildered.” SB 1.9.16

Windows vista, please don’t crash again! Sages did not depend on such unreliable machines and programs. They had a much simpler but more effective process for knowledge: realization. By realization nothing else needs to be known. At that stage, knowledge is simultaneous with existence.

Jog, jog, jog. Every morning as the sun rises. Get rid of another inch of fat. At this rate I should lose 10 lbs. a month. But I don’t. I stay the same weight. The calorie intake must be less than the calorie output to lose weight. I am increasing my calorie out put by jogging, and I haven’t increased my food intake.

What’s wrong? Either the same quantity of food has more calories, or the calorie output has remained the same because of less energy output in other areas. The body can play tricks because it is attached to its fatty condition.

When I call out to Krsna with inattention he becomes some abstract entity. I call out to somebody or something, with little purpose. But Krsna is much more than that. His smile and glance alone melt the whole universe with love. When will I connect his name with his sweet smile and glance?

Why do devotees fight? It takes so much energy to fight, takes so much energy to make them stop fighting, and destroys their ability to express devotion to Krsna. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has rightly instructed “One must be humbler than a blade of grass and more tolerant than a tree, giving all respect to others, to chant the holy name constantly.” We recite this every morning, but do we hear?

Eighteen buffalos came for mangal aroti today. They sat quietly under the street lights outside the temple and heard the kirtana. They didn’t stay for class, and didn’t return the next morning. It looks like they were not so serious after all, not really interested in bhakti. Probably they were attracted to the light. Anyway, they still benefit. In one birth they will become devotees. What other buffalos have that good fortune?

I have 200,000 thoughts a day (approximately). Or so they say. I have never tried to count, but I know that the majority don’t relate to Krsna. Always remember him and never forget him is the maxim, but what a failure! The only way it is possible to achieve this is complete craving for him, and complete engagement in only his service. But this can be motivated only by intense love. When will that day be mine?

In Hari bhakti vilasa there is process for purification of body and mind before deity worship. The devotee gathers all his sins together in the form of the papa-purusa, a mean looking thug dressed in animal skins. He then meditates on burning up that figure and exhaling the ashes. But if I try that, an uncontrollable Australian bush fire may start. Will I spontaneously combust and disappear?

Krishna consciousness is an easy form of meditation. Who would not be attracted to that form of God, whose beauty is such that even the trees develop prema?

Dear Krishna, what woman in all the three worlds wouldn’t deviate from religious behavior when bewildered by the sweet, drawn-out melody of Your flute? Your beauty makes all three worlds auspicious. Indeed, even the cows, birds, trees and deer manifest the ecstatic symptom of bodily hair standing on end when they see Your beautiful form. SB 10.29.40

All the molecules and amino acids are continuously passing messages throughout my body day and night year after year just to keep my body going. What dedication! I don’t even think about it. And matter can’t even think.

Dear Krsna: You are more intelligent than whoever made Windows Vista. I heard programmers worked several years longer than expected on it. And still it crashes everyday and all I handle is word documents and email.

It doesn’t seem to learn from its mistakes, and doesn’t restart by itself. It needs my extra input every time. If my body operated like that, I wouldn’t have made it past the first month of life.

Always remember Krsna and never forget him.

This is a simple rule, but simple rules are often the highest truth. They are also easy to apply. When I wake up in the morning, what do I think of? "Did I get enough sleep? Is it time to take a bath?" it looks like I failed from the beginning of the day. I will make a rule: when I wake up I will train myself to immediately ask, "How can I use this body for Krsna today."

Let's see if it works.