the art of all work

Today we are reading the beautiful verse from Bhagavad Gita where Krishna is explaining how by engaging in devotional service we can free ourselves from all the good and bad actions of this life and previous lives. Herein Krishna explains that the art of all work is to offer the fruits of action in the service of Lord Krishna.

Prabhupada very nicely translates "the art of all work". A good artist is one who takes basic raw materials and creates something very, very beautiful. A good artist can take some dyes, some minerals from the ground and make it into paint; a good artist can take cotton cloth and make it into canvas, and by combining these elements they make a beautiful, beautiful painting.

Another type of artist will take a piece of crude stone from the mountain and carve it into a beautiful deity or a statue.

Another artist will just take musical notes; Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do; these seven notes and the notes between those notes and with those notes he will make a whole symphony, a beautiful, beautiful song.

Another artist will take a jungle or a field and make it into a beautiful architectural masterpiece of gardens, homes and parks.

So really, an artist is one who takes a very crude, more or less useless raw materials and makes them into something so wonderful, which has a tremendous value. If you go to France there is a museum, the painting of Mona Lisa; the canvas was probably not worth more than a few marks and the paint that was used was not worth more than a couple of marks. But because Leonardo da Vinci took this paint and took this canvas and put them together in such a wonderful way, now that little combination of canvas and paper and paint, that is worth a few marks in materials, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

A big piece of stone is not worth so much, but when Michael Angelo carved this big statue, it is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, there is no price, they cannot even buy it because of what he did with it.

So this is the glory of an artist, to take crude materials which are worth practically nothing and to make it something that is very, very priceless.

So Krishna is explaining here what is the art of all work, or in another words, the art of living. In this world people are eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. There are scholars, there are warriors and politicians, there are farmers and there are businessmen and there are workers who are doing their occupation, but ultimately all that they are doing and the materials that they are using are worthless. Whatever a person does in this world in their work, whatever they earn, through the power of time and by the time of death, everything is taken away and all that is left is one big zero.

But a devotee lives in the same world and engages in the same type of activities. But because he knows the art of offering it to Krishna, everything that he does is priceless and eternal; it cannot even be estimated by any wealth in this world.

obstacles are servants of the lord

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted sannyas and He wanted to go to Vrindavana, but Lord Nityananda Prabhu tricked Him to come to Lord Advaita Acarya’s house in Shantipura. Lord Chaitanya stayed there for some time dancing and chanting with the devotees. The devotees recommended to Sacimata that the Lord should go to Jagannath Puri instead of Vrindavana because there Lord Jagannatha (Krishna) lives, and also it was very close to Navadvipa.

A devotee told the Lord that it was not a good time to go to Jagannath Puri because there were rivalries amongst various kingdoms. He said, "They will capture You and torture You and kill You if they catch You. At this time there are not only conflicting kings but all sorts of dacoits who are very, very dangerous. It is better if You wait till a better time; now there are too many obstacles."

Lord Caitanya very boldly declared “When is there ever a time in this material world when there will be not obstacles? I will go to Puri now.” When Advaita Acarya heard this he became ecstatic, he called out "My Lord, what obstacles can possibly disturb You on Your path to Lord Jaganatha?"

Then Advaita Acharya said something that we should all meditate upon, and it will greatly benefit us in our spiritual life. He said, "My Lord, all obstacles are Your servants therefore You will certainly be able to achieve Jaganatha Puri."

All obstacles are the servants of the Lord and the Lord’s mission to the world is to help everyone go back to Godhead. So if all obstacles are the servants of the Lord, they are all serving the Lord by coming in devotees’ life to help them go back home, back to Godhead. When difficulties and hardships come in our spiritual life, we should know that these are the servants of Krishna coming before us to give us the opportunity to purify our hearts and become true devotees of the Lord, and a devotee never gives up hope.

devotees are never discouraged

In the face of great obstacles we have two choices: we can either give up hope and lose our Krishna consciousness, or we can see the wonderful, wonderful, opportunities that Krishna must be giving us in this condition and thus make progress in our Krishna consciousness.

Every obstacle that Krishna put Srila Prabhupada in only glorified him all the more for the whole world to appreciate. When you think about how he was penniless, how he suffered two heart attacks, he was living alone in New York with no one to help him amongst the most sinful people - to understand this hardship only increases our love for Srila Prabhupad. Krishna allowed these obstacles to take place only to serve the mission of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. This is a very great mystery that should be understood within Vaishnava culture that the obstacles that the Lord puts on the devotees are specially meant to increase the Krishna consciousness of that devotees and to glorify that devotee.

In a positive spirit, if we see the opportunity to surrender in that difficulty, then we accept the mercy of the Lord. Therefore the devotees are never discouraged, because we are servants; we are ready to serve Krishna in any way at any time according to His desire.

kirtan or japa?

Question: Often there is more attention in kirtan rather than japa chanting. Which is more important?

Response: Kirtan and japa are both essential for our spiritual life. We take a vow when we receive initiation to chant at least 16 rounds of mala every day, and that is very, very essential for our own personal, private purification. We need to regulate our chanting to where nothing else around should in anyway disturb us. We should actually chant our japa in such a way that we have nothing else to do during that time otherwise you cannot chant attentively.

Krishna reveals Himself according to how we approach Him. If you are doing so many other things while you are chanting your japa, then Krishna’s name will be doing so many other things besides revealing Himself to you. But if you really want to show Krishna that you are serious, you will be in a place with the right people where you can just chant. No phone calls, no fax messages, no managerial decisions to be made. You should just sit and chant. We should really make a time of the day when that is the only priority; that is very important.

But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also taught the process of dancing and chanting; that is equally important. Which is more important to your health?

Let me ask Radha Rajya Prabhu, he is our most illustrious health expert. May I ask you a health question? What is more important for your health, eating or sleeping? Both. Can you live without eating? Sometimes. But you can sometimes be a devotee without chanting [laughs] but it doesn’t last very long. Can you live without sleeping? For some time; but then you go crazy. Prabhupada said who is crazy? The whole world is crazy because they have forgotten Krishna.

So similarly this chanting and dancing, and this japa; they are both very essential for proper spiritual development. The chanting and dancing - not only do we personally benefit but we present the name in such a loud way that even the neighbour and the police benefit, even the trees benefit and it creates a unity within society which is so pleasing and joyful.

So really there is no difference between japa and kirtan and bhajans. They are there for the same purpose and we make the best spiritual advancement when we accept the guidance of our great spiritual masters who teach us how to balance our life, like a good natural doctor. Similarly, Srila Prabhupada has taught us how to balance our life: have kirtan in the morning, have kirtan in the evening, and chanting japa in this way is very important. We should chant with the congregation, and we should chant our japa everyday. It is very nice if we have kirtan with our family at home or if we come to the temple on the regular basis and have kirtan with devotees. This is the sublime form of purification.

attaining the presence of srila prabhupad

When we chant Srila Prabhupada's pranama prayer, we are praying to him and offering our obeisances because he is very dear to Krishna. How dear Srila Prabhupada is... only Krishna can know. We can only, like a dwarf trying to touch the moon, aspire to understand the glories of Srila Prabhupada. And the more we can somehow or other try to understand, the more our lives will be enriched with the causeless mercy of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

But how to understand Srila Prabhupada? He has given us the means by which we can do so. We can only understand Krishna by the mercy of the pure devotee and we can only understand the pure devotee by the mercy of Krishna. By purifying our hearts, Krishna will reveal the glories and beauty of Srila Prabhupada’s life. We can be purified by reading Prabhupada's books very carefully, with an attentive desire to learn what he is saying. Srila Prabhupada told us that when he was translating his books, he was individually, personally speaking to every devotee who sits at his lotus feet to read it. Srila Prabhupada’s books are non-different than his lotus feet. When we are reading his books, we are sitting in his divine presence.

And when we follow what is in the books, we get realisations - to associate with devotees, to chant our minimum 16 rounds very carefully everyday, to follow the 4 regulative principles, and to help in every way possible that we can, whoever we may be, in expanding the message of Lord Chaitanya throughout the entire world.

the spirit of real cooperation

Due to egoism, everyone thinks, "I can judge others. I am right. You are wrong. If you stand between me and my aspirations for profit, adoration, and distinction, then you become my enemy." Where there is disunity amongst devotees, there cannot be proper sankirtan, we cannot chant together in the proper spirit to please Krsna, we cannot serve together.

When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw his own devotees fighting amongst themselves, he was willing to sacrifice everything and anything he had to bring about unity. He knew that unity alone would empower this movement to please Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and thus fulfill The Lord's mission.

For Srila Prabhupada also, this was a great worry. "Show your love for me by how you cooperate." This cooperation is not an ordinary material formula. You cannot cooperate unless you are really trying to follow the essence of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings. Without wearing this shloka - trinad api sunicena, taror api sahishnuna, amanina manadena, kirtaniya sada hari - around our necks, strung by the holy name, there can be no real cooperation.

humility alone pleases krishna

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching us how to aspire for trinadapi sunichena: to be humble like a straw in the street. What is its significance? No one cares for it, people step on it, spit on it, ultimately somebody sweeps it away, but the straw on the streets remains very humble. Let us be more tolerant than the tree, ready to offer all respects to others and to expect none in return. These are the qualities that attract Krishna.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Sanatana Goswami that it is humility alone that pleases Krishna. Krishna does not care how much money you give Him, Krishna does not care how many beautiful offerings you give Him, Krishna does not care how artistically you dress Him, He does not care how profoundly you can speak His philosophy, He does not care how many delicious preparation you can make for Him in your kitchen. He cares for the humility with which it is being offered because it is this humility that gives flavor and pleasure to the service we are rendering.