What excuse you gave Krishna today for not being serious in your Krishna Conscious journey?
In spite of knowing the necessity of becoming serious in spiritual life, I observe that I give many excuses for not practicing devotion to Krishna with utter sincerity. While interacting with others I see they too give several excuses.
Some of them are:
- I am not able to properly chant my rounds and even complete my rounds because I don’t get sufficient time.
- My job is too tough. Practicing devotional life is too difficult for me.
- If only my spouse had been more cooperative I would have practiced Krishna consciousness very sincerely.
- I don’t have sufficient money. I need to earn more to properly maintain my family. After I have accumulated sufficient wealth then I will sincerely absorb myself in Krishna’s service.
- I don’t have association of sincere devotees.
- What can I do? I am like that only. It is due to my past conditioning.
These and many more problems confront us daily while practicing devotional life. Most of us have the philosophical understanding at least at the theoretical level that human life is very rare and it should be utilized to practice Krishna Consciousness.
When we heard for the first time that our real home is the spiritual world where life is eternal and bliss is unlimited then we were overjoyed.
Delighted at this pearl of wisdom we had promised ourselves, “I will dedicate my life to Krishna and will ensure that this life is my last life in this miserable material world”.
However, in due course of time, we become less serious. We fall prey to our old habits of finding excuses for not doing the right things.
Compare your challenges to that of Prahlada
Now let us compare our life to that of Prahlada. Prahlada had all the reasons in the world to not practice devotion to Krishna. Because of fear of Hiranyakasipu people of the entire world had stopped chanting the names of Lord Vishnu.
Even demigods were afraid of him. But Prahlada after getting knowledge from sage Narada that the ultimate purpose of life is to continuously remember the name of the Lord took a vow to always chant the names of Lord Vishnu.
But Prahlada faced monumental challenges. He was to be killed for being a devotee of the Lord by his own father. But Prahlada was determined. He was ready to embrace death but was not willing to give up the lotus feet of the Lord.
Now I am sure neither you nor I are under such threat.
The excuses which we have for not being sincere are not because we have challenges in practicing devotion to Krishna but because we do not have desire to practice devotion to Krishna.
So, let us pause for a moment and think that if we do not purify our heart and develop love for Krishna in this life then we will waste this valuable human life which provides us an opportunity to free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death and return back to the abode of Krishna.
If we keep on finding excuses for not practicing devotion to Krishna, then we will lose this great opportunity and we will have no one to blame for it.
Find excuse for practicing devotion to Krishna sincerely
So, right now we find excuses for not practicing devotional life, so let us start finding excuses for practicing devotional life.
For example, if we are bogged down by negative thoughts or anxiety due to work pressure then let us read the heart touching pastimes of Krishna which will give joy to our heart. If we are getting distracted and not able to focus on an activity, then let us chant the names of Krishna which will calm our mind and help us to gain focus.
Suppose that if we want to spend time with our family then let us visit temple, take darshan of the Lord, participate in kirtan, attend Srimad Bhagavatam class and enjoy delicious prasadam.
If we do so, then we will gradually start relishing devotion to Krishna.
Three Reflections
- We have many excuses for not becoming serious in spiritual life
- Prahlada had all the reasons in the world to not practice devotion to Krishna. But still he practiced.
- Right now, we find excuses for not practicing devotional life, so let us start finding excuses for practicing devotional life.
Ask Yourself?
- What is my excuse for not practicing devotion to Krishna sincerely?
Action Item
- Use the same excuse to become serious in spiritual life.
- For example, if you try to relive your stress by watching YouTube videos then instead of watching some mundane songs or movie hear lecture of Prabhupada on YouTube or hear nice kirtan from Mayapur.
