Serious and Sincere
February 20, 2023 in Articles, Haripada dasa by Venkata bhatta dasa
By Haripada dasa
Srila Prabhupada always said that the devotee must be serious and sincere in his Krishna consciousness practices. This also applies to others; serious and sincere means that one does not deceive himself or others. In others In other words, one is not a hypocrite. We in a practical way show Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna that we are serious and sincere when we practice verses 2 and 3 of the Nectar of Instruction. There it is said that when someone becomes too entangled in the following six activities, their devotional service is ruined:
- eating more than necessary, or accumulating more funds than required;
- trying too hard for worldly things that are too hard to get;
- talking unnecessarily about worldly subjects;
- following the rules and regulations of the scriptures solely to follow them and not to advance spiritually, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically;
- associating with people of worldly inclinations who are not interested in cultivating Kṛishna consciousness; and
- coveting worldly achievements
And there are six principles that favor the performance of pure devotional service:
- be enthusiastic,
- strive with confidence.
- be patient,
- act according to regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam: hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛishna,
- leaving the company of nondevotees, and
- following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas.
These six principles undoubtedly ensure the complete success of pure devotional service. Also, in the Padma Purana it is said that so that we are not inhabitants of hell we have to be very careful with these four things:
- see the deity of Krishna as if it were a stone,
- consider that the chanting of the maha-mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, to be a worldly sound vibration,
- see the charanamrita, or the water that washes the deities as simple running water and
- see the devotees from the material point of view.