A RICH HARVEST

In monastic life, one's first duty is to offer respect to his teacher and then go on for the rest of the day in his service. But what is the service of the teacher? As in my case, Srila Prabhupada's most important service he has passed down to me is assisting him in freeing the western world from impersonalism and voidism.

"namaste saraswati deve gaura-vani-pracharine nirvishesha-shunyavadi pashchatya-desha-tarine"

"Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami. You are kindly teaching the message of Lord Caitanya and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism."

So one may ask why not help free the world from hunger, poverty, etc etc. These are visible problems. Yes, true, but as the truth goes, we never find the root cause of something at the front of the line. We may see symptons, like a boil on the body representing so malfunction or impurity in the blood. Or worse case scenario, people who externally seem to be the nicest of neigbhors or teachers or whoever, and then the next day their faces appear on the news for some act unmentionable here. The problem, the cause is usually deep within; deply rooted.

The jist of it is that in an impersonal and void world, actions happen out of a sense of hopelessness or resignation.

The earth becomes a dead thing we can claim, others are seen as a means for exploitation in order to reach the top, children laugh and play as kids together, then grow as men and fight to kill each other. Is this reaching too far? Look around again and then keep reading.

There's somuch to write about the effects of impersonalism but I'll focus on the importance of personalism henceforward.

The Vedas tell us that everything animate and inanimate belongs to someone- Krishna, or whatever name one may have for ht Supreme. Krishna has also allotted to us different quota according to our capabilities (for example and elephant can eat tons of food, and I can only eat up to a bowl or two at most.) When we understand and respect such teachings, then we begin to Honor everything and everyone around us.

Moreover, by understanding the nature of Spirituality, we also begin to fill the Void in our own lives. People today look outside for satisfaction: the new I pod, or zen, discotheque or arcade, boy or girl. We are bombarded with advertisements gauranteeing our happiness- til the next new thing comes along. How long should this go on? When we understand that happiness comes from within, we should also make an effort to look within.

One thing we'll find when we look with in is ourselves. Yup! thats a whole other topic that I'll leave for later. When we do see things a little clearer, its easy to be personal, fearless and fulfilled. Fearless means reaching out and giving one's service selflessly, knowing that he, the soul is indestructible. And there are many out there today who need to be reached out to. No that we should become some super heroes and fly to the rescue, but if we are spiritually inclined, we should go deeper into spiritual consciousness and from that point, reach out. To quote Jesus, "one should not light a candle and then cover it with a bowl; no, when a light is lit, leave it in the open so people can see in teh dark. So let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven."

So the harvest is rich, thanks to an ever increasing advancement towards outer satisfaction.

People are looking for something tangible, so my appeal to all Spiritualist is to join in the march for real freedom- freedom from impersonalism, and voidism (in other words, lonliness and emptiness)