Just finished reading,"A Legacy of love"a biography about a truly beautiful person in every sense of the word. I was so moved. What is the point of this life if we just live selfishly worrying and carrying only about our own wellbeing? We already have enough of that in the world. What we need are people who care, people who see everyone as part n parcels of the whole and who want to help others with that knowledge. The effect we can have on others is like throwing a stone in water. And just like the ripples that come from the stone you can affect so many.
Hladini Devi Dasi, she was (still is) a devotee who joined the movement during Prabhupada's time (1969) and throughout the book talks about her development spiritually from the person she was in the beginning, when she first joined up, too how her life ended.
I was crying by the end of it, so moved.
It takes a lot to touch me deeply, sometimes I feel so covered over by this material world that I feel my mind grow dull and heart turn cold like stone.
But when I read about people like this, who lived their life for others, for God and served with so much devotion and love. My heart of stone becomes chipped away and some feeling comes once again.
And by some grace I am able to express some part of it.
She was truly used by God, by Krishna as a vessel of love to share with the world, with others.
And the way she left her body was defending the devotee's, by trying to protect them from being killed when she was helping the people suffering in Africa during the Liberian war.
If you put me in a situation like that where armed soldiers were screaming at a group of us to leave the temple and get ready to shoot us like dogs, I would have run like a bloody coward.
But Hladini went out with the other devotee's and till the end defended them and tried to help them, and sacrificed her life. Giving, selfless till the very end. And the thing is there were so many churches, other spiritualists who were (still are) attacked and brutally murdered as well.
Prabhupada is right, whoever thinks this place is a wonderful place is either ignorant or a madman.
It's easy to think this is a wonderful place too stay in. Especially when we are here in America with our cozy comforts and dome like protection media wise which keeps us stupid and ignorant of everything else going on in the world.
This is a horrible place and the more we realize this the more we can see how we need to be that change we want to see in the world.
How much purity, goodness is needed in this world and how many people are suffering, not only materially but most importantly spiritually, as we are not these bodies after all.
You can help feed the poor and help them medically in Africa and around the world but that only helps them on one level. These people are still left starving, starving for love.
There is a famous quote (one of the many) by Mother Teresa,
"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."
Some people hate to hear it but that's why believing, loving God is so amazing and helpful too people.
Even if you don't believe in God you can't help but see how it helps people, the people who don't abuse it and become judging with it of course.
Whenever you do that, become judgmental and condemning that just destroys spiritual life to the core. Despite that nothing is more deeper and more impactful than a relationship with God, Krishna (another name for God).
Our relationships with others is a reflection of that to a lesser degree but can sometimes be so powerful to bring us out of this illusion.
Sometimes we need to be shaken up, to wake up from this humdrum life many times we all fall into.
We're all going to die, these bodies at least.
And part of the illusion of this world (maya) is that we think we have all the time in the world to change, to become better people and too help others.
But the truth is we don't.
We don't have all the time in the world, we don't know when we're going to die/leave our bodies.
As we grow older, time goes by quicker and disappears like sand in our fingers.
You can ask anyone over 25 and hear similar experiences.
Now is the time to change, NOW is the time to help others and connect if that is our desire.
And if that is not our desire than we should help ourselves so we can than help others.
What else than is the point of this life?
If not to connect with God so you can spread that love and mercy to others than at least on a more disjointed level help other based on some morale base.
If we just live to help ourselves in this life, work at our job, make our money to get us our nice Material pleasures (for us and our family) how is that helpful really?
I've always had this feeling like this, that's why I am so thankful for KC.
Still in Maya (illusion) but at least understanding to some extent how temporary this life is and what is really important in this world.
I hope to someday be an inspiration in some way in this world.
To be used as a vessel to spread this love, this mercy too, though I feel very unqualified to do so.
I hope someday I can be used to help others in this way as living just for myself is empty and meaningless to me. I'm by no means any saint and am as selfish as anyone else in so many ways.
I can only change myself and make myself a more selfless better person and than someday, maybe someday I'll be able to more selflessly serve and love others unconditionally.
I can only pray and hope for that someday.
Anyways, If this was inspiring to someone in some small way than I will be very glad.
Either way I just had to share this in someway. I am bad at keeping up with anything (haha) but this was just to inspiring to me to just ignore or save for later.
When your moved, your moved and best to record or share it before you just fall back into illusion again.
To our old ways of thinking, and being.
So thankful to be in Krishna consciousness, I hope everyone to find their joy in someway like I have in this life. Nothing satisfies me , sedates my hungering, my longing like Kc. Time and time again.
I saw the blue boy by the river Yamuna, and life has never been the same.
My material life is ruined, and for that I'm glad. Just enjoying for myself is so much more tasteless than before. Can never thank Prabhupada enough for bringing to us this gift of love and knowledge.
I only hope I can utilize it properly and distribute this gift in some way possible that will help people , at the least inspire them in some way.
We'll see what plans Krishna has for me.
Or what is more familiar to others , "what life brings me".
