For us married women, sometimes we are conscious to please our husbands, and at other times we are conscious to please our children or friends or guests or extended family, and sometimes we are conscious to keep our home very nice for all these, but it is only when we are Krishna conscious, doing everything for dear Lord Krishna, we discover that we are able not only to include all these other priorities in our lives simultaneously, but also to remain steady in our respective duties.
That's because affection for the Lord is never disappointing.
In other words, for most of us, household life can start out very exciting and romantic. It is a new life and so on, but as time goes by, the tasks become repetitive and sometimes unbearable due to bodily consciousness. Spiritual consciousness or Krishna consciousness, on the other hand, never gets tiring. Instead, our enthusiasm and ability to do household tasks is ever-increasing.
Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.20 states: "Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh."
That is the nature of spirit, and that is the test to know one is on the right track. Otherwise, what are we but slaves to our material bodies? Forced to get up each morning and work hard to provide meals and a bed for our own bodies and for the bodies of others connected to it.
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.36 states: "My dear Lord Krishna, until people become Your devotees, their material attachments and desires remain thieves, their homes remain prisons, and their affectionate feelings for their family members remain foot-shackles."
But when we becomes Krishna's loving servants, we are slaves no more! And our otherwise bodily activities become spiritualized.
The inhabitants of Vraja exhibit the highest stage of this situation: "Apparently, the residents of Vrndavana, the abode of Lord Krishna, are simple householders engaged in ordinary affairs such as herding cows, cooking, rearing children and performing religious ceremonies. However, all these activities are intensely engaged in the loving service of Lord Krishna. The residents of Vrndavana perform all activities in pure Krishna consciousness and thus exist on the most exalted platform of liberated life. Otherwise, the same activities performed without Krishna consciousness constitute ordinary bondage to the material world.
"Thus, one should not misunderstand the exalted position of the residents of Vrndavana, nor should one consider oneself highly religious simply because one performs ordinary domestic affairs very enthusiastically, but without Krishna consciousness. By focusing our passionate attachment on our family and society, we are completely deviated from the progressive path of Krishna consciousness. Conversely, if we engage our family in the loving service of the Lord, our endeavors to maintain our family become part and parcel of our progressive spiritual duties."--SB 10.14.36p
Again, this makes our lives a lot simpler. Instead of being pulled this way and that to please the husband or the children or our friends to attend to so many things, we can simply focus on how to please Krishna in all our activities.
Bhagavad-gita 2.41 states: "Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched."
Srila Prabhupada also wrote: "Of course, the nature of woman is to be attached to her husband and family, so our system is to minimize this attachment by making the ultimate goal of our activity the pleasure of Krishna. Just try to please Krishna always, and no material circumstances will be able to cause you any discomfort." (letter to Soucarya, 10/23/72, Vrndavana)
This single mindedness is also the safest position.
Bhagavad-gita 8.6-7 states: "In whatever condition one quits his present body, in his next life he will attain to that state of being without fail.Therefore... you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty... With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.
Bhagavad-gita also 7.23 states: "Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet."
In the meantime, "by studying the extraordinary status of the residents of Vrndavana, we can see that the essential quality of their lives is pure Krishna consciousness—the rendering of loving service to the Lord without a trace of material desire or mental speculation. Relishing a loving service mood towards the original Personality of Godhead, even though one appears outwardly as rendering ordinary domestic affairs, immediately creates the atmosphere of Shri Vrndavana-dhäma, the kingdom of God." -SB 10.14.36
"There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the spiritual world there are activities of Krishna consciousness. Attainment of Krishna consciousness even during this life is immediate attainment of Brahman, and one who is situated in Krishna consciousness has certainly already entered into the kingdom of God." -Bg 2.72p
You may also like:
Detachment via Loving Krishna
And for how this writer met her foremost teacher, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, click here.
That's because affection for the Lord is never disappointing.
In other words, for most of us, household life can start out very exciting and romantic. It is a new life and so on, but as time goes by, the tasks become repetitive and sometimes unbearable due to bodily consciousness. Spiritual consciousness or Krishna consciousness, on the other hand, never gets tiring. Instead, our enthusiasm and ability to do household tasks is ever-increasing.
Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.20 states: "Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh."
That is the nature of spirit, and that is the test to know one is on the right track. Otherwise, what are we but slaves to our material bodies? Forced to get up each morning and work hard to provide meals and a bed for our own bodies and for the bodies of others connected to it.
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.36 states: "My dear Lord Krishna, until people become Your devotees, their material attachments and desires remain thieves, their homes remain prisons, and their affectionate feelings for their family members remain foot-shackles."
But when we becomes Krishna's loving servants, we are slaves no more! And our otherwise bodily activities become spiritualized.
The inhabitants of Vraja exhibit the highest stage of this situation: "Apparently, the residents of Vrndavana, the abode of Lord Krishna, are simple householders engaged in ordinary affairs such as herding cows, cooking, rearing children and performing religious ceremonies. However, all these activities are intensely engaged in the loving service of Lord Krishna. The residents of Vrndavana perform all activities in pure Krishna consciousness and thus exist on the most exalted platform of liberated life. Otherwise, the same activities performed without Krishna consciousness constitute ordinary bondage to the material world.
"Thus, one should not misunderstand the exalted position of the residents of Vrndavana, nor should one consider oneself highly religious simply because one performs ordinary domestic affairs very enthusiastically, but without Krishna consciousness. By focusing our passionate attachment on our family and society, we are completely deviated from the progressive path of Krishna consciousness. Conversely, if we engage our family in the loving service of the Lord, our endeavors to maintain our family become part and parcel of our progressive spiritual duties."--SB 10.14.36p
Again, this makes our lives a lot simpler. Instead of being pulled this way and that to please the husband or the children or our friends to attend to so many things, we can simply focus on how to please Krishna in all our activities.
Bhagavad-gita 2.41 states: "Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched."
Srila Prabhupada also wrote: "Of course, the nature of woman is to be attached to her husband and family, so our system is to minimize this attachment by making the ultimate goal of our activity the pleasure of Krishna. Just try to please Krishna always, and no material circumstances will be able to cause you any discomfort." (letter to Soucarya, 10/23/72, Vrndavana)
This single mindedness is also the safest position.
Bhagavad-gita 8.6-7 states: "In whatever condition one quits his present body, in his next life he will attain to that state of being without fail.Therefore... you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty... With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.
Bhagavad-gita also 7.23 states: "Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet."
In the meantime, "by studying the extraordinary status of the residents of Vrndavana, we can see that the essential quality of their lives is pure Krishna consciousness—the rendering of loving service to the Lord without a trace of material desire or mental speculation. Relishing a loving service mood towards the original Personality of Godhead, even though one appears outwardly as rendering ordinary domestic affairs, immediately creates the atmosphere of Shri Vrndavana-dhäma, the kingdom of God." -SB 10.14.36
"There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the spiritual world there are activities of Krishna consciousness. Attainment of Krishna consciousness even during this life is immediate attainment of Brahman, and one who is situated in Krishna consciousness has certainly already entered into the kingdom of God." -Bg 2.72p
You may also like:
Detachment via Loving Krishna
And for how this writer met her foremost teacher, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, click here.