Dear devotees,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srial Sridhar Maharaj

The topic of today is the familiy; how to protect our families. The essence is that Krishna must be in the centre. All relationships depend on this. Krishna has to be in the centre. So how to maintain the Supreme in the centre? This is the secret! The most important. The mercy. Nobody can live happy if Krishna does not bless their existence and their efforts.

The quality of a relationship

The quality of a relationship, Krishna being in the centre – this is my message today. There are many relationships, but very few of them with quality. The quality of a relationship is a test of the quality of our life, a quality of our responsability. We are always looking for quality, but rarely we are disposed to put our quality in fist place.

When we want a product, we are concerned about the quality of this product. The quality of our service to a person, is the level of earnest and importance that we give to this person in our life. Frankly spoken, many people take initiation, but afterwards not many give imortance to the quality in this relationship.

The best service is spiritual responsibility

Being a preacher is very similar to be a parent; one can never give up giving importance to the relationship and the quality of taking care of the children. There are even devotees who get initiated and never care about who and how to worship his istadev, or where his spiritual master is, what he is doing and what he wants him to do. Sincerely, from my part, if I have initiated a person three weeks back or twenty years back, they still have the same importance for me, and I try to give them good service within my limited possibilities. Because it is the service which brings about spiritual growth in a person, and the best service is when a person spiritually begins to take responsibility for other people.

The quality of this responsibility indicates to me how you are progressing. Furthermore, it indicates the quality of the care that people receive under your guidance. You see, my service is to form spiritual leaders, in essence spiritual masters. It is not my concern that they have a great material advance, despite that the natural is that when the devotees endeavour and work like that, there are wonderful results. But my personal interest is only the quality of love and the quality of protection. Because after all, when one initiate, one subscribes as responsible for a good protection.

Excellent representatives

Of course, the ultimate controller is Sri Krishna. And to counteract all errors, misunderstandings, envies, confusions, laziness, mental stages, frictions between couples, rejection from someone whom one wants to marry, sicknesses, slipperings, complaining parents, governments giving problems, schismes, gossips and 3000 other problems... it is impossible to attend everybody equally with all attention and with all necessary dedication. Therefore I have to train excellent representatives and delegate a lot of responsibility to practically all devotees who are disposed to receive it.

We are in the war of the material world, don’t forget that. Each happily sung kirtan is like a miracle. Each plate of prasadam in association of the devotees is causeless mercy. Not even children are secure these days; rather, we need a big amount of pure devotees if we want to change this world. And I count on each one who lets me count on him. Like this I have understood the work that my spiritual master gave to me, and like this I offer it to you.

Never give up

In order to have Krishna in the centre, one has to take measures of emergency to not forget Him, and assure the quality of what we are delivering. We should not stay satisfied with ourselves, but try to make others satisfied with us, and this sometimes turns out to be impossible. So, what to do? Well, try again! And again... and again... You see, the parents do not abandon the children even though they fail.

I would like to make sure that everyone who has come across my life, go back to the spiritual world, but I am conscious about that this depends on each one and on the mercy of Krisna, and not on me. I can only pray that you all may bevery patient with each other, strict with yourselves and merciful with others, encouraged with the essence and tolerant in case of discordance. Then, when things become hard, don’t even think about giving up, because having children or having spiritual responsibilities is very difficult and it will never cease to be. The process of Bhakti was not made for sun bath on the beach and others working for us.

Neglect of relationships

I am conscious about, that much of this I keep harping on the same string, repeating it again and again, and I know you have heard it more than once. Yet, these are the things that never stop circulating in my heart and my head, specially when I meet people who completely neglect their relationships. They act irresponsible, irrational, exageratedly judging without knowing the details, risking to lose valuable friendships and relationships. Or simply act for the ego without seriously considering the plans of their spiritual master. They do what they feel like, inclusive throwing away services of great importance that they should take care of.

These things are not easy, you know. And the small childish rivalries that sometimes come up among vaisnavas... They completely forget the loving relationships based on big sacrifices, renuncing their own comfort, going for sankirtan day after day, year after year, in unbearable cold or burning heat, with the desire to deliver the truth and the love and a true relationship, a relationship with Krishna to people who don’t know anything about Him.

A struggle for improvement

I am very grateful to have received Krishna in my life, and I will not allow that my dear brothers and sisters are fighting and withdrawing from each other, or worse; that they become an obstacle in their services. The service of each and everyone should be a struggle for improvement. The normal would be that one becomes very nice, and then accepts even more responsibility. And like a parent who started to struggle for her child, is so generous to invite a second child, a third and who knows how many more... In the same way everyone is welcome in the community, also the complicated ones, when they want to harmonize.

Well, this was my great wish in a few words, to encourage you to accept the challenge and become pure devotees of the Lord. And I hope that you share this invitation with all your friends and all your dear ones, to all those who are under your protection. With this I leave the chat today, since here our friends have already come for the Sunday feast.

Always your well-wisher,
B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami

Translation: Manah Siksa dd
e-mail: manahsiksa@gmail.com