Everything for Kṛṣṇa, Nothing For Me | HG Vaiśeṣika Dāsa | ISV | 17 Dec 2022

Sound Bhakti

It's so true that when we take risks for Kṛṣṇa and we overcome our fear—"What'll happen if I do this, if I give this to Kṛṣṇa, or if I go outside my comfort zone for Kṛṣṇa?"—but once I start practicing that, and I see not only wasn't I harmed, like my mind told me I would be, I'm still alive, and I feel better for it. And one builds momentum in that way by taking more and more risks for Kṛṣṇa. Risks mean even giving some things up because the mind says, "Unless you have all these things, you won't be happy. How can you be happy without them? You might need it someday." Or, very often, as you're giving in the context of sankirtana, when we go out to distribute books, the mind says, "Oh, somebody's going to say no," and then there's a scenario in my head where everyone will see that, "Oh, I don't have any spiritual potency, I can't do this," and who knows what else. You can add in the color commentary about how it all goes downhill, like everyone will hate me, and you know everyone will know I'm a fraud, and I can't do anything, blah blah blah. The mind's always doing that. But if we can just do our duty and dutifully go out past our comfort zone for Kṛṣṇa, we start to see, actually that's where the real happiness is. So people become stronger. As you said, we become stronger as we do it more, we do more sacrifice, and then it becomes our main way of life. That's one of the points Kṛṣṇa makes. He's trying to coax us along, and in the 12th chapter of the Gītā, he says, "Well perfection is to be totally dedicated to me all the time. This is the real happiness in life. You're just smitten with me, you're in love with me, and everything you do is a dance that is meant to please me in all your activities." And if you can't do that, he said, "Then find out what other people do when they do it and then emulate them. Do this sādhana practice. They wake up early; I wake up early. They chant Hare Kṛṣṇa; I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They take prasadam; I take prasadam. They read Bhāgavatam; I read Bhāgavatam." And then gradually, he said, you'll come to that point. But if you can't do that, let's just say you're working and you can't spend the time even doing the sādhana, he said, "Then give up some of the results of your work and give it for others who are doing it." Then he said, "If you can't do that", because maybe you don't control the bank account or whatever, he says "then volunteer for some good cause, even if it's not Kṛṣṇa conscious." Because then you'll start to feel this sense that, "I'm doing sacrifice, and it's better than my other life where I was working hard to hold on to everything and figure out how I'm going to stay in the material world forever. It's a much happier, freer, liberated life when one says, "Okay, everything's for Krishna, nothing for me." Those who become accustomed to this, that's their mantra: "Everything for Kṛṣṇa, nothing for me." But it's counterintuitive because we're part of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore everything we give to Kṛṣṇa is actually for us, because we're part of him. But we're doing it the wrong way, like trying to eat with one's hand a piece of cake. (excerpt from the talk) ---------------------------------------------------------- To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ (USA only) https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark For the latest in SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fan-the-spark