It is mentioned in the Shastras that performing Bhakti in Kaliyuga will be the easiest. Attaining the Lord has never been easier than it is now. Even our own Gurudeva Param Pujya Sri Sri 108 Premadasa Babaji Maharaj says that one can attain the Lord even as one is having ice-cream and cakes in one’s living room. Thus the Guru, Shastras and sadhus concur on this point. However our experience says that attaining the Lord seems to be far away, seemingly impossible. Hence there must be something wrong with ourselves because it is clear as crystal that Guru, sadhu and shastras can never bluff. So what is the missing link here? One needs to carefully analyze our approach and intelligently fill in the missing pieces to complete the puzzle of “How can the Lord be so easy to attain” as promised by the God-realized ones and the Shastras.
Just as it is possible for a person inside a room to be drowned in darkness whereby outside the room the sun is shining galore, similarly it is very much possible that one has not understood how to approach the statements of the God-realized ones and the shastras in the proper context. In the above example the person inside the room is waiting for the night to end whereas outside it is well past noon, similarly those seeking the Lord are ambling in ambiguity and ignorance in-spite of having full access to scriptures and spiritual masters.
Our current life-style has moulded the way we think and imagine. Although we have entered spiritual life, our inability to cope with modern day pressures makes us weak to be able to rely entirely on the words of Bhagavat Gita, where the Lord says that “Surrender unto me and I shall take full responsibility of you”. We keep planning with our limited minds, worrying about our insecurities and responsibilities and at the same time doing our mantras that we have received from our spiritual master. We have to realize that surrendering and letting go is an attitude of the mind and it is a science all by itself. Unless we risk ourselves by handing ourselves totally to the mercy of Sri Guru and the Lord and show intense earnestness to be full-time dedicated to serving Srila Gurudeva and the Lord, things will not move. The surrender aspect has to be utterly practised at the mind level and one should trust the words of the Lord and desire to serve the ultimate goal or Prayojana of one’s life. Unless we have burning commitment to that cause, our grinding material life will continue to haunt us. Our busy office schedules and travelling time saps us of all our energy. We hardly get time to seek our ultimate mission. A person who continually cries at heart for redemption to Srila Gurudeva and the Lord with a single-pointed focus on Krishna Bhajana will ultimately become the chosen one for higher service. Unless our commitment at the mind, intelligence and heart level does not translate into tangible opportunities of service; it is to be clearly understood that our intentions have not yet matured in the first place. A person with rock-solid intentions of serving the Lord has the capability to melt any karmic situation through the intensity of one’s commitment to the higher cause. Free-will and laser sharp intentions of higher service are the fundamental ingredients of the recipe that serves Bhakti rasa. A person who cries for sadhu sanga and takes shelter of the literature of acaryas along with the Holy Name becomes a candidate for unparalled mercy. No amount of prarabdha can deter the intentions of a committed sadhaka who holds within his heart the service of the Dhama, Sri Vrindavana and the Dhama Devata Sri Sri Radha Krishna. People in the cities are afflicted by 3 types of shortcomings which foil all plans for higher service. These are 3 doshas namely Bhumi dosha, Sanga dosha and Anna dosha. Bhumi dosha means fault of the place of residence. Anna dosha refers to the fault of food that we partake and Sanga dosha is the fault of companionship that we have around the place of our residence.
Our intentions will be continually hampered by these 3 types of defects. One should then make up one’s mind to associate with the pure devotees of the Lord. This will nullify the Sanga Dosha. One should take up temporary residence in Dhama atleast for 3 days every 3 months. This will work very deeply on the consciousness of the sadhaka which will eliminate Bhumi Dosha. One should never eat from out and always consume cooked food offered to the deities at home. One should single-pointedly take up this act with seriousness and thus Anna dosha may be reduced. When the intensity of these 3 doshas loosens its grip, the sadhaka should intensify his sadhana and chant more rounds and associate with Sri Guru very frequently. Thus by cultivating in one’s mind the earnestness for Rasa the sadhaka will slowly prod towards the attainment of the final goal.
Charan Pahari 