Determination of Devine Inspiration

    The potential of bliss we can experience is astounding. When will we wake up to this possibility? We can bring the spiritual world of Earth and with none of the cost of a moon mission or cancer research. In medicine, the best measures are precautionary, because without a disease there is no suffering. So let's stop it! but what again is the disease? 

Cancer, brain degeneration, war and separation, depression, suicide - there's too many to count, and all of them are unnecessary and crushing. So what's the common denominator? Is there actually a cure for these?

     Many studies have shown that these phenomena are on the rise, so what is going on? Medicine is advancing, and yet, more illnesses are popping up - some that have never been popular before like kidney and liver cancers. Connectivity and exposure is more prevalent, and yet, division and loneliness is plaguing our minds. Entertainment is all around, and yet, many are unmotivated, bored, and apathetic about life. What gives?! 

     How have we found ourselves in this juxtaposition of so much industrial development, mixed with regression of social values, holding leaders to a lower standard, and diminished self-satisfaction? 

     My experience of traveling to different places and meeting different people, from different walks of life, is that, surprisingly, we are all struggling with the same thing. There is something lacking. For some reason, there is a constant empty feeling, and if there's not in our own lives, then we can see those we love struggling with this confusion of identity. 

     The root of these issues can be traced to this: no internal zest for life, no motivation and meaning to drive us to get up in the morning and experience what is outside that door. Just like when we're exceptionally tired, our immune system is weaker, when our spirits are not so lifted, the symptoms of suffering show their ugly teeth and grab hold. 

     If we go back to the earlier list of terrible epidemics of the modern age, we can see that they are momentous. They're dynamic and changing, either for the better or towards destruction. This means there is life to them, energy, and we can see someone fight off cancer, as well as, groups digging deeper divisions between themselves. But it is not permanent!

     We don't have to accept a future fate based solely on past experiences. In fact, the only thing connecting the two together is our own consciousness. 

     Experiences burn into our psyche that "this is how it is", or even, "this who I am, so I must act this way". But it is not permanent!

     Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the modern day Hare Krishna movement, was trying everything to spread the ancient teachings of Krishna consciousness throughout India, the "land of religion", without much success. So after several decades of this, and many health complications, he boldly set sail, as cargo, on a large freighter to America, the "land of sense gratification".

     Although he encountered many set backs such as: heart attacks, poverty, lack of contacts, his typewriter and thousand-page manuscripts being stolen and so much more, he was able to establish an esteemed, spiritually focused society all around the world. 

     He was able to do all of this, while in his seventies, because of his spirited fervor to carry out the instructions of his spiritual teacher, on the strength of his compassion for the billions of souls suffering from a lack of knowledge of their relationship with their spiritual Father.

     You see, it was this motivation that carried him through the health complications, the harsh New York winters on the streets, and a plethora of government harassments. Srila Prabhupada was so determined to alleviate the sufferings of the modern day misguided persons, that he was even translating ancient spiritual texts, by dictaphone, on his deathbed!

     He wasted no time in trying to distribute as many opportunities, for all people to realize who they are and what their ultimate purpose is, as he could. Srila Prabhupada saw this as the main need for humanity at large because we all want to be happy but we don't know how to be happy.  

     Before coming to Krishna consciousness, I was trying so many things to be happy. Sports, academics, scouts, drugs, girls - you name it. And I was in a constant state of giving up one activity and being sure the next one was going to satisfy. 

     As long as we are changing our external situation only, and not improving our internal state of being, our experience will hardly change.The satisfaction we are all searching for comes from within, and so, if we are seeking it in things outside of ourselves, then we will never find it.

     So much of Srila Prabhupada's sacrifice was spent to bring us transcendental literature and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. 

     The reciting of the Lord's names is a timeless process of spiritual awakening that can be found in the practices of every major spiritual culture around the world. It is so easy and the results are indescribable.

     If a seventy year old man was able to travel the Earth with no money or contacts and establish an ancient spiritual culture in a foreign land with opposite values, then we can accomplish our goals to. This is the power of spiritual awareness.

     Srila Prabhupada knew who he was; he knew what his purpose was; and he simply followed the instructions of his superiors and guidance from within. This is the secret to sustainable satisfaction, and no external achievement can compare.

     We must become aware of who we are and what our ultimate purpose is. and then, under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual teacher, spread this conscious experience all over the world. If we do this, then very shortly, all people will become fully satisfied and all of our troubles will be erased. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.