in material
sense gratification.
Just like this city, Moscow. It is completely covered with tama-
guna. People are unclean, they are lazy, they are bewildered,
they are envious and angry; they are performing all kind of
sinful activities.Not only this city,there are so many abominab-
le cities like this all over the world. So the influence of such
a city on a person`s consciousness is very strong. So in order to
counteract this influence, this tamasic influence, a devotee has
to live in the association of other devotees and he always has
to be engaged in active devotional service. Every day he has to
engage in dancing and chanting the holy name of the Lord, hear
the messages of Lord Krsna, take Krsna prasadam and be fully
engaged without interruption. Just like in "Srimad Bhagavatam" it
is said:
Savair pumsam paro dharmo yato bhakti adhoksaje
ahuitaki apratihita yayatma suprasiddhati
"The highest activity for humanity, is that activity by which one
can attain, loving service unto the transcendent Lord. Such
devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order
to fully satisfy the self."
So we have to give up all kinds of separate interests, other than
Krsna`s interests. Separate interest is born from the influence
of tama-guna and raja-guna. One has to understand what is Krsna`s
desire and Krsna`s interest. So we understand that through the
instructions of the spiritual master and through the guidance of
senior devotees. So they can help us to remain fixed on the path
of spiritual life. In this way one can give up other interest,
other motivation, other than the satisfaction of the Lord. And
if he keeps himself always busy, than his service will always be
uninterrupted.
So this is the way of following in the footsteps. To do something
useful for the sankirtana movement. Srila Prabhupada said that in
this age of Kali,to serve Krsna means ;"To serve this sankirtana
movement." And he said that if you think you can be Krsna
conscious outside the Krsna conscious movement, that is simply
hallucination. So to advance in Krsna consciousness, we depend on
the association of devotees within ISKCON. If one is engaged in
serving ISKCON, he can be sure that he is properly connected
through the parampara to Krsna. Gradually he can develop more
and more spiritual strength, so that he can be Krsna conscious in
any situation.
Just like Srila Prabhupada He went alone to New York City, but he
was completely unaffected, even though that city is just as
tamasic as Moscow. He was completely fearless. He had full faith
in the order of Lord Caitanya and the spiritual master. And
because of that he was able to turn so many persons into
vaisnava`s. By his influence, we are all here today. And his
influence is spreading more and more. The more we distribute
Srila Prabhupada`s books, the more we expand this ISKCON
movement, them more the glories of this pure devotee will be sung
throughout the world...ebha yasya ghusik tribhuvana..."May your
glories be spread throughout the three worlds." So this the
potency of Krsna`s pure devotee. That potency is coming from Lord
Caitanya. So just as Lord Caitanya made elephants and tigers
dance, so Srila Prabhupada was able to make so many animalistic
persons to dance. And if we go in the same way, we will be able
to influence so many more persons. Sometimes these cities are
called "Concrete jungles". And they`ve got all kinds of
animalistic persons living within them. So our job, our service
is to try to turn these persons into civilized human beings and
servant of the Lord. So there`s plenty of service to keep us
going, all of us, the whole lifetime. No time to waste. No time
for maya. Only time for Krsna.
So continuing the translation...
Madhya-lila: Chapter Seventeen, Text 32
The elephants whose bodies were touched by the water
splashed by the Lord