Work versus Devotion and Worship of the Lord - A Dilemma

Wonderful queries from you …
1. I feel I should have the Lord in my heart all the time.
2. Work is a hurdle to spiritual progress
3. Focus in work and quest for excellence makes me feel guilty as they snatch me away from The Lord!

I suggest few subtle changes to the above query to become quest …

1. Am I at Lord's feet as I am and as I should be? … as opposed to objectifying The Omniscient as if one could cage THAT within one's heart. The dilemma is the mixture of one's nature and aspirations in the wrong combinations and wrong proportions. Either be a monkey that holds on to its mother completely on its own or be a cat that let the mother hold it completely. The notion "I should have the Lord in my heart all the time" shows a serious self-contradiction to me. On one hand you claim THAT to be The Lord while aspiring 'to have' Him within your heart on the other hand. Either you 'have' Him completely or let Him 'have' you completely. I am not sure about the former ... but, the later will surely work. So, ask yourself whether you are at His lotus feet always as you are and as you ought to be. If not, why? ... Interrogate yourself.

2. Am I at Lord's feet as I am and as I should be? … as opposed to objectifying The Omniscient as if one could cage THAT within one's heart. The dilemma is the mixture of one's nature and aspirations in the wrong combinations and wrong proportions. Either be a monkey that holds on to its mother completely on its own or be a cat that let the mother hold it completely. The notion "I should have the Lord in my heart all the time" shows a serious self-contradiction to me. On one hand you claim THAT to be The Lord while aspiring 'to have' Him within your heart on the other hand. Either you 'have' Him completely or let Him 'have' you completely. I am not sure about the former ... but, the later will surely work. So, ask yourself whether you are at His lotus feet always as you are and as you ought to be. If not, why? ... Interrogate yourself.

3. Focus and quest for excellence in anything is not a hurdle, but a virtue. KrishNa says, "Yogah karamsu koushalam". But the problem why that is becoming a bottleneck here is something else. Remember that KrishNa said "yogah karmasu koushalam" and not "yogo vyaktishu koushalam"! Often, we do want to herald the "excellence" projected on ourselves, not on the work we are involved with! The true skill (Koushalam) is to realize the excellence in The Action as such that brings out such brilliant colors to the life as is and as ever rather than desperately attempting to herald one's individual excellence and achievement in life. Obviously, when the excellence is projected on the wrong side (the ego), it is certainly the biggest hurdle to attain His Lotus Feet.

The action is collective from individual point of view - many individuals or objects particpate to fill-in the action. No objects that participate in the action cannot claim ownership on the action individually as well as collectively. Once we identify the excellence with the action rather than the specific parties involved, can we see anything but The Action anywhere?! Can we see anything but THAT in which The Action is merged eternally??! ! Therefore, the only possible excellence is to merge in this eternal merger as we are. Again, the question of relevance here is, why am I unable to let myself merge in the ever-existing unison all around as well as within? Why am I refusing to see the excellence that everything TRULY IS?? Why am I holding on to my fragmented existence to remain the only hurdle to my own spirit in all respects???

Beyond the Stereotypes

Our mental disease is that we are habituated to a stereotypical way of viewing reality. Instead of boldly embracing the ever-fresh, unlimitedly exciting present in a sweet loving relationship with the Supreme Person, the source of our existence, out of a false sense of security we hover in the so-called comfort zone of seeing everything through the colored lenses of our past experience refusing to cast off our foolishly cherished prejudices. In this conditioned state of consciousness we stubbornly hold on to past grudges never allowing ourselves the freedom of fully forgiving the past transgressions of others. We proudly feel that we were wronged, when in fact we were simply being justly punished for our own past transgressions. So what is the solution for this karmic quagmire? We must arise now from the ashes of our own foolishness putting our full faith in Krishna and the spiritual master. In this way we will experience within our hearts at every moment the wonderful dawning of the ultimate spiritual enlightenment, Krishna consciousness, and all of our past sufferings we will seen simply as a bad dream from which we were so kindly awakened by the all-merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead and His most confidential servitor, the bona fide spiritual master.

Unfailingly Dedicated in All Circumstances

The key to conquering over the modes of material nature and being solidly situated on the transcendental platform of Bhagavan realization, pure Krishna consciousness, is to always be engaged 24 hours daily in all places and circumstances in devotional service. In other words, we can easily attain the topmost perfection simply by always being vigilant without deviation that we are thinking, speaking, and acting in a way that is pleasing to Krishna. In this way if we remain unfailingly dedicated in all circumstances, we will quickly be elevated to the topmost platform of spiritual perfection and thus be blessed with always relishing the sweetest transcendental bliss, which far exceeds the happiness of the demigods in the heavenly planets. The key for quickly attaining this is to not ever give in to the desire of the senses for the cheap, quick thrills of material sense gratification. We must keep always the senses under control by constantly absorbing them engaged in Krishna's service. In this way we will taste millions of time more happiness than the fleeting so-called pleasure of the senses.