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.

Does the Supreme have any wish/desire?

The Supreme who is complete by definition will have no desire or wish.
Desire or wish arises from incomopleteness. If there is completeness, there is no scope for a wish or desire to arise for seeking completeness. The Supreme has every thing in Him and never feels inadequate. Without any inadequacy, the Supreme has no need to wish or desire.
The Supreme who is complete has everything: He contains everything in the Creation and is in existence in each and everything in the Creation. All wishes and desires of everything/ everyone are contained in Him and He exists in all wishes and desires possible in all creatures. So the Supreme does not need any desire or wish of his own.
That His Creation functions the way it has been doing and will continue fully satisfies him.
With nothing remaining to be satisfied, the Supreme has no scope for any wish or desire of His own. Any thing / any one even a little less than Supreme and less than Complete can only have a wish or desire.
To put it differently, all that happens in this creation is nothing but his wish and desire getting fulfilled.

The Lord's Feelings Toward Someone Who Chants His Name

Srila Prabhupada told us that the chanting means to address the Lord. We talk to Him by calling His name.

But we may wonder, How does the Lord feel about those who chant? Does He notice them?

Yes. Krsna notices chanters even if they don't notice Him - and He thinks of them. As Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura said, "When someone chants the Lord's name, the Lord's mind dwells on him. Krishna thinks, 'This person belongs to Me. I will always protect him!' "

Srila Sridhara Swami explains in this connection: "When the Lord heard that Ajamila was chanting His name, He thought about Ajamila deeply and then ordered the Visnudutas to bring him to Him. How much more, then, will the Lord remember a person who chants His Name with a service attitude?"

Let us not try to see the Lord.
Let Him see us.
And let us not try to hear His voice in the beginning.
Let Him hear us first.
Then one day the morning will dawn
when we hear him say:
"You are Mine."

Is Law of Karma Applicable for All or only Hindus?

Laws of Karma applies to anybody who thinks he/she is body-mind based organism regardless of beliefs, religions etc. A body has pain, or develops cancer or any such illness, does it have any problem? Physical body doesn't have complexes at all, whatever happens is according to cosmic laws, birth, growth, maturity, deterioration, illness, death!
Mind has all complexes! When body has pain, it thinks it has pain. Mind thinks it is separate from all beings and therefore, mind attaches to some it likes and some it doesn't like, so it avoids them. This is the only reason it suffers. This is what is Laws of Karma, really, meaning one lets mind rule life over which it doesn't have any control, so it suffers! Nothing fancy, it itself is ruled by conditioning of society, culture etc called environment in which it grows!
Such behaviors are among all mankind! Obviously everyone suffers or has pleasures, though, reasons may be different depending on their being raised in different cultures. This is Laws of Karma! It is the way one reacts rather than acts! Thus, it is Universal in nature, has nothing to do with Hindu or not, but everything to do with ignorance! Laws of Karma is explanation to our being ignorance! Of what? of not knowing who we are!
Just remove this ignorance and one is Free from Karma meaning pleasures and pains irrespective of birth and death of body. Laws are applicable even then to body, but suffering is removed. Scripture calls this as burning away of karmas!
Nothing else need to be changed!


The Law of Karma is applicable not only to Hindus but to all human beings ! It applies not only to all humans but to all creatures ! It applies not only to all creatures but also to Demi Gods say The Sun, Fire, Moon, Air etc ! In fact the first receipient of the knowledge of Karma Yoga was the Sun !!

What is this world comprising of? If you get deep ...you will find nothing EXCEPT .."Doing" and "Happenning" ! Deeds and Results thereof. It is contractual obligations that bind a human in this world (BG 15:2) ! Why only human...to all creatures !! World is nothing except "Lenia-Denia" (giving..receiving. ..giving) ! World therefore has at many places in Scriptures referred as " Karma Bhoomi" ! Rightly so, because you can't remain without doing Karmas even for a fraction of a second. There is a chain of action-reaction going on. Even Akarmas are in the form of Karmas only.

Q Is one doomed to be trapped in his Karma and cannot undo and find penance in this life time?

Ans: No ! Human life is not meant for getting doomed at all! Human life means an opportunity ...very rare opportunity of ...breaking the CHAINS of action/reaction. Here you can do AKARMAS also which do not produce any bondage. A human has also capacity to remain EQUANIMOUS and thus un-impacted by the CHAINS of Karmas ..the Bondage of Karmas !

Q If one convert to another religion from Hindu, can he do away with all this Karmic backlash?

Ans: Such a Q does not arise once earlier Qs are answered and understood.

Then who is the doer?

All actions take place because of modes of nature.
Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita,
" Prakrteh kriyamanani,
Gunaih karmani sarvasah,
Ahankara vimudhatma,
Kartaham iti manyate. "
( Gitaji 3, 27)
Which means,
'When all the actions take place because of modes of nature, a foolish person because of false ego thinks he( or she) is actually doing those actions. '
The modes of nature are Sattva (goodness), rajo(passion) , tamo( ignorance).
The supersoul( paramatma) gives certain freedom to soul ( jivatma) to decide for himself or herself. The supersoul is the witness for every action, thought, and word.
A person situated in Krishna consciousness, clearly sees that gross ( subtle body) is created from material nature, under the direction of Supreme Personality of Godhead and hence bodily activities as well as mental activities should be engaged in His service.
Actions continue to take place even when we think we are not doing any.
The best course is to do actions for the welfare of others and in the name of the Lord.