Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!
We have been meditating on glorifying the Lord in the offering titled, "108 Ways of Glorifying the Lord". In the previous offering on this topic, we meditated on the below glories.
1. Sri Isopanishad mentions that the Supreme Lord is perfectly complete. Since the Lord is complete, He has no defect.
2. Since the Lord is perfect, the Lord's creations (universe, living entities, etc) are perfect and complete too.
We shall continue to meditate on the other glories. It is mentioned in Sri Isopanishad Mantra one:
īśāvāsyam idaḿ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam
Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.
Glorification 3 - The Lord is the proprietor of everything
Nothing belongs to us in this material world is clear from the fact that once the spirit soul leaves the body, it cannot take anything with it. Despite knowing this fact we cling on to whatever we can and even desire for things that don't belong to us. This verse clearly states that everything in this world - living and non-living, belongs to the Lord. In fact, Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (10.8) "ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo" - "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me." So it is very clear that the Lord is the source and proprietor of everything that is around us.
In this regard, there is a story about an old businessman. He had a shop and in his whole life, he never thought of anything but the shop. He was on the death bed and while he was about to leave his body, he asked his wife, "Who is present in the room?" The wife thought that he wants to see all the relatives for the last time before leaving his body, so she replied, "Your entire family is here. Your elder son, your middle son, your younger son, your daughter, and all your daughters-in-laws." Hearing this, the old man at once shouted at his wife, "If everyone is in the room, who is looking after the shop? Somebody go at once or else the thieves might rob it." Even on the death bed we try to cling on to material things and cannot really forget them because we are too attached to these things all our life. In order for us to get detached, we need to realize that, "everything belongs to the Lord and everything should be used for His benefit."
In his book "Life comes from Life", Srila Prabhupada very nicely writes that, "In Bhagavad-gita Krishna states that if one does not perform yajna (sacrifice), he is a thief. Yajna means acknowledging that things have been taken from Krishna. We should think, Krishna, You have given us many, many things for our maintenance. This much acknowledgment Krishna wants; that's all. Otherwise, what can He expect from you? What are you in His presence?" So, people who don't realize this truth and keep on accumulating things thinking they are the owners are under the illusion and are really nothing but thieves.
Glorification 4 - The Lord is the controller of everything
Nobody in this world can say that he or she is not controlled or is the controller of everything. At most we could say we are controlling few things, but controlling all living and non-living beings is only the monopoly of the Lord. In purport to verse 3.22 of Bhagavad Gita Srila Prabhupada very nicely mentions that, "The Supreme Lord is the controller of all other controllers, and He is the greatest of all the diverse planetary leaders. Everyone is under His control. All entities are delegated with particular power only by the Supreme Lord; they are not supreme themselves. He is also worshipable by all demigods and is the supreme director of all directors. Therefore, He is transcendental to all kinds of material leaders and controllers and is worshipable by all. There is no one greater than Him, and He is the supreme cause of all causes." So sun-shine, rainfall, moon-shine, seasons, winds, storms, hurricanes, floods, famine everything is under the control of Supreme Lord.
In spite of this, there are bogus gurus who cheat people and claim themselves to be God. Once Srila Prabhupada met such a guru in India and the guru was in great pain with a toothache. Prabhupada asked him,"You claim you are God and now you are under the control of toothache. So what kind of God are you?" If we can't control a simple tooth ache what to talk about controlling other things. In fact as mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 2.10.8, even all our senses are not under our full control. They are all controlled by superior controlling deities. And all these deities are under the control of Lord Krishna. So without the sanction of these deities and Lord Krishna, we cannot even get our senses to function normally. If the Lord wishes He can take away all the senses within fraction of a second. Therefore, we should voluntarily accept His superiority and accept only prasadam, whatever He kindly allows.
Krishna willing, we shall continue our journey of glorifying the Lord in the upcoming emails.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Anand Patil,
Wellington, New Zealand
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