Constitutional position of Jiva is Service

Sankirtan in Korea

Hare Krsna. Hari Bol!

Yesterday 23Jul2006, Sunday, was the first time ever I had
gone to a Sankirtan party. Infact, I was one of the members
in the group.

I never imagined that I would be doing this. I never want to
be focus of attention. So my mind was all the time rebelling
against this. Before realizing what I am upto, I was part of
the singing band. Actually there were so many thoughts in
my mind, why am I doing this? what if this creates some kind
of disturbance? what if the police catches me. Actually I was
not so afraid of the police but my problem was so many
people staring at our group and God knows what must be
running in their minds.

So now that I had decided somewhat unwillingly to be part
of the group. How do I reconcile myself? I just decided at
that point of time to surrender to God's will and just be
a part of it.

People surely did take notice. Actually, there were so many
people on that street and I am not sure if everybody even
knew of Sankirtana, forget Krsna. It was the height of materialistic
world.. shops full of stuff, some restaurants, some selling fried
fish, icecreams, et. all.



The only people who seemed to enjoy the proceedings were
some elderly gentlemen and the kids. It was so nice to see
the happiness on the faces of the small kids, they almost
seemed to be one with us by clapping their hands. I hope
one day, everyone realizes their true nature and becomes happy!

The important thing for me was to overcome my fear.. so I
think by surrendering myself, I was able to free myself
from the hold of ego a bit more.

My first acquaintance with karma yoga

You have a right to your prescribed duty alone,
never for the results of your action.
Do not become the cause of your action at any
time and never become attached to inaction..

As is my daily schedule on Sundays in Korea,
I went to attend the satsang at Sinsa hoping to
get nectarean wisdom from the Acharya and
associate with the vaishnav devotees and relish
the prasada, of course.

Inspite of the heavy rain, I pushed myself to
the place only to find it locked. I thought may be
the satsang would start little late due to the
inclement weather so I waited at the gate.
I was wishing that someone would have informed
me that the class was not going to be held but I
was not carrying my phone with me so I thought
maybe I missed out on this possibility.

Still I held on hoping someone would come along.
Wisdom dawned on me to utilized the time to
read the passages from Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
I immersed myself into the verses on sense control
and also on the begining of KarmaYoga verse 2.39-40.

It was almost 30 min passed the normal starting time
and I knew that nobody was going to turn up today.
I continued my reflection on the verses and was getting
some nice insights (will post this in a separate thread).
About 45 min from my arrival, 2 girls came to the centre.
One of them had come the week before so I knew her.
I told them that maybe because of the bad weather nobody
had turned up and also the likelihood of temple remanining
closed since she wanted to go there. They left subsequently.

I continued my study. I came to the understanding of
the art of living and working..

The following of Krsna's dictation is real yoga and this
is practiced in the process of Krsna Consciousness.

Also I realized that my main purpose of coming to Sinsa
was nevertheless successful that of getting wisdom.
Krsna, the teacher, through the book was giving me the
knowledge when the Acharya was not present physically.

I also realized the true essence of the Karma Yoga
verse 2.47 ..

You have a right to perform your duty but not entitled
to fruits of your action..

So one has to just perform the action but not for the
sake of the results. One should not be anxious for
the results that one wants or went about setting
as a goal when initiating the endeavour. One should
only set a goal and then go about executing the
plan. There should not be any attachment to the results.

More on performing action BG2.48 :

Peform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning
all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity
is called Yoga.

How to receive the fruits of action is mentioned in the
verse BG2.56 :

One who is not disturbed in sorrow or elated when
there is happiness, who is free from attachment,
fear and anger is called a sage of steady mind.

So, neither success or failure of action should cause
any difference to the performer. Then he does
not become doer!

In summary, there are 3 things to be followed :

1. Controlling the desires and the senses.
2. Intelligent action (Buddhi-yuktah Karma Yoga)
3. Detachment to the results of action (Steady Intellect)

All three is awarded by the process of devotional service
to Krsna in Krsna Consciousness.

All glories to Sri Krsna Chaitanya and His Sankirtana
movement! Hari Bol!

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare