(His Holliness Krishna Kshetra Swami was interviewed by Asta-sakhi Priya Devi Dasi for the newspaper “Svet Bhakti” (Eng. The World of Bhakti); Holy Name Festival, ISKCON Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 29, 2016. Transcribed by bhn. Eva Gosar)
[Asta-sakhi Priya Devi Dasi (Aspdd):] Can you please share with us what is Your biggest realization in Krishna consciousness?
[HH Krishna Kshetra Swami (GM):] Well, the question reminds me of one I was a child and I would be asked, ”What is your favorite colour?” or ”What is your favorite this or that?” I never had an answer because I don’t know that I had any favorites. (laughter)
So, the biggest realization? I’m still working on it! Shrila Prabhupada once said, ”Who is an advanced devotee? Narada Muni! He is advanced!” And of course we also appreciate how profoundly advanced or how profoundly Krishna conscious Shrila Prabhupada was. I guess my biggest realization, if it’s a realization, was that, when I met Shrila Prabhupada, seeing how intensely and deeply absorbed he was in Krishna consciousness. And naturally this gave a sense simultaneously of being very far away from anything and a sense that somehow it must be possible to be or to become like that. And therefore let me follow that! I try to follow that.
Shrila Prabhupada also felt deep compassion for conditioned souls, which extended or extends beyond concern for the eternal soul; in sense you would say that’s also concern for material well-being. I saw him on one occasion very crying because he was hearing about people suffering materially. So, I can understand that. Spiritual life is not ”stereotyped” – Shrila Prabhupada uses that expression. It’s a process that each of us has to pursue individually, at the same time that we keep it as a priority to be in association with other devotees. And I would say from each devotee, this is maybe more broadly speaking the bigger realization; from the most advanced – and I’m thinking in my case of Shrila Prabhupada – to the one maybe a beginner on the path. From each of them we have something to learn. It’s always something we can learn from them and appreciate. This is for our own benefit, for our own steps toward Krishna.
And I guess for me there is often the feeling that it’s a long way (laughter) to get to where we want to be. But the sense of not being there, not being where we want to be, is already a good thing because it means, we always feel impetus to keep moving, to try to move forward. But the trying in one sense, if it’s wrongly taken, it can be counterproductive, thinking, ”I’m the doer. I’m going to make advancement. I’m going to do this or that.” and so on. And of course, what we are really trying to learn is to let go (laughter), to surrender and connect; to connect with the Lord as He would have us do so.
[Aspdd:] Can you please tell us, how can we quickly progress in Krishna consciousness?
[GM:] The basic formula that we get from Rupa Goswami is of course to practise five things: sadhu-sanga, Krishna-seva, bhagavata, nama, vraja-vasa ¬- associating with devotees, serving Krishna-particularly the Deity, bhagavata-serving, hearing Shrimad Bhagavatam, nama- chanting the Holy name and vraja-vasa – living in Vraja or making our home into Vraja or the temple. And there are so many other things.
I like to remember Hanumat Preshak Swami’s referring. He likes to speak about Upadeshamrita of Rupa Goswami very much. And he says it’s “five minutes with a genius”. Rupa Goswami is the genius and reading the eleven verses of Upadeshamrita is the “five minutes” because it’s only eleven verses, you can just read them quickly. And you can say everything is in those verses. It’s the Upadesha-amrita – nectar; the essence of instruction. And then to think and reflect about this, ”How do I apply this in my life?”
I also find it helpful to try to expend the principle of forgiveness. I was inspired by my god-brother Mahatma prabhu’s seminar on forgiveness, which is available online at www.iskcondesiretree.com. And because so much of what hinders us in spiritual life is our attitude toward others and even unconsciously we can be harboring resentment against other persons. He shows very nicely, how we can become more conscious of that and then learn to let go of those resentments because they tend to block us. I find that often consoling.
[Aspdd:] Do you have perhaps a message from the heart for our readers?
[GM:] We have a saying in English “We are all in the same boat.” Do you have such expression in Slovenia?
[Aspdd:] Yes, we have. It is, “Vsi smo v istem kotlu.”
[GM:] “We are all in the same boat,” it means we are all in the same situation. And the situation is that we are all this world of birth and death and it is a dangerous place. And since we are all in it together and in that sense we are all equal. And I think it’s helpful to keep this in mind. Since we are all in it together we should do our best to not just get ourselves out of it but to help others as well.
In his song Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the refrain he says kabe ha’be bolo se-dina āmār – “O, when will that day come and I will take your instruction to heart?” To heart! Giving up my own selfish consideration. I think that is a nice idea of it, we can always remember and aim for.
[Aspdd:] Thank you for Your wonderful instructions!