Real oneness is when we are the Lord’s servant for we have no separate desire than to please Him, says Radhanath Swami
How to become one with the desire of God? Love means that you have no other desire except the desire for beloved Lord Krishna. Prabhupada explains that people consider oneness as having no separate existence from the Lord. But we understand that real oneness is when we are eternally the servant of the Lord for we have no separate desire than to please Him.
The devotee begins the stage of transcendental unalloyed devotion through the process of attentively and eagerly hearing the message of Krishna consciousness from those devotees who are genuine and sincere. Through submissively hearing and rendering service, gradually the ignorance and passion and all of these selfish desires within our heart are removed by the grace of Krishna and then we can come to the unalloyed state. And what is the first and most important instruction: That we are hearing from the great souls, and what is the most important of all services: To sincerely and attentively chant the holy names of the Lord in the association of Vaishnavas.
By performing the Sankirtan Yagya of the holy name in a humble service attitude amongst Vaishnavas, gradually all ignorance and all passion is removed from the heart and we come to the consciousness of transcendental prema. So Srila Prabhupada said, “Just chant Hare Krishna” — that is ultimate answer to all of our questions. We must know. It is repeated throughout the Shastra: The gravity of offenses against Krishna and his devotees. We must know clearly what will be the reaction upon us if we make offenses. In fact, Srila Prabhupada explains in one such purport of the Srimad Bhagvatam that at one time, Sambha and some of the children of Krishna offended Narada Muni, Parasara Muni and by that offense to Vaishnavas, the entire Yadu dynasty was destroyed.
Even if you are directly the sons of Krishna, if you commit offense against Vaishnavas, you and your whole dynasty would be annihilated. What to speak of us? So we must know clearly, how severely the Lord responds to offenses to those of you who have an alliance to him. And with this information we must be very cautious, very careful to control the tongue. And how do we control the tongue? By using it in Krishna’s service, by speaking the glories of Krishna, and by speaking the glories of his devotees and by chanting his holy names.
And when the tendency comes to criticise or to find faults, we should know that if I speak it then I am committing spiritual suicide. At the same time, if I leave my tongue idle, it is certain to say something nonsense. So, let me keep it busy in glorifying Krishna and glorifying his devotees and glorifying his holy names.
Kapiladev explains that devotion in the mode of ignorance is motivated with envy or pride. Devotion in the mode of passion is when it is motivated by a desire of furtive action and sense gratification. And devotion in the mode of goodness is for relief from suffering and pain — to be freed from furtive activities. And unmotivated transcendental devotion is simply for the pleasure of the Lord. Now how to elevate ourselves from the stages of devotional ignorance, passion, and goodness to the transcendental state? It comes by serving those who are in transcendental state and hearing from them.
By regularly hearing Srimad Bhagvatam, a book which deals exclusively with unmotivated uninterrupted devotional service; by submissively hearing Srimad Bhagvatam from a person who is truly living according to these principals and by serving such a personality. The Lord within the heart pleased with that endeavour removes the influences of ignorance and passion from our heart.
A separatist is one who sees his interest as separate from that of the Supreme Lord. Mixed devotees or devotees in the mode of passion and ignorance think that the interest of the Supreme Lord is supplying the orders of the devotee. The interest of such devotees is to withdraw from the Lord as much as possible for their sense gratification. This is the separatist mentality. So, separateness and oneness is based on the motivation.
The separatist consciousness comes when we desire sense gratification. And the consciousness of true transcendental oneness is when we simply want to please Krishna. So as long as we are performing the service with some material selfish motivation in our heart, that is the separatist mentality. How to free ourselves from that mentality? The answer lies in the chanting of the holy names of the Lord as follows:
“Hare Krishna Hare KrishnaKrishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare RamaRama Rama Hare Hare.”
The writer is the spiritual guru of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
