(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 12th March 2012, New York) Lecture: SB 3.31.45-46
You may know the story about the pope who came to Vrindavan. He was meeting the devotees and at one point the phone rang and the pope said:
‘I have to take this. This call is very important.’
He took the call. He spoke, and it became quite clear that he was speaking to God! There’s a whole discussion going on the line, and a devotee said:
‘Oh, can I also for a moment just speak to Him for a second?’
‘Yes, no problem,’ said the pope. ‘ But don’t speak for too long as it’s a long distance call.’
Later on the devotee’s phone rang and then he spoke to God and the pope said:
‘Hey, you have one too!’
‘Yeah.’
‘Can I?’
‘Sure, sure no problem. Speak as long as you want since it’s a local call!’
It’s a whole story but there is some truth in that. We have closeness, very close, by serving Him constantly. Therefore living in a temple is so nice because you are living with Krishna! Or chanting the holy name is so nice because the name is Krishna! So He is here. He is completely here! It’s not like, ‘It’s a prayer.’
‘What is this chanting?’
‘It’s a prayer.’
‘Oh, is it a prayer?’
‘Yes, it’s prayer where we can communicate with God!’
I mean, that is a poor explanation! Well, excuse me, a prayer? It’s like we have just reduced the chanting into a prayer. We are right there with Krishna! He is with us. Just chant, He is here. His presence is here. You can feel it; you can experience it; you can sense it! Something is there. So just like that we are associating with Krishna and in this way it is not difficult or artificial to develop a relationship with Krishna.
You may know the story about the pope who came to Vrindavan. He was meeting the devotees and at one point the phone rang and the pope said:
‘I have to take this. This call is very important.’
He took the call. He spoke, and it became quite clear that he was speaking to God! There’s a whole discussion going on the line, and a devotee said:
‘Oh, can I also for a moment just speak to Him for a second?’
‘Yes, no problem,’ said the pope. ‘ But don’t speak for too long as it’s a long distance call.’
Later on the devotee’s phone rang and then he spoke to God and the pope said:
‘Hey, you have one too!’
‘Yeah.’
‘Can I?’
‘Sure, sure no problem. Speak as long as you want since it’s a local call!’
It’s a whole story but there is some truth in that. We have closeness, very close, by serving Him constantly. Therefore living in a temple is so nice because you are living with Krishna! Or chanting the holy name is so nice because the name is Krishna! So He is here. He is completely here! It’s not like, ‘It’s a prayer.’
‘What is this chanting?’
‘It’s a prayer.’
‘Oh, is it a prayer?’
‘Yes, it’s prayer where we can communicate with God!’
I mean, that is a poor explanation! Well, excuse me, a prayer? It’s like we have just reduced the chanting into a prayer. We are right there with Krishna! He is with us. Just chant, He is here. His presence is here. You can feel it; you can experience it; you can sense it! Something is there. So just like that we are associating with Krishna and in this way it is not difficult or artificial to develop a relationship with Krishna.
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