Just One More Thing
Surrounded by the blazing fire of material existence, still we hang on to our plans and possessions.
Time MagazineOctober 25, 2007
- AMANDA RIPLEY
What to Save from a Fire
Imagine getting a knock on the door in the middle of the night. You have 10 minutes to leave, says the sheriff's deputy, and you don't doubt him. The air is suddenly so turbid that your daughter, who has asthma, is throwing up in the hall bathroom. Ash is gathering like snow on the front steps. You close the door and consider the question that is becoming an existential ritual for hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year: What do I take? go to story
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Although I know that this national strength, or this material strength, the bank balance strength and good wife and everything is there, they'll not be able to save me. This is the intelligence. They'll not be able to save me because when death will come, nobody will be helpful to me. I'll have to go. I cannot say, "Now I have got my children, I have got so much duty, I have got this to do, this to do, this to do." No. Now your time is over. Your so-called arrangement for material happiness is now over. Now you must get out. more
"Please save me, but not today"
GUEST: What if someone feels he has one last thing to do in the material world before he gives up material life?
HANSADUTTA: That's called maya, illusion. Everyone feels spiritual life is very nice, but "I have to do this, I have to do that." One Christian saint prayed, "O Lord, please save me, but not today." We are always attracted by just one last thing. If we can just take care of one thing, then definitely everything will be all right. That's the principle of material attraction. There is always just one more thing.
Nothing in this world can satisfy the conditioned soul's desires. Therefore we bounce from one thing to another. You've been running on like this, day in and day out, thinking, "Just one more thing. Just that one thing will make everything all right. Then I'll sit down and be satisfied. Then I'll relax and enjoy." We always want to see the other side of the next hill. The other side of the fence seems greener.
As long as there is hope for material happiness, we cannot accept Krishna consciousness. We must be thoroughly hopeless. We have to be convinced that it is a completely useless waste of time to make any endeavor to adjust things on the material platform. The best thing is to simply surrender to Krishna. If there is anything that has to be fixed up in the material world, then it will be fixed up by surrender to Krishna, just as by pouring water on the root of a tree, all the branches, fruits and flowers on the tree get water automatically. By putting food in the stomach, the hands, legs and all other parts of the body are nourished and automatically get strength. Similarly, surrendering to Krishna and executing His devotional service solves all other problems automatically. That is the beauty of spiritual life. We must surrender to Krishna: "All right, Krishna, now I am Your servant, and You are responsible for my life. Take care of me." In exchange we agree to serve Krishna. In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam sharanam vraja
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. (Bg 18.66)
It's like having a big friend who has influence. When you have a problem, you go to him, and he says, "All right, just relax. I'll take care of everything."
Sri Guru and Gauranga
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