Foreword:
Realization of devotee from ISV
As many of you know, 7 weeks back, I was involved in a good-sized accident. I live today, to write about it, only due the wonderful prayers of all Vaishnavas', the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Madanmohanji and the nourishing prasadam so many devotees graciously provided to me, for many days.
Myself and my family are deeply grateful to each and every devotee of this wonderful ISV community, who supported us in so many ways and helped us get through this tough situation. We cannot thank you all enough for the timely help.
As I was getting through and over this, some good thoughts and words were given to me through various ways. We definitely see all the devotees here are very exalted and don't need any fundamentals. However, just to move forward this amazing good "akarma" that we received from you all, and in sincere and deep gratitude to all devotees who helped us, we request to share some learnings we had with all of you. If at all, it helps any single person to plan their life, then may be Krishna will accept our "thank you".
Core:
I was quite busy the last 6 months, in work, sadhana, seva and home. It seemed the right combination. I was doing quite good at office, things were moving nicely with some good work hours. And it had a good work-life balance, where I could give the weekends for some nice devotional service. And with it, I was managing to give some good time at home as well. Sadhana front was going according to the guidelines of initiation. Not super strong - the minimum requirements were being met, but unfortunately "studying" Srila Prabhupada's books is not part of the vows for initiation. So I knew this was a missing aspect. However, with all the above other things going good, I didn't feel it extremely urgent to be thinking or working on this last one. The technical name of this aspect I later learned is "Svadhyaya (Enlightening Study of Scriptures)".
September 20th 2019. It was a usual day, work done, seva almost done and going back home. Just a bit late in the night. I had been through this kind of a day so many times. Absolutely usual. All of a sudden, no consciousness. The next second could have been another life. A one-way travel, for which I surely was not packed right. Why? We will know a few words later.
Of course, Krishna's arrangement, I was mercifully given a second chance. Consciousness came back and got to know I have a few ribs fractured and things will be better. The only medical help needed was going to be pain management, as fractured ribs can pain a lot. Pain was mandatory, but suffering was optional. I must tell that many many thanks to Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON and the blessings of vaisnava's, I managed to have zero suffering. Because I became busy in packing right, for my travel. A travel, that I was now convinced, can happen any time.
Now, I began to recognize the sense of the following verse, which Srimad Bhagavatam says:
samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. (SB. 10.14.58)
The folks with "param padam" as their destination, have already packed well for their travel. Whereas, I was not yet there. Being here, in the material world, where there is definitely danger at any step, and being a house-holder, with a few dependents to take care of, I was really not packed right, as my knowledge of the destination was not yet complete.
So a motivation kicked in to pack right for this possible travel, knowing very well that I am not a pure devotee. And by packing right, I mean, to pack what we really can take and not-pack what we can't really take with us. And organize both - what we can take and what we leave behind.
The pointer for this comes from Krishna's definition of Yoga: to be balanced well in life.
yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañ-jaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvaṁ yoga ucyate
Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga. (BG 2.48)
The following 2 factors came forward, for this balancing and preparation for the anytime possible one-way trip:
Spiritual readiness for this life and for the next life (The non-tangible, yet The Real Stuff)
Material readiness for this life (The Practical Stuff, but temporary)
Let's talk about the second one first, for a change:
#2 Material Readiness in this Life:
This is applicable more for the married couples and for those who are going to enter into the married life. Since there is danger at every step, we are talking about readiness thinking that the danger is going to hit for sure. As Srila Prabhupada says, death rate is a 100%, for a person who is born, he/she is sure to die.
If the Husband dies untimely: There is both emotional trouble and financial trouble. Emotional help and support is and can be nicely received from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around, however, financial help won't last for long.
If the Wife dies untimely: There is emotional trouble, but mostly not financial. (Assuming the bread-winner is the husband. Else, previous case applies). And emotional help and support is there from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around.
So Financial planning wrt to the person who is the bread-winner of the family is very important, even for devotees. Arjuna did not give the reins of his chariot to Krishna and then relaxed back in there. As Krishna was driving him, he was also fully engaged in fighting the war. Even in the Damodar-lila pastime, Mother Yasoda had to put in her effort and then the mercy of Krishna came in. Similarly, in our life as well, we should do our best and then only leave the rest to Krishna. So on the long run, finanical support has to be planned out. Can't really depend on society. And when it is planned out well, then there is one immediate fruit: our daily sadhana can really be a focused one!
[Ref 4] Based on the Analysis of a successful Stock-Broker and a powerful devotee, today, essentially 5 things one must have, to secure oneself and their family financially:
Term (Life) Insurance for Family Breadwinner
If employer given Life-insurance is there, its great.
It is preferable to take supplemental life-insurance as well, when available
If possible, it is also good to buy a personal term insurance (that which is not dependent on your employer). Because in the unforeseen case of unemployment, this insurance will help sure your dependents have a corpus amount to be dependent on
This is not very expensive, if we go for the basic term insurance.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment, Insurance for Family Breadwinner
Cases like mine. Anyone driving a lot for daily affairs needs to have this one
Health Insurance for entire family
Home Insurance (If you own your home)
To protect against natural and unnatural disturbances
Recurring Account Balance
A few other practical things, that we should not miss to keep up-to-date:
Setting up beneficiaries correctly
Making sure all this information is known to both the husband and the wife, and all related papers, insurance numbers are available in a location easily accessible to husband and wife. (Because, in times of emergency, like the husband's death, the wife shouldn't find it hard to get this information out, so they know what financial help has been nicely arranged by the husband for the family).
Plan what you leave behind well
Don't leave folks in chaos. Plan our material life, that today if I leave, things should be ok for my family. Don't leave them to pay off our loans. Make arrangements for them to be taken care of. (Example, have your life and supplemental life insurance enough to cover the loan of the home. So in case of your early departure, the insurance amount can pay off the loan and at least the family will have a place to live in. Living expenses can be handled with not so great difficulty in America.)
Clean up as you leave
Try to keep as less loans as possible
So when we leave, we don't burden the family even more
With the above things done, we can be rest assured, that our daily sadhana will be good. Because all eventualities have been planned well for. At least, we have done our best, taken care of our duty well. Rest is up to Krishna!
#1: Spiritual Readiness in this Life and for the next life:
So #2 above were some things that we can’t pack to take with us, in this one-way trip. So we also need to focus and take care of the things that we can really pack with us. Something that will come with us forever!
The temples established by Srila Prabhupada, give us this very opportunity. To hear, to serve, to chant and to grow the spiritual bank balance. If we are doing this, it is great! If we are not, we should begin it as soon as possible.
In this life, as HG Vaisesika Prabhuji mentions many times, "Your Seva will Save You". For me too, this was true. All the kirtan and lounge paraphernalia I was carrying in my car for the seva, took the direct hit, hence saving me from the pressure. I am sure here the seva only saved me. So being engaged in a regular devotional service is always something that will be helpful for this life and those credits will also go with us for the next life. Pack it up!
Avoid the LAG, to move forward well here: Lust, Anger and Greed. It may appear as a very repetitive thing Srila Prabhupada mentions all over the Bhagavad-Gita. But it takes time to understand why this is being repeated so many times. Because its that important. And we need the 3 D's to help us in here: 1) Discrimination, 2) Determination and 3) Discipline
Discrimination: We learn this by reading scriptures. This is where Svadhyaya comes in picture. Regular enlightening study of the scriptures like Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. They give us the discerning power, when choices come in front of us in our daily lives. And that's pretty much throughout every day. So I did learn that this is the reason they say: "nityam bhagavata sevaya". Constantly reminding us that we need to prepare not just to be well situation in this life, but also to be well situated after this life.
Determination: We learn this by Chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra sincerely every single day. I learned simple chanting is not enough. Focus is needed, a sincere cry to the holy names is needed. And all this best happens during brahma-muhurta, the early morning hours. That’s why our Guru parampara stresses the fact that we need to utilize the morning hours to have this dialog with Krishna, before our day begins where throughout we have a dialogue with Maya.
Discipline: "One thing at a time"! It implies: Chant while you chant, Eat while you eat, Drive while you drive. Don't think of office while chanting and don't think of chanting while in office. This simple discipline will let us focus on the Holy name when we chant and work when we work.
However, in my life, as I had put the excuse before, it is quite possible that our daily life and duties might keep us so very occupied, that this #1 activity mentioned above might go into the background and might not even get any processer time of our body's CPU. In such cases, we need the help of our loving game - Cricket! As another wonderful devotee mentioned - tuk-tuk khelthe jao (bit by bit, keep the game on and the score-card ticking). Those single runs every day is good to do. This is a place where we see HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's practical methods to spirituality are very helpful:
CHAD for BG or CHAD+
Reading Srila Prabhupada's books may be 15 mins every day (Example, through "Be a sage, page by page")
Japa Circle: Chanting your prescribed rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra sincerely
Then for sure, Krishna will provide the bigger opportunities: chakka chauka lagegha (the fours and sixers will happen)
Actually, Krishna has already provided for it, once every 15 days comes Ekadasi
Ekadasi is Krishna's wonderful boon, for us sadhana devotees [Reference: 5, Scientific basis of Ekadasi]
Twice a month a chance to hit fours and sixers in our sadhana
Scientifically as well, it has been proved through the Noble prize winning "Junk DNA" discovery, of how we can live longer by fasting on the 11th day of the waxing and waning moon
And we can utilize that time by diverting to better our reading and chanting
So, at least my plan is to take a half-day off every Ekadasi and concentrate on increasing the sadhana that day
Once every year, comes Karthik month
More chanting, more studying of Srila Prabhupada's books in Karthik Month
Following in the footsteps of acharya’s, if we go do Holy Dham, it is great. Else, we can take 2 weeks off and have focused study of our scriptures right here in Silicon Valley
The above things are simple pointers, to help us pack the real stuff for the one-way travel. They are sure to come with you and will make your destination a very good one. That is not a promise from me, it is a promise from Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and our param-guru Srila Prabhupada!
Of the above, now we know, #1 are the things which we have packed to take with us. And #2 are the things we will leave behind. However, we leave them behind with good planning. So the folks we leave behind will at least be financially stable. And that will also let us leave unattached to the material aspects of life. This will help us in our travel, as it makes it a whole bit more lighter!!
My many many humble thanks and regards to all the people, who helped give pointers to put the above together. They are all mentioned in the references below! Whatever has come above, is the mercy and blessings of our Guru parampara. My personal hope is to read this every now and then, so I don't forget the urgency of Krishna consciousness. Yes, we have to maintain the material life, but we also need to keep pedaling the spiritual cycle. This balance will make sure we are ready for the take off, any time that it may come!
References:
HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's Lectures, at ISKCON Silicon Valley
HG Radheshyam Prabhuji Lectures for the Youth
HG Yugal Kishore Prabhuji's personal suggestions
HG Ananda Vrindavan Prabhuji's amazing seminars on "Managing Spiritual Health and Material Wealth"
HG Amarendra Prabhuji's lectures on Srimad Bhagavatam and on Ekadasi
With gratitude,
your servant,
Srikumar
Realization of devotee from ISV
As many of you know, 7 weeks back, I was involved in a good-sized accident. I live today, to write about it, only due the wonderful prayers of all Vaishnavas', the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Madanmohanji and the nourishing prasadam so many devotees graciously provided to me, for many days.
Myself and my family are deeply grateful to each and every devotee of this wonderful ISV community, who supported us in so many ways and helped us get through this tough situation. We cannot thank you all enough for the timely help.
As I was getting through and over this, some good thoughts and words were given to me through various ways. We definitely see all the devotees here are very exalted and don't need any fundamentals. However, just to move forward this amazing good "akarma" that we received from you all, and in sincere and deep gratitude to all devotees who helped us, we request to share some learnings we had with all of you. If at all, it helps any single person to plan their life, then may be Krishna will accept our "thank you".
Core:
I was quite busy the last 6 months, in work, sadhana, seva and home. It seemed the right combination. I was doing quite good at office, things were moving nicely with some good work hours. And it had a good work-life balance, where I could give the weekends for some nice devotional service. And with it, I was managing to give some good time at home as well. Sadhana front was going according to the guidelines of initiation. Not super strong - the minimum requirements were being met, but unfortunately "studying" Srila Prabhupada's books is not part of the vows for initiation. So I knew this was a missing aspect. However, with all the above other things going good, I didn't feel it extremely urgent to be thinking or working on this last one. The technical name of this aspect I later learned is "Svadhyaya (Enlightening Study of Scriptures)".
September 20th 2019. It was a usual day, work done, seva almost done and going back home. Just a bit late in the night. I had been through this kind of a day so many times. Absolutely usual. All of a sudden, no consciousness. The next second could have been another life. A one-way travel, for which I surely was not packed right. Why? We will know a few words later.
Of course, Krishna's arrangement, I was mercifully given a second chance. Consciousness came back and got to know I have a few ribs fractured and things will be better. The only medical help needed was going to be pain management, as fractured ribs can pain a lot. Pain was mandatory, but suffering was optional. I must tell that many many thanks to Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON and the blessings of vaisnava's, I managed to have zero suffering. Because I became busy in packing right, for my travel. A travel, that I was now convinced, can happen any time.
Now, I began to recognize the sense of the following verse, which Srimad Bhagavatam says:
samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. (SB. 10.14.58)
The folks with "param padam" as their destination, have already packed well for their travel. Whereas, I was not yet there. Being here, in the material world, where there is definitely danger at any step, and being a house-holder, with a few dependents to take care of, I was really not packed right, as my knowledge of the destination was not yet complete.
So a motivation kicked in to pack right for this possible travel, knowing very well that I am not a pure devotee. And by packing right, I mean, to pack what we really can take and not-pack what we can't really take with us. And organize both - what we can take and what we leave behind.
The pointer for this comes from Krishna's definition of Yoga: to be balanced well in life.
yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañ-jaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvaṁ yoga ucyate
Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga. (BG 2.48)
The following 2 factors came forward, for this balancing and preparation for the anytime possible one-way trip:
Spiritual readiness for this life and for the next life (The non-tangible, yet The Real Stuff)
Material readiness for this life (The Practical Stuff, but temporary)
Let's talk about the second one first, for a change:
#2 Material Readiness in this Life:
This is applicable more for the married couples and for those who are going to enter into the married life. Since there is danger at every step, we are talking about readiness thinking that the danger is going to hit for sure. As Srila Prabhupada says, death rate is a 100%, for a person who is born, he/she is sure to die.
If the Husband dies untimely: There is both emotional trouble and financial trouble. Emotional help and support is and can be nicely received from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around, however, financial help won't last for long.
If the Wife dies untimely: There is emotional trouble, but mostly not financial. (Assuming the bread-winner is the husband. Else, previous case applies). And emotional help and support is there from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around.
So Financial planning wrt to the person who is the bread-winner of the family is very important, even for devotees. Arjuna did not give the reins of his chariot to Krishna and then relaxed back in there. As Krishna was driving him, he was also fully engaged in fighting the war. Even in the Damodar-lila pastime, Mother Yasoda had to put in her effort and then the mercy of Krishna came in. Similarly, in our life as well, we should do our best and then only leave the rest to Krishna. So on the long run, finanical support has to be planned out. Can't really depend on society. And when it is planned out well, then there is one immediate fruit: our daily sadhana can really be a focused one!
[Ref 4] Based on the Analysis of a successful Stock-Broker and a powerful devotee, today, essentially 5 things one must have, to secure oneself and their family financially:
Term (Life) Insurance for Family Breadwinner
If employer given Life-insurance is there, its great.
It is preferable to take supplemental life-insurance as well, when available
If possible, it is also good to buy a personal term insurance (that which is not dependent on your employer). Because in the unforeseen case of unemployment, this insurance will help sure your dependents have a corpus amount to be dependent on
This is not very expensive, if we go for the basic term insurance.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment, Insurance for Family Breadwinner
Cases like mine. Anyone driving a lot for daily affairs needs to have this one
Health Insurance for entire family
Home Insurance (If you own your home)
To protect against natural and unnatural disturbances
Recurring Account Balance
A few other practical things, that we should not miss to keep up-to-date:
Setting up beneficiaries correctly
Making sure all this information is known to both the husband and the wife, and all related papers, insurance numbers are available in a location easily accessible to husband and wife. (Because, in times of emergency, like the husband's death, the wife shouldn't find it hard to get this information out, so they know what financial help has been nicely arranged by the husband for the family).
Plan what you leave behind well
Don't leave folks in chaos. Plan our material life, that today if I leave, things should be ok for my family. Don't leave them to pay off our loans. Make arrangements for them to be taken care of. (Example, have your life and supplemental life insurance enough to cover the loan of the home. So in case of your early departure, the insurance amount can pay off the loan and at least the family will have a place to live in. Living expenses can be handled with not so great difficulty in America.)
Clean up as you leave
Try to keep as less loans as possible
So when we leave, we don't burden the family even more
With the above things done, we can be rest assured, that our daily sadhana will be good. Because all eventualities have been planned well for. At least, we have done our best, taken care of our duty well. Rest is up to Krishna!
#1: Spiritual Readiness in this Life and for the next life:
So #2 above were some things that we can’t pack to take with us, in this one-way trip. So we also need to focus and take care of the things that we can really pack with us. Something that will come with us forever!
The temples established by Srila Prabhupada, give us this very opportunity. To hear, to serve, to chant and to grow the spiritual bank balance. If we are doing this, it is great! If we are not, we should begin it as soon as possible.
In this life, as HG Vaisesika Prabhuji mentions many times, "Your Seva will Save You". For me too, this was true. All the kirtan and lounge paraphernalia I was carrying in my car for the seva, took the direct hit, hence saving me from the pressure. I am sure here the seva only saved me. So being engaged in a regular devotional service is always something that will be helpful for this life and those credits will also go with us for the next life. Pack it up!
Avoid the LAG, to move forward well here: Lust, Anger and Greed. It may appear as a very repetitive thing Srila Prabhupada mentions all over the Bhagavad-Gita. But it takes time to understand why this is being repeated so many times. Because its that important. And we need the 3 D's to help us in here: 1) Discrimination, 2) Determination and 3) Discipline
Discrimination: We learn this by reading scriptures. This is where Svadhyaya comes in picture. Regular enlightening study of the scriptures like Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. They give us the discerning power, when choices come in front of us in our daily lives. And that's pretty much throughout every day. So I did learn that this is the reason they say: "nityam bhagavata sevaya". Constantly reminding us that we need to prepare not just to be well situation in this life, but also to be well situated after this life.
Determination: We learn this by Chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra sincerely every single day. I learned simple chanting is not enough. Focus is needed, a sincere cry to the holy names is needed. And all this best happens during brahma-muhurta, the early morning hours. That’s why our Guru parampara stresses the fact that we need to utilize the morning hours to have this dialog with Krishna, before our day begins where throughout we have a dialogue with Maya.
Discipline: "One thing at a time"! It implies: Chant while you chant, Eat while you eat, Drive while you drive. Don't think of office while chanting and don't think of chanting while in office. This simple discipline will let us focus on the Holy name when we chant and work when we work.
However, in my life, as I had put the excuse before, it is quite possible that our daily life and duties might keep us so very occupied, that this #1 activity mentioned above might go into the background and might not even get any processer time of our body's CPU. In such cases, we need the help of our loving game - Cricket! As another wonderful devotee mentioned - tuk-tuk khelthe jao (bit by bit, keep the game on and the score-card ticking). Those single runs every day is good to do. This is a place where we see HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's practical methods to spirituality are very helpful:
CHAD for BG or CHAD+
Reading Srila Prabhupada's books may be 15 mins every day (Example, through "Be a sage, page by page")
Japa Circle: Chanting your prescribed rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra sincerely
Then for sure, Krishna will provide the bigger opportunities: chakka chauka lagegha (the fours and sixers will happen)
Actually, Krishna has already provided for it, once every 15 days comes Ekadasi
Ekadasi is Krishna's wonderful boon, for us sadhana devotees [Reference: 5, Scientific basis of Ekadasi]
Twice a month a chance to hit fours and sixers in our sadhana
Scientifically as well, it has been proved through the Noble prize winning "Junk DNA" discovery, of how we can live longer by fasting on the 11th day of the waxing and waning moon
And we can utilize that time by diverting to better our reading and chanting
So, at least my plan is to take a half-day off every Ekadasi and concentrate on increasing the sadhana that day
Once every year, comes Karthik month
More chanting, more studying of Srila Prabhupada's books in Karthik Month
Following in the footsteps of acharya’s, if we go do Holy Dham, it is great. Else, we can take 2 weeks off and have focused study of our scriptures right here in Silicon Valley
The above things are simple pointers, to help us pack the real stuff for the one-way travel. They are sure to come with you and will make your destination a very good one. That is not a promise from me, it is a promise from Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and our param-guru Srila Prabhupada!
Of the above, now we know, #1 are the things which we have packed to take with us. And #2 are the things we will leave behind. However, we leave them behind with good planning. So the folks we leave behind will at least be financially stable. And that will also let us leave unattached to the material aspects of life. This will help us in our travel, as it makes it a whole bit more lighter!!
My many many humble thanks and regards to all the people, who helped give pointers to put the above together. They are all mentioned in the references below! Whatever has come above, is the mercy and blessings of our Guru parampara. My personal hope is to read this every now and then, so I don't forget the urgency of Krishna consciousness. Yes, we have to maintain the material life, but we also need to keep pedaling the spiritual cycle. This balance will make sure we are ready for the take off, any time that it may come!
References:
HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's Lectures, at ISKCON Silicon Valley
HG Radheshyam Prabhuji Lectures for the Youth
HG Yugal Kishore Prabhuji's personal suggestions
HG Ananda Vrindavan Prabhuji's amazing seminars on "Managing Spiritual Health and Material Wealth"
HG Amarendra Prabhuji's lectures on Srimad Bhagavatam and on Ekadasi
With gratitude,
your servant,
Srikumar
