Shukasari

Sometimes it is so hard to see the good in others. We almost always contemplate how others have wronged us in many ways. The truth is we may have wronged them too. Perhaps not in this life but many, many life times ago. It's just that we don't seem to recall about such things. What goes around, comes around. It's karma. Whether we like it or not. How is it different for those who have come under the guidance of a bona-fide spiritual master? He protects and guides us from within. Whatever karma we may have to suffer, the pain is somewhat eased due to His mercy. So instead of calling it karma, we must look at it as mercy. For without such pain and suffering, we will not be able to go deep within our self and seek solace. What do we do when we, the spiritual aspirants are faced with such situations? Constant prayer at the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva will help alleviate whatever pain we may be going through. He will show us the path to enlightenment. We must really tr...

This incident happened to me a long time ago. Each time I tell this story, it only reinforces my faith in the maha-mantra. When it happened I have not met my Srila Gurudeva. Even then the maha-mantra can protect and save you. Read on: I once had a colleague who was a pretty good dresser. She's also quite a looker as she gets all the attention from the boys in the office. One fine afternoon, I was sitting right opposite her cracking my head as I was suffering from writer's block. She (let's call her Sherry) started to shiver. My initial reaction was the air-conditioning was too cold. Besides, everyone was almost down with the flu at that time. Soon my other colleagues scooted her off to a room adjoining to our main writers' room. The poor girl was really sick, I thought. I continued doing whatever work since there were others looking after her at that moment. All of a sudden, my colleagues started running out of the room. Their faces looking quite blank. I tried to stop ...

Yesterday was Wesak Day. My god sister Lalita didi and I decided to distribute our Srila Gurudeva’s books outside the Buddhist Temple in Brickfields. Lalita didi wanted to go there after lunch. So we met up about 2:30 p.m. The heat was intense. Beads of perspiration were trickling down my face. To make matters worse, I forgot my sun-hat! When we arrived here, Lalita didi wanted to go inside the temple premises to check things out. I said I will wait for her outside near a stall with a big shady umbrella. Many people passed by me. Some did not even bother to look. I tried really hard to distribute. The heat was getting to me. I was thinking to myself: “What am I doing? Am I able to distribute here?” The gentleman who was manning his sweets-stall asked me to come closer towards his shady umbrella. Out of desperation I said: “I will, if you take a book from me.” The man smiled. And I was like: “O Krsna, Gurudeva, how am I to do this?!” After about 20 minutes, the man came up to me and ask...

Preaching and bringing in new people to chant is not an easy task. We have to be persistent. Srila Gurudeva often says, "Preaching is really for the preacher himself/herself. The more we preach, the more realisation we can acquire." There's this university student, Priya , whom I got in touch with 2 years ago by one god-sister. Since my god-sister, Malati, who resides in India cannot always be in constant preaching contact, she therefore forwarded Priya's e-mail and contact number to me. Many times I had invited Priya for programmes at our preaching centre, which she will politely decline. This is because she lives very far away and she don't own a car, as yet. She is a student after all. Besides, her mother do not approve of her going out after dusk. To this I usually advised her to listen to her mother. Just 4 days ago I decided to have a lunch house programme this Sunday. So I text ed message Priya and to my surprise she confirmed her coming through e-mail. ...