I was just reading a beautiful essay by His Holiness Devamrita Swami titled, To Be a Lover.
In that essay, he quotes the below lines which is so memorable and motivating :
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” In Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 17, Srila Prabhupada describes the love-potency of a purified devotee:
By the process of executing regulated devotional service, one is actually elevated onto the transcendental stage, beyond the material modes of nature. At that time one’s heart becomes illuminated like the sun. The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud; similarly when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love which is more glorious than the sunshine.
Mission impossible, or the only real way forward? An eruption from the heart more radiant than the sun? What would you be willing to do, so one day you could love like that?
“Only at that time is the attachment to Krsna perfect,” Nectar of Devotion continues. “Spontaneously, the devotee becomes eager to serve the Lord in his ecstatic love.”
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And I was thinking that this is the result we must all hope to achieve. Surely, few of us, atleast me, forget this goal. With time in the movement, comfort and familiarity sets in and then my seriousness to attain the stage of pure love of Krishna, to return to His abode and make this my last life in the material world drops away. Ofcourse, chanting, temple visits and Prasadam is there but am I seriously with heartfelt sincerity and with full resolute aiming for the highest goal? Or am I just happy to have a religion that I understand and proud to be a part off, a sense of belonging?
To attain ecstatic love for Krishna one has to keep practicing the various items in devotional service with so much seriousness, with so much care, with so much guidance, with so much determination, with so much urgency. Only then can we be more radiant than the sun, make a difference to the world and finally attain the mercy of Krishna.
When we constantly and till our very last breath conduct the following activities with great enthusiasm : attendance at mangal aroti, chanting, temple services, book distribution, honouring and distributing prasadam, visiting places of pilgrimage, reading Prabhupad books, serving spiritual master, attending lectures, spending time with devotees, wearing tilaka and devotee clothes, painting devotional pictures, giving lectures at homes & universities, participating in kirtans, deity worship, making donations or even writing an essay, one must pierce the heart with the intention that he/she is very serious about getting to the platform of perfect attachment to Krishna. This thought and the above exercises will get Krishna opening all the doors for us to go back home, back to Godhead. He knows perfectly well how to make us a perfect lover. He is one Himself.
9 Days, 8 Nights 