Our Loyal and Fallible Soldiers
~by Rukmini Walker-
To listen to Rukmini narrate this post in an audio format, please click on the "play" button below:
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There’s a story about a loyal Japanese soldier who was still posted, poised and ready to attack any intruder on a remote island in the Philippines, some thirty years after the end of World War II.
A young Japanese adventurer somehow found him there. He tried to convince him that the war had ended long ago. He had done his duty to his country, and he could now go home. But the loyal soldier refused to accept his word on the matter. He was so dedicated to the cause of his country. He said he would only accept what he said if he heard it from his commanding officer himself.
Somehow, that senior officer was still alive, and the young man brought him there to convince the soldier of the truth, that the war was indeed over. But they needed some way to validate his service, to celebrate him and bring him home as a hero. Although after wartime, he’d been killing anyone who came upon him up there in his outpost. He needed to now be rehabilitated and given a new service.I’ve been thinking that I also have my own loyal soldiers within me. That knee-jerk default inner voice that rears up when I hear something I don’t like. That negative, defensive or offensive voice, the inner judge, jury and executioner… The one who places a judgement before I can even ponder what I really desire, or believe, or might wish to reply. Who are your loyal soldiers? Are there old hankerings, lamentations, or judgements that no longer serve you well? An old lingering desire or relationship that now exists only in your mind? Can we thank them for their dedicated service and now say goodbye? Can their loyalty be reengaged in ways that better serve us today? Srila Prabhupada calls them fallible soldiers. My body, mind, relatives, money, beauty, or education - all are fallible soldiers. None of them can actually save me in my final moments of death. My dear loyal and fallible soldiers! Please just call out the name of Krsna, in these moments of life and at death!Thakur Bhaktivinode implores us:
So push thy onward march, O soul,
Against an evil deed,
That stands with soldiers Hate and Lust-
A hero be indeed.
Maintain thy post in spirit world
As firmly as you can,
Let never matter push thee down-
O stand heroic man!
O Saragrahi Vaisnava* soul,
Thou art an angel fair,
Lead, lead me on to Vrndavan,
And spirit’s power declare.
There rests my soul from matter free
Upon my Lover’s arms-
Eternal peace and spirit’s love
Are all my chanting’s charms.
All the best,
Rukmini Walker*A Saragrahi Vaisnava is a devotee of the Lord who always seeks the essence of love and wisdom within all things.
How Our Actions and Choices in Everyday Life Affect Our Chanting
~from an online lecture by Sacinandana Swami on May 3, 2020
Similar to what we are experiencing today with the internet, everything you do in this world is being ‘recorded’ and it stays there for as long as this manifestation of the world exists. It creates an impression, a samskara, which then informs your future actions and reactions. This is how by your choices, by your activities, you develop a certain pattern of action, choices and response – it is based on deep samskaras. Sometimes we call it habit or conditioning. This can affect your relationship with the Holy Name, because all our perceptions and experiences are affected by the ‘spectacles’ through which we look at the world. For this reason, devotees follow a few rules that help them to avoid those impressions which can distract you in a harmful way. On the other hand, we do things like for instance associating with devotees and reading sacred scriptures that affect us in a positive way, which cause positive samskaras that in turn affect our relationship with the Holy Name.
It’s So Simple, You Could Miss It
~by Rukmini Walker
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To listen to the audio version of the blog, please click here:
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It’s morning. I’m listening to a recording of a talk given in London by my guru, Srila Prabhupada. He often likes to cite parallels from ordinary life experiences, but today, I was struck hearing this one in particular.
He compared the path of Bhakti Yoga to homeopathic medicine. In homeopathic medicine, a remedy is given as an almost undetectable infusion into a tiny sugar pellet.
He said that it’s so simple and painless, that we don’t take it seriously. Where is the bitter medicine? Where is the suffering? Without contortions of our bodies and minds, could we actually access the spirit in realization and joy? It seems improbable and impossible.
To offer my heart and the things I possess to God, or Krsna, seems so simple, so inconsequential, so momentary. Can something so insignificant be so transformative?
In fact, everything that exists is spiritual, or existing in the brahmajyoti (or spiritual effulgence of God). When we try to usurp it or enjoy it separately as our own, it takes on amaterial, illusory quality. But when we offer it back to divinity, it regains its original spiritual quality.
The holy name as a means of approach to God is so freely given in so many of the world’s traditions. It costs nothing but our sincerity and attention.
[perfectpullquote align="full" cite="" link="" color="" class="" size=""]“…the holy name can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence…” (Siksastakam, spoken by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu)[/perfectpullquote]
But the skeptic mind wonders: How could it be so simple and effective as they say?
It’s so simple, you could miss it.
All the best,
Rukmini Walker