"Submissiveness an Essential Qualification"

"Submissiveness an Essential Qualification" by HH Radhanath Swami

Krishna tells in Gita, "I am impartial."  Thus, Maharaj Parikshit is not just listening, he is hearing very very attentively.  It's not just a ritual.  He's deeply trying to understand every word of the teachings on the banks of the river.  That is sense of urgency.  Usually in a crisis, we become extremely attentive.  When things are going along, the tendency is to just go along with it (contentment).  In order for the message of Krishna to deeply enter our hearts and transform us, we must always be intensely hearing, and chanting.

He reciprocates according to our approach to Krishna. If we approach in a leisurely way, then we get a leisurely experience.  If we approach Krishna in a very desperate urgent moment of need, then we will get an intense experience of Krishna.  We don't know everything.  We live in a dangerous world.  At any step we can have temptations, distractions, or unknown factors awaiting to challenge us.  We are imperfect; we can be the source of our own troubles.  We cannot rely simply on logic to survive.

Maya gets us when we're "off guard." when we are taking things too lightly.

As long as we are intensely taking shelter of the Lord, Maya cannot touch us. She can allure us with temptations, but she cannot overcome us, because Krishna is there to help us.  But if we are casually taking shelter of Krishna, Maya has the power to overcome our consciousness.

We must try our best to go deeper and deeper in our relationship with Krishna.  It is not a casual thing to be devoted to God, it is a very active, very conscious action.  Like being in love with someone.  But this is being in love with Krishna, who is All-Attractive, who never misspeaks, never makes mistakes, is All Powerful and Perfect.  Krishna Consciousness, God Consciousness, that true sense of security in this material world is not about academics and how many rituals and all that, rather it is something that is given, if we are earnest enough, again acting out of love, not fear, reward or duty.