When to love Krishna? Spring or winter of life?
There is no right or wrong time for Love. Love Krishna now. Over the course of a number of years of trying to practice devotional service, I have found myself putting things off, things that are connected to my devotional service. I have also come across many people that say I will practice devotional service when I am older, when I have more free time, when my kids are grown up, after I retire and so on and so forth.
When is the right time to Love Krishna? The right time is now, but the best time is in the spring time of life. Krishna loves everyone all the time unconditionally by providing us life, air to breathe, water to drink, sunshine to maintain us and many other things in nature. Our Gurudev gave us this profound teaching that the mind will run to many places all the time. What we have to do is constantly engage the mind in the service of Krishna, somehow.
Service is Love. Gurudev then suggested that we use our time wisely. We can do various things for Krishna. If the mind becomes unstable, give it something else to do. Here is a list of things he suggested: chant, read scriptures (even if only a few minutes), cook for Krishna, sing kirtan, write the mantra down in a repetitive manner, draw or paint, dramatize Krishna’s lilas, teach others about Krishna, hear Hari katha, learn prominent slokas from the scriptures, sew clothes for the deities, or last but not least meditate about Krishna and His sweet pastimes. In other words one can use his body, mind, and words in the service of the Lord.
This human birth is very rare and life is precarious. Any moment anything can happen. We are in a dangerous situation at every step. That is the nature of this material world.
SB 10.14.58
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.
Source: https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/10/14/58
So use your time wisely. Those who work from home can understand that they can work for Krishna. Any time that can be given to practicing loving service to the Lord should be given. We all have to eat, so lovingly offering the food we prepare is a service to Krishna. With their earnings one can serve Krishna and His devotees in various ways.
Waiting for the winter of life, when we start to wither away, will not serve us well. Our hearing and vision get weaker, our body cannot do the same services with vigor. Our bodies get diseased. We leave this old body and are born again in a new fresh body. This is the cycle of life, like the transition from winter to spring. The best time is to start early in life. In the spring of life we are in a stage of developing our consciousness and we absorb everything. In the spring of life everything blooms, a bud becomes a flower by absorbing all the nutrients for growth. Similarly, to live a life of Krishna consciousness we must start early in life so that our spiritual conditioning guides us rather than our material conditioning, throughout our lives. Prahlada Maharaj in his teachings mentions as follows.
SB 7.6.1 & 2
śrī-prahrāda uvāca
kaumāra ācaret prājño
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
Prahlāda Mahārāja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life — in other words, from the tender age of childhood — to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.
yathā hi puruṣasyeha
viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam
yad eṣa sarva-bhūtānāṁ
priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt
The human form of life affords one a chance to return home, back to Godhead. Therefore every living entity, especially in the human form of life, must engage in devotional service to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. This devotional service is natural because Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the most beloved, the master of the soul, and the well-wisher of all other living beings.
Source: https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/7/6 (read more here)
We don’t have love for Krishna but we are trying to develop that loving mood of service. But even then we must continue to serve. As little children will not be reading this material, it is the responsibility of young adults to engage their children from a very young age in the loving service of Krishna.
The easiest and best, most joyful service is to sing kirtan while you do so many activities all throughout the day!!
Happy Chanting !!
Here are this weeks tunes to assist you in your efforts!!