Recognition by Godly People

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Instead of aspiring for such ephemeral and temporary worldly recognition we should be aspiring to be recognized by God and His Devotees. Why? Because God is a person who loves you for what you are and not for what you have. And He loves you so much that He remains your greatest well wisher and heart-to-heart friend, even if you are not in the least interested in Him.

There­fore, instead of directing our craving for recognition towards the people of this world, we should redirect it towards the Lord and His representatives, the saintly persons who are our real well-wishers and friends.

A person can do this only when he has un­derstood what is the greatest achievement in life. In modern times, people generally think that earning fabulous sums of money or going abroad and returning with a lot of wealth or leading a very happy family life or having hun­dreds and thousands of possessions is the greatest achievement in life. But history shows that anybody who thought like this had to suffer terribly in the end. The inevitable time factor defeats all such hedonistic plans for en­joyment and reduces to nothing all one's ac­complishments exactly like the roaring waves of a ocean devastating a sand castle built by a child. This is the harsh reality of the material world. That is why Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu says, "I don't aspire for wealth, opposite sex or followers", but rather He prays to the Lord, "Please give me pure love for you." As the scriptures proclaim, prema pumartho mahan "The greatest achievement in all of creation is to achieve pure love of God." Why? Because the only true need of each one of us is happiness. And happiness comes only when we truly love and are truly loved. And the only person worthy of reposing love in is God, because He alone can be the eternal object of our love; all other so-called loving relationships are inevitably severed by the sharp sword of time.

We can achieve happiness and peace of mind auto­matically if we re-awaken our dormant love of God. And this love can be awakened sim­ply by serving and remembering God in what­ever we do and by chanting His Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna. But instead of trying to re-establish our re­lationship with God, if we get entangled in the rat race for recognition, we will be doomed to disappointment and frustration. While we are alive, we will never get any peace of mind and, at the time of death, we will re­alize that we have been cheated because all the things, which we gave our entire lives to obtain, will be forcibly taken away. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)