Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Dear devotees,

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! My apologies and pranams!

      The poem is actually an extract of a much larger work I just finished. Here is the full poem:

  Destroying lust, the mother of all evils

       O spiritual candidates who desire to destroy lust!
       But who face setbacks at every step,
       Facing the attack of maya starting with lusty thoughts,
       Which lead to dreadful problems starting with masturbation,
       Pulling us further and further away from the Lord,
       Please, oh please, chant the most merciful "Nityananda! Gauranga!"
       And the sublimely sweet "Hare Krishna!" Mahamantra at all times,

       And Say a firm "NO!" to maya,
       To satisfy our lust we try to cheat,
       Oh friends! This cheating is the worst, worse than lust itself!
       Cheating in devotion is the ticket to destruction of your creeper of devotion!
       It is an invitation to maya to attack in all her glory.
       When you give her an inch, she takes up a mile,
       It is ok to be limited, to be weak, to be defective, to be helpless,
       But it is never ok to cheat, never!
       Those who try to cheat become the cheated,
       Cheating is the mother of all offenses, all sins, all evils,
       The Lord will deliver any one even more sinful than Jagai and Madhai
       If one just does not cheat.

       Please never compare yourself to others,
       Thinking, "The whole world does it. Do they suffer?"
       Then your vision becomes relative and material,
       And you lose sight of the Absolute,
       O souls! Please realize this truth,
       No one can escape the punishment of maya,
       If you are not convinced, wait and watch,
       And see whatever little devotion the cheaters have,
       Dwindle to zero, as they become atheistic impersonalists,
       The lusty world you admire will meet its day when time is up,
       And then reality awaits in the abode of Yamaraj,
       As Srimad Bhagavatam and the Puranas declare it,
       Behold the fate of your friends who intimidated you, "Lust isn't wrong!"
       But in this age of Kali, hell already exists on earth!

       So always see the Absolute standard,
       See it as the Lord and His devotees see it.
       Be honest, humble and open minded to the bitter truth
       Which ultimately takes you to the sweetest of all endings,
       Material sex pleasure is the biggest lie,
       Our acharyas said, "NO illicit sex."
       Please observe the truths they speak in these lines,
       Know the reality behind the mother of all sins and offenses,
       Write these lines down in your heart like writing on stone,
       So that this knowledge you may never forget.

       When you know that masturbation (illicit sex) is sin,
       When you know that it is so harmful to physical, mental and spiritual health,
       When you know that it takes you to hell,
       When you know that there is no happiness but only violence and agitation
       When you know that thinking about illicit sex is the same as actually doing it
       When you know that masturbation is never different from, but identical to the sin of sexually abusing others against their will,
       When you know that it is another devotee, another Vaishnava and servant of the Lord you hurt,
       When you know that the Lord is watching you hurt his devotee
       When you know that you can't cheat the Lord who knows and sees all,
       When you know that you are only cheating yourself,
       When you know that it is insulting the Lord,
       When you know that it is lila aparadha,
       When you know that it is madhurya bhakti aparadha,
       When you know that it is Gopi-Aparadha,
       When you know that it is Sahajiyaism,
       When you know that you're trying to become God to vulgarly enjoy others as a drug,
       When you know that it is nothing but Mayavadism at its dirt cheapest,

       When you realize the extraordinary physical, mental and spiritual benefits of brahmacharya,
       When you realize the importance of celibacy for cultivation of pure devotion,
       When you realise how the pure devotees are perfect celibates whether they are brahmacharis, householders or sannyasis,
       When you are purified and guided by the association of pure devotees,

       When you know how much the Lord loves you
       When you know how personal He wants to be with you,
       When you know how much our actions hurt the tender heart of the Lord who shows so much mercy just for one drop of our love,
       When you realize that the Lord eternally keeps coming after you despite all of what has been told till now,
       When you know that the Lord forgives it in spite of all when you first chant "Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!"
       When you realize that the Lord sells Himself to us fallen sinners just because we chant Him as His most merciful Name,
       When you realize how everyone in the spiritual world is desperate to rescue you,
       When you realize how they worry themselves sick out of compassion for you,
       When you realize how the spiritual masters spend 200 gallons of blood for just one soul,

       When you realize how the Lord and his devotees deliver not just one Jagai and Madhai, but all Jagais and Madhais in unlimited universes that are ourselves,
       When you continuously chant the Holy names of the Lord in naama-sankirtana,
       When you kick impersonalism away for good and embrace personalism and devotion,
       When you realize the true spiritual taste,
       When you realize that the Lord treats you just as He treats His dearest devotees,
       When you realize how happy the devotees are to have you with them eternally,

       When the Lord and his devotees completely get rid of your mountain of guilt by replacing it with a mountain of devotion,
       When you realize what is really meant by the words "Mercy of the Lord and His devotees",
       When you realize real, eternal, infinite, yet ever increasing spiritual happiness and love,

       When you know all this, you can't lust.
       When you know all this, you cannot and will not engage in illicit sex.
       And then you'll spit at lust, and never masturbate ever!!!!!!!!

       How can this fallen sinner ever understand the glories of the Lord's dear devotees,
       Who gave him the spiritual eyes to see the truth,
       Who put the Lord in His heart to replace lust with divine love.
       I now wish to share that truth with one and all
       To destroy lust, and
       To destroy Mayavada impersonalism,
       For my own sake, as these instructions
       Must first be self imposed, before giving them to others,
       For the sake of pure bhakti,
       For the sake of the Lord,
       For the benefit of the whole universe,
       For the sake of serving all living entities who are actually Vaishnava devotees,
       This most fallen worthless servant of the servant of the servants,
       Humbly offers this poetry with innumerable defects,
       To the devotees and to the Lord.
       Hoping to be just another unknown particle of dust at your feet,
       Serving you always with love and devotion.

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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