The Strongest Link

The Strongest Link

When I was in scouting movement , we used to go for annual camping to nearby suburb , a place called Tonakela  , in Avadi.  It was and is a camping center for scouts , NCC ( National Cadet Corps ) and others.  There we have undergone many training  like climbing, constructing a rope bridge , a watch tower with the staff ( Bamboo stick ) and rope, cooking , swimming and all outdoor activities.

Coming to climbing in a rope , there will be two  steel pipe tripod posts at both ends joined by a long  pipe. There will be few ropes tied in the horizontal pipe and the each rope with knots at equal intervals hung vertically. We are supposed to climb with the help of the rope and reach the top of the pipe and reach the end like a monkey and get down.

Rope exercises  taught  in our scout training :

Climbing with your feet                               Climbing without your feet                               Climbing with two ropes                               Climbing upside down                               One and two-arm hangs                               Laybacks                               Pull-ups                               Pull-downs                               Rows

Shrugs Tricep press-downs Hammer curls Pull-dow into tricep     extension Supination curls Front or side raises Right and left twists Hanging leg raises Pulling and dragging

 

 It is obvious that all the ropes may not be of equal strength . So depends on the strength , we have  to choose the  right rope  to reach the top. So we have to select the  strongest link  to start climbing. But sure we can reach our goal only with the strongest link.

Like that in our day to day life , personally or professionally , we need to go up in the rope to reach the goal , only with the right way. Short cuts will lead to short cut our life. So selection of the  right path is as important as the goal we wish to reach. There are many materialistic goals for everyone of us. Without that we cannot lead a normal life. But on the other hand spiritualistic goals is more important to reach the goal of attaining the lotus feet of Lord Krishna in Goloka  Vrindavan.  When to reach is not in our hand. But how to reach is in our hand. This is not philosophy. My common understanding by reading , listening, viewing and  trying to practice  Krishna Consciousness.

It is said that we have to learn and practice Krishna Consciousness under the guidence of a bonafide Guru .

 Chapter 4.Transcendental Knowledge Text 10- Bhagavat Gita
adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya
tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha rucis tatah
athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudancati
sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Krsna consciousness, which is matured in bhava, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life." In the prema stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one's individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations resulting from void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord.

 It is true. But we have to prepare ourselves to approach a Guru  to start practicing Krishna Consciousness. For that we have to bodily and in mind ,we must  be clean. Physical cleansing is easy. But mental cleansing is not so easy. It needs lot of practice  to have  control over body and mind. Accept that we are not the body . We have to shell out the EGO . If we have EGO , we are Edging God Out .  So we have to shed EGO  out of our mind first. Calm , peace , simplicity in all will help you to understand and clear out EGO.Without  faith and knowledge in Krishna Consciousness there is no perfection in the practice.

 Chapter 4.Transcendental Knowledge  Text 9 – Bhagavat Gita

tam eva viditvati mrtyum eti nanyah pantha vidyate 'yanaya

One can attain the perfect stage of liberation from birth and death simply by knowing the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no alternative because anyone who does not understand Lord Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is surely in the mode of ignorance. Consequently he will not attain salvation, simply, so to speak, by licking the outer surface of the bottle of honey, or by interpreting the Bhagavad-gita according to mundane scholarship. Such empiric philosophers may assume very important roles in the material world, but they are not necessarily eligible for liberation. Such puffed-up mundane scholars have to wait for the causeless mercy of the devotee of the Lord. One should therefore cultivate Krsna consciousness with faith and knowledge, and in this way attain perfection.

 Just to add little interest  and establish the necessity of the " strongest Link " ,I wish to add the picture of a famous movie , most of us would have seen , years back. The title is "Cliff Hanger" acted by Sylvester Stallone, a 1993 , American adventure film.

 In the opening scene, hotshot mountain climber and rescue ranger Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and fellow ranger Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) are dispatched to pick up their friend Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) on a narrow peak in the Rocky Mountains called "The Tower", where he was stranded after a knee injury. While moving from one mountaintop to a helicopter via a steel cable, Hal's girlfriend Sarah's (Michelle Joyner) harness breaks and she is left dangling over a deep chasm. While the others try frantically to come up with a solution, Gabe straps himself in and goes out to save Sarah, but is unsuccessful; her gloved hand slips through Gabe's and she falls 4,000 feet to her death in the chasm. The weaker link , the steel harness with the rope failed.

Like selecting the right rope among others hanging  in the pipe in the rope  climbing sport , we have to select the strongest link   for  reaching the abode of Sri Krishna , when the time , not known to us ,comes to leave our body. Let us pray to be with Him always without a rebirth in this material world .  Daily chanting the 'Hare Krishna Maha Mantra' is the Strongest Link .

 Let us not be greedy and  strictly avoid all prohibited activities given in the scriptures for the human beings to be human. I need not stress the good qualities, as all of us know. The only thing is , if we are controlled by Maya , we give way to all pleasures and sink back in the ocean of life.

With the little knowledge  I wrote this blog to stress that KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS  is the STRONGEST LINK  to reach Goloka Vrindavan . I pray Lord Krishna to give strength to practice and not to stop with writing. Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy.