How It Grows

If one pursues the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra and reads or hears the transcendental words of Krsna, the plant of his soul will surely grow and reach Krsna's lotus feet and relish them. It is not that Krsna is far, far away and we cannot enjoy Him until passing beyond the ten coverings of the material universe, the causal ocean, the brahma-jyoti and all the Vaikuntha planets. No. Actually we can relish Krsna on the journey itself. Otherwise, how did the Gosvamis manage to enjoy their devotional life? They were living beneath different trees every night and eating just a few dry scraps of bread, and sometimes they weren't even eating that. And yet they were all joyfully engaged twenty-four hours in Krsna consciousness, sometimes dancing and chanting and sometimes reading and writing. Eating, sleeping, defending and mating were of no concern to them. So this is spiritual life. When one is actually elevated in spiritual life, he sees all material things as insignificant. It is said that a man in Krsna consciousness sees all the possessions of men as mere garbage in the street, all women as his mother, and all living entities as his very self. It is also said that he sees all the manifold material universes to be of no more significance than rainwater contained in the hoofprint of a cow. This is because one in Krsna consciousness is beyond the material conception of the body. He has realized aham brahmasmi. "I am not this body, I am spirit soul." Krsna says, "Those with the vision of eternity can see that the soul is transcendental, eternal and beyond the modes of nature. In spite of his contact with the material body, O Arjuna, he is neither doing anything nor is he entangled. The sky, on account of its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although all-pervading. So the soul situated in Brahman vision does not mix with the body though situated in that body. As the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness." (Bg. 13.31-33)