No Time

I have no time to start a blog. I have no time to chant Hare Krishna. I have no time to visit the temple. I have no time to associate with devotees. So what do I have time for? Going to school, going to work and finding ways to gain some fleeting sense of happiness through sense gratification. It's amazing how we have time for the things that we WANT to do or for the things that bring us pleasure.

When personal sense gratification is involved, we can tolerate all kinds of distress and unpleasant situations. If we perceive the goal as great enough, we can go all day without eating or drinking and all night without sleeping, because we think, "Who cares that I'm suffering in this way, because in the end the pleasure or happiness I get from this will all be worth it!" Yet when it comes to Krishna Consciousness and devotional service, i.e. - selfless service with no personal motivation, we all of a sudden can't stand even the slightest inconvenience or austerity! The problem is that we don't perceive the value of it. It's abstract, ethereal, conceptual. It has no bearing on our reality and there's definitely no instant gratification from it. So we think, "Why would I want to stay up all night chanting Hare Krishna? Why would I want to not eat all day long on a festival day? Why would I want to spend 2 hours in the car traveling to the temple?" There's no perception of the value.

Our consciousness is conditioned, diseased, contaminated, therefore we can't perceive the value of performing these austerities in devotional service. Conditioned consciousness thinks only of selfish pleasure and personal comfort and happiness. There's no other consideration. We consider the value of things based on how much pleasure it's going to bring us and we accept or reject things based on this system of evaluation. It's all the mind, i.e. - mental platform. In this state we'll never understand or appreciate the value of Krishna Consciousness in our daily lives.

So what to do? I am an unfortunate soul. I have no time for Krishna Consciousness. I only have time to pursue my personal goals of sense gratification and material comfort. And I am even more unfortunate because I am like the alcoholic that doesn't even see that they have a problem and can't cry out for help. "I'm fine, I'm fine", they say, as they're falling and stumbling and vomiting on themselves. I can't even cry out to Guru and Krishna to help me, because I think my condition is fine. "This is just the way life is. I go to work and school and sometimes I do Krishna Conscious activities." Contentment leads to stagnation. Stagnation leads to spiritual death. If there is no yearning for Krishna, no sense of urgency or desperation or eagerness for Krishna Conscious activities, then that is spiritual death.

Anyway, I have no time to continue writing, because it's late and I have to get up early to continue the cycle of having no time for Krishna. Krishna! Krishna! Hey Govinda! Hey Gopal! Please never let me forget You, even amidst this terrible ocean of material suffering and temptations! You are my only refuge. Please send your sincere devotees to me so that I may have their association, for it is only through Your pure devotees that I can know You.