Radha Madan Mohan, January 24th

Yesterday morning I dressed Radha Madan Mohan, the installed deities of the gurukulis Ragunath and Yamuna here in Alachua. While I dressed, I turned on a random lecture by Radhanath Swami; the end deeply moved me, so I transcribed it here for all of you.

***

One of the most beautiful things I appreciate about flowers and garlands is how within a day, they wilt and become soggy and lose their fragrance… lose their color, lose their texture, and nobody wants them.

Isn’t that wonderful? It’s so metaphorical to our life. Everything in this world, like the flower, begins as a seed; every living being begins like a seed, starts to grow as a sprout, then blossoms, then wilts, and dies.

But Krishna accepts the essence. This body doesn’t last much longer than a flower garland, from the perspective of eternity. The amount of time that a flower garland wilts and is no longer nice in our vision is really a long time compared to our life from the perspective of Lord Brahma. Our whole life span – all the aging and wilting and everything – is not even a second from his perspective.

So a devotee is saragrahi, always concerned with the essence, seeking the essence of life, seeking the essence of everything we see. And what is the essence? The essence is everything’s connection to Krishna. The essence is eternal. The essence cannot be wilted by time. And every time you place a flower on a garland, that act of devotion is eternal.

Whatever you offer to Krishna – that investment of devotion – will never wilt, will never grow old, will never be lost, is ever fresh, and forever.

That is the beauty of bhakti.

- Radhanath Swami

 January 13th, 2009