It is difficult to accept, however the fact remains that the life of a devotee is not about being peaceful, but rather it is all about having loving exchanges with their Beloved through the medium of devotional service.
It is all about finding satisfaction in satisfying the Supreme.
Learning the art to live with the “chaos” is a very important factor for a devotee who is trying to achieve that goal.
Living with the “chaos”…. Let me explain.
A few days ago I woke up at 4 am, took a shower and went to the altar for my morning puja. As I entered the pujari room, two devotees approached me saying that there were no lemons (which are important for worship). ”I will sort that one“, I thought to myself, whilst explaining to the devotee where to go to find the lemons. Whilst trying to offer obeisances and pranams, another devotee approached me to inform me that he could not find the day-dress for the deities. I looked at my watch to check how much time I had before needing to start my service, and then I quickly ran in search of the dress.
Whilst returning to the pujari room with the dress that devotees could not find although it was in the appropriate place, I quickly prepared everything for the puja and started the service.
Halfway through the puja, a devotee called me to come immediately to the deity kitchen. I ran, thinking that perhaps someone had hurt themselves. Instead, I arrived to complaints by the anxious cook who could not find the milk. Quickly, I organised milk for him and returned to the altar for puja.
Somehow by the mercy of the Lord, we managed to finish the service in time for a morning darshan and whilst offering the camara to the Lord I prayed for the strength to do my service sincerely and with devotion.
I had a feeling that the Lord heard my prayer and guess what?
I finished my service, offered my obeisances to Srila Prabhupad and was ready to go and chant my Japa, when another devotee stopped me to explain that the pujari could not make it today to offer raja bhoga arati…the Lord gave me another opportunity to practice devotion and sincerity.
It did not end there…on the same day, I was invited to an emergency meeting to resolve some issues in the ashram, which ended late afternoon.
I was eager to hide from everyone after that meeting, and whilst walking back to my room I tried to carefully avoid everyone, but I was spotted by a devotee who eagerly wanted to meet me. How could I say no?
I offered silent prayer, “today my Lord, I am all yours.”
Ananta Gopal das
9 July 2021
Bhakti Wisdom 