“What is your favourite service?” one devotee asked, expecting me to say deity worship.
“Of all the services I have done, my favourite service is my sadhana,” I replied.
“But you are a pujari! Don’t you like that seva?”
“Yes, I do,” I replied.
“Although a pujari externally, I see myself as a sadhaka trying to please Krishna. Pujari is the role that I took on with the intention to please Krishna.”
“Who knows, tomorrow the role may change, and then what? If I identified myself as a pujari, would I lose my identity when this title is lost?”
As we progress in age, knowledge and spiritual advancement, so should our desire to please Krishna increase more and more.
The mature devotee is able to notice the nudge from Krishna, who gradually and gently pushes the devotee towards a new experience.
Often that nudge is a message from Krishna for us to leave the current situation and embrace something else instead.
It doesn’t seem difficult for someone who wants to please Krishna, right?
Well, easier said than done!
If our favourite service is to please Krishna, we have understood the meaning of dāsa-dāsa-anudāsa.
Then we will not have a problem with an identity crisis!
Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 24.15- ”The word ’muni’ refers to one who is thoughtful, one who is grave or silent, an ascetic, one who keeps great vows, one in the renounced order and a saint.”
Ananta Gopal Das
9.7.2023
Bhakti Wisdom 