While travelling to London with Gary, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) was struck by the photograph of an old man on the back cover of a pamphlet that he had got at Randall’s island. He looked on at the effulgent form of this man whose smile radiated peace. Richard concluded that if any person in this creation has spiritual bliss, it is this person. Little did he know then that a year later and a thousand miles across, this man was to become Richard’s guru. Meanwhile at London Richard makes a shocking discovery that Jimmy Hendrix, the icon for flower generation, succumbs to an overdose of sleeping pills and dies a miserable death. The contrast of spiritual bliss and misery of material excesses couldn’t have been more striking for the young and impressionable Richard. His disillusionment with the counterculture grew; he now saw through the façade of the progressive ‘ideals’ of his generation which was distracted from spiritual pursuits and instead sought material pleasures. Richard realized the rebellion of most of the youth was just for the sake of it and lacked a meaningful goal.
Radhanath Swami says the reason people in this world are miserable despite having an overabundance of pleasures is they are seeking to gratify the self rather than serve the Supreme Lord. Radhanath Swami says this endeavor is unnatural for a living entity. The propensity to serve is natural; however when we seek to gratify the self rather than serve God and God’s children, our attempt is akin to watering the branches and twigs of a tree, rather than the root of the tree. Radhanath Swami is emphatic as he says, “Not only human beings but all living entities are parts and parcels of God. The parts are meant for serving the whole, just as the legs, hands, fingers and ears are meant for serving the total body. We living entities, being parts and parcels of God, are duty bound to serve Him.” Radhanath Swami reveals that forgetting God, humans have created unlimited subject matter for service. All of it is keeping them dissatisfied, because it misses the essence.
It’s an interesting analysis offered by Radhanath Swami. He discusses in his talks that actually our position is that we are always rendering service to someone, either to our family, country or society. If we have no one to serve, sometimes we keep a pet cat or dog and render service to it. All these factors prove that we are constitutionally meant to render service, yet in spite of serving to our best capacity, we are not satisfied. Nor is the person to whom we are rendering that service satisfied. On the material platform, everyone is frustrated. The reason for this is that the service which is being rendered is not properly directed. Therefore Radhanath Swami implores all to serve the root of all existence, God.
Radhanath Swami discovered the old man to be spiritually blissful, whereas Jimmy had been miserable. The difference- the former was connected to God and thus ‘watering the root’. The latter on the other hand was constantly seeking his own pleasures, in a vain attempt to ‘water the leaves and twigs’.
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Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
True! Because we humans are focussing on so many wrong things which are prioritised as centers of our life. We are thus facing so many problems in our life. If we just focus on what great pesoanlities lilke Radhanath Swami have advised us we could have lived a much better life than present
View CommentNice thought provoking article….
View CommentThese words are like the sunshine that evaporates all clouds of confusion. Radhanath Swami is a brilliant analyzer.
View CommentExternal appearances can be deceptive. We cannot make out the internal feelings of a person merely by superficial judgement based on facial features or gestures. Internal contentment is demonstrated by our reactions to provocative situations.
View CommentThank you Maharajah, for guiding us. Sense gratification is unnatural to us, yet we endeavor somehow or other to get more and more and thus become frustrated.
View CommentIts very important to know the root cause from wher we have come from. As HH Radhanath Swami explained very nicely, if we simply understand that we all are parts and parcels of God and our eternal duty is to serve Him then there will be no anxiety in our lives.
View CommentThank you Maharaj is guiding us and telling us the difference between service to GOD and service to our own senses…..
View CommentWatering the roots by worshipping krishna is the essence of life
View Commentits very true
View CommentWatering the roots ie. rendering devotional service to the Lord is the only way to be happy.
View Commentvery difficult to judge people externally, we really do not know what goes on internally in anyones heart. best is not to judge anyone.
View CommentThank you very much for sharing. Radhanath Swami implores all to serve the root of all existence, God then the all the leaves, twigs and everything will be satisfied.
View CommentRadhanath Swami Maharaj makes it so easy to understand!
View CommentSERVING THE ROOT SATISFIES ENTIRE TREE
View CommentA very nice article from teaching of HH Radhanath Swami maharaj
View Commentvery nice,thank you
View CommentIf we simply live with teachings of Radhanath Swami we can be ever HAPPY.
View CommentThese are the important principles taught by HH Radhanath Swami, with deep realisation and wisdom. We will not be understanding and fathom this principle to water the root, the God and we will be happy. It needs patience, just like when we water the root, the tree takes time to give fruits.
View CommentThanks for sharing such deep n profound thoughts.. JAI
View CommentA very important and thought provoking realization.
View CommentA perfect analysis is given herein about service and serving nature of a living entity by Radhanath Swami.It is true that naturaly we are duty bound to serve someone in this form or that.But if it is not directed towards the root thait is God then frustation out service is guranted.Thank you Radhanath Swamiji for enlightening us.
View CommentRadhanath Swami was wise enough to realise the real facts of life and pursue the path towards seeking the Absolute Truth. Not many can discreminate between what is that we a craving for and what do we truly need.
View Commentvery nicely explain. thank you Swamiji
View CommentMy heart felt thanks to the devotees for putting up a series of enlightening articles.
View Commentmaharaj is always in servitude
View CommentRadhanath Swami explains such complicated spiritual subjects in a very simple words and methods, so that it is easy for every one to tunderstand and apply.
View CommentBy watering the root, the whole tree is nourished. Similarly, by rendering devotional service one can be in a state of bliss since it is the process recommended for human beings in the scriptures.All glories to H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
View Commentwish we all practiced this ‘watering of thhe root’
View CommentYes, it is only by watering the root of a tree that the whole tree is nourished. There is no other way. In a similar way we must direct our service unto the supreme lord then we will experience complete satisfaction.
View CommentTruly, Every human being is meant to serve but we wrongly identify the object of our service..Radhanath Swami nicely points out that “the reason people in this world are miserable despite having an overabundance of pleasures is they are seeking to gratify the self rather than serve the Supreme Lord”..A very nice & instructive article
View CommentRadhanath Swami very clearly spells out the success/happiness formula for everyone in this world- serve GOD.
View CommentWe can see this in the example of Radhanath Swami. He is always blissful coz He is always serving the Lord and His devotees.
View CommentRadhanath Swami gives a formula for true happiness.
View CommentMaharaj made a clear distinction between how to derive real pleasure by serving Lord and what is the reason of our unhappiness inspite of all luxuries at our disposal because we are gratifying our self.
View CommentThanks Maharaj for such a wonderful analogy. Pray this confused world understands too and sets itself right.
View CommentWonderful article – Happiness can be realized only by serving the root of all existence, God. Thanks for the enlightening article.
View CommentSimply wonderful.Thank you very very much Maharaj for such a valuable guidance.
View Commentgreat article. thank u.
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