Swami Prakashanand Saraswati was a revered spiritual leader who emphasized the need for both intellect and heartfelt longing in the pursuit of Krishn. His teachings inspire true spiritual fulfillment through sincere and unwavering devotion.
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s words provide insight into how one’s mind can be absorbed in divine love, as he explains…
We have two forms of mind: the emotional form, and the form that understands, the actual intellect. The intellect is the governing power in your personality. Whatever your intellect decides to do, your body must act accordingly. You want to see or you don’t want to see, you want to get up or you want to lie down for five more minutes in the morning. Your mind says all the time, “This is bad.” “This is good.” “Go there.” “Don’t go there.” “Follow this.” “Don’t follow this.” It is all part of the decisive mind, the intellect.
The deeper one’s understanding, the more one gives the heart to God. These both develop simultaneously. The more deeply you understand with your intellect that, “Oh, I have to love Krishn. He’s my only Beloved. No matter what happens or how long it takes, I have to give Him my whole heart.” If there is less understanding, then there is less giving of the heart. More understanding equals more giving of the heart. It is all based on the understanding. You understand more, so you give more. Understand and you have given the heart simultaneously. There is not even a fraction of a second delay.
I’ll give you an example. There was a little boy. He was going to school, and the school was beyond a densely wooded area. He used to get scared when he came home in the evening through the jungle.
One day he asked his mother, “Mother, don’t I have any elder brothers to help me, or to go with me?”
She said, “Yes, you have an elder brother, but he has gone into the woods. He never comes home.”
“So can I find him there?”
“Oh, yes, you can find him.”
“What’s his name?”
“His name is Gopal.”
So the boy understood, “My brother Gopal is in the jungle, and if I need him, he will come. I can just call him.”
He learned, but he forgot. He went to school. Came back the next day early in the evening, so he didn’t get scared. Again, the same thing happened the next day. However, the following day he came home late and became really scared. Only then he remembered, “Oh, my mother has told me that I have a brother. His name is Gopal.”
Look at this situation. When his mother told him, he took it casually. “If I need him, I’ll call him.” The next day, he took it casually again. “When I need him, I’ll call him.” But on the third day, when he came to the jungle, it was dark and raining with a long way to go. He got really scared.
Now, there are two things. What was he scared of? He was scared of death, or some kind of disaster. If some disaster is going to befall you after ten years, you don’t care. “I’ll see what happens after ten years.” If it is going to happen within a year, “I better do something soon.” If it’s going to happen within a week then, “I will do something!” The closer the impending disaster, the more you feel you must overcome that disaster. You are much more attentive. So, the disaster was at hand. The jungle is scary with wild beasts, jackals howling, so the boy got frightened. He called for his brother, Gopal.
Gopal, Gopal, Gopal! GOPAL!!” He was calling with intensity, as if his life depended on it. He called with such intensity and longing that Gopal had to come. Gopal means Krishn.
At first, when his mother told him, “Your brother is always with you,” the boy took it to heart. He liked the idea of having someone, “I have someone whom I can depend on.” But after some time, he began to take it casually. However, when he was faced with disaster in the jungle, he became desperate, “I have to find my brother Gopal!” Only then did he give his heart completely to Krishn, and Krishn had to appear.
The same situation happens with every devotee. In the beginning, how seriously do you take the fact that He is yours? Then, how seriously do you take the fact that if you don’t meet Him in this lifetime, what may happen? There are two things: the loss and the gain. Think of both sides. What will you lose and what will you gain? Both incite your excitement towards finding Krishn. If you think of the loss you feel, “I must find Krishn.” And if you think of the gain again you feel, “Oh yes, I must find Krishn.” We have to think deeply of both sides. The loss might occur if you don’t realize Radha and Krishn in this lifetime. And the gain might happen if you realize Radha and Krishn in this lifetime.
We should keep both facts in our intellect, the loss and the gain. Then we have no time for any other attachment, jealousy, fault- finding or any other kind of bad things which come in the mind. In this way, if we keep both of these ideas in our mind, our heart is already given to Krishn.
The deeper we understand the gain of finding that Divine love, which even Brahma sought for millions of years but did not find, the closer we come to finding it. And we can receive that unsurpassed Divine love with the Grace of Radha. It is so very great. Regarding the loss, what would happen? What would we lose? No one knows.
Think for your ownself, in your life. Is it the first life you’ve lived? No. The hundredth? No. The millionth? No. Billionth? No. Trillionth? No. Uncountable lives you have lived in this world. Not in this particular planetary system, in manyworlds, many times, uncountable lives. It is beyond human understanding. After living that many lifetimes, you could have earned this state of consciousness that you have achieved today uncountable times.
The state of divine-love-consciousness you have today, you may have also earned uncountable times, or at least millions and billions of times in your past uncountable lifetimes. Why didn’t you find Krishn then? Some mistake happened. What could that mistake be? Any sin? No. It was only your negligence. It seems like a very small thing, negligence, but it becomes very great. You neglected God and God’s love, became careless, got involved with the world, became totally worldly. So, if you will lose this chance, what will happen? You might again lose the opportunity of finding Krishn for millions or trillions of lifetimes. Who knows?
You have a golden chance now. You can even exceed Brahma’s fortune and receive that which he could not, the Divine love of Radha Krishn. We only have to understand the importance of this fact and make use of every moment before it is too late.” In this manner, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati teaches that achieving sincere devotion to Krishn requires both deep intellectual insight and heartfelt longing. Recognizing the profound absence of divine love in our lives and the immense gain of attaining it drives us to fully dedicate ourselves to Krishn.