Friday, August 15, 2014

Grow God's love in a plant

Hari om.

Some time ago we requested that each of you bring a plant from your garden but it doesn’t seem that’s materialized. Plants are given to us by God because He loves us. The appreciation of us taking care of them is what God gives us back in a flower. The flower is God’s way of saying thank you. It is at this time in this kali yuga that we need as many plants as we can around us in our surroundings. Create an environment so we don’t get caught with the ozone thing that seems to be happening. As you walk around the ashram you’ll see that I’ve taken good care of the plants that are here. I walk around, I water them, I dig. Because I’m not only your caretaker, I’m also the ashram caretaker, the garden caretaker.

We need to find some time in our busy lives. You may not appreciate this now but you will later. You need to find some time to spend in the garden, because Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that without karma yoga there’s no bhakti yoga. You have to have some action. Without legs you can't run, except for one person with artificial legs.

So we need now to find within ourselves and around ourselves some time to attend to the garden, to the ashram. Every time you come here you’ll see something new. We try our best but I think sometimes it’s also the devotees who must try. If you go to Akshardham in Delhi you’ll fall on your back. All work there is voluntary. When you look at the garden it’s like a postcard. Then in Vellu there’s a devi temple in gold, with the murthis in solid gold. Security is high but the garden is unbelievable. From the entrance to the temple is a 1 km walk. And all the way the garden is just kept so beautiful. And God also satisfies them in every other way.

So karma yoga, bhakti yoga, and then raja yoga. Krishna says clearly to Arjuna when he asks, that without action, karma yoga, there is no bhakti. So if you can, please come here, take a patch – you’ll see lots of names here. Neeta will leave plants with me, Saras leaves plants with me. I have to dig and plant them. Bring plants. Last week it cost the temple R1900 just for the plants and garden stuff. I’ll leave it to you.

In kali yuga we can’t do anything else but satisfy God. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that we must just surrender and make all work God’s work. Even if you are going to work in the morning, say it's God’s work and collect darshan. Don’t say, ‘Mister So-in-so is going to make my day miserable’. Wake up and say ‘Lord, God, Jesus, Allah, I’m working for you’, and you will have the most beautiful day. The same applies to school children. I didn’t like my Latin teacher so when time for the Latin lesson came I was most stressed and frustrated because I didn’t like the teacher – I still passed though. My guru knew nothing about school. He didn’t to go school, he just said, ‘Go to school, study, pass and I’ll give you everything’. And he kept to his word

As I said, God’s gift to us, out of love for us, is a plant. Our tending of plants shows his appreciation by giving us a flower.

Hari Om