Radhanath Swami on God Loves All

Compassion is an essential element of love. If you love someone, then naturally, you also love everyone and everything that the person loves. If you love God, then naturally, you also love all that God loves. And God, being the seed giving father of all life, loves everyone. Every living being is His part and parcel. Therefore, there is nobody whom He does not love. He may not like what you're doing, He may hate your disease but He loves you; He loves every soul. So even when the Lord is angry with you it is always perfect. It is always out of love which manifests towards imperfect beings as compassion. When you love God, you naturally love those who are fallen, sinful and suffering.

Radhanath Swami on Clouded Vision

When we go to see a deity in the temple and we see just a piece of stone, not God who’s standing right in front of us, we are clouded by illusion. This cloud of illusion is all-powerful; it’s the Lord’s own energy. No mystic powers nor any amount of scriptural knowledge can blow it away. Only by pure devotional service will this cloud disperse because that is the process of simply pleasing God. Being pleased with his devotees, the Lord blows away the cloud of illusion, allowing them to see him everywhere – just like how we see the Sun after the clouds disperse.

Radhanath Swami on Pleasure of Pure Devotion

If we want pure devotional service for our own satisfaction then we're not much greater than those who want liberation for their own satisfaction. In one sense, it is a higher enjoyment to be in the kingdom of God than it is to merge one's existence in the spiritual light. The pleasure of liberation is like a drop and the pleasure of pure unalloyed devotion is like an ocean. But that's not a devotee's motive. The reason we want that pure devotion is because that is what pleases God. And a devotee wants the happiness of pure devotional service because God wants to see His devotee happy. That's the only reason. For example, if someone loves us, they want to see us happy. Similarly God wants to see us happy. That's the only reason we want to be happy; for it will make God happy. And the only thing that will make us happy is when we simply want to make God happy. That's a pure devotee.

Radhanath Swami on The Spiritual Degree

The spiritual degree means getting God’s mercy. But we don’t get God’s mercy by just doing what we want, the way we want, whenever we want. We need education. Just as we don’t get a medical degree by doing what we want, how we want, and whenever we want. There is an authority and accepting that authority is essential for progress in anything - spiritual or material. The temple represents the authority of the great acharyas (spiritual masters) who teach us the science of devotion and how to cleanse our hearts by chanting the Holy Names.

Radhanath Swami on Tuning of the antenna

Everyone of us is like a transceiver emitting the our desires, and according to what we tune in to, we get affected. If we tune into spirituality, we become purified. If we tune into modes of passion and ignorance, we get affected by that. What we decide to tune into by our free choice will determine how we are affected and how our reality shall be. If we tune into the Lord, to meditation, to saintly association and to God's name, the Lord will manifest within our heart and we will be purified by the experience.

Radhanath Swami on Simple Life

A devotee is happy with a simple life. The more we are trying to find satisfaction by improving the standard of our material opulence through our selfish desires, the more we simply become agitated. The more our minds become disturbed. There is no peace in acquisition. There is only peace in service. There is no inner fulfillment of the heart in acquiring more and more and more. Peace to the heart can only be by expressing our innate love for God and humanity and all living beings. But forgetting this principle, we can easily be diverted.

Radhanath Swami on Bitter Medicine

Sometimes our devotional service becomes a routine affair. But when tragedy strikes or a crisis looms, reality dawns. If we could choose what crisis to undergo, at least our life would be very comfortable. But the Lord knows what we need; he sends the medicine, sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter. Sometimes we get confused and bewildered: how and why is this happening to me? In that state what do we do - do we speculate, or do we run for shelter? If we run for shelter, the Lord is there for us. In fact, even in good times, we must be taking shelter of God. One must be convinced that material nature is very strong; miseries, even death, can strike anytime – while driving in a car, or flying in an airplane, or walking down the street, or just eating food. With this understanding, a devotee lives daily as if it’s his last day. In this mood, he can take shelter of God at every moment.