Getting the Gusto

1. Getting the Gusto (Lighting the Fire within)

2. Based on the teachings of Founder Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada International Society for Krishna Consciousness

3. Passion Eagerness Ardor Zeal Relish Enthusiasm Joy Rapture Zest Flavor Gusto

4. “We believe that our natural state of consciousness is one of ecstasy. It is not necessary to attempt to alter our consciousness by a chemical process. We are eternally in union with God, being His parts and parcels. This is our constitutional position-it is not a position brought about by fasting, vigils, drugs, self-mutilation, etc. The position is already there. If we don’t understand that, it is due to our ignorance. The way out our of ignorance is Krishna Consciousness, which helps us to attain our natural unconditional state of freedom and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda).” BTG 1967 Drugs & KC

5. Energizes life. Makes the impossible possible. Gives you a reason to get up in the morning. Without passion X life becomes boring. monotonous. routine. dull. Creative & sustaining energy behind all great art…

6. Passion means the heart. Krishna is saying I want you to put some muscle into it, put some energy, put some emotion into your relationship with Me. X Don’t be a wimp about it. namby-pamby. half hearted. Give it all you’ve got. If you’re going to follow Me, you’ve got to go it with passion. You’ve got to give it some oomph, some spark, some zip, some enthusiasm, some zest. I want you to live passionately.

7. “The thoughts of my pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to Me, & they derive great satisfaction & bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” Gita 10/9

8. Pibanti ye bhagavata ätmana satäm kathämrta sravana-puöeñu sambhåtam punanti te visaya-vidüsitäçayaà vrajanti tac-carana-saroruhäntikam “Those who drink through aural reception, fully filled with the nectarean message of Lord Krishna, the beloved of the devotees, purify the polluted aim of life known as material enjoyment and thus go back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of Him [the Personality of Godhead].” SB 2/2/37

9. Hello?

10. Considered Normal

11. Considered Fanatic

12. In ISKCON centers throughout the world we observe wonderfully ecstatic kirtan performances in which men, women and children from all walks of life chant with startling enthusiasm the holy names of Krishna and dance in ecstasy, becoming completely indifferent to so-called public opinion.

13. In America it’s ok to be passionate about anything except God. That is not politically correct – to be passionate about God. X I can be passionate about movies. sports. politics. fashions and clothes. restaurants. But I cannot be passionate about God. That’s a no-no.

14. Ongoing Passion • Pranjivan & stroke • O Närada, because I • have caught hold of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, with great zeal, whatever I say has never proved to have been false. Nor is the progress of my mind ever deterred. Nor are my senses ever degraded by temporary attachment to matter. Brahma 2/6/34 SB

15. Letter to Gargamuni 1970 “I came to your country to execute the mission of my Spiritual Master at a very old age and by the Grace of my Spiritual Master within four or five years with your cooperation we have expanded beyond expectation. Now if all you work with the same zeal and enthusiasm and if each of you establish another set of 30 to 40 branches with necessary influx of devotees, then I am sure our Krsna Consciousness Movement will prove a solid fact throughout the whole world and for this purpose you have to gather sufficiently spiritual strength.”

16. Passion Killers When you first come to KC and you really understand what a good deal you’ve got you get excited about it. I now have a purpose for living, and I now have a future home in the spiritual world. And you get excited about that and you’re pretty passionate. But as time goes by you begin to lose your steam, zip, your zest, your enthusiasm. Why does that happen?

17. Unbalanced Schedule yuktähära-vihärasya yukta-ceñöasya karmasu yukta-svapnävabodhasya yogo bhavati duùkha-hä He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. Gita 6/16

18. You need both rest and work. And too much of either will cause you to lose your passion. Too much work will cause you to lose your passion. Too much nothing – boredom – will cause you to lose your passion too, if you’re not working enough. My guess is some of you need to work less and some of you probably need to work more.

19. Output. Too many people have a piece of you & you stop caring. Compassion fatigue Input. You’re always inputting but you haven’t any mission. Getting fatter. Holy Roller.

20. Keep Spiritually fit • Balance Five Purposes

21. Unused Talent • Use your talents or lose your passion • 70 % Americans in a job which does not suit their talents • You need a ministry in your temple to use the talents you’re not using in your job. Because no job could possibly use all the talents God has given you. So you need a job but you also need a ministry that expresses what you’re good at.

22. Hidden Secrets • Guilt robs joy, passion,confidence • Consciously we think, It’s ok. Everybody’s doing it. It’s no big deal. But subconsciously it gnaws at us. • We cannot feel enthusiasm and guilt at the same time. • Relieve the guilt restore the passion

23. Unresolved Conflict • Conflict drains passion • Fight - flat- zip does out of your doo dah day • Let them off your hook & put on Krishna’s • Don’t let resentment control your life

24. Unsupported Life Style Two are better than one because if one falls down his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. Small group Don’t wait for a crisis to get in small group. India Culture Shock Pattern - Start withdrawing & heart grows cold Iron rod in fire..alone we are weak

25. Unclear Purpose • Life without purpose is activity without direction. It’s motion without meaning. Life without purpose is trivial, petty, and pointless. • Passion and purpose go together.

26. “Passion is waking up in the morning wherever you are and bounding out of bed because you know there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that God made you for and you’re good at, something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again. It’s something that you’d rather be doing than anything else and you wouldn’t give it up for money because it means more to you than money.” Thomas Hobbs

27. We long to see His face, His true, eternal, spiritual form. We want Him to take us away, to devour us, to treat us as He likes, cruelly or friendly. Anything rather than neglect or forget us. We would rather be cast in hell and have Him conscious of us than to be put in a paradise of material enjoyment and have Him forget us.

28. Many of us know what it means to be in love with another person—the anxieties, the tremblings, the sudden heartbeats, the loneliness, the calling of the beloved’s name, the impatience to have the beloved always near, the awful dread lest the beloved be secretly indifferent. All these are on a small, finite scale.

29. All this can be felt by one tiny soul to another. All this is felt by one fragment of illusory energy for another fragment of illusory energy. How much greater must these feelings, thoughts, passions be between the soul and the Divine Lover? Especially when we realize that love for others has really been love for Him—disguised.

30. Everything else is a mockery, a taunt. But then we begin to wonder how we can ever warrant His love. When we look at our miserable sinful lives, we wonder how we can ever be worthy of Him. A beloved must be worthy of the Lover. Our only hope is that our pitiable, hopeless condition makes us more lovable to Him. BTG The Divine Lover, 1970

31. Undernourished Spirit Every day you face all kinds of circumstances that conspire to shrink your spirit and shrivel your heart. X You’re going to have distractions disappointments. conflicts. changes. challenges. problems. pressures. frustrations. fears. failures. fatigue. So you must intentionally nourish your spirit. 5 purposes

32. You forgot how passionate Krishna is about you. • Whoever is wise will remember these things and will think about the deep love of the Lord. • Worst sin is being lukewarm

33. My dear King, in the place where pure devotees live, following the rules and regulations and thus purely conscious and engaged with great eagerness in hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in that place if one gets a chance to hear their constant flow of nectar, which is exactly like the waves of a river, one will forget the necessities of life—namely hunger and thirst—and become immune to all kinds of fear, lamentation and illusion. SB 4/29/39

34. One's devotion and sincere desire to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead are the only qualifications. Rüpa Gosvämé has also said that the price for achieving God's favor is simply one's sincere eagerness to have it (laulyam ekaà mülyam)

35. Dear Lord, I’ve never been loved by anybody as much as You love Me. Thank You for having a purpose for my life. Forgive me for my lukewarm attitude toward You. Krishna, I want to have a passion for You. I want to get up in the morning looking forward to the day that You’ve planned for me and I want to love You passionately. I want to use the talents that You’ve given to me for Your sake. Help me to take time to nourish my spirit and grow every day. Through deity worship, association with other devotees, using my talents for You, sharing the good news with others.

36. I once nearly drowned in an undertow in Australia which is pretty unusual since as a young man I was a lifeguard. But I was in this undertow that pulled me under the water for what seemed to me like minutes. I was holding my breath. It wouldn’t let me up to the surface but when I finally forced my way to the surface, I gasped for breath like I’d never had a breath in my life. You might say I was passionate for air. If you, all of a sudden, stopped breathing, you’d get pretty passionate about air. That’s what Krishna wants us to do. He wants us to see Him as our daily sustenance and as the air we breathe. And have that kind of passion for Him.

37. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare