Krishna Has Made You Unique

1. Shaped For Significance Krishna Has Made You Unique

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

3. Krishna Loves Variety •100,000 Beetles • 18 million snowflakes in one cubic foot

4. Spark of My Splendor * 900,000 Aquatics. * 2,000,000 Trees & Plants. * 1,100,00 Insects & Reptiles. • 1,000,000 Birds. • 3,000,000 Mammals. • 400,000 Human Species. Gita 10/41

5. Seed Giving Father Gita 14/4

6. You are ................. 1. Unique 2. Complex 3. Shaped for a Pupose

7. None Like You Broke the Mold Special You Are No Carbon Copy

8. Did You Marry a Complex Person?

9. I’m a mystery to myself Why do I feel this way? You're just you What was I thinking? What’s happening to me?

10. You were planned & designed, you’re not random.

11. S.H.A.P.E. • Spiritual Gifts • Heart • Abilities • Personality • Experiences

12. Ananyas cintayanto mam ye jana prayopasate tesam nityabhiyuktanam yoga kshema vahamy aham To those who worship me with exclusive devotion, to them I carry what they lack & preserve what they have.

13. Receive at least one supernatural spiritual gift

14. Brahma Samhita I adore the Primeval Lord Govinda from Whom the separated subjective portion Brahma receives his power for the regulation of the mundane world, just as the Supreme manifests some portion of His own light in all effulgent gems.

15. Brahma Sampradaya

16. Krishna's given us many, many different gifts. Have you ever read a saint’s biography and felt guilty? How come I can't chant for 23 hours daily like Haridas Thakur? He has the gift of being namacharya, that's why. How come everybody this guy talks to accepts Krishna? He's got the gift of preaching. Don't project your gift onto others. And don't let other people project their gift onto you. It's all important. My gift shows Krishna's plan for my life individually.

17. Pizzas Pakoras

18. Heart

20. Mind = Heart • What do you think about when your mind is able to think of anything? • We have different motivations, interests and drives. • Don’t worry about what we’re not devoted to. • Causes lot of problems in marriage “Honey, anything you want to say to me before football seasons starts?”

22. Idolatry Equals Fear (of losing) •Getting people's approval • Making money • Getting married • Success • Reputation

23. “One who sees the Supersoul equally present everywhere, in every living being, does not degrade himself by his mind. Thus he approaches the transcendental destination.” Gita 13/29

24. Abilities You have many, many different kinds of abilities. Some of you are interested in computers. Some of you are scared to death of computers. Some of you have a natural ability with mechanical things. Many are good with numbers. Many are good with words. Many are good at speaking. Some people have the ability to work with people. Some people have abilities in music. Some people can think great ideas and abstract thoughts and put them all together. Some people have mechanical minds, engineering minds. Krishna gives you those abilities. You may have an ability to entertain. Other people fall flat on their face when they try to entertain. You may have an ability to cook. You may have an ability to draw, to speak, to recruit, to research, to landscape, to build..Those abilities are not by accident..

25. Evaluate My Abilities • You are God’s poem • Unique Handiwork • What are your interests, passions? • What do others say you are good at?

26. Personality: Nature or Nurture 18,000 Personality Traits Anybody who's a parent of two or more children knows that. Some babies are born cooing and loving and complacent. They're so much fun! Other babies come chomping on a cigar saying, "I dare you to make me smile!... I'm going to take on the world!" Any of you who are parents of multiple children and have watched the dynamics at the dinner table you think how out of my loins could this diversity come? Just day and night!

28. Experiences • There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home. John Stuart Mills • Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley • Experience is that marvelous thing that enable you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. Franklin Jones • A little experience often upsets a lot of theory. S.P. Cadma

29. Dharma

30. What is the ‘intrinsic’ ‘inseparable’ characteristic of a living being?

31. Fixed. You don’t change, dovetail. “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, & whatever austerities you perform, do them as an offering to Me.” Irrepressible. “Compelled by the work born of your own nature, you will act all the same, O Arjuna”

32. Why Must I Understand My S.H.A.P.E.? 1. Reduces Stress 2. Increases Success 3. Deepens Satisfaction 4. Increases Self Esteem

33. Once you understand your shape it explains how you respond to authority. It explains how you handle criticism, how you like to be led. How you deal with confrontation, how you handle power and freedom, how you make friends, why you find it hard to get started in a new activity sometimes. Your shape explains how you deal with guilt, why you emphasize what you do, why you're popular or you're unpopular, why you get close to people or why you don't get close to people. It's all explained by your shape that Krishna gave you. Your shape explains what makes you mad, what makes you sad, what makes you worried, what makes you happy, what makes you fearful. Because it's you!

34. You stop trying to do what you're not gifted to do. You build on your strengths. You recognize your limitations. You maximize what you're good at and don't worry about the rest. That's a stress reducer.

35. What is success? It's not making a lot of money. I know a lot of people making a lot of money who aren't successful. Success is knowing Krishna's will and being right in the center of it. Success is being what Krishna meant you to be. It's figuring out who you are and then being it! Gita says better to do your duty, though imperfectly, than do another’s perfectly.” Finding your niche and saying, "That's me!" That's success.

36. Karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu Kadacana Ma karma-phala-hetur bhur ma te sango’stv akarmani “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” Gita 2/47

37. Help teenagers discover their shape before they get out into the world so we can help position them for success. Rather than like most of us, we had to go through four or five different trial and error decisions before we could say, "Oh, that's what I'm good at!" Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier if we helped teenagers discover what they're gifted to do and start heading that direction.

38. “O infallible one, my illusion is now gone & I have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm & free from doubt & prepared to act according to your instructions.” 18/73

39. My pure devotees derive great satisfaction (tusyanti) and bliss (ramanti) from enlightening one another & conversing about Me. Gita 10/9

40. Just as thorns and rocks do not hurt a climber with good shoes on his feet For one who has found inner satisfaction, outer troubles never bother him.

41. Self Esteem • Low Self esteem epidemic Good self esteem built on two principles 1. You matter to Krishna 2. You were created for a purpose

42. I hope -- my prayer is -- at the end of this series you'll be able to say like "By the grace of God, I am what I am." That you'll not only accept what Krishna made you but you'll enjoy it and you'll thank Him for it and you'll see the wisdom of what He did in your gifts, and heart, and ability, and personality, and experiences. And that you will say, I want to contribute my uniqueness to this world for the glory of God.

43. Help us discover and develop the shape that You've given to each of us, the design, how You've formed and crafted and fashioned and made each of us unique and for a purpose. I pray that individually and collectively as a temple that self esteem will rise and people will find new success in life and find significance and meaning and satisfaction from being what You meant for them to be all along.

44. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

45. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare