Ulterior Motives in Devotional service.

I shall draw a parallel understanding from a comic series called Captain America.


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Captain America is a comic series published in America in early1940s & it has many adventurous stories of Captain America, the Super hero defeating the evils in the fictitious world.


The story goes that a scientist has prepared an artificial way of creating "Super Soldiers".
He could inject a person with powerful substances & serums which make a person Super Strong as equal to Steel.
These Super soldiers could not be then defeated by any one.


The experiment of injecting serum is done on one person who has evil motives called Red skull & he thus becomes stronger & starts supporting the evil activities 


The scientist then feels that he need a right candidate to create a  Super soldier to defeat the evil minded people. In his search he finds a young boy very skinny being repeatedly rejected by society & people & the army recruitment department.
He gives him a chance & gets him enrolled in army. The officers make jokes of this small person.But this small person has courage & determination in his heart & that whats attracted the scientist.


The scientist has a conversation with the boy &  tells him that he has a serum which makes a person very strong & probably he shall test it on him.


The scientist takes a promise from the boy that whatever happens after the test he should remain at least a  good soldier , a soldier good at heart & not trying to be a great soldier.


after the test the boy becomes the Famous moral ethical Captain America 
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How is it that the same serum given to 2 person makes one person evil while other good ??
The Answer is the serum does what it needs to do ie making a person strong as steel 
but it is the motive, the intent of heart which gives different results.


If the motive is bad the result after taking serum shall increase the bad to worse.
If the motive is good the result is greatness.


The process of devotional service is like strong serum which makes a conditioned soul powerful in sense he can control his mind & senses And because of sinless life one can perceive some happiness .One can become famous of his devotional service (bhakti).


But the intent of heart or the motive behind is all that matters at the end.
devotional service makes a person powerful but it shall be the motive of the person which shall decide what shall he do with this power ??
Shall he use it for his own ego , his own needs & greed & exploits
or shall he become the instrument of compassion & selflessly do his service ??


One may ask but isn't devotional service meant to purify our heart of all negative desires & replace it with positive ones ??


YES devotional should purify our heart but it can do it if one desires to purify himself. 
 one needs to  purify his motive or intent of heart 
Many take to devotional service for various reasons but the devotional service is to be taken for only one reason ie for the ultimate goal of life ie to develop love for Krishna.


In course of devotional service one needs to rectify his desires & motives. If one neglects & ignores to remove false desires then it comes back & disguises it as some right desire .
Ulterior motives , wrong desires are like shaktasura the ghost demon & vatsasura - the calf demon 


Shaktasura demon -- ghost --- it haunts us again & again with past conditioning's as we try to advance in devotional service. like sense-gratification,


Vatsasura demon --- calf demon-- it takes the shape of an innocent desire which one may think as good & valid but is actually ruining our devotional creep like pride , need for respect & control  , complacency in devotional service, criticism 


Both can be killed with power of Krishna, through sadhu sastra guru & proper association of advanced devotees.
Time & again by doing introspection in heart & asking why am i doing devotional service ??
Is it for personal gratification or to develop love for  Krishna ??
Am i doing this for some respect & pride or for reviving genuine humility ??


by regular introspection by oneself & association of guru & advanced devotees one can keep checking his motive in heart .


Krishna says ultimately he shall establish himself in our heart & kill all the ignorance & demons in us but we need to prepare a nice place for him before he comes.
Our heart should be cultivated & made soft by proper hearing & chanting & service to Vaishanavas then Krishna shall consider to establish in our heart.


An instructing story from Ramayan
Ravana with his evil motive attained due to evil association of demons did great sacrifice for 1000s of years & then got a boon (serum) from Bramha but due to his bad motive he used this for destroying & creating havoc in the society.while his brother Vibhisana also did the same sacrifice for 1000s of years but his motive was not evil while he wished to attain love for God so his providence was arranged that he got association & service of Lord Rama .


SO it is necessary to keep checking our motives in garden of our heart while in the process of devotional service 
as a gardener checks for all the weeds that grow along with desired plant ,pluck out those weeds by  power of Krishna, through sadhu sastra guru & proper association of advanced devotees.


How is heart transformed from ulterior motives ??
a nice story answering this.
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There is a story in this connection. It is very instructive, so try to hear. One professional reciter was publicly reciting the Srimad Bhagavatam, and he was describing that Krishna is very highly decorated with all kinds of jewels when He goes to tend the cows in the forest. So, there was a thief in that meeting, and he thought, "Why not go to Vrandavan and plunder this boy? He's in the forest with so many valuable jewels. I can go there and catch the child and take all the jewels." This was his intention. So he was serious. "I must find that boy," he thought. "Then in one night I shall become a millionaire."
The thief's qualification was his feeling: "I must see Krishna I must see Krishna" That anxiety, that eagerness, made it possible for him to actually see Krishna in Vrndavan. He saw Krishna in just the same way as the Bhagavatam reader had described. Then the thief said, "Oh, You are such a nice boy, Krishna." He began to flatter Him; he thought that by flattering Him he would easily take all the jewels. Then he proposed his real business: "May I take some of these ornaments? You are so rich."
"No, no, no," said Krishna. "My mother will be angry! I cannot give them away." Krishna was playing just like a child.
So the thief became more and more eager for Krishna to give Him the jewels, but by Krishna's association he was becoming purified. Then at last Krishna said, "All right, you can take them." Then the thief became a devotee immediately, because by Krishna's association he had been completely purified. So somehow or other you should come in contact with Krishna . Then you'll be purified.
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So Lets establish Krishna in our heart by developing strong eagerness & anxiety for Krishna by hearing & chanting very attentively in the association of sincere serious devotees.

LSD effects vs 8 ecstatic symptoms

The above picture shows the effects of LSD ---- like fever,clenching,tremors,increased heart rate, pespirations

dialtions

These symptoms are externally imposed on oneself . They are forced .They having nothing to do with Heart.

They are not triggered by heart but by some matter.

People are always finding how to get the estactic symptoms & LSD is one medium where there try to externally get it & feel it for some time & go HIGH for sometime & then AGain come Down.

Because these estacties are not real but imposed artificially they give no real pleasure or satisfaction.

Instead they become the cause of trouble & invite more miseries & moreover make one much more frustated than before.

Srila Prabhupad explains that when a girl who is desperate to become a mother may sometime become crazy & make noise & cry like one been pregnant but that is simply a disturbance .

Similarly this LSD is simply a disturbance to the society.

Every soul knows about this ecstatic symptoms but because encaged in body & bodily conciousness

it is looking for pleasure outside his self & attempting disgusting LSD experiments.

Srila Prabhupad explains below how one can get the real ecstatic symptoms below:

In the beginning, there may not be the presence of all transcendental ecstasies, which are eight in number. There are:

1) Being stopped as though dumb,

2) perspiration,

3) standing up of hairs on the body,

4) dislocation of voice,

5) trembling,

6) fading of the body,

7)crying in ecstasy, and

8) trance.

But there is no doubt that chanting for a while takes one immediately to the spiritual platform and one shows the first symptom of this in the urge to dance along with the chanting of the mantra. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting and dancing. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even such a materially engrossed man is raised to the spiritual platform very quickly. When it is chanted by a pure devotee of the Lord in love, it has the greatest efficacy on hearers, and as such this chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord, so that immediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips of nondevotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.

- From Krsna Consciousness, The Topmost Yoga System, Chapter 6: The Hare Krsna Mantra, Para 4

Chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

and make your life sublime

5 four defects

Tendencies of Conditioned Souls

We are part and parcels of God, pure spiritual entities by nature, but
due to contact with the material energy we become covered by
ignorance.

Because of this covering, we display faults in our character. Four
types of faults are especially prominent: 1. The tendency to make
mistakes, 2. The tendency to be illusioned, 3. Having imperfect
senses, and 4. The propensity to cheat. Every conditioned soul
(contaminated by material consciousness) is subject to these four
defects. Therefore the conditioned soul is not able to distinguish
between matter and spirit, nor give adequate spiritual guidance to
others.

In order to progress spiritually, we must take guidance from persons
who are free from these four defects. God and His pure devotees are
free from these defects. Religious principles can only be given by
God. His pure devotees simply repeat these principles. They do not
speculate as do mundane theologians, whose presentations are, at best,
pseudo spirituality.

If one tries to manufacture his own religious process, pick and choose
practices as he likes, or follow a spiritual guide who is not a pure
devotee of God then he will be victimized by these four defects. Even
a bonafide spiritual process, if interpreted by someone who is not
pure, will be contaminated and not yield spiritual fruit. Only by
strictly following the instructions of God, as repeated by His pure
devotee can one be freed of these four faults.
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