Where are the obstacles in Vaikuntha? There may seem to be obstacles, like Aristasura galloping down the road toward the residents of Vrindavan. They immediately take shelter in Krishna, and Krishna protects them. Even in Goloka Vrindavan, there are no demons, but there is the sense of demons. What is the purpose of that? It is there so that they can take more intensely their shelter in Krishna.

The Bhagavatam, in this case and in many other places, is training us through the examples of great devotees to move to the spiritual side. That is to be attached to sat, and by that attachment to be detached from asat. When we speak of duty, we are referring to some service that we have to do for Krishna. The mood of servant is not to be the enjoyer of the outcome. The influence of passion is thinking, "I am entitled to enjoy the outcome". When we are dutiful, we think, "I am entitled to perform the duty, but not entitled to be the enjoyer of the fruit of the duty".

Is there anything that exists that we can say is ours? We can't say that the body is ours because it can be taken away. Our mind is not ours because it is not under our control. Our possessions are certainly not ours. Even the soul itself is the property of Krsna. So what can we say is ours?

Q) The more I hear about dependence, the more I recognize how far I am from depending fully on guru & Krishna. Sometimes I get stuck in the space of guilt, thinking that I am progressing slowly. What to do?

In the line of devotion, we are absolutely dependent upon guru and Krishna. That is our real identity. Call upon guru and Krishna to help us open our hearts for that mercy which guru and Krishna are more than willing to give. Until then, we remain closed hearted, or hard hearted, thinking like a fruitive worker that, "it's on the strength of my endeavor that everything will be successful," when that is not the case. We have to make some endeavor, but we also have to open our hearts to the descending mercy, like the cakora bird catching falling raindrops. Otherwise we will die.

-- Adapted from a lecture by HH Romapada Swami during the disciples meeting on Jan 1 1995 in NY.

Q. When should we take guidance? Which situations should we take decisions on ourselves, and which questions should we present to senior devotees and consult with them about?

Now that we have done this exercise of self-honesty -- the appraisal of 'where I am' in the spectrum of devotional service -- the next thing is how do deal with that, with spiritual conception. That's where this seeming contradiction or paradox comes: There is this necessity of acceptance of the reality of our current position and, at the same time, a seeming paradox of self-improvement, wherein we want to go beyond our shortcoming or limitation to the realm of pure devotional service...

"Krsna says, 'I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death for those who execute their activities in devotional service.' Because Krsna does the delivering, that's a different dependency than the dependency of someone who is thinking 'If I do this and I do this and I do this, then I'm secure.' They're not thinking, 'I'm depending on Krsna'. They're thinking, 'Im depending on this, that, and the other thing' -- some activity, not the quality of their devotion and dependency on God."