enthusiasm is the qualification

“So you must be very enthusiastic that “I shall preach the glories of the Lord to my best capacity…My Lord is so great, so kind, so beautiful, so wonderful. So I must speak something about my Lord.” This is the qualification, enthusiasm." – Srila Prabhupada in a lecture

As we can see enthusiasm is the principle behind devotional service. I was meditating how one day I have enthusiasm and one day I do not have enthusiasm and sometimes it is just frustrating. Sometimes I do my rounds and other services with such enthusiasm I think this is what I want to do the rest of my life. There are other days where I can barely drag myself out of bed. Why this type of swing in attitude? Isn’t devotional life enthusiastic in itself that it should give us the enriching energy to engage in it?

Like for example, I love sports. I used to jump out of bed practically at any moment in a 24 hour day to play sports (especially cricket). I had intense enthusiasm. Not only was I enthusiastic but I used to persuade my friends even to play with me. Why do I not have the same level of enthusiasm to do service to the Lord? When I play cricket, it gives pleasure to my mind and rejuvenates my body. Hence playing cricket gave me mundane pleasure.

Connecting the dots, I engage in devotional service with the same type of mentality. I enthusiastically or unenthusiastically serve depending on how much pleasure I get. Since I try to serve for my own pleasure (gross or subtle) and not for the pleasure of Krishna, this type of enthusiasm becomes material and hence motivated and interrupted. That is why my enthusiasm levels go up and down.

The solution is obvious. Krishna Consciousness is a spiritual endeavor above the modes of nature and hence my enthusiasm should also be spiritual. So what does it mean “enthusiasm should be spiritual”. We are all parts and parcels of Krishna. Therefore we are minute infitesimal sparks of energy emanating from Krishna. Although in my current state, I do not know my “real identity”, I do know from the scriptures and Guru that whatever identity I may have I am a servant of the servant of Krishna. So I should strive to serve on that platform of servant of the servant. However, there is a common question that pops up, “I am not self-realized and hence do not feel like a servant of the servant?”…yes this is a valid argument. But what we can try to do is use our intelligence and faith in the words of Guru and place ourselves in a servant position. In other words, with intelligence and faith we can sincerely strive to take a servant of the servant position. Seeing our sincerity and faith, Krishna will award us higher realizations.

This is what I should try to do. The minute I humble myself to a servant of the servant position in the mood to please Krishna and not myself, my enthusiasm would be automatically shifted to the spiritual platform. Then my enthusiasm will be free-flowing and uninterrupted irrespective of time, place and circumstance. Then enthusiasm becomes spiritual. Therefore in order to have uninterrupted enthusiasm

1. We should serve solely for the pleasure of Krishna and not for our own pleasure.
2. We should serve in the mood of servant of the servant because that is our true constitutional position (sanatan dharma) in relation to Krishna.

If we cultivate these two attitudes we can serve with perpetual enthusiasm without personal motivation and or interruption.

Hare Krishna.