Non Envious and friend to all. How does one become that? I was trying to comprehend this very difficult truth. The truth became less complex as i was listening to a class in honor of Jayananda Prabhu's disappearance day. As HH Kadamba Kanana Maharaj discussed the qualities of Jayananda Prabhu, these were some of the things that stood out in my mind.
He was a friend to everyone, engaging everyone in the service of Lord Jagannatha in a very genuinely loving way. He was a powerful preacher and was even more adept at setting examples by his loving and humble behavior. He loved stealing and feeding devotees Mahaprasadam of the Lord at any time of the day or night. He was fully surrenderd to Srila Prabhupada, was fearless and hard working. He dealt with praise in a very expert manner. He highly disliked, gossip and criticism of other devotees. But above all these he was a keen chanter of the holy names and considered it the crux of all other Krishna conscious activities. He could sit for hours together and chant the holy names with great relish. He felt that chanting was only thing constant in the life of a devotee. At first it seemed like a long list of things to do to be a friend to everyone, but no, in fact there is only one trick and the hardest one to achieve and become non envious.
The root of all causes is chanting the holy names of the Lord in a humble state of mind. Then, when the heart is cleared of all contaminants one can become advesta sarva-bhutanam, a friend of all living creatures. He was being compared to Srila Haridas Thakura and i felt so fortunate that we were exposed by way of books and talks to such a wonderful icon of humility in the present day. Meditating on the qualities of saintly persons is said to imbue us with some of their qualities as well. So, i place my heartfelt prayers at the lotus feet of this modern day saint.All Glories to Sri Jayananda Thakura.
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