Normally Srila Prabhupada taught us that being indebted is a really bad thing but that was meant for the monetary dealings in the material world. When we are in service of Krishna, however, being indebted is a good thing, at least the way Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati explained it. He actually recommended it, for our won benefit.
His reasoning was like this – take all the money you can get and spend even more for Krishna’s service. If you don’t have enough you have to go out and collect. You have to go out, tell people about Krishna and beg them to donate something for His pleasure. This will make them feel superior to you (even though it’s you who are giving them the greatest opportunity of their lives) and you will be forced to feel lower than the blade of grass. You will also be forced to offer them respect, manada, that way you will fulfill all the requirements for kirtaniya sada harih, AND you will be talking about Krishna all the time.
There’s no other way to clear your heart from anarthas. If you feel inconvenienced by behaving like an insignificant beggar while talking about Krishna, if you don’t like when people tell you to get lost or even kick you out, if your pride hurts too much from all of that – you are not qualified for doing nirjana bhajana anyway and so shouldn’t be wasting you time, pretending to progress in the comfort of you own ashram (that was meant of matha vasis).
This is a powerful message. I wish it got permanently etched at the back of my mind.
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