Phase Three of Faith Building

Unanswered QuestionsWhy do they put flotation devices under

airplane seats instead of parachutes?Why we drive on parkways and park on

driveways?When we're in a car and looking for an address

we can't find, why do we turn down the volume on the radio?

Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?Why are they called stairs inside but steps

outside?

Why do gynecologists leave the room when you change?

Why is there a disclaimer on the Allstate Auto Insurance commercials that says "Not available in all states"?

Why is it that everyone driving faster than you is considered an idiot and everyone driving slower than you is a moron?

When does it stop being partly cloudy and start being partly sunny?

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

Do prison buses have emergency exits?

But the most perplexing question of all I want to ask Krishna, Why does He wait to answer prayers? If He hears it immediately and has the power to do it, why the delay?

His Divine A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami1896 - 1977

“You are educated young boys. Why don’t you take up Lord Chaitanya’s message and preach in the Western world?” In the very first sight, he told me.

I wanted to remain as a householder and preach, but Guru Maharaj did not like this idea. I could understand. Sometime I was dreaming that he was calling me, and I was horrified that “I’ll have to go away from home.” (laughter) So at last it happened so that I left my home in 1950 and became a missionary.

In 1959 he took sannyasa, the renounced order of spiritual life, and in 1965, at the advanced age of 70, His Divine Grace arrived in New York City to fulfill his spiritual master’s sacred mission.

When he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Only after a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July of 1966.

Before he passed away on November 14, 1977, he had guided the Society to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred ashramas, schools, temples, institutes, and farm communities.

Krishna said, “You all know how Yudhisthir was unfairly defeated at dice. He & his brothers were forced to live in the forest for 13 years.They suffered unbearable hardships, especially inthis last year when they were obliged to accept menial service from others. They now seek their rightful kingdom.”

“Let us us try by all means to settle this affair peaceably and fully in accordance with the eternal codes of religion. Let us avoid unnecessary violence. But if Duryodhone will not return Yudhisthira’s lands, then I think there will have to be war.”

Patience a virtue, elusiveKrishna is patient. He wants us to be like Him

• Delay is to test you & get you ready for difficulties, renewal of strength

John Milton"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, "God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts. Who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,And post o'er land and ocean without rest;They also serve who only stand and wait."

• Don't Fear • Don't Fret • Don't Faint • Don't Forget

“A true yogi observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self realized person sees Me, the Supreme Lord, everywhere. Gita 6/29

Antidote to Fear is Focus

There will never be a time in your life when Krishna is not with you. He's with you now, He always has been and He always will be. He's with you on your good days and your bad days. He's with you when you feel it and He's with you when you don't feel it.

“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.” Gita 6/30

"Fear not, for I am with you.". You'll never face any situation in life that God isn't facing it with you. We tend to forget that, and when we do we start being afraid. Don't fear but focus on Krishnas's presence -- He's with you all the time.

Krishna has not forgotten you. He knows what you're going through. It is a delay by design. Krishna wants to build your character and He wants you to learn to trust in Him. You can count on Him for His help.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage takeThe clouds you dread are full of mercy

& will break in blessings on your heads.

Prabhupada“Krsna is instructing us how to understand Him. That is our only business. This human form of life is meant for understanding Krsna because we are very thickly related with Krsna, just like father and the son. This relation cannot be broken. Maybe son is out of home, son may have forgotten, but Krsna, the supreme father, He does not forget.”

Fret means worry. Uptight. Complain. We do that when we get into Delays. We worry, get uptight, get stressed out, start griping.

“I do not see how any good can

come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor

can I, my dear Krishna, desire any subsequent

victory, kingdom, or happiness.”

Gita 1/31

Impatience will get you

into

Trouble

When we try to take matters into our own hands we get in trouble. We try to help Krishna out. It's frustrating to be in a hurry and Krishna isn't.

Krishna Larger than Time

A thousand ages in Thy sightAre like an evening gone;Short as the watch that ends the nightBefore the rising sun.

Seeds Sleep in Winter

Sprout in Spring

The very fact that we're laying awake at night means we're not living by faith. Krishna says, "Don't fear, don't fret. Remember I'm always with you and trust My timing."

Of the Six Phases, for Americans, Phase Three is the most difficult. We don't like to wait. Americans are activists -- doers. We think it's far easier to work than wait. I'm Mr. Fixer. Krishna says I'll fix it if you just wait. It's the delay that's building your character. He can fix it better than you can.

“My dear Krishna, seeing my friends & relatives before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering & my mouth drying up. Gita 1/27

“My whole body is trembling, & my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, & my skin is burning.I am unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself,& my mind is reeling. I see only causes of misfortune, O Krishna, killer of the Kesi demon. Gita 1/29,30

If only -- means we start to second guess ourselves. Maybe Krishna is not listening and He doesn't care. If only I'd done something different.

Let’s Go BackWhen we go through the delay phase of life we tend to idealize the past. We talk about the good old days -- which really weren't that good. The only thing good about them is they'reover. The grass isn't greener on this or thatside of the fence -- it's greener where youwater it. The good old days always look better in hind sight than they really were. We get into a project, start having a delay,and then want to give up.

Some people would rather live in slavery than face the fear of freedom. They want to go back, give up. They settle for mediocrity in life.

• One seed of corn gives a whole stalk with thousands on it.

• Always a delay between sowing and reaping. There's always a season.

• Krishna wants to see if you're going to keep cultivating, planting, sowing -- see if you really mean business. Consistency.

• No delay, no character development, no stretching your faith.

Calvin Coolidge "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. There is nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination, alone, omnipotent. The slogan `Press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

“O son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart & arise, O chastiser of the enemy.Gita 2/3

What do I pray during the delay phases of life? Pray "Help me hold on and not give up." "They who wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings, as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint." They won't give up. They'll keep on keeping on.

• Krsna boliya se jiva bahir anadir mukha• Ateava maya tara dehe samsara dukha• Because the living entity has forgotten

his eternal relation with Krishna, he is cast into the material energy where he experiences the miseries of birth, death, old age, & disease.

Always Remember KrishnaWhen a delay we forget all the times Krishna has bailed us out..has in the past & will do in future

Never Forget Krishna

16 Rounds

2009

1600 A. D.

"The Lord is not being slow to carry out His promises but He is being patient with you."

He wants you to develop first, some growth patterns He wants you to put into your life. Krishna's never in a hurry. He can do things immediately, but He's working on a larger agenda. The delays that come in your life do not destroy Krishna's purpose. They make you a better person.

What is it you've been waiting on Krishna to do? For Him to turn a problem around? To answer a prayer? To make a way in a place where it seems impossible for there to be a way, financially or physically or any other way? Maybe you've been waiting on Krishna to bring that right person along? Maybe you've been waiting on Krishna to turn a crisis into a solution? God hasn't forgotten. And a delay is not a denial. Not yet is not the same thing as No.

• "These things won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!"

• The things you've waited for in your life, Krishna will bring to fulfillment if you do not faint, do not fret, do not fear, do not forget.