Advice for Daily Living

1. Always chant 'Radhey' with every breath and visualize the divine form of God and Guru.

2. Do not speak unnecessarily or listen to senseless conversations. You have engaged in meaningless conversations in countless past lives. Now you should save your energy and channel it towards fulfilling the ultimate aim of life.

3. Do not have any ill feelings towards those who speak ill of you. Keep in mind that you are not perfect. If someone points out one of your mistakes, why feel unhappy or angry? After all, he is speaking the truth.

4. Eat simple food, not spicy. One quarter of the stomach should remain empty after the meal. Meat, Eggs, alcohol and tobacco are completely forbidden for devotees.

5. Do not sleep more than 5-6 hours. Make use of every waking minute in devotion to God.

6. Keep your surroundings clean.

7. Spend ten minutes every night reflecting on the mistakes you made during the day. Then be determined to not make the same mistakes again.

8. Serve your Guru, accepting God and Guru to be one and same.

9. Your mind is your biggest enemy. Do not listen to it. Always follow the path as directed by your Guru.

10. If any of the above rules are broken, ask for forgiveness from God and Guru and shed tears of repentance. Remember not to repeat the mistake in the future.   

Working for the pleasure of God

Hobbies are things we do passionately in our free time for fun. People of all ages have their favorite hobbies that they like to invest their time in because it gives them happiness, relaxation and an opportunity to learn. Considering how much we enjoy engaging in our hobbies, is there a way we can make them a part of our spiritual growth?

Shree Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita said:

          यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् |

             यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् || 27||

 "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, and whatever austerities you perform, O son of Kunti, do them as an offering to me." (Bhagavad Gita 9.27)

Read full commentary by Swami Mukundananda

This implies that whatever activity we perform, we should mentally offer it to God. Now, whenever we perform any activity there are 2 aspects to it:

 1) The external activity we do.

 2) Our internal attitude towards it. 

We could perform the same mundane activity with different consciousness and that makes all the difference. If an activity is performed by a worldly-minded person to increase his own comfort, wealth or fame, he gets bound by both good and bad karmic reactions. His karmic reactions result in his continuity in the cycle of life and death. Whereas, if a spiritually minded person performs the same activity for the pleasure of his beloved Lord, he renounces selfishness. Thus he is freed from the fretters of good and bad results.

A person who dedicates all his actions in the service to God becomes united in consciousness with God. Such a yogi becomes liberated in consciousness even in this body. And, upon leaving his mortal frame, receives a divine body and eternal service in the divine abode of God.

Thus by simply changing our internal attitude toward everything we do, we can reap great spiritual benefits. By transforming our internal attitude, we can transform even the mundane activities of material life into divine service of God. Therefore, let's take a step towards this transformation by dedicating all our hobbies to God. Earlier we engaged in our hobbies because it made us happy; now let us do them so that we can make the Lord happy.