Real Success of Life

Success is the achievement of a high position in a particular field or a desired/favourable outcome of an endeavour. The word success is very much relevant to all of us in our life. Everyone is hankering for victory, name, fame, wealth and many more. Does it mean that success is related to achieve these material gains in any field of life by hook or crook? Does it give us ultimate happiness and satisfaction? Everything in this material world is trapping us more and more because we fall in misconceptions, like I am born to enjoy, eating, drinking, sleeping and be happy. But can success guarantee happiness?

Real success of life lies in pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. Here question arises, why should I please Krishna? We can only be happy by pleasing Krishna because we are part and parcel of Him. What is our real identity? Jivere swarup hai Krishner nitya daas. That living entity is the eternal servant of the Lord. It is evident from Srimad Bhagavatam ( 1.2.13 ) ……….‘samsiddhir hari-tosanam’. The highest perfection is to please the Personality of Godhead. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita ( 4.13 )

Success lies in the beginning of real happiness. Real happiness lies only in spiritual world whereas only it’s reflection is there in the material world. Happiness comes only when the soul is happy. Then how can the soul become happy? According to Srimad Bhagavatam ( 1.2.6 ) The supreme dharma of the soul is devotional service of the Lord. The test of one’s success is how fast one has developed love of God.

Real success also depends in our endless endeavor to please Krishna and not the results. The shastric examples are though Vritrasur was defeated in a war with Indra but this was his great success as he went to Goloka dham. Jatayu who was defeated by Ravana while struggling for the service of the Lord, got mercy of Lord Rama.

Success is not a matter of Luck. The rewards one gets in life are usually the results of one’s efforts. No man can hope to have a very easy life and also at the same time a very successful one.

Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acarya of Iskcon is known as the perfect successful as he was the great revolutionary. He had a very clear vision of the world situation, a clear ideology which is taken directly from the Supreme Lord Himself. In 1965 , he sailed to America with only Rs 40/- at the age of seventy to fulfill the order of his spiritual master. In Jaladuta, he had two heart attacks and was suffering with sea sickness. He struggled alone and trained non Indians in strict discipline of vaisnavism and established International Society for Krsna Consciousness. He spread the chanting of the holy names of God through Hare Krsna Mahamantra i.e. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, which became famous in every corner of the globe. He established 108 Krishna temples and trained his disciples in the process of deity worship. He formally initiated five thousand disciples. He inaugurated the Rath Yatra festival of Lord Jagannatha in major cities around the globe.

It is evident from all the above facts of Srila Prabhupada’s life that he is known as ‘Jagat Guru’ without even accumulating any wealth or hoarding materialistic things. He wasn't rich in the conventional sense of the word but he filled our lives with riches beyond words.We are grateful to Srila Prabhupada for his unparalleled achievements which teach us how to be successful and remain in Krsna Conscious services inspite of being an entity of this materialistic world.