Before I begin this newsletter, I wanted to mention that if you attended the Get to the Soul of New Year’s Resolutions seminar in Houston and don’t have time to read this newsletter, please, please, please, go to the end of the article and just do the exercise entitled And Here is the Most Helpful Part of the Exercise. It is written in large bold type so you can’t miss it.

 

It won’t take you long; and once you do the exercise you will understand why I am stressing that you do it. It is extremely beneficial and well worth the few minutes it will take you to do it.

 

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Dates of the Enlightened Communications Seminar Changed

 

We decided to postpone the Enlightened Communications and Relationship Building seminar in Houston until June. Our intention is to make this seminar as professional as possible and it became apparent we needed more time to prepare. We want to offer you a professional seminar that is highly effective and transformational - and in some ways even life changing. The extra time we put into developing the seminar will insure we achieve this outcome.

 

I am sorry if this has caused any inconvenience. The exact date has not been finalized but we will inform you as soon as the date is set. If you have already registered and will be unable to attend in June, you will receive a full refund.

 

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Some of you who attended the Get to the Soul of New Year’s Resolutions seminar asked if I could review the important points we discussed and also expand upon them. This newsletter will be devoted to that request.

 

Review is important. Experts say that to learn something well you should review it three times; within the first 24 hours, within a week, and again within a month.

 

If you did not attend the seminar all this information is easily understandable and extremely beneficial. If this article stimulates an interest in having the seminar in your area - now called Enlightened Life Directions – Connecting with your unique purpose in Prabhupada’s mission - please contact me.

 

May you always think of Krsna,

 

Mahatma Das

 

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If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going, You Might End Up There

 

 

 

The reality is that you have already ended up somewhere. The question is, “Is this where you want to be?” If it isn’t, there are steps you can take to get somewhere else.

 

But first, of course, you must know where you want to go. So it’s important to ask, “What’s my life’s purpose, what’s my life’s mission.” Anyone on a spiritual path will say something like, “My mission is self-realization, to love God, to help others become Krsna conscious.” The problem is that is too general to be completely meaningful to you. If your mission is to make spiritual advancement and help others, it is important for you to know specifically how you will do this? What special gifts do you have? What inspires you the most? As Prabhupada often said, “How do you want to serve Krsna?” Get specific.

 

I know that some you think this sounds selfish? Aren’t we supposed to do what guru and Krsna want? Of course. But we have parameters in which Krsna asks us to serve and within those parameters there are many possibilities. Srila Prabhupada was asked to preach in the west and write books in English. Within those parameters his inspiration motivated him to establish an international organization and open temples, farms, schools, museums, restaurants, etc. He was also inspired to go back to India and develop big projects there. That’s because Prabhupada’s inspiration was to not only make the West Krsna conscious but to make the world Krsna conscious.

 

What inspires you? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? What would you regret not having done in your life if you were to die tomorrow? What would you do if you had enough money that you didn’t have to work?

 

IF YOU WENT BACK TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD TONIGHT AND MET SRILA PRABHUPADA, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL HIM YOU DID THAT YOU HAVEN’T YET DONE?

 

Here’s another way to connect with you mission. Imagine it is the year 2016 and we are having a reunion of all the people who were at the Get to the Soul seminar in Houston in January of 2006 (for the sake of this exercise, if you weren’t at the seminar imagine you were there). Now imagine you are telling everyone you meet what you are doing now. What would you like to be telling them (i.e. what would you like to be doing in 2016?)?

 

Clarity is Power
The answers to these “soul searching” exercises are revealing; they lay at the heart of what inspires you, at the heart of what you can fully commit to, at the heart of what you do well and have a passion for. Reflect on these questions. Within them are the clues to your unique purpose and mission in your service to guru and Krsna. When you connect on this deep level, clarity, mission and goals will automatically appear. And when this happens your life start moving in the direction IT WAS MEANT TO MOVE.

 

THE MAIN REASON PEOPLE DON’T GET WHAT THEY WANT IS THAT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.

 

As I mentioned, in the early days Prabhupada asked devotees how they wanted to serve Krsna. Usually they would say something like, “Whatever you want, Srila Prabhupada.” And he would respond, “No, I want to know what you want to do for Krsna. Prabhupada was doing what he taught his managers to do, challenge devotees to find out what they are most inspired to do for Krsna.

 

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” - Carl Jung

Our life’s purpose should not necessarily be chosen because of what others expect of us. Often what others expect is the very thing we are least motivated to do. We shouldn’t choose our mission to impress others, neither should we do it to take advantage of others. And we shouldn’t choose it because someone else is doing it.

 

Sometimes you may have goals that are in contradiction with one another. For example, you may want to be a professor but don’t want to spend the time and effort it takes to get a PhD. You may want to a play in the Philharmonic orchestra but don’t want to spend much time learning music and practicing your instrument. This is what happens when you make goals that are not connected to your life mission. In this state you’re likely to take one step forward and one backward, and you generally get in your own way. To accomplish things you may need continual outside direction: Do this. Go that way. In other words, strong motivation is not there because these goals are not connected to a higher mission in your life

 

When goals are connected to your mission, they feel right. You get excited when you think about them. They empower you; they bring you life. They provide you with creative energy for their own attainment. Just imagining what it would feel like to achieve these goals will tap into the courage and determination to accomplish them. Working on goals that are connected to your mission are enjoyable and absorbing. A goal not aligned with your mission becomes something you “have to” do while waiting to get around to do what you want to do. You become exhausted and time drags. Work is often stressful.

 

CONNECTING WITH YOUR MISSION VITALIZES EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE

 

Self Sabotage
As you can see, connecting with your mission is crucial. Once you know where you want to go, you will need to know the best way to get there. There are steps to do this and I will explain them at the end of this article; but the steps alone are not enough. If we doubt we can achieve our goals, it’s likely we won’t even take the first step. Or if we do, we are likely to sabotage ourselves along the way. So attitude is fundamental to success. Taking a new step or entering a new kind of work is what people fear most. The real fear should be the opposite. We should fear remaining stuck.

 

Of course, if you make a goal that is virtually impossible to achieve it is understandable you may have doubts. At the same time, your goals should at least be big enough that they stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone. My experience is that if your goals are aligned with your unique mission, they become so important to you that there is nothing more you want than achieving them. As a result your consciousness becomes fixed on the end results, not the obstacles. If you are focused on the obstacles, it is probably because you have not connected with your mission.

 

WHEN YOU ARE REALLY CONNECTED WITH YOUR MISSION, OBSTACLES WON’T GET IN YOUR WAY.

 

How Do I Get There?
So once you know where you want to go, how do you get there? What follows is a practical seven-step formula you can use to achieve your goals for the rest of your life. This is more or less the same formula every successful person employs. You can view this as something like the laws that govern accomplishment, and they can be applied to achieving either material or spiritual goals.

 

Decide What You Want
Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a "meaningful specific" rather than a "wandering generality."

 

Write It Down
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish
and it has no energy behind it.

 

Take this one stage further and form your goals into prayers. Get Krsna more involved with your goals. After all, they are for Him.

 

Set A Deadline
Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a "forcing system" in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big goal, set
sub-deadlines as well. Don't leave this to chance.

 

Make A List
Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

 

Organize Your List
Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important
and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your house.

 

Take Action
The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something every day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish. I knew someone who wrote one page of his book a day, usually an hour before he went to bed. In one year the book was done.

 

Most people don’t work on their goals because they seem so big, distant, or difficult to achieve. Forget all that. Just take little steps. Ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I do anything to get closer to my goals?” If not, do some little thing, even if just to tell somebody your goal and why it’s important to you. Doing anything builds momentum. Building momentum is essential.

 

Somehow or other you need to fight inertia. Inertia is what holds you back from clearly defining and working on our goals. Arjuna lost his connection with his mission. He was paralyzed until he again connected with both his duty as a ksatriya and his duty as a soul. “Stand up and fight.”

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Exercise
Make every effort to connect with your mission. This may take time. Just keep working on it. Krsna will help. Once it becomes clear write it down and make a plan. Then take action on your goals.

 

Second, determine why this goal is important and what it will cost you if you don’t achieve it? It’s also important to know what price you will have to pay to achieve this goal. Then get busy paying that price - whatever it is.

 

Too many people just keep their goals in their head and hope by some stroke of luck they will achieve them. They talk about them a lot but do little or nothing to accomplish them. Others take a more so-called soothing approach. They tell others exactly why they can’t achieve their goals (lack of this or that). In this way they won’t feel guilty about not pursuing them. I don’t think you want to do any of these because

 

YOU REALLY DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE GRAVE WITH YOUR LIFE MISSION STILL IN YOUR HEAD.

 

And Here is the Most Helpful Part of the Exercise

If you have time, do this right now. IF NOT, DON’T PUT THIS OFF AND FORGET ABOUT IT.

 

Take out a piece of paper and write down your answer to these two questions; What story are you going to tell yourself if you don’t connect with your mission and take the necessary steps to achieve it? Does that same story come up a lot in your life? If so, I suggest you take that paper, tear it up, and throw it away (throw that that story away).

 

Now, doesn’t that feel better. Good. Now, that your self-defeating story is gone you can get on with your real mission. I can’t wait to find out what you are going to become and what wonderful service you are going to do? It’s going to be exciting!