Five People You May Have Trouble Accessing

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

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दैवी ह्य् एषा गुण-मयी
मम माया दुरत्यया
माम् एव ये प्रपद्यन्ते
मायाम् एतां तरन्ति ते

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

1. Customer Service

You recently signed up for this streaming service. The monthly rate is good; about the same as a cup of coffee from a national retail chain. While there is a lot of programming offered, you are specifically interested in select games airing during the month of one of the major professional sports.

Everything was going well until one day you turned on the television to learn that the service was offline. This was after racing home to make it in time. The game could not be seen. You thought maybe it was just the particular device. You tried on a tablet and also a smartphone. No luck.

You wanted to get in contact with the company. Call into their customer service telephone number. Only one problem. No number. Nothing on the internet. No online chat. There was literally no way to get in contact with this company.

You later learned from an online forum that the service had an outage for a few hours, which is during the time the game was on. Viewing this as an unforgiveable offense, you subsequently cancelled the service. In their online interface there was not one question as to the reason or even an input box for providing comments. It’s as if they don’t even care that you are cancelling.

2. CEO of a company

You’ve been at this company for a few months. It was a leap of faith to take a new job, in a different city, with a drastically different pace of life. Nevertheless, the job is suited to your skills and the pay is good. Why not take a chance?

A few months in, you are quite happy. This is a publicly traded company, and the CEO is on television a lot discussing the financial markets. It dawned on you one day that since the business is so large the higher ups would not recognize you if you were to run into them on an elevator. To get a meeting with the CEO would be nearly impossible, as they are viewed as one of the most important people at the firm; VIP.

3. Mayor of the city

Pothole problem down the street? Trucks not stopping by often enough to clean the snow? That traffic light been out of commission for over a week? These are the kinds of issues the mayor of the town should be dealing with, but good luck getting ahold of him directly. He may show up during an election year, in full campaign swing, knocking on the door asking for a vote, but unless you have a large amount of money to donate, don’t expect to be able to get his attention.

4. President of the country

This is the same kind of official, but on a larger scale of importance. They specifically restrict access due to the threat of violence. A political adversary may try to infiltrate the campaign and cause havoc. A deranged person may bring a weapon with them to cause harm. Therefore, to actually meet the president while they hold the office is rare.

5. The creator

The Vedas describe that there is a person responsible for the entire creation. For any result to manifest, there has to be some work applied in the beginning. The tall building doesn’t go up on its own. The smartphone requires expert engineering and assembly in order to function properly.

Though a person can meet the creator, the achievement is not easy. There is the famous case of Hiranyakashipu, the leader of the Daityas. He underwent severe austerities, to a level that no one would believe. He finally caught the attention of Brahma, the original person, but the case was extraordinary.

…

Take these conditions and run a comparison with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna describes Him to be the best of everything. Bhagavan is the supreme resting place, the leader of even the devas. He is the greatest person, pure in every way. That person happened to be standing right next to Arjuna as Shri Krishna.

Goswami Tulsidas remarks similarly. He says that Shri Rama, which is another manifestation of the single God, is the best of the celestials. Rama is the king of kings and the life breath of life-breaths, prana. He is also the controller of time.

While Rama is the most important person on any scale of analysis, He is easily accessible. You may not be able to talk to the creator of the universe, but you can connect with the person who empowered that creator. You can approach Him at any moment through something as simple as chanting the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

This further underscores the benevolent nature found in the all-compassionate one. Though He is above everyone, He is never too busy to spend time with those who desire His association. It is for this reason that a person who simply attempts the path of liberation is already on their way towards success. Shri Krishna makes the difficult passage across the ocean of nescience easy.

In Closing:

Candidate at election time greeting,

But later as president not meeting.

Customer service like highest mountain scaling,

No luck in contact when product failing.

Mayor in emergencies standing still,

Attention only when pockets to fill.

Shri Krishna most important of all,

But accessible with holy name call.