How many times have you tried to impress others? Are you guilty of not standing your own just in order to satisfy others? Well, the good news is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that tendency. The only thing that matters is whom you are trying to impress. That makes all the difference in who you are.
Recently, I watched an interesting video wherein a motivational speaker said, “Don’t give the remote control of your emotions to somebody else. Don’t feel bad because they judged you as bad and don’t feel good because they judged you as good. Feel good for what you are. Don’t let others’ opinion of you determine how you feel.” As good as that may sound, it is impossible to do that and therefore extremely misleading.
THE TRUTH ABOUT IMPRESSING OTHERS
Firstly, for argument’s sake, let us take the extreme route. What about a criminal? Should he continue with what he is doing and not let anyone judge him? The law will then judge him. He will then not only be made to feel bad but will be badly beaten and punished after having been imprisoned. So the aforesaid statement is rendered useless in this case.
Taking the non-extreme route, has there been a significant moment where we did not need to impress somebody? A good student tries to impress the teacher. A typical teenager tries to impress his friends and succumbs to what is called peer pressure. A job applicant has to impress the interviewer. The businessman has to impress his customer. Why do we deck ourselves up when we go out to meet someone if it were not to create a good impression? A boy tries to impress a girl and vice versa. An employee seeks to impress his boss. A speaker has to impress the audience in order to impress his idea upon them. We all have social norms and customs to follow. These mean that we are trying to impress our particular community. We have to abide by the state laws. If we fail to impress, then we have to be imprisoned. The list goes on and on and on. The truth is we are constantly trying to create an impression.
In reality, trying to impress others cannot practically be avoided because one cannot be absolutely alone. As long as one has to interact with others, he will be judged and he has to factor in the opinion of others if he has to live with them.
THE KEY TO EMPOWERING OUR DECISIONS
Having said that, to satisfy everybody is definitely not possible. But the good news is that there is a way to choose whom we should try to impress. A merchant, for example, would like to invest more effort to impress the higher-paying customer than the lower-paying one because there is higher gain. Suppose there is a criminal. He may impress other fellow criminals by his expertise in commiting crime but the law enforcement agency decides to punish him. Here he has a choice of whom he wants to impress but he has to choose that party which gives him the least liability. He would be better off trying to impress the state’s authority than his friends.
Therefore, before we try to impress anybody and everybody, we have to consider as to what our judge’s pleasure would mean to us. So we have to always choose to impress that party which ultimately results in the greatest gain and/or the least liability.
Now, a government is the ultimate authority over only a certain stretch of land. But all land in all planets in all the vast multitude of universes belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa as confirmed by Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā (5.29). Therefore there is no authority greater than Him. However we may be judged by people around us, our future depends on how the Supreme Lord judges us. His judgement supercedes everybody else’s.
For example, there is practically no government which punishes its citizens for eating meat or committing abortion. But we shall definitely be punished severely by the law of God for these sinful actions. Consequently, it will be in our best interest to impress Him at all times. If the Supreme Lord is satisfied with us, then we can live a comfortable life in this world and the eternal kingdom of God shall be wide open for us in the next life. Never have we to come back to suffer in the material world again. But if we choose to displease Him, we will enter into the darkest regions of the universe for hellish punishment. Therefore, it is in our best interest to serve Him as we would simultaneously have the highest gain and zero liability by serving Him.
THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF A GURU
Furthermore, the Vedic aphorism says, yasmin tuṣṭe jagat tuṣṭam, “If the Supreme Lord is satisfied, then everyone will be automatically satisfied.” All the scarcity we may see in the world is not because of inadequacy on the part of God but because of His displeasure over our sinful actions. So, if He is again satisfied, then all necessities will automatically be supplied and everyone will automatically be satisfied and ultimately, everyone will be able to make progress on the path of liberation.
Therefore, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa acts in such a way as to impress Kṛṣṇa, the perfect judge, whereas nondevotees choose to be influenced by the opinion of various imperfect judges. In order to be sure that one satisfies Lord Kṛṣṇa, one has to know what the Lord wants of us through the revealed scriptures and satisfy Him under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master who is a dear servant of Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhagavad-gītā (18.66) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa advises everyone to give up all concocted duties and surrender unto Him utterly. One should therefore learn the process of surrender to Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. That is a bona fide spiritual master, or guru.
In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.34), Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa recommends as follows:
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”
In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.17.27), Lord Kṛṣṇa further instructs:
ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān
nāvamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ
“One should know the ācārya (spiritual master) as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.”
In accordance with the above Vedic references, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, a great ācārya, has written in a song to the spiritual master, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi: “By the mercy of the spiritual master one is blessed by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master one cannot make any advancement.” Another great ācārya Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said in the same vein, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā: unless one serves a Vaiṣṇava, he cannot be delivered. The spiritual master initiates the disciple to deliver him, and if the disciple executes the order of the spiritual master and does not offend other Vaiṣṇavas (devotees of Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa), his path is clear.
Even the great Lord Śiva told his wife Pārvatī thus (as quoted in the Padma Purāṇa):
ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ
viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param
tasmāt parataraṁ devi
tadīyānāṁ samarcanam
“My dear Devī, although the Vedas recommend worship of demigods, the worship of Lord Viṣṇu is topmost. However, above the worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the rendering of service to Vaiṣṇavas, who are related to Lord Viṣṇu.” Therefore Lord Caitanya, the most munificent incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, teaches, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ: “One must become a servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa.”
HOW TO IMPRESS GOD?
In kali-yuga, impressing Lord Kṛṣṇa is very easy. All the śāstras (scriptures) recommend that we just have to chant the mahā-mantra:
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare
Lord Caitanya introduced this chanting process, which is called saṅkīrtana, or the congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) declares:
kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, or the congregational chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.”
To conclude, you are whom you are trying to impress. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, an eminent ācārya, often said, “Don’t try to see God. Act in such a way that God wants to see you.” One should impress Lord Kṛṣṇa by becoming His devotee. That will be in the best interest of oneself and the whole world. [End]
