Long Term Plans and Devotion
RadhaGovindaJaipur
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govindajī, the original Deities of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Photo courtesy of Hare Krishna Village
The main thing of a long-term plan is pleasing Kṛṣṇa, developing, becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Because these other things will fall by the wayside. Just like, let's say, just as, you know, since we are on architecture. As far as I have seen, the most amazing building, architectural edifice that there is in the world, is the Rādhā-Govinda temple in Vṛndāvana. What's there is one fifth of what was there originally because the Mughals dismantled four fifths of it because it was so amazing. Because they would make Tāj Mahal and this and that, and from there they could see the light on top of Govindajī, they had such a huge lamp, oil lamp, on the top, they could see it from from the Tāj Mahal, which is like, I don't know what it is, 100 kilometers, something ridiculous that they were freaking out. So they went there and dismantled it. So what is left there is one fifth.
And so, Rūpa Gosvāmī is there, you know, he is there, sitting under his tree, then Man Singh comes, he does this... He wants to do, he can engage himself, he can do big stuff, he does all that. And Govindajī lives there, then the things come, the Mughals attack, like that, Govindajī goes to Jaipur, and He lives in this little, simple place, the Haveli, which basically means, Haveli means their houses. So there came a thing where they started building temples that look like houses because if they look like houses, the Mughals wouldn't bother them. If they are temples they'll go and bother them, but if it looks like somebody's house, they would leave them alone. And He lives there and He has been there ever since. So, that means this whole endeavor, 20 years to build, it took 20 years to build, and this is Man Singh, he is the general of Akhbar, so that means, he has facilities. So he will probably have a lot of people there working. But it took him 20 years to build it. But it just disappears, and Kṛṣṇa, that's not what Kṛṣṇa... He is worried about the devotion.
So the point is, whatever effort is put in, in long-term plans, that devotion - that always remains. But the external form, that comes and goes with how the world works. So something is there, and then it disappears, and it will come back later, and then that... But the devotion remains, we have to see this - that is the main thing. Like that. We can't go by the secondary. The eternal benefit is there, so even if nothing... It's just the way it goes. That's why you see, is that man, he gets married, he goes through the whole thing, the children are there, they grow up, he tries to establish everything, establishes the money and economics, but at some point he just leaves and goes to the forest because you can't do anything. It's up to the next generation, they have to take care. So that's why it shifts back into the spiritual.

From Leadership Sanga Lecture 2, Part 1, Helsinki, Finland. This passage starting at 1 hr 40 mins

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