Prabhupada’s Library, Krishna-Balarama Temple, Vrindavan, August 24

“During the struggle in Juhu I said to Tamal Krishna Goswami, ‘I am doing what Srila Prabhupada wants me to do, but still I am suffering so much. How is that?’ In reply, he gave the example that you are in a room that catches fire and the only way out is to break the window with your hand. When you force your hand through the glass it will get cut and you will feel pain, even though the hand is doing what the body, what the brain, wants it to do — what it has to do for the sake of the body, the sake of the whole. We, as parts and parcels of Krishna, serve the Supreme Whole, and, as followers of Srila Prabhupada, serve him as Krishna’s representative. Even then we may feel pain in the course of our service, even if we are doing exactly what we are meant to do. But then again, sometimes the inner pleasure we feel when we are in difficult external circumstances is greater than the pleasure we experience when we are in more comfortable situations.”