Facebook Friends

Srila Prabhupada says in his Srimad Bhagavatam – 4.21.33:

The question may be raised that since the Lord is supposed to be worshiped by great demigods like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and others, how can an ordinary human being on this planet serve Him? This is clearly explained by Prthu Maharaja by the use of the word yathadhikara, “according to one’s ability.” If one sincerely executes his occupational duty, that will be sufficient. One does not need to become like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Indra, Lord Caitanya or Ramanujacarya, whose capabilities are certainly far above ours. Even a sudra, who is in the lowest stage of life according to the material qualities, can achieve the same success. Anyone can become successful in devotional service provided he displays no duplicity. It is explained here that one must be very frank and open-minded (amayinah). To be situated in a lower status of life is not a disqualification for success in devotional service. The only qualification is that whether one is a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, he must be open, frank and free from reservations.

This is very nice. Srila Prabhupada says here that we can do our normal work and just be Krishna conscious. So simple, isn’t it!? We should also remember this and not just take this simple rule for granted. Recently A few month ago I started using facebook and setup my personal page and a facebook page for Krishnapath.org (if you haven’t gone there please check it out – it is a place to read nice quotes from Srila Prabhupada, be inspired and stay up to date with all new additions to Krishnapath.org). So I was asking one of my friends that is really into facebook how Facebook works. He explained a few things to me and told me that if you want to get any where on Facebook you have to “friend” people on facebook with a lot of “friends” and then you can use them to get ahead your self. He also told me that if you are actually friends and not just facebook “friends” then you can make a deal with them that if you like all their stuff then they will like all your stuff too and in this way you both can use each other to get ahead in Facebook land.

After I got off the phone with him I was thinking about what he told me and it really did not sit right with me. I didn’t feel that this type of business “friends” is the type of friends I really wanted to be with people. I want to be really friends with people. Not just “friends” because they are doing something for me and expect me to do something for them in return this is not what friendship is about (in my humble opinion). I feel real friendship is when you selflessly serve another simply because they are a soul and part of Krishna. And If they are doing nice service for Krishna then if you can, help them out a bit. Not expecting anything back, but just because you are trying to be a servant of Krishna. If you really like them then be their “friend” for real, and on facebook.

In this life we all have a certain material nature and personality which others may or may not like. The real thing is we must recognize everyone as a part and parcel of Krishna and if we love Krishna we must also love them.

This is real friendship this is real brother(sister)hood and real love, real service.

And if your conditioned nature and personality you have this lifetime jives with them then yeah, hang out and be real “friends” on and off facebook and if it does not but you still like what they do then help them out at a bit of a distance and respect them.

Just some thoughts…

The real thing is to ultimately give up our material conditioned nature, and just serve Krishna, for Krishna’s satisfaction, nothing more. But this is an advanced level of consciousness that we may never get to this lifetime. We shall try.