Today is Lord Nrisimha's appearance. I appeal to Krishna in that form to eradicate the anarthas in my heart so that I can perform pure devotional service. Those anarthas are our real enemies, not external personalities who are themselves suffering under the law of the material energy. Prahlad M never prayed for the Lord to kill His father, nor did he pray for external protection. His prayers were for pure devotional service and surprisingly enough for the welfare of those who attempted to torture him. I look on Prahlad as a perfect example of Vaisnava tolerance, mercy and purity. Even when the Lord offered him anything that he wanted, he first declined stating that he was not a merchant-that is someone who was doing service in exchange for something.

Then Prahlad asked for someone, but not for himself. Prahlad was overcome with compassion and empathy for the fallen conditioned souls especially his father, and Prahlad asked the Lord to give them His mercy. Prahlad never got angry with any of the persons who were attacking him. He never considered any of them to be his enemies. Amazing! Prahlad is a great source of inspiration for me. One the subject of anarthas: We often think that if we pray to Lord Nrsimha or Lord Nityananda the anarthas will go away automatically; that is one day we will wake up with no anarthas. That is not the process. We pray to the Lord to eradicate the anarthas, yes, and he gives us the strength, and intelligence to do so, but we must actually work on it too. We see in the Gita that there are 5 factors in any action. So our endeavor (one of the factors) must be there. It will be a struggle but we will be successful.

Another thing about the anarthas is that we should think in a positive way about getting rid of them. If we simply concentrate on the anarthas in a negative way they get more prominent. For example if my meditation is: "I must not eat so much," my meditation is simply on the negative of eating too much and controlling the tongue becomes a bigger struggle as the emphasis is on eating too much. If we approach the matter in a positive way saying that I will eat the right amount because it will be pleasing to Krishna, I will be healthier for serving, etc, then it becomes easier to control the tongue.

The same thing with the regulative principles. We should not see them simply as negatives but as a means to accomplish what we want in life (to be Kcon). In fact the regulative principles are sometimes described as the "regulative principles of freedom." So we should be thinking-"I want to be free, therefore I choose to follow these principles," rather than "I have to follow the principles."

When we do something for a positive purpose, Krishna consciousness becomes much easier. Practically everything we do should be done for a positive purpose and we should learn the art of phrasing things positively instead of negatively. For example I go to Mongal Aroti because I want to please Krishna and Prabhupada, not because I "have" to. You don't have to do anything. We do have free will. Krishna did not say in the Gita to Arjuna that he "had to" serve Him. He said to him that he had a choice. Also to function because of guilt is a destructive way of thinking. So, it is a joyful process of getting rid of the anartha, because in this way we can achieve our goal. It is like enjoying living in a clean, orderly house. I know that after the devotees clean my room every day (I am expert in creating a mess), I feel very happy. Perhaps I should learn to clean my own room. Sannyasis get a little lazy!!