Converting material opulences into permanent assets
Everyone has some special talent given by Krsna, and to use it for Krsna is the perfection of life.
Prabhupada explains that without Krsna, all material assets and facilities are just like many zeros. We can put many zeros one after the other, but it is still zero. No one would be inspired by hearing that there are six zeros in his bank account. One zero or twelve zeros, it is still zero. The meaning is that without Krsna, all material assets are ultimately useless, because they can't bring any permanent benefit. Money, physical beauty, and fame may make one a little happy for the time being, but this happiness will be illusory and will pass very quickly, leading to frustration at the end. We already went through many cycles of this illusory happiness in past lives, working hard to secure a comfortable position, just to lose everything at the end and have to start from zero next life. One can be a millionaire, a billionaire, or a trillionaire; the amount they take with them at death is the same: zero.
There is another size to it, however. Just as many zeros become a big number when we put a one to their left, material assets become valuable when we add Krsna Consciousness, because in this case, they can be used to achieve something permanent. If six zeros in your bank account were suddenly converted into 1,000,000, this would surely make things more interesting. Certainly, you could do a lot with it.
Money by itself is not valuable, because it can't solve the problems of life (birth, death, old age, and disease). The same can be said about other qualities. Just as money can't buy immortality or freedom from disease and old age, the same can be said about beauty, strength, power, fame, etc. In death, we are all one. After the bodies are buried, we can't distinguish the rich from the poor, the beautiful from the ugly, etc. However, if money is used for Krsna, printing transcendental books, building temples, and creating conditions for others to come and hear about Krsna Consciousness results in permanent gain. One can either use it directly to do things or donate to others who can use it for Krsna, and in both cases, the result is similar. When we add Krsna consciousness, money can be converted into permanent assets, just like the worthless currency of a country with hyperinflation being used to buy gold.
In the same way, other personal assets, such as intelligence, beauty, and strength, can become valuable when used in Krsna Consciousness. A beautiful lady posting photos of herself on Instagram is just wasting her life, while another who uses her beauty to make movies that bring people to Krsna Consciousness, for example, is achieving something valuable. One can be very intelligent, but if he uses this intelligence to create scientific theories that disprove the existence of God, he is not just wasting his talent, but actually creating harm. If, however, one uses his intelligence to properly understand the scriptures and write transcendental literature, or to create ways and systems to bring people to Krsna Consciousness, this intelligence becomes a valuable asset.
The same applies to all other qualities, such as strength, fame, and so on. Even renunciation is worthless if not used for Krsna. Monkeys are very renounced, living naked in the forest and eating fruits, but this can't bring them any benefit.
What to do if we don't have any particular asset we can use for Krsna? This is not actually possible. We all have something; we just need to find what our talents or assets are and start using them in positive ways. As Prabhupada used to say, "Everyone has some special talent given by Krsna, and to use it for Krsna in perfection of life."
However, even accepting the hypothetical possibility of one really lacking any asset that can be offered to the Lord, there would still be no need for panicking. All material talents and assets have the same origin: Krsna. He is Bhagavān, the source of all opulences. When one has some desire for serving Him, Krsna can empower him or her with any amount of opulences, so he or she can be successful. All powerful persons on this planet, and in fact in this universe, are empowered by Krsna to perform their functions. Even asuras are empowered by Krsna due to past pious activities they performed. Their powers come from Krsna and can be withdrawn at any moment, like in the case of great demons killed by the Lord, like Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu. If Krsna is the source of power even for great demons, why would He not empower a sincere devotee who wants to serve Him in some capacity? Everything is possible. There are many examples of devotees who didn't show any specific talent previously but did wonderful service. We just have to start.
Still another perspective is that although material assets can give one a quick start, being resources that can be immediately used for Krsna, they are also ultimately not necessary, because what Krsna really wants is our love. Therefore, material assets are just facilities that help us to develop this love by offering us possibilities to serve Krsna according to our natural characteristics, by doing things for Him. Ultimately, however, our spiritual advancement comes from chanting the holy names, as Prabhupada points out on CC Adi 16.15 and other references. Therefore, if we genuinely don't have anything to offer to Krsna, this is also good news, because we can then focus on just chanting, without any distractions. This will also quickly bring us to ultimate success.
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