14 May 2024 What is the real problem of life, and how to stop it? Srimad Bhagavatam Class with Bhakti Sanga Japa Group SB 7.7.37

Prahlada is a great saint. He learned everything he knew while he was still in the womb of his mother Kayadhu, from Narada Muni, the great spiritual master. And his devotion manifested when he was a small child… so much so that Prahlada is known as one of the great Mahajanas, the great pure teachers of the Science of God.

In this SB 7.7.37, Prahlada instructs that the real problem of life is birth and death. Do you want to know how to stop this continuously whirling wheel of birth and death?

Attend this class to find out, watch the recording, or if you are pressed for time, just read this article!

Hare Krishna!

The Bhakti Sanga Japa Group connects Krishna conscious devotees from across the world, be it a neophyte, serious sadhaka, or just someone with a casual interest in spirituality, through online conference calls! Bhakti Sanga group facilitates devotee association with several classes and japa sessions during the day. Classes include lectures on Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Children’s sessions on scriptures, festival/holy days and assorted spiritual topics. The Bhakti Sanga group provides an informal setting where devotees can seek answers regarding their sadhana, spiritual topics and practices. Come experience Krishna consciousness in the association of devotees, from the very convenience of your home, just a phone call away!

DATE📆: Tuesday, 14th May 2024

TIME⌚: 7:20 AM. ET USA/ 6:20 AM. CT USA/ 4:20 AM PST USA/ 12:20 PM UK/ 8:20 PM MYT/ 4:50 PM IST

The class will be available on Zoom and later uploaded online on their Youtube Channel.

ZOOM Meeting ID: 681 873 6022 Password: 803604

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHty1ZkyTvzn_vTTfiYqwTA

Please join online if you’re interested in joining this class, or let me know if you want to get a link to the recording.

Chapter SB 7.7 What Prahlāda Learned in the Womb – Summary

In this chapter, to dissipate the doubts of his class friends, the sons of the demons, Prahlāda Mahārāja states how, within the womb of his mother, he had heard from the mouth of Nārada Muni, who had instructed him in bhāgavata-dharma.

When Hiraṇyakaśipu left his kingdom and went to the mountain known as Mandarācala to execute severe austerities, all the demons scattered. Hiraṇyakaśipu’s wife, Kayādhu, was pregnant at that time, and the demigods, mistakenly thinking that she carried another demon in her womb, arrested her. Their plan was that as soon as the child took birth they would kill him. While they were taking Kayādhu to the heavenly planets, they met Nārada Muni, who stopped them from taking her away and took her to his āśrama until Hiraṇyakaśipu’s return. In Nārada Muni’s āśrama, Kayādhu prayed for the protection of the baby in her womb, and Nārada Muni reassured her and gave her instructions on spiritual knowledge. Taking advantage of those instructions, Prahlāda Mahārāja, although a small baby within the womb, listened very carefully. The spirit soul is always apart from the material body. There is no change in the spiritual form of the living entity. Any person above the bodily conception of life is pure and can receive transcendental knowledge. This transcendental knowledge is devotional service, and Prahlāda Mahārāja, while living in the womb of his mother, received instructions in devotional service from Nārada Muni. Any person engaged in the service of the Lord through the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master is immediately liberated, and being free from the clutches of māyā, he is relieved of all ignorance and material desires. The duty of everyone is to take shelter of the Supreme Lord and thus become free from all material desires. Regardless of the material condition in which one is situated, one can achieve this perfection. Devotional service is not dependent on the material activities of austerity, penance, mystic yoga or piety. Even without such assets, one can achieve devotional service through the mercy of a pure devotee.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/7/7/

ŚB 7.7.37

अधोक्षजालम्भमिहाशुभात्मन:
शरीरिण: संसृतिचक्रशातनम् ।
तद् ब्रह्मनिर्वाणसुखं विदुर्बुधा-
स्ततो भजध्वं हृदये हृदीश्वरम् ॥ ३७ ॥

adhokṣajālambham ihāśubhātmanaḥ
śarīriṇaḥ saṁsṛti-cakra-śātanam
tad brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ vidur budhās
tato bhajadhvaṁ hṛdaye hṛd-īśvaram

Synonyms

adhokṣaja — with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the reach of the materialistic mind or experimental knowledge; ālambham — being constantly in contact; iha — in this material world; aśubha–ātmanaḥ — whose mind is materially contaminated; śarīriṇaḥ — of a living entity who has accepted a material body; saṁsṛti — of material existence; cakra — the cycle; śātanam — completely stopping; tat — that; brahma–nirvāṇa — connected with the Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Truth; sukham — transcendental happiness; viduḥ — understand; budhāḥ — those who are spiritually advanced; tataḥ — therefore; bhajadhvam — engage in devotional service; hṛdaye — within the core of the heart; hṛt–īśvaram — to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul within the heart.

Translation

The real problem of life is the repetition of birth and death, which is like a wheel rolling repeatedly up and down. This wheel, however, completely stops when one is in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, by the transcendental bliss realized from constant engagement in devotional service, one is completely liberated from material existence. All learned men know this. Therefore, my dear friends, O sons of the asuras, immediately begin meditating upon and worshiping the Supersoul within everyone’s heart.

Purport

Generally it is understood that by merging into the existence of Brahman, the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, one becomes completely happy. The words brahma-nirvāṇa refer to connecting with the Absolute Truth, who is realized in three features: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. One feels brahma-sukha, spiritual happiness, by merging into the impersonal Brahman because the brahmajyoti is the effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Yasya prabhā, the impersonal Brahman, consists of the rays of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental body. Therefore whatever transcendental bliss one feels from merging in Brahman is due to contact with Kṛṣṇa. Contact with Kṛṣṇa is perfect brahma-sukha. When the mind is in touch with the impersonal Brahman one becomes satisfied, but one must advance further to render service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for one’s remaining merged in the Brahman effulgence is not always assured. As it is said, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: one may merge in the Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, but there is a chance that one may fall because of not being acquainted with Adhokṣaja, or Vāsudeva. Of course, such brahma-sukha undoubtedly eliminates material happiness, but when one advances through impersonal Brahman and localized Paramātmā to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead in relationship with Him as a servant, friend, parent or conjugal lover, one’s happiness becomes all-pervading. Then one automatically feels transcendental bliss, just as one becomes happy seeing the shining of the moon. One acquires natural happiness upon seeing the moon, but when one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one’s transcendental happiness increases hundreds and thousands of times. As soon as one is very intimately connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one surely becomes free from all material contamination. Yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtām. This cessation of all material happiness is called nirvṛti or nirvāṇa. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.38):

brahmānando bhaved eṣa
cet parārdha-guṇīkṛtaḥ
naiti bhakti-sukhāmbhodheḥ
paramāṇu-tulām api

“If brahmānanda, the bliss of merging in the Brahman effulgence, were multiplied one hundred trillion times, it would still not equal even an atomic fragment of the ocean of transcendental bliss felt in devotional service.”

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

“One who is transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything; he is equally disposed toward all living entities. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto the Lord.” (Bg. 18.54) If one advances further from the brahma-nirvāṇa platform, one enters the stage of devotional service (mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām). The word adhokṣajālambham refers to keeping the mind always engaged in the Absolute Truth, who is beyond the mind and material speculation. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ. This is the result of Deity worship. By constantly engaging in the service of the Lord and thinking of His lotus feet, one is automatically freed from all material contamination. Thus the word brahma-nirvāṇa-sukham indicates that when one is in touch with the Absolute Truth, material sense gratification is completely nullified.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/7/7/37

What do we call persons who don’t recognize their own suffering?

What do we call someone who does not recognize that they are suffering? What do you call someone who does not recognize the root cause of their suffering? What do you call someone who refuses to accept the cause of their suffering? We call them innocent, just like children, just like animals. And then we see them as spirit souls, and we try to serve them on their spiritual journey. Hare Krishna!

Have you ever seen an animal that is about to be slaughtered? In the modern world, that includes most chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, fish, and buffaloes.

These sheep are being led to slaughter

Animals cannot see their impending doom

I have spent much time in the South Indian City of Hyderabad. This city has a large Muslim population. The Muslims celebrate a festival called Bakri-eid, when many Muslims sacrifice a goat to Allah. It is a common sight to see a Muslim man leading a goat somewhere just before Eid, or even on the day of.

As a child, I was tempted to innocently call out to the goat “run away goat, run away, you are about to be slaughtered”. But no, neither do I have the power to make a goat understand that his life is in danger, nor does the goat have the intelligence to understand his fate.

Even right before being slaughtered, the animal can be seen calmly gobbling up grass here and there, oblivious.

We can extrapolate… think about the animals being transferred in trains or trucks from one place to another. They are all going to be slaughtered, sooner or later.

What about us? Can we see our own sufferings?

As we go about the world, we see so many suffering souls. Some are hungry, some others are unclothed, hot, or cold… yet others are diseased. And everyone is striving, struggling, to solve these problems of life, food, shelter, and clothing, medical treatment, and so on.

It is of course, natural for a human being or an animal to mitigate an immediate danger. For example, once an animal senses that someone is causing it harm, for example the pain of a hook in it’s mouth, or a botched attempt at slaughter, it will flap about, bleat, moo, or make some other frantic sounds, maybe try to fight it’s attacker, and even try to run away, but alas, by then it is usually too late.

Similarly, we see human beings trying to mitigate their sufferings in so many ways.

But do they really recognize the actual cause of their suffering?

Does that woman who is being wooed ardently by that handsome, passionate, suave, smooth-talking man realize that once the man has had his fill of sensual gratification, she will be left behind after an “it’s not you, it’s me conversation.”?

Young man wooing a girl with sweet words and flowers

Does that hard-working employee staying late and working long hours realize that a business change means he is to be on the next list of employees to be laid off due to a “Reduction in Force” or “Headcount cut” or “Re-organization”?

Hardworking employee, doesn't know he is just one step away from being fired

Does that person suffering poverty, pestilence, or war realize that they have created their own situation with their own past actions?

तत्तेऽनुकम्पां सुसमीक्षमाणो
भुञ्जान एवात्मकृतं विपाकम् ।
हृद्वाग्वपुर्भिर्विदधन्नमस्ते
जीवेत यो मुक्तिपदे स दायभाक् ॥ ८ ॥

tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk

My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/14/8

Suffering Child. Who creates our suffering for us?

How can we help everyone understand how to end this cycle of suffering?

Sometimes, not being satisfied with trying to please the senses, an intellectual may, instead, choose to live within the mind, for example in the realm of art, literature, poetry, scientific or mathematical endeavours, maybe even philosophy and speculation about God?

Intellectuals, lost in the world of trying to satisfy the mind

Does the frustrated intellectual, who has given up on gross materialistic gratification and is now involved in trying to satisfy the mind realize that he’s only headed towards insanity?

Neither the mind, nor the senses can ever be satisfied, as much as a fire can never be extinguished by giving it more fuel.

lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel. In the material world, the center of all activities is sex, and thus this material world is called maithunya-āgāra, or the shackles of sex life. In the ordinary prison house, criminals are kept within bars; similarly, the criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the Lord are shackled by sex life.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/39, purport

Blazing fire, no amount of fuel will extinguish it!

We try and we try and we try to help everyone understand that they are not their mind, that they are not this body, not the senses… we try and try to help them understand that actually they are the spirit soul.

Hare Krishna Monk tries to distribute spiritual literature

But unfortunately, most of the souls we come in contact with are not interested. They are content to pursue that next gourmet meal, that next sensual experience, that holiday, that next acquisition, be it a house or a car or some other shiny object. They are content to chase job after job, climbing the ladder to nowhere (more on that another time).

What do we call such a soul, even if in a human body?

Are we cultivating the consciousness of animals. Then what is our destination?

We call such a person an animal in human form. You may be shocked at this. How dare I call a human being an animal? How arrogant and conceited of me! What sort of spiritualist am I, this Das?

यस्यात्मबुद्धि: कुणपे त्रिधातुके
स्वधी: कलत्रादिषु भौम इज्यधी: ।
यत्तीर्थबुद्धि: सलिले न कर्हिचि-
ज्जनेष्वभिज्ञेषु स एव गोखर: ॥ १३ ॥
yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth — such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/84/13

My dear reader, please understand that a spiritualist is just like an honest doctor. An honest doctor is not afraid to observe carefully and make the right diagnosis. From the doctor’s diagnosis comes a treatment plan, including diet, rest, exercise, and medicine. And from this comes a prognosis, some hope of hope, possibly.

But a doctor who sweeps the symptoms under a rug and pretends everything is just fine, is no doctor. Such a “doctor” is really an enemy in disguise.

And therefore, out of abundant compassion, we call such a human an animal. So that we may develop even more patience and compassion. After all, there is no point being too harsh with an animal or a child. We then try to coax and cajole and convince in this way or in that way.

Physician Heal Thyself

First things first. As a spiritualist, I seek to spot the times when I myself behave as if I were my mind or my body. And I strive to disassociate myself, my self interest from the urges of the body or the mind. If I can be honest with myself, then I will have a deep sense of humility and understanding as to why this is so difficult for me. My conditioning in the material world makes it extremely difficult, and I have been trying for decades!

So, what should I do? First and foremost, look in the mirror and be honest with myself at all times, places, and circumstances.

I cannot be like this kitten here!

Compassion and Equal Vision!

Just as we need to see ourselves and where we are, we need to see everyone with an equal vision, and understand that every spirit soul is precious!

Not all souls can be served in the same way… I cannot discuss philosophy with a dog, nor can I get a pig to appreciate delicious food.

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।
श‍ुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: ॥ १८ ॥

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/18

For 99% of the population, we just try to engage in the chanting of God’s names. We give them Krishna Prasada, sanctified food, which has been lovingly cooked for and offered to Krishna. We then drip in a little bit of the medicine of the philosophy, you are not this body, you are not this mind, you are a spirit soul.

Hare Krishnas out on Harinam Sankirtan, out to save us all!

And so the effort continues, many, many spiritual warriors trying to save one soul, lifetime after lifetime, in a concerted harmonious effort.

The merciful Srila Prabhupada distributes Krishna Prasada generously to one and all.

My dear soul, please help us with this greatest of all causes, please do your bit for yourself, and then turn to serve others and help them get on and stay on a spiritual journey. Hare Krishna!

Next Class: Why does someone act against their own self interest? Srimad Bhagavatam Class ISKCON Toronto Sunday 5 May 2024

The ISKCON Toronto Srimad Bhagavatam Class on 05 May 2024 at 7:30 AM (Eastern Time) will address the guidance of Lord Rishabhadeva on understanding our actions, the motivation behind them, and their consequences. The class will be recorded and shared. Join in person or online to explore how to avoid long-term pain for short-term gain, and how to find lasting happiness devoid of undesirable reactions.

Hare Krishna!

ISKCON Toronto Srimad Bhagavatam Class on 05 May 2024 7:30 AM (Eastern Time)

ISKCON Toronto Youtube

ISKCON Toronto, 243 Avenue Road, Toronto, ON, M5R 2J6

I will also record this class. Later on, I will send out a link of the recording to those who have expressed interest.

Please contact if you’re interested in this class.

Class Overview

Despite knowing that certain actions are not in one’s own best self-interest, why do people still act in that way? What impels them to hurt themselves?

This is one of the instructions spoken by Lord Rishabhadeva, an incarnation of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These instructions were given to his sons.

ŚB 5.5.4

नूनं प्रमत्त: कुरुते विकर्म
यदिन्द्रियप्रीतय आपृणोति ।
न साधु मन्ये यत आत्मनोऽय-
मसन्नपि क्लेशद आस देह: ॥ ४ ॥

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano ’yam
asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ

Synonyms
nūnam — indeed; pramattaḥ — mad; kurute — performs; vikarma — sinful activities forbidden in the scriptures; yat — when; indriya-prītaye — for sense gratification; āpṛṇoti — engages; na — not; sādhu — befitting; manye — I think; yataḥ — by which; ātmanaḥ — of the soul; ayam — this; asan — being temporary; api — although; kleśa-daḥ — giving misery; āsa — became possible; dehaḥ — the body.

Translation
When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another.

Purport
Begging, borrowing and stealing to live for sense gratification is condemned in this verse because such consciousness leads one to a dark, hellish condition. The four sinful activities are illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. These are the means by which one gets another material body that is full of miseries. In the Vedas it is said: asaṅgo hy ayaṁ puruṣaḥ. The living entity is not really connected with this material world, but due to his tendency to enjoy the material senses he is put into the material condition. One should perfect his life by associating with devotees. He should not become further implicated in the material body.

Next Class: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Summary – Part 2 May 3/4 2024

In this exciting journey through Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita, we delve into the essence of spiritual wisdom. Krishna compassionately guides Arjuna as he unveils profound truths about spirit, duty, devotion, and enlightenment. This immersive course offers a transformative experience, with online classes and accessible recordings. Join us for an enlightening exploration!

Hare Krishna!

We explored an introduction to the first part of Chapter 2, and now part 2 coming up.

Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita is called “सांख्ययोग” / “Saankhya Yoga” – Contents of the Gita Summarized.

Krishna, the Perfect Teacher, summarizes the subject matter of the Bhagavad Gita in this course.

Arjuna, paralyzed by his material compassion, accepts Krishna as his spiritual master. Krishna first berates Arjuna, and then masterfully begins to instruct Arjuna.

Actually, Arjuna, as Krishna’s eternal associate, needs no instruction, but Arjuna is playing the part of the rest of us materially entangled souls so that Krishna can mercifully delivery the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita to us, those whose need is great.

We explore how Krishna explains this knowledge from different perspectives… Krishna appeals to Arjuna’s sense of honour and chivalry as a warrior, then explains the fundamental spiritual truths regarding the soul, and in terms of the duty of the embodied soul, the art of work without attachment – karma yoga.

Krishna goes on to explain working in devotion, working in Love for the Supreme, Bhakti Yoga, with permanent and ever-increasing bliss beyond the short-lived results from the Vedic rituals.

Arjuna asks intelligent questions, and then Krishna describes the fully enlightened Bhakti Yogi, the perfect Jiva.

The topics introduced in this second chapter will be explained in detail in later chapters, and Chapter 2 serves as a key to the rest of the Gita.

We rely on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with translations and purports by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, as our textbook.

Please contact if you’re interested in joining this course.

Next Class is online, on Friday May 3 / Saturday May 4, depending on your timezone. The class is online and recordings are available to everyone registered.

Thank you for engaging me in the study of Bhagavad Gita.

Next Class: Appearance of Sri Radha Kunda, ISKCON Stouffville, 28 Apr 2024

Sri Radha Kunda and Sri Shyam Kunda are sacred places of pilgrimage at Sri Govardhan, near Vrindavan. This class discusses the appearance pastime, and how to approach such a sacred site as this. There will also be a discussion as to what is stopping us from appreciating such spiritually elevated pastimes and topics, and what we can do to improve our spiritual standing.

Hare Krishna!

ISKCON Stouffville Program on 28 Apr 2024 5:15 PM (Eastern Time)

https://www.facebook.com/IStouffville

St. James Presbytarian Church, 6432 Main St, Stouffville, L4A 1G3

Appearance of Sri Radha Kunda

Sri Radha Kunda, along with Sri Shyam Kunda, are among the holiest places of pilgrimage for Vaishnavas. Located at the foot of Sri Govardhan near Vrindavan, they are most auspicious for any fortunate soul who can get a chance to visit them.

We will discuss the following at this class:

The Deliverance of the Demon Aristasura
The playful interactions of Krishna and the Gopis
The appearance of Sri Shyam Kunda
The appearance of Sri Radha Kunda
The disappearance and rediscovery of these sacred ponds
The depth of pastimes such as these, and why we don’t discuss them publicly except in an introductory form
Who cannot appreciate such pastimes
The condition of most of humanity at present
How to improve our spiritual life following the instructions of Srila Prabhupada.

The class will be recorded by ISKCON Stouffville and later uploaded online.

I will also record this class and broadcast it live. Later on, I will send out a link to the recording to those who have expressed interest.

Please contact if you’re interested in joining this class.

Moonlight wakeup call

I strive to follow the spiritual practices such as rising early for meditation, but sometimes, being encased in dull matter, even though I am a spirit soul, I stumble. But by divine serendipity this morning, I got a loving moonlit wake-up call!

Generally, a spiritualist strives to rise early in the morning.

The time before sunrise is extremely precious for persons on the spiritual path. A most conducive time for meditation, spiritual reflection, and worship of the Supreme Lord.

It may appear like the depth of darkness to the materialist, but the early morning hours are very sublime.

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ॥ ६९ ॥

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/69

I too try my best to wake up as early as possible in the morning, but am encased inside a material body.

In general, a spiritualist is enjoined to practice perfect balance in the matter of rest, recreation, work, and food…

युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्‍नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दु:खहा ॥ १७ ॥

yuktāhāra-vihārasya
yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya
yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/17

Sometimes, even the most well-meaning spiritualist can succumb to imbalances, as I do, ever so often.

My subtle material body consisting of mind, body, and false ego constrains me too often from pursuing spiritual life freely. Sometimes, the spirit and the mind may be willing but it could be the gross material body, made of earth, water, fire, air, and space that constrains me.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7

This morning, my alarm was set for 4:00 AM, but somehow or other I did not rise, resolving to rise at 5:00 AM instead.

But then, shortly thereafter, the moon, who is almost full right now, positioned himself in the sky so he shone on my sleeping face with his full brilliance. As if to help the moon, the mirror behind my pillow on the mat joined in with a secondary reflection of the moonrays.

It was impossible to continue sleeping!

Krishna can be perceived through the light of the sun and the moon.

रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययो: ।
प्रणव: सर्ववेदेषु शब्द: खे पौरुषं नृषु ॥ ८ ॥

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/8

My alarm clock and my determination to rise early may have waned, but the waxing moon got me!

Within a few minutes, I was energized by this merciful radiation, reminded of Krishna, and was able to rise refreshed and dive deep into meditation and worship.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

The moonlight is an energy of Krishna, the ability for me to engage in acts of Krishna Consciousness are also a gift from Krishna. So it is best to engage my God-given ability in the service of Krishna.

Thanks to that completely undeserved beautiful start to the day, despite all other obstacles or distractions, it has been a most blessed day!

Dear Krishna, thank you for making so many arrangements to help me, a dull recovering atheist, rise to the purpose of human life. Dear Srila Gurudeva, my dear spiritual master, thank you for your prayers and blessings on my behalf, which allow even me, a wretched lost soul, to bask in Krishna Consciousness, even if some of the time.

Next Class: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Summary – Part 1

Hello, Hare Krishna! In the first 7 classes, we covered the Introduction to Bhagavad Gita, exploring Jiva, Prakriti, Karma, Kala, and Bhagavan. Moving on to individual chapter summaries, we will soon delve into Chapter 2. The course relies on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with translations and purports by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. If interested, the next class is on Friday April 19 and Saturday April 20. Thank you for your engagement.

Hare Krishna!

After these first 7 introductory classes over the last 12 weeks…

Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
Jiva – the Spirit Soul
Prakriti – Material Nature
Karma – Work, Actions, Reactions
Kala – Time that Impels, Absolute & Relative
Bhagavan – Who is He and why should I care
Chapter 1 Summary – Arjuna Vishaada Yoga or Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra

We are moving to individual chapter summaries. Chapter 2 Part 1 coming up.

Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita called “सांख्ययोग” / “Saankhya Yoga” – Contents of the Gita Summarized.

Krishna, the Perfect Teacher, summarizes the subject matter of the Bhagavad Gita in this course.

We rely on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with translations and purports by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, as our textbook.

Please contact if you’re interested in joining this course.

Next Class is on Friday April 19 / Saturday April 20, depending on your timezone. The class is online and recordings are available to everyone registered.

Thank you for engaging me in the study of Bhagavad Gita.

Anxious from physical pain or health issue? Leverage it!

When facing physical pain, it’s natural to feel anxious. This anxiety can be debilitating if not channeled properly. However, this can be channeled to deepen Krishna Consciousness. Just like a cricket batsman flicks away a fast ball from an aggressive bowler to score many runs, embracing verses like 10.14.8 from Srimad Bhagavatam within the heart and leveraging hardships to increase devotion can lead to liberation. Just as a legitimate son inherits from his father, a sincere devotee will gain the mercy of the Lord and attain the kingdom of God.

Question

When I get any physical pain or physical health problem, I tend to get extremely anxious. How to deal with that?

Answer

The anxiety in response to physical pain is natural. After all your body is your home, home of the spirit soul.

If there is a fire or flood in our home we get anxious and take care to mitigate the issue. People spend their whole life maintaining their house and clothes and car.

India is full of people who are mad after cricket. So here is a cricket analogy… when a fast bowler sends a very fast ball the batsman who is skillful channels the energy of the bowler to score runs, just by flicking the ball away to the boundary.

We may not be able to avoid anxiety but we can channel that anxiety to increase our Krishna Consciousness. We can use the opportunity to remember that the present body is temporary, to remember Krishna and take to His shelter more deeply. Whenever I feel such pain I ask if this may be my last moment in this life and try to remember Krishna very sincerely and cry, even if internally, that I am not yet Krishna Conscious.

Verse 10.14.8 from Srimad Bhagavatam is my favorite to take shelter of when facing adverse situations. Learn it by heart and take shelter of that verse whenever you feel anxious.

तत्तेऽनुकम्पां सुसमीक्षमाणो
भुञ्जान एवात्मकृतं विपाकम् ।
हृद्वाग्वपुर्भिर्विदधन्नमस्ते
जीवेत यो मुक्तिपदे स दायभाक् ॥ ८ ॥

tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk

Translation
My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.

Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains in his commentary that just as a legitimate son has to simply remain alive to gain an inheritance from his father, one who simply remains alive in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, following the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga, automatically becomes eligible to receive the mercy of the Personality of Godhead. In other words, he will be promoted to the kingdom of God.

The word su-samīkṣamāṇa indicates that a devotee earnestly awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord even while suffering the painful effects of previous sinful activities. Lord Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā that a devotee who fully surrenders unto Him is no longer liable to suffer the reactions of his previous karma. However, because in his mind a devotee may still maintain the remnants of his previous sinful mentality, the Lord removes the last vestiges of the enjoying spirit by giving His devotee punishments that may sometimes resemble sinful reactions. The purpose of the entire creation of God is to rectify the living entity’s tendency to enjoy without the Lord, and therefore the particular punishment given for a sinful activity is specifically designed to curtail the mentality that produced the activity. Although a devotee has surrendered to the Lord’s devotional service, until he is completely perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he may maintain a slight inclination to enjoy the false happiness of this world. The Lord therefore creates a particular situation to eradicate this remaining enjoying spirit. This unhappiness suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction; it is rather the Lord’s special mercy for inducing His devotee to completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead.

A sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord’s abode. Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord’s merciful punishment and continues offering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words and body. Such a bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price to pay for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes a legitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words dāya-bhāk. Just as one cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the supreme pure, Lord Kṛṣṇa, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process, which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment administered by the personal hand of the Lord.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/14/8/

Next Class: Connecting to Lord Rama, ISKCON Barrie, Ontario, Canada 13 Apr 2024

Jai Sri Ram! The auspicious chant resounds all over the world! But would you like to connect on a deeper level than that?

Hare Krishna!

ISKCON Barrie Program on 13 Apr 2024

Northwest Barrie United Church, Barrie, Ontario

464 Ferndale Dr N, Barrie ON L4N 7X6, Canada

12:30 – 3:30 PM

Please contact if you’re interested in joining this class.

When did the immortal soul get attached to Karmic Debts?

If a spirit soul is eternally existent, and karmic reactions only attach when in the material realm, how could spirit souls originally accumulate karmic debt?

Question:

If souls always existed , how did karmic substance get attached to the souls for the first time ?

Answer:

There are an unlimited number of spirit souls, manifesting eternally from Krishna for the purpose of having a loving relationship with Him. An infinitesimal fraction of them decide to enjoy separately from Krishna. That is an infinitely large number…

Why? Because for love, there must be free will. There must be the freedom to leave. Krishna does not force anyone to love Him. He gives them freedom to leave if they wish to.

But when a living entity comes from the spiritual realm, the only position fit for the soul is as Lord Brahma of a Universe. There are an unlimited number of Universes, and therefore an unlimited number of Brahma posts available.

Some of these Brahmas are Bhaktyonmukhi (devotionally inclined) Brahmas, in other words, they see the material world and make a U-turn and go back home back to Godhead, after that one lifetime as Brahma.

Some of them, foolishly, are Bahir Mukha (materially inclined) Brahmas, choose to experience other lifetimes, say, as Indra, Chandra, as an Apsara, and so on…

The way karmic reactions work, one karmic action is sufficient to create an unlimited number of reactions. Why? Think of a banyan tree that gives figs… how many seeds are there inside each fruit? And how many trees can sprout from one fruit? In other words, how many banyan trees are inside one little seed? Actions and reactions, easily and quickly pile up.

Remaining inside karma chakra, the cycle of fruitive action and reaction, or doing things like trying to be artificially nonviolent is of no use. We unavoidably create karmic reactions at every moment, just by breathing, speaking, eating, or sleeping.

How to get rid of all of them?

By performing devotional service, Bhakti.

This is what the Padma Purana says…

aprarabdha phalam papam
kutam bijam phalon-mukham
kramenaiva praliyeta
vishnu bhakti ratatmanam

Karmic reactions exist as manifest as fruits, unmanifest, hidden, in seed form etc., but they are gradually destroyed through the process of vishnu bhakti.

Therefore Krishna says:

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा श‍ुच: ॥ ६६ ॥

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/66

Next Class: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Summary

The introductory classes on Bhagavad Gita covered topics such as Jiva, Prakriti, Karma, Kala, and Bhagavan. Moving forward, individual chapter summaries will be explored. The course relies on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with translations and purports by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The next class is scheduled for April 5/6. Those interested, contact for enrollment.

Hare Krishna!

After these first 6 introductory classes over the last 12 weeks…

Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
Jiva – the Spirit Soul
Prakriti – Material Nature
Karma – Work, Actions, Reactions
Kala – Time that Impels, Absolute & Relative
Bhagavan – Who is He and why should I care

We are moving to individual chapter summaries. Chapter 1 coming up.

Chapter 1 is of the Bhagavad Gita called “अर्जुनविषादयोग” / “Arjuna Vishada Yoga” – Arjuna’s lamentation. Srila Prabhupada translated the title as “”Observing the Armies on the BattleField of Kurukshetra”.

We rely on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with translations and purports by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, as our textbook.

Please contact if you’re interested in joining this course.

Next Class is on Friday April 5 / Saturday April 6, depending on your timezone. The class is online and recordings are available to everyone registered.

Thank you for engaging me in the study of Bhagavad Gita.

Satan as Competitor to God, what an absurdity!

On Easter Friday, reflecting on Jesus’ sacrifice, compassion, and forgiveness fills us with hope. While beliefs about Satan vary, turning inward reveals our own role in turning away from God – the cause of all problems. Instead of blaming external forces, let’s embrace personal responsibility and reconnect with God’s boundless love and grace. No one else can thwart our journey to knowledge and bliss. Hare Krishna!

I write this on Easter Friday. I reflect on the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I reflect on his deep compassion, humility, and grace. I reflect on his wonderful quality of forgiveness. I reflect on his instructions in the Bible.

Specifically, I reflect on this prayer of Jesus Christ, while he was being crucified, and the men in charge of this ghastly deed were gambling to divide his clothes amongst themselves… “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”.

One of my spiritual master’s favourite prayers is “not my will, but thine, be done.”.

Jesus is the Son of God, and we are all meant to be sons and daughters of God.

In the Abrahamic traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, there is the idea of Satan.

Wikipedia says this about Satan… “”Satan, also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the yetzer hara, or “evil inclination”. In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as a fallen angel or jinn who has rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In the Quran, Shaitan, also known as Iblis, is an entity made of fire who was cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly created Adam and incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with waswās (“evil suggestions”).

The most accurate Abrahamic idea about the concept of Satan is the one accepted in Judaism.

However, too many people around the world actually believe that Satan is some sort of a competitor to God. This is quite foolish.

Christians routinely denounce anyone who does not accept their particular sectarian view of God and His creation as “Satanic”. One intelligent agnostic lady, after asking uncomfortable questions sincerely, was labeled by some Christians as Satan!

It is not that asking questions and being inquisitive is bad! When one does not know things as they are, then one feels threatened by any question or idea that is not covered in one’s limited understanding.

But rest assured, God has absolutely NO competition!

God is known as “asamaurdhva” which is a combination or “asama” and “urdhva” which means He who has neither equal nor superior.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, describes His own opulences in great detail. But even Krishna acknowledges that it is impossible for us to understand all of His opulences because they are limitless.

अथवा बहुनैतेन किं ज्ञातेन तवार्जुन ।
विष्टभ्याहमिदं कृत्स्नमेकांशेन स्थितो जगत् ॥ ४२ ॥

atha vā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat

But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/10/42/

Then why does this idea of Satan exist?

It is tempting to blame some other personality for all the ills in the world, all the troubles we face. It is quite convenient to concoct the idea that somehow Satan is the cause of our ills.

But really, we have to look inward, and look at ourselves.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি’ সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসার-দুঃখ ॥ ১১৭ ॥

kṛṣṇa bhuli’ sei jīva anādi-bahirmukha
ataeva māyā tāre deya saṁsāra-duḥkha

“Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy [māyā] gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/20/117/

It is us, with our own free will, who have chosen to turn away from God. It is not that someone else has incited or influenced us, it is our own individual personal decision.

When we decide to turn towards God again, and gradually purify our consciousness, we will see that God has absolutely no competitors.

The closest parallel from the Vedic tradition to the idea of Satan is “Maya”.

Maya is the illusory energy of God. And this energy does not affect anyone who is turned towards God in every thought, word, and deed. In fact, the very same Maya, who is acting as “Mahamaya” in the illusory aspect, now transforms into “Yogamaya”, or one who is diligently engaged in connecting the living entity and God’s energies in harmony with God.

The energy of the Lord called avidyā is the bewildering factor of the conditioned souls. The material nature is called avidyā, or ignorance, but to the devotees of the Lord engaged in pure devotional service, this energy becomes vidyā, or pure knowledge. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā. The energy of the Lord transforms from mahā-māyā to yoga-māyā and appears to pure devotees in her real feature. The material nature therefore appears to function in three phases: as the creative principle of the material world, as ignorance and as knowledge.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/10/17/

But Maya is not any kind of competitor… she is a most dear servitor of God…

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bs/5/44/

So, dear souls, there is absolutely no one else holding us back from an eternity in full knowledge and bliss, except ourselves. Questions?

Hare Krishna!

What is “reflective” chanting?

What are the stages in chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra? Especially, what is reflecting chanting? What are the benefits experienced by someone at the various levels of chanting?

Madumitha, 11 November 2014

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

Could you please elaborate on what is meant by ‘reflective chanting’. I understand that the offensive chanting stage is when a neophyte devotee commits offenses while chanting and the offenseless chanting stage is when one does not commit any offenses towards the Holy Name, but I am unable to understand what happens in this intermediate stage. It is also mentioned that it is in the reflective chanting stage that one attains a stage of emancipation. What does this mean? Doesn’t one become liberated at the offenseless chanting stage?

Thanks,

Madumitha

Srivatsa Das, 13 November 2014

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Gurudeva

In previous yugas, the devotees attained purified goodness mode by training of yoga by a Brahmana or a bona fide spiritual master away from the devotee’s home under brahmacharya asrama. In the present age, it is not possible to have this, but still, we can attain the same purified goodness or Vasudeva sattva stage by the easy process of chanting the mahamantra offencelessly and reading regularly Srimad Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam along with other devotees. In both the cases we can see that the seed of bhakti has to be planted into the heart of the devotee by a bonafide spiritual master.

As the chanting continues along with other devotional services, purification starts. The three stages of chanting as I understood are as follows:

1. offensive chanting – In this stage purification starts

2. intermediate stage of chanting – Attains liberation

3. in the offence-less chanting – in this stage one attains Vasudeva sattva stage by real love and devotion towards the Lord. In this stage, the devotee might be present in this material world physically, but he is already in the Goloka Vrindavana serving the Lord at His lotus feet.

Waiting to read others understanding about the question

your servant

Srivatsa Das

Bhakta Sunil, 13 November 2014

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

All Glories to the assembled devotees , in this group

Regarding your query about “Thought For the Day” of 10th November 2014 :

—————————

Today’s Thought–Broadcast daily to over 16,000 subscriber in over 100 countries listed at: http://www.backtohome.com/countries

The Offenseless Chanter Lives in God’s Kingdom

uploaded from ISKCON Austin, Texas USA

We read in Srila Prabhupada’s purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.30:

“There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord. The first stage is the offensive chanting of the holy name, and the second is the reflective stage of chanting the holy name. The third stage is the offenseless chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In the second stage only, the stage of reflection, between the offensive and offenseless stages, one automatically attains the stage of emancipation. And in the offenseless stage, one actually enters into the kingdom of God, although physically he may apparently be within the material world.”

This is truly amazing! Even while apparently being situated in his material body the offenseless chanter of Krishna’s holy names is actually situated in Krishna’s pastimes in the spiritual world. What this means is that the devotee does not have to wait for the demise of his material body to go back to Godhead. He can gradually attain the perfection of going back to Godhead even while he is in his present body simply by becoming an offenseless chanter of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. At this perfectional stage while associating within his heart with Krishna, he will be externally engaged on this planet for bringing about a spiritual revolution and thus the influence of the age of Kali to go into remission.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

www.joincourse.com

———————–

On researching for your query , I understand that reflective chanting refers to the ‘clearing of offenses leading to liberation’. At this stage of chanting , one gets taste of the Holy Names or ‘namabhasa’

The following references ( courtesy webpage ) may help further clarify your doubts :

The three stages of chanting the holy name:

The simple process of offenselessly chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord will gradually promote one very soon to the stage of emancipation. There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord. The first stage is the offensive chanting of the holy name, and the second is the reflective stage of chanting the holy name. The third stage is the offenseless chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In the second stage only, the stage of reflection, between the offensive and offenseless stages, one automatically attains the stage of emancipation. And in the offenseless stage, one actually enters into the kingdom of God, although physically he may apparently be within the material world.

– Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.30

There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord−the offensive stage, the stage of lessening offenses, and the pure stage. When a neophyte takes to the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra, he generally commits many offenses. There are ten basic offenses, and if the devotee avoids these, he can glimpse the next stage, which is situated between offensive chanting and pure chanting. When one attains the pure stage, he is immediately liberated. This is called bhava−mahadavagni−nirvapanam. As soon as one is liberated from the blazing fire of material existence, he can relish the taste of transcendental life.

– The Nectar of Instruction Text 7

There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord. In the first stage, one commits ten kinds of offenses while chanting. In the next stage, namabhasa, the offenses have almost stopped, and one is coming to the platform of pure chanting. In the third stage, when one chants the Hare Krsna mantra without offenses, his dormant love for Krsna immediately awakens. This is the perfection.

– Srimad Bhagavatam 5.24.20

________________________________

The namabhasa stage of chanting elevates one to the position of offenseless chanting:

[Chand Kazi to his orderlies]: “‘The Hindus chant the name Hari because that is the name of their God. But you are Muhammadan meat−eaters. Why do you chant the name of the Hindus’ God?’ The meat−eater replied, ‘Sometimes I joke with the Hindus. Some of them are called Krsnadasa, and some are called Ramadasa. Some of them are called Haridasa. They always chant “Hari, Hari,” and thus I thought they would steal the riches from someone’s house. Since that time, my tongue always vibrates the sound “Hari, Hari.” I have no desire to say it, but still my tongue says it. I do not know what to do.’ Another meat−eater said, ‘Sir, please hear me. Since the day I joked with some Hindus in this way, my tongue chants the Hare Krsna hymn and cannot give it up. I do not know what mystic hymns and herbal potions these Hindus know.'”

Sometimes demoniac nonbelievers, not understanding the potency of the holy name, make fun of the Vaisnavas when the Vaisnavas chant the Hare Krsna maha−mantra. This joking is also beneficial for such persons. Srimad−Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto, Second Chapter, verse 14, indicates that the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha−mantra, even in joking, in the course of ordinary discussion, in indicating something extraneous, or in negligence, is called namabhasa, which is chanting that is almost on the transcendental stage. This namabhasa stage is better than namaparadha. Namabhasa awakens the supreme remembrance of Lord Visnu. When one remembers Lord Visnu, he becomes free from material enjoyment. Thus he gradually comes forward toward the transcendental service of the Lord and becomes eligible to chant the holy name of the Lord in the transcendental position.

– Sri Caitanya caritamrta Adi−lila 17.197−202

Hope this helps,

Sincerely,

Bhakta Sunil

Guru Vandana devi dasi, 13 November 2014

Hare Krishna!

When the mirror is covered by dust it does not reflect our image clearly. But when it is polished a clear picture is reflected from the impressions on it.Similarly when our minds are covered with material contamination our reflections on holy name are not clear.

Gradually as the transcendental sound of the holy names cleanses the dust of our heart and leads to the reflective stage where one is able to reflect the names or remember the Lord.The stage is when one is free from material anxieties, lamentation, hankering and is elevated to brahma bhutah stage.

your servant

Guru Vandana devi dasi

Sulakshana devi dasi, 14 November 2014

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Smt Gurumataji!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you Guru Vandana mataji for such a nice explanation.

Your humble servant,

Sulakshana devi dasi

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 22 November 2014

Hare Krishna!

Answer from Srila Gurudeva below. Note the specific meaning of the word “reflective/reflection” in this context coming to us from Srila Prabhupada. I hope this clears all doubts.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

———- Forwarded message ———-

From: Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 7:41 AM

Subject: Re: [sda_students:4624] Question regarding thought for the day Nov 10,2014

To: Mahabhagavat Das SDA

From: ISKCON Austin, Texas USA

My Dear Mahabhagavat,

Please accept my blessings.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada has used this term for the clearing stage:

The first stage is the offensive chanting of the holy name, and the second is the reflective stage of chanting the holy name. The third stage is the offenseless chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In the second stage only, the stage of reflection, between the offensive and offenseless stages, one automatically attains the stage of emancipation. And in the offenseless stage, one actually enters into the kingdom of God, although physically he may apparently be within the material world.

—purport to SB 2.2.30

Reflection means serious thought or consideration. So in the clearing stage one is deeply thoughtful about his chanting. In other words, he is carefully chanting and trying to avoid all of the offenses.

I hope this meets you in the best of health and in an ecstatic mood.

Your ever well-wisher,

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

kṛṣṇe matir astu (“May you become Krishna conscious”).

—

From: Mahabhagavata Das <mahabhag…@gmail.com>

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 3:55 PM

To: Sankarshan Das Adhikari <s…@backtohome.com>

Subject: Fwd: [sda_students:4624] Question regarding thought for the day Nov 10,2014

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories unto your divine grace.

The following question was asked on your students’ group. I cannot understand exactly why you used the specific word “reflective” to mention the intermediate “clearing” stage. Instead of speculating, it is better you answer the question, will post it to the entire group.

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Madhumitha, 22 November 2014

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

Thank you very much Prabhus and Matajis for clarifying this for me. I understand it now.

Thanks,

Madumitha

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari ( Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

Why did Krishna help Kunti and the Pandavas? Why do devotees suffer? Why do conditioned souls suffer?

Why did Krishna help Kunti and the Pandavas? Was it because Kunti was Krishna’s aunt and the Pandavas were His cousins? Or is Krishna always impartial?

Also, why do devotees suffer?

And what is the purpose of the suffering of conditioned souls?

Brajanath Das, 14 January 2016

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

How to understand the following sentence in SB 1.8.23 purport –

Krishna helped Kunti and Pandavas from a series of dangers because …

“Kuntidevi was a widow, and there was none to help her except

Krishna.”

Does it mean that the Lord helped mother Kunti and pandavas

out of sympathy (as a relative)?

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 15 January 2016

Dear Brajanath Prabhu,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your question is relevant and you are in good company, because other great personalities (in this particular case, Maharaja Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna) have asked this question. I am quoting this from the synopsis of the first chapter of the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam or

“In this chapter, in response to a question by Mahārāja Parīkṣit, Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives his conclusions concerning how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although the Supersoul, friend and protector of everyone, killed the Daityas, the demons, for the sake of Indra, the King of heaven. In his statements, he totally refutes the arguments of people in general who accuse the Supreme Lord of partiality. Śukadeva Gosvāmī proves that because the body of the conditioned soul is infected by the three qualities of nature, dualities arise such as enmity and friendship, attachment and detachment. For the Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, there are no such dualities. Even eternal time cannot control the activities of the Lord. Eternal time is created by the Lord, and it acts under His control. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, therefore, is always transcendental to the influence of the modes of nature, māyā, the Lord’s external energy, which acts in creation and annihilation. Thus all the demons killed by the Supreme Lord attain salvation immediately.”

I request everyone to read at least the translations, if not the purports to that chapter (link above), to get a good understanding of this.

Generally, Krishna is impartial, but to a person who is devoted to Him, He becomes obliged in a certain way, this is not partiality but reciprocation of Love – anyone and everyone can access Krishna’s Love, but some choose not to. Krishna is very fair and discrete, He rewards everyone according to their own situation.

Krishna states His impartiality AND discretion openly:

samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

na me dveṣyo ’sti na priyaḥ

ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā

mayi te teṣu cāpy aham

I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him. BG 9.29

The purport of Srila Prabhupada contains some very profound but also elegantly simple points

Now, in the specific case of Mother Kunti and the Pandavas, they are all exalted devotees to have the Lord appear like an ordinary relative in their family, but it is not that the Lord is bound by the familial relationship but He is attracted by their pure love.

In fact, pure Bhakti, especially the stage of Raganuga Bhakti teaches us how we can follow in the footsteps of such great devotees. But that is for someone who is already practically a pure devotee, no material contaminations – if anything else other than Krishna attracts us more than Krishna, then we are not pure devotees yet, even if the attraction is on a subtle level.

Krishna is sympathetic to every single living entity, therefore He comes to the material world even though the material world is as pleasurable to Him as a dirty toilet bowl is to you. In the toilet bowl, some cockroaches might like to live there, but a decent person does not want to linger there… imagine, the material world is such a dirty filthy place, but the Lord repeatedly comes, He sends His pure representatives like Lord Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Gurudeva, He leaves behind His books, the pure devotees leave behind systems, societies, and projects to help us come back to Krishna, but still so many of us make no effort to leverage all these facilities and purify ourselves of material contamination!

Other perspectives are always welcome, of course, they all need to be in harmony with Guru, Sadhu, and Shastra. 🙂

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Brajanath Das, 19 January 2016

Pranams Mahabhagavat Prabhu for your wonderful answer. Krishna is Bhavagrahi, yet He let His devotees suffer because “Devotees sufferings are for their glorification and conditioned souls sufferings are for purification”. Could you elaborate it, please?

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das, 19 January 2016

Dear Brajanath Prabhu,

This has also been discussed before on this group but I can’t seem to get access to the link(s).

Because the pure devotee sees everything as Krishna’s mercy, changes of material condition don’t affect them, and this attracts sincere seekers to devotional service because they see how in extreme situations the devotees are not actually undergoing any suffering.

This is described by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to one of Queen Kunti’s prayers:

http://www.vedabase.io/en/sb/1/8/25

And even more elaborately in Srila Prabhupada’s book Teachings of Queen Kunti https://vedabase.io/en/library/tqk/

Even the highest suffering of being separated from the devotees, or the spiritual master, or Krishna, that is experienced by advanced devotees in “vipralambha seva” or service in separation, and a highest form of ecstasy. “The ecstasy exhibited before the lover and beloved meet, the ecstasy experienced between them after meeting, the state of mind experienced by not meeting, and the state of mind experienced after meeting but fearing separation are called vipralambha. That vipralambha serves as a nourishing element for future meetings.” This is described in Srila Prabhupada’s book Teachings of Lord Chaitanya https://vedabase.io/en/library/tlc/

For materially conditioned souls, yes, the material suffering is a means to vanquish material attachments.

There is a superlative description of this in Srila Prabhupada’s purport to https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/14/8/

In that description, Srila Prabhupada explains how Krishna uses this so-called suffering to draw a devotee closer to Himself.

Devotees, please do feel free to add or correct.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at https://ecstaticmedia.com/ ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? Where does that leave us all? And if we don’t want to get involved, what can we do instead?

All over the world, whether between nations, or between adherents of different religious traditions, or persons of different ideological beliefs, or even competing business interests, there is constant strife. This strife is increasing, not just disagreements but heinous acts of violence, including war.

The idea behind this is that “they harmed us, we must get them back”. But what is perceived as righteous by one group is perceived as an atrocity by another. That incident is then recorded and narrated as something that must be avenged.

And so the cycle continues.

For example, as I write this, there is a full-scale war going in Palestine between Hamas and Israel. There is another one going in Ukraine between the Russian and the Ukrainian governments. Similar conflicts rage on in parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, The Americas, and Europe.

Neither are these conflicts are localized… for example some supporters of Palestine are openly manifesting aggression against Jewish people. Some Ukrainians and Russians in other parts of the world don’t get along with each other, even if they belong to other common groups, such as nationality or profession.

flags of the united nations, ukraine and russia

Many unrelated parties have taken sides, looked at the available facts, and made a decision in their minds as to who is right, and who is wrong. They support the conflict by adding fuel to the fire, either with their thoughts, words, or deeds. Some may supply money and weapons, or intelligence.

Everyone who has taken sides has become implicated in these conflicts, sure to be drawn in just as a moth is drawn to a flame.

I don’t know how far back in time the seeds of hatred were sown in these conflicts. But I surely know that many many, countless seeds are being sown now. Many of those trees will bear innumerable trees, thorns, flowers, and fruit.

Based on our violent past, we have a violent present. Based on the violent present, we are sure to experience a violent future.

It is not that conflict is unavoidable. In the material world, where everyone has arrived with a “I’m #1, me first, me me me” consciousness, conflict is inevitable. Nor can violence be prevented, in a world in which simply to breathe or move or eat means to commit horrendous violence on other living entities.

Of course, not all violence is created equal. There is violence that comes naturally through the acts of God, and there is violence we beget on our own accord, often quite against the injunctions of God.

For example, in the Middle East, there are supposed to be at least 3, yes, three major “religions of peace”. They are all supposed to be “brothers of the book”… they all share the same prophets, and the same sets of instructions. And yet, they fight worse than cats and dogs. Yes, I’m talking about the Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Middle East.

Why do they fight so?

So what is one to do with all this?

First of all, we must recognize that the Law of Karma dictates the” eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” idea. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, whether desirable or undesirable. The law of karma is infallible and inescapable.

What goes around, indeed does come around.

But more importantly, as my mentor Rupanuga Prabhu likes to say “Who died and made you judge”, in other words, we are not meant to intentionally try and become instruments of the Law of Karma.

Everyone will suffer earthquakes, pestilence, famine, heat, cold, and other vagaries of nature. Everyone is sure to grow old, get sick, and die. We don’t have to enforce any karmic reaction on anyone… their own genes are already encoded with the results of their karmic reactions.

The Law of Karma, according to the Universal arrangements of God, takes it’s own course. Horrible incidents will happen, even if we don’t try to cause them!

For example, a person who has wronged others will naturally end up being wronged himself. A cheater will surely get cheated. A merchant of death will surely reap death as profit.

A person will be born in the specific time, place, and circumstance that has been cooked up for them to experience the results of their past activities… no one needs to explicitly serve them justice…

the karmic tree is endless, and the enjoyment and suffering from it are endless

Have you ever thought why one child is born in the relative safety of a country like Norway, and another is born in Gaza in the middle of the eye of the storm? It’s called karma, both individual and collective.

Why is one child born a prince and another born as the daughter of a prostitute?

Even so, due to our attachments with the external designations of the body, we surely may find ourselves getting involved, in one way or another, even if it may be well outside of our duty. How can we avoid getting swept away?

First of all, we must remember not to identify ourselves as this body.

The moment we identify ourselves as this body, then insults and injustices done to the body become part of our consciousness. Injustices done to bodies related to our bodies become as if our own. Even though the body is temporary, and is meant to bite the dust, still, the adopted consciousness that we, the riders of these bodies acquire, lasts well beyond the destruction of this body.

We are not this body, we are not the mind.

we are spirit souls, not these bodies, not these minds

Next we must remember that God does not take sides

God is One. However, you may know God, we should know that God is God of all Creation, not just mine or yours. God is beyond all understandings of religion, God is beyond the limitations of space and time, and is the loving father of us all. If I commit an injustice, no matter whether I do it on my own account, or in the name of God, God does not take sides!

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभु: ।
अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तव: ॥ १५ ॥

nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ
na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ
ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ
tena muhyanti jantavaḥ

Nor does the Supreme Lord assume anyone’s sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/15/

Finally, we must remember that as we are not the Centre of the Universe.

Everyone acts according to what they think is in their greatest self interest. A thief may think that a fat stolen wallet is in his own best interest. A child may think that not going to school is in her own best interest. A politician might think that pitting one group of people against another is in his own best interest.

But they would all be sadly mistaken… because the thief doesn’t know that the owner of the wallet suffers and he himself will suffer too, the child does not know that without education she will suffer in the future, and the politician does not know that he will have to reap the same hatred he sows.

The real problem is that everyone is seeing the whole world as theirs to enjoy, to do with as they please. They don’t understand that indeed, they are not the owner…

Our world has become an unspeakable nightmare.
Peace is destroyed replaced by brutal warfare.
All hell is breaking loose on this planet right now,
And for stopping it the leaders have no idea how.

But here is the peace formula. Please take it my friends.
Please take it. You’ll see. It will not fail.
Here is the peace formula. Please take it, my friends.
Please take it. Surely peace will prevail.

We come into this world possessing nothing.
And we leave from this world with absolutely nothing.
But in the middle we fight and kill claiming this is mine.
Ignoring the real owner who reclaims everything in time.

Yes, Here is the peace formula. Please take it my friends.
Please take it. You’ll see. It will not fail.
Here is the peace formula. Please take it, my friends.
Please take it. Surely peace will prevail.

Now listen here all of you world leaders.
If you want real peace, this you must now understand.
There’s a Supreme Proprietor to whom everything belongs.
What you think is yours is just now slipping through your hands.
Acknowledge that Supreme Owner, Enjoyer, and Friend.
Peace will come and this turmoil will completely end.

Yes, Here is the peace formula. Please take it my friends.
Please take it. You’ll see. It will not fail.
Here is the peace formula. Please take it, my friends.
Please take it. Surely peace will prevail.
Please take it. Worldwide peace will prevail.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Replace competition with Cooperation

Competition is encouraged in our world, in fact, it is ruthlessly cultivated through education, culture, and society… but is competition with ourselves as the centre based on envy of others, ultimately based on envy of God, worth the cost?

We cannot get rid of this scourge unless we co-operate with, instead of competing against each other. In fact, unless we co-operate with God, we cannot co-operate with others in the truest sense of the word.

But this co-operation is impossible unless we all have a single centre, the same goal.

We must have a common centre to direct our efforts

Unless we all agree and keep a single centre, our efforts will always compete and clash against each other.

What is the way to escape this eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth then?

The only way to escape this eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth world, is to re-enter the spiritual realm, where birth, death, old age, and disease are absent, and the effects of time are conspicuous by their absence. That world is one where everyone is trying to give more than they receive, where everyone is trying to serve one another in their service to the Supreme, who I know as Krishna. That is a world where every step is a dance, and every word, a song, every tree is desire fulfilling, where the earth is made of touchstone, and water is the elixir of immortality. That is a world where the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna plays His flute, where every entity is fully conscious and ecstatically in love with Him. That is a world in which infinite cows make oceans of nectarean milk, where even the wild beasts are saintly, where there is no lamentation or anxiety from the past or future. That world is where everyone lives in the eternal ever present. That world is known as Goloka, and cannot be reached by those who remain in bodily consciousness or without pure devotion to God. Chanting Hare Krishna is the surest and fastest way to get there.

How does the Hare Krishna Mahamantra work?

Dear Spirit Soul, I am going there, by the mercy of my spiritual master, please come with me.

भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् ।
सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति ॥ २९ ॥

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/29/

A great saint – bull in his last lifetime

Once upon a time there was a bull. Then there was a warrior. And then there was a great saint. The bull became the warrior who became the saint when reminded of his legacy… how come? How does a bull become a saint?

Picture this…

A wealthy, handsome young man in full armour on horseback. A hot day in South Central India, where temperatures routinely exceed 40 Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit. They’re thirsty, parched, both the warrior and the horse.

Warrior on horseback was very thirsty, as was his horse

Dhondo Pant Raghunath, our dashing warrior, suddenly chances upon a river. It’s cool waters were irresistible on the searing hot day. So, the young man rides his horse straight into the cool refreshing waters of the river, and both horse and man eagerly quench their thirst.

A sage sitting on the bank remarks “kim pashuh purva dehe? / किं पशुः पूर्व देहे?” or “why, were you an animal in your previous body?”.

Hearing this question instantly brought back a flood of past life memories in our young Dhondo Pant.

तत्र तं बुद्धिसंयोगं लभते पौर्वदेहिकम् ।
यतते च ततो भूय: संसिद्धौ कुरुनन्दन ॥ ४३ ॥

tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogaṁ
labhate paurva-dehikam
yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ
saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana

On taking such a birth, he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he again tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/43/

In his former lifetime, Dhondo Pant had been a bull.

Yes, four-legged bovine with horns, used as a beast of burden. He was in the service of the great Ananda Tirtha, or Sripad Madhvacharya. The bull was engaged in carrying the manuscripts of various scriptural texts and commentaries.

Dhondo Pant, Raghunath had been a bull in his former life. No ordinary bull, but one engaged in the service of the great Madhvacharya!

Madhvacharya is famous for having written commentaries, “bhashya / भाष्य” on the various fundamental texts of Vedic literature. If you have come across the commentaries of Sripad Madhvacharya, you may have noticed that they are not very easy to understand, even for a well-educated reader. Many of his disciples therefore requested permission to write commentaries on the commentaries “teeka / टीका”… but Madhvacharya refused them all.

He said “This bull here shall write the commentaries on my works“.

Madhvacharya, the great teacher of Krishna Consciousness

And the great sage on the riverbank recognized the soul, he saw the soul who wore the body of a bull, now wearing the body of this rich young man. The sage was the great Akshobhya Tirtha, a spiritual descendent of Sripad Madhvacharya. Such is the mercy of the spiritual master, who appears at the right time, at the right place, to claim a soul on behalf of God.

I am fortunate to be initiated in the same line of discplic succession.

By the mercy of my eternal spiritual master His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari and his divine spiritual master His Divine Grace A. C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In a similar way, my spiritual master approached me through the Internet, and answered my questions patiently, writing over 600 replies, before I recognized him as my spiritual master. I offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master for helping me recognize who I am and be myself. However, I am still unworthy, to be honest.

In any case, our bull-turned-young man immediately decided…

To renounce his materialistic life in a rich family, and take Sannyasa, the monastic order of pure devotion to Sri Krishna. He was now known as Jayatirtha. His father, Raghunath Deshpande, like any rich father, tried his best to stop his son, but in the end had to acquiesce to the divine destiny that was unfolding before his eyes.

Sri Jayatirtha, the author of many great works in the Brahma Madhva tradition of Krishna Consciousness

Sri Jayateertha is famous as “Teekacharyaru / ಟೀಕಾಚಾರ್ಯರು”, or “The Master of the Commentaries. The word Acharya means one who teaches purely the instructions of God and personally lives those teachings. “Teeka” means commentary upon a commentary.

malkhed, kalaburgi district of karnataka, the location of the samadhi of sri jayatirtha

So, by the grace of Sri Jayatirtha…

the complex instructions of the Vedic literature of Madhvacharya was revealed to us, to study, understand, discuss, teach, and follow ourselves. His Samadhi still exists in Southern India, in Malkhed, Kalaburgi District, Karnataka. A saint who has entered Samadhi is not “dead”, one can go and receive their blessings just as one can receive blessings from a saint who still walks the earth amongst us. Near the Samadhi of Jayatirtha is the Samadhi of his spiritual master, Sri Akshobhya Tirtha.

The Samadhi of Sri Jayatirtha, great teacher of Krishna Consciousness

What can we learn from this incident…

Of the warrior turned sage who was a bull in his former lifetime? That no matter how we engage in the service of God, it is always beneficial. What is more, no matter how small a thing someone does for God, that soul benefits beyond our comprehension.

नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥ ४० ॥

nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti
pratyavāyo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/40/

What are some examples?

The great Jayananda Prabhu is a perfect example… he would often call out to a passerby, “Hey can you just hold this nail for me?”, and before you know it, by service to Krishna, the dull, unclean passerby has transformed into a bright-faced Vaishnava devotee!

In a similar way, we request donations from everyone we speak to. The donations are not for us, we don’t need anyone’s money. Krishna has given us enough. But anyone who gives, they benefit.

दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे ।
देशे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम् ॥ २० ॥

dātavyam iti yad dānaṁ
dīyate ’nupakāriṇe
deśe kāle ca pātre ca
tad dānaṁ sāttvikaṁ smṛtam

Charity given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy person is considered to be in the mode of goodness.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/17/20/

Sometimes we get a ride from someone, sometimes, we ask someone to help move some boxes or hold open a door… sometimes, we give an animal Krishna Prasada, or chant the Holy Name of Krishna loudly so they hear it.

प्रसादे सर्वदुःखानां हानिरस्योपजायते ।
प्रसन्नचेतसो ह्याश‍ु बुद्धिः पर्यवतिष्ठते ॥ ६५ ॥

prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ
hānir asyopajāyate
prasanna-cetaso hy āśu
buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate

For one thus satisfied [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness], the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/65/

Anyone who comes in contact with someone engaged in devotional service is benefited. Whether it is the ant who comes in contact with the dust from the altar, or the bee who was intoxicated on some leftover nectar offered to Krishna, or the cockroach who lives in Radharani’s kitchen and feeds on leftover Prasadam.

When I got out on Harinam, pigeons and seagulls sometimes surround me. I am 100% certain that all those souls will come back as devotees, and Krishna will help me serve them again. I can’t wait to see them again, as bright-faced Vaishnavas!

The birds and animals who get a bit of Krishna Prasada or hear Sri Harinam, the Holy Name of Krishna, will be freed from lower life forms and will get a chance to pursue Krishna Consciousness

There is also eyewitness evidence to the power of Prasada… food offered to the Lord, but more on that another day.

It doesn’t matter what your present condition is. Just engage somehow or other in Bhakti, pure devotional service. You will benefit beyond your wildest imagination! As one of my teachers, Vaisesika Prabhu, likes to say “do what you can, with what you have”

P.S: I found the writeup by His Grace Toshan Nimai Prabhu very helpful… please read it here if you’re interested in more details. https://flowers-of-grace.blogspot.com/2012/06/sri-jayatirtha.html

P.P.S: This is the disciplic succession with which I have received my spiritual knowledge and impetus to share this knowledge. Many branches and sub-branches of this disciplic succession have helped me, not to mention souls from so many other traditions from around the world. I am grateful to them all, too numerous to mention.

Kṛṣṇa
Brahmā
Nārada
Vyāsa
Madhva
Padmanābha
Nṛhari
Mādhava
Akṣobhya
Jaya Tīrtha
Jñānasindhu
Dayānidhi
Vidyānidhi
Rājendra
Jayadharma
Puruṣottama
Brahmaṇya Tīrtha
Vyāsa Tīrtha
Lakṣmīpati
Mādhavendra Purī
Īśvara Purī, (Nityānanda, Advaita)
Lord Caitanya
Rūpa, (Svarūpa, Sanātana)
Raghunātha, Jīva
Kṛṣṇadāsa
Narottama
Viśvanātha
(Baladeva), Jagannātha
Bhaktivinoda
Gaurakiśora
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Bound up, Fashionably

Do you strive to look good? Body building? Sculpting? Plastic Surgery? Fashion? Chic? Couture? Do you know that you may be bound up, trapped, shackled, your freedom of choice stripped from you? Do you know you could be trapped?

Are you into body building or body sculpting? Like for example, making sure those abs, biceps, triceps are just perfect? Do you invest in protein shakes and supplements just so you can make your body look just so? Have you undertaken plastic surgery to hide the ravages of time? Does it make you feel good when people admire your body?

Are you into trendy fashion or hair or makeup? Are you always up-to-date with your wardrobe striving to look like that fashion model on the ramp? Are you a fashionista? Do you strive to dress up or look chic? Are you constantly striving to turn heads with the way you look?

Men staring at an attractive-looking woman passing by

If you answered even a partial yes to one of the above questions, I’m sorry to say that you are a prisoner. You have been forcibly taken away from yourself and bound up, hand and foot. But your shackles, yeah, they look amazing.

shackles are shackles, no matter how fashionable

Needless to say, it doesn’t matter how nice those shackles look, they’re still shackles. A shackled person has no freedom of movement. A shackled person also has extremely limited freedom of choice.

A shackled prisoner has severely limited choices.

Why do I equate a sculpted body or a keen sense of fashion consciousness you ask? Please consider this.

देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत ।
तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ ३० ॥

dehī nityam avadhyo ’yaṁ
dehe sarvasya bhārata
tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni
na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any living being.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/30/

We are spirit souls with a mind and a body as vehicles.

We, the Atma, Spirit Soul, live inside the body

Let’s say you drive a car, let’s say the car is of a particular brand, let’s say it is an old Honda. One fine day, if the car stops working while you are out and about, it just won’t go, you gotta’ get it towed. Were “you” towed or was it the car that was towed?

If your car was towed, were you towed or your car towed?

Now, let’s say you drive another car… and this time, the car is a brand new 2023 Jaguar. Now let’s say you were feeling hungry and you went to a service station… the attendants at the service station fawned over your new car, refueled it, inflated the tires, and handed you a bill. But they didn’t give you anything to eat. But did they not refuel you? Ah, not you? They refueled your car?

If you were hungry, stopped at a service station, and the attendants refueled the car but didn't give you any food or drink, would you be satisfied?

There is a story about a woman and her bird in a cage. She polished and polished and polished the cage every single day. But no matter how hard she polished her cage, the bird inside kept getting weaker and weaker… until one day the bird in the cage dropped dead. Well, duh, you might say, the woman forgot to feed the bird!

We are like a bird in a cage. If someone polished the cage but didn't feed the bird, the bird would die, wouldn't it?

And that is exactly what being overly conscious of our body or our clothes does to us… this applies to our other vehicles too, our bikes or cars, our homes or offices… ultimately we are not these body, clothes, vehicles or dwellings.

We are spirit souls. Each and every one of us. Including the trees and the insects and the birds and the fish and the animals. Every living being is a spirit soul.

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।
श‍ुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: ॥ १८ ॥

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/18/

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]. BG 5.18

When I flex my muscles and look in the mirror, when I dress to attract the attention of whoever is likely to be attracted by my attire, I am causing myself to forget that I am a spirit soul. I am causing the others to forget that I am a spirit soul. I am entrapping myself and others!

This consciousness is so pervasive and has become so deeply rooted in our psyche, that we feel we’re doing this for “me”, for ourselves. But it’s a mere reflection of us, a shadow at best.

What we see in the mirror is not us, it is just our body

Why is bodily consciousness so bad for us? Because this makes us forget the core of who we are, spiritual beings living in a world of illusory perceptions, unnecessarily suffering through the travails of the material realm.

Excessive attachment to the body and mind, to the point where a person neglects their true needs, which are spiritual in nature, is the cause of all our problems. In other words, a person may be in the human form of life, but is acting no better than a lifeless object or a soul living in the lower species.

तरव: किं न जीवन्ति भस्त्रा: किं न श्वसन्त्युत ।
न खादन्ति न मेहन्ति किं ग्रामे पशवोऽपरे ॥ १८ ॥

taravaḥ kiṁ na jīvanti
bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta
na khādanti na mehanti
kiṁ grāme paśavo ’pare

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/18/

Ultimately, bodily consciousness traps us in the most enticing of sensual pleasures, sex. Even if a person has become old or invalid, someone who has not cultivated spiritual consciousness is still entrapped by this deadly attraction.

Indeed, sex is the main thing that keeps a spirit soul entrapped!

यन्मैथुनादिगृहमेधिसुखं हि तुच्छं
कण्डूयनेन करयोरिव दु:खदु:खम् ।
तृप्यन्ति नेह कृपणा बहुदु:खभाज:
कण्डूतिवन्मनसिजं विषहेत धीर: ॥ ४५ ॥

yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ
kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham
tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ
kaṇḍūtivan manasijaṁ viṣaheta dhīraḥ

Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Gṛhamedhis, so-called gṛhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The kṛpaṇas, the fools who are just the opposite of brāhmaṇas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhīra, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/7/9/45/

As a child of God, we have a most wonderful life in the spiritual realm, complete in every respect. We are now just like a rebellious child of prosperous loving parents, living on the street without proper food, clothes, and shelter.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7/

Yes, to stay healthy, a body needs a balanced diet and exercise. Despite all this care, the body does grow old, get sick, and die. So doing anything beyond the minimum for the body is but a waste of time and energy.

We must leave the body behind eventually, here people attend the burial of a departed soul

Why, you ask? Well, just think about what will happen to our body after our death? Either it is offered to the fire and burned to ashes, or it is buried underground and becomes earth… or, in some cultures, the body is fed to the vultures, and ends up as the droppings of those birds.

A body, no matter how beautiful or powerful or wise it was before death, is burned, buried, or thrown to the birds and animals

देवसंज्ञितमप्यन्ते कृमिविड्भस्मसंज्ञितम् ।
भूतध्रुक्तत्कृते स्वार्थं किं वेद निरयो यत: ॥ १० ॥

deva-saṁjñitam apy ante
kṛmi-viḍ-bhasma-saṁjñitam
bhūta-dhruk tat-kṛte svārthaṁ
kiṁ veda nirayo yataḥ

While living one may be proud of one’s body, thinking oneself a very big man, minister, president or even demigod, but whatever one may be, after death this body will turn either into worms, into stool or into ashes. If one kills poor animals to satisfy the temporary whims of this body, one does not know that he will suffer in his next birth, for such a sinful miscreant must go to hell and suffer the results of his actions.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/10/10/

To keep the mind healthy, it needs some amount of recreation and social interaction. The body assists the mind with this, giving it the stimulation it needs through the senses. The mind needs some amount of exercise too, but beyond that, no matter how much you serve the mind, it will remain as flickering, as unpredictable as ever. It will not stop flip-flopping either, one moment like, the next moment hatred… one moment happy, one moment sad. Now agreeing, now disagreeing. Will you make up your mind, my dear mind? No, the mind is the mind.

Unless the mind is engaged in the service of the intelligence it will remain bound up in its own little petty nonsense. The intelligence, which is beyond the mind, must be engaged in the service of the spirit soul.

And the spirit soul, which is a part-and-parcel of the Supreme Spirit, must be engaged in the service of the Supreme Divine. This Supreme Divine is referred to by many names depending on the knowledge and culture, but ultimately, is referred to as God in the impersonal sense. But of course, God is a Person, just not a person like us.

God is the eternally ever-perfect, manifesting each of us in order to have a loving personal relationship with us. He manifests uncountable living entities, and uncountable Universes. As long as we remain trapped in bodily consciousness, we can never make spiritual advancement.

Dancing Hare Krishnas in Russia. Spiritual Perfection Sets us Free.

Would you like to be free of your shackles? Ask me how!

Is your wealth safe?

Not long ago, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. With over $209B in assets, it still collapsed. Where is your wealth? What is your wealth really? Who or what can protect your wealth?

Not long ago, Silicon Valley Bank, a large American bank, with over Two Hundred and Nine Billion Dollars in assets experienced a meltdown situation, where depositors tried to withdraw forty two billion dollars in one day. This is called a “run on the bank” and resulted in the bank collapsing.

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. The US Government eventually bailed them out. But if a $209B bank can collapse, how safe is your wealth anywhere you may try to stash it?

Why did the depositors of the bank scramble to withdraw their money so quickly? Banks take your money, and then they try to invest it, keeping some of your money in cash, but most of it locked away in various types of investments, making them (usually) handsome returns. The amount of money they keep as cash, divided by the amount of money they invest, is called a “liquidity ratio”. And that liquidity ratio is strictly regulated. Despite this regulation, clearly, sometimes, the bank may just not have enough money to pay out!

The external reason of why Silicon Valley Bank crashed is because they had their money invested in bonds, which were dropping in value as interest rates rose. So, the bank was selling their bonds at a loss, and they were short by a couple billion dollars. The news got out and it was mayhem after.

Now, to put all that into perspective you know how much US$209B is? That is more than the total wealth of 103 different countries… Belarus, Jordan, Serbia, Slovenia, 103 of them. And it is more than the collective wealth of the world’s 44 poorest countries.

Think about it. Silicon Valley Bank had more wealth than 44 countries put together!

Silicon Valley Bank had more wealth than 44 of the poorest countries in the world put together. The bank was richer than 103 of the world's poorest countries!

Ultimately the bank was bailed out by the US Government and purchased by another bank, but otherwise depositors would have lost a lot of money.

In this particular case, the US taxpayers were left holding the bill for the collapsed bank.

In general, people assume that such things, like banks, governments, police, armies, weapons, communities, families, wealth, and our own bodies and minds can be actually relied upon. But all of them are fallible soldiers, liable to fail at any moment without notice.

If a bank with that much wealth can collapse from one day to the next, what to speak of your wealth? Surely you don’t have US$209B to your name at a bank?

Where is your wealth? We read the Alexander the Great left all his material wealth behind. But even if death is not about to get you in the next little while, your wealth is not safe.

Will your family protect you? No one can save you, not your family, your money, your community, your strength, or your intelligence.

Neither will your wealth, nor your family, nor your community, society, country, your own personal strength or intelligence save you!

देहापत्यकलत्रादिष्वात्मसैन्येष्वसत्स्वपि ।
तेषां प्रमत्तो निधनं पश्यन्नपि न पश्यति ॥ ४ ॥

dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv
ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api
teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ
paśyann api na paśyati

Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/1/4/

Further, on a related note, Srila Prabhupada writes this…

Such persons complacently believe that their nations, communities or families can protect them, unaware that all such fallible soldiers will be destroyed in due course of time.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/3/28/ purport

The strongest military in the world cannot protect you

In other words, nothing that we have anywhere in this world is safe.

So how to protect what is ours?

There is only one way.

In general, only that which we give away, we get to keep.

Give away money? You will get it back in your future lifetimes. Give love? You will receive much love. What you have today is a sum total of what you have given away in the past.

What do I mean by that? That the credit for giving something away is what we take with us. As in the case of Alexander the great, he left his wealth behind upon death, but the results of his activities – all his conquests – the karmic reactions for so many killed, hurt, etc., that he took with him to suffer afterwards. For every death, he had to suffer a death, for every maiming, he had to be maimed himself, for every bit of gold stolen from others, he had to be robbed himself, and so on.

A boatload of gold is nothing when compared to the force of insurmountable time.

What is your real wealth, anyways?

यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं तत: ।

yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ
manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ

upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain
BG 6.22

What is it that will satisfy you so much that you will think there is no greater gain? It cannot be money or any other possession, because with money, no matter how much someone has, they are never fully satisfied by it. It cannot be posessions, because the satisfaction one gets from one’s possessions is a continuous downward trend. It cannot be sensual experiences, because when one has some sensual pleasure, they only hanker for more.

There must be something more, something on a completely different dimension!

What is that greatest wealth?

It is the wealth of the soul, which is spiritual in nature. Not material.

The example that comes to mind is that of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan. When Rupa Goswami retired, his wealth equalled a boat full of gold coins. The Goswamis were exalted in every respect, born in rich, aristocratic families, hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and yet, it is said about them…

tyaktva turnam asesha-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat

who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant
https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/shad-goswamy-ashtakam

Why is that? Who gives up something as insignificant?

Only one who finds something greater!

In the same song, Srinivas Acharya sings:

gopi-bhava-rasamritabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur

but they are always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the gopis’ love for Krishna and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that ocean
https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/shad-goswamy-ashtakam

So there you go, any wealth in any bank or locker or any kind of wealth we rely upon in the material world, whether it be our family, society, community, country, or any institution… we will have to leave it all behind, insurmountable time will take it all away.

What you will keep eternally is this:

नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥ ४० ॥

nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti
pratyavāyo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/40/

Your spiritual advancement is your only wealth!

My dear spirit soul, please cultivate your spiritual wealth. Don’t waste a single moment! Act now. Ask me how!

Taj Bibi – Mughal Queen, Pure Devotee of Krishna

Taj Bibi was a Mughal queen. A wife of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar himself. But she is also a great Vaishnava saint. Her devotional songs are sung to this day. Her tomb is in Vrindavan. How did she make the journey from a mere Mughal Queen to an exalted pure devotee of Krishna?

It is often misunderstood that Krishna is the “God of the Hindus”, or “Hindu God”, or worse “A Hindu god”.

Nothing could be further from the truth, first of all, God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian nor Jewish nor any other designation you can think of.

God is God.

What to speak of God, even the devotee of God is beyond all material designations!

The very definition of devotion to God by the great Vaishnava saint Srila Rupa Goswami makes this abundantly clear.

সর্বোপাধিবিনির্মুক্তং তৎপরত্বেন নির্মলম্ ।
হৃষীকেণ হৃষীকেশ-সেবনং ভক্তিরুচ্যতে ॥ ১৭০ ॥

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

“ ‘Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.’
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/19/170/

In other words, devotion to God is not possible for someone who is under material designations like Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, or Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, American, African, Canadian.

By corollary, anyone who identifies with any material designation, has no devotion to God.

And when someone truly awakens to the Love of God, then nothing can stop them. Not the religion of their birth, not their gender, not their social or economic status, or their education. When Love of God awakens, it is a force that no other power can stop.

स वै पुंसां परो धर्मो यतो भक्तिरधोक्षजे ।
अहैतुक्यप्रतिहता ययात्मा सुप्रसीदति ॥ ६ ॥

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/2/6/

Take the example of Taj Bibi, a great saint in the Bhakti tradition.

I first heard of Taj Bibi in a Youtube lecture series on Sri Radha Govindaji by His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, a former US Marine turned Vaishnava monk. He is a wonderful, inspiring, saintly Vaishnava.

Taj Bibi was born in a devout and well educated Muslim family. She was the daughter of a Maulvi, a Muslim priest well-connected to the Emperor Akbar. Practically, her father was one of Akbar’s spiritual advisors.

Growing up, she had a fascination for Allah that went beyond the instruction of the Quran. She wanted to see and serve Allah personally. She asked repeatedly if Allah could be seen… and all the Muslim religious leaders told her that if she went to Mecca and Medina on Hajj then she could see Allah. But she was dissuaded for being too young.

She was also exceedingly beautiful. When her father, Fadan Khan died, the Emperor Akbar married her and she became a respected Mughal Queen.

Taj Bibi, Mughal Queen and Vaishnava Saint

One day, on her way to Agra to see Emperor Akbar, she heard the bells of the famous Govindaji temple in Vrindavan. She asked her palanquin bearers what the sound was.

Little Allah!

Those are the bells of the temple of Govindaji, came the reply. She then asked who Govindaji was. The head Muslim Palanquin bearer answered “Oh, he is a little god of the Hindus”. Taj Bibi exclaimed “Oh! Chhota Allah”, which means “Little Allah”. She insisted on being taken to the temple.

Sri Govindaji, who now resides in Jaipur, Rajasthan. He was originally in Vrindavan, but the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb wanted to desecrate the temple. After a spell-binding adventure, Sri Govindaji reached Jaipur over 400 years ago.

When she reached there, because she was Muslim, she wasn’t allowed entry into the temple. So she sat at the doorway, mesmerized by the sight of Govindaji. She sat there and sang and sang and sang.

The palanquin bearers reminded her that the Emperor was waiting. She ordered the palanquin bearers to inform the emperor to release her from the marriage. Akbar, being an evolved spiritualist himself, agreed.

Taj Bibi then made Vrindavan her home and entered deep into the love of her Allah, she knew Allah as Krishna and saw Him personally in meditation every day.

She also received Vaishnava initiation from her spiritual master Sri Vitthalnath ji, a disciple of Sripada Vallabhacharya of the Pushtimarga Sampradaya.

She spent her life immersed in loving devotional service and wrote many many songs, written in the agony of separation from her beloved, Krishna, or Govindaji. Her songs are sung by devotees to this very day.

In fact, she left her mortal body behind one day, in the sacred land of Vrindavan, eager to catch Krishna who was close by, playing Holi (the festival of colours) with His dearest associates. She went to meet her Beloved in her spiritual form, leaving her mortal body behind.

Her tomb in Raman Reti bears witness to the life of this great saint who fell in love with Krishna despite being born a Muslim and being in the materially exalted position of being a queen of the great Mughal emperor Akbar.

The tomb of the great Mughal Queen and Vaishnava Saint, Taj Bibi.

Bhakti knows no barriers.

Not very long ago, when I gave a Bhagavatam class at ISKCON Hyderabad, there was one young lady who was asking me some very intense questions. I learned that she was a girl from a Muslim family, and her teachers were discouraging her from practicing Krishna Bhakti. I said to her that Allah was standing in front of her in the form of Sri Radha Madan Mohan, and He was visible as He is to those whose eyes are tinged with the salve of Love of God. She was clearly very moved by Sri Radha Madan Mohan, as she stood in front of Him with tears in her eyes.

And of course, many readers have expressed appreciation for the Muslim Brahmin in Hyderabad.

Allah stands in the form of Sri Radha Madan Mohan in ISKCON Hyderabad, for thoe who have the eyes to see Him.

And how can you develop the eyes to see God?

Chant the names of God, even if according to your own tradition. If you are actually chanting the names of God, then you will see God everywhere, including in His deity form, and in every genuine name of God, you will feel ecstatic love.

एतन्निर्विद्यमानानामिच्छतामकुतोभयम् ।
योगिनां नृप निर्णीतं हरेर्नामानुकीर्तनम् ॥ ११ ॥

etan nirvidyamānānām
icchatām akuto-bhayam
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ
harer nāmānukīrtanam

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/1/11/

If you would like to taste genuine spiritual bliss, please chant this mantra constantly:

There are many great saints, born in Muslim families, but who developed great devotion to Krishna and are exemplary in their devotional service. I will write about some of them in due course of time.

Do you have a question? Feel free to write to me!

Why Krishna Takes Birth

Why does Krishna take birth in this horrible material world? How does contact with Krishna help a soul? And what if we cannot associate with Krishna personally?

Today is the Appearance Day of Krishna. The festival is celebrated by hundreds of millions around the world. This festival is also called Sri Krishna Janmashtami or Gokulashtami.

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna has many names.

But when someone learns that Krishna comes to this material realm via “birth”, that too in a prison cell, and then they learn that Krishna has parents… Vasudeva, Devaki, and foster parents Nanda and Yashoda… they are bewildered.

Krishna manifests His four handed Vishnu form to Vasudeva and Devaki and then transforms into a baby in the prison cell of Kamsa.

Are you sure, they ask, that this is God we are talking about? How can God have parents, and how can God have a form like you and me, how can God take birth?

But dear soul, please consider that if you and me, we have a form, then is God lesser than us to have no form? Krishna’s form, though, is not like ours. Krishna’s form is purely spiritual. Even in His deity form, Krishna’s form is purely spiritual.

Also consider that the “parents” of Krishna eternally love Him and want to serve Him in that way. Everyone knows that parents serve a child unceasingly! So why can God not grant that wish to His devotee?

But so many accept Krishna as a historical personality, famous, smart, strong, influential, but an ordinary person like you and me, a mortal with a material coil. Some accept Krishna as a soul on the way to spiritual perfection. Some go further and accept Krishna as a prophet, a messenger of God, one among many.

But of course, Krishna declares this in the Bhagavad Gita and the great spiritual masters like Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, and Madhva have accepted His words.

भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् ।
सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति ॥ २९ ॥

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/29/

So, then, why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead come here, to this nasty place where most people misunderstand Him, defame Him, insult Him, try to kill Him, ignore Him, or in the worst case, never even come across Krishna!

Krishna takes birth so we don’t have to take another birth ourselves.

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ।
त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥ ९ ॥

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjuna

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/9/

Krishna personally states some reasons as to why He comes

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥ ७ ॥

yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.

परित्राणाय साधुनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थानार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥ ८ ॥

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/7/ and https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/8/

But to be honest, Krishna does not have to personally come to accomplish all this. He has many competent energies and empowered agents who can do this themselves.

So why does He come then?

No matter how you see God as, as God the Father, or God the Ultimate Master, or God the Best Friend, or God the Lover, or God Second to None… ultimately, Krishna is concerned about us, souls trapped in the material realm.

He comes to free us. How does he do that? In many ways.

We are here in the… material realm trying to enjoy. But what can we enjoy with these imperfect senses and decaying dying bodies? It is a mere reflection of enjoyment, a mere shadow of the real thing.

Krishna comes here and brings His eternal associates, places, paraphernalia, and pastimes, and with them, shows us the standard of real enjoyment.

Enjoyment that is:

Ever increasing
Never ending
Unlimitedly variegated

Regardless of what our own standard of enjoyment is here in the material realm, it is fluctuating and temporary, and the more you try to enjoy, the more it is the same old same old… And time takes it all away! Take any sensory experience. Why is anyone dissatisfied in the world with material sense gratification? Because it is, immediately or eventually, boring. Materialists are always looking for something more, something different, but ever dissatisfied despite tremendous endeavour.

It is a fact that when presented with genuine pleasure, the materially entrapped soul cannot appreciate. However, the more the conditioned soul comes in contact with Krishna, the more they are purified.

When Krishna comes and shows the standard of His character, then we are all attracted to following such a wonderful magnanimous person.

Take the example of Putana. Putana was a witch. She specialized in killing. Not just anyone, but little babies and children. She had killed thousands. She enjoyed various ways of torturing and killing them, and sucking their blood. She developed this into a way of life. She was expert in all kinds of murder, from poison to weapons. She was commissioned to kill Krishna by Kamsa, the demoniac tyrant.

She carefully thought about her modus operandi, and dressed herself as a beautiful celestial woman. So exquisite did she look that no one stopped her. She approached Krishna as a wet nurse, to feed Him. Her disguise and manner was masterful. And in a village, mothers often feed each other’s children. No one stopped her, so trusting and simple were Krishna’s associates.

She had smeared a deadly poison on her breast. Her plan was simple. Baby Krishna sucks, end of story.

But Krishna, He is impossible to kill. Even the rest of us are impossible to kill, because the spirit soul is immortal.

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्ल‍ेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥

acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam
akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca
nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur
acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/24/

Indeed, the soul is completely indestructible!

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
न चैनं क्ल‍ेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥ २३ ॥

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/23/

While our material bodies can be killed in various ways, Krishna’s body is completely spiritual.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bs/5/1/

In fact, Krishna only appears to enter the material world, but actually He never enters or leaves! After all, what does it mean to enter or exit when Krishna is all-pervading, inside and outside of everything and everyone simultaneously?

स एव स्वप्रकृत्येदं सृष्ट्वाग्रे त्रिगुणात्मकम् ।
तदनु त्वं ह्यप्रविष्ट: प्रविष्ट इव भाव्यसे ॥ १४ ॥

sa eva svaprakṛtyedaṁ
sṛṣṭvāgre tri-guṇātmakam
tad anu tvaṁ hy apraviṣṭaḥ
praviṣṭa iva bhāvyase

My Lord, You are the same person who in the beginning created this material world by His personal external energy. After the creation of this world of three guṇas [sattva, rajas and tamas], You appear to have entered it, although in fact You have not.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/3/14/

Krishna sucked the poison, sucked the milk, and sucked out her very life!

Good riddance, someone might say. After all she was quite wicked.

Ah, but here is how Krishna is not only great but so sweet!

Krishna didn’t merely suck out the poison from her outside, Krishna sucked out the poison from Putana’s very heart! He washed her completely clean. Just by coming in contact with Krishna, Putana became spotless!

And because Putana approached him as a mother, even if with a heinous devious motive, still Krishna took the best of what she had to offer… she approached as a mother, and that position Krishna gave to Putana in the spiritual realm.

अहो बकी यं स्तनकालकूटं
जिघांसयापाययदप्यसाध्वी ।
लेभे गतिं धात्र्युचितां ततोऽन्यं
कं वा दयालुं शरणं व्रजेम ॥ २३ ॥

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/2/23/

Krishna chooses the highest and best of everyone to amplify, magnify, and enhance.

I got out on Sankirtan often. I sing Krishna’s names in public, and speak about Krishna, distribute spiritual literature, and try to get souls to serve Krishna in some way, according to their capacity.

Some take to it enthusiastically, singing along, dancing, taking books, making donations, having deep spiritual conversations. These are really the fortunate souls.

Some engage with Krishna, but not in such positive ways… they try to make fun, they tease, they try to insult or abuse. They are also fortunate souls.

Why is that?

If Krishna can give the highest position of “Mother of God” to a witch who came to poison Him, then what to speak of those who engage with Him?

Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth!

নাম চিন্তামণিঃ কৃষ্ণশ্চৈতন্যরসবিগ্রহঃ ।
পূর্ণঃ শুদ্ধো নিত্যমুক্তোঽভিন্নত্বান্নামনামিনোঃ ॥ ১৩৩ ॥

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ

“ ‘The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.’
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/17/133/

In other words, by associating with the name of Krishna, you get the same benefit as associating with Krishna personally. There is no difference betweeen Krishna and His Name!

Do you want proof that Krishna and His Name are nondifferent?

Modern-day Kannauj, the ancient city of Kanyakubja

In what is modern-day Kannauj (ancient Kanyakubja) in Northern India, there was a very decent young man named Ajamila. Trained to be a Vaishnava priest, he once went to the forest to collect some ingredients for the worship of Krishna.

In the forest, he saw what is a very common sight today… he saw an uncouth man embracing a prostitute in a sensuous way. Such a sight is sure to agitate a young man.

Ajamila spots a prostitute and her customer

Not a self controlled soul as Krishna describes, but anyone who is below this standard…

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं
समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् ।
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे
स शान्तिमाप्‍नोति न कामकामी ॥ ७० ॥

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/70/

Poor Ajamila was attracted to this uncultured woman, and became her keeper. The husband of a prostitute is most unfortunate. He cannot be happy, no matter how hard he may try to satisfy his wife. He gave up his wife and parents, and engaged in all sorts of abominable occupations like thieving, robbery, gambling, and murder, to maintain the prostitute and the 10 children he had with her.

Time flies, but like most of us, Ajamila didn’t notice.

Somehow or other, by inspiration from Krishna who sits in the heart as Paramatma, the Supersoul, he named his youngest son “Narayana”, which is another name of Krishna.

He was very attached to this little child, and would constantly call out “Narayana take your milk”, “Narayana wake up”, “Narayana, it is time for bed”, “Narayana careful that you don’t fall into that pond” and so on as a typical loving parent calls out to a small child.

Even thought he was 88 years of age, he didn’t notice that death was creeping up on him, so attached he was to this little child.

One day, the moment of his death arrived and he saw the Yamadutas, the servants of Yamaraja, the demigod in-charge of death. They were quite frightful looking. They engaged their tools in extracting Ajamila’s soul from the inner reaches of his heart.

In great pain and anxiety undergoing the process of death, he called out with tears to that which he was most attached to, his little child Narayana.

Hearing his plaintive cry, made in helplessness, the Vishnudutas, the servants of Lord Vishnu, appeared and forbade the servants of death from taking the soul.

Ajamila witnessed the conversation between the two sets of personalities, the Vishnudutas and the Yamadutas. The essence was that by that one cry of the name of Krishna, “Narayana”, his previous sinful activities were completely nullified.

Ajamila got a second chance to reform himself, and he took the second chance.

The key point to note here is that in recognition of some past spiritual service, Krishna inspired Ajamila to name his son after Himself. So he arranged for Ajamila’s deliverance.

Those of us who have already received the Holy Name of Krishna into our life, we should simply sincerely continue chanting.

When the Holy Name of Krishna appears, it means Lord Krishna Himself has appeared in our life.

And this is why we are saved by the Holy Name of Krishna.

अज्ञानादथवा ज्ञानादुत्तमश्लोकनाम यत् ।
सङ्कीर्तितमघं पुंसो दहेदेधो यथानल: ॥ १८ ॥

ajñānād athavā jñānād
uttamaśloka-nāma yat
saṅkīrtitam aghaṁ puṁso
dahed edho yathānalaḥ

As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/2/18/

Dear reader, my dear Jivatma. Please chant the name of Krishna incessantly.

Krishna says that for a materially entangled spirit soul, the only way out of suffering is to surrender unto Him completely, abandoning all other attachments…

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा श‍ुच: ॥ ६६ ॥

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/66/

It may feel very difficult to unconditionally surrender, but, if you simply chant the names of Krishna, such surrender will be yours very soon.

You will feel unlimited ecstatic joy, if not immediately, then in due course of time, but very soon.

If someone like myself, a sinful former atheist can recover and feel ever increasing joy by chanting Hare Krishna, then what to speak of you, who are surely much better than me in every respect?

Why does Maya try so hard to take us away from Krsna?

Maya, the illusory energy, is also an energy of God. So then, why does Maya test us so hard? Why does the illusory energy try so hard take us away from God, even if we are trying to get closer to God? This doesn’t seem to make sense! Please explain!

Priya Sundari Devi Dasi, 12 Dec 2014

Hare Krsna Prabhus

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to Gurudev

All glories to Vaishnavas

I was listening to some lectures by HH Radhanath Maharaj and the importance of relishing the holy name and fighting against Maya to ensure we don’t fall prey and continue to increase our love and taste for the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra.

I understand that Maya is the Lord’s external energy, so when she is a part of the Lord himself, why does she try so hard to take us away from Krsna? Is it purely because we’re in the material world?

But it makes me think, do we not have enough miseries in this material world? Birth, Disease, Old Age and Death… so why then does Maya try so hard to take us away from the Lord even when we take shelter of his pure devotees?

Apologies if my question has many parts to it and/or if I have misunderstood Maharaj’s lecture.

Haribol

your servant

Priya Sundari Devi Dasi.

*Krsne matir astu*

Jagannatha Dasa, 12 Dec 2014

to Satsang

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to our beloved spiritual masters.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you for the inspiring question. I hope this reply will begin a chain of others sharing also!

Maya simply does quality control to make sure only pure lovers of the Lord and His devotees are in the spiritual world. Others are filtered out into various regions of this material world to enact our selfish dreams, which are more like nightmares. This can be gross as in the case of the animal forms, or subtle like humans or superhuman beings such as upadevas, demigods etc. The pure devotees act for Krishna’s pleasure only, manifesting that determination according to their situation. This is where duty comes in.

For most of us, duty seems like a burdensome chore. But for the mature devotees, duty is seen as with the eye of knowledge as the dependable means to get a good result for Krishna’s pleasure.

saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata

kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/25/)

Srila Prabhupada explains that the right path, mentioned here is Krishna consciousness. Maya is what we make of her. If we have the eyes of selfishness, greed and false ego, Maya acts as the three modes of nature to drive us circling about this karma chakra to get humiliated into humility. From there we can chant the holy names and get purified.

tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā

amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/antya/6/239/)

With the eyes of love of Krishna, Maya acts as the “three modes” of spiritual nature:

ānandāṁśe hlādinī, sad-aṁśe sandhinī

cid-aṁśe samvit — yāre jñāna kari’ māni

Hlādinī is His aspect of bliss; sandhinī, of eternal existence; and samvit, of cognizance, which is also accepted as knowledge. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/6/159/)

In the final paragraph concluding the lengthy purport to this verse (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 4.62), Srila Prabhupada explains that these three modes are the internal energy of the Lord, and they manifest as the external energy in the forms goodness, passion and ignorance. From the highest angle of vision, everything is coming to help us, even maya, but we need proper vision. The devotees bless us with this vision. These are great treasures, and like any treasure they take time to accumulate.

your servant,

Jagannatha Dasa

Harihara Hota, 12 Dec 2014

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to Gurudev

All glories to Vaishnava Haribol

The question regarding maya is most important to manage life in a spiritual way which has been idealized by the revered Srila Prabhupada Maharaj.

Thank you for question

your servant

Harihara Hota

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 13 Dec 2014

Dear Mother Priya Sundari,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you for bringing this up. You may have heard answers to this and related questions, the answer by Jagannatha Prabhu is quite deep too.

Even thought birth, death, old age and disease affect 100% of the population, what percentage of the population even perceives them as evils? Even among devotees, how easy is it to slip into material consciousness? The pure devotee is giving us shelter, but are we really taking their shelter, or are we turning to our false ego and Maya for false shelter and temporary gratification?

I was scouring Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is yesterday looking for what Krishna says and what Srila Prabhupada says:

1. Krishna mentions Maya in BG 7.14, where He simultaneously calls her “daivi” or divine and “duratyaya”, translated as very difficult to overcome, understand, to follow, or unavoidable, insurmountable, impossible to transcend, etc., except to those who surrender to Him.

2. We are in the material world because of one primary fault is us – we are “unsurrendered to Krishna”. In fact, we are envious of Krishna. The difference between jealousy and envy is that when I am jealous of you, I don’t like that you have what you have, or that you are what you are… but envy is more sinister. Envy means, I don’t like what you have, I don’t like who you are, I want you to not have it, I want it instead, and I don’t want you to be who you are, I want to be who you are instead. In other words, envy of Krishna means that the conditioned living entity wants to BE Krishna, kick Him out, and be Him instead. Seems very drastic, but that is why anyone is here, except of course the pure devotee, who has come here on a transcendental rescue mission. Our understanding is that this is the concept called “the original sin” by the Christians, “the forbidden fruit” is to partake of that envy of God.

3. Srila Prabhupada mentions in several one of his purports, but specifically one of them BG 3.17, that “By such clearing of consciousness, one becomes fully conﬁdent of his eternal position in relationship with the Supreme.”

4. So, in other words, the purpose of this “divine difficult” energy of Krishna is to clear the consciousness… so therefore, Maya’s purpose is to purify everyone of that terrible envy of Krishna… So, she promises everyone this land where they can think they are #1, but the problem is, she didn’t tell them there are countless such persons who want to be #1, and they are all fighting each other to be #1, case in point, our world. While they are here, she repeatedly pokes, prods, and gives correction to everyone who is here… Ultimately one among millions finally gets it and begins one’s journey back home, but it is Maya’s thankless job to purify that person also… she keeps poking and prodding to test if the person is “done”. When “done”, the person experiences Maya as “Yogamaya” as described in Jagannatha Prabhu’s email. To do her job effectively, she has to be terrible, scary etc… Vaisesika Prabhu says that Kali devi will not think twice about tearing out someone’s entrails and wearing it as a garland, that’s how “heartless” of a witch she is, as described in the songs of the Acharyas – but it is not that she is not doing her job or that she is not dear to Krishna!

I hope this helps?

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Madumitha, 13 Dec 2014

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

I came across a weekly lesson pertaining to this question. I hope this helps a little.

Here’s an excerpt from it:

I was there in New Vrindavan, West Virginia in the summer of 1972 when a young hippy asked Srila Prabhupada, “If our purpose is to go back to Godhead, why is Maya so strong?” Without the slightest hesitation Srila Prabhupada profoundly and poetically answered, “Because your purpose is not strong.”

In other words Maya, the Lord’s illusory energy, only has power over us to the extent that we are not determined to go back to home, back to Godhead. If we are determined to become fully Krishna conscious and not take birth here again in this material world, the material energy will be powerless to do anything to stop us from achieving our goal.

So instead of being weak in our determination, we must become powerful in our determination.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari, Weekly Lesson from the Ultimate Self Realization Course

The whole lesson is very enlightening. Here’s the link to read the entire lesson: http://www.sda-archives.com/tftd/course/C/C68.html

Thanks,

Madumitha

Gabrielė. 15 Dec 2014

Hare Krishna,

Please, accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and His students.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Could you please kindly answer to me, such a neophyte?

If Maya tests if a person is “done”, so she is terrible, scary, etc. – does this process stop when one becomes a pure devotee or only at the moment of death?

Thank You,

your servant,

Gabriele

Shahvir Balaporia, 15 Dec 2014

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Isn’t Yogmaya akin to the Kundalini shakti (force) which the yogis practicing chakra meditation frequently refer to? It is said that once the Kundalini shakti is awakened & starts rising through the chakra system one attains all kinds of superhuman powers (siddhis) eventually culminating into the final stage of self-realization. I think this is Yogmaya at work. Kindly correct me if i am wrong.

your humble servant,

Shahvir

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 15 Dec 2014

Dear Mother Gabriele,

Hare Krishna!

Please kindly accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

There is a gradual transformation in the experience of a person as they get gradually purified of material propensities… Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the jaws of a cat… to the mouse, they are the jaws of death, but to the kitten, they are the safest place in the world. In this case, the materialist is compared to the mouse, and the pure devotee is compared to a kitten. The process is very gradual, it is subtle – the individual who is trying notices that they are being tested even though others may not notice… if they don’t clear the hurdle with help of what they have learned so far, then other devotees also notice – a gradually widening circle of devotees, so that the aspiring devotee can get help. This happens to me all the time, I do get help from my friends and mentors if I cannot manage to resolve something by myself, it is a really wonderful process, I can vouch for that.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 15 Dec 2014

Dear Sriman Shahvir,

Hare Krishna!

Anyone who is not connected with Krishna has no experience or knowledge or understanding of Yogamaya. By observing the process of kundalini yoga as described by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita starting with the verse 6.11 through 6.32, there are no kundalini yogis in modern-day society, in fact, a kundalini yogi cannot have cannot have a home, a family, any money, no phone, no job, no arrangements for food and sustenance, no contact with society whatsoever. Anyone who is claiming to practice kundalini yoga in modern day society is, for want of a better word, a fraudster, or cheater.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Shahvir Balaporia, 15 Dec 2014

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Dear Mahabhagavat Prabhuji,

Thank you very much for your guidance.

your humble servant,

Shahvir

Priya Sundari Devi Dasi, 16 Dec 2014

Hare Krsna Prabhus

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to Guru and Gauranga

All glories to Vaishnavas

My humble heartfelt thanks to all the devotees that have responded. Thank you Jagannatha Das Prabhu for the elaborate reply. It is my Guru Maharaj’s favorite verses, trinad api sunicena, taror api sahishnuna, amanina manadena, kirtaniya sada harih.

All glories to all your service.

Haribol

your servant

Priya Sundari Devi Dasi

*Krsne matir astu*

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The 26 Qualities of a Devotee of Krishna

The devotee of Krishna, or Lord Ramachandra, or any other expansion of Krishna, referred to as “Vaishnava” manifests 26 wonderful qualities. What are they?

Yamini Narang, 13 Feb 2015

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

All glories to Sri Guru & Gauranga!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Dear devotee,

The Twenty-Six Qualities of a Devotee in detail:

The Lord is satisfied by the development of the transcendental qualities of the living entities and not by artificial performance of sacrifices and mystic yoga. In other words, unless one is fully qualified to become a pure devotee of the Lord, one cannot expect to be liberated from material entanglement.

1. KIND TO EVERYONE

The devotee is merciful because he is the well-wishing friend of all living entities. He is not only favorably inclined to the human society but also to plants and animals. He treats all living entities in such a way that they can ultimately become free from material bondage and go back home, back to Godhead.

2. HUMBLE, DOES NOT QUARREL WITH ANYONE

To be humble means that one is not hankering to be worshiped by others. Humility should not be artificial but honest, deep, and natural. It will develop when the conditioned soul admits its wrong attitude towards Krsna and prays to Him for forgiveness and to be allowed to always engage in His devotional service.

3.TRUTHFUL, FIXED IN THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH

The primary truthfulness for a disciple to keep his vow of following the regulative principles and chanting 16 rounds of japa every day. Also, a devotee should not perform any illegal activities and he should always act in Krsna’s interest and not in his own in order to remain fixed in the absolute truth.

4.EQUAL TO EVERYONE

A devotee sees the soul and the Supersoul in everyone’s heart and treats every living entity according to its position and in a way that is most beneficial for its spiritual progress.

5.FAULTLESS

A devotee, who in words, deeds, and mind is always surrendered to Krsna and who executes Krsna’s desire to the best of his ability is considered to be faultless.

6.CHARITABLE

A devotee is charitable because he knows that love for Krsna is the best, and he distributes it without selfish motives. His charity has no limits, just like the happiness someone experiences who got the gift of Krsna consciousness.

7.MILD

A devotee avoids illusory, materialistic happiness, and thus is spared from the suffering which is bound to it. He always remains peaceful, because he is satisfied within Krsna consciousness.

8.CLEAN, PURE

The Krsna conscious movement is meant for purifying the world in a revolutionary way-by hygienic external principles as well as by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra which purifies the heart.

9.SIMPLE, WITHOUT MATERIAL POSSESSION

The highest realization is to see everything as Krsna’s property. The sincere devotee is not only satisfied to see everything as Krsna’s property, but also to engage everything in a proper way in Krsna’s service.

10.BENEVOLENT

Since Krsna-consciousness affects the heart of every living entity, the welfare work of a devotee is not restricted to a specific race, species, etc., but for the benefit of all living entities.

11.PEACEFUL

To be peaceful does not mean to physically maintain idyllic peace but to experience real peace in one’s relationship with Krsna. Only someone who has realized that there is nothing beyond Krsna can achieve real peace and fearlessness.

12.COMPLETELY ATTACHED TO KRSNA

Devotion to Krsna is neither sentimental nor whimsical but authorized and scientific. By practicing devotional service we can learn to surrender properly. Complete surrender to Krsna is the goal of every devotee because he wants to become free from material desires in order to serve Krsna more and more. Complete surrender to Krsna is the most important of all qualities to be developed.

13.DESIRELESS

When one is fully engaged in devotional service, one realizes that all one’s desires are satisfied. Thus one does not have any material desire anymore. One only desires to serve guru and Krsna.

14.INDIFFERENCE TOWARDS MATERIAL POSSESSIONS

A devotee may use things in Krsna’s service but he does not become attached to or dependent on them. He may serve Krsna with millions of dollars by opening temples, printing books, etc. However, he is also satisfied when he does not have any material assets and then simply chants Hare Krsna.

15.STEADY, FIXED

The realizations of a devotee should be so profound that his dedication to his spiritual master and Krsna cannot be influenced anymore by various temptations, suffering or opposing philosophies.

16.SELF-CONTROLLED

There are six bad qualities, namely lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and envy. A pure devotee controls these bad qualities by engaging in Krsna’s service. These qualities cannot be left behind in an artificial way by can be easily counteracted with transcendental knowledge and transcendental taste arising from one’s devotional service.

17.DOES NOT EAT MORE THAN REQUIRED

Lord Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gita that a yogi does not eat too much nor too little. This means practically exactly as much as he can easily digest. According to Ayurveda, one’s stomach should be filled with 1/2 food, 1/4 water, and 1/4 air.

18.SANE

A devotee is never intoxicated by material enjoyment. He reduces his requirements to a minimum and offers his whole life to Krsna. In this way he is completely balanced.

19.RESPECTFUL

A devotee offers respect to others without expecting anything in return. He respects everyone as part of Krsna and treats them accordingly.

20.HAS NO MATERIAL HANKERING

A devotee is not attracted by material possessions which help us to gain a prestigious position. He sees everything attractive in this world as a reflection of Krsna, the all-attractive cause of all causes.

21.GRAVE

Although we lead a happy life in Krsna consciousness, we are always conscious that the material existence can be finished at any time and that the way back home, back to Godhead is not cheap. To be grave means that the devotee is constantly thinking of Krsna and the ultimate goal of life.

22.COMPASSIONATE

The essence of compassion is the distribution of transcendental knowledge. The basis of it are Srila Prabhupada’s books and the force behind it is our purity.

23.FRIENDLY

A devotee is friendly because he leads everyone to Krsna, who is the best friend of all living entities.

24.POETIC

A devotee is even poetic if he is not literally active because he is able to connect everything with Krsna’s transcendental nature.

25.SILENT

Silence means that one only speaks about Krsna and not about material topics.

26.EXPERT

The essence of the expertise of a devotee is that he can do anything for Krsna. The best expertise is to surrender to Krsna.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada exhibits these super excellent qualities of a devotee. He is the acarya (one who teaches by example) and is exemplary in showing us how to develop the qualities in order to benefit all living beings and to serve Krsna.

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

Jaya Prabhupada!

Thank you!

May you always think of Krsna!

Begging your mercy,

Forever your servant,

yamini

Rantideva Das, 13 Feb 2015

My dear Yamini,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I trust that you are well.

Thank you so much for posting these 26 qualities of the devotee. This list helps the devotee remember the proper path to pure love of God. I pray that through the mercy of Sri Guru and Lord Sri Krishna, as well as the prayers of my wonderful godbrothers and sisters, that I may someday develop at least one of these qualities.

I remain your worthless servant,

Rantideva das

Gabrielė, 13 Feb 2015

Hare Krishna, dear Yamini,

Please, kindly accept my humble obeisances at Your lotus feet.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga !

All glories to Srila Prabhupada !

Thank You very much for the detailed list. May Krishna bless You have all those qualities forever 🙂

your servant,

Gabriele

(https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/5/18/12/ – editor)

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Why did Krishna blow His conchshell before the start of the battle of Kurukshetra even though He was not a general?

In the battle of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna acts as the charioteer of Arjuna. He was not a general in the Pandava Army. So why was Krishna among the first ones to blow His conch, even though He was not a combatant?

Rathin Mandal, 01 Dec 2015

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I am forwarding this question to a wider audience. This question has been sent by Brhadnath Dasa Prabhu in ‘2014-Bhagavata-Online-Academy’

ततः श्वेतैर्हयैर्युक्ते महति स्यन्दने स्थितौ ।
माधवः पाण्डवश्चैव दिव्यौ शङ्खौ प्रदध्मतुः ॥ १४ ॥

tataḥ śvetair hayair yukte
mahati syandane sthitau
mādhavaḥ pāṇḍavaś caiva
divyau śaṅkhau pradadhmatuḥ

On the other side, both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental conchshells.

पाञ्चजन्यं हृषीकेशो देवदत्तं धनञ्जयः ।
पौण्ड्रं दध्मौ महाशङ्खं भीमकर्मा वृकोदरः ॥ १५ ॥

pāñcajanyaṁ hṛṣīkeśo
devadattaṁ dhanañ-jayaḥ
pauṇḍraṁ dadhmau mahā-śaṅkhaṁ
bhīma-karmā vṛkodaraḥ

Lord Kṛṣṇa blew His conchshell, called Pāñcajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhīma, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Pauṇḍra.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/1/14/ and https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/1/15/

“Lord Krishna is not the commander of the army of Pandavas, then why He blows the first conch shell from Pandavas side?”

your Servant

Rathin

Cigdem Ongen, 01 Dec 2015

Hare Krishna

All glories to Srila Gurudeva

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Please accept my humble obeisances.

I am waiting for the right answer excitedly.

My thoughts are : Pandavas knew Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But the sons of Dhritarashtra doesn’t accept Him. So they were devoid of transcendental conch shells and advices of Lord Krishna. Krishna is taking part as chariot driver in this war not as God. Although Krishna put the outbreak of war to the will of the otherside, He has not acted as God but as driver Arjun’s transcendental chariot.

your servant,

Cigdem

Brajanath Das, 02 Dec 2015

Hare Krishna!

Because He’s the Supreme Personality of Godhead and HE wanted to start the battle, when He was ready to do so. Also, Lord Krishna, is the eternal Lord of the Pandavas and the most feared person by their opposition. He is worshiped as Parthasarathi (The Supreme Lord who acted as the charioteer of Arjuna. – editor)

your servant

Brajanath Das

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The Stone Deity who bore witness – Saakshi Gopal

Deities are made of stone, wood, marble, metal etc. But authorized deities are anything but material! Want to read about a deity who walked a thousand plus miles to bear witness for His devotee? Read about the renowned Sri Saakshi Gopal!

Once upon a time, in South India, there lived two Brahmins. One was very rich and aristocratic, but also old in body. The other was poor but gentle, a young man. Both were great devotees of Krishna, with complete faith in the Lord.

From Sakshi Gopal, a book published by Sri Vaikuntha Enterprises — From Sakshi Gopal, Published by Sri Vaikuntha Enterprises

They both went on pilgrimage to Vrindavan. The young Brahmin man served the elderly one very sincerely, helped him. This service was essential, because in those days, pilgrimages were by foot, often without facilities. So to walk well over a thousand miles and back was no mean feat.

The young man begged alms, cooked, and served the older gentleman nicely. When the older man fell sick, the young one nursed him back to health. The young man served the older one very sincerely.

One day, when in Vrindavan, the older Brahmin felt tremendous gratitude for the young man’s selfless service. He wanted to reciprocate in some way. In fact, he thought it would be fitting to have this young man as his son-in-law. He loved the idea of this saintly young man becoming the husband of his daughter. So he declared his intention.

The young man said “Sir, you are rich and aristocratic, I am poor, your family will never agree to this alliance. I did not serve you with the expectation of getting anything in return. Please let it be my pleasure and privilege to have served you and let’s leave it at that”. The older one said “No no, I insist, you must accept my daughter’s hand in marriage!”. So then the young man said, OK, in that case, please note that you have made this statement in front of this beautiful deity named Gopal. In order that you don’t experience the reaction of lying in front of the Deity, you will need to fulfill your words. The older man heartily begged Gopal to allow him to fulfill his promise to the nice young man.

Back in the village, the older gentleman declared his intention to his family. His son objected. His wife objected. The wife said “If you do such a thing, I shall commit suicide”. The son said “If anything on this matter comes up, just say I don’t remember”. Both the wife and son of the older man were afraid of losing their social stature by marrying off the girl to this poor unknown young man.

The older man was disappointed, but helpless in the face of such intense opposition from his family members. The girl, meanwhile, had no qualms… she knew her father well and trusted her father’s judgement completely.

After many days had passed, the young man came to the rich family’s home to remind the elderly man of his promise… the son quickly intervened saying “you lowly wretch. How did you think we’d marry our girl to you? When on pilgrimage, you drugged my father and made him promise! What proof do you have that my father made this promise to you?”. At this, the young man said “The deity of Gopal bore witness to the promise”.

The son of the elderly Brahmin, even though born of a wonderful saintly father, was somewhat of an atheist. He laughed out loud and proclaimed “If the deity of Gopala comes to bear witness to my father’s promise, then surely we will conduct the wedding and give my sister in marriage to you”. He was completely confident that a stone deity could never come to bear witness, especially not over a thousand miles.

But this young man, was of great faith and purity. He went back to Vrindavan, and explained the situation to Gopal. He said “My dear Lord, I am not attached to marrying this girl, but the older Brahmana will suffer reactions for having lied in front of you, so I am asking, please come to bear witness”. The deity spoke to this young man…. “My child, go back to your village, conduct a fire yajna, I will appear in the fire as Vishnu and bear witness that way”… the young man said “No no, you don’t know these people, they will not accept, they have demanded that you come personally!”. The deity replied “My dear boy, have you ever seen a deity walk?“, to which the young man replied “If a deity can talk, then surely He can walk!“. Now, moved by the boy’s intense faith, the deity agreed to follow him to the village… over a thousand miles away.

Krishna says the following in the Bhagavad Gita…

ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् ।
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥ ११ ॥

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/11/

So, when you walk into a temple, see a deity of Krishna, and say “What is this, this is just a statue!”, indeed, you will see no more than a statue. Such a person can have the pleasure of ridiculing everyone else who sees Krishna instead of a statue.

But when you walk into the presence of the authorized deity, and want to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known by other names like Allah and Jehovah, then the Deity manifests to you.

I have had hundreds and thousands of such experiences where it is clear that the deity of Krishna is Krishna Himself. He has reciprocated in so many wonderful ways, even though, as a recovering atheist, I am completely unworthy and unqualified.

God is such. To the atheist, He gives the satisfaction, the pleasure, of not being present. To the devotee, He plays in direct proportion to the surrender of the devotee. In other words, God, being the Ultimate Well-wisher of everyone, gives each person the privilege of loving Him or leaving Him.

Gopal instructed the young man to walk to his village, and every day, to prepare a quantity of rice offering but to never turn and look back. As to how the young man would know the deity was following? Listen to the sound of Gopala’s ankle bells! The tinkling ankle bells would tell him Gopal was right behind.

In this way, the young man and the stone deity made their way back from Vrindavan to South India, over a thousand miles. Just outside the village, the boy couldn’t hear the sound of the ankle bells of Gopal… so worried, he turned around, and there the deity was, in all His splendour. Gopal said “I will not move from here, you bring the villagers to me now”.

So the boy recounted that Gopala had come to bear witness to the old man’s promise. All the villagers rushed to the spot to witness this miracle. Lord Gopal bore witness and the young man and the girl were duly married.

This young man became the priest of Lord Gopala, who was now called “Saakshi Gopala” – the Lord who bore witness.

In due course of time, the Gajapati king of Orissa conquered over this South Indian kingdom and brought this deity of Saakshi Gopal to Orissa, not far from Jagannath Puri.

And there He stands today. Still bearing witness to our loving devotion. My prayer is to be able to convince everyone to accept God’s love wholeheartedly. And reciprocate with that love unreservedly. Now, dear reader, please help me in that mission to the most loving Sri Krishna!

To those faithless atheists of all stripes who decry deity worship as idol worship, this deity stands as a challenge. To those who are simple and pure-hearted, Saakshi Gopal blesses to this day.

We had a wonderful experience earlier this year visiting Sri Saakshi Gopal and serve the residents of His town with transcendental spiritual literature.

There, at Saakshi Gopal, we met this elderly gentleman who had tremendous appreciation for the modern-day saint His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and for the elaborate arrangements made by his International Society for Krishna Consciousness – ISKCON, to distribute spiritual knowledge far and wide. The locals told us he was a poet, writing about devotion to Sakshi Gopal. I begged him to write poems from the books, he agreed and gave his his blessings.

To me, it was as if I’d met the two devotees of Saakshi Gopal personally in meeting this elderly gentleman. I expressed gratitude once again.

I’d heard about Saakshi Gopal many years ago, nearly 20 years ago. And hankered to visit Him! He is so sweet!

Won’t you visit the Lord who bore witness for His devotee? No picture can capture Saakshi Gopal’s elegant beauty! No words can do Him any justice. You must go there and see Him for yourself! Go! He’s waiting for you! And don’t forget to serve Him! Here and now!

God is Great! God is Good! Proclaim that in every town and village!

What does it mean to over endeavor? How do I know if I’m over endeavoring?

What does it mean to overdo effort? What does it mean to over endeavor? How do we know if we are putting our effort in the wrong direction? What is the antidote to this tendency?

KV Rao, 17 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to your devotional service!

Please help me to understand – how does one know that one is over endeavoring?

Haribol!

your servant,

KV Rao

Premananda Das, 17 Mar 2015

Please state context over endeavoring for?

your servant

Premananda das

Bhakta Sunil, 19 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna Rao Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

One can know that one is over endeavoring for material things if one is not ready to give 100 % of one’s capacity to serve and please the Lord

For example , if one’s devotional routine involves chanting a particular number of rounds , but if one has a lingering thought of say, watching a cricket match and then does less rounds and switches on television to watch cricket , then it is over endeavoring mundanely

Sincerely hoping this helps to dispel your doubt

humbly,

Bhakta sunil

Shridhar Das, 26 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna,

I agree with the above answer too. As per my recent hearings, I feel that lack of determination for executing spiritual activities concludes in over-endeavouring for material activities.

Spiritual activities surely includes a wide range of activities but from my current experience I am able to recall how maintaining a bimonthly sadhana chart, consisting of a sheet with various columns like date, wake up time, sleeping time, no of rounds chanted until a particular time, duration of hearing and reading, helps to keep track of spiritual determination.

I fill this out on a regular basis and on the weekend submit it to my counsellor who expertly studies and accordingly guides for the next session. It is an amazing way of introspecting our spiritual endeavour and exposing the mind’s entanglement.

your servant

Shridhar das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 26 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna Sriman Rao,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

There are various levels of over-endeavor for material benefits. At the extreme edge of spiritual perfection, a liberated soul sees anything more than keeping body and soul together as over-endeavor. In fact, Vasudeva Vipra, a great Vaishnava, went further than that – he had some worms attacking his body, and if they fell off, he would pick them back up and put them on his body, because he was on the platform that actually his body was food for worms anyways, and why should he deprive them of their rightful share of food. (CC Madhya 7.137-138)

Most of us are not on that platform, and it is foolish to try to pretend to be on some higher level than one is.

What is “minimum necessity” for me, may be overindulgence for another, and what is minimum necessity for another may be “too much sense gratification for me”. On the other hand, no one else knows what and how much I need… Some people require 20 helpings of food to feel satisfied, another requires just one. The elephant needs hundreds of kilos of food and the ant needs just one grain or so, ultimately it is a very personal thing.

Srila Gurudeva was once asked the question “how do I know if I am making spiritual progress” and Srila Gurudeva answered “to the extent you feel less attracted to material sense gratification, you can know that you are making spiritual advancement” (both question and answer paraphrased, not literal quotes). Another time, he answered this question as “when you take some food, do you have to wait for someone else to tell you that you are full? No! You know when you are full”.

You know enough about your needs, about the ideals of spiritual life and enough about Krishna consciousness that you should be able to answer this question for yourself and recognize when you are over-endeavoring or not.

This is confirmed in the scripture, shastra:

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir

anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ

prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus

tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo ’nu-ghāsam

Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating. SB 11.2.42

I will not quote the purport, but I invite everyone to please read the purport at:

http://www.vedabase.com/sb/11/2/42/

In any case, the time is right now to be initiated by a bona fide spiritual master so that such things will not bother you – service and instructions directly received in spiritual life and followed carefully will sustain and satisfy one to the fullest possible extent.

For example, in response to a recent report, my spiritual master wrote to me:

“

Simply continue with your sincere efforts

to serve Guru and Gauranga and everything

will work out wonderfully.

“

And I shall hold on to that instruction which I have received personally. 🙂

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Brhadnath dasa, 27 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna Shreyas prabhu, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Gurudeva. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your words that lack of determination for executing spiritual activities concludes in over-endeavoring for material activities, are indeed very true, but we somehow find some excuse to be in this . Some devotees do talk about the benefits of sadhana chart, but somehow I did not seek their help. Please share the sadhana chart, if possible in the format, for the benefit of others. And also, please allow me to submit my chart to you to help me.

your servant,

Brhad nath dasa

Bhakta Sunil, 29 Mar 2015

Hare Krishna everyone

I came across following lines from the book “Nectar of Devotion” both set of lines from Text Two , which I understand would help in this topic :

“Jīvasya tattva jijñāsā: the real purpose of life is to inquire about the Absolute Truth. If our endeavor (prayāsa) is not to inquire about the Absolute Truth, we will simply increase our endeavor to satisfy our artificial needs. A spiritual aspirant should avoid mundane endeavor.”

“Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes in his Anuvṛtti commentary that too much endeavor to acquire knowledge on the part of mental speculators or dry philosophers falls within the category of atyāhāra (collecting more than needed). According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the endeavor of philosophical speculators to write volumes of books on dry philosophy devoid of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is entirely futile. The work of karmīs who write volumes of books on economic development also falls within the category of atyāhāra. Similarly, those who have no desire for Kṛṣṇa consciousness and who are simply interested in possessing more and more material things—either in the shape of scientific knowledge or monetary gain—are all included under the control of atyāhāra.”

Regards,

Bhakta Sunil

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Efforts bring Results, right?

So, if I work very hard, results are sure, right? Wrong, so many people work so very hard, but get no results… on the contrary their results are the opposite of what they were hoping to achieve! So what determines success? Should we just stop working altogether? How to understand all this?

Vishal Puri, 28 June 2016

Hare Krishna,

Dandavats Pranam,

Can devotees please help me in understanding Bhagavad Gita Sloka 2.47

‘You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.’

What other factors bring results, other than my efforts ?

And under what conditions/mentality does a person not want to do things or put efforts ?

Please guide me.

Hare Krishna

Vishal

Haladhar Das, 21st July 2016

Hare Krsna Vishal,

Thank you for your nice question.

You have rightly mentioned that other than my own efforts, there are other factors which bring results. The same is mentioned described in Bhagavad Gita verse 18.14 as below:

The place of action [the body], the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul – these are the ﬁve factors of action.

So we can see for any result, only our efforts are not involved. Ultimately the control is in the hand of the Supersoul, He is the super-cause and all our activities depend on His will. So foolishly if we try to enjoy ourselves independently of Him, we will suffer the consequences whereas if we go as per His will, we will remain liberated even when we are here.

Your second question, under what conditions/mentality does a person not want to do things or put efforts? What I understand from your question in context to the verse 2.47 is that when one is told that you are not entitled to results, naturally one will not endeavour. That’s why people are surprised when being told, that we should not ask from God, (We should try to serve with love.) then they say then what for we should go to temple.

Hope it meets your query.

Jaya Srila Gurudeva. Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

your servant,

Haladhar Dasa

Shridhar Das, 21 July 2016

Hare Krishna Vishal,

Please accept my humble respects!

All glories to Srila Gurudeva!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Sorry for the delayed response. Your question is very significant and deserves clarification.

First, I prefer to emphasize the term “Prescribed duty”. The purport states:

Prescribed duties are activities enjoined in terms of one’s acquired modes of material nature.

It has been discussed in the past posts on this group that just as a doctor “prescribes” a medicine to the patient as per one’s disease, similarly we are all diseased or intoxicated by the modes of material nature in varying degrees. Everyone is uniquely entangled depending on the past actions (past of this life and past lives).

If we do not act as per prescription or try to work out with our disease just by our own, we are most probably running towards death in near future or far future. This is definitely a very fatal act.

Similarly, any act which is not according to an expert prescription is worsening our already ruined consciousness. If we place a dog food, a dog won’t be able to control his senses, he’ll keep seeking for the food by nose, tongue, mind, etc… Similarly, if we keep following our defective mind, without any control whatsoever, we are heading for animal life next birth.

This may sound bitter but it’s a basic fact about this human birth (tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam). That is why in so many places throughout Vedas it is recommended to approach a spiritual master with humility, to gain knowledge and apply it in our lives. That inquiry regarding the self and it’s application is performing our prescribed duties.

If work is worsening our disease in this material world, some class of men renounce work altogether to avoid further sickening. That is why Srila Prabhupada is stating in the purport:

The Lord advised that Arjuna not be inactive, but that he perform his prescribed duty without being attached to the result.

Addressing your two questions:

What other factors bring results, other than my efforts ?

That is clearly answered in Bhagavad Gita 18.14:

Translation

“The place of action [the body], the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul – these are the ﬁve factors of action.”

Purport (Read slowly)

The word adhiṣṭhānam refers to the body. The soul within the body is acting to bring about the results of activity and is therefore known as kartā, “the doer.” That the soul is the knower and the doer is stated in the śruti. Eṣa hi draṣṭā sraṣṭā (Praśna Upaniṣad 4.9). It is also conﬁrmed in the Vedānta-sūtra by the verses jño ’ta eva (2.3.18) andkartā śāstrārthavattvāt (2.3.33). The instruments of action are the senses, and by the senses the soul acts in various ways. For each and every action there is a different endeavor. But all one’s activities depend on the will of the Supersoul, who is seated within the heart as a friend. The Supreme Lord is the supercause. Under these circumstances, he who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul situated within the heart is naturally not bound by any activity. Those in complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness are not ultimately responsible for their actions. Everything is dependent on the supreme will, the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So we are souls, we desire and use the senses to fulfill our desires. If senses are themselves uncontrolled we can expect mismanagement which is what this material world is about, chaos (or Kaliyuga). Even if they are controlled, The Supersoul is the ultimate sanctioner.

Please note, Supersoul is IMPARTIAL. Srila Prabhupada gives an example of a court judge who sometimes awards death sentence to someone and sometimes declares millions of cash to other, but in both cases he is detached. Similar relation can be assumed between the Supersoul and the conditioned soul.

So the conclusion is – we are not the ultimate doer. Krishna hence warns:

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

“The spirit soul bewildered by the inﬂuence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.” (BG 3.27)

And under what conditions/mentality does a person want to do things or put efforts ?

When he meets severe failure and is not able to accept the above instruction of Krishna, that he is not the doer and he must act under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master.

Example: If a car is rammed by another, and even if driver is not injured, he definitely would be in severe anxiety. Why? Because he strongly identifies himself with his car, while at the same time being a spirit soul, he has nothing to do with car, he can reject it plainly. Because he is attached to the car considering himself to be the enjoyer of car, which is natural for an owner, he is hurt.

That is what BG 5.29 states, peace prevails when we understand that the owner of all energies and whatsoever is Krishna Himself and when one accepts this truth faithfully, one finds peace in all ups and downs of life, knowing Krishna to be the real enjoyer.

So if we submit ourselves unto Krishna’s representative, the spiritual master and work for his pleasure knowing him to be the goal of our life, then we will be able to find the purpose of every activity in our lives and by obtaining the meaning of every actions that we perform in our life, we will find peace amidst success, as well as failures.

Did this answer your doubt?

your servant

Shridhar Das

Vishal Puri, 02 August 2016

Hare Krishna,

Thank you for the detailed explanation of the Sloka, it was very informative.

Dandavats Pranam

Vishal

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Feasting on the Holy Name

Many spiritualists fast. Especially Vaishnavas on Ekadasi day… but Ekadasi is meant for feasting. So how is it that someone can be simultaneously fasting and feasting at the same time?

తెలుగు (Telugu) translation

In most religious traditions, there is a concept of fasting… whether it is fasting from vice, or fasting from food and water… For example, the Christians fast for 40 days during Lent. Muslims fast for a month during Ramadan/Ramzan… and many other traditions have similar fasts.

In the Vaishnava tradition which I practice, we fast once approximately every 14 days, on a day called Ekadasi or Ekadashi. Usually this is the eleventh day of the waxing or waning moon. Usually, because there are some details when the fasting is a day later, but we won’t get into all that right now.

However, some advanced Vaishnavas say that Ekadashi is meant to be a day of feasting, not fasting.

But…

One should fast on the two Ekādaśī days, which fall on the eleventh day of the waxing and waning moon, and on the birthdays of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāma and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There are many such fasting days.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/27/22/

Huh?

If Vaishnavas are fasting from grains, beans, and in some cases from all food, and from all water too for some… then what are they feasting on?

Well, new practitioners may find it hard to fast from food, being how intricately attached we are to our bodies, minds, and serving them constantly. For such Vaishnavas, it is advised that they can eat as much as they need to, except no grains and beans… and all that they eat must be first offered to Krishna. This helps them regulate their senses at least on that level.

But many Vaishnavas often fast from much more than just grains and beans, so how is it that they can feast?

Let us take the example of Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami, great Goswamis of Vrindavan… they had obtained exalted birth, a very sharp intelligence and tremendous knowledge, and were serving as the ministers of the Nawab of Bengal. Rupa Goswami’s life savings in gold coins filled up an entire boat with gold!

But these same two brothers, when in Vrindavan, had no fixed residence, spending each night under a different tree, with barely enough clothing to cover themselves, and austere food, spent all their time hearing and chanting about Krishna. How could they do that?

tyaktva turnam asesha-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat
bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau
gopi-bhava-rasamritabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvamis, namely Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami,
Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, and Sri Gopala Bhatta
Gosvami, who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant. In order to deliver the poor
conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths, treating themselves as mendicants, but they are always merged in
the ecstatic ocean of the gopis’ love for Krishna and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that ocean.
Verse 4 https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/shad-goswamy-ashtakam

How is it possible for such persons accustomed to royal pleasures to give them up?

It understand by spiritualists that the objects of the senses, the experiences we chase, the possessions we crave, the sensory satisfaction we seek, are compared to toys and children… the child is attached to the toy, but can be induced to give up the toy if offered a higher and better experience.

What could be a higher and better experience than all the pleasures of material life? Especially, how can one give up that most basic of bodily needs – food?

What does food do for us?

Food satisfies the tongue – this hankering of the tongue is practically unconquerable, no matter if we need the food or not, the tongue will never say no.
Food nourishes the body – we feel strength from the food.
Food produces renunciation from food – as we get full, we hanker for food less and less.

भक्ति: परेशानुभवो विरक्ति-
रन्यत्र चैष त्रिक एककाल: ।
प्रपद्यमानस्य यथाश्न‍त: स्यु-
स्तुष्टि: पुष्टि: क्षुदपायोऽनुघासम् ॥ ४२ ॥

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo ’nu-ghāsam

Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.

So, if someone obtained an experience that fulfilled all three needs – satisifed the tongue, satisfied the bodily need for nourishment, and produced renunciation from the hankering for food, then that experience can replace food!
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/2/42/

Such is the chanting of the Holy Name of God.

This Hare Krishna Mahamantra

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
The Hare Krishna Mahamantra

This Mahamantra, when chanted purely, produces such an experience and beyond.

In fact, advanced spiritualists have tried to describe the experience of chanting Hare Krishna…

tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye
karṇa-kroḍa-kaḍambinī ghaṭayate karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām
cetaḥ-prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṇāṁ kṛtiṁ
no jāne janitā kiyadbhir amṛtaiḥ kṛṣṇeti varṇa-dvayī

“I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Kṛṣ-ṇa’ have produced. When the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”
Rupa Goswami https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/antya/1/99/

Is it any wonder that if a Vaishnava experiences even a tiny drop of a fraction of the ecstasy that the Holy Name generates, that they can abstain from food?

So should the rest of us go and imitate these Vaishnavas and fast from food and water willy nilly, even if the body is hurting?

अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जना: ।
दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ता: कामरागबलान्विता: ॥ ५ ॥
कर्षयन्त: शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतस: ।
मां चैवान्त: शरीरस्थं तान्विद्ध्यासुरनिश्चयान् ॥ ६ ॥

aśāstra-vihitaṁ ghoraṁ
tapyante ye tapo janāḥ
dambhāhaṅkāra-saṁyuktāḥ
kāma-rāga-balānvitāḥ

karṣayantaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ
bhūta-grāmam acetasaḥ
māṁ caivāntaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ
tān viddhy āsura-niścayān

Those who undergo severe austerities and penances not recommended in the scriptures, performing them out of pride and egoism, who are impelled by lust and attachment, who are foolish and who torture the material elements of the body as well as the Supersoul dwelling within, are to be known as demons.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/17/5-6/

Of course, advanced Vaishnavas are not masochists or sadists, certainly not demons, and they don’t accept torturing their bodies, even if they have transcended the body… This is because the advanced Vaishnava sees the body as the property of Krishna.

In fact, when an advanced Vaishnava is seen by Krishna to be accepting too much austerity, Krishna gives that person more nourishment and opulence.

Take Krishna’s friend, the pure-hearted Brahmana named Sudama… Krishna gave him all opulence even though he didn’t ask for it!

This is one of Krishna’s most famous promises…

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥ २२ ॥

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/22/

So, coming back to our original question… when a Vaishnava fasts, how is it that they are still feasting while fasting?

Simple. They feast on the Holy Name of Krishna

(1)
Of sweet things, it’s the sweetest you will taste at any time;
Of things that bring good fortune, it’s good fortune’s paradigm;
Of things that purify, it purifies most powerf’lly;
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(2)
From Brahma’s realm atop the sky down to the lowly grass,
Illusion reigns in Maya-devi’s treacherous morass.
The truth, the truth, the only truth: the Name of Sri Hari.
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(3)
He’s the guru, he’s the father, he’s the friend most true,
And she’s the real mother who most kindly teaches you
To always chant and hear the Holy Name of Sri Hari.
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(4)
Remember that our final breath may come at any time,
No matter if we’re old and sick or in our youthful prime.
So young and old alike should chant the Name incessantly.
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(5)
Lord Sri Hari forever dwells wherever devotees
Whose hearts are fixed on Him and free of all impurities
Uplift their voices high and sing His Name in ecstasy.
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(6)
Alas! What sorrow! What great pain! The worst calamity-
For people to forget the Holy Name of Sri Hari!
Although the Name’s a priceless gem, mere broken glass they see.
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(7)
Just fill your ears, just fill them with the Name of Sri Hari!
Just chant the Name, just chant the Name with all sincerity!
Just sing the Name, just sing the Holy Name eternally!
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(8)
It makes this world appear like bits of straw upon the ground;
It splendorously reigns supreme-divinity in sound;
It’s filled with transcendental bliss and peerless purity;
The Holy Name of Sri Hari is surely all that be.
(9)
Inspired to glorify the Holy Name of Sri Hari,
A certain sage composed this hymn in Sanskrit poetry.
I pray that those who read this lowly version made by me
Will chant the Holy Name of Sri Hari in ecstasy.
His Grace Sriman Dravida Dasa ACBSP English rendering of Sri Kevalastakam of Sri Nilakanta Goswami

What to speak of food for a day, the advanced Vaishnava can give up this entire material world!

Of Devotion & Devotional Service

What is the difference between devotion and devotional service? Is it possible to perform devotional service without devotion? Is it possible to have devotion without performing devotional service?

Brajanath Das, 26 April 2015
Hare Krishna Dear Devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Please help me to understand the invisible line of difference between devotion and devotional service.

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Bhaktin Aruni, 26 Apr 2015

Hare Krishna!

Pamho,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I think maybe devotion is the attitude and devotional service is the act …

aruni

Bhakta Jayakrishna, 27 April 2015

Hare krishna! Thank you Prabhu!

I too had this doubt when first heard and yet never thought that there may be some serious difference.but i felt that there indeed exist some difference as, if ones devotion is not supported by some service in its way, it is most likely he lose his devotion also, (here i must confess that we neophyte devotees more or less are with such a stage,)and hence, devotion when backed up by service or activities suiting it is the devotional service, but i have no sastric reference and i wish to hear from our senior brothers who can give a better explanation.

your servant

Jayakrishna

Premananda Das, 27 April 2015

Hare Krishna

Devotion means ardent and selfless affection and dedication to a person or principle. According to Padma Purana one should always remember Lord Vishnu and never forget Him.This is called dhyana or meditation always remembering Krishna.

Srila Rupa Goswami says bhakti means devotional service to Krishna.Every service has some attractive features which drives the servitor progressively on and on.

A family man works day and night for his wife and children.A philanthropist works for the greater love of family and a nationalist for the cause of country and countrymen.The force that drives them is called a rasa or mellow (relationship) that is very sweet.Bhakti -rasa however does not finish with the end of life.It continues perpetually and therefore is called amrta that which does not die but exists perpetually.

According to Bhagavad Gita a little advancement in the bhakti rasa can save the devotee from greatest danger that is missing the opportunity of human life.The rasas derived from social and family life or greater family life like altruism,philanthropy,socialism,communism nationalism does not guarantee next birth to be human life.

your servant

Premananda Das

Amogha Lila Das, 27 April 2015

Hare Krishna Prabhu. Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Devotion is cultivated through devotional service. There are nine processes by which one can cultivate devotion.

Sravanam, Kirtanam, Smaranam, Pada Sevanam, Arcanam, Vandanam, Dasyam, Sakhyam, Atma Nivedanam

Gurudeva often mentions these nine processes in his lectures and they are described by Prahlada Maharaja in the 7th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 7.5.23-24):

To hear about Sri Visnu’s transcendental name, His form, His characteristics, His possessions and His pastimes and to hear and chant about His pastimes, to remember them, to serve the lotus feet of the Lord, to respectfully offer service to the Lord, to offer prayers to the Lord, to become His servant, to consider the Lord one’s best friend and to offer Him everything-these nine processes are recognized as pure devotional service.

Following the above nine processes one can gradually advance in devotional service and progress through the nine stages of Bhakti yoga as described in the Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya-lila, by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as follows:

“In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes finally fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Krsna consciousness.”

your humble servant,

Amogha Lila Das

Rantideva Das, 28 April 2015

My dear devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I trust that you are all well.

Very nice question and answers regarding devotion and devotional service. However, this subject brought to mind another question concerning the same subject matter. Is it possible to perform devotional service without devotion? And what about devotion without devotional service?

I remain your worthless servant,

Rantideva das

Hare Krishna Das, 28 April 2015

Dear Prabhu,

Please accept my humble and respectful obeisances!

All Glories to His Divine Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari Gurumaharaj and Srimati Gurumata!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Devotion in itself includes service. Without service, there is no actual devotion. It is only lip service. But, to stress the importance of service and protect it from sahajiaism, Srila Prabhupada used the term devotional service. I admit, I also have no quotes (reference lines) from Senior Vaisnavas. This is my perspective. Willing to hear from others.

Thanking You,

your servant,

Hare Krishna Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 30 April 2015

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

This discussion was very enlivening for me. Thank you to all who have participated in this discussion. The question is already answered, from reading the emails together.

Since Srila Gurudeva stresses a careful reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books for all of us, I am adding quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s books to solidify our understanding. I have made a few sentences bold, as they jumped out at me, but of course, every word of Srila Prabhupada is of utmost significance…

(from purport to SB 1.2.19)

A living being in his normal constitutional position is fully satisfied in spiritual bliss. This state of existence is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) or ātmā-nandī, or the state of self-satisfaction. This self-satisfaction is not like the satisfaction of the inactive fool. The inactive fool is in the state of foolish ignorance, whereas the self-satisfied ātmānandī is transcendental to the material state of existence. This stage of perfection is attained as soon as one is fixed in irrevocable devotional service. Devotional service is not inactivity, but the unalloyed activity of the soul.

The soul’s activity becomes adulterated in contact with matter, and as such the diseased activities are expressed in the form of lust, desire, hankering, inactivity, foolishness and sleep. The effect of devotional service becomes manifest by complete elimination of these effects of passion and ignorance. The devotee is fixed at once in the mode of goodness, and he makes further progress to rise to the position of Vāsudeva, or the state of unmixed sattva, or śuddha-sattva. Only in this śuddha-sattva state can one always see Kṛṣṇa eye to eye by dint of pure affection for the Lord

(from purport to SB 1.10.23)

Jitendriya means one who has full control over the senses. The senses are active parts of the body, and their activities cannot be stopped. The artificial means of the yogic processes to make the senses inactive has proved to be abject failure, even in the case of great yogīs like Viśvāmitra Muni. Viśvāmitra Muni controlled the senses by yogic trance, but when he happened to meet Menakā (a heavenly society woman), he became a victim of sex, and the artificial way of controlling the senses failed. But in the case of a pure devotee, the senses are not at all artificially stopped from doing anything, but they are given different good engagements. When the senses are engaged in more attractive activities, there is no chance of their being attracted by any inferior engagements. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the senses can be controlled only by better engagements. Devotional service necessitates purifying the senses or engaging them in the activities of devotional service. Devotional service is not inaction. Anything done in the service of the Lord becomes at once purified of its material nature.

(From the Introduction to the Nectar of Devotion)

Pure devotional service should be free from the desire for any material benefit or for sense gratification, as these desires are cultivated through fruitive activities and philosophical speculation. Generally, people are engaged in different activities to get some material profit, while most philosophers are engaged in proposing transcendental realization through volumes of word jugglery and speculation. Pure devotional service must always be free from such fruitive activities and philosophical speculations. One has to learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or pure devotional service, from the authorities by spontaneous loving service.

This devotional service is a sort of cultivation. It is not simply inaction for people who like to be inactive or devote their time to silent meditation. There are many different methods for people who want this, but cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is different. The particular word used by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in this connection is anuśīlana, or cultivation by following the predecessor teachers (ācāryas). As soon as we say “cultivation,” we must refer to activity. Without activity, consciousness alone cannot help us.

I hope that these quotes help.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Rantideva das, 01 May 2015,

Reposting this question as no reply was received earlier…..

My dear devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I trust that you are all well.

I remain your worthless servant,

Rantideva das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 01 May 2015

Dear Rantideva Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Please forgive us, we didn’t mean to ignore your question, but somehow missed it.

It is possible to perform devotional service without devotion, in other words, it is called “ajnata sukriti” (unknowingly performed devotional service), this is when, for example, devotees engage others in devotional service without giving them the full details about how, why… this includes for example when devotees serve out Krishna Prasada for the masses, when they put on festivals like Jagannatha Ratha Yatra, or when they go out on Harinam Sankirtan, or go in public wearing Tilaka and devotional attire, etc.

Or, it could be like someone plants a tree and some devotee uses the fruits and flowers from that tree to offer to the Lord, the person who planted the tree gets the benefit of assisting in devotional service.

This also includes the devotees who feel no devotion but go through the motions anyways, for example, chant mechanically, or dance enthusiastically either because of fear or respect for the spiritual master, or to keep up with their vows or commitments. While they don’t make as much advancement as if it were done attentively and devotedly and genuinely, but still, they make some progress, so for example Srila Gurudeva says “mechanical chanting is better than no chanting”, and “offensive chanting is still better than no chanting”, etc. He also says “dance enthusiastically anyway and the ecstasy will come”, when asked about dancing in Kirtan.

Often it is seen that even such service, performed apparently without devotion, fructifies into full-fledged devotional service, I am one such example who did so much devotional service without any devotion and now I feel some attraction to pleasing Guru and Krishna. All glories to the wonderful devotees who engaged me in service throughout my life, my mother, father, cousins, teachers, devotees all over the world, Bhaktimarga Swami, devotees in Toronto, the book distributor who gave a copy of the Bhagavad Gita even though I was undeserving, Srila Gurudeva for giving me his personal attention even though I am undeserving, the list goes on and on, and I don’t even know how to express my gratitude to them all!

Of course, such “service without devotion” devotional service does not count as “pure devotional service”. 🙂

It is however, not possible to have any devotion without performing devotional service, as was hopefully clear from the various answers and Srila Prabhupada’s writings.

I hope this helped, I beg all group members that if I have misunderstood something, or created some misunderstanding, please do kindly help and correct me.

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Haldhar Prabhu, 01 May 2015

Hare Krsna Mahabhagavat Prabhuji and Rantideva Prabhuji for one more perfect question and perfect answer.

I understood the question only after the answer 🙂

Hare Krsna !

your servant,

Haldhar Das

Rantideva das, 04 May 2015

My dear Godbrother,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I was thinking about Jayananda prabhu. How he could engage anyone in Sri Krishna’s service. He could take anyone from the street, say a homeless man or drunkard, and engage him in helping to build a ratha cart. So this homeless man is engaged in devotional service but has no devotion for the Lord. He’s just working in hopes of receiving a free meal afterwards. Sometimes we even see how a homeless person will come to the temple on Sunday for a free meal. In both cases they are reaping great benefit by performing service for the Lord, or hearing the pastimes of the Lord, or taking Krishna prasadam.

Since today is Jayananda Prabhu’s disappearance day, May 1, 1977, this topic of devotional service is very appropriate. By the mercy of Srila Gurudeva and Lord Sri Krishna, may we all reach the platform of pure loving service that our dear Jayananda Thakur displayed while here in this material world.

I remain your worthless servant,

Rantideva das

(das is the important part)

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 05 May 2015

Dear Rantideva Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Actually I have met one hippie encouraged by Jayananda Prabhu… this was in Puerto Rico, I was visiting the Hare Krishna temple in Gurabo with my wife for a “retreat”, we once went to downtown San Juan. I had my Tilak on but was dressed in street clothes. An elderly man was doing something with some iron bars, some kind of welding work, and suddenly he saw me and called out “Hare Krishna, are you from the temple in Gurabo”, I was amazed and pleasantly surprised. Then he introduced himself as Lance, went on to describe how he “worked with” one taxi driver we consider a great saint, immediately I knew he was talking about Jayananda Prabhu.This man had met Srila Prabhupada even. I asked him what happened, and he sadly replied that with the drugs, he’d lost most of his intelligence, and even then, he heard only partially, and he does not remember much, but he appreciates everything.

It was the highlight of my day, practically the highlight of that trip, and a reaffirmation of the power of Sankirtan, tell everyone about Krishna, deliver Krishna’s mercy to them, and they will never forget Krishna, and this will help them, if not in this birth, then in the next. Clearly, Lance has performed some devotional service, with or without devotion, but I think the devotion had already started to manifest long ago…

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

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God has no shortage of sons (and daughters)

Some people say that God has only one son. But God is unlimited. So why can’t God have more than one son? And why not daughters? Are we misunderstanding something here?

One of the ideas floating around in this world for quite some time is that God has only one Son.

And that Son is Jesus Christ. Originally known as Jesus of the Christ.

So, the argument goes, that if you’re not an “official” Christian, or following the dogma of the present-day so-called Christians, then “you sir, are going to hell” as I’ve been told often.

Unfortunately, these angry so-called Christians have never stopped and calmed down long enough to have a proper conversation, so I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of this with them. But I hope it will help others of all denominations, faiths, affiliations, and orientations.

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ is indeed a Son of God, God the Son. If you look at his teachings and his life, it is clear that Jesus Christ purely followed the word of God and lived trying to spread the word around.

In fact, what to speak of his life, even the so-called death of Jesus Christ was simply a way to spread the glories of God. It is superficial to understand that Jesus Christ was killed, because we know, of course, that spirit soul, Atma, can never be killed.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि-
न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥ २० ॥

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/20/

However, God clearly states this:

पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामह: ।
वेद्यं पवित्रम् ॐकार ऋक् साम यजुरेव च ॥ १७ ॥

pitāham asya jagato
mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁ-kāra
ṛk sāma yajur eva ca

I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable oṁ. I am also the Ṛg, the Sāma and the Yajur Vedas.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/17/

In other words, God, in His feature as God the Father, declares that He is the father of the entire Universe, not just Jesus Christ.

Interestingly, God declares that He is also the Mother of the Universe! Indeed, how could God not be omnipotent to also be the Mother of the Universe?

Finally, God states that He is the grandsire, or the grandfather of this Universe. Why does God say that? Because while God is the Primary Creator of this Universe, he employs the services of one of His sons, Brahma, as the secondary creator. In other words, God gives birth to Lord Brahma, who then, under instruction from God, creates the Universe, the many different planetary systems, the species, and so on.

प्रचोदिता येन पुरा सरस्वती
वितन्वताजस्य सतीं स्मृतिं हृदि ।
स्वलक्षणा प्रादुरभूत् किलास्यत:
स मे ऋषीणामृषभ: प्रसीदताम् ॥ २२ ॥

pracoditā yena purā sarasvatī
vitanvatājasya satīṁ smṛtiṁ hṛdi
sva-lakṣaṇā prādurabhūt kilāsyataḥ
sa me ṛṣīṇām ṛṣabhaḥ prasīdatām

May the Lord, who in the beginning of the creation amplified the potent knowledge of Brahmā from within his heart and inspired him with full knowledge of creation and of His own Self, and who appeared to be generated from the mouth of Brahmā, be pleased with me.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/4/22/

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes:

As we have already discussed hereinbefore, the Lord, as the Supersoul of all living beings from Brahmā to the insignificant ant, endows all with the required knowledge potent in every living being…

In the beginning of the creation, Brahmā is born first without any father and mother because before Brahmā there were no other living beings. Brahmā is born from the lotus which grows from the abdomen of the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and therefore he is known as Aja…

A spiritual master is not a theoretical speculator, like the mundane scholar, but is śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the purport to https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/4/22/

In Christianity, there are 3 concepts of God, and all of them are supported by the Vedic Literature.

God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit

God the Father is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His “non-different” expansions, known as Vishnu Tattva, or the Quality of being endowed with the full potency of God Himself.

God the Holy Spirit is called Paramatma, or the Supersoul dwelling within… not just within each living entity but also within every atom and within the space between the atoms.

ईश्वर: सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्‍त्रारूढानि मायया ॥ ६१ ॥

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/61/

In other words, that God resides in the heart of every living entity, not just humans.

God also says the following:

उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वर: ।
परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेऽस्मिन्पुरुष: पर: ॥ २३ ॥

upadraṣṭānumantā ca
bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ
paramātmeti cāpy ukto
dehe ’smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ

Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/13/23/

In other words, the inspiration to act is provided by God according to the desires and earnings of the individual spirit soul.

Which brings us to the question, who is then God the Son?

Srila Prabhupada makes this clear.

The example of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appropriate in regard to understanding the spiritual master. The spiritual master is called sevaka-bhagavān, the servitor Personality of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa is called sevya-bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is to be worshiped. The spiritual master is the worshiper God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the worshipable God. This is the difference between the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the purport to https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/7/15/27/

The servitor Personality of Godhead is called the Son of God.

When we look at the life and example of Lord Jesus Christ, it is clear that Jesus Christ can be called the servitor Personality of Godhead, or the Son of God. This is similar to Lord Brahma, who, in addition to be born directly from the navel of an expansion of God, also acts in accordance with the will of God.

So far we have detected at least two sons of God. So, does God only have two sons?

An ordinary animal or insect in this world can have more than two, a dozen, even thousands of offspring, and God can only have one or two?

But God said that every living entity is a son (or daughter) of Him above. But we don’t worship every living entity as a child of God, even though we do respect all living entities as part-and-parcel of God.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7/

So while we respect every living entity because they are claimed by God, we don’t necessarily give them all the same respect as given to Lord Brahma or Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is that? It’s called “oneness in purpose” or “na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ” or “no difference in purpose”, or in completely harmony.

Let’s take a mundane example… suppose we have a great businessman, and the businessman has several sons and daughters.

Some of the businessman’s sons and daughters act according to the direction of the father in the father’s business empire, and yet others rebel against the father and act against his instructions.

In the general world, the obedient sons are known as the “real sons” of the father, whereas the other children are known as “sons or daughters in name only”.

This example applies to many souls in so many different contexts, for example, “true citizens” are those who act in the interest of the nation, “true students” are those who fully follow the instructions of the teacher, “true professionals” are those who act for the good of the profession. Such souls act in a certain way even if it is not according to their own personal interest… in other words, they put the higher common interest ahead of their own.

Which brings us to our answer.

The Spiritual Master is the True Son of God.

And the Bibilical statement:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
John 14.6 (King James Edition)

What this means is that unless someone acts in the spirit of Lord Jesus Christ teachings, example, and actions, they cannot approach God the Father.

And what is this “way” of Jesus Christ? This humble attitude…

Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done.
Luke 22.42 (King James Edition)

Therefore, anyone who lives in that spirit of surrender to God, who surrenders to God with their intelligence, and engages in loving devotional service to God, that person can be rightly called a son (or daughter) of God.

When we look around in our own limited knowledge of the scripture and history, there are many such sons (and daughters) of God.

So, the understanding that Jesus Christ is the “Only Son of God” is incomplete, at best.

To claim that is to have no understanding of God’s infinite unlimited potency. Unlimited names, Unlimited forms, Unlimited pastimes, Unlimited qualities, Unlimited activities, Unlimited Universes, and naturally Unlimited sons and daughters.

As we are now living on this planet, there are many sons and daughters of God who walk the earth with us. Let us learn to recognize them and follow in their footsteps.

And if we can’t spot them? Then we are just as unfortunate as those poor fools who couldn’t spot Jesus Christ when he was here on this planet in person, and those who cannot spot how great is Jesus Christ even today. These poor fools cannot spot others who are purely following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, sons and daughters of God.

Want to read more? Read this! https://www.krishna.com/christ-our-guru

God is Unlimited! Hare Krishna!

How much sin does Chanting Hare Krishna eliminate, and Why is material advancement a disqualification?

How powerful is the chanting of Hare Krishna? And why is advancement in material progress a disqualification? After all the whole world is trying to advance materially? And hardly anyone chants Hare Krishna?

Brajanath Das, 24 January 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to your devotional service!

While reading SB 1.8.26 purport, I got the following doubts –

In the purport it is stated that “It is said in the śāstras that by once uttering the holy name of the Lord, the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit.” What is the meaning of “… the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit”?

Later in the purport Prabhupada says …

Therefore, the four principles of material advancement, namely (1) high parentage, (2) good wealth, (3) high education and (4) attractive beauty, are, so to speak, disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement.

Krishna says in Bg 6.41 that unsuccessful yogi takes birth in sucinam srimatam gehe … , but the first two are kind of contradictory.

The other two – high education (knowledge) and beauty are sparks of Krishna’s opulence. Only pious/fortunate people get them. How they become disqualification for spiritual progress?

Please help me to understand.

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 26 January 2016

Dear Brajanath Prabhu,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

>What is the meaning of “… the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit”?

It is said that by one utterance of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

one burns away more sinful (and pious) reactions than one can accumulate in an entire lifetime.

Lord Gautama Buddha also said that if we stacked up the skeletons of all the bodies one soul has inhabited in the material world, it would block out the sun. Meaning that we have been here more lifetimes than we can possibly imagine.

One lifetime of Brahma is 311.04 trillion years. Every living entity starts as a Brahma of some universe, and then devolves and goes up and down in the chain of species, sometimes human sometimes some other bodies. The scriptures state that numerous Brahmas come and go and the living entity is still in the cycle of birth and death.

I heard a class by Kadamba Kanana Swami Maharaja where he said “apparently, then, there is a bit of a pile of sinful reactions” (not actual quote – but as I remember).

Sinful activities give rise to seeds, which sprout, take root, grow into trees, and give flowers and fruits – imagine one banyan seed giving rise to a tree giving rise to millions of figs which give thousands of seeds each, which result in more trees… So, Sriman Rao, our past sinful activities are collecting super-super compound interest as I write this 🙂 Unless we are fully surrendered to Krishna, in which case, these seeds are roasted in the fire of Krishna consciousness, and this incapable of multiplying and eventually burned by Krishna.

But still, another challenge is offenses against the Vaishnavas, against the Holy Name – inspite of absence of sinful reactions, these offenses block progress in spiritual life and stop us from chanting Hare Krishna properly.

>The other two – high education (knowledge) and beauty are sparks of Krishna’s opulence. Only pious/fortunate people

>get them. How they become disqualification for spiritual progress?

With your second question, in the purport, Srila Prabhupada makes it clear – did you miss those lines:

quote

But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary possessions. Consequently, such materially puffed up persons are incapable of uttering the holy name of the Lord by addressing Him feelingly, “O Govinda, O Kṛṣṇa.”

unquote

Don’t you see that if you have a beautiful face and healthy body, others will be attracted to you for sense gratification and they will give you sense gratification? Don’t you se that high education in the material realm will give you a lot of money with the ability to enjoy a lot of sense gratification? Does sense gratification ever relinquish its grip on a person intoxicated with knowledge, beauty and wealth?

Finally, did you read these lines in the purport? “The material covering of the pure spirit soul is an external feature, as much as fever is an external feature of the unhealthy body. The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not to aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometimes it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished. This is no discouragement. On the other hand, such impoverishment is a good sign as much as the falling of temperature is a good sign. The principle of life should be to decrease the degree of material intoxication which leads one to be more and more illusioned about the aim of life. Grossly illusioned persons are quite unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God.”

Yes, the verse from Bhagavad Gita you quoted, 6.41 is right, but this pious birth only gives an opportunity for advancement, it does not guarantee this. How many children from pious households do we know who took up terrible bad habits like meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling? Just being born in a pious atmosphere does not guarantee piety, just as being born in a family of doctors does not guarantee one’s profession as a doctor.

Yes, the facility is there, but if someone does not make use of the facility, they fall back down into a lower status.

We should realize that Maya, or the illusory energy, is also a spark of Krishna’s splendor. But associating with this energy of Krishna does not lead to spiritual emancipation.

One should follow in entirety what Srila Prabhupada has taught us, not take a sentence from here, a sentence from there, and allow the uncontrolled mind to make us bewildered with some apparent contradiction.

Does this make sense?

Devotees, please do kindly add your perspectives

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Bhakta Sunil, 27 January 2016

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Here is a discussion :

(kīrtana, followed by small child playing karatālas)

Prabhupāda: Oh, very good. (laughs) Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ geheyoga bhraṣṭa sañjāyate [Bg. 6.41]. When Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa that “Persons who are trying to make perfection in the bhakti-yoga…” Because the māyā’s influence is very strong. Anyone practicing bhakti-yoga, sometimes he may fall down. But there is assurance that even one falls down, there is no loss. That has been advised by Nārada Muni, that tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁcaraṇāmbujaṁ harer bhajann apakvo ‘tha patet tato yadi [SB1.5.17]. Just like in our movement somebody joins. A few cases have happened also that joined, being nice, but all of a sudden drifted from our Society. So Nārada Muni advised that even some, sometimes somebody may not continue, but falls down, there is no loss. Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujam. And those who are sticking to their work, prescribed duties, but not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what they are gaining? Just try to understand. A person, say, out of sentiment, or some other influence, he joins this Movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but could not follow strictly the rules and regulation and falls down. Nārada Muni says there is no loss, even though he has fallen. But another person who is sticking to their material activities, a material… A karmī’s thinking, “What these people are doing? Simply wasting time. Let us do our duty. Let us produce something”—so-called production.

So Bhāgavata says such persons who are very nicely done their materialistic way of life, duties, but has not taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what does he gain? This is the comparison. One joins this movement; due to some reason, immaturity, he falls down. For him the assurance is that he does not lose. He’s still gainer. But one who’s sticking to the material duties, but does not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Bhāgavata says, “What does he gain?” It is very important question. The spiritualistic duties, transcendental duties, Kṛṣṇa conscious duty is so nice that even if you fall down, whatever you have done, that is your guaranteed property. That is your guaranteed property. And anything, whatever you gain in this material world… Suppose you become very rich man, good factory, working. But as soon as this body’s ended, everything is ended. Lost everything. These things will not go with you. Your factory, your skyscraper building, your millions of dollars, bank balance, that you’ll have to leave behind you. You have to go with your work only, what you have done, pious or sinful activities. That will go with you. The result of pious activity and sinful activity will go with you. But in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever you have done, it will go with you, and to give you other chance you’ll have your birth in two nice places: śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe [Bg. 6.41]. Those who have fallen from this Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform due to many reasons, maybe—he’s guaranteed next life a human form of life. And where? Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. You’ll take your birth in a nice devotee or brāhmaṇa’s house or in a rich man’s family. Not only your human form of life is guaranteed, but also in a better house, in a better family.

So these children who are born in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness Society, they are those children, those who could not finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness last life. They have been given to take birth in the family of devotee husband and wife; therefore he’s playing karatāla. Otherwise it is not possible. He had practice in his last life; therefore he’s quickly… He had got the chance. Again he’s remembering and playing. This is the fact. So we have to study from the śāstric vision. Śāstra-cakṣuṣāt. How you’ll see? You’ll see through the authority, scriptures. So these are the statements of authoritative scriptures. Śucīnāṁśrīmatāṁ gehe. So this child is born of a devotee father and devotee mother. Now he’ll again begin from the point where he lost last life. Suppose Kṛṣṇa consciousness he executed fifty percent. So he’ll begin from this life fifty-one percent. That fifty percent was in his stock. But ordinary karmīs—cent percent lost. He has to begin another chapter of life according to hiskarma. Either he’ll become a man or dog, there is no guarantee. If he has maintained a dog mentality, then he’ll get a dog’s body. All this property he made in this life goes to hell. He becomes a dog if he has maintained a dog mentality. And if he has maintained a god’s mentality, then he becomes a god also. But that will depend on his work. But generally the karmīs, they are not very good mentality. So there is risk. You do not know.Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]. The judgement will be done by the superior authority, and he’ll be given a particular type of body, as he has maintained the consciousness.

Therefore our business, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to train the followers to Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that next life he gets Kṛṣṇa consciousness atmosphere. He’s not promoted immediately, directly to the abode of Kṛṣṇa. That is also possible. Mad-yājino ‘pi yānti mām [Bg. 9.25]. “Those who are My devotees, they come to My place.” Kṛṣṇa says. So if you perfect your Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this life, then you’re guaranteed to be promoted to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. If you do not perfect, then next life is guaranteed, a very nice human body, either in a rich man’s family or in a Kṛṣṇaconscious family. Just try to understand how nice this movement is.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now here is a question: If one takes a birth in a rich man family, rich man’s family, how it is good? Nowadays, actually, now…, not nowadays, practically always… That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāapahṛta-cetasām [Bg. 2.44]. Those who get facilities of material sense gratification, bhoga, aiśvarya—means great opulence, wealthy—for them it is very difficult to come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In other words, too much rich, richness, is a disqualification for coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But it is not always the same. There are many persons, if they have associated, they… Unfortunately they do not associate with spiritually advanced men. That is their defect. They think the spiritual advancement is poor man’s business: “They have no sufficient to eat; therefore they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. What they can do? We have got this factory. We have to go to the factory.” That is their mentality. Therefore it is not good. But if one is intelligent, if he has got good association, then he understands the verdict of Bhagavad-gītā, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁgehe, yoga bhraṣṭa sañjāyate. [Bg. 6.41] If he thinks that “I have got this opportunity of opulence. I have nothing to bother about my living and eating. I am born rich man. Why I am given so much chance? Because last, my, I executed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, yoga; I could not finish. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has given me this chance that I’ll not have to bother about my eating, sleeping. I save my time and engage myself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” Unfortunately, due to bad association, they think, “I have…, we have go so much money, father’s money, for nothing, without any labor. So either let me become a great sense enjoyer or a hippy.” That’s all. It is due to bad association. Therefore it is our duty to go door to door and inform them the message of Kṛṣṇa, without any discrimination, so that they’ll come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

All right, give me…. (end)

—

Hope that the following lecture by Prabhupada in Detroit, July 17, 1971 on Gita 6.41 , helps

Sincerely,

Bhakta Sunil

Brajanath Das, 29 January 2016

Pranams Prabhu for your wonderful answer.

Dandavats a lot!

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Brajanath Das, 30 January 2016

Pranams Sunil Prabhu,

Kudos to you for sharing a wonderful lecture by Srila Prabhupada. After reading Mahabhagavat das Prabhu’s answer and the Srila Ptabhupada lecture, the following two pastimes came to my mind.

Lords pastime – Deliverance of Nalakuvara and Manigriva (breaking the twin arjuna trees) clearly explains how arrogant pride which comes from puffed-up prestige, which is rooted in a madness for wealth. This pastime of Krishna very directly illustrates the predicament of people who are wealthy and aristocratic, but who become involved in licentiousness.

Lord Chaitanya’s pastime with Keshav Kashmiri CC Ādi 16.29 on wards … Later Kesava Kashmiri became an acharya in Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya and his pravachanams became Kesava Kasmiri’s Commentary.

Any pastime on beauty? (Probably King Daksha, not sure)

your servant,

Brajanath Das

David J, 30 January 2016

I seem to have posted this wrong the first time. I hope I am doing it correctly this time.

Dear Mahabhagavat Prabhu

Hari bol!

All glories to Krishna’s devotees.

I hope I don’t add to anyone else’s confusion by ‘butting in”, but your answer has raised a question in my mind.

You stated “Every living entity starts as a Brahma of some universe and then devolves and goes up and down in the

chain of species…”

I would be first to admit that my Krishna consciousness is infinitesimally small. That being said, I find this statement quite confusing. I was under the impression that Lord Brahma(s) is a more ‘evolved’ being in the chain of species; indeed, at the top of the chain. I have read that he is a great devotee of Lord Krishna, although I cannot provide a specific reference. If this is true, how is it that he ‘devolves’ into lower species, rather than immediately going back home, after leaving the Brahma body?

David

Bhakta Sunil, 01 February 2016

Jaya!

While reading “Nectar of Devotion” for e-academy connected to this group, i came across following lines from Chapter nine , which further enlightens on your question :

There is the following statement in Caitanya-caritamrita: “A person who chants the holy name of Krishna once can counteract the resultant actions of more sinful activities than he is able to perform.” A sinful man can perform many, many sinful activities, but he is unable to perform so many that they cannot be wiped out by one single uttering of Krishna.”

Regarding pastime in context of wealth and beauty having a corrupting impact , following pastimes came to my mind :

Hiranyakasipu who misused power

Prostitute who tried to entice Haridas Thakur with her beauty

Hare Krishna

your insignificant servant,

Bhakta Sunil

Brajanath Das, 01 February 2016

Pranams Mahabhagavat Prabhu,

Wonderful answer. I liked this sentence very much .. “One should follow in entirety what Srila Prabhupada has taught us, not take a sentence from here, a sentence from there, and allow the uncontrolled mind to make us bewildered with some apparent contradiction.”

Dandavats a lot!

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 01 February 2016

Dear David,

Hare Krishna!

Your question is valid and relevant, and you may be helping a lot of us clear our confusion. I had a similar confusion when I heard this first, but later on I understood by asking questions.

There are two types of Brahmas, one type, a living entity Brahma, and when no one is qualified, then the Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself to play the role of Brahma. A living entity can fall, the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never fall down into material conditioning, being Supremely Perfect.

Now, in the category of the living entity Brahmas – what is the qualification? One hundred consecutive human lifetimes lived without sin qualifies a living entity to play the role of Brahma. Of course, just because someone is qualified does not mean they do become a Brahma, that is Krishna’s choice. (source – class by Rupanuga Prabhu (GKG), no recording or transcript exists – feel free not to accept this part)

Now, from the category of those jivas who have got the post of Brahmas, there are two categories. One category is a devotee Brahma, like our 4-headed Brahma is a pure devotee. Another category is “bahirmukha Brahma” or “outward facing Brahma” or in other word a Brahma who is not a devotee. Just imagine, one can be 100% sinless and still not be a devotee!

The living entities struggling here were, at some point in time, clearly a non-devotee Brahma.

Srila Prabhupada writes this in his book Teachings of Queen Kunti (see http://www.vedabase.com /en/tqk/18):

quote

To become Brahmā is not a very easy thing. Brahmā is such a big post, and it is given to a very qualiﬁed living entity who is highly advanced in austerities and penance. But he is also a living entity like us. In America there are many citizens, and President Ford is also a citizen, but by dint of his ardent labor and diplomacy he captured the post. Still, he is an ordinary citizen. President Nixon, for example, has now been dragged down and is no longer president. This is because he was an ordinary citizen. Similarly, if we like, we may also become Brahmā. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says:

kīṭa-janma hao yathā tuyā dāsa

bahirmukha brahma-janme nāhi āśā

“Let me become an insect in a place where Your devotee is present, because if I fall down in the dust of the feet of a devotee my life will be successful.” Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, bahirmukha brahma-janme nāhi āśā: “I would not want to be a Brahmā and not be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.”

unquote

Srila Prabhupada also writes the following in his purport to SB 6.16.57:

quote

As stated by the Vaiṣṇava poet Jagadānanda Paṇḍita in his Prema-vivarta:

kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare

nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare

As soon as a living entity forgets his constitutional position and endeavors to become one with the Supreme, his conditional life begins. The conception that the Supreme Brahman and the living entity are equal not only in quality but also in quantity is the cause of conditional life. If one forgets the difference between the Supreme Lord and the living entity, his conditional life begins. Conditional life means giving up one body to accept another and undergoing death to accept death again.

unquote

We are fortunate to even take our birth in a universe where the chief living entity is a devotee, and we happen to be in that tradition passed down by him… we should definitely take advantage of this and finish this foolish dalliance with the material energy.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

Vrindavan Feeling in Toronto

Sometimes, you’re so near to a spiritually perfect person or in a sacred place of pilgrimage, but your consciousness is far from spiritual, and sometimes you could be far from a spiritual preceptor or a place of pilgrimage, but feel blessed with spiritual grace… w Howhy is that? How can we be in perfect spiritual consciousness always? How can we experience Krishna at every moment?

Kusum Sarovar, Govardhan, near Vrindavam — Kusum Sarovar, Govardhan, near Vrindavan

One Morning a few years ago, well before sunrise, I suddenly had the feeling that I was in the sacred sublime atmosphere of Vrindavan, or at the very minimum, in the personal presence of my spiritual master, Srila Sankarshan Das Adhikari.

Everything I did that morning was done in a very pure way, without any disturbance from body, mind, or external sources. I cannot describe the experience in words fully, and neither do I want to disclose details, because that is not the point of this post.

On that morning however, neither was I in Vrindavan, and nor was I in the personal presence of my divine spiritual master.

So what to make of that wonderful ecstatic feeling I was gifted with?

For those who may not know, Vrindavan is a sacred tract of land, a replica of the highest spiritual realm, mentioned in the scriptures as Goloka. That the Vrindavan in the material realm, in the modern-day district of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, is confirmed by great saints… for example, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes:

The Lord descends to this mortal world to show His pastimes in Vṛndāvana, which are full of happiness. When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was in Vṛndāvana, His activities with His cowherd boyfriends, with His damsel friends, with the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and with the cows were all full of happiness. The total population of Vṛndāvana knew nothing but Kṛṣṇa….

…

Of course we have a material conception of the sky, and we think of it in relationship to the sun, moon, stars and so on, but in this verse the Lord states that in the eternal sky there is no need for the sun nor for the moon nor electricity or fire of any kind because the spiritual sky is already illuminated by the brahma-jyotir, the rays emanating from the Supreme Lord. We are trying with difficulty to reach other planets, but it is not difficult to understand the abode of the Supreme Lord. This abode is referred to as Goloka. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) it is beautifully described: goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. The Lord resides eternally in His abode Goloka, yet He can be approached from this world, and to this end the Lord comes to manifest His real form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. When He manifests this form, there is no need for our imagining what He looks like. To discourage such imaginative speculation, He descends and exhibits Himself as He is, as Śyāmasundara. Unfortunately, the less intelligent deride Him because He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being. But because of this we should not consider the Lord one of us. It is by His omnipotency that He presents Himself in His real form before us and displays His pastimes, which are replicas of those pastimes found in His abode
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/introduction/

After much reflection, I realized that this meant I was doing something right in my spiritual practice. Actually this meant I was following my spiritual master’s instructions sincerely, even if not perfectly. What I was feeling was the pleasure of my spiritual master, and the grace of Sri Radha Krishna.

Since then, I have regularly tested that internal state to determine what kind of consciousness I am in. For example, whenever I am in material consciousness, even if I am directly in Vrindavan, or in the personal presence of my spiritual master, I feel far far away from that divine spiritual consciousness.

How amazing is that! By being there, doing that, still one can feel so far away, and yet, still, while far far away, one can feel that special feeling?

You can’t go to Vrindavan by buying a ticket to travel to Delhi and then taking a taxi or whatever. You can only enter Vrindavan by the blessings of the pure devotee.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

I have had a chance to test this out on several occasions…

While in the personal presence of my spiritual master but unfortunately distracted, and
By physically being in Vrindavan but due my misfortune, in the association of materialistic persons.

Can’t get no Bhaav!
His Grace Sriman Vaisesika Das Adhikari

I cannot just go and sit down in Vrindavan, and even if I do, the current external atmosphere of Vrindavan has become so degraded that it is so easy to come under the influence of the many materialistic persons who prowl there in the hope of making money or enjoying personal sense gratification… it takes a lot of intense prayer and mercy to be able to enter into the real mood of Vrindavan.

It is said that the pure devotee, due to their intense Krishna Consciousness, carries Krishna within their heart, and therefore, wherever they go, that place becomes spiritual even if it is the most abominable place.

भवद्विधा भागवतास्तीर्थभूता: स्वयं विभो ।
तीर्थीकुर्वन्ति तीर्थानि स्वान्त:स्थेन गदाभृता ॥ १० ॥

bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās
tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni
svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhrtā

My lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places personified. Because you carry the Personality of Godhead within your heart, you turn all places into places of pilgrimage.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/13/10/

And neither can I always be in the personal presence of my spiritual master, owing to my various responsibilities, which he has instructed me to manage intelligently.

It is further confirmed by Krishna Himself that He lives where His pure devotees are hearing and chanting about Him…

nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe
yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā
tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada
yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ

“My dear Nārada, actually I do not reside in My abode, Vaikuṇṭha, nor do I reside within the hearts of the yogīs, but I reside in that place where My pure devotees chant My holy name and discuss My form, pastimes and qualities.”
Padma Purana, quoted in https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/30/35/

So therefore, all I have to do is to sincerely remember and follow in the footsteps of my spiritual master, and strive to sincerely hear and chant about Krishna.

Simply by bringing the memory of an instruction received, one can practically bring into one’s heart the presence of the spiritual master.

Even though, due to my past sinful activities, I have to be in a place where almost everyone practices forgetting Krishna, and where speaking nonsense and doing stupid things are the norm… even for such a lowly wretch such as myself, there is hope.

I can still always be in the association of my spiritual master, and in the sacred spiritual realm of Vrindavan. How?

किरातहूणान्ध्रपुलिन्दपुल्कशा
आभीरशुम्भा यवना: खसादय: ।
येऽन्ये च पापा यदपाश्रयाश्रया:
शुध्यन्ति तस्मै प्रभविष्णवे नम: ॥ १८ ॥

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ
ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/4/18/

I may be the most lowly wretch, and yet, simply by remembering my spiritual master, by taking shelter of him within my mind, by following his instructions, wherever I am, and whatever I might be doing, I shall be instantly purified.

To do what I can, with what I have, this is what I pray for, birth after birth. For a moment of pleasure for Guru and Krishna, I am prepared to work hard sincerely, lifetime after lifetime. May this ever be.

Where can I find some great spiritual audio?

Want to listen to some great spiritual audio? Look no further!

Bhaktin Priya Harinath, 13 November 2020

Hare Krishna devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Gurudeva

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I wanted to request the devotees here to kindly provide the link to access Srila Gurudeva’s old audio lectures especially 2005. I have the fortunate service of transcribing Gurudeva’s lectures for the past few years. But suddenly I am not able to gain access to his lectures. I download them from ultimateselfrealization.com website. Looks like the site has been changed. But it does not allow access to old audio files. Only 2019 files are available. I checked ISKCON desire tree but not all of his lectures are available there.

Please provide the link that I can access his 2005 audio lectures if anyone has access to it.

Thank you

your humble servant

Priya Harinath

Caitanya Das, 13 November 2020

Hare Krishna. Dandavat Pranam. We also have a group of devotees listening lectures from ultimateselfrealization.com, currently we are unable to access it. Please provide the link if possible.

your servant,

Caitanya Das.

Sharada Devi Dasi, 13 November 2020

Hare Krishna

Please kindly accept my humble obeisance.

All Glories to Srila Gurudev and Srimati Gurumataji.

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All Glories to all devotees.

https://audio.iskcondesiretree.com/index.php?q=f&f=%2F03_-_ISKCON_Prabhujis%2FISKCON_Prabhujis_-_S_to_Y%2FHis_Grace_Sankarshan_Prabhu

Recorded audio of HIs Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Here is the link, here the lectures are separated not on the basis of the year but on the occasions. 🙇🏻‍♀️

Hope this helps

Thank You so much.

your insignificant servent,

Bhaktin shivani.

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 13 November 2020

Hare Krishna! Thank you! Amala Purana Prabhu is working with Srila Gurudeva to make the lecture archive available online again…

Mahabhagavat Das

dasadas.com

Kaspars, 13 November 2020

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Hope You are ok, with all the available links From Gurudeva 2005 Year, in IskconDesireTree Audio page.

https://audio.iskcondesiretree.com/index.php?q=f&f=%2F03_-_ISKCON_Prabhujis%2FISKCON_Prabhujis_-_S_to_Y%2FHis_Grace_Sankarshan_Prabhu

Thank You very much

Kaspars

Amala Purana Das, 17 November 2020

I’ve received below response from Srila Gurudeva regarding the lecture archives

” For now direct them to http://www.Krishnaconsciousness.com ”

Lectures

your servant,

Amala Purana Das

Bhaktin Priya Harinath, 19 November 2020

Thank you very much Amala Purana Prabhu. The link leads to ISKCON desire tree audio files of Gurudeva. Found the lecture I was transcribing.

your humble servant

Bhaktin Priya Harinath

P.S: Also try https://ecstaticmedia.com

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

A gift of warm socks, from one beggar to another

Once, on the street, an old lady gifted me with warm socks. I am not a beggar, and but yet a beggar. Why was I begging? I don’t need anything from anyone. Or do I?

It was one cold December morning before Christmas. We were out with book tables in downtown Toronto, trying to get passing souls to consider a spiritual gift, either for themselves or others.

One elderly lady, dressed in shabby winter wear suddenly approached me, speaking a language I didn’t understand, but holding out a a pair of gray socks she had in her hand. She herself could have used those socks… some good Samaritan had given out the socks as a present, probably in the spirit of the season. But the lady insisted that I take them from her.

When I repeatedly refused, the look in her eyes turned from a kind eagerness to a kind of dejected sadness – why was I refusing her gift?

I tried to show her my own warm socks, the ones I wore – she pulled out another pair of the same kind of socks… in other words, we were even.

I then explained that I had other pairs of warm socks at home… she probably thought I was politely declining out of some kind of pride.

Each time I refused, she grew sadder.

Until finally, I decided to accept her gift. She couldn’t have been happier!

To the kind lady, out there in the cold, I appeared to be in more need than herself!

I tried to look at myself from her angle of vision. I was wearing an unbranded hat, coat, and boots. I was out there soliciting passersby to consider taking books. Some people handed me change or different amounts of money in exchange for the books.

So, it must have appeared to her that I was trying to earn some money by selling spiritual books to passersby. She saw that I had a child with me… and her motherly compassion was aroused.

She was quite happy when I accepted her kind gift, and she blessed me, this time, in English, saying “God bless you my child, you should keep doing this work for God. You are doing a good thing”.

Relieved and happy that she was conversant with English, I handed her a gift set of books and without being asked, she gave me some change with a smile.

She may or may not have realized this, but at that moment, the whole trajectory of her life changed. She had donated in exchange for spiritual knowledge, which means she had acquired the power to read and understand those books, and apply the knowledge to her own life.

The gift of spiritual knowledge has the power to end the endless sojourn of the soul in the material realm. Each soul has been here, taking birth, growing old, catching disease, and dying, over and over again.

But genuine spiritual knowledge, such as the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, has the power to change the trajectory of the soul and end all suffering.

So the gift of spiritual knowledge is the highest of all gifts, because it is the ultimate solution to all problems.

I came back home and offered those socks to Krishna. Those were valuable socks.

I treasure and value that gift. Because the lady gave a donation selflessly without expectation of a return, to a person who was out trying to serve God and His souls, her donation qualifies under this qualification spoken by Krishna:

दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे ।
देशे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम् ॥ २० ॥

dātavyam iti yad dānaṁ
dīyate ’nupakāriṇe
deśe kāle ca pātre ca
tad dānaṁ sāttvikaṁ smṛtam

Charity given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy person is considered to be in the mode of goodness.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/17/20/

I am no beggar from an external perspective. God has given me enough and more, enough to be able to donate my time and money to worthy causes. He has given me a relatively easy way to earn a decent livelihood, given me good health, put me into a good family, given me a good education, and best of all, placed me in the care of advanced spiritualists. I’m really quite fortunate in all respects.

I don’t consider myself “worthy” to receive charity… but the mission I was on is worthy. She may have given to me, but actually she gave to the mission.

From an internal perspective, I am indeed a beggar. I constantly beg God to engage me in His service, and the service of His servants. I also beg other souls to please turn their attention to God, and to make God the centre of their lives. In other words, I beg from people for their own benefit.

To anyone who is a beggar of any kind, of course, must be prepared for all sorts of rebuffs, insults, and the like.

नूनं स्वार्थपरो लोको न वेद परसङ्कटम् ।
यदि वेद न याचेत नेति नाह यदीश्वर: ॥ ६ ॥

nūnaṁ svārtha-paro loko
na veda para-saṅkaṭam
yadi veda na yāceta
neti nāha yad īśvaraḥ

Those who are too self-interested beg something from others, not knowing of others’ pain. But if the beggar knew the difficulty of the giver, he would not ask for anything. Similarly, he who is able to give charity does not know the beggar’s difficulty, for otherwise he would not refuse to give the beggar anything he might want as charity.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/10/6/

I often get told “Go get a real job” (as if this world were permanent and that any job in the material world had any relevance in the realm of eternity), or “stop living off of others” (as if anyone is living off of themselves, everyone depends on God for everything!). I get shooed, chased off, ridiculed, and made fun of. Sometimes, I get threatened with violence or worse. Sometimes, I get barely tolerated, sometimes, I get all sorts of rude comments.

Of course, I do get compliments and admiration and so many nice sentiments expressed.

The best is when someone actually takes the spiritual message I am trying to pass on.

I know the difficulty of the beggar, and I know the difficulty of the giver too. It is the hardest thing to contemplate and actually surrender. But the search for a soul who is ready to return to God is well worth all the trouble.

As for the kind lady with the gift of warm socks? She has a special place in Krishna’s world. Time separates her from her eventual destination. I pray that wherever she is, Krishna helps her to continue her journey, for she has served Lord Chaitanya’s mission with a kind heart.

Krishna is someone who is constantly looking to catch us doing something right, and He takes the highest and best from even the most insignificant thing we may do. Krishna never forgets something that someone has done for Him or the servant of His servant. That I am, fortunately.

As a spiritual beggar, my job is to keep approaching souls, looking for the ones who are ready to go back.

Coming back to the kind lady, a beggar herself, possibly homeless, who developed a motherly affection for me…

The trajectory of her life is irrevocably altered, she has begun her journey home.

What is the difference between a Brahmavadi and Mayavadi?

What is the difference between a Brahmavaadi and a Mayavadi? Is one better than the other? Should we interact with one but leave the other alone? How to know which is which?

Brajanath Das, 26 December 2015

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

While reading three stages of realization I got following doubts –

What is the difference between a Brahmavadi and a Mayavadi? What is their destination?

Different stages of Yogis realizations (in Paramatma realization)?

Please help me to understand.

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Amala-Purana Das, 28 December 2015

Hare Krsna Prabhuji,

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All Glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumata!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!!

Brahmavadis are those who are attracted to the impersonal Brahman but they are not offensive to the Lord’s personal form or consider the Lord’s form as material; it’s just they are either ignorant of the personal conception or they are indifferent towards personal conception i.e. not attracted towards they personal form of the Supreme Lord.

Mayavadis on the other hand are so deeply rooted in their impersonal conception that they blaspheme the transcendental form of Supreme Lord, consider it material and temporary and as a tool to go “something beyond” hence they are condemned.

Srimad Bhagavatam gives us two examples, four kumaras and Srila Sukadeva Goswami who were Brahmavadis and later became devotees.

Four Kumaras already knew about Lord Visnu. They heard about Visnu from Brahmaji and so they wanted to explore and they came to Vaikuntha. Thus, they knew about Lord Visnu, had no offensive attitude towards Visnu; it was just that they were not attracted towards Visnu. But when the fragrance of Tulsi offered on Lord’s lotus feet entered their nostrils, it agitated their impersonal conception and they became devotees.

Similarly, when Srila Sukadeva Goswami heard about Krishna from one of the disciples of Srila Vyasadeva, he became attracted and came to Vyasadeva and learned further from him.

People today in pursue of their spiritual goals can become attracted to Impersonal Brahman. This could be because of culture or natural course of spiritual evolution: one can move from form to formless i.e. from matter to spirit. In this way many people can acquire impersonal conception of the ultimate realty. Now that impersonal conception can:

– translate to offensive mentality towards personal conception

– translate to ignorance of the personal conception

– be indifferent towards personal conception (i.e. not attracted). For example, Four Kumaras

Out of above three first category is Mayavadis and other two are Brahmavadis. Brahmavadis can be elevated to the personal conception and become devotees when they associate with the devotees. So we should also not put every “Impersonal Brahaman seeker” in the category of Mayavadis. We should try to understand their conception of ultimate reality and if they are Mayavadis then we should stay away from them else we should try to inform them about the personal conception of the Absolute truth and bring them in contact with devotees.

Hope it helps

your servant,

Amala-Purana Das

Bhakta Sunil, 29 December 2015

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Vaishnavas

In reply to your question regarding difference between Brahmavadi and Mayavadi, the following conversation should help

——-

Conversations and Morning Walks

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Brahmavādī means those who are aspiring to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Māyāvādīs remain fools forever. They have no knowledge. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, always impure.

Morning Walk — July 2, 1975, Denver:

Harikeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what’s the difference between a Brahmavādī and a Māyāvādī?

Prabhupāda: That you already questioned. We answered.

Harikeśa: I did?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) …vādī means those who are aspiring to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence.

Harikeśa: And Māyāvādīs, they do not attain that impersonal realization?

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādīs remain fools forever.

Harikeśa: They never leave this material platform.

Prabhupāda: They do not know. They have no knowledge. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32), always impure. Otherwise how they are thinking, so ‘ham: “I am same. I am God. I am moving the sun, I am…” Such rascals, they remain always in ignorance. (break) …no sense that “If I am the same, then why I have fallen down in this māyā?” They say, “It is my līlā. I have become dog. So it is my līlā. I have become hog. It is my līlā.” (laughs) This is their philosophy. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Māyāvāda. They are fools, mūḍha. Māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. They are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Māyāvādī means māyayāpahṛta-jñānā: “Their knowledge has been taken away by māyā.” Fools. Either you call them fool or call them lowest of the mankind or the most sinful, whatever way you can call, they are like that. All good qualifications. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: (CC Madhya 6.169) “If you hear from Māyāvādī, then your spiritual life is finished.” It’s so dangerous.

Harikeśa: The Brahmavādīs have some possibility of advancement?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Harikeśa: What is that thing that enables them to advance?

Prabhupāda: That you will know later on. First of all try to understand this. Don’t try to understand everything in a moment. That is foolishness.

——-

Regarding second question, the following lectures should help :

—–

Lecture on BG 4.24-34 — New York, August 12, 1966:

So anyway, either the Brahmavādī or Paramātmavādī or the bhakta, they are all tattva-vit. They are all transcendentalists. There is no difference. But as there are three classes in every sphere, so there are three classes in the transcendental field also. So here Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord recommends that jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ (BG 4.34). You have to find out a person who is tattva-darśī, who has realized the Absolute Truth, either in Brahman conception or in Paramātmā conception or in Personality of Godhead conception because we have got different tastes. So the Paramātmā or the Supreme Absolute Truth is also manifested in three phases: Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān. So anyway, either you select the impersonal Brahman conception of the Absolute Truth, either you select the localized supreme soul, Supersoul conception of the Absolute Truth, or you accept the highest, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). The Lord says that “This is the last phase of Absolute Truth, what I am, Kṛṣṇa.”

Lecture on BG 4.34 — New York, August 14, 1966:

And even in that knowledge field also… Of course, transcendental knowledge, as we have discussed already, they are viewed in different, three different angles of vision: the knowledge of Brahmavāda, or impersonal, impersonal Absolute Truth, and the knowledge of Paramātmā, the localized Supersoul, and the knowledge of Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are different stages of development of knowledge. But the first beginning knowledge is that we must understand that “I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and my aim of life should be how to get out of this material entanglement.” That is knowledge. That is the beginning of knowledge.

—-

Sincerely,

Bhakta Sunil

Dra Varni, 04 January 2016

thank you Hare Krsna!!

Dra Varni

Killer Earthquakes – why do they happen?

Why do earthquakes occur? Yes, the scientists explain about sesimic faults, tectonic shifts, and so on, but why an earthquake at a particular place at a particular time that affects only a particular set of people? Have we forgotten the most fundamental law of nature?

As I write this, there have been a series of earthquakes that have rocked Turkiye and Syria since Feb 6, 2023.

It is a major humanitarian disaster, with thousands of people who are dead, and thousands more expected to lose their lives.

Thousands of families are shattered, livelihoods disrupted, and so many communities are altered for ever.

I am shocked, saddened and feel extreme sorrow for the tremendous loss.

As the world rushes to provide humanitarian relief, in the form of search, rescue, food, clothing, medical assistance and more, some are asking why this happened.

It seems that almost no one is doing anything to stop things like this.

After all, Turkiye is no stranger to earthquakes. The region is well-known to be situated in an area with a high risk for earthquakes. The scientists have studied and identified what is known as the North Anatolian Fault Line, which identifies a known feature of the earth’s surface that makes this region more prone to earthquakes.

In the recent past, there have been major earthquakes in 1903, 1912, 1914, 1939, 1998, 2003, and 2020. In fact, there have been over 97 sets of earthquakes in Turkiye since AD 1900!

Of course, earthquakes have occurred in other parts of the world too, and millions of people have been killed over the course of history.

While one can look at it from an analytical perspective and say something like “why do people live in earthquake prone areas anyways” or “why don’t governments do more to prevent deaths”… the fundamental question to ask is “why do earthquakes occur?”.

While scientists will launch into a long-winded technical explanation, I’d argue they don’t know what they’re talking about. Yes seismic faults, yes, volcanoes, yes tectonic plate shifts, but why a specific place and why a specific time, and why not some other place and why not some other time?

Why do some people escape an earthquake and why do some others not escape?

Why is it that only a specific group of people are affected by earthquakes and not some other specific group of people?

Why is it that some people whose ancestors lived (or died) in earthquake prone areas for hundreds or thousands of years suddenly escape an earthquake? Why is it that people whose ancestors never experienced a single earthquake suddenly find themselves in the wave of destruction of one?

Modern material scientists have no clue, because they have overlooked an important law of nature.

It’s called the Law of Karma.

According to the Law of Karma, every soul experiences exactly what it is due to experience, and the law of karma is infallible… in other words, once someone is slated to experience something, that cannot be avoided or prevented in the ordinary course.

Krishna introduces this concept in the Bhagavad Gita…

एषा तेऽभिहिता सांख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां श‍ृणु ।
बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ॥ ३९ ॥

eṣā te ’bhihitā sāṅkhye
buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śṛṇu
buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha
karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi

Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Pṛthā, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/39/

Krishna uses the words “karma bandham”, which is translated as “bondage of reaction to work”… in other words, whenever we do something in the material world, it causes a reaction.

Now, from a material perspective, this reaction can be a positive reaction, or a negative reaction, as in, either desirable outcome or undesirable outcome.

कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः ।
अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः ॥ १७ ॥

karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ
boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ
akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ
gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ

The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is and what inaction is.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/17/

In the material world, especially materialistic people teach us to act as we like, as long as we don’t get caught, or in the best case, as long as we don’t get into trouble with the local laws.

But the Laws of Karma are the Laws of God. You can’t escape them. It’s not a question of belief.

What if you don’t know the laws of karma? Just as in our world, ignorance of the law is no defense, similarly, while the reaction of an offense unknowingly committed might be less than the reaction of an offense knowingly committed, that is similar to the difference between manslaughter and first-degree murder… punishment may be less for one vs. the other, but punishment nevertheless.

So, one should take the trouble to understand that meat eating, intoxication, illicit sex, and gambling are the pillars of forbidden action.

Until we get out of the cycle of forbidden action, we cannot get out of the reactions of it.

As you sow, so shall you reap… as we slaughter, so shall we be slaughtered.

Collective Karma

There is such a thing as collective karmic debt… in other words, the laws of nature gather a certain set of people, small or big, to experience the pleasures and pains related to karmic reactions… certain nations are hot, others are cold, some have a shortage of water, others are prone to certain diseases… some cities are safer than others, some villages are next to horrendous pollutors and suffer from all sorts of untimely diseases. Some families are prone to certain disorders…

It is all related to the infallible law of karma, souls collected together to suffer and enjoy.

So, while we should feel compassion for all those caught in the cycle of birth and death, we should strive hard to bring them out of that cycle of birth and death, by helping ourselves and others purify our consciousness completely clean of all material contamination.

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

“ ‘Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/antya/20/12/

So therefore, earthquakes, floods, fires, these things are unavoidable. We cannot change that. Our main business should be to exit this temporary world that is full of suffering. This we can do only if we attain spiritual perfection.

aprārabdha-phalaṁ pāpaṁ
kūṭaṁ bījaṁ phalonmukham
krameṇaiva pralīyeta
viṣṇu-bhakti-ratātmanām

For those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all sinful reactions, whether fructified, in the stock, or in the form of a seed, gradually vanish. Therefore the purifying potency of devotional service is very strong, and it is called pavitram uttamam, the purest. Uttama means transcendental. Tamas means this material world or darkness, and uttama means that which is transcendental to material activities. Devotional activities are never to be considered material, although sometimes it appears that devotees are engaged just like ordinary men. One who can see and is familiar with devotional service will know that they are not material activities. They are all spiritual and devotional, uncontaminated by the material modes of nature.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/2/ purport by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

It is possible to pull souls out of the karma chakra, of endless action that produces endless reaction.

But it needs everyone to act in a spiritual way, right now.

Why do earthquakes happen? Because we’ve accumulated a lot of bad karmic reactions, and it’s payback time. What goes around, comes around.

And the solution?

We should act for the ultimate spiritual benefit, before it is too late.

Please be a part of the ultimate solution – the only solution.

If you want to benefit yourself and all the living entities who have lived, are living, and have lived, Please chant…

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare
The Hare Krishna Mahamantra, the great chant for deliverance

Always Be Prepared – to Die

Everyone will face death, it’s just a question of death, whether it comes in the next 80 seconds, or not for another 80 years. Our attitude to death brings all sorts of choices… and we all know that the decisions we make today constrain our choices tomorrow. So how to live with a perfect balance between the long-term view and the short-term view?

This is based on what I heard from my spiritual master, His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

When we are prepared to die at every moment, every moment is a perfect moment, a moment of perfect consciousness – every moment becomes a thrill!
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

When I reflect on these words, I see how true they are, whether for good or for bad – for example, a lot of people do stupid things because they think they can get away with it – after all, things are changing all the time, I may never see that soul again, so what does it matter how I treat them? Whether it is relationships, business, work, or just random acts of unkindness, this short-term view causes a lot of problems.

And then there are the fools who think they are pleasing God by dying in the process of killing others. There are no bigger fools, unfortunately, they are going to another place, not to the Kingdom of God.

However, the very same attitude, when applied to transcendence, gives a powerful sense of urgency, an impetus to act for the highest spiritual benefit.

Be prepared to die in the next 80 seconds, or live for the next 80 years.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

On the other hand, someone who is too focused on the short term, but not the longer term, ends up in trouble as well. They may spend too much time in avoiding what needs to be taken care of, like a leaky tap or a broken tile… This also results in excessive sense gratification, or postponing important things that must be done diligently… as in the proverbial tale of the hare and the tortoise… the rabbit and the tortoise once had a race, the rabbit quickly bounded off and gained a big lead… he saw that the tortoise was far behind, so he decided to rest and relax and fell asleep. The tortoise meanwhile, kept going, and ended up winning the race by the time the rabbit woke up.

How to maintain that balance of paying attention to the short-term details while still keeping that longer term focus?

Well, first of all, know that you are eternal, you will never die, you may change your covering, your dress, your vehicle, your residence, but you will never die. So the consequences of all your actions will be seen, sooner or later. So that will surely avoid the temptation to be short-sighted.

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव नभविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
sarve vayam ataḥ param

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/12/

And the other side? How to avoid being so long-term focused on the future that we ignore the here-and-now?

Remember that the here-and-now is what will take us to our destination – and the choices we make in the moment affect the choices that we have access to in future.

इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्‍‍गुह्यतरं मया ।
विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ ६३ ॥

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ
guhyād guhya-taraṁ mayā
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa
yathecchasi tathā kuru

Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/63/

Srila Prabhupada dives deeper in his wonderful purport…

Here the words yathecchasi tathā kuru – “As you like, you may act” – indicate that God does not interfere with the little independence of the living entity. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord has explained in all respects how one can elevate his living condition. The best advice imparted to Arjuna is to surrender unto the Supersoul seated within his heart. By right discrimination, one should agree to act according to the order of the Supersoul. That will help one become situated constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the highest perfectional stage of human life. Arjuna is being directly ordered by the Personality of Godhead to fight. Surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in the best interest of the living entities. It is not for the interest of the Supreme. Before surrendering, one is free to deliberate on this subject as far as the intelligence goes; that is the best way to accept the instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such instruction comes also through the spiritual master, the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the purport to https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/63/

Here are three questions you can ask yourself repeatedly, every time you have a choice to make:

Based on the instructions of the spiritual master, what is the best use of my time right now
How best may I serve the instructions of the spiritual master with what I have at this moment?
Am I following the principles “better late than never” and “something is better than nothing”?

In this connection, my spiritual master often says:

Your attitude, and not your aptitude, determines your altitude.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari

If we reflect and act in this way, our life will be perfect, and death becomes immaterial, whether it comes in the next 80 seconds, or in the next 80 years.

तदोत्तानपद: पुत्रो ददर्शान्तकमागतम् ।
मृत्योर्मूर्ध्नि पदं दत्त्वा आरुरोहाद्भुतं गृहम् ॥ ३० ॥

tadottānapadaḥ putro
dadarśāntakam āgatam
mṛtyor mūrdhni padaṁ dattvā
ārurohādbhutaṁ gṛham

When Dhruva Mahārāja was attempting to get on the transcendental plane, he saw death personified approach him. Not caring for death, however, he took advantage of the opportunity to put his feet on the head of death, and thus he got up on the airplane, which was as big as a house.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/12/30/

Go ahead. Transcend death! Why wouldn’t you?

(dis) United Nations

In 1945 when the United Nations was setup, there were 74 countries. Now there are 194. Since 1945, more than 285 wars have been fought. So clearly the nations are disunited! Did you know why we can never achieve unity through negotiations and resolutions?

In 1919, the League of Nations was established to maintain world peace. It went bust in 1946, after being unable to prevent the second world war.

In 1945, the United Nations was setup, another attempt at maintaining world peace.

Since 1945, the Nations have been anything but “United”… some nations became superpowers, some others teamed up with one or the other, and yet others formed their own little group of have-nots.

And what has the United Nations accomplished?

There were 74 sovereign countries in 1945.

There are now 194 countries in the world, as I write this, in 2022.

And within every country, there are groups of people who want to separate into their own country… think about India, now is Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

Think about Yugoslavia, it is now seven different countries… Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo… actually I had a hard time figuring that out, with the almost continuous change there.

And wars? How many wars have been fought since the “war to end all wars” – the second world war?

Since 1945 till 2001, 194, and from 1945 to 2020, there were more than 285! In other words, about 91 in less than 20 years! (source Uppsala Conflict Data Program)

And what about the wars going on today around the world?

Let’s face it, the United Nations is impotent and useless.

At this rate, every village will be a country. Why stop at that, every family, and every individual wants to declare independence!

So, actually, to anyone who has a little spiritual knowledge, that comes as no surprise.

After all, we came here to this material world to declare “independence” from God!

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

We are all eternal fragmental parts of God. We are simultaneously one and different with Him, described as the philosophy that synthesizes all philosophy. In other words, we are different in identity, but one in quality and are meant to be one in purpose too.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7/

Just like your hand is a part of you, but is not you, similarly you are a part of God but not God. And if the hand doesn’t serve you, then it is diseased.

Similarly, us, here in the material world are diseased, and continuously split into smaller and smaller groups, because, let’s face it, if we can’t get along with God, we can’t get along with anyone.

Why is that?

God is so tolerant, forbearing, forgiving, and magnanimous!

र्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा श‍ुच: ॥ ६६ ॥

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/66/

In fact, no matter how you approach God, you benefit!

Putana was a witch who specialized in killing little babies. She smeared poison on her breast and disguised herself as a wet nurse… she took baby Krishna on her lap to “feed” him. Krishna, He is God and cannot be killed. He took her milk and her poison, but also sucked out her very life. With that act of what appears to be “killing”, he killed the nastiness of Putana completely. So much so that she attained the service of serving as one of Krishna’s mothers in the spiritual world.

अहो बकी यं स्तनकालकूटं
जिघांसयापाययदप्यसाध्वी ।
लेभे गतिं धात्र्युचितां ततोऽन्यं
कं वा दयालुं शरणं व्रजेम ॥ २३ ॥

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/2/23/

So, coming back to our original topic… how can nations be united. No amount of negotiation and discussion and deal-making can help us be united.

There is only one thing that can help us be united.

तस्मादेकेन मनसा भगवान् सात्वतां पति: ।
श्रोतव्य: कीर्तितव्यश्च ध्येय: पूज्यश्च नित्यदा ॥ १४ ॥

tasmād ekena manasā
bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ
śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca
dhyeyaḥ pūjyaś ca nityadā

Therefore, with one-pointed attention, one should constantly hear about, glorify, remember and worship the Personality of Godhead, who is the protector of the devotees.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/2/14/

Let us admit that all these ways of trying to be united without God in the centre have not and will never work, and let us meet on the platform of glorification of God.

Sankirtan = Samyak Kirtan – Complete Glorification of God is the only solution to the problems of the world.

param vijayate sri krishna sankirtanam! Eternally victorious is Sri Krishna Sankirtana!

2020.31-43 Downtown Toronto Harinam, Street Distribution, Work Sankirtan, Temple Distribution, Work & Professional Outreach. Online

It is marathon month! Sharing Sankirtan stories from 2020 with you… it was another memorable time, and right now, its another memorable time. I feel fortunate to be able to go out, and to share with you. Thank you for your kind support!

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 12 November 2020

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna!

Please kindly accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I pray that you are all well and in good health and spirits.

By your blessings I am able to participate in this Hare Krishna movement, despite my disqualifications. Thank you!

Summary:

29 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall Harinam

6 Oct 2020 – Old City Hall Harinam

8 Oct 2020 – Old City Hall Harinam

10 Oct 2020 – Walk to Temple – Street Distribution + Summer Hill Harinam

20 Oct 2020 – Old City Hall Harinam

22 Oct 2020 – Old City Hall Harinam

23 Oct 2020 – Niagara Falls Clifton Hill Harinam

24 Oct 2020 – Niagara-on-the-Lake distribution & downtown Harinam

29 Sep – 10 Oct – Sankirtan in the professional world

29 Sep – 27 Oct – Various Online Sankirtan

3 Nov 2020 – Old City Hall

6 Nov 2020 – (Summer in November) Old City Hall

Sep-Oct 2020 – Combined temple distribution & temple guest Sankirtan

————————————-

Total 13 Outings

The mini-summer in an otherwise chilly Toronto November was a great blessing though I couldn’t go as much as I would have liked to.

It has been fun, trying to figure out how to go out on Sankirtan. It has been quite challenging on the time front, but Krishna has been merciful. My spiritual master has always been encouraging, and somehow or other I have managed to focus on Sankirtan and book distribution, despite all my other commitments and duties. I am sure you are much busier than me, but surely you can figure out how to make time?

I am a gap-filler by nature. I was instructed “do the needful” at the beginning of my journey in Krishna consciousness. And this suits my personality just fine. I am drawn to wherever there is a gap, a need. There is surely a shortage of Krishna consciousness in the world today. But while there are many practicing devotees, there is certainly a BIG gap in the Harinam Sankirtan area, especially in Toronto. The devotees are practically invisible. Millions of souls are milling about, going to work, shopping, hanging out, going to restaurants, etc., but the mercy of the Holy Name is being denied to them. This is violence, no?

Many devotees, such as Rupanuga Prabhu are busier than ever before, propagating the Krishna consciousness movement online. I know that Mother Aditi and Bhadra Krishan Prabhu are doing online programs. So many souls, like Madhava Govinda Prabhu, Sucaru Mataji, Manoj Prabhu, Paramahamsa Prabhu are distributing books by phone. These are all great. What about those who are not ready for those classes or are not in the mercy circle of a devotee yet? The journey in Krishna Consciousness has to start somewhere, no? I still remember the days when I was on the fence after reading the books, and the Harinam Sankirtan party of Bhaktimarga Swami, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Prabhu, Dharmaprana Prabhu and others rescued me from my fence-sitting! I am sure we can do a lot together even if we go out alone together in different parts of the city, and help the souls get enough Sukriti to participate further in the Krishna Consciousness movement!

Imagine if 10, 20, 500 devotees were chanting on different street corners in Toronto and surrounding areas? Everywhere you go, there is the sound of the Holy Name… do you think we could make a dent in the hard materialistic times we live in?

Agreed, I don’t think it makes sense for people to go in large numbers out in public, but wherever you are, go out in ones or in twos! Be seen, be heard chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Srila Haridas Thakura will bless us!

If you live in a small place, then put on a mask, take your voice and GO! If you live in a big city, put on a mask and GO OUT! Don’t shake hands, don’t get too close to people, but let your voice vibrating the Harinam Mahamantra reach the ears of the poor suffering souls of this age. You will feel happy, Mahaprabhu will be pleased with you, and our lives will be worthwhile. Please go, and report your outing to encourage others. Harinam Sankirtan is the only medicine in the age of Kali, vaccine or no vaccine.

Here are 2 experiences that stood out… never a dull moment out on Sankirtan!

One evening, I was feeling dejected as I went in the dark that I was a madman to go out like this, and who was benefiting from my impure chanting anyway. But I forced myself to go and start. Glad I did! As I stood chanting, an elderly man, unsteadily approached and said “I know this, I know this deeply. Deeeeply”. And then he began crying. He raised his arms, he looked up to the heavens and crossed himself. He said “my man, you have saved me”, and then “do you know what you have just done, you have just saved a soul”. I don’t know what his previous experiences with devotees have been, but he was quite emotional. He said “but it is so hard, SO HARD, how do you do it”. I said “never stop chanting” after a mantra, and continued chanting. He then said “I will say something to you, but you don’t stop chanting”. He said how people think “Toronto” means “meeting place” and that is right, but the full meaning was “Meeting place where the different tribes meet but no one fights”. He said “thank you thank you thank you” so many times”, and tried his own version of chanting. He rambled on philosophically as I continued chanting. Then he said “I have something for you, for your temple”, and pulled out some money, counted out 5 dollars in change. I had to give him a book. I pulled out a Nectar of Instruction. He held the book to his head, he placed it on the wall and bowed to the book. He danced around with the book. He started reading, read a bit, nodded, and then say “my dear man, you have saved me. I have outlived my life, my father is gone, my daughter is gone but I am still here, thank you for giving me hope hope hope”. And then we exchanged some deep Japanese-style bows (I was chanting and playing Karatalas) and he left.

The very next time I went, another madman approached me. The man looked like he was of South Asian descent, told me his name was Raglan. But he was lost to the world, drugged, cigarette in one hand, a Coke in another. The Karatalas just drew him in, he came close, close, closer, until he was about 2 inches from my face, staring into my eyes with a mad look on his face. I had to stop, and say “not this close OK, you stand here” and he obeyed. But as soon as I started the Kirtan his feet moved to the beat, closer, closer, closer. This happened many times. I finally stopped and asked him if he would read, he said no, so I pulled out a Mantra card and he said “I want that, I want that”. So he chanted the Mahamantra with me almost unwillingly. It is as if there were 2 personalities, one was demoniac and one was a bewildered confused lost soul, so innocent. I felt like maybe he was possessed. His feet moved like a zombie’s, his eyes were bloodshot, it is practically as if he wanted to step into me. I felt unsafe. He (the demoniac personality) had already told me to stop thrice, even thught he couldn’t stop dancing and he couldn’t leave, as if he was hypnotized somehow by the chanting… and the voice was getting more menacing. It was late, dark, and I was not sure anyone else passing would help if he did something stupid. So I stopped and asked him if I could go elsewhere, he agreed, like a child. I said “don’t lose this card, this card will bring great good fortune to you”. As he took the card, I moved across to the South West corner of the intersection and began to chant. He disappeared shortly thereafter.

Going out on Harinam is putting oneself out on a limb, depending only on Krishna’s mercy. This should be done carefully. Many cannot do it at all – for example, as Aruna Keshavi said later “what if the man was COVID-infected?”, I responded, “then the virus is chanting Hare Krishna by now”. That was a joke but it was a serious risk! But those who can do this, should do this, because it bestows the highest blessings on one. I am a madman, mostly in the material sense of the word. But I pray to be mad to spread the mission of Srila Prabhupada or at least die trying.

My 2020 goal is 108 outings, and I have 65 left to go, with just 49 days left this year. Please bless me that I may humbly perform this service. I am very greedy for your blessings. In fact, I am 100% convinced that I can only go out on Harinam Sankirtan because of your blessings, because otherwise I am just a useless fool.

Praying to be always out on Harinam Sankirtan, or at least be in Harinam Sankirtan consciousness 24X7, this is my humble desire, though I must admit that unfortunate as I am, I still maintain all sorts of material attachments. Please bless me.

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

2020.21-30 Sankirtan Adventures – Old City Hall, Online Sankirtan, and Chinese Old Age Home

December is celebrated as marathon month all over the world, where the followers of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada go out to distribute spiritual literature profusely… this is from 2020. But I’m out again in 2022, and it feels like it all happened yesterday. Please help us by going out, or supporting those who are out, in harsh weather, to benefit the world by adding more spirituality to the collective consciousness of the world. Thank you!

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 26 September 2020

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna!

Please kindly accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I pray that you are all well and in good health and spirits.

By your blessings I am able to participate in this Hare Krishna movement, despite my disqualifications. Thank you!

Summary:

26 Aug 2020 – Old City Hall

1 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall

3 Sep 2020 – Old Ciy Hall (With Sagar Vankwani)

7 Sep 2020 – Book distribution at Chinese Old Age Home in Markham

8 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall

10 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall (with Shanti, Ciaran, Nick, Anastasia, Chris)

15 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall

17 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall (with Bhakta Nick, Aruna Keshavi, Vitthal Bhakta)

Aug 21 – 18 Sep 2020 Online – Bhagavatam set distributed (plus more books)

25 Sep 2020 – Old City Hall

————————————-

Total 10 Outings

This online Sankirtan really works! I just write as I have been hearing, and then, often while I am asleep, someone finds what I wrote and reads it. Over the last 2 years thousands have read… Sometimes they request more information, sometimes they request books, and they are often secretly practicing Bhakti at home! One person took an entire Bhagavatam set after a few months of reading the Bhagavad Gita As It Is with me. One person invited me into a Chinese Old Age home where I was able to distribute all the Chinese books I had with me!

I am glad at my great good fortune to be going downtown thrice a week. Am able to go out at the end of the day at least twice a week.

Now I have caught the Harinam fever, and can’t wait to go out. Sometimes, I get the privilege of associating with devotees (especially Nick, he has been very kind to me), sometimes it is just me, my spiritual master and the disciplic succession encouraging me on. Sometimes it is difficult to get going, sometimes unexpected barriers stop me from going. I always have books with me, and no matter what, there are always amazing interactions.

There are people who smile

There are people who begin slapping their bodies in rhythm

There are people who dance

There are people who sing

There are people who clap

There are people who staaaaare

There are people who look as long as you don’t look back at them

There are people who look with tremendous interest (mostly little children)

There are people who take a book

There are people who give a donation

There are people who say “Haribol”

There are people who say “Radhe Radhe”

There are the people who scowl

There are people who frown

Then there are the people who don’t even notice (the most unfortunate of all) – it is not me they don’t notice, but they don’t notice Sri Harinam, their ONLY saviour!

The longer someone stays within earshot of the Harinam, I notice a clear difference come over them… sometimes, people intentionally miss a streetcar so they can hear more. Sometimes, agitated people calm down. Sometimes noisy people quieten down. Sometimes sad people visibly become happy. Many are curious, I am sure they will check us out.

Even though I have begun wearing a mask when outside, I note that many who would have otherwise stopped, don’t stop…. they just continue on.

But times will change. One day they will stop.

They will take the Harinam home with them, and the Harinam will take them home with Him.

People are repeatedly dying, again and again they are taking birth, again and again they are dying. This Harinam Sankirtan will change that trajectory, no more birth, death, old age, and disease, no more misery of any kind. The more Harinam there is in the world, the more fortunate the souls in this world will be, until everyone is fortunate, and then this world will be Vaikuntha.

My 2020 goal is 108 outings, and I have 78 left to go, with just 97 days left this year. Please bless me that I may humbly perform this service. I am very greedy for your blessings. In fact, I am 100% convinced that I can only go out on Harinam Sankirtan because of your blessings, because otherwise I am just a useless fool.

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

dasadas.com

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

The weapon guaranteed to backfire

If you had a weapon that was guranteed to backfire each time you use it, would you ever employ it? But we routinely do! What is this weapon that is guaranteed to hurt the owner?

Suppose you had a weapon. And you felt a reason to use it too. But every time you loaded it up, pointed at the target, and fired, the weapon would fire back at you. Your weapon was guaranteed to hit you every time you tried to use it.

Would you use such a weapon? Would you not throw it away?

But most of us diligently maintain and regularly use exactly such a weapon! And we repeatedly get hurt by this weapon of ours, but we continue to use it. Over and over again.

What does that sound like?

It’s called envy. Jealousy is another word that is sometimes used as a synonym. Sometimes, envy is perceived as being greater than jealousy. In any case, both are harmful.

Envy is an emotion which “occurs when a person lacks another’s
superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or
wishes that the other lacked it”. Aristotle defined envy as pain at the
sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we
ought to have.”
Wikipedia

Very often, the target of the envy does not even know about the resentment someone bears towards them.

Envy is a weapon that’s guaranteed to burn the bearer.

Sometimes, like in the case of people eating meat (you die so I can enjoy) or assaulting (your pain is my pleasure) others, or a community or a nation waging war (let’s attack them, even if they haven’t harmed us, just think, it would set them back at least by 30 years), it does also hurt the target, but not without hurting the bearer of envy first.

Envy of other living entities forms the basis of eternal life in the material world. Anyone who is envious is guaranteed to remain here.

Envy is the fundamental characteristic of a conditioned soul trapped in the material world.

Would you like to do a quick test whether you are conditioned or liberated?

Here we go!

To want to enjoy anything for ourselves, to take credit, to claim proprietorship – this means we are conditioned. Even in spiritual life, to compete, to not co-operate, this is envy… we’re secretly hoping someone ahead of us will fall down, so others will see someone is not as good as I am! Condescension, Holier-than-thou, all this is envy!

Envy is a weed

Where does this envy spring up from?

Ultimately, Envy damages our relationships.

In an ideal relationship, there is reciprocation
In an imbalanced relationship, there is exploitation
Where there is envy, one tries to cause damage to the other
Envy is exploitation taken to the maximum!
No possibility of happiness for the envious.
We need to recognize envy, understand its source, and overcome it

This is the root cause of all evil. It is the original sin of being envious of God.

God, or The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, as I know Him, but also called variously as Allah, Jehovah, Rama, Yahweh and countless other names, is the Supreme Enjoyer.

Material consciousness line of thought…

I want all the pleasure, the greatest pleasure, all for me
Even if others have to die, let them, me first!
Who has the greatest pleasure right now?
Krishna has the greatest pleasure
Therefore, I want Krishna to not be Krishna
I want to be Krishna instead
Let me kill Krishna and take Krishna’s place

This is material conditioning!

The spiritual world is a place where everyone is trying to increase God’s pleasure. The material world is a place where everyone is trying to be #1, trying to be God.

We see this everywhere, on the streets, in traffic, in the social fabric, in lifestyles, envy rears its ugly head with saddening regularity.

Envy of God translates to Envy of God’s!

An envious person tries to kill God
By Science, by Politics, or by Religion, the envious person tries to kill God
Many tried, Ravana, Hiranyakashipu, Duryodhana, and many others
An Atheist is necessarily envious of God, even just the very idea
If an envious person gets frustrated by not being able to kill God, then?

Envy everyone else!

Envy, disguised

Hunting comes from envy, Fishing from envy
Meat Eating comes from envy
Economic Exploitation comes envy
Abuse (Physical, Emotional, Mental) comes from envy
Hedonism (avoid pain, seek pleasure at all costs) comes from envy
Insensitivity comes from envy
Discord in relationships, family, society, nations, all comes from envy
Essentially all problems in human society come from one root cause!
Religious Extremism comes from Envy too!
ENVY IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALL EVIL!

What is interesting to note is that when we envy someone, anyone, no matter whether it is for their possessions, relationships, beauty, fame, knowledge or any other quality… we actually envy God!

Why is that? Because anything that anyone has is by the direct sanction of God! Lord Rishabhadeva offers a most insightful instruction to his sons, meant for the benefit of all of us…

सर्वाणि मद्धिष्ण्यतया भवद्भ‍ि-
श्चराणि भूतानि सुता ध्रुवाणि ।
सम्भावितव्यानि पदे पदे वो
विविक्तद‍ृग्भिस्तदु हार्हणं मे ॥ २६ ॥

sarvāṇi mad-dhiṣṇyatayā bhavadbhiś
carāṇi bhūtāni sutā dhruvāṇi
sambhāvitavyāni pade pade vo
vivikta-dṛgbhis tad u hārhaṇaṁ me

My dear sons, you should not envy any living entity — be he moving or nonmoving. Knowing that I am situated in them, you should offer respect to all of them at every moment. In this way, you offer respect to Me.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/5/5/26/

In other words, if, by offering respect to everyone, we respect God by respecting His creation, then by envying any living entity, we actually envy God!

How to be free from envy?

There are direct and indirect methods of getting free from envy.

Krishna, for example, advises us thus:

But if one happens to meet a great devotee, a mahātmā who is a representative of the Personality of Godhead, one is immediately purified. To become purified, one isB enjoined to worship the fire, the sun, the moon, the earth, the water, the air, the sky and the mind. By worshiping all the elements and their predominating deities, one can gradually become free from the influence of envy, but all the sins of an envious person can be nullified immediately simply by serving a great soul.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/kb/84/

Love is the only antidote to envy!

And what is Love? That is discussed in these articles…

Love or Lust, take your pick

Free Will, Love Me or Leave Me

Love, not Fear

Love of God – the ultimate variety

Love He who made all that

Living based on Envy

Unfortunately, there are actually many “religious” systems and organizations that are actually based on envy…

How can a religious system that produces envy of one’s self
and of others be beneficial for oneself and for them? What is
auspicious about following such a system? What is actually to
be gained? By causing pain to one’s own self due to self-envy
and by causing pain to others, one arouses Your anger and
practices irreligion.

Any religious system but the process of bhāgavata-dharma —
service as an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead — is a system of envy of one’s own self and of
others.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/16/42/

What is the use of following such a religious system that does not breed love but envy and hatred?

धर्म: स्वनुष्ठित: पुंसां विष्वक्सेनकथासु य: ।
नोत्पादयेद्यदि रतिं श्रम एव हि केवलम् ॥ ८ ॥

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ
viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
notpādayed yadi ratiṁ
śrama eva hi kevalam

The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/2/8/

Here is one way…

O King Parīkṣit, anyone who
aurally receives the narrations
concerning the characteristics of
Lord Rāmacandra’s pastimes will
ultimately be freed from the
disease of envy and thus be
liberated from the bondage of
fruitive activities.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/9/11/23

Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes…

Here in this material world, everyone is envious of someone else. Even in religious life, it is sometimes found that if one devotee has advanced in spiritual activities, other devotees are envious of him. Such envious devotees are not completely freed from the bondage of birth and death. As long as one is not
completely free from the cause of birth and death, one cannot enter the sanātana-dhāma or the eternal pastimes of the Lord. One becomes envious because of being influenced by the designations of the body, but the liberated devotee has nothing to do with the body, and therefore he is completely on the transcendental platform. A devotee is never envious of anyone, even his enemy. Because the devotee knows that the Lord is his supreme protector, he thinks, “What harm can the so-called enemy do?” Thus a devotee is confident about his protection. The Lord says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: “According to the proportion of one’s surrender unto Me, I respond accordingly.” A devotee must therefore be completely free from envy, especially of other devotees. To envy other devotees is a great offense, a vaiṣṇava-aparādha. A devotee who constantly engages in hearing and chanting (śravaṇa-kīrtana) is certainly freed from the disease of envy, and thus he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/9/11/23/

What is the ultimate solution?

A devotee who constantly engages in hearing and chanting (śravaṇa-kīrtana) is certainly freed from the disease of envy, and thus he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead.

In conclusion… Recognize Krishna, and Krishna’s…

Krishna is the Supreme Enjoyer
Anything anyone else has is also given by Krishna
Krishna is our best friend
If Krishna doesn’t give something, good reasons…
I should do everything to please Krishna
When you’re looking in the mirror, when you decorate yourself, the reflection
in the mirror also gets decorated
Turn to Krishna, serve Krishna, Please Krishna.
Love me, love my dog
Who is not Krishna’s?

Recognize envy, and root it out!

The roots of a weed can be deep, and not pulling out the roots
can result in the weed growing back
The root of all evil is envy towards Krishna
Recognize sense gratification as a mirage
Recognize that the way to nourish the plant is to water the root
Krishna is our root

स वै पुंसां परो धर्मो यतो भक्तिरधोक्षजे ।
अहैतुक्यप्रतिहता ययात्मा सुप्रसीदति ॥ ६ ॥

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/2/6/

Praying for our success! Hare Krishna!

Did Arjuna always know that Krishna is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

Arjuna addressed Krishna as Madhusudana in BG 1.35, before Krishan revealed Himself as The Supreme Personality of Godhead. So how did Arjuna know that Krishna was Hayagriva before?

Brajanath Das, 01 March 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

While reading Bhagavad-Gita 1.34 where in Arjuna calls Krishna as Madhusudana, “the killer of the Madhu demon,” I got the following doubt –

Madhu was killed by the avatar of Hayagriva, who came before the Krishna avatar. Since Arjuna did not know that Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead at that time, so how did he know that Madhusudana was Krishna? Did Arjuna know that Hayagriva and Krishna are the same? If so, how?

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 02 March 2016

Dear Sriman Rao,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Arjuna knows Krishna’s identity very well, his apparent “illusion” was a device by Krishna to make Arjuna the recipient of knowledge intended for us.

In the Mahabharata, for example, in the assembly of Kurus where great sages like Narada Muni were present, during the Rajasuya Yajna performed by Maharaja Yudhisthira, Krishna was unanimously (except for Shishupala who was then delivered by Krishna) chosen as the head of the assembly in the presence of so many exalted personalities.

See https://vedabase.io/en/library/kb/74/

It is best if we all read the entire chapter, as the Krishna Book of Srila Prabhupada is the 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

There are many other indications, for example Arjuna’s choice of Krishna over Krishna’s army which went to Duryodhana… from Srila Prabhupada’s lecture “Arjuna was satisfied with Kṛṣṇa. That’s all. Kṛṣṇa also divided Himself. Because it is family quarrel. So He said, “I cannot take part with anyone and even if I take part, side, of any of you, I shall not fight. Directly I shall not fight. I may be on your side or that side, but I’ll not fight.” Still, Arjuna was satisfied. So Kṛṣṇa, in order to satisfy Arjuna, that “I shall not fight, but I shall become your charioteer. I shall drive your chariot.”” Source http://vanisource.org/wiki/Lecture_on_BG_1.2-3_–_London,_July_9,_1973

Actually it was an openly known fact that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but still, many people did not choose to accept Him as such.

“So here, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he is jealous. He cannot give any good government. Kṛṣṇa knew it. Kṛṣṇa sent a messenger, Akrura. You have read in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Before this Battle of Kurukṣetra from Dvārakā, He sent His uncle Akrūra: “Just go to Hastināpura, New Delhi, and see what is the situation.” So Akrūra understood that Dhṛtarāṣṭra was planning something. So he talked with him that “Why you are implicated in such planning? Kṛṣṇa does not want it.” Although Dhṛtarāṣṭra knew that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead… So Dhṛtarāṣṭra said that “I know that what I am planning, that is not good. I know Kṛṣṇa—the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And He has requested me. But I tell you frankly, I cannot do without it. So when Kṛṣṇa will be pleased upon me, I may be.”

So this is the position of the materialistic person. A materialistic person knows that he is sinful. A materialistic person knows that whatever he is doing is wrong, but he cannot check. Just like the thief. A thief knows that if he commits stealing, he will be arrested, he will be punished. He knows. Because he heard from law books, from other sources, and he has also seen that a thief is arrested and he is taken by the police for being punished. So we have got two kinds of experiences: by hearing and by seeing directly. In Bengali it is called dekhā-śunā. In India it is called. The two kinds of experience: one by seeing, practically experiencing, hand to hand; another by hearing. So one who is intelligent, he gets his experience simply by hearing from the right source.” Source http://vanisource.org/wiki/730707_-_Lecture_BG_01.01_-_London

By corollary, the devotee can recognize Krishna as He is always.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

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Did Arjuna disobey Krishna’s orders in regards to Ashwatthama?

Ashwatthama murdered little children in their sleep. Krishna ordered him killed. But Arjuna spared his life. So did Arjuna disobey Krishna?

Todd, 23 August 2016

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my greetings.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Can you help understand more clearly how it is that Krishna’s word is not followed by Arjuna in regards to Asvatthama’s death?

In 1.7.53-54 Krishna says he must die, correct? Is it that the Lord meant figuratively the whole time?

Then 1.7.57 is also confusing to me.

Please help me to understand more clearly.

Thank you in advance

Sincerely,

Todd

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 26 August 2016

Dear Sriman Todd,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you for your question.

Some context is in order, for those who may not be familiar with the full picture.

Ashwatthama is the son of Dronacharya, the military teacher of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the two sides of the mighty war of Kurukshetra 5000 years ago, where Srila Prabhupada says 640 million warriors fought and we know hardly anyone went back home.

Dronacharya and his son Ashvatthama fought on the Kauravas side. The Kauravas lost and were killed. Dronacharya was killed also. Ashvatthama survived. He did not like the way his father was killed in battle and as revenge, vowed to wipe out the Pandavas dynasty, and hence he killed the 5 sons of the Pandavas who were all children at the time, and this was done while they were sleeping also.

Now, the conundrum was that Ashvatthama was the son of a Brahmana (priestly and intellectual class of society), or the son of their teacher, and therefore meant to be revered. But he had done this abominable thing of killing defenseless children in their sleep.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, First Canto (which our Bhagavata Online Academy of 2011 will start reading shortly, but it took 5 years of preparation to get there… all classes of Bhagavata Online Academy will get there, and more details to follow from Hemanga Prabhu…), this incident is described in some detail in the chapter “The son of Drona punished”, which readers can access at https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/7/

The verses in question are:

SB 1.7.53-54 — The Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: A friend of a brāhmaṇa is not to be killed, but if he is an aggressor he must be killed. All these rulings are in the scriptures, and you should act accordingly. You have to fulfill your promise to your wife, and you must also act to the satisfaction of Bhīmasena and Me.

SB 1.7.55 — Sūta Gosvāmī said: Just then Arjuna could understand the motive of the Lord by His equivocal orders, and thus with his sword he severed both hair and jewel from the head of Aśvatthāmā.

SB 1.7.56 — He [Aśvatthāmā] had already lost his bodily luster due to infanticide, and now, moreover, having lost the jewel from his head, he lost even more strength. Thus he was unbound and driven out of the camp.

SB 1.7.57 — Cutting the hair from his head, depriving him of his wealth and driving him from his residence are the prescribed punishments for the relative of a brāhmaṇa. There is no injunction for killing the body.

Arjuna, being a pure devotee, never fails to follow Krishna’s word, but not in a mood of slavery, but in the mood of clear understanding and harmony with Krishna.

Krishna often uses situations involving his dearest devotees, such as Narada Muni, the Gopis, and Arjuna, to illustrate important points and create situations that may be bewildering to some but the way that those devotees behave sets exemplary precedent for others to follow.

This can be roughly compared to modern courts, which rely on precedence – judges presiding over court cases even today base their judgements from precedents set by other landmark cases elsewhere… in fact, it can be roughly generalized that the practice of law is to know the law, know case law precedence, and apply logical and ethical arguments judiciously using that knowledge. Great lawyers and great judges are those that set precedent in difficult situations.

Similarly great devotees are those who set precedence, for example, Srila Prabhupada’s application of scriptural knowledge is exemplary in the history of the world.

So here was the conundrum:

1. A Kshatriya (or anyone else, for that matter) shall not kill a Brahmana, no matter what, unless of course, a Brahmana is trying to kill a Kshatriya, which Ashvatthama did do, he killed the pandavas’ minor children while they were sleeping

2. Krishna is “go brahmana hitaya cha” – protector of cows and the Brahmanas

3. But Krishna is ordering Arjuna (a Kshatriya) to kill Ashvatthama (a Brahmana), is Krishna, as Supreme Personality of Godhead, inconsistent with His own principles?

4. Bhima, Arjuna’s elder brother is going with a particular understanding of scriptural law, and as he is elder, Arjuna is duty-bound to follow his instruction

4. Draupadi is pleading with Arjuna not to kill Ashvatthama out of compassion for his mother and respect for the individual, even though her own children were the ones Ashvatthama killed, and Arjuna is also duty-bound to fulfill his wife’s lawful and reasonable wish.

5. Arjuna is the devotee who must apply scripture, Krishna’s words, and also carry out his elder brother’s instruction and wife’s desire

In the Bhagavad Gita it is clearly stated that for an honorable person, dishonour is worse than death – BG 2.34 “People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.”

So Arjuna fulfilled all requirements by taking away Ashvatthama’s respectable signs, his hair, and the jewel attached to his head from birth.

1. Ashvatthama, being an illustrious warrior, and a member of the Brahmana class, was certainly respectable (until he committed this crime).

2. To be humiliated in this way is worse than death, and yet, he was not killed

So, Ashvatthama was killed and not killed, in fact he lives to this day trying to heal/fill the raw wound open gaping hole in his head caused by the forced removal of the jewel by Arjuna, but no one wants to associate with him and thus he is in a very abominable situation – neither living nor dead.

All of this is confirmed by the verse and Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 1.7.55

quote

Sūta Gosvāmī said: Just then Arjuna could understand the motive of the Lord by His equivocal orders, and thus with his sword he severed both hair and jewel from the head of Aśvatthāmā.

Purport: Contradictory orders of different persons are impossible to carry out. Therefore a compromise was selected by Arjuna by his sharp intelligence, and he separated the jewel from the head of Aśvatthāmā. This was as good as cutting off his head, and yet his life was saved for all practical purposes. Here Aśvatthāmā is indicated as twice-born. Certainly he was twice-born, but he fell down from his position, and therefore he was properly punished.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in SB 1.7.55

We are often in a situation where instructions given by different respectable individuals can be apparently contradictory, and we follow the example of expert devotees who follow perfectly while resolving apparent contradictions through their behaviors.

Does this help?

Devotees, please feel free to add your understanding and perspectives to this question as it is a wonderful example of trying to understand Srila Prabhupada’s books extensively and very much an example of how Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva want us to study Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

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Why not eat flesh, if vegetables have life too?

If vegetables have life and vegetarians eat them, then what’s the harm in eating flesh of birds and animals?

Rathin, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I will humbly request all of you to enlighten me on this subject.

When I talk to my friends about non-veg. The very common excuse is that vegetables also have life.

Telling them about the consciousness of the body and offering food to Sri Krishna, is something beyond their comprehension.

I will like to ask you all, what else can be said in layman terms to help them understand their ignorance.

your servant

Rathin

Delicious Meal of Krishna Prasad – Pure Vegetarian Food Cooked With Love and Offered to Krishna

Sridhar Das, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All Glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji!

All Glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada!

If we read Srila Prabhupada books, especially The Hare Krishna challenge book, it clearly explains there. Jivo jivasya jivananam. In other words, the material nature is so designed that one living entity is food for the other. So therefore kill we have to. Howsoever, an intelligent human will prefer to commit necessary violence or take whatever is necessary from nature as goes the saying – one must consume as per one’s need rather than one’s greed.

In fact animals are already doing that. So human has to commit violence. But if one can, more than maintain one’s life from such a variety of vegetarianism then why kill animals? We agree violence has to be done, but why commit unnecessary violence?

I find it important to make them realize through an example. Everyone can use their own and I generally say – if a thief hijacks your family one night and points the gun on your head and demands – your phone, money, jewellery, all valuables now or I shoot one or more of your family members, choose one!

There can be many versions. Some friend preached a family of 5 with a dog, the option being, one has to be shot down, choose one.

Now of course an intelligent person won’t let his/her parents off. He/She will prefer that which is less violent and more tolerable to the mind relatively.

Similarly, one should intelligently choose to kill plants (still unintelligent because this is also sinful and thievery, if consumed without thanking Krishna through the offering process).

Actually, if one performs proper farming then there is no killing incurred. The grains, fruits, etc. if pluck on the right time after a specific time period, there is no killing incurred and the quality is best too! Besides that, you take one and very easily we get another fruits from same tree. But if they take an animal, where do they get another so easily? Can they grow animals so easily like fruits? Why do they want to deprive animals of life? Why do they consider them devoid of emotions? A cow or any other bird feels same anxiety as a human does when their children are lost. If it’s all the same then why don’t they offer their own children for slaughter?

Sometimes they will say – we eat meat to become like a strong bull. But then where did the bull get all its nutrients from? Grass!!

Another point, if we study the nature and body of herbivores and carnivores ( intestine length, acid strength, teeth architecture, claws/nails, etc as given in Hare Krishna cookbook) it’s evident what we are meant to consume.

Moreover I was reading Back to Godhead magazine’s Jan/Feb issue where an aspiring devotee said that his wife forced their child to take meat for proper protein value, is that true? The answer was such people neglect the fact that along with protein, excess cholesterol and animal fat are also ingested into the human system resulting in fatal diseases as per many doctors. Also, to keep up the meat business, many industries drug the poor animals for better meat quality (I have watched many documentaries like “From farm to fridge”. Just imagine what effect this will have on consumers? Greenhouse is another result. Point is that nature provides sufficient milk, lentils, grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables and what not for a healthy human diet (includes proteins). Excess protein rather leads to severe body damage and damage to it’s immunity system.

Back to Godhead Magazine. Do you have a subscription?

If they love God or nature, if they respect all, they will respect God’s other equal children too than depriving them of rights to live on the same land just because they can’t speak human language or just because they can manage their living without working hard in coats and suits.

If they continue to keep slaughtering like this sinfully then as per nature’s law nature will also continue to slaughter them as Srila Prabhupada concludes through world wars/crimes going on day after day.

Slaughtered Slaughterer, or karmic reactions from killing

So, there are many such points that can be spoken strongly with faith and confidence, to the extent we are convinced about the disgusting nature of animal slaughtering and also to the extent we take shelter of Prabhupada’s teachings faithfully.

But if they can often be fed with sumptuous Krishna Prasadam, then that alone will act as the best counter, trust me!

your servant

Sridhar Das

Nashvin, 28/04/2015

Hare Krsna Rathin Prabhu!

If they do not see the spiritual perspective of offering food etc, you can propose something to them:

Living entities all survive by consuming the bodies of other living entities (either animals or plants). So, would they like to kill other animals themselves and eat them, or harvest some crops instead? There is a reason that families go pick strawberries together, but do not have excursions to the slaughterhouse…

your servant,

Nashvin

Premananda Das, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna

In layman terms it is fact that “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.”When it rains the umbrella shopkeeper is happy that it keeps raining as more more umbrellas sells and he makes profit but the people who buy wish it does not rain.This is law of nature each person is dependent on someone one whether he likes it or not.

Similarly Krishna says in BG 9.26 :

patram puspam phalam toyam

yo me bhaktya prayaccati

tad aham bhakty-upahrtam

asnami prayatatmanah

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf,a flower,fruit or water,I will accept it.

It is clearly mentioned in this verse that without offering to Him every mouthful of food will keep the person entangled in birth and death. Krishna mentions leaf,fruit,flowers and water this He will accept.He does not mention meat ,fish and eggs.

Another point is when you have not created anything that means you are not the Supreme controller or owner.As Krishna is the Supreme proprietor we must agree to what He says in Bhagavad Gita as it is without interpretations.

In BG 3.13

yajna-sistasinah santo

mucyante sarva-kilbisaih

bhunjate te tv agham papa

ye pacanty atma-karanat

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice,others who prepare food for sense enjoyment verily eat sin.

The most important point in this verse is that these performances keep them aloof from all kinds of contamination of sinful association in material world.

Therefore in order for people to be happy they must be taught to perform the easy process of sankirtana-yajna,in full Krishna consciousness.Otherwise there can be no peace and happiness in the world.

You try your best to explain to him the method of real happiness and if he accepts it is the best welfare activity.

your servant,

Premananda Das

Manian VB, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna prabhu:

Vegetable food also is a living being, but when offered to Krishna, the sin of eating it is removed and it gets purified. This is what our Guruji has said. Chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Manian VB

Nishima, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna

The same question was being asked by me to HH Sankarshan Maharaj ji and He gave me the following answer:

My Dear Nishima,

Please accept my blessings.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I am absolutely delighted to learn that our daily Krishna conscious broadcast, “Thought for the Day”, is enabling you to have Krishna conscious day every day. This is dream come true for me that I can be helping others in this way. It is surely the mercy of Lord Sri Krishna.

Regarding your question, Krishna orders us in the Bhagavad-gita that we can only take foods which have been first offered to Him. Since Krishna is a vegetarian, He will not accept any offering of meat. Therefore as the eaters of only Krishna prasadam we have no choice but to be vegetarians also. So actually we are not vegetarians; we are Krishnatarians, those who eat only the remnants of what has been offered first to Krishna.

I hope this meets you in the best of health

and in an ecstatic mood.

Your ever well-wisher,

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

—

Nishima

Mahabhagavat Das, 28/04/2015

Dear Sriman Rathin Mandal,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your question is nice because I know that you are not unaware of the various reasons why meat is not recommended food. I also read with interest all the answers and was happy to read them, thank you to all who responded to Rathin’s request.

I was thinking you were asking “what might appeal to a person who is arguing only for the sake of arguing” or “what might convince a person who does not care about another living entity’s suffering”.

What’s in it For Me? This is what materialists care about.

My personal experience is that speaking to a materialist, pointing out what is in it for them has the greatest effect. Everyone is interested in “What’s in it for me” – “WIIFM”. So you can focus on health, how the educated and wealthy elite worldwide are switching to a vegetarian diet while the poor and uneducated are eating meat, how eating meat causes so many diseases like heart disease, hypertension, cancer etc., and so on, you can talk about the toxins released in the body as a response to fear of death, how those toxins cannot be removed from meat, etc.

All the arguments are there in the book “Higher Taste”, just familiarize yourself, and see which one works best with which person.

Above all the arguing etc. though, the best thing would be to give them the actual taste of Krishna Prasada, this works wonders, Srila Prabhupada starting the Hare Krishna movement by his Kirtan, classes, and his lovingly cooked Sunday feasts. The person who cooks your food influences your consciousness greatly, so why not take an indirect approach to increasing the spiritual intelligence of the poor meat eaters by giving them Krishna Prasada without necessarily telling them all about it?

Many advanced devotees have done this, and I was also a recipient of such mercy myself.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Bhakta Sunil, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna

My respects to all readers

Regarding this topic , i had a debate with a social media contact and to convince him about importance of vegetarian food , i researched and gave him the following reply after which he did not debate further and was friendly too

——–

Dear , it is very nice that there is a tendency to not give pain to animals. But kindly note that denying the right to live defies mercy , irrespective of giving pain or not. For example , the punishment to a criminal for homicide is same irrespective of whether the homicide involves pain or not.

That one can eat plants does not imply that one can eat animals. Yes plants are also living entities.

Kindly note that meat is food in mode of ignorance.

Meat is also not easy on the GIT , as is known to medical science. Medical science provides documentation that Humans are biologically Herbivores. As pointed in the bottom line of the following article link by Physician (wonders never cease!) named Milton R. Mills : “Here’s another piece of information to digest: plant foods leave the body in 2 – 4 days; flesh foods leave the body in 5 – 7 days. If a clump of rotting flesh sits in your body for a minimum of 5 days, where do all the poisons, chemicals, and excessive hormones that flood the animal’s body at the time of death go? And we wonder why we suffer from degenerative diseases!”

Refer to http://blogs.naturalnews.com/humans-are-biologically…/

“Clean India Campaign” can be linked linked to meat eating because cleanliness is not only physical but also internally of habits , of which meat eating habit is predominant

Meat eating in long run develops animalistic propensities of terrorism , violence , cruelty to fellow beings. No Meat= No killing = No mentality of violence = No terrorism/No violence

Refer to this article : http://www.veggieboards.com/…/121433-meat-eating-leads…

Vegetables , fruits , grains , milk are foods in mode of goodness and make one feel energetic and fresh

Yes eating vegetables is violence, and vegetarians are also committing violence against other living entities because vegetables also have life. But here, significantly, it is stated that every living entity has to live by killing another entity; that is the law of nature. One living entity is the life for another living entity. But for a human being, that violence should be committed only as much as necessary. Extra violence is against the law of nature.

If we will have mercy on the animals, mercy will be given to us. What goes around comes around. We should be merciful to the animals by not slaughtering them and giving them all protection. We should allow them to live peacefully and happily. The more we give mercy to others, the mercy will be given to us.

———

in a humble mood,

Bhakta Sunil

Sulakshana devi dasi, 28/04/2015

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Yes, vegetables also have life. Therefore Vaishnavas offer their eatables to Krishna before they partake it. By offering the food to Krishna the food is sanctified and we are free from all the sin.

Krishna Lifts Govardhan — Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, lifts Govardhan Hill

The fruits and the grains when they are taken from the tree or a plant do not kill the tree. Typically when the grains are harvested the plant is usually dried up so in other words there is no killing of the plant or tree there. Of course every living entity subsists by killing another living entity. The consciousness in the plant life is very dormant compared to other higher moving living entities. Consuming animal flesh for one’s sustenance is much more sinful than consuming vegetarian meal. Also Lord Krishna says in BG that He will accept a flower or a leaf or fruit or water if one offers Him with love but He does not say that He will accept animal products.

your humble servant,

Sulakshana devi dasi

Nashvin, 30/04/2015

Hare Krsna!

Another thing you can query is:

If eating animals is equivalent to eating plants, why not eat humans as well then? 🙂

your servant,

Nashvin

Rathin Mandal, 03/05/2015

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you everybody for giving me so many wonderful answers.

This enlightened me to a great extent

your servant

Rathin

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Celebrate Humility, not Pride

Pride is celebrated these days. Be proud of this or that, we are told. But what is the price of pride? And why is humility better? How to be humble? What is the big deal about humility? Why not celebrate humility for a change?

Recently there have been a number of festivals focusing around pride. Different kinds of pride, but all material in nature. For example someone is proud that they are heterosexual in their preference, and yet others are proud that they are homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, trans-sexual or queer.

It is fashionable to celebrate pride these days

Yet others are celebrating their pride of being of a certain colour skin, or others are celebrating their profession or nationality or ethnic origin.

It is another matter that in the kaliyuga, or the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, everything is mixed up… souls are born in the body of a man, but the consciousness of a woman… or the body of a woman but the consciousness of a man. This is due to incomplete karmic accounts, and these mixed-up births are actually a form of punishment, but the spirit souls are trying to turn them into perverse enjoyment.

They parade these material designations, and the various festivals involve getting inebriated, and having some silly sense indulgences which bind them further into their attachments, causing yet another painful material death, and leading to many more such materially designated lives.

All of these are essentially material designations. And we should be ashamed of material designations. OK, this is not just a matter of sentiment, but we should know that these material designations are the cause of all of our sufferings.

I am not this body, I am a spirit soul. You too, dear reader, are a spirit soul.

So why should we adopt all these material designations? Why should we make the mistake of thinking we are these bodies? Why should we identify with some temporary thing that comes and goes? Today you might be a heterosexual, and tomorrow you might become a homosexual! Today you might be Chinese or American or Russian or Indian, but what were you before were born into this body?

Instead however if we realize that we are spirit souls, we then inquire into the activities of the spirit soul, which are spiritual in nature, and which give the spirit soul great joy “ananda” bliss. In fact, we are composed of “sat” (eternality) “chit” (knowledge), and “ananda” (bliss).

In the material condition, we are simply trying to find that bliss but not at all finding it, and hence, the lawyer becomes a politician, the heterosexual becomes lesbian, the lesbian becomes straight, the businessman becomes a philanthropist, the Hindu becomes Muslim, the Muslim adopts Christianity, and yet, as life wanes and death nears, there is a sense of disgust, frustration, and dissatisfaction, which is usually hidden under a veneer of distraction, such as attempts at sense gratification, intoxication and so on.

People identify with different religious symbols, which become another material designation

What is the solution to this problem?

To free ourselves of all designations of course!

Krishna says the following in the Bhagavad Gita…

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्र: करुण एव च ।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कार: समदु:खसुख: क्षमी ॥ १३ ॥
सन्तुष्ट: सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चय: ।
मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्यो मद्भ‍क्त: स मे प्रिय: ॥ १४ ॥

adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣamī

santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ yogī
yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ

One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/12/13-14/

All these material designations qualify as “false ego”. “ego” means identity. Then what is “true” ego?

True ego means to realize oneself as an eternal part-and-parcel of Krishna.

jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
kṛṣṇera ‘taṭasthā-śakti’ ‘bhedābheda-prakāśa’

sūryāṁśa-kiraṇa, yaiche agni-jvālā-caya
svābhāvika kṛṣṇera tina-prakāra ‘śakti’ haya

“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṇa has three varieties of energy.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/20/108-109/

Krishna claims all souls to be His own too.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7/

Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport:

Every living entity, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By misuse of that independence one becomes a conditioned soul, and by proper use of independence he is always liberated. In either case, he is qualitatively eternal, as the Supreme Lord is. In his liberated state he is freed from this material condition, and he is under the engagement of transcendental service unto the Lord; in his conditioned life he is dominated by the material modes of nature, and he forgets the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As a result, he has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence in the material world.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7/

There you go. Instead of being proud of the material designations, we should feel humbled that such an exalted spirit soul is now in illusion and anxiety as some idiotic little temporary designation.

And when the soul feels humble, then that is cause for celebration. Why is that? And how to accomplish this freedom from material designations?

सर्वोपाधि विनिर्मुक्तं तत्परत्वेन निर्मलं
हृषिकेन हृषीकेश सेवनम् भक्तिरुच्यते

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/19/170/

And what is the big deal about Bhakti? That is our natural identity. So we can know who we are, and be who we are.

One of the most humble souls I know, and naturally ecstatic!

Don’t you want to be yourself?

No reason for hopelessness, despair, and negativity

Sometimes there is hopelessness, despair, negativity in our life. Sometimes we don’t understand what’s going on and why. But spiritual life is a scientific process. A scientific process produces a repeatable results each time. So, always remember Krishna (GOD) and never forget Krishna (GOD). But how practically?

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 27 August 2020

Hare Krishna!

Some of us have received messages to the group or to individuals which convey a sense of hopelessness, despair, and negativity. This may be natural at a time like this, but please know that there is no reason for all that.

Simply striving to understand the process of Krishna consciousness, follow it as best as one can, and find ways to render spiritual service to everyone around us will both gradually and immediately remove all causes of negativity in our lives.

1. You all are already part of the eCourse. Please read the daily message carefully and try to imbibe it deep inside your consciousness – those messages are truly effective. I have been receiving them since 2004, so I have 17+ years experience now. Even though we might not remember the details of each message, it is like a meal packed with nutrients and love and pure spiritual power – even if you don’t remember specifically what you had 10 days ago, it has still made you stronger.

2. You all have access to the daily live lectures, broadcast twice a day. I can rarely attend the lectures, but when I do manage to, I feel very enlivened and energized. Just this morning, an answer to my question by Gurumataji pulled me out of some grave misunderstandings!

3. We have a dedicated team of souls helping to imbibe Srila Prabhupada’s books in an organized fashion… Bhagavata Online Academy – if you are not already on one of those groups, then let me know – we will be soon creating a new group… if you are, then please read those messages, even if you cannot read the actual book, just that message alone is packed with positive energy!

4. Please chant Hare Krishna as much as you can, take Krishna Prasada as much as you can, and serve Krishna and His dear ones as much as you can.

The process of Krishna consciousness works. I have sincerely (and mostly imperfectly) tried it for over 20 years. The only time something goes awry is when I slip on following the process diligently.

If there are any relevant questions, please ask the group – please follow the group guidelines carefully – only messages that follow the guidelines are posted to the group.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

dasadas.com

Maxine, 27 August 2020

Hare Krishna thank you I will be doing so as you said I should do I ask you to please add me to the group you have coming up I tried to sign up for a group but I received no email from the action I am thankful for your words and I look forward to do as you say and want to be in a group I want to learn all of Lord Krishnas words and follow and serve him thank you again the material body I am in is I’ll at the moment but my soul and mind are fine and I am listening to all you teach and all I can read I will follow your words I know we can save all and make this world for Krishna your humble servant maxine

Maxine

Araon Joy, 27 August 2020

And, if I may add what I tell people and keeps me not being hopeless:

God, Lord Krishna, never abandons us and never forgets us (nor do I believe God is sitting back laughing at us as we fail/pass his tests, as I had one Christian tell me earlier this year). We just don’t see the big picture. We don’t see God’s divine plan for our lives or the world. We do not see always how God is constantly working in the world. If I have a moment of fear, as I do not know what is next, I remind myself that somebody else knows what is next and has my best interests at heart (or a really good lesson or something I need in my life) and I trust Krishna completely. Completely.

While I keep doing what I feel moved to, and what dreams I have I continue to pursue, and what art/creativity I want to create I continue to create.

Srila Prabhupada said to Bob Cohen (in the booklet “Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers”) in a series of conversations that miracles are simply things we do not understand. Someone might think a chemical reaction is a miracle, but for a scientist who knows the process it makes sense. We do not understand God’s process in the world. It may seem like miracles or a lack of miracles, but we simply don’t understand the process that has been put in play by the greatest scientist. I trust that scientist. Have faith. Read Gita and Prahbupada’s books. Associate with those of us who are like minded. Remember Krishna daily.

Just my few thoughts.

Hare Krishna

Aaron Joy

Portland Maine USA

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

Ascending vs. Descending Process of knowledge

What is knowledge? What is ignorance? How do we acquire knowledge? Which method actually works? Finding out things the ascending way, or hearing from an authority? How to acquire perfect knowledge beyond all doubt?

Knowledge is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

Are these people getting anywhere? Are they “progressing”?

With knowledge, comes power. Power to do good, and also power to do evil. Knowledge can be a liberator, but also can be a tool for enforcing bondage.

Also, what qualifies as knowledge anyway? If, for example, a person acquired some knowledge on “how to rob a bank” and applies that knowledge, landing in prison, or even if they escape somehow, was that really knowledge? Or was it ignorance?

There are 2 main types of knowledge:

Knowledge of the material world -material knowledge
Knowledge of what lies beyond this material world through the scriptures – spiritual knowledge – In Sanskrit “परोक्ष” or “parokṣa”

There are many means of acquiring knowledge:

By Direct experience or perception – In sanskrit “प्रत्यक्ष” or “pratyakṣa”
By hypothesis/logic/conjecture/guessing – In sanskrit “अनुमान” or “anumāna”
By hearing from a higher authority – In Sanskrit “शब्द” or “śabda”

Ultimately, there are 2 fundamental processes of acquiring knowledge:

Ascending Process – build up knowledge from building blocks – In Sanskrit “आरोहपन्था” or “ārohapanthā“
Descending Process – Knowledge descending directly from God and His messengers – In Sanskrit “अवरोहपन्था” or “avarohapanthā“

In an article, with an example of an ant who wanted to map the Universe, I discussed the futility of the ascending process of knowledge, especially about items that are outside of our realm of perception.

Much of what we know exists, is actually too subtle to perceive.

These are the material elements, listed in the Bhagavad Gita:

Gross Material Elements:

Earth
Water
Fire
Air
Ether (Space/Sky)

Subtle Material Elements:

Mind
Intelligence
False Ego

BG भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च ।
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥ ४ ॥
bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/4/

The Material-Spiritual Disconnect

Earth is the most gross of the material elements, more subtle is water, even more subtle is air, and ether is quite subtle, you can’t touch or feel space, but we can still perceive it. Now, when we get to the mind, that is even more subtle. Intelligence is still more subtle, and the most subtle material element is false ego, our sense of identity.

However, none of the material elements can directly approach that which is non-material, namely the spiritual is outside of the realm of material elements, even subtle.

If we see our material means of acquiring knowledge, the mind, intelligence, and our sense of identity are all material in nature, and therefore, the ascending process of acquiring knowledge cannot possibly extend to the spiritual realm.

There is another main reason why the ascending process of knowledge is flawed… all of us who are “conditioned” to accept a material identity, have 4 defects:

Tendency to be illusioned (In Sanskrit “भ्रम”or “bhrama”) – we often misunderstand facts and are illusioned about things as they are
Tendency to make mistakes (In Sanskrit “प्रमाद” or “pramāda”) – there is no conditioned souls who can say they never make mistakes
Tendency to cheat others (In Sanskrit “विप्रलिप्सा”or “vipralipsā”) – this is a great weakness, to want to appear better than we are, or know something we don’t, etc.
We possess imperfect senses (In Sanskrit “करण पाटव” or “karaṇa-pāṭava”) – all our senses are quite imperfect, and we miss a lot from our senses

So, with these 4 defects, it is impossible to acquire perfect knowledge using only our senses. Why is that? It is because with an imperfect instrument, you cannot make something that is perfect. No matter how hard we try, our imperfections stand in the way.

The common example is if we’re doing some mathematical calculation or solving an equation… a tiny mistake somewhere along the way can get us a wrong answer.

Let’s say, for example, someone didn’t know who their father was… they can do some detective work, or a DNA test of every man in the world, or they can take the answer from their mother. The mother’s answer is authoritative and a lot easier too.

Reconnecting Material to the Spiritual

The only way to acquire perfect knowledge, then, is through the descending process, “avarohapantha”. In this process, the Supreme Absolute Perfect (generically called God, specifically named Krishna, Allah, Rama, Govinda, Buddha, Jehovah, Yahweh, etc.) conveys the perfect knowledge, and whoever hears this knowledge passes it on without addition or subtraction.

Perfect Knowledge means something that never changes. Compare this to our ascending process of knowledge. Researchers make a career out of making mistakes! First they publish one paper hypothesizing (and sometimes also offering “proof”) one particular thing… the laypeople accept that as the truth, and then a little while later, that or another researcher publishes another paper contradicting the original hypothesis or proof. In this way, the so-called philosophers and scientists bumble about, going from imperfection to imperfection. This is not called knowledge, this is called nescience, or ignorance.

Why is that? Because material knowledge gives the impression of advancement, whereas it actually traps us in bigger and bigger problems, requiring more and ever more complexity. A material “solution” is only another problem in disguise… it is simply creating one problem in place of another. Therefore, material knowledge is not called knowledge, but ignorance. And those who pursue material knowledge excessively are said to be ignorant.

So therefore, spiritual knowledge is worth pursuing, and such knowledge cannot be “discovered/created/invented” by anyone else other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

धर्मं तु साक्षाद्भ‍गवत्प्रणीतं
न वै विदुऋर्षयो नापि देवा: ।
न सिद्धमुख्या असुरा मनुष्या:
कुतो नु विद्याधरचारणादय: ॥ १९ ॥
dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ
na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ
na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ
kuto nu vidyādhara-cāraṇādayaḥ
Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/3/19/

But, one may ask, it’s not like the Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly perceivable to a materially conditioned soul. So what is to be done?

Fortunately, there is a clear way…

स्वयम्भूर्नारद: शम्भु: कुमार: कपिलो मनु: ।
प्रह्लादो जनको भीष्मो बलिर्वैयासकिर्वयम् ॥ २० ॥
द्वादशैते विजानीमो धर्मं भागवतं भटा: ।
गुह्यं विशुद्धं दुर्बोधं यं ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते ॥ २१ ॥

svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ
kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo
balir vaiyāsakir vayam
dvādaśaite vijānīmo
dharmaṁ bhāgavataṁ bhaṭāḥ
guhyaṁ viśuddhaṁ durbodhaṁ
yaṁ jñātvāmṛtam aśnute
Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle. My dear servants, this transcendental religious principle, which is known as bhāgavata-dharma, or surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love for Him, is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. It is very confidential and difficult for ordinary human beings to understand, but if by chance one fortunately understands it, he is immediately liberated, and thus he returns home, back to Godhead.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/3/20-21/

Now, at least some of those personalities have established disciplic successions on this planet.

There are 4 main authorized disciplic successions to receive perfect knowledge in discipic successions. A disciplic succession is known as “Sampradaya” or “That which gives completely”.

A useful example is that if a ripe mango is high in a tree, then if the mango is handed from person to person from those who are at various heights pass the mango down from hand to hand, vs. trying to throw the mango down to the ground…

A Sampradaya delivers spiritual knowledge perfectly, without addition or subtraction

Brahma Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Madhva, Lord Chaitanya, and their followers.
Rudra Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Vishnu Swami and his followers.
Sri Sampradaya and its branches, begun by Lakshmi devi, the Goddess of Fortune, consort of Lord Narayana, and especially expounded by the great teacher Sri Ramanuja and his followers.
Kumara Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Sri Nimbarka and his followers.

What about the rest?

To the extent the teachings of others are in line with one of these descending lines of discipic succession, they are valid, and anything outside of these is at best a stepping stone to one of these 4 lines of disciplic succession. In the worst case, it is a materialistic business masquerading as a genuine spiritual tradition.

Those who claim to be part of a certain tradition but add or subtract from the fundamental principles or twist the teachings are called “apasampradayas” or “anti disciplic successions”.

By the mercy of my parents and then my spiritual master His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari who is a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada The Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, even though personally unworthy, I am connected to one of these lines of disciplic succession, called the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, and seeking to pass on those pure instructions to whoever may want to follow, without adding or subtracting any principle, only, if need be, adjusting details to suit the individual and times.

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)

And what is a principle and what is a detail? That, Srila Prabhupada said, requires some intelligence. I pray for this intelligence, which in my case, I simply ask my spiritual master with a clear description of context.

Ultimately however, knowledge coming from the scriptures and the spiritual master in disciplic succession must be realized in the heart through a process of personal effort (sadhana) and purification. Then the paroksha jnana or scriptural knowledge through scripture, becomes “aparoksha” or that which is beyond the reach of the material senses. In order to experience such knowledge in action, one’s senses must be spiritually awakened, or re-spiritualized.

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Pure devotional service to Krishna is the Ultimate goal of all knowledge, and anything besides this is a waste of time.

Questions? I remain your servant on your spiritual journey! Hare Krishna!

Sankirtan Adventures – Old City Hall, Guelph, Online, Janmashtami

Sankirtan during the Pandemic, a look back at 2020…

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 21 August 2020

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna!

Please kindly accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I pray that you are all well and in good health and spirits.

By your blessings I am able to participate in this Hare Krishna movement, despite my disqualifications. Thank you!

Summary:

14 Jul 2020 Old City Hall

16 Jul 2020 Old City Hall

19 Jul 2020 Downtown Guelph Harinam

23 Jul 2020 Old City Hall

23 Jul 2020 Walking Harinam Old City Hall to ISKCON Toronto

28 Jul 2020 Email/WhatsApp Sankirtan

11 Aug 2020 Janmashtami Sankirtan

21 Aug 2020 Old City Harinaam

————————————-

Total 8 Outings

It has been a very nice summer generally. The Pandemic is a pity, because it is really hard to meet Canadians at close quarters when it gets cold. Yes, there is the phone, email, WhatApp, zoom, etc., Sankirtan, but a majority of “laying the groundwork” happens out there, on the street, in summer festivals, knocking on doors… The devotees have been largely absent from public consciousness.

As the Pandemic wears on, the attention to social media has waned, and many are not as receptive to online platforms as they were before. So, at least based on the reception we’re getting outside, the devotees should cautiously resume outdoor Harinaam Sankirtan, even though it will probably not immediately result in a lot of books distributed. Right now, we are circling amongst ourselves, preaching to ourselves, which, no doubt,needs to be done, but we also need to distribute the mercy outside of those we know presently.

I had some really nice experiences, in Guelph with Paramahamsa Prabhu, on Janmashtami, with Yogesh who had never been out on Harinam Sankirtan before. He took many books home with him, especially the smaller ones we don’t seem to be distributing a lot of these days. What is more, he is a customer for books that we could not distribute because they were “old looking”! 🙂 And Yogesh is reading those books intently – Mahaprabhu has already brought Yogesh into His tidal wave.

Especially now, the people are very needy for Harinam Sankirtan, while a lot of Harinam may be going on behind closed doors and behind virtual closed doors like Facebook and Zoom, we do need to get out there.

Especially in Toronto – the restaurants are open, the bars are open, the cinemas are open, the liquor shops are open and liquor is now being sold in the grocery stores. The brothels are open, the casinos are open, the malls are open, the offices are open. But the devotees are indoors. Harinam Sankirtan is a closed club. It is indeed a cause for concern that those who know we are not the body but spirit souls are sitting indoors even when the risk has gotten so low. We are supposed to be the fearless Hare Krishnas. Where is our “abhayam”? We are supposed to be surrendered to the Lotus Feet of Sri Abhaya Charanaravinda, where is our Abhaya?

Where possible, I’m urging devotees to get out there and not be lazy/afraid/overly cautious. Please, the world needs us and what we have.

Writing about one experience from yesterday, though there were many more…

I was on Harinam yesterday… Many were responding, many were not, but one man, unsteady on his feet due to being inebriated, cigarette in hand, came close. He asked “Indian song?” I said “yes I am from India but this is the song of the heart”. He listened really intently, thankfully he kept his distance. But I felt somewhat uncomfortable… I mean, it is easier to be ignored than to be scrutinized like that. He then started singing, suddenly asked me, “Do you need some change”, I asked him “Do you need a book”, so he took 2 books, one by Srila Prabhupada and one by my spiritual master Sankarshan Prabhu. He gave me a donation and immediately started reading the book. He did say “Always Christ” and I said “All the way my brother”. I was intensely praying to Lord Chaitanya “please give this man your mercy and the Lord did shower His mercy upon that soul! So we can see how one can get instant feedback while out on Sankirtan.

Go out where you can. Go out when you can. Go out in ones or twos. Go out with a mask if you have to. Stay outdoors. Wash your hands, stay far away from others, but let the sound of your voice become the humble vehicle for the Holy Name to go out there and do His magic. There is no other way, no other way, no other way, except Harinam Sankirtan Harinam Sankirtan Harinam Sankirtan.

I reported my Sankirtan outing this morning and my spiritual master was pleased. So, dear devotees, please let us please our spiritual masters.

quote

So we have to be very careful. The age is very bad, the Kali-yuga. You are experiencing. We have to simply take shelter of krsna and always cry,

krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, he!

krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, raksa mām!

krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, pāhi mām!

krsna, keśava, krsna, keśava, krsna, keśava, raksa mām!

rāma rāghava, rāma rāghava, rāma rāghava, pāhi mām!

Like that, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us. The time is very dangerous. And still, in this dangerous time… Just like in epidemic condition where every people is being contaminated and dying, still, the doctors appointed by the government, they have to go into the epidemic area and try to treat the person and save them. Our duty is like that. The whole atmosphere is epidemic, whole atmosphere, this Kali-yuga. And still, by the superior orders we have to preach this krsna consciousness movement. Therefore our only shelter is krsna. krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, krsna, raksa mām. Very dangerous position. The foolish people, they are thinking that “We are very happy and we are very safe.” But nobody is safe. Nobody is safe. So we have to deal with persons very carefully, and at the same time, we have to push our missionary activities. Aho kastam dharma drsam.

– from SB 6.2.1-5 in Calcutta, India

unquote

My 2020 goal is 108 outings, and I have 88 left to go, with just over 130 days left. Please bless me that I may humbly perform this service. I am very greedy for your blessings. In fact, I am 100% convinced that I can only go out on Harinam Sankirtan because of your blessings, because otherwise I am just a useless fool.

your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

dasadas.com

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The Ultimate Synthesis of Advaita & Dvaita – achintya bheda abheda

There are a lot of different philosophies in the world. Some are just absurd, but some are partial truths. Instead of fighting over philosophies, one should try to understand the ultimate synthesis of philosophies – if you haven’t heard of it before, it’s called “Simultaneous Inconcievable Oneness and Difference” – the philosophy of Lord Chaitanya.

When it comes to philosophies, there are an infinite variety.

Some philosophies apply to life in the material world, and don’t extend to the spiritual realm. We will discard these philosophies, because they pertain to the temporary. It is not that they are devoid of value, but that for a spiritualist they are not of too much consequence in the long run, from the perspective of eternity.

Often, followers of various philosophies debate, quarrel, bicker, and disagree with each other in mild and severe forms. Sometimes, a difference in philosophy results in quarrels, enmities, violence, murder, and even war!

This article does not claim to list and explain all the different philosophies, but simply summarizes the chief ideas.

I wrote before about the chief philosophies that drive our modern world, such as voidism and randomness, which are merely imaginations.

Actually, when thinking of philosophies, one should consider the tale of the 6 blind men and the elephant.

Once upon a time, 6 blind men were taken to “see” an elephant… those who are blind in vision use their other senses to “see”… we don’t mean any offense to blind readers of this post, but this is how the story goes.

One touched the side of the elephant.

The second touched the tail

The third touched the tusk

The fourth touched the trunk

The fifth, the ear of the elephant.

The sixth, the leg of the elephant.

Then they all came out and began to tell each other what the elephant is like. One said the elephant is like a wall (side), the second said it is like a stiff rope (tail), the third said it is just like smooth spear, and the fourth said it is like a snake (trunk). The fifth said it is like a smooth tray (ear) and the sixth said it is just like a tree trunk (leg).

All of them began to disagree with each other, and eventually got into an argument about what the elephant is like.

All the blind men were partially right, but could not synthesize their partial truths into one consistent whole.

Scholars looking at philosophies are just like those blind men.

In particular, there are 2 main spiritual philosophies

Advaita – This philosophy describes that all is one, and there are variants of these philosophies all the way from Kevaladvaita, Shuddhadvaita, Vishishtadvaita. This philosophy encapsulates practically all of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Dvaita – This philosophy describes that God is one and the living entities are separate from God… and in some remaining ways describes the key difference between God and the living entity, between God and nature, and so on.

And scholars have fought over this for thousands of years.

So many philosophies… is there one that encapsulates and synthesizes them all?

Only God can establish something perfect…

धर्मं तु साक्षाद्भ‍गवत्प्रणीतं
न वै विदुऋर्षयो नापि देवा: ।
न सिद्धमुख्या असुरा मनुष्या:
कुतो नु विद्याधरचारणादय: ॥ १९ ॥
dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ
na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ
na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ
kuto nu vidyādhara-cāraṇādayaḥ
Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/3/19/

In the 16th Century, God Himself appeared in the form of Lord Chaitanya and described the ultimate synthesis of all valid philosophies.

कृष्णवर्णं त्विषाकृष्णं साङ्गोपाङ्गास्त्रपार्षदम् ।
यज्ञै: सङ्कीर्तनप्रायैर्यजन्ति हि सुमेधस: ॥ ३२ ॥
kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/5/32/

Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy is as follows:

achintya bheda abheda – simultaneous inconceivable oneness and difference.

This philosophy is different from all the valid and invalid philosophies, but beautifully synthesizes the correct aspects of all valid philosophies.

I am just a humble servant of the servant of the servant ad infinitum of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If anyone wishes to understand this in more detail, they are invited to thoroughly study the books of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (ask me how), and then, after understanding Srila Prabhupada’s books, into the famous writings of Srila Jiva Goswami, the 6 Sandarbhas.

How George Harrison found complete satisfaction

Why can we not find satisfaction? A poor person, middle class person, and rich person all are dissatisfied. Even the richest person sometimes wants a carefree life of the poor… how to get satisfaction in life?

Nisarga, 30 June 2020

When a poor man sees a middle class person he wishes that if I atleast have a life like him I will be satisfied. Similarly that middle Class person will find his happiness in a rich person’s life and the rich person also won’t be that satisfied or happy in his life…he will sometimes wish that he had a life to live like that poor man without any worries .why does this happen and how do we break this loop and find satisfaction and happiness within oneself.

Nisarga

Mahabhagavat Das, 08 September 2020

Dear Nisarga,

Hare Krishna!

A spirit soul is purely spiritual. But when the spirit soul identifies with matter, then the soul seeks satisfaction in material sense gratification. But because the soul is spiritual, everything material does not satisfy.

Actually, the spirit soul is in search of Krishna, as said perfectly by George Harrison…

quote

Everybody is looking for KRISHNA. Some don’t realize that they are, but they are.

KRISHNA is GOD, the Source of all that exists, the Cause of all that is, was, or ever will be. As GOD is unlimited HE has many Names. Allah-Buddha-Jehova-Rama: All are KRISHNA, all are ONE.

God is not abstract; He has both the impersonal and the personal aspects to His personality which is SUPREME, ETERNAL, BLISSFUL, and full of KNOWLEDGE. As a single drop of water has the same qualities as an ocean of water, so has our consciousness the qualities of GOD’S consciousness… but through our identification and attachment with material energy (physical body, sense pleasures, material possessions, ego, etc.) our true TRANSCENDENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS has been polluted, and like a dirty mirror it is unable to reflect a pure image. With many lives our association with the TEMPORARY has grown. This impermanent body, a bag of bones and flesh, is mistaken for our true self, and we have accepted this temporary condition to be final.

Through all ages, great SAINTS have remained as living proof that this non-temporary, permanent state of GOD CONSCIOUSNESS can be revived in all living Souls. Each soul is potentially divine. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita: “Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness.” (VI,28)

YOGA (a scientific method for GOD (SELF) realization) is the process by which we purify our consciousness, stop further pollution, and arrive at the state of Perfection, full KNOWLEDGE, full BLISS.

If there’s a God, I want to see Him. It’s pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna Consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain GOD perception. You can actually see God, and Hear Him, play with Him. It might sound crazy, but He is actually there, actually with you.

There are many yogic Paths–Raja, Jnana, Hatha, Kriya, Karma, Bhakti–which are all acclaimed by the MASTERS of each method. SWAMI BHAKTIVEDANTA is as his title says, a BHAKTI Yogi following the path of DEVOTION. By serving GOD through each thought, word, and DEED, and by chanting HIS Holy Names, the devotee quickly develops God-consciousness. By chanting:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna – Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama – Rama Rama, Hare Hare

one inevitably arrives at KRISHNA Consciousness. (The proof of the pudding is in the eating!)

I request that you take advantage of this book KRISHNA, and enter into its understanding. I also request that you make an appointment to meet your God now, through the self liberating process of YOGA (UNION) and GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (KRISHNA) HARI BOL.

GEORGE HARRISON 31/3/70

unquote

The only satisfaction is in pure Krishna Consciousness.

Does this help?

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

dasadas.com

Nikhil Mishra, 08 September 2020

Jai..Hari Bol. Thanks for quoting George Harrison.

I guess Swami Prabhupada must be very pleased with the services of

George Harrison. I have heard that in his last days, Prabhupada asked

caretaking devotees to give his ring to Mr. (Bhakta) George Harrison.

Sincerely

Nikhil

Reason and Love : “Reason helps Love to maintain its proper bounds in the Spiritual world. Love often tends to degrade itself by exercising its function on objects other than God and converts itself into lust for women, wine, meat and gold. Here Reason advises her to rise higher till she reaches her proper sphere above.”

– Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Mahabhagavat Das, 09 September 2020

Yes, George Harrison is a great Vaishnava. He has done tremendous services in the Krishna Consciousness movement when it was needed the most. He chanted Hare Krishna right till the end of his body. Srila Prabhupada surely has arranged for his onward journey. Now it is time for us to strive hard, get out of complacency and be truly Krishna conscious, and give this one life to Krishna. What are we waiting for?

Mahabhagavat Das, dasadas.com

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com

Democracy means a society ruled by Hogs, Dogs, Camels, and Asses

Democracy is much praised, but what does it really produce? A government where the leaders are no better than hogs, dogs, animals and asses, just like the people who elect them. Don’t believe me? Read on!

Nowadays, it is the age of democracy for a significant part of the world.

Democracy is meant to be a government “By the People, For the People, and Of the People”. Sounds like a great concept in theory.

Until we see what is actually happening in practice.

In my post Human Animal Farm, I wrote about this… I wanted to focus on this particular point about what a democratic government ends up being and why.

In general, I use the phrase “untrained humans” as humans who do not know or appreciate the true value of human life, which is meant for spiritual perfection.

Instead, these untrained humans spend all their activities in the 4 basic animal activities…

Eating
Sleeping
Mating
Defending

If you look at any species of germ, insect, fish, bird, animal, or even a plant, we see that they conduct these 4 activities, and their lives essentially revolve around those 4 activities…

The ancient Sanskrit Hitopadesha (Instruction for Welfare), which is an instruction to all of us, especially in modern times, defines a human being devoid of “dharma” as equivalent to a beast.

A 2-legged or 3-legged beast, but a beast nevertheless.

āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṃ cha
samānam_etat_pashubhir_narāṇām |
dharmo hi teṣhāmadhiko visheṣho
dharmeṇa hīnāḥ pashubhiḥ samānāḥ ||
Food, sleep, fear and mating, these acts of humans are similar to animals.
Of them (humans), *dharma* is the only special thing, without *dharma* humans are also animals

Why is that?

Just look at the creatures around you – whether it be an ant or an elephant… you can hardly interest them in any subject matter beyond these 4 – eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. And neither do they have to work very hard, or get some kind of education to fulfill those aims.

Our modern education system is largely focused around teaching students how to earn a livelihood… because we have made earning a livelihood so complicated that it takes training just to find a little food and some shelter. As for mating and defending, no one needs training, it comes naturally to everyone.

However, there is no education to teach people in general about the higher purpose of life.

शास्त्रेष्वियानेव सुनिश्चितो नृणां
क्षेमस्य सध्र्‌यग्विमृशेषु हेतु: ।
असङ्ग आत्मव्यतिरिक्त आत्मनि
द‍ृढा रतिर्ब्रह्मणि निर्गुणे च या ॥ २१ ॥
śāstreṣv iyān eva suniścito nṛṇāṁ
kṣemasya sadhryag-vimṛśeṣu hetuḥ
asaṅga ātma-vyatirikta ātmani
dṛḍhā ratir brahmaṇi nirguṇe ca yā
It has been conclusively decided in the scriptures, after due consideration, that the ultimate goal for the welfare of human society is detachment from the bodily concept of life and increased and steadfast attachment for the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental, beyond the modes of material nature.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/22/21/

And this precisely is the thing that needs training! But we have no such training available to society at large.

Democracy, as a system, depends on the quality of the electors, the qualification of the voters. When a particular society gets bad government, then that means that the electors were at fault. Either the right candidates never ran for election, thinking it to be a fool’s errand, or the right candidates were not chosen.

’tis a folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss, goes the idiom!

Why is this?

Let us examine a pack of wolves, relatives of the dogs… who gets chosen as the Leader of the Pack? The most ferocious and qualified wolf of course, in some cases the winner has to fight for it.

So, if humans were just like dogs who would they choose? The biggest most qualified dog of course!

And why these 4 animals in particular?

Hogs:

Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food, the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man’s food is another man’s poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (Bg. 9.26). As prescribed by Vedic scriptures, no animal food is offered to the Lord. Therefore, a human being is meant to eat a particular type of food. He should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/19/

Dogs:

Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/19/

Camels:

The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one’s own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhāgavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/19/

Asses:

The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the Age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/19/

What happens when these hogs, dogs, camels, and asses go to the elections?

Now take a look at our leaders, and decide if any of these men and women are actually above the level of hogs, dogs, camels, and asses.

Who is your democratic society ruled by?

Chapter SB 7.7 What Prahlāda Learned in the Womb – Summary

ŚB 7.7.37

Synonyms

Translation

Purport

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Animals cannot see their impending doom

What about us? Can we see our own sufferings?

But do they really recognize the actual cause of their suffering?

How can we help everyone understand how to end this cycle of suffering?

What do we call such a soul, even if in a human body?

Physician Heal Thyself

Compassion and Equal Vision!

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Class Overview

ŚB 5.5.4

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Appearance of Sri Radha Kunda

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Question

Answer

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Question:

Answer:

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In the Abrahamic traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, there is the idea of Satan.

But rest assured, God has absolutely NO competition!

Then why does this idea of Satan exist?

The closest parallel from the Vedic tradition to the idea of Satan is “Maya”.

Hare Krishna!

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And so the cycle continues.

So what is one to do with all this?

First of all, we must remember not to identify ourselves as this body.

Next we must remember that God does not take sides

Finally, we must remember that as we are not the Centre of the Universe.

Replace competition with Cooperation

What is the way to escape this eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth then?

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Picture this…

A sage sitting on the bank remarks “kim pashuh purva dehe? / किं पशुः पूर्व देहे?” or “why, were you an animal in your previous body?”.

In his former lifetime, Dhondo Pant had been a bull.

He said “This bull here shall write the commentaries on my works“.

I am fortunate to be initiated in the same line of discplic succession.

In any case, our bull-turned-young man immediately decided…

So, by the grace of Sri Jayatirtha…

What can we learn from this incident…

What are some examples?

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Think about it. Silicon Valley Bank had more wealth than 44 countries put together!

In other words, nothing that we have anywhere in this world is safe.

What is your real wealth, anyways?

What is that greatest wealth?

Your spiritual advancement is your only wealth!

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God is God.

By corollary, anyone who identifies with any material designation, has no devotion to God.

Take the example of Taj Bibi, a great saint in the Bhakti tradition.

Little Allah!

Bhakti knows no barriers.

And how can you develop the eyes to see God?

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Krishna takes birth so we don’t have to take another birth ourselves.

He comes to free us. How does he do that? In many ways.

When Krishna comes and shows the standard of His character, then we are all attracted to following such a wonderful magnanimous person.

She had smeared a deadly poison on her breast. Her plan was simple. Baby Krishna sucks, end of story.

Good riddance, someone might say. After all she was quite wicked.

Ah, but here is how Krishna is not only great but so sweet!

Krishna chooses the highest and best of everyone to amplify, magnify, and enhance.

Some engage with Krishna, but not in such positive ways… they try to make fun, they tease, they try to insult or abuse. They are also fortunate souls.

Do you want proof that Krishna and His Name are nondifferent?

Time flies, but like most of us, Ajamila didn’t notice.