Is there a festival that doesn’t exclude someone? Is there a festival that benefits everyone who comes across it? Is there such a festival at all?
Hare Krishna!
There are different kinds of festivals. Some celebrate their culture, some celebrate nationality, yet others celebrate a religious event.
Some festivals appeal to, say, Africans, or Indians, or Chinese people… yet other festivals appeal to those who like to drink a particular beverage or eat some particular food.
Some festivals are for children, some are for youth, some are for people pursuing a particular profession or professing a particular cause.
But is there a festival that is for all? Is there a festival that doesn’t exclude anyone?
If there is such a festival, it is called the Jagannatha Ratha Yatra, or the Chariot Festival of Lord Jagannath.
Ah, you may say, that’s an Indian festival… and that may be so, but for the last 50+ years, this festival has expanded to the Americas, Europe, Australia, Africa, every inhabited continent.
You might be forgiven for thinking this is a bunch of sentimental people pulling a cart with a rope, while singing, and dancing, and then feasting…
But there is a deep significance for anyone who comes across even just one of these festivals…
Someone may know nothing about Lord Jagannath or Krishna or any other spiritual matters
Someone may be a highly advanced spiritualists, practically at the cusp of spiritual perfection…
And someone may be someone in between…
This festival has something for everyone, the highest possible opportunity. What is that?
Join to find out!
TOPIC: ISKCON Ottawa Sunday Feast Class
LOCATION: 212 Somerset St E, Ottawa, Canada K1N 6V4
DATE📆: Sunday, 21st July 2024
TIME⌚: 3:30 PM. ET USA+Canada/ 2:30 PM. CT USA/ 12:30 PM PST USA/ 8:30 PM UK/ 4:30 AM MYT/ 2:00 AM IST
I will record audio, and the class will also be broadcast online on zoom.
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.
Purport
The Lord’s descent from His transcendental abode is already explained in the sixth verse. One who can understand the truth of the appearance of the Personality of Godhead is already liberated from material bondage, and therefore he returns to the kingdom of God immediately after quitting this present material body. Such liberation of the living entity from material bondage is not at all easy. The impersonalists and the yogīs attain liberation only after much trouble and many, many births. Even then, the liberation they achieve – merging into the impersonal brahma-jyotir of the Lord – is only partial, and there is the risk of returning to this material world. But the devotee, simply by understanding the transcendental nature of the body and activities of the Lord, attains the abode of the Lord after ending this body and does not run the risk of returning to this material world. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33) it is stated that the Lord has many, many forms and incarnations: advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam. Although there are many transcendental forms of the Lord, they are still one and the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. One has to understand this fact with conviction, although it is incomprehensible to mundane scholars and empiric philosophers. As stated in the Vedas (Puruṣa-bodhinī Upaniṣad):
“The one Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally engaged in many, many transcendental forms in relationships with His unalloyed devotees.” This Vedic version is confirmed in this verse of the Gītā personally by the Lord. He who accepts this truth on the strength of the authority of the Vedas and of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and who does not waste time in philosophical speculations attains the highest perfectional stage of liberation. Simply by accepting this truth on faith, one can, without a doubt, attain liberation. The Vedic version tat tvam asi is actually applied in this case. Anyone who understands Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme, or who says unto the Lord, “You are the same Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead,” is certainly liberated instantly, and consequently his entrance into the transcendental association of the Lord is guaranteed. In other words, such a faithful devotee of the Lord attains perfection, and this is confirmed by the following Vedic assertion:
tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate ’yanāya
“One can attain the perfect stage of liberation from birth and death simply by knowing the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and there is no other way to achieve this perfection.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8) That there is no alternative means that anyone who does not understand Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is surely in the mode of ignorance and consequently he will not attain salvation simply, so to speak, by licking the outer surface of the bottle of honey, or by interpreting the Bhagavad-gītā according to mundane scholarship. Such empiric philosophers may assume very important roles in the material world, but they are not necessarily eligible for liberation. Such puffed-up mundane scholars have to wait for the causeless mercy of the devotee of the Lord. One should therefore cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness with faith and knowledge, and in this way attain perfection.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 ॥
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?
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 ॥
“ ‘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.’
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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?
You are a possessor of divine knowledge, so you can provide the most correct solution to every problem.
Things like concentration and intention to study can be developed in any person. But what will you say to a student who processes things slowly,
that is, who is slow in study even after having full concentration and intention?
Your servant ,
A medical student
Answer: Offer Yourself Fully to Krishna
From: ISKCON Austin, Texas USA
My Dear Medical Student,
Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
If you will offer yourself fully to Krishna as His eternal servant under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, you will become expert in everything that you do.
I hope this meets you in the best of health and in an ecstatic mood.
Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
–
Akanksha Vishwakarma, 03 August 2020
Amulya Gowda, Shri Krishna also faced so many problems to defeat Jarasandha, a King of Magadha and he is also a father in law of kansa. Shri Krishna tried 16 times to defeat Jarasandha but again and again he got failure but 17th time he defeated Jarasandha.
So, with the help of this event which happens in Krishna’s life I want to say that you don’t feel so depressed about your failures. There are so many challenges in life. Please face that challenge and accept it, make everyday New plans and work on it. One day will come when you achieve your aim like Krishna. When the right time comes everything will be O. K. and leave each and everything on Shri Krishna.
Ab Saup diya is jeevan ka sab bhaar tumhare charno mein.
Hai Jeet Tumhare Charno mein, Hai Haar Tumhare Charno mein.
Akanksha Vishwakarma
Subodh, 03 August 2020
Hare Krishna,
When you try to catch rajdhani express then you are supposed to wait for while, but waiting at station is not a easy task, for that Srila Prabhupada has given us chanting of the mahamantra during that course of times, in between plenty of passenger train is passing towards your destination, but don’t catch it, it takes longer time, please wait for your rajdhani, one more things in any route there are the few rajdhani but plenty of locals are there, like that Krishna is preparing the rajdhani express but we supposed to wait and chant for him, passing of passenger train is looking like failure of life, but ignore it through holy name of lord, certainly our time of train will come,
Hare Krishna
Subodh
Bhaktarupa Das, 04 August 2020
Dear Akanksha,
Hare Krishna!
Regarding the fight between Jarasandha and Krishna, it is described in scriptures that Jarasandha attacked Mathura 17 times, but did not succeed, when he attempted 18th time, Krishna performed His pastime of running away from the battle field, just to deliver His devotee Mucukunda. All these are very nicely described in Krishna book (chapters 50 to 52) and Srimad Bhagavatam.
Krishna is also worshipped as Ranacora for this wonderful act.
Krishna is the strength of the strong, intelligence of the intelligent, prowess of all powerful men. ( refer B.G. 7.10 and 7.11)
One who can understand Krishna’s transcendental nature of Krishna’s appearance and activities in truth, does not take birth again and returns back to Krishna (refer B.G. 4.9)
Krishna says with a single fragmental portion He pervades and supports the entire universe (refer B.G. 10.42)
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we are all at part and parcels of Krishna, meant to serve Him, but not imitate His actions. It is because we wanted to imitate His actions, we have landed up in this material world suffering to do so, like the fish is trying to be happy on the land instead of being happy in water.
Hare Krishna!
yours sincerely,
Bhaktarupa Das
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