Tag: love of god

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*

lease 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 Profession of Confession and Atonement

In many religious traditions, there is the concept of confessing and atoning for sins. But why do people keep sinning and keep confessing, keep atoning? What is the use of such confession and atonement? What can be done to completely get out of this nasty habit of committing sinful activities?

Some souls accept the authority of God in theory, but not in practice. In the article “Love of God, The Ultimate Variety“, I wrote about fear vs. love… who fears God? One who does not properly follow the instructions of God must necessarily fear God. Just like ordinary citizens are not afraid of the police, but the thief is.

The idea is that just as there is the state law, there is also God’s law. And just as someone who flouts the state law becomes a criminal or an outlaw, similarly, one who flouts God’s law also faces reactions. And depending on the severity of the crime, the reactions can be rather heavy.

In some traditions, practically all religious traditions, there is the idea of “atonement” or in Sanskrit “praayaschitta”. This has been formalized in so many different ways, for example, Christians often go to Church and then confess their sins to the priest. The priest says “OK, repent by doing this and this”, or maybe a Hindu might go to the temple and the priest might tell her “give this and that charity to such-and-such to atone for this sin”.

The atonement is supposed to release the soul of the sinful reaction for a much lower “cost”…

Confession, useful, but is it enough?

But even with or without atonement, though there is hellish punishment that purifies the sinner of the sinful reactions, the soul commits sin again, after all the purification! Why is this?

Do you know what the problem is?

क्‍वचिन्निवर्ततेऽभद्रात्‍क्‍वचिच्चरति तत्पुन: ।
प्रायश्चित्तमथोऽपार्थं मन्ये कुञ्जरशौचवत् ॥ १० ॥

kvacin nivartate ’bhadrāt
kvacic carati tat punaḥ
prāyaścittam atho ’pārthaṁ
manye kuñjara-śaucavat

Sometimes one who is very alert so as not to commit sinful acts is victimized by sinful life again. I therefore consider this process of repeated sinning and atoning to be useless. It is like the bathing of an elephant, for an elephant cleanses itself by taking a full bath, but then throws dust over its head and body as soon as it returns to the land.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/1/10/
An elephant bathes in the water

Let’s examine the elephant… the elephant goes to the river and takes a bath in the river. Then the elephant comes out and pours dirt, sand and dust on itself after it comes out. Now, the wildlife experts may say why the elephant is doing that, how it protects its skin etc., but let’s just keep to the spirit of the example here.

An elephant dusts itself with mud

If we treat a confession or atonement as a bath, then why is it that people perform the required atonement and then sin again? Why do you need to take a bath again and again? Because you got dirty again after the last bath!

In the material world, dirt is unavoidable, our very bodies are quite dirty, and need to be cleansed again and again. But what about the spirit soul? Is the spirit soul not clean originally?

Hindus bathe in the Ganga to atone for their sins

Is it a good thing to become a professional at confession and atonement? There is no doubt that God is infinitely merciful… and can forgive unlimitedly. Does anyone think that God is such a fool as to accept repeated confessions of a professional sinner without giving the proper reactions to maintain fairness? God is also unlimitedly wise!

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, the highly intelligent Maharaja Parikshit and Shukadeva Goswami had this wonderful conversation on this topic. To this question, the answer given was:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vedavyāsa, answered: My dear King, since acts meant to neutralize impious actions are also fruitive, they will not release one from the tendency to act fruitively. Persons who subject themselves to the rules and regulations of atonement are not at all intelligent. Indeed, they are in the mode of darkness. Unless one is freed from the mode of ignorance, trying to counteract one action through another is useless because this will not uproot one’s desires. Thus even though one may superficially seem pious, he will undoubtedly be prone to act impiously. Therefore real atonement is enlightenment in perfect knowledge, Vedānta, by which one understands the Supreme Absolute Truth.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/1/11/

But knowledge enough is not sufficient, one must act on that knowledge, Shukadeva Goswami continues…

My dear King, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontaminated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and the infection of disease can no longer touch him. Similarly, if one follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually progresses toward liberation from material contamination.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/1/12/

One should go beyond the lifestyle that produces sinful desires…

तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण शमेन च दमेन च ।
त्यागेन सत्यशौचाभ्यां यमेन नियमेन वा ॥ १३ ॥
देहवाग्बुद्धिजं धीरा धर्मज्ञा: श्रद्धयान्विता: ।
क्षिपन्त्यघं महदपि वेणुगुल्ममिवानल: ॥ १४ ॥

tapasā brahmacaryeṇa
śamena ca damena ca
tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṁ
yamena niyamena vā

deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā
dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ
kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api
veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ

To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/1/13-14/

It is commonly seen that even priests, supposed to be God’s representatives, sin, what to speak of the lay person! This means that even though one may lead a very closely regulated lifestyle, the desire to sin can still remain hidden as a root within the heart. So what is the ultimate solution?

केचित्केवलया भक्त्या वासुदेवपरायणा: ।
अघं धुन्वन्ति कार्त्स्‍न्येन नीहारमिव भास्कर: ॥ १५ ॥

kecit kevalayā bhaktyā
vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena
nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ

Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/6/1/15/

So therefore, it is impossible to be completely pure without being a pure devotee of God. Without being a pure lover of God, one cannot escape this sin. In fact, when one is rendering devotional service, at that time it is impossible to sin, because where is the time and the energy to perform sinful actions?

So therefore, instead of sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing, sinning and atoning, sinning and atoning, one should seek to develop pure uncontaminated Love of God in a practical way, which is the only way to be free of the desire and tendency to sin.

My spiritual master says it best “it’s hard to hit a moving target, so keep moving for Krishna, if you give illusion an inch, you will lose your life!”

Significance of the Feeling of Insignificance

Souls in the material world feel important, very important, or most important. It is a root cause of all strife in the world. What about the feeling of insignificance, or humility? Is that significant?

Most of us consider ourselves highly significant. I am not immune to this either. But when I put my own life in context with the world around me, the other souls, especially in relation with God, I begin to feel insignificant.

But then, in many of my personal interactions, I begin to find this feeling of super-significance show itself again. It manifests itself as pride, arrogance, impatience, intolerance, condescension, holier-than-thou, or obnoxious bossy behaviour. Most people can’t stand it when they see it in someone else. But most of us carefully cultivate the root cause of those traits.

Of course, it’s easy to think that we’re super-significant, after all, we came out of the spiritual world to feel that way, and the material world is designed to make us feel that way too.

It all started with the envy of God. Envy, not jealousy. What is the difference, one may ask. One very advanced spiritualist, Chakri Dasa, a disciple of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada made it very clear in a class in Durban, South Africa, many years ago… He said “Jealousy means you don’t like that someone has what they have”, he continued “But Envy, that is different, it means, I don’t like that you have what you have. I wish that I had what you have. I wish that you didn’t have it, I wish you were dead and I could have that instead”.

So, envy of God means that we want God to be subservient to us (or dead), and instead that we would rather be God. This is actually the “Original Sin”.

This is why the spirit soul comes to the material world. God says, “well, you are you, and I am Me, but if you want, I can send you to a place where you can think that you are God”. And reluctantly He makes arrangements for us to come here, but comes along with us as the Super-Soul or Paramatma!

Therefore, we have the unfortunate situation where everyone in material consciousness is trying to dominate one another.

Is it any wonder then, that as a recovering atheist, I still have these feelings of super-significance! I came here to be God in the first place! 🙂

By now I know that I am not God, but this tendency to try to lord it over the material world, and all others stubbornly persists.

But what is incredible, truly incredible, is that God Himself does not consider Himself very significant, whereas He sees service done unto Him as highly valuable! I found that amazing, and thought you might too.

किञ्चित्करोत्युर्वपि यत् स्वदत्तं
सुहृत्कृतं फल्ग्वपि भूरिकारी ।
मयोपनीतं पृथुकैकमुष्टिं
प्रत्यग्रहीत् प्रीतियुतो महात्मा ॥ ३५ ॥ kiñcit karoty urv api yat sva-dattaṁ
suhṛt-kṛtaṁ phalgv api bhūri-kārī
mayopaṇītaṁ pṛthukaika-muṣṭiṁ
pratyagrahīt prīti-yuto mahātmā

The Lord considers even His greatest benedictions to be insignificant, while He magnifies even a small service rendered to Him by His well-wishing devotee. Thus with pleasure the Supreme Soul accepted a single palmful of the flat rice I brought Him.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/81/35/

In this chapter (and the previous one) of the Bhagavatam, there is an account of a saintly gentleman by the name of Sudama, who was a boyhood school friend of Krishna, in the school of Sandipani Muni.

While Krishna, as the husband of the Goddess of Fortune is Supremely Opulent, Sudama, as a simple spiritualist, was satisfied with whatever came of its own accord. When his wife, frustrated by the extreme poverty (bony bodies, torn clothes, starvation), persuaded Sudama to seek a favour from Krishna, his boyhood Friend, he reluctantly agreed, more joyful for the opportunity to meet Krishna than to ask for some benediction.

He joyfully went to see Krishna, taking a humble gift of 4 handfuls of flattened rice, begged by his wife from a neighbour. But when he saw the opulence of Krishna’s palace, he was too ashamed to give Krishna the humble gift.

He also forgot to ask Krishna for anything at all! He was just so happy to see Krishna, reminisce, etc.

Krishna of course, being the All-knowing Super Soul dwelling in everyone’s heart, knew everything, snatched the rag-parcel of flattened rice, and in return gave Sudama opulence equal to that of the king of heaven.

Sudama felt insignificant in front of Krishna. Krishna felt His gift of opulence insignificant in front of Sudama’s love.

अहो ब्रह्मण्यदेवस्य द‍ृष्टा ब्रह्मण्यता मया ।
यद् दरिद्रतमो लक्ष्मीमाश्लिष्टो बिभ्रतोरसि ॥ १५ ॥ aho brahmaṇya-devasya
dṛṣṭā brahmaṇyatā mayā
yad daridratamo lakṣmīm
āśliṣṭo bibhratorasi

[Sudāmā thought:] Lord Kṛṣṇa is known to be devoted to the brāhmaṇas, and now I have personally seen this devotion. Indeed, He who carries the goddess of fortune on His chest has embraced the poorest beggar.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/81/15/

It is not possible for a person in material consciousness to feel that kind of humility. It is impossible to feign. Only a soul in pure spiritual consciousness, pure Allah/Christ/Yahweh/Adonai/Buddha/Krishna, consciousness can feel such deep humility…

Humility is a precious gift, and true humility comes from knowing and being in one’s own constitutional position as an infinitesimal fragmental part-and-parcel of our glorious emanator.

Oh! When will I feel the genuine insignificance felt by the pure spiritualist? When will I be free of my false pride? When will I actually recover from this horrible atheism I am afflicted with? Oh! My dear Krishna, how and why did I ever allow this horrible poisonous envy enter my heart?

Love, not Fear

Why “Fear of God”? Why not “Love of God”? Why fear when you can love instead? How can we transform fear to love?

It’s a fact that many religious systems are based on fear, “do this or you will go to hell”, “listen to me or eternal damnation”, “believe this or the unending eternal fires for you”.

Some are less dire, more business-like “If you displease God, then God will punish you for your sins”. Quid pro quo.

But God is not a bully. God is not insecure. God is not a sadist. God is not even a business-person!

God is Full of Knowledge, Full of Bliss, and is Eternal. No person who has those qualities can be petty, shortsighted, or vindictive.

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://www.vedabase.com/en/bs/5/1

God is also our emanator, which makes Him our caretaker practically. Which parent wants their offspring to suffer eternally?

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/

Schools and Universities give additional attempts, more chances to students who failed to make the grade. The judicial systems of many countries grant bail, parole, or pardon, in other words, a chance to live life inspite of having made mistakes.

So why on earth do most religious systems and their adherents relate to God in fear? Why are people “God-fearing”? Why are they not “God-loving”?

It is in part because most people know what is sinful and yet do not stop committing that sin. That is like a criminal who knows what they are doing is wrong but persists.

Yes, God is powerful, and God is practically distant, unknown even, to a materially conditioned soul. So, it may be somehow natural to fear this entity that has power over life and death. But remember, the jaws of a cat are death only to a mouse, they are happy and safe and comforting to her kitten.

To a criminal, the Police are to be feared. To an ordinary law-abiding citizen, the Police are no cause for fear. To many, the Police are even a cause of reassurance and/or relief.

God is Loving, and God is not very happy when the relationship is based on awe and reverence.

itīdṛk sva-līlābhir ānanda-kuṇḍe 

sva-ghoṣaṁ nimajjantam ākhyāpayantam 

tadīyeṣita-jñeṣu bhaktair jitatvaṁ 

punaḥ prematas taṁ śatāvṛtti vande

By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbued with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times.

Sri Damodarashtakam, Verse 3 (Padma Purana, spoken by Satyavrata Muni)

The origin of fear is in lust actually, because fear is an unavoidable factor of life in the material world, or more specifically, life in material consciousness.

It is lust that has brought us into this material nightmare and lust that keeps us here. When we can transform that lust into pure love we become liberated from the pangs of this material existence.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari, Transforming Lust into Love

Lust means we want, gimme, gimme, gimme. What do we do when we really love someone? We serve them. And we don’t badger them for this, that, and the other. Instead, we just love them, cherish them, and serve them.

Yes, God is Great, but He is also incredibly Sweet and Loving. What can we do to actually Love God?

NO FEAR!

Quicker Awareness of Dormant Love for God

Sunil, 9th August 2011

Respected Devotees and Disciples
Please accept my humble obeisances

Is it true that , Lord Krishna brings a person who sincerely tries not to misuse his or her independence and repents of past misuses of independence , in awareness of devotional service quicker than a person who does not try to stop misusing independence and does not repent for past misuses of independence

Sunil

Sanjay gupta, 9th August 2011

A person who sacrifice the fruit of his KARMAS can only be able to go krishna`s DHAM according to gita it is called KARMYOG..

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 9th August, 2011

Dear Sunil Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Yes, it is correct, but not because Krishna is unfair, but because the person is refusing to accept Krishna’s mercy. In fact, a person who does not try to stop misusing one’s independence is willingly requesting Krishna to keep one under the material energy, so Krishna, being the kind Father, obliges.

ye yathā māḿ prapadyante

tāḿs 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. BG 4.11

In other words, a person misusing one’s independence is choosing to surrender to Krishna’s external potency, therefore Krishna reciprocates accordingly.

A person who knows that past material activities were not so conducive to one’s own welfare or the welfare of others does not repeat them, of course, one is advised not to dwell on this all the time being paralyzed by the knowledge of what one may have done knowingly or unknowingly, it was all in ignorance. To dwell on the past or live in the world of the future is both to live in a dream, both are understood to be in the mode of ignorance, according to Bhagavad Gita. (Sunil Prabhu, please find that verse from BG and quote it along with the translation, this is a treasure hunt especially for you).

Mere repentance is not sufficient though… one is aware that a certain set of people go to the house of God every Sunday to repent and confess, but they come out and do it all over again. In fact, this is not limited to that one community. A certain community of people go to holy places, take bath in the Ganges, and then come back and carry on the same nonsense as before. Same thing with yet another set of people who go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, come back and resume the original nonsense they were doing.

Such rituals of repentance and atonement, or “praayaschitta” are there in the Vedic scriptures, but the bottom line is that such repentance and atonement does not remove, from the core of the heart, the desire to commit sinful activities.

That is the unique beauty of the process of Bhakti… simply performing devotional service, the very core of the root of the desire to misuse one’s independence is uprooted. Of course, this takes time, but the process works, and we can see gradual progress and advancement if we sincerely stick to the orders of the bona fide spiritual master. But this is not simply a sentiment…

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 made a certain part of that bold, hopefully you will see what I am trying to say here.

Your servant,
Mahabhagavat Das

Tirtharaja Dasa, 9th August 2011

Hare Krishna,  All glories to Srila Prabhupada. May you all please accept my humble obeisances.

Yes, Krishna is also known as Hridayananda or the lord of the heart and one who gives eternal bliss to the heart. There has to be a concerted effort towards repentance and utter disgust to the sin so that it is not indulged in again. The human heart is filled with evil and thus needs cleansing.  Its not an issue of great mercy falling from the sky and making everyone’s heart pure merely by some sound vibration or activity on our part. The only requirement and the essence of all sadhana bhakti is to make our selves fine tuned and recipients of the lords service hence the offenceless, undeviated and consciencious  chanting of hare krishna maha mantra which SrilaPrabhupada compares to the earnest supplication of a child to the supreme to please engage him in His service. Gaura Hari bol.

Lowly servant,
 Tirtharaja Dasa.

Sunil,12th August 2011

Respected Mahabhagavat Das

Please accept my humble obeisances

I tried the treasure hunt. I found the following:

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.2b

adṛṣṭaḿ dṛṣṭavan nańkṣed

bhūtaḿ svapnavad anyathā

bhūtaḿ bhavad bhaviṣyac ca

suptaḿ sarva-raho-rahaḥ

 

SYNONYMS

adṛṣṭam — future happiness; dṛṣṭa-vat — like direct experience; nańkṣet — becomes vanquished; bhūtam — the material existence; svapnavat — like a dream; anyathā — otherwise; bhūtam — which happened in the past; bhavat — present; bhaviṣyat — future; ca — also; suptam — a dream; sarva — of all; rahaḥ-rahaḥ — the secret conclusion.

TRANSLATION

Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. That is the secret understanding in all Vedic literature.

Mahabhagavat Das SDA,13th August 2011

Hare Krishna Sunil Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

That is brilliant! Very good work!

I was thinking about this verse below Prabhu, but your find is very nice also, very pleasantly unexpected also. Thank you very much!

yayā svapnaḿ bhayaḿ śokaḿ

viṣādaḿ madam eva ca

na vimuñcati durmedhā

dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī

 

And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion — such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness. BG 18.35

Your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Ashutosh, 13thAugust 2011

Hare Krishna!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad

In this context the conversation between Vishnupriya and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu… clearly mentions the reality of this worldly constitution….”All you see in this material world is false and simply a dream. Nothing other than Lord Krsna and Vaishnavas is real in this world”

This conversation is exceptionally dictates the need to attain the constitutional position for all Jiva…

Ys

Ashutosh

Quicker Awareness of Dormant Love for God

Sunil,9th August 2011

Respected Devotees and Disciples

Please accept my humble obeisances

Is it true that ,  Lord Krishna brings a person who sincerely tries not to misuse his or

her independence and repents of past misuses of independence , in awareness of

devotional service quicker than a person who does not try to stop misusing

independence and does not repent for past misuses of independence

Sunil

Sanjay gupta,9th August 2011

A person who sacrifice the fruit of his KARMAS can only be able to go krishna`s DHAM according to gita it is called KARMYOG..

Mahabhagavat Das SDA,9th August,2011

Dear Sunil Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Yes, it is correct, but not because Krishna is unfair, but because the person is refusing to accept Krishna’s mercy. In fact, a person who does not try to stop misusing one’s independence is willingly requesting Krishna to keep one under the material energy, so Krishna, being the kind Father, obliges.

ye yathā māḿ prapadyante

tāḿs 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. BG 4.11

In other words, a person misusing one’s independence is choosing to surrender to Krishna’s external potency, therefore Krishna reciprocates accordingly.

A person who knows that past material activities were not so conducive to one’s own welfare or the welfare of others does not repeat them, of course, one is advised not to dwell on this all the time being paralyzed by the knowledge of what one may have done knowingly or unknowingly, it was all in ignorance. To dwell on the past or live in the world of the future is both to live in a dream, both are understood to be in the mode of ignorance, according to Bhagavad Gita. (Sunil Prabhu, please find that verse from BG and quote it along with the translation, this is a treasure hunt especially for you).

Mere repentance is not sufficient though… one is aware that a certain set of people go to the house of God every Sunday to repent and confess, but they come out and do it all over again. In fact, this is not limited to that one community. A certain community of people go to holy places, take bath in the Ganges, and then come back and carry on the same nonsense as before. Same thing with yet another set of people who go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, come back and resume the original nonsense they were doing.

Such rituals of repentance and atonement, or “praayaschitta” are there in the Vedic scriptures, but the bottom line is that such repentance and atonement does not remove, from the core of the heart, the desire to commit sinful activities.

That is the unique beauty of the process of Bhakti… simply performing devotional service, the very core of the root of the desire to misuse one’s independence is uprooted. Of course, this takes time, but the process works, and we can see gradual progress and advancement if we sincerely stick to the orders of the bona fide spiritual master. But this is not simply a sentiment…

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 made a certain part of that bold, hopefully you will see what I am trying to say here.

Your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Tirtharaja Dasa,9thAugust 2011

Hare Krishna,  All glories to Srila Prabhupada. May you all please accept my humble obeisances.
Yes, Krishna is also known as Hridayananda or the lord of the heart and one who gives eternal bliss to the heart. There has to be a concerted effort towards repentance and utter disgust to the sin so that it is not indulged in again. The human heart is filled with evil and thus needs cleansing.  Its not an issue of great mercy falling from the sky and making everyone’s heart pure merely by some sound vibration or activity on our part. The only requirement and the essence of all sadhana bhakti is to make our selves fine tuned and recipients of the lords service hence the offenceless, undeviated and consciencious  chanting of hare krishna maha mantra which Srila Prabhupada compares to the earnest supplication of a child to the supreme to please engage him in His service. Gaura Hari bol.
Lowly servant,
Tirtharaja Dasa.

Sunil,12th August 2011

Respected Mahabhagavat Das

Please accept my humble obeisances

I tried the treasure hunt. I found the following:

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.29.2b

adṛṣṭaḿ dṛṣṭavan nańkṣed

bhūtaḿ svapnavad anyathā

bhūtaḿ bhavad bhaviṣyac ca

suptaḿ sarva-raho-rahaḥ

SYNONYMS

adṛṣṭam — future happiness; dṛṣṭa-vat — like direct experience; nańkṣet — becomes vanquished; bhūtam — the material existence; svapnavat — like a dream; anyathā — otherwise; bhūtam — which happened in the past; bhavat — present; bhaviṣyat — future; ca — also; suptam — a dream; sarva — of all; rahaḥ-rahaḥ — the secret conclusion.

TRANSLATION

Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. That is the secret understanding in all Vedic literature.

Mahabhagavat Das SDA,13th August 2011

Hare Krishna Sunil Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

That is brilliant! Very good work!

I was thinking about this verse below Prabhu, but your find is very nice also, very pleasantly unexpected also. Thank you very much!

yayā svapnaḿ bhayaḿ śokaḿ

viṣādaḿ madam eva ca

na vimuñcati durmedhā

dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī

And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion — such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness. BG 18.35

Your servant,

Mahabhagavat Das

Ashutosh,13thAugust,2011

Hare Krishna!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad

In this context the conversation between Vishnupriya and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu… clearly mentions the reality of this worldly constitution….”All you see in this material world is false and simply a dream. Nothing other than Lord Krsna and Vaishnavas is real in this world”

This conversation is exceptionally dictates the need to attain the constitutional position for all Jiva…

Ys

Ashutosh