Hare Krishna! Hare Rama!!
From now onwards… the blog will be posted here… www.KrishnaIsGreat.com
Keep visiting. Keep chanting. Enjoy the Bakthi.
Hari Bol :-)
Monday, February 2, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Peace, Opulence and Bliss - Part 1
The kirtans we sing must not be converted into rituals. The importance of feelings when we sing the kirtans is well understood if we understand one supreme truth. Every one of us without exception has to face Yamaraj as our lives are full of sins. Because we have chanted the holy names a bit here and there, we hope that like Ajamila, Vishnu dutas will arrive. We have seen so many people passing away. Some people pass away very calmly and comfortably. They don’t feel anything. It is just a gradual change. Some people have to struggle. The end must be very comfortable. This is our endeavor and where there are names of Krishna, being non-different from Krishna Himself, they should spread the peaceful attitude in the whole of life. Passion should be decreased completely to the minimum except that we are showing passionate mood in the service of Krishna . In service we have to be active. Otherwise our whole being must be exhibiting by now complete peace and this is how we try to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth. As soon as we chant the Mahamantra or a few lines of the kirtana, all peace is pervaded. The names of the Lord being completely transcendental, they do not have any material inebriates in them. The three modes of material nature are completely absent. We are following this culture for the past 25 or 30 years and now is the time our devotional service should mature. Maturity must be exhibited and by understanding these things we can very well exhibit maturity. Even without understanding, the kirtan gives us peace.
We sing the kirtana, ‘jaya radha maadhava..’ We are very clear in mind that the glorification is the monopoly of the Supreme Absolute Truth. We can never have glorification. We are completely consumed and contaminated by the three modes. Somehow or the other, the major part of the day we should try to come out of the modes and the only way is to glorify the Lord through these kirtans.
We sing ‘jaya yashoda nandana..’ and the literal meaning of ‘Yasoda’ is one who gives us the fame. ‘Yash’ means ‘fame’ and this one of the opulence of the Supreme Lord and this opulence we can never have unless we have unflinching faith in the process and thereby in Krishna . We must cultivate unmoving faith. Our constitutional position being parts and parcels of Krishna , there is no other way but to serve the Absolute truth. We may have any one of the relationships with the Lord out of the five relationships. Shantha, daasya, sakhya, vaatsalya and madhurya. All these relationships can very well be realized just by being peaceful. That is the first relationship.
As soon as we see His energies, unknowingly we become peaceful. Suppose we see the mass of water, in beaches, we feel the peace. There is no reason why we should go there but everybody loves to go there. Somehow or the other we are attracted because the mass of water is His energy and not only that, when we deeply think about it, the sea appears calm and this increases our calm attitude. As son as this calmness is introduced in our lives, nothing disturbs us, and any situation we face, we are cool and there are no ripples in our lives. The unnecessary ripples are caused by the lower modes. There are millions of combinations of the three modes and almost non-stop they trouble us. And every time we have to keep them quiet. This is a continuous endeavor. Srimad Bhagavatham says, ‘grnatas ca sva-ceshtitam’. We accept by our own endeavor.
‘Yashoda’ gives us unparalleled fame and every living entity is struggling for that. I want to be famous; you want to be famous but we do not know that this opulence is given by Mother Yasoda. And why is this opulence given by her? Because she is the mother of Krishna . And we very well know from our experience that cow can only produce calf. Hog will produce hog. Equal species can have the same type of children of the same species. Yasoda must be belonging to Krishna’s species. Unless she is Krishna’s species, He will not accept her as His mother. And Krishna’s species means sat, cit and anand. Eternity is there. Complete knowledge is there and because eternity and knowledge are there, the third thing is bound to be there and it is bliss.
There is an ocean of difference between happiness and bliss. All the living entities who are completely and constantly in touch with Krishna, through His names, through Srila Prabhupada’s literatures and through so much other spiritual infrastructure, their ‘yash’ or fame increases. We may have riches but riches and opulence are completely different. We may own so many material things, but opulence means that with all these facilities, we are unflinchingly attached to the devotional service of Krishna . This devotional service is non different from Krishna. In the spiritual world, the process and the goal are the same. We are discussing about Him and he is very well present here and that is why we are keeping quiet and listening. Real opulence means we are saturated with Krishna and this comes by undeviated attention ( ananya cetaah satatam) and this gives us the opulence of fame. But the conditions required are very serious. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita 8.14, the Lord says,
ananya-cetaah satatam / yo maam smarati nityasah
tasyaaham sulabhah paartha / nitya-yuktasya yoginah
"For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Paartha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service."
Each word in the verse being Krishna Himself are very very potent. Our mind has two qualities. Flickering (cancalam) and unsteady (asthiram).We have to make it steady. Enough of monkey behaviour we had. Now is the time to make it steady. The mind must cooperate with us. As soon as the mind cooperates with us, and we have unflinching faith in devotional service, then that will force us to be completely steady and peaceful. We are not disturbed by the ups and downs of life. Always there will be some waves of the modes of material nature, but people who are unflinchingly attached to devotional service are not affected, and this is the opulence.
Maharaj went on to explain how the opulence brings us bliss and the realization of Krishna and I shall try to post it in the subsequent mails.
The Thief of Time
aayur harati vai pumsaam / udyann astam ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-kshano neeta / uttama-shloka vaartayaa
"Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead."
In his transcendental purport, Srila Prabhupada explains:
"This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold."
Very often in devotional service, we always give excuses for not reading Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.. The main reason we give is "time". 'If only I have more time!!'. The fascinating thing that we discover that when we suddenly have "more time", it is quickly taken up. The "new" time we have is somehow eaten up. It's hard to put our finger on it - material society is such that life has become complicated and unnecessarily busy. We rarely have anyone say that they have plenty of time on their hands. We always complain that there aren't enough hours in a day. Every living entity has exactly the same number of minutes - 1,440 minutes in a day. The truth is that everybody wants more time but everybody has all the time there is. It is the one that the poorest beggar on the street or the most powerful person in the world has exactly the same amount of. Everyone starts each new day with a bag filled with 1440 minutes. The problem is the existence of a "thief" - a thief who steals time from us.
At the start of every new day, a bag full of minutes is delivered to us and at that very moment onwards, the thief of time strikes at our hearts. He will rob us of our valuable time with the Supreme Lord Krishna, to do our daily chanting and reading of scriptures. This thief's name is 'Later', and he has dedicated his 'life' to stealing the living entity's time. Whenever he meets somebody who wants to engage in the process of devotional service, he says, ".. Very good. But not today. Today you should clean your car, spend time with your family, catch up on your sleep". He will urge you to do anything and everything except devotional service - that comes later! The truth is that there is no way for us to progress in devotional service until we deal with this creature. His power lies in his stealth; if you see him you have him beaten.
Therefore, as our beloved Guru Maharaj says: "No matter how small a step towards devotional service - start it now and do not delay." If the task is too great - break it down into small parts. We must be involved in a daily battle with "later" in devotional service. He must not allow us to be robbed of the chance to engage in the transcendental service of the Lord.
In the Bhagavad-gita (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: "Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears."
Friday, January 30, 2009
Simplicity
amaanitvam adambhitvam / ahimsaa kshaantir aarjavam
aacaaryopaasanaḿ shaucam / sthairyam aatma-vinigrahah
"Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control" are some of the important qualities which Krishna is declaring to be knowledge.
Here the quality - aarjavam is worth meditating. Srila Prabhupada gives very nice definition for this word in his purport to the above verse. He says - "Simplicity means that without diplomacy one should be so straightforward that he can disclose the real truth even to an enemy."
Our life should be simple. The way we think should be simple. Our speech and actions should be simple. Our interaction with other living entities must also be simple. Only when we are in this position, we will be able to peacefully and blissfully perform devotional service. On the other hand if we are having duplicit nature, then we will be constantly meditating on how to revenge/retaliate other living entities and there will hardly be any room for Krishna in our thoughts, heart or even in our homes.
Devotional service is simple for simple-hearted people and complex for the complicated souls. We can see this practically in children. They are innocent and their hearts are not filled with anarthas like us and so they pick up the process of bhakti at a greater speed than compared to us. I was fortunate to have the association of few young devotees from a village near Chennai and I was casually asking each one of them how many rounds they chant - Those devotees were in the age group of 5 to 12 and each one of them were saying 8,12,16 etc. One boy among them was chanting 40 rounds daily. I was simply surprised when he said that. His friend immediately remarked that he spent all his spare time chanting - and that's why he was able to chant at least 40 rounds. Here I was struggling to chant 16 rounds daily and even on days when I had spare time - I didn't bother to chant extra rounds and even when I did, it indeed requires a great effort to convince my obstinate mind to chant those extra rounds - in spite of knowing the importance of Holy Names.
Another practical experience many of us would have experienced is that children learn the shlokas faster than us. Basic reason being the children are more eager and receptive to hear about the Lord whereas our minds are not 100% present there when we do it . We think about ‘n’ different things and engage ourselves superficially in this process. Since we keep complicating our lives with so many things, even after years of practice - we are not able to relish the process of chanting or study of scriptures. So how to improve our fabric of devotional service ? Maharaj always insists upon giving this valuable gift of bhakti to the next generation - Reality is he very well knows our complex minds and that’s why is insisting on us to take association of simple children and in the process of teaching them shlokas, bhajans etc, we not only get into the habit of studying the scriptures and also practically learn from them how to simply love Krishna. Couple of weeks back in one of the classes, one child was telling me happily that she had invited Krishna for her sister's b'day party. Indeed Krishna would have been very pleased by her loving gesture and I was just wondering how many times I have missed to talk to Krishna with the same loving mood like her. I thank Gurudev and Krishna for the association of such children and hope that I give away all complex thoughts and approach the Lord with simple heart like these children and perform sincere devotional service.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
No Arguments Against Vedic Literature
etaavad uktvopararaama tan mahad / bhutam nabholingam alingam ishvaram
aham ca tasmai mahataam mahiyase / shirsnaavanaamam vidadhe ‘nukampitah
Then that supreme authority, personified by sound and unseen by eyes, but most wonderful, stopped speaking. Feeling a sense of gratitude, I offered my obeisances unto Him, bowing my head.
Purport: That the Personality of Godhead was not seen but only heard does not make any difference. The Personality of Godhead produced the four Vedas by his breathing and He is seen and realized through the transcendental sound of the Vedas. Similarly, the Bhagavad Gita is the sound representation of the Lord, and there is no difference in identity. The conclusion is that the Lord can be seen and heard by persistent chanting of the transcendental sound.
Anyone who does the transcendental vibration they will never go wrong. Vibrations are very important. By vibrating the verses of Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad Gita we can achieve perfection in pronouncing the vibrations. This matter is very much settled by the verse 1.6.25 Vibration is the way to see Krishna. This is settled matter. No arguments. Nirnayam – decided matter. No appeal.. If we can develop faith in these transcendental vibrations our devotional service will increase leaps and bounds. We should not object the Vedic literature and that is Vedic culture. It is called ved vakya which is never to be questioned or argued. Each and every phase of the purport is very important and we have to realize these statements.
The whole Srimad Bhagavatam has got a general purpose – It is included in this verse
Each and every canto has got a specific purpose – It is included in this verse.
Each and every chapter has got a specific purpose – It is included in this verse.
Each and every verse has got a specific purpose – It is included in this verse
Each and every word has got a specific purpose – It is included in this verse.
There is no other literature with so much of vast literature available in this planet. It is important to think about these things. Srimad Bhagavatam is exclusively meant for conditioned souls. We are all conditioned souls and also reconditioned. TV/AC/Fridge are reconditioning us always. Therefore in order to get out of this conditioned and reconditioned life this Vedic literature is very important. Nobody can disagree with anything mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatham. We don’t require anything else in this world except Srimad Bhagavatam. We have to have unflinching faith in the Vedic literature. By this process we will increase our devotional service.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Krishna - The All Wonderful Absolute Person
sthity-udbhavaantam bhuvana-trayasya yah
samihite 'nanta-gunah sva-leelayaa
na tasya citram para-paksha-nigrahas
tathaapi martyaanuvidhasya varnyate
"For Him who orchestrates the creation, maintenance and destruction of the three worlds and who possesses unlimited spiritual qualities, it is hardly amazing that He subdues an opposing party. Still, when the Lord does so, imitating human behavior, sages glorify His acts."
Though the Lord is all powerful and can do anything He likes, even small (from His point of view) deeds such as killing demons are glorified as wonderful because of the following reasons.
- For devotees who forget that the Lord is the Absolute Truth (because of their excessive love for Him), these superhuman activities appear wonderful because they see the Lord as their companion and not the Supreme Person.
- For others who do not recognize Him as the Absolute Truth and consider Him to be just a powerful human being, these activities sound very wonderful because they cannot be imitated by normal human beings.
- For great sages and scholars, the Lord's activities are wonderful because they are completely spiritual (beyond the material modes) and just by hearing them, one can attain liberation from birth and death. Nowhere, we have the instance of a person becoming liberated by hearing somebody's activities. In Bhagavatam, the pastimes of baby Krishna stealing the butter etc in Vrindavan is described in a few shlokas. Everyday many living enitities in this material world steal. But great sages like Sukadev Goswami do not glorify them or record them in the scriptures. Also we cannot attain liberation by listening to our pastimes.
- All His activities are wonderful because whatever the Lord does is beneficial to all living entities. When He kills the demons, the demons attain liberation from material sufferings being purified by the Lord's direct touch. People who hear about such activities also become purified and walk straight on the path back to Godhead. In this regard, Srila Prabhupada writes - "God is Absolute. So even His killing is good. When He becomes angry at someone, even His object of anger is blessed". So all His actions are nothing but expression of His compassion towards all living entities. We should submissively study the scriptures with faith to appreciate this fact.
It is because of this reason the Lord makes a solemn declaration in Bhagavad Gita verse 4.9
janma karma ca me divyam / evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktvaa deham punar janma / naiti maam eti'so arjuna
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.
In this regard Maharaj was explaining to us in Rajkot, "Why to think about His creation of this world? If we just see our body, we can understand that Krishna is adbhuta karmanah. Our mouth is the most sophisticated plumbing system. It produces the exact amount of saliva required to digest the food. There is food pipe, wind pipe inside our body. When I eat and breath at the same time, the food never goes to the wind pipe. It is so perfectly arranged. The blood vessels in our body are so much intertwined and they work in perfect co-ordination to ensure continuous pumping of blood throughout our body. In this way, if we just study our body we can understand that Krishna's acts/creation are wonderful. No one can imitate His actions."
All we need to do is to submissively study and hear His glorious activities and by such purification process we can reach His lotus feet.
I pray at the lotus feet of Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada so that I will get some taste and faith in listening to the pastimes of the Supreme Lord and get purified.
Taking Shelter Of Scriptures
Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.1.2 very nicely glorifies the beauty of Bhagavatam and also about the qualifications required for us to understand this great scripture.
dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsaraanaam sataam
vedyam vaastavam atra vastu shivadam taapa-trayonmulanam
shrimad-bhaagavate mahaa-muni-krte kim vaa parair ishvarah
sadyo hrdy avarudhyate 'tra krtibhih shushrusubhis tat-kshanaat
"Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhagavata Puraana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyasadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart."
The quality of the person who will be able to understand the message revealed through the scriptures is very clear defined in this verse. Only if we are 100% pure in heart - nirmatsaraanam - non-envious, then we would be able to understand the message of Bhagavatam. We would not be able to gain any kind of knowledge or instruction from the scriptures - either by possessing the scriptures at home, or by reading it in challenging mood. Unless we are simple and straight forward in our thoughts, words and deeds, we will not be able to even touch the scriptures. It is not only important to seek shelter of scriptures, it is equally more important to follow the instructions provided in them.
In verse 16.23 of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna very nicely explains the position of those who don't follow the scriptural injunctions.
yah shaastra-vidhim utsrjya / vartate kaama kaaratah
na sa siddhim avaapnoti / na sukham na paraam gatim
He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.
In his purport to the above verse, Srila Prabhupada very nicely explains the meaning for whimsical nature and also the result of this attitude - "The word 'kaama-kaaratah' is very significant. A person who knowingly violates the rules acts in lust. He knows that this is forbidden, but still he acts. This is called acting whimsically. He knows that this should be done, but still he does not do it; therefore he is called whimsical. Such persons are destined to be condemned by the Supreme Lord. Such persons cannot have the perfection which is meant for the human life."
By the mercy of spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, Sri Krishna and Srimad Bhagavatam - we are provided with all the details of what needs to be done and what should not be done. Even after knowing these instructions, if we are lethargic and negligent in following them - then we are digging our own graves. I pray at the lotus feet of Srila Gurudev to bless me to to take shelter of the scriptures sincerely and to give up this whimsical nature.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Go Green
tokaanaam pitarau bandhu / drshah pakshma striyaah patih
patih prajaanaam bhikshunaam / grhy ajnaanaam budhah suhrt
"As the father and mother are the friends and maintainers of their children, as the eyelid is the protector of the eye, as the husband is the maintainer and protector of a woman, as the householder is the maintainer and protector of beggars, and as the learned is the friend of the ignorant, so the king is the protector and giver of life to all his subjects. The trees are also subjects of the king. Therefore they should be given protection."
antar deheshu bhutaanaam / aatmaaste harir ishvarah
sarvam tad-dhishnyam ikshadhvam / evam vas toshito hy asau
If we are unable to help anyone, at least we must refrain from hurting them. So even if we don't plant and grow trees, let us not indulge in the sinful act of killing them but rather protect the existing trees in whatever way we can for His pleasure.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
How To Relish Transcendental Vibration?
To relish the transcendental vibrations we should remember the verse S.B 8.19.26.,so that our mind is focused on the vibrations.
yadrcchaa-laabha-tushtasya / tejo viprasya vardhate
tat prashaamyaty asantoshaad / ambhasevaashushukshanih
"A brahmana who is satisfied with whatever is providentially obtained is increasingly enlightened with spiritual power, but the spiritual potency of a dissatisfied brahmana decreases, as fire diminishes in potency when water is sprinkled upon it."
Tej means spiritual potency. The spiritual potency increases as we are satisfied in our situation. We should be completely satisfied and never blame anything. We are suffering for our own activities which we have done.
bhunjaana evaatma aatma krtam vipaakam
- (SB 10.14.8) This is our condition. For the reactions of our activities we suffer. Either enjoyment or miserable condition.This is vipaakam (reactions to our activities). Once we come to this conclusion then we close the material accounts by being satisfied. If we are not satisfied then material accounts continue, but then we don't want to continue our material accounts. It must be stopped or reduced to a minimum. This is santosh.
We are waiting to see the Lord at the time of death, whatever condition we are in - whether we are sinful or not. The devotees are not scared of death instead they are happy to see the Lord. That’s why their spiritual potency does not decrease. On the contrary, the spiritual potency increases because of santosh. To get santosh we should accept the material things as they are, and again that which cannot be changed should be accepted as such.
In shastras it is mentioned
santosha trishu kartavyah / svadhaare bhojane dhane
santosha trishu na kartavyah / svaadhyaah japa dhaanayoh
"One should be always satisfied with these three things - their spouse, the food, and the amount of wealth they obtained. One should never be satisfied with these three things - the amount of scriptural study, the amount of chanting and the amount of charity they performed."
In these three things we should be satisfied - Svadhaare, Bhojane, Dhane. We should be satisfied with our life partner,food and money - For satisfaction gives all opulences. If we are dissatisfied in these three things then our spiritual potency decreases. This is asantosh. Then we start hankering. With this hankering we cannot relish the transcendental vibrations. The gist is that in order to relish the transcendental vibration we should be satisfied completely.These instructions should continuously remain in our mind, so that this material account is completely closed.
I pray to the Lotus feet of our Gurudev, Prabhupad and Sri Krishna that i remain satisfied in all aspects so that i could relish the transcendental vibrations.
What Is In A Name?
While describing the life of Ajamila to Maharaj Parikshit Sukadev Goswami says in Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.26 -
bhunjaanah prapiban khaadan / baalakam sneha- yantritah
bhojayan paayayan mudho / na vedaagatam antakam
"When Ajamila chewed food and ate it, he called the child to chew and eat, and when he drank he called the child to drink also. Always engaged in taking care of the child and calling his name, Naarayana, Ajamila could not understand that his own time was now exhausted and that death was upon him."
Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to SB 6.1.25 that although Ajamila was referring to the small child and not to the original Narayana, the name of Narayana is so powerful that even by chanting his son’s name he was becoming purified. Prabhupada also mentions that Ajamila was saying, ‘Narayana, please come eat this food. Narayana, please come drink this milk.’ Somehow or the other therefore he was attached to the name Narayana. This is called ajnaana sukriti. Then in his purport to SB 6.1.26 Srila Prabhupada makes a very very powerful statement which is worth remembering by all of us. Although calling for his son, he was unknowingly chanting the name of Narayana, and the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so transcendentally powerful that his chanting was being counted and recorded.
How much kind the Lord is to the conditioned souls like us? This reminds us of the statement by our beloved Guru maharaj , ‘whatever condition you are in, please chant on japa mala beads. If you cannot chant on the beads, then at least chant on your fingers and if you cannot chant on your fingers, at least start chanting and KRISHNA WILL COUNT for you.’
Ajamila was engaged in so much abominable sinful activities and the question arises in our mind as to how he could name his son as ‘Narayana’ to become eligible for all this fortune. Srila Prabhupada gives a wonderful explanation in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatham 6.2.32
‘In the beginning of his life Ajamila was certainly very pure, and he associated with devotees and brahmanas.; because of that pious activity, even though he was fallen, he was inspired to name his son Narayana. Certainly this was due to good counsel given from within by the Supreme Personality Of Godhead. The Lord, who is situated in everyone’s heart, is so kind that if one has ever rendered service to Him, the Lord never forgets him. Thus the Lord, from within, gave Ajamila the opportunity to name his youngest son Narayana, so that in affection he would constantly call ‘Narayana! Narayana!’ and thus be saved from the most fearful and dangerous condition at the time of his death. Such is the mercy of Krishna. In our Krishna consciousness movement we therefore change a devotee’s name to a form that reminds him of Vishnu. If at the time of death the devotee can remember his own name, such as Krishna dasa or Govinda dasa, he can be saved from the greatest danger. Therefore the change of names at the time of initiation is essential. The Krishna consciousness movement is so meticulous that it gives one a good opportunity to remember Krishna somehow or other.’
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