The Emperor of Saints

Two weeks back, followers of Srila Prabhupada, celebrated his disappearance day - a man in my opinion who single handedly reached out to the world in genuine compassion and a desire to elevate people to a spiritual consciousness of life, specifically called Krishna consciousness. A man despite repeated failures, personal health problems and myriad obstacles did not stop till the goal was reached.

Prabhupada perfectly fits the famous quote of Swami Vivekananda - Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached. Of course Prabhupada was always transcendental and very much awake from mundane dualities. However the way he pursued his goal is what appeals to my psyche. His goal was to distribute the topmost spiritual treasure to the mundane masses for a very minimal fee. The highest spiritual treasure is love of God and the minimal fee is chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha mantra. He tirelessly traveled around the globe 14 times at a ripe age of seventy, tirelessly wrote more than 80 volumes of transcendental literature and opened more than 100 temples across the globe.

In my opinion, the difference between Prabhupada and all the sadhus and swamis of India is that Prabhupada was not just satisfied that he become liberated but he was concerned more for the suffering of his fellow men that he wanted them also liberated. In India, there are many renunciates and sadhus who practice intense austerities such as no sleep or food and claim union with divine through contact with Brahman. They also claim to have the powers to heal the sick, see the past & future, solve material problems of their devotees etc. However, none of them have the power or capacity to liberate their sympathizers from birth and death through purification of material desires and cultivation of bhakti to Govinda. Unless one abandons material desires and cultivate devotional tendencies towards Mukunda, there is no question of mukti or liberation from material suffering.

There is no sadhu or swami now or in the past from India or anywhere who can parallel Prabhuada’s feat of converting so many hippies all over the world into genuine lovers of God completely free from intoxication, drugs, meat eating, gambling and illicit sex. One cannot genuinely love God unless one has the experience of the Divine and that experience was practically possible only by the mercy and purity of a divine saint such as Srila Prabhupada. This is not merely a sentiment but a fact.

So sadhus may come and sadhus may go (especially in India) but Prabhupada’s contribution and glory will go on forever. Any man who is serious to understand the science of God has to come under the umbrella of Prabhupada for he presents the highest principles of spiritual life in the most simplest form to the most common man of this world. It only takes the onlooker to accept with folded palms. No other saint, swami or sadhu can take such a credit.

Henceforth, in my humble opinion, His Divine Grace Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada stands out among saints as the Emperor of Saints and all other saints including their followers should prostrate at his lotus feet – the etymology of his name - at whose lotus feet (pada) all masters (prabhus) sit.

As far as I am concerned, I will bow down to his lotus feet now and forever!

Jai Srila Prabhupada!!

Hare Krishna

Giri Govardhan Maharaj ki jay!

Today is the most auspicious day where Krishna lifts Giri Govardhan to protect His devotees from Lord Indra's wrath. The story goes something like this.

Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who controls and maintains this universe. Lord Indra is the secondary ruler subservient to Krishna. However, Lord Indra became proud of his powers and Krishna to teach Him a good lesson dissuaded the residents of Vrindavan from paying their dues to Indra. Instead Krishna ordered the residents to pay their respects to the Hill Govardhan for Govardhan provided all fruits, herbs, and vegetables for the cows and people. So saying this, Krishna with all the residents prepared enormous amounts of food to offer to Govardhan. It is said that Krishna is non-different from Govardhan Hill. So all the offering that were made was partaken by Krishna in the form of the Hill. This is one of His mystical pastimes. The residents all were satisfied seeing Krishna happy and went back to their respective homes.

Because Krishna denied Indra his respect, intoxicated with power and forgetting Krishna's Supremacy, decided to kill the residents of Vrindavan by sending torrents of rain. Krishna, in order to protect the residents, decided to lift the Hill as an umbrella with His left pinky finger so all of the residents could come and stand beneath for protection. It was during this time that Srimati Radharani and Krishna exchanged loving glances for seven consecutive days - the duration Krishna lifted the Hill.

Finally Indra comes to his senses and seeks forgiveness from Krishna. To commemorate this wonderful pastime and to remember Krishna's love for His devotees, devotees of Krishna across the world offer numerous food items for Krishna in the form of Govardhan.

For my part I decided to do the same.

Initially I wanted to cook on saturday but then I got inspired to cook today as it is this day Krishna displayed His super human act of lifting the Hill. So I decided to cook today. Below are the pictures my wife took of the items I offered. 

A total of five offerings plus water. I offered sooji halava, blackforest cake, kichdi, samosa and cucumber raita

 I made halava the Hill with Radha and Krishna on top.

I offered mixed vegetable kichdi.

A black & white photo rendering by my wife of the kichdi, blackforest cake with Tulsi Maharani in the background.

Just the black forest cake with Tulsi Maharani in the background.

A slice of the cake.

Samosa

Hare Krishna

Pleasing Krishna is our goal of life

We must not be disappointed that no one is hearing Krsna consciousness. We will say it to the moon and stars and all directions. We will cry in the wilderness, because Krsna is everywhere. We want to get a certificate from Krsna that, "This man has done something for Me.' Not popularity. If a pack of asses says you are good, what is that? We have to please Krsna's senses with purified senses.

- Srila Prabhupada

There is enough doubt in modern scientific theories that...

Modern scientists are very proud of their scientific advancement. They may have made advancement in making things faster, smaller and efficient, but still science has not answered with categorical difference to fundamental questions such as - where did we come from? and how was the universe created? Despite so called advancements, scientists are yet to find conclusive answers. Of course, they have their speculative theories, however mere speculations and suggestive evidences cannot be considered science. There is enough doubt in modern science today concerning fundamental ideas of existence that we have to rely on answers elsewhere. Below is a discussion where H.H.Danavir Goswami is exposing the gaps in modern scientific theories and methods.

Professor Uetola: But the point I am trying to make is that if I am not wrong, in the Bhagavatam it speaks of quite perverted positions of the sun, earth and moon asserting that the sun is closer to the earth than is the moon. What would prove to you that the Puranic description of these planets is defective, wrong? And if it were proven to you that the sun was further from the earth than the moon, what implications would that produce in turn for the followers of the Bhagavatam?

H.H.Danavir Goswami: Necessary and sufficient conditions. Quite scientific - how do they measure distances in space? How will I know that the space vehicle is actually going as fast as it is said? How is that provable to me? How can I be sure? It is said that the spaceship is travelling so fast...

Prof Uetola: 2,000

H.H.Danavir Goswami: Okay, 2,000 miles per hour. How can I be sure that the spaceship is actually going that fast and covering so much distance? How can we verify that? I am going to be a very demanding scientist now. That is the first concern. I want to be sure that the method of calculating distance and speed is something verifiable. Not that I just have to take someone's word for it, that is not science.

Just as a courtroom judge does not accept derelicts or bribed witnesses, similarly, I will require substantial and trustworthy witnesses who are not supported and paid by the scientists and politicians. Then while these persons are up there on the moon, they should display something grand which could be readily observable by scientists and laymen on earth. Then I would have some faith that they went to the moon. Otherwise Star Wars showed that you can make something appear to be real in space when in truth it is not necessarily that way.

The next item. In order to scientifically prove that the moon is indeed closer to the earth than is the sun, we would require someone to go to the sun also and measure the distance. That may be a little difficult. (laughs). The spaceship will burn up. By the method of pratyaksha, direct perception, it is not possible to prove because you would have to come back with this distance meter, and nobody will come back from the sun. After visiting the sun, none of our earthlings will make it back what to speak of the airplane. 

There is no verifiable evidence to prove that theories which may have some validity under certain conditions such as red shift and Doppler will apply in outer space where those necessary conditions may be absent. Who is able to say that those conditions are present in outer space without having been there? Modern scientists may hope so but hoping is not science. Modern science has taken help from Hollywood in staging its mind-grabbing galactic theories which have no proof. Each year dubious quasars find themselves further away from tiny earth, now more than 16 billion light years away. That's pretty interesting and attractive stuff but there is no evidence - just total speculation. And yet because scientists have invented some big words, and the Hubble telescope - they say that this is science and we have to accept it. If you don't accept it then you are hopelessly ignorant.

Darwin's theory is of the same principle. Dig up some bones and interpret what happened millions of years ago. How do you know? You are here with only some bones and your speculative bias. 

Hare Krishna

Invisible spirit

The power to see does not come from the eye, the power to hear does not come from the ear, nor the power to feel from the nerves; but it is the spirit of man that sees through the eye, hears with the ear, and feels by means of the nerves. Wisdom and reason and thought are not contained in the brain, but belong to the invisible spirit which feels through the heart and thinks by means of the brain.

- Paracelsus 15th century philosopher

Maya provides infinite opportunities

I was thinking and this thought came to me. I thought I can record this.

Srila Prabhupada once said, I remember reading, that Maya or the creative energy of the Lord is good as the Lord. Maya Shakti is a shadow of Lord Krishna. Just as Krishna is unlimited, so is His shadow Maya. The main purpose Krishna uses Maya is to make sure the living beings continue to be in illusion within this world. Why, one may ask? Because the living beings do not want to surrender to Lord Krishna, therefore, Krishna has created this elaborate labyrinth of space within this material creation so living beings can imitate Krishna and continue to enjoy. When we voluntarily decide to give up this enjoying tendency, then Krishna will remove His Maya Shakti upon us. So on our own, we cannot come out of Maya. We have to surrender to Krishna to get out of this labyrinth.

On the flip side, whoever does not want to give up enjoying, can create infinite opportunities to enjoy within this material creation or this Kingdom of Maya. There are infinite opportunities because Maya is unlimited as the shadow of Krishna. The only pitfall is that Maya is temporary. Therefore while we may enjoy the infinite opportunities to exploit Maya and come on top and feel euphoric of ourselves, still it is temporary. This temporariness is the ultimate truth here. This temporariness will hit us one day as death. So a sober individual will not voluntarily experiment the infinite opportunities within the Kingdom of Maya and become intoxicated, rather He will see through the dense fog of temporary realities and reach out for a permanent solution. That permanence can be found only in Krishna.

Hare Krishna