The Complete Person - The Sweet Krishna!

Krishna is so sweet! That is His special quality apart from all other qualities He possesses! He has so many names but all of them actually are tied to His devotees in some form. This connection embodies sweetness or mellows or bhava or rasa. This is the reason Krishna is Swayam Bhagavan. He is a complete Person or Purusa. We all want to imitate that completeness.

We want to be complete and in that sense of completeness we want to become perfect and in perfection we derive happiness. However, we can never imitate that perfection or completeness of Krishna because He has all characteristics of glory in full. Does He also have the bad characteristics we see in this world such as envy, pride, one may ask? Just as there is darkness, or shadow as a result of light, similarly these negative attributes are shadow truths of Krishna's opulent glory. In other words, darkness is simply an absence of light and envy, pride et al is simply an absence of love, humility et al.

In our desire to become all complete and perfect we in a subtle sense aspire and compete with the All Complete Krishna. But by nature we are separated and particle emanations of Krishna. Materially speaking if the whole disintegrates into parts, the whole no longer will exist in time. But the spiritual nature is the opposite. The whole remains and the parts also remain holistically. So Krishna still remains in His full blown glory and we also are full within our sphere of existence.

The ideal fullness or completeness therefore, is to fulfill our separated and particle property by subordinating to the Whole Krishna for that is indeed our constitutional nature. This subordination of energy actually will complete us and make us perfect and it is in this perfection or completeness that we will be happy.

So yes Krishna is so sweet that only He can be considered as God because it is through this sweetness that He blows His Flute and attracts the minds of all those living beings who have voluntarily agreed to use their minute energies in enhancing the sweetness of the Lord.

No other forms of God possesses this quality of sweetness and in no other forms of God is the mood of service of the minute individual beings so complete/perfect and consequently in no other relationships (mundane or spiritual) will we be satisfied, happy and blissful to the fullest!

Hare Krishna

Bonafide Authority

The Vedic scripture presents an evolution of spiritual thought towards God. It evolves from the lower stages of fear to duty conscious to love towards a Transcendent Being. Depending on our nature, there are different religious principles available to follow. If, however, we want to know and love God in all His glory then we have to follow in the footsteps of bonafide authority.

A bonafide spiritual authority is one who has submissively heard from his own spiritual master and is submissively following what his spiritual master has instructed. This lineage of teacher-student should start directly from God. Anything not this, in the strict sense cannot be considered bonafide.

Today, however, there are so many believers who do not follow any bonafide authority and hence dogmatic and sentimental. The atheistic class emerge against these dogmatism and sentimentalism. Unfortunately people see both dogmatism and fervent/genuine spiritual theology as one. But if we choose to submit to a proper authority as indicated above and submissively follow the authority, rest assured we will understand the mysteries of universal spiritual values.

Hare Krishna

A dream about Srila Prabhupada

Today is the disappearance day of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. It is on this day 15 years ago I first entered into an ISKCON Temple so this day has a sentimental value for me. Unfortunately, I am so dull I forgot that today is the disappearance day and hence did not fast half day. I will fast (half-day) tomorrow.

It is said that the appearance and disappearance of a divine person such as Srila Prabhupada should be considered the same unlike where the birth and death of a mundane person is seen as sources of joy and sorrow respectively. It is treated the same because souls such as Srila Prabhupada are completely spiritual devoid of any material contamination. They come into this world and leave this world as they please and they are not controlled or forced by the laws of karma unlike mundane people. So on this day we should pray to such great personalities for their mercy and blessings. We should pray that we clean our hearts of material desires and pray we remain humble servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna. In all circumstances we pray to fix our consciousness at the Lotus Feet of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. This sort of prayer only can benefit us, everything else not this is a burden.

On this auspicious day, I would like for the readers to read a pastime of Prabhupada that happened after his departure from this world. It happened as a dream to one of his disciples. The above picture is a painting she envisioned in her dream.

Some time after Srila Prabhupada left this world, I had a very powerful  dream….In that visionary dream, I saw Srila Prabhupada sitting on a huge lion-flanked and jewel-bedecked Vyasasana.   His Vyasasana rested  on  the brightly shimmering globe of Mother Earth, and was positioned just  above the  sacred land of India. Behind him, the vast curvature of the  earth planet was  visible. A silvery bluish-white light emanated from the center of the vision, forming a giant oval, in which Srila Prabhupada  sat.

Below him were many crowds of people–all races, nationalities, and all ages–all  the people of the world, reaching out from darkness.  They were  pointing  toward Srila Prabhupada, in awe and wonder, exclaiming, reaching out, praising,  and acknowledging him according to their various abilities.  Many were in  darkness, in worldly life, yet they were all reaching out  toward Srila Prabhupada, seeking his mercy.

Above Srila Prabhupada, in the shimmering silver-blue sky, many swan-shaped  airplanes circled. In these airplanes, devas were singing praises and showering  flowers.  Cascades of colorful blossoms tumbled down from their swan  planes, as they glorified Srila Prabhupada. With sweet sounding instruments, and  heavenly chorus, they sang “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare.  Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare…” Their joyful mood  spread throughout the universe. 

They were celebrating Lord Chaitanya’s  mission on Earth, and showering blessings upon His Senapati Bhakta, His  Commander-in-Chief, Srila Prabhupada. 

Srila Prabhupada sat regally upon the huge Vyasasana, like a lion king sits  atop a mountain.  From there he could see all the world and its  inhabitants, their sufferings, and their great need for Krishna  Consciousness.  In his mood of compassionate contemplation, he saw each  person’s needs and desires, past and present karmas, and he devised ways to  bring their hearts back to home, to love of God.

 His Vyasasana shone brightly, like a brilliant golden chariot, bedecked with  shimmering jewels.  Golden lions flanked each side of his seat, each with  piercing ruby eyes.  The Vyasasana was SO dazzling, with sparkling jewels 

of every color, that at first I could not see that something was written  there.  Then, like a camera’s zoom lens, the base of the Vyasasana came  into full focus.  As the focal point moved in onto the base, I saw, just  beneath Srila Prabhupada’s Lotus Feet, written in glittering jewels, was the  word, “ISKCON.”

As the dream faded, I was told to take color notes, and  was instructed  to paint a picture of this vision.  And the realization was transmitted to  me, that “ISKCON” is Srila Prabhupada’s Vahana, his sitting place, his carrier,  just as Lord Shiva has a bull carrier, and Ganesh a rat, and Lord Vishnu, the  glorious Eagle Garuda. 

- by H.G.Govinda Dasi (For more on the dream - please click link)

On this auspicious day, I beg Srila Prabhupada's mercy and blessings and unto all assembled Vaishnavas to bless me on my journey towards Krishna.

Hare Krishna