Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Monday, July 24, 2017

Adhokshaja

I like this description, Such clarity!

In his Sat Sandarba, Srila Jiva Goswami defines adhokshaja like this: The Godhead,Krishna,is He who has reserved the absolute right not to expose Himself to mundane human senses. Adhokshaja refers to that which cannot be measured by one's material senses. When that transcendental knowledge reveals itself to our service-inclined senses, only then will we realize it; otherwise, even the best students in the world cannot even partially know the science of Krishna. That science cannot be learned through sadhana, by the best forms of intelligence, or the best powers of deliberation.

Despite this, many people rush to discuss it with an enjoying spirit, considering it a mundane philosophy or text. The Absolute Truth is never revealed to such people. We cannot measure objects of the fourth or fifth dimension with our present material sense devises. Being unable to do so, we often heave a sigh of relief with phrases like "To the infinity." Vaikuntha, or the transcendental object, is of the fourth dimension. Because we are unable to perceive Him, we want to turn Him into something "impersonal." But the transcendental Absolute Truth is never impersonal.

- by His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takur Prabhupada, Sarasvati Samlapa, page 77

Hare Krishna

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Hear Krishna! Chant Krishna! See Krishna! Serve Krishna!

Letters combine to form words. Words combine to form sentences. Combination of sentences express an idea. It is like music. Music is actually made up of fundamental notes (basic notes), combined we get myriad musical notes which invoke in us the emotion of happiness, sadness, anger, patriotism, love etc. The same is true when a speaker has a knack to combine words and sentences in such a way to invoke a certain emotion within our hearts.

Adolf Hitler had such sinister motives that merely through his speeches; he could sway his troops to follow his ideology. To this day, in America, if a layman utters the phrase “I have a dream…” immediately people will recall the famed speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. This is almost ubiquitous. His speech stirred the emotions of people so much that to this day, people remember him with those four initial words. When Neil Armstrong put his first step on the moon, his famous line “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is a memory etched in the follower of modern science. “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country” rocketed Kennedy to the White House. Words and combination of it, history has shown, can invoke such action that it can change a person or community or nation for the good or for the bad. Hence, the scriptures stress the importance of hearing followed by chanting.

When spiritual sound is combined in an artistic way to express an idea that will lead us to act spiritually, then such sound is powerful. Self-realized souls who are constantly in touch with the supersoul have the ability to speak and inspire just about anyone. It is important to hear from them. Srila Prabhupada although not a trained scientist, still engaged many scientists’ in a meaningful way because he spoke in an artistic way to capture the minds of the scientists at the same time delivering his spiritual message despite their unwillingness to do so. By hearing sincerely, one’s intelligence about the non-physical becomes more of a reality. If mundane words can invoke deep emotions of the past, present and future, certainly words glorifying Swayam Bhagavan Sri Krishna is supremely powerful that it can burn away all misgivings of the individual and set the individual on a journey with an emotion full of unending magic and joy!

Hear Krishna! Chant Krishna! See Krishna! Serve Krishna!
Hare Krishna

Monday, July 10, 2017

leadership style

How to be a diplomat and at the same time not duplicitous? I think this is the art of ambassadorship. It is also the art of negotiating and leadership. A leader especially a Kshatriya type leader is trained to cultivate this art of diplomacy without duplicity. I believe today we have more duplicity than diplomacy. Unfortunately, it is very hard to tell the difference. Henceforth, people in general do not trust their leaders anymore or at the least have a dubious outlook. If we want a leader to be respected and trustworthy, then the leader should establish his or her agenda clearly, follow up on it periodically in a transparent manner with verifiable statements. To me, this type of leadership invokes trust. So when such a leader is behaving diplomatically and may seem duplicitous, still it will not create doubt as we are aware of their leadership style.

I think Srila Prabhupada was like this. He always was clear in his speeches, letters, projects, and his day-to-day dealings with people (big, small, disciples, non-disciples). Such straightforward and consistent dealings puts people at ease and any doubt that may exist will soon dissipate. People may not agree or even understand fully our philosophy but if they see our dealings as simple and straight, then they will certainly value our words. Everyone is a leader, i think, and should take it upon themselves to practice simplicity and straightforwardness (not rude) with everyone.

Hare Krishna