this is happening all around us...

Sometimes I think we are too cloistered from the real world like a world inside another world. We have our gadgets, car, home, insurance, etc. We get information sanitized by vested interests. Our education system is rigged towards science. So like this, the real world which is operating on its’ own terms is not visible or at best tainted to our understanding.

As I was taking a break and casually looking out through the window, I saw a small tiny bird mercilessly following an insect and slowly devouring it. Yet the insect is trying to get away. At that point, if you think about it, a soul just left an insect body to take another one. This all happened in one or two seconds tops. So yes death and birth is happening ubiquitously and yet we are not in-tune to see this part of reality. But somehow when a human or when a person we know dies, we suddenly feel the surge of loss or feel how this world is temporary etc.

Factually speaking, it is happening every second all around us. Unfortunately, we are just too preoccupied with our own thoughts about success and failure and joy and fear. This reminds me of a verse from the Bhagavatam;

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. 

- SB 10.14.58

Certainly, the insect took its dangerous step and perished. I pray that when my dangerous step arrives, that I am able to focus my internal mind at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Murari!

Hare Krishna

Seeking Benefit

We all seek some sort of benefit or favor. There are two distinct ways.

One way is solely by using our physical strength, mental acumen. intelligence quotient, money, resources, relationships and networks. In this, there is no trace of Krishna.

The other way is primarily taking instructions from Krishna (through shastra and guru) and accordingly use our strength and intelligence.

I think both are mutually exclusive. It is a matter of choice and depending on the way, our benefits are substantive or marginal.

Hare Krishna.

Mental strength – how to?

We can be mentally strong in this world only if we are neutral (not hating or liking) to the idea of enterprise, success and opulence from this world. Instead, we work hard but happy with whatever Krishna provides because of our work.

This is the only way for mental toughness – to work hard and be detached (vairagya) while simultaneously content with Krishna's provision proportionate to our work.

Hare Krishna

Prabhupada was a master who never stopped learning

Srila Prabhupada was a deeply compassionate soul where he put his life to spread the message of Krishna. He did that till the very end without stopping or slowing down. He still woke up in the dead of night to translate Srimad Bhagavatam as a service to his guru even when he was in his last days on earth. But such determination and durability in preaching is possible only if we know when to be fast and furious and when to slow down. When to pat the person in the back and give a moral instruction on material grounds and when to give a deep philosophical exposé. It requires intelligence with compassion.

At times, Prabhupada did not speak to his guests but letting his tape recorder speak instead. Sometimes, he just played the harmonium and sang bhajan and in that way preached and sometimes he was fast and furious like the lion going for its kill. Srila Prabhupada was a master of preaching who never stopped learning from his disciples and the environment around him. Otherwise, how else can we explain the impact an old Calcutta man had on the hearts' of misguided youth of America. We have to learn from him, take lessons from the memories given by his disciples and try to humbly follow.

But one thing is for sure, if Prabhupada showed anything, he showed us blind following or blind talking about Krishna will not change the heart of the person listening. He used his intelligence and presented Krishna philosophically, critically, musically, jovially, silently, cynically etc fitting the person, time and circumstance. He did whatever it took to bring the person into the fold!

To do this, requires for us to understand our own capacity (strengths and weaknesses) and depending on our capacity, we assess the environment around us and accordingly present. This takes time because we will make many mistakes, not being hard on our self or feeling discouraged, we should continue to learn from our mistakes and other's as well and gradually cultivate the art of being a good judge of time, person and circumstance. When we are in-tune with our self and surrounding, we will have the confidence to navigate the turf. Having said all this, it is our duty to be a devotee of integrity, practice what we preach and not compromise on the principles of bhakti as given in the Bhagavad Gita. When we are aligned internally and externally, always practicing the art of shelter to Krishna, our effort to present Krishna will never go in vain!

Hare Krishna

What happens when someone genuinely seeks God?

One who seeks God genuinely...

has to seek out a bona fide spiritual master and, under him, learn what Krsna consciousness is. The spiritual master can drive away all nescience, as the sun drives away darkness. Even though a person may be in full knowledge that he is not this body but is transcendental to the body, he still may not be able to discriminate between the soul and the Supersoul. However, he can know everything well if he cares to take shelter of the perfect, bona fide Krsna conscious spiritual master. One can know God and one's relationship with God only when one actually meets a representative of God. 
- Purport by Srila Prabhupada, Bhagavad Gita 5.16

Once the genuine seeker understands his or her relationship with God from a bonafide guru, the seeker will engage in Bhakti/seva to Krishna or God. As as result of bhakti or seva to Krishna, the following will happen;


For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Prtha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
- Bhagavad Gita 12.6-7

The story of Dhruva Maharaj illustrates these two points nicely!

Hare Krishna

Anyone qualified can realize the Supreme Truth - what is the qualification?

In my last post I alluded little bit to other religions and scriptures. I also spoke about Bhagavata Puranam. The reason Bhagavata puranam and the Vedic scriptures are considered supreme than other paths or religions is because it was once (not anymore) taught by pure Brahmana devotees of the Lord whose only business was self-control and glorification of the Lord.

The Supreme Lord who is otherwise inconceivable becomes conceivable to these great Vaishnava brahmanas. So with realization, these great brahaman devotees establish truth and ethical and moral principles for common man to follow. The following qualities characterize a brahmana and only to such elevated souls Krishna reveals Himself from within their hearts thus bridging the gap between the visible and invisible.

Brahmanas are always situated in the sattva guna. They possess qualities of;

1. śama - equal mindedness or mind control
2. dama - sense control or restraint
3. satya - truthfulness
4. anugraha - mercy
5. tapasya - penance
6. titikṣā - tolerance
7. anubhava - personally realize the Lord 

Therefore, this is not a sectarian ideology. Anyone trained in these qualities can realize the supreme truth and is considered a brahmana. It is not an entitlement or birthright. 

The Vedas are My eternal transcendental sound incarnation. Therefore the Vedas are śabda-brahma. In this world, the brāhmaṇas thoroughly study all the Vedas, and because they assimilate the Vedic conclusions, they are also to be considered the Vedas personified. The brāhmaṇas are situated in the supreme transcendental mode of nature — sattva-guṇa. Because of this, they are fixed in mind control [śama], sense control [dama], and truthfulness [satya]. They describe the Vedas in their original sense, and out of mercy [anugraha] they preach the purpose of the Vedas to all conditioned souls. They practice penance [tapasya] and tolerance [titikṣā], and they realize the position of the living entity and the Supreme Lord [anubhava]. These are the eight qualifications of the brāhmaṇas. Therefore among all living entities, no one is superior to the brāhmaṇas. - SB 5.5.24

Hare Krishna

The untainted classical literature

In the Old Testament, there is the tale of Moses meeting God and God speaks through the burning bush etc. There are other stories of God speaking to Abraham or Jesus meeting God on a hill etc. However, neither the Bible nor the Koran describes the God of Abraham. We are only left with our own imagination.

In the middle ages, great painters especially Michelangelo paints God as an old man with a white beard implying God is ravaged by time yet God by definition cannot possibly be under time but above it. The same is true for Moses or Jesus or Mohammed. There is no description of how they look. When we are left with a faceless God, we are bound to speculate and invariably our speculation will result in an impersonal entity because it is impossible to imagine a God who has form and yet omnipotent. Whatever form we may think of, it will look human and thus not omnipotent. Besides it does not help if the first and second commandments of the Abrahamic religions denounces worshiping form or image. As a result of all of this, the Abrahamic tradition of religion is very human centric (anthropocentric) putting human survival and values above all with salvation as the pinnacle of human existence. They go one step more and argue that only their way is the way heralding the modern age of struggle of religious superiority.

The battle for religious superiority and bigotry has seen many wars in the crusades, internal schisms, and institutional abuse. Therefore, we have to question all this and ask if this is worth it? Unless there is a tangible and verifiable description of God and His pastimes, it is not possible to not fight on the grounds of moral self-righteousness. The ego is that powerful. Hence right in the beginning the Srimad Bhagavatam sets the standard -anyone with a trace of envy cannot and will not appreciate this great literature for this book is for the purest of souls.

In it we find such descriptive explanations about God, the concept of Godhead, His devotees, and ultimately salvation for the human spirit - pure love. Certainly no book east or west can compare to the supreme descriptions in the Bhagavatam. It is like the shining sun in the sky, any doubt about the position of God, His creation and the purpose of life that may arise in our heart at once can be quelled in the pages of the Bhagavatam. If one truly desires freedom from all suffering, one has to give up all material religions and take up to the study of the amalam puranam (the untainted classical literature).

kṛṣṇe sva-dhāmopagate
dharma-jñānādibhiḥ saha
kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām eṣa
purāṇārko ’dhunoditaḥ

This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the Age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa.

- SB 1.3.43

Hare Krishna