the glory of a true master

Things are in a constant flux in this material world. What we know as truth yesterday necessarily isn’t the same today. This is true in my personal life. How I was is nothing close to how I am. My close friends and my mother would surely be a testament for that statement. It is something like the difference between night and day. For daylight to occur and break the darkness of night, we need the mighty sun to rise in the horizon.

The sun that rose in my dark heart was the sun of Srila Prabhupada. He rose to dispel all inertia within my heart and gave me a positive momentum towards life. Forever, I am indebted to that Sun named Srila Prabhupada. He has shown a golden avenue of bright sunshine where darkness fears to tread. Now, it is up to me to steadily advance in that golden path of light. That golden path is the path of Krishna Consciousness initiated by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Krishna Himself in the mood of a devotee. His appearance day is tomorrow!

The glory of a true master is to show the right path by leading from front, and the glory of a true follower is to faithfully tread that path behind the master. I sincerely wish to be that true follower.

Hare Krishna

Instructions from His Divine Grace

April 6th, 1976

During his walk at the Ranga Gardens today Srila Prabhupada answered questions about the tendency of devotees to wear extra paraphernalia like Radha Kunda clay beads, tulasi beads interspaced with silver or gold beads, and items like the used sacred threads from the Deities, which they wrap around their wrists.

Srila Prabhupada said that the Deity threads should not be worn. It is becoming a fad throughout the Society, and the practice should be stopped. He quoted another of his very apt Bengali sayings: "A crow eats stool; but young crows eat more stool!" He said there is always a tendency, at the slightest opportunity, to revert back to being like "hippies." We should not allow it, he said. If that happens, whatever prestige we have so far will all be finished.

From the "A Transcendental Diary Vol 1" by HG Hari Sauri dasa

the eternal journey

If lines, color and shapes can tell a story...below is a series of pictures designed and created by my wife depicting the journey of the soul. (please click images for enlarged view)

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaḿ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaḿ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
BG 2.20

For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraḿ yauvanaḿ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
BG 2.13

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māḿ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaḿ te
pratijāne priyo 'si me
BG 18.65

Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.

art of living

A good artist is one who takes basic raw materials and creates something very, very beautiful. A good artist can take some dyes, some minerals from the ground and make it into paint; a good artist can take the bark of trees and make it into canvas, a cloth cotton and by combining them they make beautiful, beautiful painting. Another type of artist will take a piece of crude stone from the mountain and crave it to a beautiful, beautiful deity or a statue; another artist will just take musical notes; Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do; these seven notes and the notes between those notes and with those notes he will make a whole symphony, beautiful, beautiful song. Another artist will take just going to a jungle or a field and make it into a beautiful architectural masterpiece of gardens, homes and parks. So really what an artist is one who takes a very crude more or less useless raw materials and makes it into something so wonderful, which has a tremendous value. If you go to France there is a museum, the painting of Mona Lisa; the canvas is probably not worth more than a few marks and the paint that was used was not worth more than a couple of marks but because Leonardo De Vinci took this paint and took this canvas and put them together in such a wonderful way now that little combination of canvas and paper and paint, that is worth a few marks in materials, is worth 100s of millions of dollars; the big piece of stone is not worth so much but when Michael Angelo carved this big statue, it is worth 100s of millions of dollars, there is no price, they cannot even buy it because of what he did with it. So this is the glory of an artist, to take crude materials which are worth practically nothing and to make it something that is very, very priceless.

So Krsna is explaining here what is the art of all work or in another words the art of living. In this world people are eating, sleeping, mating and defending. There are scholars, there are warriors and politicians, there are farmers and there are businessmen and there are workers who are doing their occupation but ultimately all that they are doing and the materials that they are using are worthless. Whatever a person does in this world in their work, whatever they earn, through the power of time by the time of death everything is taken away and all is left is a one big zero. But a devotee lives in the same world and engages in the same type of activities but because he knows the art of offering it to Krsna everything that he does is of a priceless eternal bound; it cannot even be estimated by any of this wealth in this world.

H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj

what if this is all true?

I remember this story by Srila Prabhupada which gives me confidence in this process of Krishna Consciousness. Whatever I am writing is based on memory and has been paraphrased.

Srila Prabhupada was once questioned by a western skeptic about Krishna Consciousness. He asked “what is the use of all this austerity and chanting?....what if Krishna Consciousness is not really true and all of this is just imaginary?”. The man was implying that why are we wasting our time if none of this does not exist in the after world and that we are indeed missing on the enjoyments of this world.

Srila Prabhupada replied that at the least he lives a lifestyle where he is not entangled in too many difficulties (in the mundane sense) and hence happy materially. Srila Prabhupada, then, turned the question on this head and asked the man

“what if this is all true?...then what is your situation?”

The man of course was dumbfounded and could not respond.

So we can see here that this process of Krishna Consciousness even if imaginary and sentimental, teaches a human being to live a moral and ethical life (at the minimum). However, using the lives of great saints before us as evidence, we can easily conclude that there is a higher dimension that we can gain eternal happiness.

In order for us to gain access to that higher domain….there is no way but to let go of our current domain!

Hare Krishna

the essence

smartavyah satatam visnur vismartavyo na jatucit
sarve vidhi-nisedhah syur etayor eva kinkarah
Padma Purana

“Krishna is the origin of Lord Visnu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the sastras should be the servants of these two principles.”

Purport by HDG. Srila Prabhupada:

This verse is a quotation from the Padma Purana. There are many regulative principles in the sastras and directions given by the spiritual master. These regulative principles should act as servants of the basic principle—that is, one should always remember Krishna and never forget Him. This is possible when one chants the Hare Krishna mantra. Therefore one must strictly chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra twenty-four hours daily. One may have other duties to perform under the direction of the spiritual master, but he must first abide by the spiritual master’s order to chant a certain number of rounds. In our Krishna consciousness movement, we have recommended that the neophyte chant at least sixteen rounds. This chanting of sixteen rounds is absolutely necessary if one wants to remember Krishna and not forget Him. Of all the regulative principles, the spiritual master’s order to chant at least sixteen rounds is most essential.

One may sell books or enlist life members or render some other service, but these duties are not ordinary duties. These duties serve as an impetus for remembering Krishna. When one goes with a sankirtana party or sells books, he naturally remembers that he is going to sell Krishna’s books. In this way, he is remembering Krishna. When one goes to enlist a life member, he talks about Krishna and thereby remembers Him. The conclusion is that one must act in such a way that he will always remember Krishna, and one must refrain from doing things that make him forget Krishna. These two principles form the basic background of Krishna consciousness.

meaning of surrender

dainya, ätma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
avasya raksibe krsna'-visväsa, pälana
bhaki-anuküla-mätra käryera svikara
bhakti-pratiküla-bhäva varjanängikära
sad-anga saranägati hoibe jähära
tähära prärthanä sune sri-nanda-kumära
(Saranagati Intro Song, Verse 3-5)

The six ways of surrender through saranägati are
(1) dainya- humility
(2) ätma-nivedana- dedication of the self
(3) goptrtve varana-acceptance of the Lord as one's only maintainer,
(4) the consciousness of 'avasya raksibe krsna'-'Krsna will surely protect me'-which is visväsa (faith) in Krsna's pälana (protection),
(5) bhaki-anuküla-mätra käryera svikara-execution of only those acts favorable to pure devotion,
(6) bhakti-pratiküla-bhäva varjanängikära-renunciation of conduct adverse to pure devotion.

Sri Nanda-Kumära, the youthful son of Nanda Mahäräja, hears the prayers of anyone who takes refuge in Him by this six-fold practice of surrender.