We want to see everyone is happy. That is our mission. ... everyone will be happy if they take to this movement. We want to see that everyone is happy. That is our mission. We don't want to exploit others.
- Interview -July 20, 1972, Paris
Sarve sukhino bhavantu. This is Vedic civilization. "Let everyone be happy." That is Vedic civilization. And the demonic civilization, they're: "Let everyone suffer; I become happy. That's all...Politics means planning for one's own happiness. That is politics. So in our society there should be no diplomacy, no politics. Everyone should be eager how to do good to others. That is Vaisnava. If he's planning something, that "I shall be leader," "I shall be doing something," that is not Vaisnavism.
- Morning Walk -March 15, 1974, Vrndavana
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Two things that impede
Two things impede our progress in spiritual life and our progress towards understanding God in truth and our relationship with Him. They are;
1. Pride
2. Spiritual Laziness
Hare Krishna
1. Pride
2. Spiritual Laziness
Hare Krishna
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Srila Prabhupada's Kadamba garland
The following narration is from the visionary Memories series of Sriman Siddhanta das Adhikary. It is the remembrance of Sriman Bahushiras das Adhikary given in DVD 44 and in vol. 3, p. 334 of the book Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint.
After Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, [Patita Pavana das] asked if I’d like to assist Satswarupa’s Lilamrita project by interviewing people in India who had known Srila Prabhupada. One of them was Acharya Prabhakar Misra, Prabhupada’s first disciple. Acharya Prabhakar Misra was clean-cut, well-behaved and articulate. His demeanor impressed me. He held a MA and PhD and was a very cultured Sanskrit scholar and teacher. In Jhansi, Prabhupada had told Acharya Prabhakar. “I met you because I saw you in a dream and I knew that I was supposed to come here.” Prabhupada and he would do bhajan together. They’d hold Rathayatra festivals and they’d have programme in villages in the area.
Acharya Prabhakar said that on Sri Krishna Janmashtami in 1954, he had to go to Delhi. When he returned to Jhansi, he took a little rest, woke up at 1:00 am and heard Srila Prabhupada ecstatically playing mridanga in the temple room. Prabhupada was chanting in total bliss. Acharya Prabhakar went upstairs and saw Srila Prabhupada bouncing around the temple room performing kirtan. Prabhupada was wearing a kadamba flower garland that went all the way down to his feet.Kadamba flowers are very rare in Jhansi and when they are available they are usually the size of a golf ball. But the ones Prabhupada was wearing were big, the size of tennis balls. And he said that the atmosphere right down to the atoms in the room was not material, aprakrita. The place was surcharged with the fragrance of the heavenly planets. Acharya Prabhakar wanted to ask Srila Prabhupada, “Where did this garland come from? It is not available from the market.” But Srila Prabhupada would not answer. His Divine Grace just kept on performing kirtan, bouncing round the room and chanting. The next morning Acharya Prabhakar asked Srila Prabhupada, “Where did you get the garland, why did it have such a rich fragrance, and why were you feeling so blissful?”
Srila Prabhupada told him, “I was chanting to Krishna and feeling some love for Him. And He appeared and gave me this garland. I went to touch His feet and He disappeared. Because of that I was dancing around the temple room.” Srila Prabhupada was crying.
Acharya Prabhakar was very believable and I felt that what he told me was valid. He also said that sometimes Srila Prabhupada’s mood was to performkirtan intensely. He would chant on and on and on for three days straight. We hear that sometimes he wouldn’t eat for long periods, especially near the end of his manifest lila, but remarkably in Jhansi, he was doing kirtan for a long period of time without eating or sleeping. And the result of his bhajanwas that Krishna appeared.
Hare Krishna
After Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, [Patita Pavana das] asked if I’d like to assist Satswarupa’s Lilamrita project by interviewing people in India who had known Srila Prabhupada. One of them was Acharya Prabhakar Misra, Prabhupada’s first disciple. Acharya Prabhakar Misra was clean-cut, well-behaved and articulate. His demeanor impressed me. He held a MA and PhD and was a very cultured Sanskrit scholar and teacher. In Jhansi, Prabhupada had told Acharya Prabhakar. “I met you because I saw you in a dream and I knew that I was supposed to come here.” Prabhupada and he would do bhajan together. They’d hold Rathayatra festivals and they’d have programme in villages in the area.
Acharya Prabhakar said that on Sri Krishna Janmashtami in 1954, he had to go to Delhi. When he returned to Jhansi, he took a little rest, woke up at 1:00 am and heard Srila Prabhupada ecstatically playing mridanga in the temple room. Prabhupada was chanting in total bliss. Acharya Prabhakar went upstairs and saw Srila Prabhupada bouncing around the temple room performing kirtan. Prabhupada was wearing a kadamba flower garland that went all the way down to his feet.Kadamba flowers are very rare in Jhansi and when they are available they are usually the size of a golf ball. But the ones Prabhupada was wearing were big, the size of tennis balls. And he said that the atmosphere right down to the atoms in the room was not material, aprakrita. The place was surcharged with the fragrance of the heavenly planets. Acharya Prabhakar wanted to ask Srila Prabhupada, “Where did this garland come from? It is not available from the market.” But Srila Prabhupada would not answer. His Divine Grace just kept on performing kirtan, bouncing round the room and chanting. The next morning Acharya Prabhakar asked Srila Prabhupada, “Where did you get the garland, why did it have such a rich fragrance, and why were you feeling so blissful?”
Srila Prabhupada told him, “I was chanting to Krishna and feeling some love for Him. And He appeared and gave me this garland. I went to touch His feet and He disappeared. Because of that I was dancing around the temple room.” Srila Prabhupada was crying.
Acharya Prabhakar was very believable and I felt that what he told me was valid. He also said that sometimes Srila Prabhupada’s mood was to performkirtan intensely. He would chant on and on and on for three days straight. We hear that sometimes he wouldn’t eat for long periods, especially near the end of his manifest lila, but remarkably in Jhansi, he was doing kirtan for a long period of time without eating or sleeping. And the result of his bhajanwas that Krishna appeared.
Hare Krishna
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Devotees from Dravida-desa
My dear King, the inhabitants of Satya-yuga and other ages eagerly desire to take birth in this age of Kali, since in this age there will be many devotees of the Supreme Lord, Narayana. These devotees will appear in various places but will be especially numerous in South India. O master of men, in the age of Kali those persons who drink the waters of the holy rivers of Dravida-desa, such as the Tamraparni, Krtamala, Payasvini, the extremely pious Kaveri and the Pratici Mahanadi, will almost all be purehearted devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. – SB 11.5.38-40
Monday, April 18, 2011
2 cups of milk
The body can be maintained by any kind of foodstuff, but cow's milk is particularly essential for developing the finer tissues of the human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental knowledge. (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.5.7, Purport)
So if you get milk products, milk, then you can prepare so many preparations full of vitamins, which will nourish your brain. Dull brain cannot understand what is spiritual knowledge. Therefore, that Mr. Bernard Shaw, he wrote a book. Perhaps you know it. You Are What You Eat. If you keep your brain dull, then how you can understand? Because without becoming very intelligent man, one cannot understand Kåñëa consciousness. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritämåta, kåñëa yei bhaje sei baòa catura: "One who takes to Kåñëa consciousness seriously and perfectly, he must be very, very intelligent." Dull brain cannot accept it. Bahünäà janmanäm ante jïänavän mäà prapadyate. So we have to make our brain very clean. And for that purpose you require to drink not very much, at least, one pound or half-pound milk daily. That is essential. (From a lecture by Srila Prabhupada given in Hawaii, January 15, 1974)
One pound of milk is approximately equivalent to 2 cups of milk. Srila Prabhupada is recommending we drink one or two cups of milk every day. This was spoken mainly to an American audience at that time and Prabhupada was well aware of the cow slaughter industry. Again, Srila Prabhupada is recommending milk consumption (albeit polluted) on the practical grounds of developing good intelligence. In other words, Prabhupada is correlating intelligence with milk. Prabhupada also is talking about cultivating intelligence for attaining spiritual knowledge and use this knowledge for preaching. So if the end purpose is to preach Krishna Consciousness with proper intelligence, then according to Prabhupada, it is ok to drink one or two cups of milk daily (not necessarily more than that). Utility is the principle.
In Sri Isopanishad, Prabhupada talks about “making best use of bad bargain”. Polluted milk is a bad bargain but we can make best use (utility principle) ONLY IF we cultivate intelligence to spread the movement of Krishna Consciousness. The means of milk consumption (1 or 2 cups) should be to the ends of preaching Krishna consciousness, otherwise not. This is how I understand the above two quotes.
Hare Krishna
So if you get milk products, milk, then you can prepare so many preparations full of vitamins, which will nourish your brain. Dull brain cannot understand what is spiritual knowledge. Therefore, that Mr. Bernard Shaw, he wrote a book. Perhaps you know it. You Are What You Eat. If you keep your brain dull, then how you can understand? Because without becoming very intelligent man, one cannot understand Kåñëa consciousness. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritämåta, kåñëa yei bhaje sei baòa catura: "One who takes to Kåñëa consciousness seriously and perfectly, he must be very, very intelligent." Dull brain cannot accept it. Bahünäà janmanäm ante jïänavän mäà prapadyate. So we have to make our brain very clean. And for that purpose you require to drink not very much, at least, one pound or half-pound milk daily. That is essential. (From a lecture by Srila Prabhupada given in Hawaii, January 15, 1974)
One pound of milk is approximately equivalent to 2 cups of milk. Srila Prabhupada is recommending we drink one or two cups of milk every day. This was spoken mainly to an American audience at that time and Prabhupada was well aware of the cow slaughter industry. Again, Srila Prabhupada is recommending milk consumption (albeit polluted) on the practical grounds of developing good intelligence. In other words, Prabhupada is correlating intelligence with milk. Prabhupada also is talking about cultivating intelligence for attaining spiritual knowledge and use this knowledge for preaching. So if the end purpose is to preach Krishna Consciousness with proper intelligence, then according to Prabhupada, it is ok to drink one or two cups of milk daily (not necessarily more than that). Utility is the principle.
In Sri Isopanishad, Prabhupada talks about “making best use of bad bargain”. Polluted milk is a bad bargain but we can make best use (utility principle) ONLY IF we cultivate intelligence to spread the movement of Krishna Consciousness. The means of milk consumption (1 or 2 cups) should be to the ends of preaching Krishna consciousness, otherwise not. This is how I understand the above two quotes.
Hare Krishna
Friday, April 15, 2011
Realize God in Truth
Modern system of education which is famous for evidence based knowledge promises bright futures. Today, modern science has captured the minds of the common masses. Hand held gadgets such as i-pods, mp3 players etc have captured the imagination of people. If you take it to scale, space age technology gadgets that only fits sci-fi movies such as the CERN particle accelerator has promised a innovative future with myriad opportunities. Our lives at the microlevel have changed dramatically since the creation of “internet” in the past two decades. No doubt scientific advancement and innovations have reached people at every nook and cranny of our world. We can all sit back and pat ourselves in the back hailing our technological advancements ushering us swiftly into the 21st century.
Still, I say, modern science is but a pin-prick to our modern day lives. It has created, as Srila Prabhupada put it, unnecessary necessities. One of the biggest fallout of modern scientific knowledge is the span of inequality it has created among the global population. Sure…if I have enough money in the bank living a Rolls Royce life, then, modern science and its innovations are a plus. However, the story is different for an individual (worse if he is married and with children) who is barely making ends meet traveling two or three times the distance just to get to the job site. The inequality we face today is the biggest ever in the history of modern man. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. According to the 2005 World Bank statistics, approximately 80% of the world population are earning below $10 per day that is 5.15 billion people we are talking. In other words, only 1.3 billion people earn above the poverty index while 80% are below. One may ask why I blame modern science for such inequalities?
Well…today local and central/federal governments pass policies and resolutions based on research done by scientists, sociologists and economists. The federal budget and the economy are run based on “research” based and “evidence” based studies. People invest money based on the national flow of currency which in turn is based on industrial sector growth which in turn is influenced by governmental policies created by a few elite people. The industrial growth machines are run by brains trained in modern day educational system in the fields of physical, social and behavioral sciences. Therefore, modern science not only is responsible for the “cool” gadgets it spits out but also responsible for the economical and social reforms that by and large impact the poor people. It seems, these intellectual reforms have had little effect on the global population, thus in my analysis, modern day economical and social reforms which is based on modern scientific methods of enquiry has only caused more inequalities among the people at large. I have not even touched upon the negative impact of modern technology on our environment.
On the whole, while modern science and its technological advancements is portrayed as a boon to society, analyzing this holistically, we see there are huge gaping holes in the areas of social and economic inequalities and environmental damage, both of which is causing and will cause irreversible damage that we will have to pay the price dearly.
The only solution is to put the brakes on technological advancements and seriously try to solve the social, economical and environmental inequalities as one big global human community. Stop exploiting people, animals and plant resources in the name of “scientific advancement” and bring back a balanced ecosystem to our planet. It is time we break our regional and national barriers and unite under one banner as the residents of planet earth. I don’t just mean human beings but all living beings created by God should be given the right to live.
All this is possible only if we have one global reason to unite. Srila Prabhupada called that reason Realize God in Truth (beyond sentimental and ritualistic ceremonies)- to put God in a real way in the center of our lives.
For all this to happen, every single individual should be sincerely motivated to understand who is God and what is my relationship with God. With a sincere yearning to know God beyond sectarian boundaries, every individual should put that God in the center of his or her lives. Only this can solve our current problems. As Gandhi famoulsy quoted "Be the Change you want to see in the world". Seek and you shall find Him. Seek that one Supreme Lord of our hearts, and He will reveal Himself to you.
Hare Krishna
Still, I say, modern science is but a pin-prick to our modern day lives. It has created, as Srila Prabhupada put it, unnecessary necessities. One of the biggest fallout of modern scientific knowledge is the span of inequality it has created among the global population. Sure…if I have enough money in the bank living a Rolls Royce life, then, modern science and its innovations are a plus. However, the story is different for an individual (worse if he is married and with children) who is barely making ends meet traveling two or three times the distance just to get to the job site. The inequality we face today is the biggest ever in the history of modern man. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. According to the 2005 World Bank statistics, approximately 80% of the world population are earning below $10 per day that is 5.15 billion people we are talking. In other words, only 1.3 billion people earn above the poverty index while 80% are below. One may ask why I blame modern science for such inequalities?
Well…today local and central/federal governments pass policies and resolutions based on research done by scientists, sociologists and economists. The federal budget and the economy are run based on “research” based and “evidence” based studies. People invest money based on the national flow of currency which in turn is based on industrial sector growth which in turn is influenced by governmental policies created by a few elite people. The industrial growth machines are run by brains trained in modern day educational system in the fields of physical, social and behavioral sciences. Therefore, modern science not only is responsible for the “cool” gadgets it spits out but also responsible for the economical and social reforms that by and large impact the poor people. It seems, these intellectual reforms have had little effect on the global population, thus in my analysis, modern day economical and social reforms which is based on modern scientific methods of enquiry has only caused more inequalities among the people at large. I have not even touched upon the negative impact of modern technology on our environment.
On the whole, while modern science and its technological advancements is portrayed as a boon to society, analyzing this holistically, we see there are huge gaping holes in the areas of social and economic inequalities and environmental damage, both of which is causing and will cause irreversible damage that we will have to pay the price dearly.
The only solution is to put the brakes on technological advancements and seriously try to solve the social, economical and environmental inequalities as one big global human community. Stop exploiting people, animals and plant resources in the name of “scientific advancement” and bring back a balanced ecosystem to our planet. It is time we break our regional and national barriers and unite under one banner as the residents of planet earth. I don’t just mean human beings but all living beings created by God should be given the right to live.
All this is possible only if we have one global reason to unite. Srila Prabhupada called that reason Realize God in Truth (beyond sentimental and ritualistic ceremonies)- to put God in a real way in the center of our lives.
For all this to happen, every single individual should be sincerely motivated to understand who is God and what is my relationship with God. With a sincere yearning to know God beyond sectarian boundaries, every individual should put that God in the center of his or her lives. Only this can solve our current problems. As Gandhi famoulsy quoted "Be the Change you want to see in the world". Seek and you shall find Him. Seek that one Supreme Lord of our hearts, and He will reveal Himself to you.
Hare Krishna
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