Since everything is at the end temporary, no matter how grand the show may be materially speaking, in the grand scheme of things is simply fluff. The opening and middle may be grand but the end is it ends. The scene changes, people change and everything has to be dismantled. Of course, then the next group arrives, sets up their tent and the show continues. Regardless, all things must pass and this temporariness of this world makes reality less valuable than it is presented to us.
Below is a nice description, I thought, sort of describing this grand but temporary show.
aja-yuddhe muni-śrāddhe
prabhāte megha-ḍambare
dam-pate kalahe caiva
bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā
Aja yuddhe means two goats fighting. I vividly remember growing up in India, I have often seen two goats fighting clashing their horns and heads. Literally one can hear the noise of the clash like two gladiators in a ring. Then, the owner comes and shews the goats away and they are like friends again. This exaggerated fight between goats represents our grand illusory world.
Muni-śrāddhe means the sage or muni is trying to have a grand ceremony but living in the forest, what can they possess, some fruits, leaves etc. Although it is a ceremony but not very ceremonious. Again grand in stage but not much to show in terms of offering.
Prabhāte megha-ḍambare is rumbling of the clouds but no rain. This is very common. Everyone must have had this experience of dark ominous clouds with thundering sound but either there is little rain or no rain. One more instance of grand opening but just fluff.
Dam-pate kalahe, this is the most common although now a days this is not just innocent. When a husband and wife fight with each other, they chastise and shout at each other but a true loving couple do not continue the fight. After things calm down, they get back as if nothing happened. However, this is not the case much anymore but certainly once couples never separated despite arguments and fighting. In that sense, such fighting is not fighting.
All the above examples give us a clue that we should deal with life and life incidences with a smooth handle. In other words, if things get sour, let time heal the wounds because after all everything begins with a bang bambhārambhe, but ends with fluff laghu-kriyā (not very significant).
This is the nature of this world.
Hare Krishna
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Devotee means...
Vaiṣṇava devotee means give me simply a place to lay down, little prasādam, whatever little service you have got please give me, that's all. -Śrīla Prabhupāda's Letter to: Gurudāsa, Yamunā — Bombay 19 December, 1972
Devotee means he is able to tolerate all kinds of discomfort and whims of the material nature, and because he is so much absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa, he takes no time to become angry or take offense with others or find out some fault. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Haṁsadūta — Ahmedabad 10 December, 1972
Devotee means very liberal and kind to everyone, always gentleman under all kinds of conditions of life. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Haṁsadūta — Ahmedabad 10 December, 1972
Devotee means one should be firmly convinced of his being the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Mr. Kair — Los Angeles 8 July, 1969
So to become devotee means to do the best service to the family. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay
A devotee means he knows everything. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm)
Devotee means the first sign will be happy, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54]. If he's not prasannātmā, he's a rascal. He has not entered even devotional life. He's outside. That is the test.-Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne
Devotee means tattva-darśī. He has seen the real truth. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means who follows Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. He is above these material laws. That is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means brahmacārī. Pure devotee means brahmacārī. Anyabhilasita-sunyam [Brs. 1.1.11]. He has no other desire. That is brahmacārī. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay
Devotee means serious devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia
Devotee means he has no sense gratification. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Room Conversation with Tripurāri -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta
Devotee means one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris
Devotee means he does not know anything better than Kṛṣṇa, that's all. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi
The devotee means who is always pleasing Kṛṣṇa. He has no other business. That is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Māyāpura
Devotee means to hear about Kṛṣṇa, to chant the glories of Kṛṣṇa, to think of Kṛṣṇa, to offer fruits and flowers to Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Departure Address -- Los Angeles, July 15, 1974
Devotee means to become fully qualified with all the noble qualities. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.119-121 -- New York, November 24, 1966
Devotee means he must be sinless.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976
Devotee, means he is prepared to do anything for God. That is pure devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971
Devotee means not with four hands or four legs, no. The hands, legs are the same. But his mode of thinking different. That's all. That is devotee. Devotee does not depend on the country, color or religion or circumstance. Devotee means the mind. Anyone who is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, he is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.50 -- Detroit, June 16, 1976
Devotee means he's not blind.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.7.40 -- Vṛndāvana, October 1, 1976
Devotee means he does not ask anything from God.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972
A devotee means who is abiding by the laws given by God. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971
Devotee means complete spiritual. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.2, Bombay, March 22, 1974
Devotee means he is firmly convinced about his relationship with God.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969
Devotee means servant—not paid servant—but servant by affection. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971
Devotee means he can act anything and everything for the Lord. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968
Devotee means one who has engaged his senses cent percent for the service of the Lord, he is devotee, pure devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968
Devotee means although he is very, very powerful, he never thinks that "I am powerful." He thinks that "I am acting simply by the order of the powerful." -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973
Devotee means to finish all miserable conditions of materialistic life. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.12.46
Hare Krishna
Devotee means he is able to tolerate all kinds of discomfort and whims of the material nature, and because he is so much absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa, he takes no time to become angry or take offense with others or find out some fault. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Haṁsadūta — Ahmedabad 10 December, 1972
Devotee means very liberal and kind to everyone, always gentleman under all kinds of conditions of life. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Haṁsadūta — Ahmedabad 10 December, 1972
Devotee means one should be firmly convinced of his being the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to: Mr. Kair — Los Angeles 8 July, 1969
So to become devotee means to do the best service to the family. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay
A devotee means he knows everything. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm)
Devotee means the first sign will be happy, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54]. If he's not prasannātmā, he's a rascal. He has not entered even devotional life. He's outside. That is the test.-Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne
Devotee means tattva-darśī. He has seen the real truth. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means who follows Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. He is above these material laws. That is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi
Devotee means brahmacārī. Pure devotee means brahmacārī. Anyabhilasita-sunyam [Brs. 1.1.11]. He has no other desire. That is brahmacārī. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay
Devotee means serious devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia
Devotee means he has no sense gratification. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Room Conversation with Tripurāri -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta
Devotee means one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris
Devotee means he does not know anything better than Kṛṣṇa, that's all. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi
The devotee means who is always pleasing Kṛṣṇa. He has no other business. That is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Māyāpura
Devotee means to hear about Kṛṣṇa, to chant the glories of Kṛṣṇa, to think of Kṛṣṇa, to offer fruits and flowers to Kṛṣṇa. -Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Departure Address -- Los Angeles, July 15, 1974
Devotee means to become fully qualified with all the noble qualities. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.119-121 -- New York, November 24, 1966
Devotee means he must be sinless.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976
Devotee, means he is prepared to do anything for God. That is pure devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971
Devotee means not with four hands or four legs, no. The hands, legs are the same. But his mode of thinking different. That's all. That is devotee. Devotee does not depend on the country, color or religion or circumstance. Devotee means the mind. Anyone who is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, he is devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.50 -- Detroit, June 16, 1976
Devotee means he's not blind.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.7.40 -- Vṛndāvana, October 1, 1976
Devotee means he does not ask anything from God.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972
A devotee means who is abiding by the laws given by God. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971
Devotee means complete spiritual. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.2, Bombay, March 22, 1974
Devotee means he is firmly convinced about his relationship with God.-Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969
Devotee means servant—not paid servant—but servant by affection. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971
Devotee means he can act anything and everything for the Lord. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968
Devotee means one who has engaged his senses cent percent for the service of the Lord, he is devotee, pure devotee. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968
Devotee means although he is very, very powerful, he never thinks that "I am powerful." He thinks that "I am acting simply by the order of the powerful." -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973
Devotee means to finish all miserable conditions of materialistic life. -Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.12.46
Hare Krishna
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Vaishnava dharma is the only supreme religion
Once, I met Reverend Ridley De. After he quietly listened to my lecture for two or three hours, he said, “Since you are saying things that are so similar to Christianity, why don’t you declare yourself a Christian?” To this I said, “Christianity is only a partial representation of – or a step on the ladder of – Vaiṣṇava dharma. Apart from that, we have more, which supplements what Christianity teaches. Things that have not been said in Christianity because qualification is there in a fuller extent in Vaiṣṇavism. Vaiṣṇava dharma is the only supreme religion for all living entities. The other religious systems are either stages of Vaiṣṇavism or perversions of it. To the degree that they are stages, they can be accepted for particular classes of people; if they are perversions, they should be rejected.
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada, Uncommon Dialogues,pg 83
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada, Uncommon Dialogues,pg 83
Monday, February 27, 2017
Everyone is special!
These are pictures of snow flakes taken by Wilson Bentley in 1885 when he was 20 years old. He went on to take over 5,000 pictures of different and individual snowflakes. A book having over 2,500 images was released in the name of Snow Crystals. This book is in print since 1931. Wilson Bentley provided visual evidence that no two flakes are alike - source.
If two small snow flakes are not alike, then how can more complex human beings be alike? Today biological science categorizes species and living beings on their external likeness (morphology). Social science categorizes behavioral patterns among like living beings. Chemists test drugs based on the commonalities in human anatomy and physiology. Categorizing, normalizing and standardizing may be okay to study patterns of behavior and functions among living beings but it is certainly not okay to evaluate an individual. Today, we (including myself) very easily judge people based on these common traits. But actually no two living being is identical, hence we should see them and relate with them entirely on an individual basis.
Because we live in an impersonal and a time-constraint world, we neither have the desire nor the time to know the person we come in contact with. How can we understand God, He is invisible?
Hare Krishna
The Power of Chanting
One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else], jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures.
If one chants the holy name of Hari and then dies because of an accidental misfortune, such as falling from the top of a house, slipping and suffering broken bones while traveling on the road, being bitten by a serpent, being afflicted with pain and high fever, or being injured by a weapon, one is immediately absolved from having to enter hellish life, even though he is sinful.
Authorities who are learned scholars and sages have carefully ascertained that one should atone for the heaviest sins by undergoing a heavy process of atonement and one should atone for lighter sins by undergoing lighter atonement. Chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, however, vanquishes all the effects of sinful activities, regardless of whether heavy or light.
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.
If a person unaware of the effective potency of a certain medicine takes that medicine or is forced to take it, it will act even without his knowledge because its potency does not depend on the patient’s understanding. Similarly, even though one does not know the value of chanting the holy name of the Lord, if one chants knowingly or unknowingly, the chanting will be very effective.
If one chants the holy name of Hari and then dies because of an accidental misfortune, such as falling from the top of a house, slipping and suffering broken bones while traveling on the road, being bitten by a serpent, being afflicted with pain and high fever, or being injured by a weapon, one is immediately absolved from having to enter hellish life, even though he is sinful.
Authorities who are learned scholars and sages have carefully ascertained that one should atone for the heaviest sins by undergoing a heavy process of atonement and one should atone for lighter sins by undergoing lighter atonement. Chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, however, vanquishes all the effects of sinful activities, regardless of whether heavy or light.
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.
If a person unaware of the effective potency of a certain medicine takes that medicine or is forced to take it, it will act even without his knowledge because its potency does not depend on the patient’s understanding. Similarly, even though one does not know the value of chanting the holy name of the Lord, if one chants knowingly or unknowingly, the chanting will be very effective.
Spoken by Yama Dharmaraja to Yamadutas
- SB 6.2.14-19
Hare Krishna
Friday, February 24, 2017
Ignorance in the guise of literary embellishment
When a person speaks about spiritual subject matter, normally the statements are conjectural and ambiguous. It is somewhat poetic and meant to be uncertain.
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. - Rainer Maria Rilke
Now, I think I understand what the quote says but still the quote wants me thinking about it more. This is because the author expresses a vague subject vaguely. Mundane scholars do not admit to themselves and to others that they actually do not know what lies beyond!
Srila Prabhupada is different. Srila Prabhupada is self-realized. Srila Prabhupada is an expert in spiritual truths. Therefore, when he speaks there is no ambiguity indicating his gravity. One example is a statement by Prabhupada in his purport to Bhagavad Gita chapter 1 text 1. He says “It (referring to Bhagavad Gita) is the perfect theistic science because it is directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa”. One philosophy teacher simply could not digest this categorical statement because he was not used to accuracy and perfection in his field of philosophy.
While it is highly refined to applaud subtle messages expressed in poetic language, it is still more refined to accept language (poetic or otherwise) that expresses the truth without duality. The underlying message is more important than literary embellishments for it will set us free!
Hare Krishna
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. - Rainer Maria Rilke
Now, I think I understand what the quote says but still the quote wants me thinking about it more. This is because the author expresses a vague subject vaguely. Mundane scholars do not admit to themselves and to others that they actually do not know what lies beyond!
Srila Prabhupada is different. Srila Prabhupada is self-realized. Srila Prabhupada is an expert in spiritual truths. Therefore, when he speaks there is no ambiguity indicating his gravity. One example is a statement by Prabhupada in his purport to Bhagavad Gita chapter 1 text 1. He says “It (referring to Bhagavad Gita) is the perfect theistic science because it is directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa”. One philosophy teacher simply could not digest this categorical statement because he was not used to accuracy and perfection in his field of philosophy.
While it is highly refined to applaud subtle messages expressed in poetic language, it is still more refined to accept language (poetic or otherwise) that expresses the truth without duality. The underlying message is more important than literary embellishments for it will set us free!
Hare Krishna
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Symptoms of spontaneous love for God
Offenseless chanting of Krishna's Holy Name even once can liberate one from the pangs of material miseries. Srimad Bhagavata Purana sets the standard for pure chanting. This standard can be achieved by one who is on the stage of bhava or spontaneous loving sentiments towards Krishna. Below are the symptoms of such a soul.
tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ
yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ
na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro
netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ
Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one’s chanting the holy name of the Lord with concentration, does not change when ecstasy takes place, tears fill the eyes and the hairs stand on end.
Symptoms of bhava;
- Srimad Bhagavata Purana 2.3.24
Hare Krishna
tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ
yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ
na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro
netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ
Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one’s chanting the holy name of the Lord with concentration, does not change when ecstasy takes place, tears fill the eyes and the hairs stand on end.
Symptoms of bhava;
- Kṣānti - cessation of material desires
- Avyārtha-kālatvam - utilization of every moment in the transcendental loving service of the Lord
- Nāma-gāne sadā ruci - eagerness for glorifying the Lord constantly
- Prītis tad-vasati sthale - attraction for living in the land of the Lord
- Virakti - complete detachment from material happiness
- Māna-śūnyatā - pridelessness
- Srimad Bhagavata Purana 2.3.24
Hare Krishna
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