CHAPTER 3:  KARMA YOGA ( DISCHARGE OF DUTY)

A true devotee of our most beloved lord Sri Krishna can attain his lotus feet either through Gyana (knowledge), Karma ( discharge of the prescribed duty) , Bhakti ( devotion), Prapatti (total unconditional surrender also called Baranyasam, surrendering all our burden unto the lotus feet of the lord ) etc. Out of all these routes, to attain the lotus feet of our Lord Sri Krishna, the simplest one is Karma Yoga for here right from the stage of our thoughts, till the fruits of all our actions everything has to be humbly surrendered at the lotus feet of our lord with a feeling of non doer ship. No sentient (living being ) can ever exist without performing action nor can one in the nascent stages of our spiritual path meditate on the impersonal aspect of Lord Sri Krishna for it is very tough and only highly accomplished saints  like our reverential Adi Sankaracharya  could have  tread on the path of knowledge for in this path one cannot serve or  sing the praises of our  lord and use all our senses fruitfully for Lord Sri Krishna and his divine consort Lakshmi amma  since the path of knowledge is devoid of action and this makes it a very lofty journey for any jivatama and hence the path of Karma is most easy and also as mentioned in the scriptures, permanent salvation (moksham/ parama padam ) for any jivatma  is possible only when the total debits ( bad / (paapam) actions) and total credits ( good / (punyam)  actions ) is fully nullified. Is this possible? What if our good actions exceed don’t we have to enjoy the result  of our good actions, reach heaven and return back for there are few credits which  are yet to be accounted for.  Surely,  for every good action unrewarded one need not take rebirth for if one very humbly surrenders every of the action performed then the summative effect of all these actions belong to our dearest Lord Sri Krishna and he and our most beloved mother Lakshmi amma  are  the only authorities  in all the worlds who are  parmaatma and can speedily deliver us lost jivatmas, an eternal part of our creator,  from here  to his abode which is satchitananda , pure and  highest bliss by burning to ashes of  all our deeds whether good or bad of the numerous previous births and also fully control our wavering uncontrolled mind which time and again returns to the sense pleasures that only offer fleeting pleasure and is a permanent source of misery.  The annaprasadam (food) offered first to Lord Sri Krishna will forever make a person healthy, wealthy and wise for the devotees of Lord Sri Krishna are blessed with the very best of everything and the very unique aspect of this bhakti is his devotees enjoy the material pleasures as a very fine gift bestowed by Lord Sri Krishna and not as his birthright and hence enjoyment also becomes pure (saatvik) and free from all bondages and impurities

Our Lord Sri Krishna himself has proclaimed in our divine Gita in this chapter, that although he is the creator, he is continuously performing actions, if even for one billionth of a second he takes rest without action then all the worlds would permanently be lost in deluge. With this, it is crystal clear , that one can never overemphasize the power of Karma, on the contrary,  for sustenance one has to constantly work but with a difference, every action even the smallest one  has to be done with a sense of surrender unto the will of the lord, this way the contamination and adulteration  arising of every  action would get thoroughly cleansed and purged automatically by default, no need for further extra strenuous efforts for all of  us would be the first to leave the world with the greatest speed once we are convinced that the abode of Lord Sri Krishna is the happiest place and this serenity and  peace is  absolutely free from any worries and  also a permanent phenomenon and one need not worry if one reaches his abode of any kind of sorrows, transient fleeting moments of joy or any other pair of opposites which eternally  bind our soul to samsara ( the vicious wheel of life and death).

Our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna answers in response to Arjuna’s query, that lust which is entirely covered with sense objects is the real cause of our complete ruin for it destroys the very fabric of our existence, for the sense objects keep tempting the jivatama, which in reality wants to break free and enjoin with parmaatma but is forcefully bound by the material properties acquired by the numerous births and gets tied down to the mortal body which is  a mere cover/ shield for the soul.

Karma yoga is the simplest of simple path wherein all that is required is to totally surrender unto the  most divine lotus feet of our lord Sri Krishna with a total sense of helplessness and with a very strong conviction and devotion that  our creator who is the mother for all of us knows what is best for us, when , where and how should we obtain the same and the right time of bestowing our necessities , desires and wants for we are too incapable of over riding the  will and wishes  of our  creator.   So with joint hands ,bowed head , humble prayers and a pristine loving heart let each of us unreservedly  surrender unto our dearest creator lord Sri Krishna and be totally tension free for only he knows and non else.  Let us allow our beloved lord to guide us uninterruptedly to his abode, a permanent place of unparalleled happiness and perform our prescribed duty with unflinching devotion, relentless passion, truth, values, ethos and above all as a sense of reciprocation to our Sri Krishna for this path only can unite us with our creator Lord Sri Krishna here and hereafter, ever and forever ………This is the sum and substance of chapter III, the yoga of action.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE………

HARE KRISHNA!

ON THE VERY AUSPICIOUS DAY OF GITA JAYANTI , TODAY, LET EACH ONE OF US, VERY HUMBLY AND LOVINGLY SURRENDER OURSELVES UNTO THE LOTUS FEET OF OUR MOST BELOVED LORD SRI KRISHNA, SERVE HIM WITH PURE DEVOTION  AND TRY OUR VERY BEST TO FOLLOW THE VERY DIVINE PRINCIPLES, UTTERED BY THE HOLY LOTUS LIPS (MUKA KAMALAM) OF OUR DEAREST LORD HIMSELF. LET EACH ONE OF US SALUTE AND RESPECT THE HOLIEST OF HOLY DIVINE SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA AMMA ( WE ALL CONSIDER OUR SCRIPTURES TOO AS OUR MOTHER), THE WAY OF LIFE ITSELF. WITH THE VERY BEST WISHES AND COUNTLESS PRAYERS , SECOND CHAPTER YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE IS WRITTEN.

SUMMARY:   Seeing the helplessness of Arjuna in the  battlefield of Kurukshetra , our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna’s advice commences  from the second chapter where our dearest lord drives home the point that each one of us have to perform our respective Karma (action) which will lead us to ultimate salvation, he who discards his action and Swadharma will have a very heavy penalty to pay in the form of bondage and will forever be tied by his actions , which will further  enslave him in the permanent shackles of birth and death.  The three very important points to note in Chapter 2 are mentioned below:

1. Individual soul ( Jeevatma), its nature and its existence
2. Our Karma
3. Stithpragya ( a person of total balanced mind)

Our dearest Lord Sri Krishna conveys to Arjuna, that despite having fought and won so many battles, now his mind is weakened because of its inability to discriminate the right and wrong.  Yes, we all our bound by  our blood relations , as they say “Blood is thicker than water” , many of us , at all costs , would shield our kith and kin ,  even if they are wrong to the point of being criminal,  but happy and fortunate are those who have the discriminatory powers to identify the truth and work, live and breath truth for our Lord has conveyed” Satyam Bruyat Priyam Bruyat Na Bruyat Satyam Apriyam., translated it means that each one of us is bound to recognize and speak the truth, no doubt we need to ensure that while speaking the truth we need to be kind and the words of truth so uttered should not be hurting and harsh nor should it at any point be spoken out of self interest , truth should be followed in the universal interest of one and all.   Our Lord beckoned Arjuna to work in the very best interests of truth.

Also he explained in detail the various fantastic aspects of our individual soul which is never born, can never die, nor is subject to decay, destruction or end.  Our soul , at the time of departing from our mortal body, only changes its physical structure, and as ordained by our creator Lord Sri Krishna, at a time so destined, once again enters a new structure  as per all its Karmic properties, hence we all should  be very careful in our conduct for our journey never ends, if we need a fine life in future our deeds has to be impeccable, our thoughts and action has to be very pious and pure and hence the very realized soul constantly endeavour to perform all the actions as prescribed by the scriptures in synchronization with Lord Sri Krishna’s desire and totally submit themselves to his will and grace.  We need to try our best not to grieve over the departed for each of our soul is immortal and will rise once again in some form or the other and for the highly loved and evolved soul which attains the final liberation will permanently enjoy bliss with our Lord Sri Krishna where every second would be peaceful, fruitful and most happy because the soul will be in the eternal service of our creator.

The lord has also conveyed that our duty should be totally free from attachment , this is possible only when we totally endorse that each and every duty of ours is performed by our Sri Krishna for he is the true doer and the final fruit of an action whether good or bad has to be very humbly and lovingly be surrendered unto his lotus feet, in this way we can ensure our duties or Karma is not effected by any material propensities and will not incur any bondage for the sole purpose of our soul is to redeem itself of all material bondages and reach Godhead and in this process , the path is unconditional surrender unto the lotus feet of our Sri Krishna that whatever is happening is in our very best interests and as ordained by our Lord for he is our creator and only he knows what is the very best for each one of us for he is our mother, father, grandfather, our Sarvaswam (everything). Karma Yoga is the most simplest and when combined with true Bhakti (pure devotion) it is the best route towards Godhead because other paths like Gyanyoga or path of knowledge and wisdom requires very great efforts and can be adopted only by highly evolved souls whereas Karma yoga can be practised by each one of us very easily and the very best part is the redemption of soul towards moksha is also very quick and effortless as compared to other very lofty paths.

Arjuna wanted our lord to explain to him the various qualities of a person who is composed at all times and is in full equilibrium, at every stage of his life.  Our Lord Sri Krishna, mentions, that he who is totally free from all pairs of opposites, is a friend to all, is compassionate to the core, does his duty totally surrendering his actions to our Sri Krishna, in pains and gains is balanced and knows that highs and downs are mere  phases of life and has to be faced, is totally humane and possesses the highest strength of character will surely reach our Lord very quickly.  Such great souls such as those of  Gyaneshwar Maharaj, Tukaram Maharaj, Meera amma and so many others who never ever lost their love for our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna, despite the worst of situations they were in they knew their lord is always with them no matter what and if our creator stands by us 24 365 7 then why fear?,  these wonderful god loving souls reached our lord very happily when they shed their mortal remains , they totally merged with our dearest Lord Sri Krishna for our lord very eagerly waits for each of us to reach him , sing his glories, weave beautiful garlands for him and our most beloved Lakshmi amma, serve them eternally and what more can an individual soul ask for when it can serve our creator and get itself totally freed from the shackles of this maya or bondage, our soul would love to get released and dance to the tunes of the most melodious flute of our lord Sri Krishna for that is the right place of the soul.  Let each one of us resolve just now, that the highest pleasure is attaining our dear lord Sri Krishna and let each one of us aspire to do so for who amongst us would not love to be permanently in the abode of joy and that too in the company of our most beloved mother Lakshmi amma and Lord Baravasudeva.

Thus , the second chapter, greatly emphasizes the importance of each one of us understanding the nature of our soul, performing all our actions with a total sense of surrender and above all practising equanimity at all times in the midst of chaos , confusion and cacophony for Yoga, a state of balanced mind is a way of life itself and needs to be put in practice every second of our existence and for this one need not retire to the forests for our Lord has clearly communicated only that soul would be redeemed which does its duty in its entirety without shying away from its responsibilities and challenges that life has to offer. HARE KRISHNA!

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE. HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA to all matajis and dhandavats,

By the divine grace of our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna, in the capacity of the humblest of humble servants of our dearest Lord, in the coming days, chapter wise, I would like to express my views on one of our most divine holy books, “SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA,” with specific emphasis on management. 

The most important aspect of our Divine Srimad Bhagavad Gita is that it is uttered by the lotus lips of our dearest creator, Lord Sri Krishna, and has to be treated as a pure and perfect science, just like math, physics, chemistry, etc., for our Lord has shown us the way of life itself.

Each and every solution to each of our problems can be decoded if we try, reflect, ponder, analyze, and, with utmost devotion, fully surrender unconditionally to his lotus feet, understand the verses uttered by our loving Lord, their implications in our daily lives, and, above all, the impact they can have when we in a very accurate manner decipher the meaning and practice the principles at all times.

The success of anything in our lives lies in the application of the principles, in obtaining the results, in constantly improvising on our existing knowledge base, and in an impeccable conduct of life.

This interpretation is done after relentless and continuous research spanning twenty-five years, from personal experiences where our Lord Sri Krishna has showered his immense blessings, grace, and benediction.

Under his divine direction, I am trying to reach out only as a very small speckle of dust at the lotus feet of our beloved Lord Sri Krishna as a very tiny medium, with our dearest Lord Sri Krishna being the actual doer, guide, and teacher. 

In the process of my interpretation, in case any of you feel something is amiss or some areas need fine tuning, please do not hesitate to let me know. I would love your feedback and valuable comments to enable me to improvise and work on all your suggestions.

HARE KRISHNA!

CHAPTER 1:  THE YOGA OF DEJECTION OF ARJUNA

At the very beginning, when Dhrtarastra, father of the evil Kauravas, wanted to know from Sanjaya the actual situation on the battle field of Kurukshetra, Sanjaya conveyed that the battle was about to begin.

The proud and wicked Duryodhana, even before the commencement of the battle, was overconfident and arrogant that his side would surely win the war hands down, for he felt that the most competent warriors were fighting on his side.

At this moment, on the other side, Arjuna Maharaja, an exemplary archer, has totally lost his mental equilibrium and begs Lord Sri Krishna to stop the war immediately, for he is blinded by the affection and love of his near and dear ones.

His reasoning is that this battle is a pure waste of time, the losses would be unimaginable, and the honor of the women would be at stake when there is a mixture of races.

To his mind, it is pointless to even win the war when, at the end, there would be no one around to celebrate their victory; every single person would have lost their lives, and in the process, the happiness of the victory would be zero. The fortunate are those who have their near and dear ones at the time of their successes, victories, and celebrations.

This is a very short summary of Chapter 1

When we analyze the same in depth, we can draw some of the following conclusions from the management point of view:

1. OVERCONFIDENCE IS A ROUTE TO ALL FAILURES:

Overconfidence and misplaced bravery would be the downfall of any person at a micro level, and at a macro level, it would be a disaster for corporations and even superpower countries if they were overconfident and did fail their SWOT test. (Strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat tests).

One should be very positive in life, but underestimating the worth of one's opponents would be fatal. In the so-called man-eat-man race, we find many organizations unethically competing with each other, falsely advertising their products, short selling, and many other malpractices that will enable them to survive for very few moments.

These companies are “quick-to-fix companies and even quicker-to-slide." Since they have climbed quickly in an unethical manner, their fall is also very instantaneous and permanent, and above all, the repercussions they face after their fall are terrible; they just can't rise and have to liquidate.

So let's keep our confidences intact, but let them be realistic and ethical, and above all, let's please learn to live, let live, and conduct ourselves in such a way that neither we cause ourselves any harm nor do we destroy others.

Let each one of us speak the language of excellence and attain success on the strength of our hard work and merit, and ensure that even our competitors join us in our journey towards our success because it has been achieved with fair play.

2. NEVER LOOK BACK ONCE THE DECISION HAS BEEN TAKEN:

One has to think before one leaps, but one cannot be thinking forever, wasting precious time, for in business, “time is money."

Proper research has to be done before any action is initiated; one can weigh every pro and con possible; field studies, empirical evidence, comparative analysis, cost-benefit analysis, etc. can be fully undertaken; but once one is set to begin, one should not look backward for even a single second.

Any consequence, good or bad, has to be shouldered. One has to give one’s superlative shot and leave the rest to our dearest Lord Sri Krishna, for sometimes even our very best efforts go unrewarded, which does not matter.

Once again, we need to rise like a phoenix and not cry over spilled milk. One has to have the capacity to be resilient, to bounce back with renewed vigor, and to face any eventualities with stoic courage, conviction, and perseverance.

Arjuna Maharaja failed in this; he was about to embark on one of the most important missions of his life: to vanquish the evil Kauravas. Even after Lord Sri Krishna’s peaceful mediation, they did not want to budge from their unsavory stand and conduct.

Duryodhana wanted every inch of the land that did not rightfully belong to them, yet Arjuna Maharaja is willing to forgive them. This is called misplaced sympathy and will only incur disrepute.

The evil losers will blow the trumpet that the opponent got frightened and ran away with fear, abandoning their duty, for anything done for the wicked people will not be taken in a positive manner; they do not deserve the goodness of anybody and have to be tackled with iron fists.

3. BATTLE OF GOOD AND EVIL: 

If we sit in silence and think that the battle of Kurukshetra is not only a physical place where there is a war and disturbance, but it is the ever-present conflicts in our minds.

Many times, despite being very righteous, we are unclear whether our actions, which we think are correct, are actually right, or when we think something is evil, is it really so?

Only the mind, which practices truth, trust, transparency,  honesty and integrity has the discernment to understand right and wrong, can win the internal battle of our mind and enable each of our thoughts and actions to be pure and righteous. 

Each one of us should constantly endeavor to iron out our inner confusion and chaos and ensure that each of our actions is guided towards truth, wisdom, transcendence, and light.

Our actions should be a constant source of joy for our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna. If we have any doubts, we can sit in absolute meditation, invoking the blessings of our Lord SriKrishna, and after a few moments, when we get the right answer to our problems and conflicting situations, we can take action according to the will of our Lord SriKrishna.

Then, we need not further dissect our actions at all, for they have been approved by our creator, our Lord Sri Krishna, and they will be 100% right.

This way, we can win the battle of our minds, and all our actions will not be binding us, for they have already been approved and surrendered to the lotus feet of our Lord; they have become his, pure and pristine, and we are completely rid of their effects, good or bad.

4. REASONING HAS TO BE RATIONAL:

Our reasoning in any of our ventures has to be highly scientific and rational. We should not become victims of bias, prejudices, or any other consideration arising out of misplaced sympathies.

A rational mind is the only ground for fruitful and righteous action. Irrational arguments, unfounded criticisms, and, above all, supporting the evil forces, are an utter sign of weakness and falsehood. We need to fully refrain from this.

Our Lord is truth, and absolute truth is prevalent at every atom and in every space pervading the entire cosmos, and hence, if any one of us violates the tenets of truth, we surely would have to bear the severe consequences.

Let our actions not be clouded by favoritism, one-upmanship, wrong judgments, etc. At all times, we have to act in the very best interests of mankind, and in the process, we could incur sadness or dejection since, at a human level, we are bound by different relations, emotions, etc., and if any one of them is adversely affected, it makes us feel sad since they are a part of our inner circle.

If they are evil, uncompromising, and wicked to the core, we have to set aside our feelings, take a very stern, truthful stand, and move on unattached.

Happy are those who have lived their lives with the very best principles of honesty, sincerity, and “STRENGTH OF CHARACTER AT ALL TIMES.”

This concludes the first chapter. Our divine Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove, and it is practically impossible to fully interpret it word for word, for at each of our studies, newer and finer nuances crop up, so please treat this as a summary or gist.

HARE  KRISHNA!

Hare Krishna! Om Tat Sat!

HARE KRISHNA,

We all are a product of our thoughts and action.  As our most dearest Lord Sri Krishna has conveyed in our Divine Bhagavad Gita a mere thought even when not coupled with action is subject to his scrutiny and his evaluation, so much so for the actual action which one can definitely imagine how much it can be instrumental in our assessment.  Every of our thoughts and action is marked and graded by our dearest Lord Sri Krishna based on which our soul gets the physical form in the next birth and in this birth our actions pave way for our way of existence. If one wants to enjoy a peaceful and fruitful life here it is in our hands only for we are the master of our Karma. If our actions are noble and please our dearest Lord Sri Krishna and is strictly as per his injunction surely we can attain the highest happiness, contentment and enlightenment in this life itself ,we need not wait for our next birth for our Lord Sri Krishna is our best well wisher and friend who  immediately grants us all what we desire and transports us into the realms of happiness.

Avoid all sorts of negativities, people who do not wish well, as and when one recognizes any negativity  immediately move away from the situation, close the door firmly for a person who is in pursuit of godliness has to first protect oneself from negative aura for it is the greatest hurdle in his/her path towards god.  Example if a person who is not a well wisher comes to your home , if it is possible to immediately close all conversation and say bye to him/her then best , if this is not possible , many times , no matter how much we avoid the dark forces we cannot do much about them then our next best action is to not encourage or talk anything more than necessary.  Just  be silent, do not reveal or even discuss your  plans, phases of happiness, successes  for they can never be a part of them for they do not wish us good.  If one carefully observes the pattern of life, when negative aura hits then our health, our thoughts and every of our plans suffer and hence we have to avoid all negativities whether in human form or in any other.  One classic example that instantly comes to my mind is a story of Ramadev Maharaj one of the most ardent devotees of our Lord Rama.  One day, while he was residing in a house during night time  whilst he was travelling he sees a beautiful silver vessel and a thought comes to his otherwise fully renounced life that how it would be if he owned the silver vessel, the moment this thought enters his mind he is full of remorse and sadness that after undergoing so much penance such a bad thought of stealing has entered his mind , he is in tears, Lord Rama appears in his dream and mentions not to worry about the dark thought for he was residing in the house of a thief and so this thought was natural because of the negative aura in the house.   Immediately Ramadev Maharaj leaves the house and his mind is once again pure and peaceful.  If this can happens to the greatest saint we all can very well imagine what our position is, at our lowest level where we are god loving but a very humble erring  devotee and not an evolved saint.

Many times we might have experienced we say or do things totally in contrast when a negative person is beside us , we who would never utter a bad word when a negative person is around , automatically a bad word would let lose much contrary to our nature , this is because our entire life is a magnet, the whole world is surrounded by positive and negative aura , we need to pull only the positive vibes, negatives we need to run away in a jet set speed and avoid at all times for it would boomerang on us...

LET EACH ONE OF US DECIDE NOW AND TODAY, THIS MOMENT ITSELF TO  FOREVER ATTRACT THE BEST POSITIVE AURA WHICH OUR MOST BELOVED MOTHER EARTH IS SURROUNDED IN BOUNTIFUL AND LIVE OUR LIFE IN THE BEST AURA FOR IT IS THIS AURA WHICH PAVES OUR WAY TOWARDS OUR MOST BELOVED LORD SRI KRISHNA.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

Wishing you all and the members of your family  A VERY HAPPY DEEPAWALI, MAY THE FESTIVAL OF SPARKLING LAMPS, BRIGHTEN  YOUR MOMENTS FOREVER, SPREAD JOY IN YOUR LIFE USHERING IN BEST OF HEALTH AND PEACE.

All of us celebrate so many festivals, as they say, India is a land of festivals where almost everyday is a festival and celebration.  Our Lord Sri Krishna loves colour, alankaram, shringaram, celebration and forever seen happy enjoying with his most beloved ones.

If we ponder a little , festivals no doubt are a source of enjoyment, wearing the very best clothes, eating delicious sweets and food. Along with this, each and every festival convey only one thing "COMPASSION, HUMANE VALUES, STRENGTH OF CHARACTER AND ABOVE ALL TRUE SURRENDER AND THANKS GIVING TO OUR DEAREST CREATOR AND OUR GOD LORD SRI KRISHNA. 

Deepawali is associated with Lord Sri Rama and  Lord Sri Krishna.  The main significance of Deepawali ,as the name suggests is a row of  lamps, if we light earthern lamps still more better.  Lamp and light signify brightness, prosperity and steering our thoughts and action from darkness to light, first understanding what is a right and pious action and then  having the discriminatory powers to differentiate the good and the bad and above all ensuring to conduct ourselves in a very pure , kind and compassionate manner, empathizing with all, loving each of our Lord Sri Kirshna's creations, leading a very peaceful existence and spreading joy in the lives of others. If we are able to follow this then why one day in  a year, everyday will be Deepawali, every moment would be a celebration, every second of our existence would be fruitful , a gift from us to our beloved Sri Krishna who has initially gifted us with our life.  Let each one of us dispel the darkness surrounding us , concentrate on our numerous blessings and happiness and forever thank our dearest Lord Sri Krishna................

May we on this day and every other,  endeavour to experience parmanandam, forget all negativities and shut our gate ever to bad aura and ensure  that not an iota of negativity  enters our life and may we forever celebrate our MOST PRECIOUS LIFE  HERE , THANKING OUR MOTHER EARTH.

HAPPY DEEPAWALI!  HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE............

Hare Krishna,

Many times, we have experienced untold suffering or seen some of our most near and dear ones who were very pious , pure and highly value based but who suffered bodily by affliction of dreaded ailment and then left for heavenly abode.  The question. I used to ask our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna is " WHY DEAR GOD , WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER ALL THE TIME, WHY DO THEY GO THROUGH SO MUCH PAIN?" THE ANSWER I GOT IS IN ORDER TO CUT ALL OUR KARMA PAST AND PRESENT WE NEED OUR BODY AND SOUL TO BE THOROUGHLY CLEANSED TO REACH OUR MOST BELOVED SRI KRISHNA WHERE OUR SCRIPTURES ARE CLEAR THAT ALL THE DEBITS AND CREDITS HAVE TO BE TOTALLY NULLIFIED, THAT IS THE WORLDLY BOOK HAS TO BE CLOSED AND FULLY TALLIED, NOTHING LEFT AT ALL. ALSO I USED TO PONDER " DO ONLY SINNERS SUFFER THE MOST FOR MANY TIMES WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG DESPITE OUR BEST INTENTIONS, WHAT WE THINK IS RIGHT IS IT REALLY SO.....IF NOT  WHICH PATH TO TAKE?" ARE OUR SUFFERING BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS? IF WE TRY OUR LEVEL BEST TO BE GOOD HUMAN BEINGS AND YET SUFFER PLEASE DO NOT WORRY AT ALL FOR OUR SUFFERING IS JUST A CARRY FORWARD OF OUR PREVIOUS BIRTH WHICH IN THIS BIRTH WE NEED TO REDEEM.  HERE TOO COULD HEAR THE VOICE OF LORD SRI KRISHNA, WE ARE THE PRODUCT OF MANY LIVES AND NONE OF US KNOW THE TYPE OF LIVES WE HAVE LED DURING THESE NUMEROUS BIRTHS.   As we all are aware, our soul is never subject to birth or death , it is a mere changeover , so  even during the last second of our life our thoughts , enlightenment and surrender is also recorded in the books of our dearest Lord Sri Krishna and while he is tallying all our sum total of debits and credits surely there could be lots of backlog, we need to complete the pending unfinished work in our next birth and hence our suffering could be a result of the past karmas in our earlier birth which we need to repay during this birth, all the current  negative elements of our life could be those who would have encountered us in one of our previous births where we would have  misbehaved or tormented them and today it is boomeranging on us for whatever we give , it comes back to us in manifold.  So let us take our suffering  with a smiling countenance  and surrender whole heartedly unto the lotus feet of our most  beloved Lord Sri Krishna , only he can save us none else, only he can redeem us of our past and present karma and lead us to his place of residence that is Parmapadam where is known as Baravasudeva and his most divine consort is our most beloved  mother Lakshmi amma.  Let us pray for the entire cosmos, every of its inhabitants, let us love our suffering for it will take us one step closer to our lord and above all let us totally let go of all our loved ones in pain to pave a path for their heavenly abode , let not our affections for them enslave them despite their immense pain for none of us would like our near and dear ones to be with us despite their unbearable suffering  for loving is giving , caring is let going , let us all resolve now that let us spend our time serving our lord and not bother of our good or bad actions for that would be taken care by our creator Lord Sri Krishna.We need to merely do our karma and leave the rest to Lord Sri Krishna,let us not aspire to be a perfect saint with the very best virtues  but in our imperfectness let us be content for from our lowest height we can gauge and love the highest pedestal in which our lord is seated and from here let us bow down to him with folded hands for from the lowest of low heights we can truly appreciate the glory of our lord Sri Krishna. Our dearest lord has in the past taken with him the very pure souls who were very humble and not well versed in any scriptures but their love for our dearest Lord Sri Krishna super ceded every other consideration.

Let us fight all our pains with stoic courage for surely our dearest lord is with us even during our most unbearable pain, in our darkest hours  with an assertion that please  let each one of us bear our suffering  for our bad karmas are only diminishing and who amongst us would not like to reach our lord Sri Krishna at the very earliest to serve him eternally in his abode which would be filled  with  his overflowing compassion, a happiness that would be beyond human comprehension and at last find the eternal peace in serving him and his most beloved divine consort and our dearest mother Lakshmi amma.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA!

We all do believe that total unconditional surrender unto the lotus feet of our dearest creator, our  one and only Lord Sri Krishna can redeem each one of us of our karmic past, present and even the unseen unknown future.  Whilst we keep  using the term "UNCONDITIONAL" we need to pause a bit and ponder what does this very important word means in the true sense.  To my mind, "UNCONDITIONAL" means with zero expectations, 100% pure faith , trust and belief in our dearest Lord Sri Krishna with not even once feeling in doubt of any of the actions and reactions of our life, total purest devotional surrender with the highest faith in the ways of our dearest Sri Krishna.  Example suppose we have taken to the path of Lord Sri Krishna consciousness, no matter at  any stage of devotion whether the first or the highest, we have to not take even a single effort to ensure  and conclude that all that is happening should be only the very  best , we need to only put in our very best and not expect that the best should be the result , there are many times in our life, we pray , wish and also work very hard towards a noble cause but despite the best efforts nothing materializes , in that situation we need not be despondent or lost, just move on for our dearest Sri Krishna has so ordained , so be it. Even in the case, where we are trying our level best to please  our lord , there are times when we are not able to  despite our best intentions, so be it, just move on, our dearest lord has ordained. In short , we need to perform our actions in a very pure noble manner, the outcome, the action, the doer is our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna so he knows the very best for us , let us learn to trust him wholeheartedly with the purest devotion, let us surrender unto his will, ,let us not even in the spiritual path aspire for perfection, for everything is ordained by him, let us love him, shower our countless praises on him, he will lead us , let us not at any time feel that everything in our life has to be picture perfect and that  we have to always  move as per our great plans, in life what we think, do and what happens could be totally different (man proposes our dearest god disposes), let us surrender ourselves totally unto him, let each one of us celebrate our imperfections, our weaknesses, our lowest state of existence, our  frailest  moments  for it these imperfections which draws us closer to our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna and makes us realize that we are totally dependent on his mercies, his grace and benediction and we need to approach him in the lowest of low stage for it is from here we can gauge his height which is beyond the realms of the three worlds, his compassion which is beyond life itself so let us reverentially bow our heads in the most humble reverence, raise both our hands upwards and with the deepest love for our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna chant countless times "HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE."

HARE KRISHNA.

Amongst the many problems of our life, one of them is continuous expectations in material or any other form from our near and dear ones, once our expectation is not fulfilled we lose our temper and feel despondent.

I believe , that the root cause of all our problems is "EXPECTATIONS".   Yes, as human beings we are bound in various relationship such as mother, daughter, wife, friend etc and hence it is quite natural for many to expect something or other from each of our relationship. To my mind, if we slowly but steadily develop our mind set in such a way that we cease to expect anything from anyone we would be the happiest, this is from personal experience.  

Till about few years , i kept on believing that all those am in touch with , need to reciprocate in some way or the other , maybe acknowledge my service towards them, or thank me or make me  feel  have done something for them,  when this did not  happen I used to get upset and pained.  After taking to Lord Sri Krishna consciousness, as one of the most humble devotees, because of the greatest grace of the lord himself , slowly my expectations towards my near and dear ones have almost  become negligible.  To develop this attitude is really tough but once having achieved the same it is the easiest and the mind automatically does everything as a duty with no eye towards any rewards from any mortal.  It is surely possible but one needs to seriously work on this for nothing on this earth is impossible , it is all in the mind, if we give the right command to our mind it will accept, all we need to do is to give the most appropriate command to our mind.

Example if as a parent we are nurturing our children, taking care of them , enabling them to stand on their own feet, educating them to take up very good posts in life it does not mean once they achieved all this we need to remind them that their success is because of our efforts and for the rest of their  life  make them feel claustrophobic and squeeze them of their enthusiasm every time reminding them to serve us.   As parents we need to do our duty to the very best of our abilities and totally forget and expect anything even from our children, this is the very best for their well being as also ours. In this way, each of our relationship should be such that our expectations should be nil , this requires great maturity, practice and above all a realization that apart from our most dearest Lord Sri Krishna who is the actual doer , we are just a medium working as per his loving guidance and hence should not be bound by relationship but perform all our duties sincerely and leave the rest to our Lord Sri Krishna.  We need to break ourselves from the shackles of all our karma by  the most divine help and support of our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna.  This is a sure shot route to happiness, harmony, mental peace and above all physical robustness for instead of wasting our most precious time in expecting we can spend that many most precious moments serving our most loveable Lord Sri Krishna and our dearest Radha rani and in this relationship one need not expect any thing everything is bestowed by default by his most loving compassionate nature for there is none in this entire cosmos or the three worlds more loveable than our creator Lord Sri Krishna for he keeps bestowing and bestowing till we  have nothing further to ask , as they say in economics, stage of total satiety.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

On one of  the most auspicious day, today,  Lord Sri Ganapati Bappa's  Birthday and also Teacher's Day, Wishing you all and the members of your family "A VERY HAPPY GANESH CHATURTHI AND ALSO A VERY JOYOUS KNOWLEDGEABLE TEACHER'S DAY." What a beautiful co-incidence that our most loveable Ganesh bappa is the controller of knowledge and also vignaharta (remover of all evils) and on his birthday this year, Teacher's day, a day when the giver of knowledge is reverentially remembered is also celebrated.  Surely this is divine intervention.

We all know and totally agree and appreciate that each one of us is a product of our parents upbringing, our teacher's immense love and guidance, our friend's support and camaraderie, all our well wishers prayers and best wishes.  On Teacher's Day how can anyone of us forget our most dearest Lord Sri Krishna who is our best teacher in the strictest sense of the word for at every moment, unasked, he is guiding us in the most ethical manner enabling us to uphold our Dharma.  Our Lord Sri Krishna is our Sarvasvam ( mother, father, brother, etc) and above all our most loveable teacher who is not specific to any syllabus but has taught us the way of life itself.  Mere words can never be sufficient to thank our king of the cosmos, our most loveable creator Lord Sri Krishna , on the occasion of Teacher's Day and every other moment of our life let us salute our teacher with the highest respect, reciprocate his love for he is happiest when his devotees shower their love and affection in abundance. follow his teachings, spread humanity, compassion and universal brotherhood, live a simple life praying for every of his creation, surrender whole heartedly with the purest mind unto his lotus feet and believe that the very best is happening , will continue, let us forever keep our spirits up, let us at all times count our blessings , spread happiness, purity and protect and bring joy to our holy mother earth by practising the most noble qualities thereby spreading harmony and oneness for we have the golden opportunity of this human birth which is very rare let's make the most of it by performing only those acts which our dearest lord Sri Krishna has advocated.  At every moment, let us chant the maha mantra "HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE." FOR OUR DEAREST TEACHER LORD SRI KRISHNA WOULD BE THE MOST PLEASED WHEN WE TAKE UP TO HIS WAYS OF LIFE AS IT IS AN INDICATION THAT WE AS JEEVAATMA'S (INDIVIDUAL SOUL) ARE EAGER TO MERGE WITH OUR DEAREST PARMAATMA ( LORD SRI KRISHNA) AND SERVE HIM ETERNALLY FOR THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF OUR SOUL IS PUREST SERVICE TO OUR CREATOR LORD SRI KRISHNA.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA

This world has been an abode to some of the purest souls who have selflessly contributed their very best to the entire humanity.  They have showered their compassion and  served people with zero expectations for they forever listen to their inner voice "THEIR CONSCIENCE".  The saddest part is, many times, the very people they have served inflict pain on them showing their discontent and dissatisfaction when things go wrong, yet these noble souls continue their even nobler actions despite criticism , rough roads and brickbats .  The best part is they know for sure , each of our report card, in this life and hereafter is with our dearest Lord Sri Krishna , he is the architect , sole controller and assessor of our actions and the only authority who would be evaluating our examination of life and his assessment would be in strict compliance of the principles equity, fairness and the best student is sure to top for our lord's  credentials as the king of the cosmos is impeccable and above all his sense of justice is unquestionable , he is the most impartial when it comes to each of our assessment for he is the upholder of Dharma and hence each one of us can rest assured that all the actions done by us under his guidance would be assessed without an iota of bias and prejudice and all those noble souls who could not get their due on this earth would be bestowed with the very best and all their acts of nobleness would be compounded and multiplied manifold, this is the law of existence that whatever one gives back it rebounds and comes back in the same form i.e. goodness given it  comes back abundantly, compassion showered it comes back to us in bountiful  and our mother earth is  programmed in such a fantastic manner by our dearest Lord Sri Krishna that the very fine qualities of truth has ,  is and  never will be subject to any virus , it is free from all sorts of viruses for it is established by none other than our dearest Sri Krishna for he is the upholder of the greatest traits of compassion, justice and truth.  Our mother earth dances with joy when she comes across people who are very noble, who have given their very best to the world and above all remained grounded and believed in the magic of our dearest Lord Sri Krishna and this joy is manifested when the rains are bountiful, when the prosperity is at its all time high all due to these noble souls who totally believe that our dearest Lord Sri Krishna loves the most his loving dutiful devotees who come for a purpose,serve the entire humanity with no eye towards any reward but as an act of reciprocation of the love of our dearest lord.  Let each one of us , believe and trust , that our report card is in the safest hands , wait patiently for our marks, for our lord will surely assess us with full compassion, credence and above all his blessings , benediction and grace will uplift each one of us from darkness to light...............

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE

HARE KRISHNA

Each of us when we start loving our Lord Sri Krishna keep wondering what is that which will please him the most, can we do that ?  When we start reading our most esteemed scriptures, there are cases when the most toughest penance also could not help the concerned  to realize our Lord and on the other hand  when the simplest of simple things pleased our lord so much that instantaneously his most humble devotees have reached him effortlessly and also without consciously aspiring to realize him.  So on one hand,  we have devotees who desperately want to attain him and follow very lofty path while the other have nothing but to love him in the most humble manner.

To reach the highest supreme personality of Godhead is surely not very easy but it is not tough either.  Firstly, one has to have full faith in their surrender and in the magic of our creator, one has to maintain utmost patience and not expect the results immediately , further results  could be tangible or in tangible,sometimes it could be just a most loving feeling which one has to realize  , and also one has to not consider their birthright to attain lord but a very humble prostration before the lord that we all know nothing but have a very simple  yearning to be bound to him for ever.

In my case,  am a Visiting Professor at Mumbai for teaching students of MBA affiliated to the University of Mumbai and few deemed universities,  there was a very sudden calling a month back to keep writing about his glories in this most wonderful website with a thought process what ever very  little bit have learnt over the years need to be communicated to the numerous devotees ,even if one of the devotees feel worth while reading my  blogs would definitely consider it as the highest benediction of our lord Sri Krishna.

Those of us who are good at writing can write about the most wonderful glories of our lord Sri Krishna, those who are best at weaving beautiful garlands of various multi coloured flowers can very well offer their fragant  garlands to our lord and radha rani for they love flowers, few of us can help in brooming the temples , washing and ironing the divine clothes of our lord in those temples where they are willing to offer this seva to the public, in many places of worship have done that for they are searching volunteers to help them serve our lord, those very good at cooking can help in cooking tasty prasadam for our lord, those good at stitching clothes can stitch the most beautiful clothes for our dearest lord, service is numerous , all we need is to rightly identify what is it that we know the best, what is it we are ever willing to learn to serve our Lord with the greatest devotion devoid of any ego.  Few of us can also teach  beautiful bhajans to his loving devotees , help them chant the verses from the most divine Srimad Bhagavad Gita, we can serve in hospitals, in old age homes, the list is endless.  As they say, Manava Seva is madhava seva "to serve humanity is to serve our dearest lord Sri Krishna "for he loves the services offered by  his pure loving devotees the most."  Let us whole heartedly , from this moment , try ways and means to serve our lord as a very small token of our love, gratitude, service and above all to please him , to make him the happiest for he deserves the highest happiness more than any one of us for as a creator he is surely entitled that his devotees express their love to him in the manner they deem fit and as this process is initiated , our Lord Sri Krishna enjoins us , and further guides us to all the activities he loves the most and enables us to perform them for him....CAN WE IN CHORUS  JOYFULLY UTTER "HARE KRISHNA". YES WE CAN AND DEFINITELY WE WILL , AT ALL TIMES EVERY MOMENT OF OUR LIFE HERE AND HEREAFTER.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE

HARE KRISHNA,

Each one of us face various problems at a given time.  Some problems very big , others seem manageable but certain other problems seem  insurmountable and we are at crossroads as to how to solve our problems. When problems become the order of the day, in many of our cases, then one totally loses faith , perseverance and power of endurance to bear and we hope against hope that some feasible  solution comes our way. At times, when we are trying to solve a particular problem instead of it getting resolved it gets compounded and complicated.  This has happened many times with me and have thrown my hands upwards for a solution.  This can say with total confidence that after understanding that our dearest Lord Sri Krishna  is the only supreme personality of godhead who can not only solve our problems but also easily carry us through this life and the other  unhurt.   When we chant the greatest maha mantra "HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.", within seconds our problems start getting addressed, this have experienced at all times.  Be it severe health complication, financial losses, loss of a near and dear one all this one can bear for our most  beloved Lord Sri Krishna is there for each one of us and he surely will burn our miseries to ashes.  We need to have faith in  him.  Draupadi amma with the greatest devotion and love called for Govinda when in absolute distress, without waiting a second he came to her aid , when Arjuna was totally lost and felt the earth below him would sink, Lord Govinda ensured he not only fought the battle of Kurukshetra in the most righteous manner but also won hands down. History  has in records, when at all times, our dearest lord Sri Krishna has so lovingly come to the rescue of all his creation and the best part is he never wants a single thing from his devotee except their pure love , devotion and above all he loves the most  if each of us  sing his glories, spread his message for their good and well being.  Can't we all do this simple yet most powerful  chanting which will totally eradicate our sins past and present, sing his most divine and holy glories . Our dearest Lord Sri Krishna , has promised us to tide us over this huge sea of samskara and when he is with us at all times, can we in the most humble loving manner thank him now and ever for his most loving support , grace and blessings.  This is the least which each one of us can do for our most beloved lord Sri Krishna.  Let us chant in oneness the maha mantra day in and day out, let us raise our hands joined together upwards towards our lord chanting his most holy name which he likes the most "GOVINDA GOVINDA VENKATARAMANA GOVINDA GOVINDA."  When he is doing so much for us, for each one of us is fortunate to be under his most protected lotus feet let us reciprocate his love for all of us in a manner which will bring him the highest happiness, for our dearest lord surely needs our love for he only craves for that and nothing else.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA  RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA!

There is this ongoing debate,  should we keep asking our dearest Lord Sri Krishna to fulfil our desires, aspirations , cure us of our worldly sufferings, our financial, health and other problems?

One school of thought opines that since we are children of our loving Lord Sri Krishna we can ask him as much and much more for he is ever willing to listen, bestow with joy and above all eager to solve each of our problems , big or small and hence we surely need to directly ask our Lord and not at all feel bad or guilty of the same.

Another school of thought subscribes , our dearest Lord Sri Krishna is our creator, what is that , he does not know, what is that we need to go and ask him when unasked he is forever showering in bountiful. Does our Lord Sri Krishna not know what is that at each moment his creation is hankering after?.  Are all  our ailments  so unbearable that he needs to be highlighted to cure us when in reality our pains are only so much as we can bear for he knows the endurance level of each of his creation and hence the problems will never at any point rise beyond the individual tolerance level for he knows that would be the break point of his creation and hence let us bear the cross which each of us have to as ordained by our karmic past and present.

Have thought over this in depth, should we ask or not, yes no doubt, each to his own, but the devotees who have unflinching faith in our dearest Lord Sri Krishna never ask the Lord anything , they very happily keep serving his lotus feet for they are very sure that he knows our various needs at various times, our  pains , sorrows and  afflictions. Classic example of this is mentioned in our divine scriptures when Sudama his best childhood friend who is in dire poverty reaches to meet our dear Krishna and feels very hesitant to ask him anything despite countless times conveyed by  his wife he needs to ask his best friend to grant them some worldly riches to sustain them because of their abject poverty.  All the way, after crossing miles to reach our Lord Sri Krishna with a desire to ask he does not ask anything and just returns home but is overjoyed when he sees his humble home transformed into a royal palace, his family dressed in royal robes, the prasadam cooked in his home is the best on his return which only goes to prove we NEED NOT ASK OUR LORD ANYTHING FOR OUR PERSONAL GAINS JUST SURRENDER WITH TOTAL TRUST THAT HE IS THERE FOR US AND KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR US, AND ABOVE ALL WE CAN WHOLEHEARTEDLY MAKE A UNIVERSAL PRAYER AT EACH MOMENT FOR THE WELL BEING OF EACH AND EVERY ATOM PRESENT IN THE UNIVERSE FOR MIRACULOUS IS THE POWER OF PRAYERS AND WHEN WE SEEK OUR LORD SRI KRISHNA FOR HIS DIVINE BLESSINGS OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IT IS BUT EVIDENT THAT WE TOO ARE THE TINIEST SPECKLE OF HIS CREATION AND WE TOO ARE INCLUDED IN THE UNIVERSAL PRAYERS . THE WHOLE WORLD IN SANKSRIT IS MENTIONED AS  "VASUDEVA KUTUMBAKA" ( THE WHOLE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY), EACH OF US ARE  LINKED TO OUR DEAR LORD'S CREATIONS AND HENCE LET US JUST SEEK HIS BLESSINGS AND DANCE TO THE TUNES OF  HAPPINESS THAT OUR DEAREST LORD IS WITH US AT ALL TIMES AND WILL FOREVER RESCUE US FROM EVERY  HARM WITHOUT EVEN ASKING HIM FOR HIS SPEED IS FASTER THAN LIGHTENING , HE WILL REACH US UNASKED.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

After having realized that this  human birth is a boon which very few of us are fortunate to be blessed with,  for they have clearly mentioned  in our esteemed scriptures, it is bestowed after several other forms of birth such as birds, trees, beasts etc .   Every soul, therefore,  has to endeavour to elevate itself and the only way is total unconditional surrender unto the lotus feet of our dearest Lord Sri Krishna.  The simplest path yet toughest for the mind is very difficult to tame.

Whilst one has rightly resolved to  practice the godly ways of life, one is also filled with countless doubts, what about all our sins of the past,  the less than perfect way of life which was previously led due to the uncontrollable wavering mind, what about all the humanly temptations and above all the least liked  qualities of anger, greed, etc which is still predominant?   Will  this past background hinder us now in our spiritual progress?  Will Lord Sri Krishna take us in his fold now ?  Will  our spiritual path now be  marred if one co-links it with the past?   To my mind, certainly not,  for our Lord Sri Krishna is the most compassionate personality of Godhead and is ever willing to burn our past actions to ashes , provided now , we are sincere, humble and above all have total faith in him.  Sage Valmiki wrote our Divine Ramayana, we all know his past, where his actions were far from being perfect yet our Lord chose  him to write his divine story and not the greatest saints of the time. 

We all our children of our most loved Lord Sri Krishna, few of us could be highly evolved, few totally uninitiated, but for our Lord both are the same for he is our best friend to both the saint and the sinner and please believe me , this is my personal experience, everyday do I pray the lord that at no time should I be elevated to higher levels but forever be grounded humble devotee, a child who knows nothing and is totally dependent on the mercy of Lord Sri Krishna  for at the lowest of low heights can each of us  totally comprehend , understand and appreciate the greatest altitude  at which our lord is and forever seek his mercy and divine blessings.  Our Lord himself has mentioned in our Divine Bhagavad Gita he is ever ready to bless each of his creation, at whatever level they are, for they have rightly resolved in this birth that "HE IS THE CREATOR AND ONLY HE CAN GRANT US MOKSHA/ SALVATION."

The only quality which is required for Lord Sri Krishna consciousness is a pure heart filled with the greatest love for Sri Krishna and the only qualification that will forever bind us with our lord Sri Krishna is "THE REALIZATION THAT HE IS THE KING OF THE COSMOS AND WE ARE BUT HIS SERVANT OF SERVANT OF SERVANT , ALL THAT WE REQUIRE IS A VERY LITTLE SPACE AS A SPECKLE AT HIS LOTUS FEET."  THIS THOUGHT PROCESS WILL FOREVER WITH A BEAUTIFUL SILKEN THREAD BIND OUR PARMATMA WITH OUR JEEVATMA.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAAMA RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

In the midst of our sorrows, pains and worst phases of our life when there is no sign of the silver lining in the dark clouds,  many times we approach our Lord Sri Krishna and ask him why me Lord, what have I done that the dark patch in my life is never ending. We keep questioning our most beloved Lord why do we suffer , when we,  to the very best of our knowledge may have not knowingly harmed  anyone , yes unknowingly we could have erred but why should we always carry the burden of the cross? 

This question even I have always asked our beloved lord Sri Krishna in my utter ignorance , but one fine day, by the divine grace of Lord Sri Krishna , my otherwise mind which always asked "WHY ME" suddenly changed the track and pondered aloud  "WHY NOT ME"?   This was one of the most enlightening moment of my life when unexpectedly my mind took a reverse turn for the good.  Did our most beloved divine pure Sita amma not  suffer, did our Lord Rama enjoy the very best , every moment of his life was filled with sorrow by the separation of his most beloved wife Sita amma?,  Did not our own beloved Lord Sri Krishna to escape the cruel Kamsa separate from his own parents Devika ma and Vasudeva as a new born baby?  Did our Lord Sri Krishna at every moment for the sake of his devotees go through the great ordeals of maintaining Dharma and truth?  In the war every time our lord was subjected to the greatest conflicting situation where he had to maintain righteousness yet because of the vile creatures like the Kaurava clan he was always at the cross roads, did all our saints like Gyaneshwar Maharaj, Pundalik Maharaj, Tukaram Maharaj, Ramanujacharya, Adi Shankaracharya,  Meera bai, Radha amma, Saku bai and countless others not suffer despite being the purest souls ?  Did they ever ask our beloved lord Sri Krishna that "Why me " , NEVER....Their mind was totally surrendered to our  lord Sri Krishna  and any humanly suffering was totally ignored by them and never ever highlighted.

Our entire life is predestined as per our Karmic actions of the past,  by our Lord Sri Krishna .  We have evolved over thousands of birth, none of us know what we have done in the past but there is a carry forward now, also our greatest lord Sri Krishna wants to speedily tally our balance sheet for he wants his pure devotees to reach him quickest more than their own slow pace and hence the cleansing process is a must and one needs to bear each of the pains during this process with the deepest of devotion and total faith in the ways of our Lord Sri Krishna, for our prayer should be not to eliminate our pains but a sincere appeal to our Krishna that he should be with us during each of our dark phases for if he is with us then the worst of sorrows are burnt to ashes and one can fully tide over the same in no time.

So let each one of us train our minds to never ask a question to our Lord "WHY ME?" for that would be an indication we still need to know and love our lord because it is a question which implies we are lacking faith , as humans , yes we surely do have our doubts but let us rise above the human plane and surrender our life to our lord , the pain and pleasure are his and as our  lord's beautiful and one of  the most important verse of our most divine Bhagavad Gita conveys " 

                      sarva-dharman parityajya
                      mam ekam saranam vraja
                        aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
                        moksayisyami ma sucah.

Translated it means our lord Sri Krishna has promised each one of us to  leave aside everything , merely surrender unto his lotus feet and that he would ensure total liberation for all those who have with a pure heart trusted him and believed in his magic as a creator.  Let us endeavour from this moment , to take life as it comes, to understand that the very pains which we are unable to bear binds us closest to our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna for happiness in most of the cases takes us away from our lord because  most of us tend to forget him in our happiest moments.

Let us bow our heads in the most reverential way to our lord and raise our hands upwards as an action of total surrender at the lotus feet of our most loved Lord Sri Krishna for only he can liberate us permanently.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE...........

HARE KRISHNA,

WHAT IS LORD SRI KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS? To my mind, it is one of the most divine process when the mind wholeheartedly accepts that our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna is the creator of the entire cosmos and the mind and the physical body in its full capacity performs each of the action, the most inconsequential too, with total surrender unto the lotus feet of lord Sri Krishna as a natural effortless  process to thank our creator for all what he is gifted us with, for none of the joys can be enjoyed if not ordained by our lord.  It is counting each of our blessings.

The next question that could probably be in few of our minds is can't we wait to love our lord, isn't it too early to spend our time in his devotion, we still have a long way to go why hurry to start chanting his divine glories?  It is our prime duty not only for ourselves but also instil in each of our  loved ones to start Lord Sri Krishna consciousness right before the birth of a child when it is still in the womb.  Prahalada's mother did the same and we all know the divine child's love for Lord Narayana and how amazingly our lord protected the child at every moment.  As our father of nation Mahatma Gandhiji mentioned that a person's character is almost finalized by the age of five for the observations, practice, development of beliefs , the various impressions, are finely captured , imbibed and instilled as early as five and then it becomes very difficult to change our way of life, not impossible but very tough.  All the great saints have conveyed that nurturing our children from a very small age to mould themselves into the love for our most loved Lord Sri Krishna, having a staunch faith in the goodness of mankind, a heart that dances to the tunes of our creator's music, practising compassion, truth, honesty , integrity all these noble values have to be inculcated from a very young impressionable age for Lord Sri Krishna consciousness is the foundation of life under which the entire fantastic edifice is built. The strength of the foundation determines the longevity of the structure and hence it is a duty of every one of us to ensure our children love our lord , know his message, understand the importance of prayers, gauge the significance of paying their respects to our creator, living a noble life is the only way that can ensure that they succeed in life.  Sri Krishna consciousness is not renunciation, nor is it taking to sainthood , it is a way of life itself, it is a beacon light to each one of us to guide us to reach our respective destination and that is attaining the grace, love, blessings and benediction of our Lord Sri Krishna.  

In the midst of calamity, cacophony, noise and sound, we need to make our young children understand the importance of leading a pure life in the service of mankind and also our creator. Ambitions, material comfort automatically follows one need not aspire for them for our Lord Sri Krishna himself bestows the very best on all his devotees and hence if any one of us feel that loving our lord means deprivation , sacrifice one need to change our views , for Lord Sri Krishna consciousness is enjoying the very best of material comforts , but with a total surrender to the lord thanking him that all that is enjoyed is due to his divine grace and all that is earned is in a very righteous manner, so let each one of us not postpone to immerse our selves into Sri Krishna consciousness for our old age , let us instil in our new born the art of loving our lord at a very tender age for when they reach their prime time they would be able to walk the path of truth and light and be able to face the various vagaries of life more confidently and ensure that our world is a most peaceful place with zero hatred, zero negativities and above all zero conflicts.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

On August 25, 2016. this year , our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna celebrated his birthday with countless of his devotees.   He waits eagerly for each of his devotees to reach him and once they do, with his grace and blessings, he is overjoyed for nothing gives a greater joy to our lord than welcoming his devotees with so much love, blessings and affection.

Have been one of the very  humble bhaktas of Lord Sri Krishna and by  his divine grace , whatever has been bestowed in bountiful by him is reverentially surrendered unto his lotus feet for each of us can cross this ocean of samsara only by his divine grace.

Every Janmashtami , we do celebrate our lord's birthday in our home , this is the first time , purely on the grace of our lord got the finest opportunity to celebrate his birth in one of the most divine Sri Krishna conscious temple at Juhu, ISKCON, Mumbai amongst his countless devotees and let me at the very outset , congratulate each of the devotee of our Lord who have so finely managed the entire function with the very best of team work.

Our Lord and his divine consort Radha rani , an incarnation of Lakshmi amma , was as usual, adorned with the very best of crown, garland of flowers , beautiful vastram and above all his ever smiling lotus face shining like million suns and waiting happily to welcome each of his devotee is a symbol of his greatest affection for each of his creation.  No matter what our problems health, financial or any other, just by lovingly looking at his most beautiful lotus feet all our problems vanish in no seconds and we all are transported in the transcendental world of Sri Krishna.

The arrangements, prasadam, the fantastic lighting of the whole temple, devotees dressed in their very best of party wear, the wonderful most pious atmosphere charged with the highest positive aura created a joy which is beyond any words that can be expressed for many things in life needs to be experienced to understand the significance.

Watching all this awe struck, one thought that was upper most in my mind is , when true devotees cutting across cadre, grade , gender, financial background etc get together for only one purpose to shower our truest love on lord Sri Krishna and our most beautiful Radha rani then one need not aspire for Parmapadam for it is on  our mother earth itself for where Lord Sri Krishna is most lovingly  waiting for each of his devotees to meet him sing his divine glories which gives him the greatest joy, spread his most valuable message, share his past times ,  share his divine nature.  witness countless devotees chanting HARE KRISHNA then the entire earth is transformed into heavens , we witness the true bliss here itself with our body and consciousness both in full surrender into Krishna consciousness, then why even aspire for Parmapadam for wherever there is Lord Sri Krishna and his devotees that place is the most holy one and one need not run about here and there to experience Lord Sri Krishna and also another realization, let each of us not even analyze in which stage of devotion we are in , what are our past sins, what is our future destination, just not to bother of any of this, surrender ourselves at the lotus feet of our most beloved lord Sri Krishna with divine devotion, then automatically the path and the destination is finalized , we need not take the effort except to keep our belief, faith and above all our love for Lord Sri Krisha at its all time high, leave the rest to our cosmic creator , he will take care of each one of us  as he has in the past so lovingly .

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA,

Tomorrow is our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna's birthday , our creator who has created the whole universe would no doubt be adorned in the very best of silk, magnificent dazzling crown and various other priceless ornaments, etc.

It has always been my practice over the years that we all celebrate our birthday by wearing new clothes, eating cakes and sweets, etc , in addition to this every festival of our Lord Sri Krishna be it his birth, his float festival, his wonderful procession etc, my family , if we  have new dresses in our stock ,  we all wear the same on the auspicious functions of our lord , we eat the best of sweets and enjoy the most on these days with the thought process our lord's happiness needs to be celebrated and we need to reciprocate the same by being in our best form , for it would definitely make him very happy that his birthday is celebrated with so much love by his devotees.  Also a small observation , that any good dress worn/ any good deed done  on auspicious occasions ensures without doubt , it comes back in manifold which in Sanskrit the word is "VRIDDHI" or growth.

The best part of our Lord Sri Krishna's nature is he loves vibrant , rich colours, enjoyment ,dance, music and songs,  lively entertainment, best dressing and hence he is called "Allankara Priya" so let us all endeavour to ensure that we make our lord the happiest for he has always bestowed us with the very best.  Let us understand that our Lord wants us to enjoy the very best material comforts for he is the king , he does not want any one of us to renounce and retire to forests , he wants us to live life at its fullest , the key words being ethically we need to earn our money, conduct our selves with the highest strength of character, shower compassion on one and all and above all sing his glories which he loves the most and at the same time ENJOY......REJOICE.......AND DANCE TO  THE TUNES OF JOY, BLISS, BEST HEALTH AND whilst enjoying the very best , let our lips utter one word of "THANKS" for our most beloved lord who loves each of his creations beyond the definition of the word love...........HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LORD SRI KRISHNA.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LORD SRI KRISHNA , MAY WE ALL BLESS HIM, YES ( IN TAMIL WE SING "PALLANDU" EVERYDAY, TRANSLATED IT MEANS BLESSING THE LORD, SURPRISING IT MAY SEEM,  HOW CAN WE BLESS OUR CREATOR , WE ARE TOO SMALL FOR THAT , NO ON THE CONTRARY PALLUNDU IS THE BENEDICTION WHICH EVERY DEVOTEE SINGS  FOR HIS MOST BELOVED LORD FOR THE WELL BEING OF HIS CREATOR).

WISHING EVERY DEVOTEE A VERY VERY HAPPY LORD SRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI , MAY OUR LORD BE WITH US FOR EVER AND MAY WE WITH FULL FAITH, LOVE AND  BELIEF SURRENDER WHOLE HEARTEDLY UNTO  HIS MOST DIVINE LOTUS FEET...............

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAMMA HARE HARE.

HARE KRISHNA!

Our dearest Lord Sri Krishna in his most divine Bhagavad Gita has enumerated various virtues which a person possesses like strength of character, honesty, gratitude, etc but the mother of all virtues is "Compassion".  A true Vaishnava is one who showers compassion on one and all, all of our dearest creator's creations  living and non living for this quality when practised  only makes one feel good ,  spreads joy to every one around and above all instantly connects one with our supreme personality of godhead, this is without an iota of doubt.

The feeling of empathizing with all the people around, to count our blessings, to forgive and above all to forget the harm done leads us one step closer to our most loving Sri Krishna for he loves his devotees who have the quality of "KARUNA/ DAYA" which makes us all feel more humane.

One of the greatest saints of South India " Sri Vedanta Desikan" in his "DAYA SATAKAM" , beautiful verses composed and sung by him for our mother divine Sri Lakshmi amma mentions that the quality of compassion possessed in abundance by our mother is the reason why each of us are able to survive for she forgives each of our failings, our faults, our innumerable sins and above all takes us in her shelter forever and it is she who pleads with our dearest lord Sri Krishna, her divine consort , to also forgive us , for we are their children and any fault no matter how huge it is , he needs to exercise his saulabhya, sausheelya and above all his Karuna (compassion) on each of his creations to enable them to escape the otherwise harsh penalty which we would have to suffer in case our lord does not bestow his compassion/ his mercy / compassion on each of his creation.  The moment Sri Vedanta Desikan sang his Daya Satakam on our beloved mother , she rained golden coins on him and asked him to seek any boon which he so desires from her for she was very happy at the song composed by him . Sri Vedanta Desikan requested her to forever shower her compassion on all the creations of our lord Sri Krishna and that he needed no material possession or any other wants except her Daya/ compassion which proves beyond a point how important it is to possess the quality of compassion where each of our lord's creation are linked with love, share and care for at the end of the day if we have someone somewhere who loves us and their compassion is felt for us this world would be one of the most blessed place to live for happy are those who bestow compassion on others and still  happiest are those for are capable of bestowing their compassion on others and that is why our father of nation Mahatma Gandhiji's most loved song by Narsinh Mehtaji "Vaishnava Janato dene kahiye ...." is one of the most popular song which endorses the fact that a true Vaishnavite is one who feels for our greatest lords creations and forever finds ways to help a soul in need.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE..........

Hare Krishna,

The importance of practising with ardent and  unflinching devotion Sri Krishna consciousness enumerated below:

1.  The cycle of birth and death is bypassed and the soul can easily attain "MOKSHA" very promptly.  We would be eternally releasing our soul from the various sufferings of this transient world.

2. To be with Lord Sri Krishna , the supreme most personality of godhead and forever be safe, blessed  and experience the very best joy of true bliss totally cut off from the vagaries of the various ups and downs of life.  To serve Lord Sri Krishna is the highest duty of a soul and by fulfilling this duty the soul gets cleansed and dazzles like thousand sparkling stars and is forever closest to the Lord thereby enjoying the most sublime existence.

3. Lord Sri Krishna is our creator and to be a part of his joy would be the greatest benediction a soul can experience and once the soul finds the greatest joy in serving our lord then it would turn away from all the worldly pleasures for these futile pleasures are  nothing at all, total zero  when compared to the transcendental way of life.

4. All our loneliness , our fears and tensions of everyday life would be vanished totally  in the company of our Lord Sri Krishna and his divine consort Radha ma and a feeling of total care, full protection from everything one can think of , would be enjoyed for with Lord Sri Krishna as a friend, philosopher and guide none can harm here or anywhere else.

5.  Total mental calm and physical well  being is the crux of life for in the absence of both one can go hay wire.  With our Lord SriKrishna consciousness one can totally bring both the mind and body in total control by his divine grace, love and blessings.

These points are summarized to the very bare minimum , the list of well being  is endless when each one of us with total devotion , love our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna from the very core of our heart and know for very certain that this is the only way of expressing our gratitude to our creator for he loves us the most when we stay connected with him and sing his glories, it gives him the greatest pleasure that his devotees are there for him just as he is with them forever.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA  HARE HARE HARE RAAMA HARE RAAMA RAAMA RAAMA HARE HARE!