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An Ocean of Gaura Premamrta-krpa" - An elaboration on Srila Rupa Goswami's Sri Upadesamrta.
This wonderful book in two volumes has been compiled by H.G. Srimati Mataji (Vrindavana) and her team.
To download Click here
The eternal constitutional nature of the living entity is pure love and devotion to Krishna. The origin of this pure unconditional love is the pleasure giving potency hladini shakti, Srimati Radharani. Though hidden deep within the heart of the Lord, She manifests Herself as Krishna's eternal consort. Only She can completely satisfy and attract the all attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead by Her unsurpassable pure love, which is called mahabhava.
Srimati Radharani is the compassionate nature of the Lord and She is represented by the spiritual master. One cannot approach Her directly but must go through the spiritual master, who is Her most confidential servant. Therefore I offer my humble obeisances to my spiritual master His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. By his mercy only can I approach the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha and Krishna . The mercy of the spiritual master is delivered through his divine instructions. I pray these instructions be carved into my heart as an emblem of service to his lotus feet.
Srimati Radharani is an ocean of divine qualities and She brings pleasure to the Lord in an infinite variety of ways. So captivating is Her love for Him, that Lord Krishna appeared, also as a hidden incarnation, to taste that special love which belongs to Her alone.
“Desiring to understand the glory of Radharaṇi’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Srimati Saci-devi, as the moon appeared from the ocean.” (CC Adi lila 1.6)
Everything about Srimati Radharani is attractive to Krishna . She is the topmost devotee of the Lord. By studying Her transcendental qualities, and cultivating a desire to serve Her, one can begin to understand how to become a devotee. Sri Krishna , the Supreme Personality of Godhead desired to know Her profound mood, and thus appeared as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Lord Caitanya is our Istadeva. Anything we hear about the ultimate goal of human life, pure love of God, originates in Him. Lord Caitanya is immersed in the mood of Srimati Radharani and by serving Him one can taste a particle of Her divine qualities and love for Krishna .
Obeisances to the transcendental qualities of Srimati Radharani.
Oh, Srimati Radharani, epitome of sweet,
I pray to Your kindness for shelter at Your feet.
You are freshly youthful, with a fragrance sublime,
and Your restless eyes search for that cowherd divine.
You light up the worlds with Your smile so bright,
Your impeccable speech is a blissful delight.
Auspicious lines marking Your face, hands and feet,
with Your meek humble nature all pride You defeat.
Your singing and joking is transcendental play,
in performing Your duties there is never delay.
You are shy and calm yet cunning and grave,
and the path to Vrndavana You respectfully pave.
In Goloka You are the reservoir of loving exchange,
accepting whatever Your friends may arrange.
You're controlled by their love, which is deep as the sea,
and famous as the most submissive devotee.
Affectionate to Your elders chief damsel of Vraja,
wearing Your qualities, like a gem-studded corsage.
By Your love You control the Lord’s tender heart
as He changes His color and yearns for Your part.
All glories to the auspicious qualities of Srimati Radhrani. I pray to meditate upon them and thus become their servant.
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=31179
Dear Friends PLEASE HELP!!! For some time now I have been concerned for the freedoms and safeties of my fellow Hare Krsna devotees in Bangladesh, who are trying to exist peacefully in a socio-political context which is extremely fractious, volatile and imminently inflammatory. I have become aware of isolated incidents of extreme physical attacks on individual priests and small gatherings during their worship practices. Such attacks have been enacted by thugs portraying themselves as Islamic extremist fundamentalists.
A few of the recent fatalities perpetrated on Bangladeshi Hindu priests in this style have made the mainstream media. I understand that legal actions and convictions have often not followed such incidents due to fears and biases within and political pressures upon, the enforcement and judiciary systems. In some respects I am reluctant to put this out since the last thing I want is to contribute to any generic anti-muslim rhetorics or non-specific media fuelled anti-muslim paranoia.
Since, however, I accept the following as a factual situation, with innocent lives in immediate jeopardy I have decided it over-rides my misgivings. Please take a few moments to read this candid report which I received this morning. I have chosen not to edit the english so as not to mask the authenticity of the voice:
“Please try to do publish strong news on that and let me know where you putted this Bangladesh media was not publishing the truth as follows the incident happened
Dear Journalistic Brothers, Take our cordial greetings and congratulations on behalf of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bangladesh. You are the mirrors of our society and conscientious soldiers for authentic investigation. You are the prideful allottee for global amelioration of Bangladesh. Beloved Brothers, ISKCON, an apolitical religious organization which is believed in nonviolent Vaishnavism introduced by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and mainstreamed in Sanatana Dharma, is known to you. It is immensely felicitated to the sober-minded and brilliant people throughout the world till this half century. Its extension and progression in Bangladesh is also incremental. However, regretfully truth is that an unthought-of attack was transacted while program was occurring in ISKCON Sylhet divisional Temple situated at Kajalshah adjacent to Osmani Medical Hospital on last 2 September, 2016, Friday at approximate 1:40 pm. Which has come out differently hiding the real fact to the newspapers and other medias. It grieved and mortified us extremely. The real fact is that, on that happening day, a religious competition named ‘Bhaktivedanta National Students Competition’ under ISKCON Bangladesh was undergoing on its divisional stage housed for kiddie and juvenile contestants since 9 am at Jugaltila ISKCON Temple at Kajalshah in Sylhet. There, the attendance was about a thousand devotees from four districts of Sylhet division. Approximately at 1:40 pm after Juma Prays, after attacking announcement from Kajalshah Mosque northed to our temple and Bhatalia Mosque from south-east cone and Lamabazar Nayapara Mosque and uniting about two thousands of people carrying homespun weapons and by barricading the roads eastwards and southwards to our temple, attacked us. They threw brickbats and stones focusing the temple from three sides.We were mazed at the sudden happenings. A heartrending scene was visualized inside the temple. Tears of the sky of child and women were heavy. At that time, protection to them had become our main responsibility. Under the circumstances, we closed our gates of west and north-east sides. As criminals did not enter inside the temple because of boundaries around the temple, we were saved from an appalling, diabolic massacring. But, some shop adjoining to the northed gate and arrival buses from afar placed amidst the temple were vandalized. Its loss amount is about 30-40 lacs. Regarding the fact, it has ducked the brutal incidents of 1971, 1990 and 2001. Thirty people along with children, women and pedestrian were bloodied and wounded by hit of brickbats and rubbles thrown by the raider.Dear Journalist Brothers,While civility, humanity and catholicity is growing up throughout the world, at that time in our country, by rumouring fake news through mosque mike and unifying bigoted general Muslims, they are attacking the innocent saints, women and kiddies. Sylhet ISKCON Temple has been attacked in same contrivance, as happened in Ramu, Matijheel. Now, we are very anxious about our security. How will we be escaped from such rumours and fanaticism? Dear Journalist Brothers, We are intimating the kind attention of honourable Prime Minister of Convocation of Bangladesh Government and Home Minister and relavant Authorities with the help of yours. And, we are claiming for undertaking precise legal provision concerning this fact and obliged thereby. On behalf of Nabadwip Dwija Gauranga Das Brahmachari President ISKCON Sylhet Vice- President, ISKCON Bangladesh.”
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=31183
The miracle of forgiveness : Much has been written in spiritually themed literature, Vedic scriptures and Prabhupada's translations, and personal growth/self-help books about forgiveness. As a young person and devotee I had no idea how important forgiveness could be. It was only after years of introspection and prayer that I personally understood how important it was for me to forgive important persons in my life and myself.
The topic came up in my reading of the last few days, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts about it. I have done much work with forgiveness - with my parents, for how I was raised, and for myself, for my many personal failings and what I should or should not have done. I looked at all my significant relationships in as much honesty as possible, and also considered that I may have some anger toward Krishna, and my guru, Shrila Prabhupada.
I did find some anger toward Prabhupada and I had a long talk with him to uncover it, and let it go. I have written somewhere about my, in contemporary terms, gestalt type conversation with him. Whatever it may be called, to me it was a very real talk before the Prabhupada murti in Berkeley almost 30 years ago. Before him, I shared and examined my anger and doubts, and I received a simple though compellingly powerful answer to my angst with his physical disappearance.
I felt he had abandoned me and left me to fend for myself without proper guidance. He said to me that what I did with my life was up to me, but the important aspect was to remember and love Krishna. For guidance, he left his books and especially his disciples who could act as shiksha gurus for me. To use Shrutakirti’s book title, “What is the difficulty?”
Even with all the work I have done in the past, as part of my current endeavor to face my death, and understand that I must “die before dying” to actually live fully and realize my full potential and contribution to the world, I have had to reexamine my life for any residues of anger and resentment. I wanted to make sure such negative emotions were not still hanging around like smoke, obscuring my clarity of purpose, and belief in my ability to go forward in my personal mission.
I have found that in personal growth work or in uncovering anarthas (unwanted habits of thinking and acting unfavorable for spiritual progress) awareness comes in layers. We go as far as we can and we may even think we are done, but in time, we find another layer is peeled that requires further self-examination, revealing more work to do. This means that we can’t do our spiritual work all at one time because that would be too overwhelming. We need to be aware of how deep we are required to go to be cleared of what are actually karmic weights keeping us materially bound.
By our spiritual urgency and prayer we can be open to areas of our psyche we don’t want to admit we have, or those undesirable attitudes and feelings that may be unbecoming and even gross and ugly. Yet, to progress in spiritual life and get unstuck, we must move beyond them; we have to first own and accept them, seeing their natural purpose from our human conditioning, and then with love, release and let them go by our desire to do so, strengthened by prayer and grace.
THE MIRACLE OF A SMILE AND HAPPINESS:
I have shared before that each day as I rise, I remember what I am grateful for, and in gratitude put a smile on my face. As I dedicate my day Krishna, or my Gurus and Gauranga, I decide that whatever the days brings, I will practice happiness.
I am going to share a blog after this introduction with the title "Decide to be Happy,” from my Krishna.com blog because it expresses something of what I am feeling today: that to be happy or sad is a choice we make based on what we give our power or energy to through our focus. What we focus on we tend to attract more of so we can spiral up or down emotionally simply by our mind’s absorption. Unless we are in the middle of some trauma or have an undiagnosed clinic depression, we can make a decision to be happy as part of our spiritual practice, and more, show that with a smiling attitude.
As I go about my day I am amazed at the power of a sincere smile with no agenda other than expressing joy and sharing it. As I sit to write a blog in a health food store, I observe people in a hurry to begin and finish whatever shopping they must do, and it seems they are not completely present and have forgotten that they can do whatever they must in happiness - at least for the most part a smile is absent on their faces. Yet, I find that smiles are contagious and when people encounter my smile their face lights up.
For those of us who want to look younger smiling is a good way to do this, as our smile covers up our wrinkles or overpowers them. Sometimes my smile can be unnerving for people as they think I am crazy or that I must know them to be smiling at them.
Regardless, I would like to challenge you to practice remembering what you are grateful for in your life and decide to be happy as part of your spiritual practice, while have a smiling attitude as you go about your day. Look in the mirror at how better you look with a sincere smile than a sad expression.
Focus on the positive and believe in your natural happy nature. As you interact with others note how people reciprocate with your happy demeanor and smiles. If nothing else, you will feel much better throughout your day. Here is the link: http://www.krishna.com/blog/2011/10/4/decide-be-happy
Source : http://www.krishna.com/blog/2016/09/7/miracle-forgiveness-and-miracle-smile-and-happiness
Verse 4.35: Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into such illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme, or, in other words, that they are Mine.
Ever been mistaken for someone else? How did you feel? I've been mistaken for someone else a few times and its normally resulted in an awkward/amusing encounter once I've let the other person know that I'm not who they think they are. It's often followed by an apology and sometimes even an explanation - i.e. Wow! Your hair looks just like my friend's.
Although its personally never happened to me, I've heard rare cases of people insisting that they are right, saying things like, "You have to be such and such person! You're trying to fool me!" I can only imagine the poor recipient of such words. I'm sure if that type of questioning and conversation carried on for sometime, the recipient could get frustrated and even angry.
Regardless of the circumstance, the point is that in the majority of cases, we are quick to correct if we are mistaken for someone else. It highlights how strongly attached we are to our identity and ensuring that we recognized appropriately.
In fact, it's rare that we question and ever think that we might not be who we think we are.
The Gita flips this illusion on its head. Think you are the mind, ego, intelligence or body? The Gita resoundingly answers "No! You are experiencing a case of mistaken identity!" The Gita proclaims, "You are the soul! A spiritual spark that is part and parcel of the Divine."
This central teaching of the Gita has the capacity to revolutionize our lives and is exemplified by a beautiful analogy given by the great bhakti-yogi Prabhupada. Once a man visited his friend who had a bird which lived in a bird cage. The man was very proud of his bird cage and took great pains to ensure it looked shiny and new. The friend, when entering this man's house remarked upon the bird cage and praised the man saying that it looked beautiful. He then asked, "What's that smell? What happened to the bird?" The man looked inside and was shocked to see that the bird inside his beautiful cage had died.
In this analogy, the bird is the soul and the cage the body. Often, emphasis is placed on maintaining the body to ensure its health, beauty and abilities, which are, no doubt, important. However, the Gita explains, solely focusing on the body can result in ignoring the precious cargo it carries inside - the soul.
The purpose of physical yoga is to ensure that the body is strong enough to engage in activities which serve to nourish the soul. Activities such as hearing, chanting, meditating, serving etc.
So take heed of the reminder that the Gita gives us: there's a soul inside all of us that's crying out for nourishment. Please make sure to remember to feed it.
Source : http://gita-asitis.blogspot.in/2015/03/mistaken-identity.html
The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.
. . . The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. . .
This verse keeps me from getting proud about my achievements, keeps me from getting depressed about my failures, keeps me from getting disturbed by others' success, and keeps me focused on my path spiritual goals.
When I come across those who just keep talking about themselves, especially about the good that they are doing, my mind immediately takes shelter of this verse. No doubt these people are doing many good things, but they forget that it's their nature that is driving them to do what they are doing. It's not them.
The fundamental spiritual truth is that we are spiritual souls who currently occupy a material body. This material body, along with its nature, is awarded to the soul based on its desires and past activities. But, as this verse states, the materially engrossed soul thinks that he is independently working even though he is always under the control of the nature he has been awarded by forces beyond him.
This illusion is perpetuated by others similarly illusioned who praise the successes of these illusioned souls. Real success is to get out of the control of material nature and reestablish oneself in one's constitutional position of being a selfless loving servant of God. When this happens, our original nature drives us to continuously serve the Lord with great joy.
The path to perfection is to just use one's current material nature in the service of God. Gradually the material covering will get eroded and one will get established in ones original nature that is selfless, loving, and God centered.
Source :http://thebandwagonofmoltengold.blogspot.in/2015/03/is-my-success-mine.html
Spiritual Knowledge has to be obtained from a bonafide spiritual master or Guru. A bonafide Guru is one who has his own Guru, and so on. The original Guru is God who is perfect in all respects.
The Bhagavad Gita is a standard text for spiritual knowledge and we must be careful not to bypass it's essential message when talking about spirituality. Bhagavad Gita's essential message is to become a pure devotee of Krishna and get out of the cycle of birth and death that characterizes the material world.
To equate the individual soul with God is a mistake most atheistic spiritualists make. This is an obvious mistake, but due to the power of illusion, the deluded soul is convinced that he can become the supreme or that his powers are unlimited, independent. To take shelter of pure devotees of God is the only way to get out of this dangerous illusion.
Source : http://thebandwagonofmoltengold.blogspot.in/2015/03/spiritual-fundamentals.html
Whenever you go to visit a temple in India, and participate in the doing pujas or rituals, the priest will often ask you to which gotra your family line belongs. Then you tell him your gotra, and usually the names of your father and mother, and he puts that into the recitation of prayers to offer to the deity you are worshiping, and to get blessings from that deity. In other cases, a person introduces himself to elders by stating one’s name and gotra. This is a form of acknowledging one’s ancestral ties and all that has been given by one’s ancestors.
How the system of gotra works can be explained like this. First of all, the original spiritual knowledge was given by the Supreme Being to Lord Brahma, the secondary creator of the universe. From Brahma came the powerful rishis who were capable of receiving this knowledge and preserving it, and then spreading it throughout the universe, and down through the generations of humanity.
So, after the universal creation under the guidance of Lord Brahma, it is recorded that he had 27 sons who were also progenitors for mankind, called Prajapatis, who were the seeds of humanity which spread throughout the world. The familial line from each of these Prajapatis is called a gotra. So the names of the gotra carries the name of each one of these sages. In this way, the 27 sons of Brahma were also the beginnings for the 27 gotras.
These sons of Brahma were also learned sages called rishis. These seers came to be known as the mantra-drishtaraha, seers of the Vedic mantras. The main seven sages, called the Saptarshis (Seven Rishis), are Kashyapa, Vashistha, Bharadwaj, Kapila, Atri, Vishvamitra, and Gautama. It is also these Saptarshis which help preserve and propagate spiritual knowledge to humanity for everyone’s benefit. Additional sons of Brahma include Svayambhuva Manu, Adharma, Praheti, Heti, Aristanemi, Bhrigu, Daksha, Pracetas, Sthanu, Samshraya, Sesha, Vikrita, Kardama, Kratu, Pulaha, Pulastya, and Agiras, along with Marichi, Bhrigu, and Agastya.
The gotra also helps establish your identity as part of the Vedic tradition, and that your family lineage can be traced back to one of the original great rishis or sages from whom the knowledge of Vedic culture has descended. We all belong to one of thesegotras, whether we know them or not. But it is a great insight to know your gotra.
However, these gotras have since increased through time to include many others. There are now two hundred and forty-nine gotras, of which approximately forty are common today. Of these forty include: Vatula, Atreya, Garga, Kaundinnya, Kaushika, Gautama, Naidhruva-kashyapa, Harita, Bharadvaja, Shandilya, Maudgalya, and Shrivasta.
Gotras are further classified into five groups, depending upon the number of rishi descendants in a particular gotra. These groups are:
1. Ekarsheya-pravara-gotra, having one rishi descendant.
2. Dvayarsheya-pravara-gotra, having two rishi descendants.
3. Treyarsheya-pravara-gotra, having three rishi descendants.
4. Pancharisheya-pravara-gotra, having five rishi descendants.
5. Saptarisheya-pravara-gotra, having seven rishi descendants.
One example could be a Treyarsheya-pravara-gotra of Vatula, Atreya, and Kaushikagotras, or another line of three (treya) rishis.
Another point about this is that in India, one’s gotra is important because they help avoid what would be called inbreeding, or families marrying within their own gotra. In fact, sometimes they avoid four gotras, including your father’s gotra, your mother’s, your paternal grandmother’s, and your maternal grandmother’s. Marrying someone outside of these four mentioned gotras is said to help prevent birth defects or deformities in their children by keeping people from marrying within the same genetic roots.
In any case, this is a Vedic tradition that seems to be traced back to the beginning of time.
Source : https://stephenknapp.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/gotras-a-simple-explanation/
If i let myself think, “aparadha-bhajan is better than no bhajan at all,” then i probably won’t stop this aparadha bhajan for a long time to come.
Bhajan with aparadha is worse than no bhajan at all.
Bhajan with aparadha is worse than no bhajan at all. Just as having a negative experience with a person is worse than having no experience with them at all. But the solution is not to stop the bhajan. The solution is to stop the aparadha.
Bhajan with mistakes and failures is certainly better than no bhajan at all.
First, let me reiterate what aparadha actually is. It is not a mistake or a failure. Mistakes or failures in our bhajan are natural and inevitable because we are complete beginners. Bhajan with mistakes and failures is certainly better than no bhajan at all. It is by doing sincere bhajan with mistakes and failures that we gradually overcome the mistakes and failures – just as practicing a musical instrument gradually gets rid of our mistakes in playing it.
Love expresses itself in celebration(kirtan) and adoration (bhajan). Hate expresses itself in slander and criticism(ninda).
Aparadha-bhajan is something else.
What is aparadha?
Aparadha literally means Anti (apa-) love (radha). What is “antilove” – it is “hate.”
So, you see, aparadha means to intentionally choose do do the opposite of love. Love expresses itself in celebration (kirtan) and adoration (bhajan). Hate expresses itself in slander and criticism (ninda).
Not all criticism is hateful, but all hate maifests in criticism (ninda). Therefore we have to be very careful of ninda. We don’t have licence to criticize anyone - unless we have some practical reason to expose a flaw for the sake of benefiting those adversely affected by it. Even then, we should measure our pulse. It is so easy for beginners like us to think we are expressing “constructive criticism” when in fact we are just venting anger as a result of frustration and hatred.
We have to dilligently curb our habbit of inflating our own stature by deflating the stature of others.
Unfortunately we constantly saturate ourselves in ninda. It is even a socially accepted part of many asrama cultures! Often I have heard entire lectures supposedly about Bhagavatam or Krishna which in truth were nothing but fourty-five minutes of nonstop ninda – full of criticism of “karmis” and making fun of “mayavadis” and “christians” and so on. [Pointing this out is not a ninda, but part of the effort to rid myself of ninda and its sources].
It is almost a requirement for joining one asrama that you must criticize every other asrama on the marg. This is why many of us feel we are better off not “joining” any asrama at all.
We have to dilligently curb our habbit of inflating our own stature by deflating the stature of others. Yes its very tiring and difficult to do this, but we will never really getanywhere in bhakti-yoga until we make this effort, and make it fully. We must avoid criticizing people – anypeople. Especially we have to avoid expressing hatred for people who love the same person we are supposed to love, Krishna! This includes other beginners as well, as bungling and annoying and dumb as we all are. There is so much criticism of sadhus who are on even minutely different paths than we are. It is almost a requirement for joining one asrama that you must criticize every other asrama on the marg. It is so awful and so detrimental to bhajan. This is why there are no shining, self-effulgent acaryas. This is why we all remain such dunderheads and dullards. And this is why many of us feel we are better off not “joining” any asrama at all.
People who love Krishna also include all the various adhikṛta-dasa divinities, (Siva, Brahma, Indra, Varuṇa, etc.) and their followers – and not only in their obviously Vedic manifestation but also in their cross-cultural cross-pollenated faccimilies (like Thor, Odin, and so on). Why criticize them? What do we gain from it? Nothing. Rather than gain, in fact, we lose the most important thing – the devotional attitude (which is soft, forgiving, tolerant, and gentle by nature).
People who love Krishna certainly also include the intermediate and advanced devotees who should be treated as sadhu and guru.
Obviously, it also includes Krishna himself. We must not slander, criticize (or cause others to do that by our pathetic misrepresentation of) Krishna’s manifestation as the Veda (yes, all of them, including the karma-khanda and jñana-khanda – and culminating in Srimad Bhagavatam), as Sri Murti, as Sri Nama, and as Sri Dhama.
We should stop our aparadha by increasing our radha. We should do more kirtan and bhajan
Rather than only trying to stop our aparadha, we should also take a positive approach. We should stop our aparadha and increase our radha. We should do more kirtan and bhajan with better sincerity, while giving up our spite and jealousy and need for superiority and eminance and recognition. Then aparadha decreases and radha takes its place in our hearts. Then our progress is swift and perfect.
We must stop our aparadha immediately and entirely. We can’t go around resting on slogans like, “something is better than nothing.”
Vraja Kishor das
Source : https://vicd108.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/is-aparadha-bhajan-better-than-no-bhajan-at-all/
I like the comparison, of the love of Srimati Radharani to a mirror which reflects the qualities of Krishna – as she discovers more and more qualities of Krishna , her love is just responding to those qualities. In this way, the love of Srimati Radharani is eternally growing. This explains the nature of love in the spiritual world and how one is increasing in one’s devotional service and one’s devotional experience eternally. Krishna becomes captured by this love which increases his experience of love; so that exchange eternally continues.
The topmost relationship in the spiritual world is parakiya rasa, which is a forbidden relationship of paramours. Not the conjugal love within marriage but forbidden relationship of paramours – those stolen moments are considered to be the topmost.Gopis cannot openly associate with Krishna – that is not possible because it is socially not acceptable that they mix with Krishna . Many are married, others are young girls under the authority of their parents – how can they openly mix with the young boy in the village? It is not possible. Therefore, in the relationship between Radha and Krishna it is not possible that they openly meet, as there are many obstacles. Some stolen moments are there which are very precious for that reason. There is great eagerness to finally have the opportunity to meet Krishna ; that is usually very difficult.
When Srimati Radharani encounters Krishna , she is overwhelmed. It is described that when Radha sees Krishna in public that she cannot help but smile, but she is hiding that smile. So her smile is practically not visible, it is slightly there, by the corner of her lips, but Krishna notices that smile and therefore he also starts mildly smiling, also controlling his smile. Srimati Radharani notices that Krishna is seeing that she started smiling and therefore she begins to smile more. Krishna notices that she has noticed that he had noticed that she was smiling and therefore Krishna begins to smile more. Then she notices that Krishna has just noticed that she had noticed that he was noticing that she was smiling… and in this way, they go on with noticing until in the end, they cannot control the smiling anymore! So in this way, there is the intimate exchange but at the same time, it is covered by the separation. The essence of parakiya rasa is separation. The mood between Radha and Krishna is always one of separation with some stolen moments of coming together and then again increased separation. This is the basic theme of that topmost love.
I find very interesting this image of the love of Srimati Radharani being a mirror reflecting the qualities of Krishna and then eternally discovering more qualities because it shows how one eternally makes spiritual advancement – there is no limit to it! It is very profound and it does not just apply to only Srimati Radharani, it applies to all devotees – especially to all the eternal associates of the Lord and even to us! We are also discovering little-by-little, more and more, about the nature of Krishna and the qualities of Krishna . Maybe, at this stage, our love is not very developed but some attraction is there – it is unavoidable even! One of meaning of the word Bhagavan, as told by Srila Jiva Gosvami, means,‘Krishna is irresistible, you have to worship him!’ So this is the situation – there is no question of not coming to the point of loving Krishna !
Conflict, friction and human disagreement is, unfortunately, a major part of daily life. Whether it’s the erratic driver who cuts in front of you on the high street, crafty and cunning work colleagues pulling a fast one, or ungrateful and insensitive friends, unsavoury interactions can spoil our day really quickly. Fortunately for us, the great saint Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur offers invaluable wisdom to help handle these daily challenges:
"When faults in others misguide and delude you - have patience, introspect, find faults in yourself. Know that others cannot harm you unless you harm yourself."
Patience - the first moments of a conflict situation are crucial. Be tolerant and patient. The art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but sometimes to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. When negative emotions hijack our mental state, chances are we’ll act and speak irrationally. One who is patient in a moment of anger, saves themselves days of sorrow.
Introspect – take some time to consider the situation. Beyond the perceived idiocy of actions and words, try to understand what is driving someone to do what they do. What is the hidden background? If we can identify that, we hold the key to progress. In human dealings the golden rule is this: seek first to understand, then to be understood. We could also consider how important the conflict really is – most Issues can easily be dropped or ignored, but often our emotional engrossment keeps us doggedly fighting till the last breath.
Find faults in yourself – every experience we encounter is ultimately an opportunity for self-growth. Provoking situations act as a mirror to better understand our weaknesses and faults. When we can identify and accept our own imperfections, we’re better placed to considerately deal with others. Else, we may fall into the trap of being very good judges for other people’s mistakes, and expert lawyers for our own.
Source : http://sutapamonk.blogspot.in/2015/03/people-problems.html
Devotees at ISKCON New Vrindaban, West Virginia are in the midst of major renovations on Srila Prabhupada’s Palace. And they’re launching a campaign to help them continue restoring the renowned Smriti Samadhi, or memorial shrine to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, to its full glory.
The effort is a labor of love, just as it was when devotees first started building the Palace in 1973, intending it as a residence for their guru, who expressed a strong desire to retire there and translate his books.
“Regarding New Vrindaban I was very happy when I was there,” he wrote to them in 1974. “I am expecting very soon to go there and live in my proposed palace at least for some time.”
When Prabhupada passed away in 1977, the Palace – which opened to the public in 1979 – became a monument to his astounding achievements and gifts he gave to the world; a place where he resides in spirit through his instructions; and a major attraction for pilgrims and tourists.
But over the last thirty years, the Palace, which was built by enthusiastic yet inexperienced & young devotees, began to decay. Large parts of the decorative domes, outer wall, railings, and steps crumbled away, and sections of wrought iron rusted irreparably.
More recently, a Palace Restoration Committee was established to take action, and had specialized engineers give their assessment. Fortunately, the core of the building was safe and sturdy, but work had to be done on the exterior quickly.
This time, the work is being carried out with the assistance of professionals – both devotees and reputable local companies.
“The new concrete we are pouring has all the attributes that experience and modern technology provide,” says restoration manager Gopisa Das. “So it will significantly outlast what was used previously.”
The first move was installing a new, far more efficient drainage system on the steps leading up to the Palace.
“Water is the biggest contributing factor to deterioration,” Gopisa explains.
Next, the steps themselves were beautifully renovated by recycling the original rose-colored granite and adding new black granite treads with polished front edges. The work is currently about to be completed.
“Those distinctive pink and black colors now look the same as they did thirty-five years ago,” says Gopisa. “And the steps are sturdier and more durable than ever, with two-inch-thick treads rather than just the one inch that was there previously.”
Work on the outer wall – the first impression visitors get of the Palace – came next, and the hope is to complete its restoration this year as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for the 50th anniversary of his ISKCON.
The block wall was stripped, grouted and stabilized with rebar and concrete. As water had been leaking through the top, an attractive new waterproof, saffron-colored topping with lotus designs was installed. And the crumbling window frames were pulled out and replaced with new ornate black frames with Jaipur-style arches.
Next, beautifully ornate iron window grills will be installed, and the wall’s surface will receive a durable concrete stucco finish.
This will complete the first phase of restoration and exhaust ISKCON New Vrindaban’s current funding for the project. The second phase is repair of the Palace roof, which has been leaking and causing internal damage for years. Gopisa considers this a vital undertaking, and assuming financial support is available, he hopes it will be completed by the end of 2017.
“The entire roof has to be stripped down and rebuilt, along with a new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, and the domes need to be properly sealed,” says Gopisa. “That phase will also include rebuilding the crumbled balustrade railing around the Palace roof as well.”
With all this work, Gopisa says, “We are using the very best materials we can afford, to make it as long-lasting as possible, so the next generations won’t be faced with the same challenges we’re facing now.”
To the devotees in New Vrindaban there’s no doubt Prabhupada’s Palace is a sacred gem that must be revitalized. After all, it’s the only monument in the Western hemisphere built specifically to glorify Srila Prabhupada. It was constructed by volunteers who lovingly devoted years of their lives to its development. And it was beloved by Srila Prabhupada, who called its builders his “jewels” and promised, “I am already living here and always will be.”
Indeed, many devotees have commented they still strongly feel his presence there. Even tourists, who have never heard of Srila Prabhupada, are moved and affected. And in recent years, as media coverage of the Palace has once again increased, so have its visitors, with tens of thousands of pilgrims annually appreciating this sacred memorial to our beloved Founder-Acharya.
To offer your skills in renovation, contact Gopisa Das at gopisa108@gmail.com.
And to support the project financially, please contact Gaurnatraj Das at gaurnatraj@newvrindaban.comor phone 304 312 2069.
For more information, please visit: http://palaceofgold.com/, http://www.newvrindaban.com/
Courtesy : Dandavats
Dear devotees,
Year after year many soldiers of Srila Prabhupada are leaving us bereft of their association. These are great Prabhupadanugas who has dedicated their lives for the mission of Srila Prabhupada. There is so much to learn from their lives.
As an attempt to glorified one such soldier, Kaulini Devi Dasi we have set up a blog in her glorification. This blog is an initiative by HG Sudevi dasi (SDG) to record homages to HG Kaulini Devi Dasi. Her life was an inspiration to many and we hope this blog will continue to inspire many others. Please email your offerings to motherkaulini@gmail.com. Let us celebrate Mother Kaulini’s glorious life! Click here to view the blog: http://motherkaulini.blogspot.com/
Her Grace Kaulini Devi Dasi was born on August 30,1946 in Sacremento, California. She grew up there and joined ISKCON in 1972 in San Francisco with her then husband, Keshava Bharati Prabhu (now Keshava Bharati Swami).
While in San Francisco, she was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in May 1973. During that time, her family lived in the same home as Jayananda Prabhu. In fact, her first service was going on Harinam with Jayananda Prabhu’s sankirtan party. Over the next three years, she continued to serve in San Francisco, Saint Louis and Florida.
After her husband took sanyasa, Kaulini devi put on white cloth and as Satsvarupa Maharaj noted, “flourishes in chaste renunciation”. In 1976, she moved to Gita Nagari, where she lived and served for over 30 years.
Kaulini devi exhibited many exemplary qualities. She was genuinely humble and preferred to do her service in the background and sunned the spotlight. She was also very simple, and did not require lavish arrangements. She acted as temple president, head cook, pujari, caretaker of the cows, guest services, caregiver and wore numerous other hats. She was the model of steadiness and remained fixed in Krishna Consciousness in spite of institutional changes, meager finances, political upheaval and other challenges. She famously asked Satsvarupa Maharaj if it was okay if a devotee didn’t have any problems, as she was completely content in her devotional life. She made Krishna Consciousness look easy.
On September 3rd, surrounded by well-wishers and friends chanting the holy name, Kaulini devi left her body.
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=31135
Simple Daily Meditations
How to know Krishna? How to get a sense of who He is, a feeling towards Him? How can we think about Him naturally throughout the day and not just while we battle with our mind during our chanting practice? In other words, can we meditate off the mat and into the day?
Meditation is mind work. For some it’s emptying the mind of everything. For us it’s filling the mind with thoughts of Krishna. Letting the mind drift to His side, lean into His space and rest there.
Arjuna asked Krishna such a question – “How shall I constantly think of You, and how shall I know You? In what various forms are You to be remembered?” In the Gita’s beautiful poetic verses, Krishna invites us to breathe deep the extent of his presence everywhere and to let our minds connect with that. Simple, beautiful, daily meditations.
Here are my 12 favorites.
Of lights I am the radiant sun
Among stars I am the moon
Of bodies of water I am the ocean
I am inexhaustible time
Among beasts I am the lion
Of purifiers I am the wind
Of seasons I am flower-bearing spring
Of letters I am the letter A
Of the wise I am wisdom
Of the splendid I am the splendor
I am all devouring death and
I am the generating principle of all that is yet to be.
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=31146
Radha’s 25 transcendental qualities, by which She controls Krsna. The first version is from CC Madhya 23. 87-91 and next to it is a slightly different version from the “Teachings of Lord Caitanya” Ch. 14. The original reference is said to be Ujjvala-nilamani, Sri-Radha-prakarasa (11-15).
(1) She is very sweet.// She is sweetness personified;
(2) She is always freshly youthful.// She is a fresh young girl;
(3) Her eyes are restless.// Her eyes are always moving;
(4) She smiles brightly.// She is always brightly smiling;
(5) She has beautiful, auspicious lines.// She possesses all auspicious marks on Her body;
(6) She makes Krsna happy with Her bodily aroma.// She can agitate Krsna by the flavor of Her person;
(7) She is very expert in singing.// She is expert in the art of singing;
(8) Her speech is charming.// She can speak very nicely and sweetly;
(9) She is very expert in joking and speaking pleasantly.// She is expert in presenting feminine attractions;
(10) She is very humble and meek.// She is modest and gentle;
(11) She is always full of mercy.// She is always very merciful;
(12) She is cunning.// She is transcendentally cunning;
(13) She is expert in executing Her duties.// She knows how to dress nicely;
(14) She is shy.// She is always shy;
(15) She is always respectful.// She is always respectful;
(16) She is always calm.// She is always patient;
(17) She is always grave.// She is very grave;
(18) She is expert in enjoying life.// She is enjoyed by Krsna;
(19) She is situated at the topmost level of ecstatic love.// She is always situated on the highest devotional platform;
(20) She is the reservoir of loving affairs in Gokula.// She is the abode of love of the residents of Gokula;
(21) She is the most famous of submissive devotees.// She can give shelter to all kinds of devotees;
(22) She is very affectionate to elderly people.// She is always affectionate to superiors and inferiors;
(23) She is very submissive to the love of Her friends.// She is always obliged by the dealings of Her associates;
(24) She is the chief gopi.// She is the greatest amongst Krsna’s girl-friends;
(25) She always keeps Krsna under Her control. In short, She possesses unlimited transcendental qualities, just as Lord Krsna does.// She always keeps Krsna under Her control.
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=31148
Verse 4.37: As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.
Motivation. It's the hidden catalyst behind everything we do. Whether we acknowledge those reasons or turn a blind eye to them, the fact remains, we are motivated beings.
Those motivations lead us to act which naturally bring some type of result; that is essentially what karma is all about.
This verse, however, indicates that there is a missing component to the karma equation. That component is intention.
The difference between motivation and intention is a subtle, but an important one. Whereas motivations deals with the reason or willingness to do something, intention reflects a specific purpose or attitude in performing an action.
It is the intention behind our actions that deems whether any karma is associated with it. An action in and of itself is neither good or bad. It is neutral. It is our intention that colours it.
Today's verse highlights the power of intention.
It also encourages us to do the inner work that is necessary. This begins by taking a good look at our motivations. Although we can try to change our intention without looking into our motivations, it can, sometimes be premature. Looking into the reasons why we do things, forces to face what we are looking for, whether it be validation, power, security, love, etc.
Personally, it is something I struggle with on a daily basis since it can be extremely confronting and disheartening. It's much more convenient to turn a blind eye to our motivations.
But turning a blind eye handicaps us. When we see the reason why we do things, we become aware of not only ourselves but why we behave in certain ways with certain people. From there, we can start to tangibly work on transforming our intentions.
Every week now, we are challenging ourselves to practically apply the Gita in our lives. This week's challenge is to take five minutes out of your day to reflect on one action you took and ask yourself why you acted the way you did. Feel free to leave your observations in the comments below!
Source : http://gita-asitis.blogspot.in/2015/03/ask-yourself-why.html
One of the few physical features that distinguish Buddhi Wilcox is a small pigtail. But the otherwise ordinary appearance hides a compassionate being, dedicated to helping the less well off in his community.
Buddhi, a member of the Hare Krishna faith, set up the Food For Life programme in Whangarei, feeding the poor, the homeless and children who would otherwise go hungry. But behind the good work is a big team of supporters committed to the vision.
“It’s not just the community we feed but we meet a need for other sectors such as businesses who want to donate their products, money or services to Food For Life. There’s also a large number of people who want to volunteer their labour to help others in the community with worthy projects such as Food For Life.”
Buddhi says organisations such as the Northland Regional Council and the Whangarei District Council have also played a role in the success story of Food For Life.
“Both councils have been quite helpful [regional council provides the building rent and rates free and district council has helped with food hygiene oversight] but it’s really the relationships we have that have made the difference.”
He says that is especially true of Whangarei District Mayor Sheryl Mai.
“She has been generally supportive for what we do and it means a lot to have that. Sheryl has had more to do with our work and organisation – especially on the cultural side – than you would normally expect from a mayor.
“She has a strong sense of community.
“We’re a minority group and we rely on the support of the community – having the backing of the mayor is significant for what we do.”
Buddhi added that Sheryl’s involvement reflects a wider ‘caring’ within the community.
“Whangarei has one of the highest rate of volunteers per capita in the country – it’s a great place to live.”
Source : http://sherylmai.com/strong-community-connections/food-for-life/
World Holyname Week is celebrated throughout ISKCON fraternity every year to propagate congregational chanting of the holy name.
The world holy name week (WHNW-16) was celebrated globally from 28th Jul – 14th Aug 2016. Devotees in Singapore at the Gauranga Centre, played their part of spreading the glories of holy name by doing harinaam sankirtan.
Indeed, the holy name week had a rousing start as devotees were led by a senior kirtaniya to an ecstatic round of kirtan. In Singapore owing to a hectic work schedule, devotees decided to dedicate their evenings after work to engage in the service of the holy name sankirtan for over ten days.
In what is the 50th year of incorporation of our society it was just apt that the devotees were able to account for over 50+ hours of harinaam sankirtan during the 2016 WHNW celebrations. This included 3 days of intense 12 hour harinaam sankirtans apart from the daily two and half hours of kirtan that was done on weekday evenings.
Devotees coming together and chanting the holy name after their hectic day was a treat to the eyes, ears as well as souls present. After all the soul stirring kirtans were just the right relief for the fatigued souls.
What better way could there be then to offer the over 50 hours of kirtan at the lotus feet of our beloved grandfather HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Srila Prabhupada.
This year we had different congregations getting together on different days to come to along and for the pleasure of the lord and his devotees not only engage in doing the kirtan but also engaged in various other services aligning with the celebrations.
The enthusiasm for kirtan was there for all to see as devotees engaged in various services and kept themselves involved in the various engagements related to the WHNW.
It was indeed befitting to the occasion that the devotees asked for more and more frequent kirtan and we were also requested to do 12 hour kirtans more frequently.
At this unique occasion, we pray to his divine grace to give us the serenity and the capacity to endeavour to spread more and more of the holy name to the people in general who are in extreme need of this medicine and to give us the strength to be an instrument for the same in the hands of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev and at the same time seeking the blessings of Vaisnavas to achieve the same.
Kaliyug Tapavan Bhuvan Mangal Harinaam Sankirtan Yagya ki Jay
Srila Prabhupad ki Jay
Srila Gurudev ki Jay
Radha Damodar Das, One of the First Devotees in the Soviet Union passed away on September 3rd evening succumbing to lung cancer.
ISKCON Communications Director Anuttama Dasa remembers:
"Radha Damodara prabhu was a true, humble and dedicated servant of his guru maharaja and Srila Prabhupada. Despite the dangers and troubles of being a Krishna devotee in the early years in Russia, Radha Damodara was fully committed to Lord Caitanya's mission.
Later as leader of the Communications team in Russia he was a steady and sattvic voice, looking towards the long term development of our society while dealing appropriately with short term challenges and opportunities.
Radha Damodar prabhu was a Vaishnava gentleman. He didn't just talk about devotion, he was a practical example of a dedicated Krishna conscious person. He was an inspiration for many devotees, both inside Russia and beyond. He was a kind person, a thoughtful person. A true friend.
He will be sorely missed."
Source : http://iskconnews.org/radha-damodar-das-one-of-the-first-soviet-devotees-passes-away,5788/
