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Q: How are we to make sense of the enormous mountains described in the Fifth Canto? Some of them, including the Himalayas, are said to be 80,000 miles high.
A: One might well doubt that even a scientifically uneducated person in ancient India would have thought that the Himalaya Mountains of our ordinary experience are 80,000 miles high. After all, such persons traditionally made pilgrimages to Badarikäçrama on foot. We suggest that the cosmic mountains of the Fifth Canto are higher-dimensional;
samahuta bhismaka-kanyaya ye
sriyah savarnena bubhusayaisam
gandharva-vrttya misatam sva-bhagam
jahre padam murdhni dadhat suparnah
samahutah -- invited; bhismaka -- of King Bhismaka; kanyaya -- by the daughter; ye -- all those; sriyah -- fortune; sa-varnena -- by a similar sequence; bubhusaya -- expecting to be so; esam -- of them; gandharva -- in marrying; vrttya -- by such a custom; misatam -- carrying so; sva-bhagam -- own share; jahre -- took away; pa
Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my head ?
Once there was a man who asked GOD for a flower and a butterfly. But instead GOD gave him a Cactus & a Caterpillar. The man was sad, he did not understand why his request was mistaken.
Then he thought: Oh Well, GOD has too many people to care for, and decided not to question. After sometime the man went to check up on his request that he had left forgotten.
To his surprise, from the thorny ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown.A
Once there was a man who asked GOD for a flower and a butterfly. But instead GOD gave him a Cactus & a Caterpillar. The man was sad, he did not understand why his request was mistaken.
Then he thought: Oh Well, GOD has too many people to care for, and decided not to question. After sometime the man went to check up on his request that he had left forgotten.
To his surprise, from the thorny ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown.A
Driving Ahead
Suppose I am driving a very nice car, but I am simply absorbed in the machine only. I have forgotten my destination, where I have to go, and I am busy studying the car. What is the use? You may be driving a good car, but you must know how to reach your destination. That is your main business. Knowing how the car works is secondary. Your main business is knowing how to utilize the car so you can reach your destination. That is intelligence.
So, we have fallen into this material condit
Suppose I am driving a very nice car, but I am simply absorbed in the machine only. I have forgotten my destination, where I have to go, and I am busy studying the car. What is the use? You may be driving a good car, but you must know how to reach your destination. That is your main business. Knowing how the car works is secondary. Your main business is knowing how to utilize the car so you can reach your destination. That is intelligence.
So, we have fallen into this material condit
How our Bhakti should be ?
Bhakti should be animitta – without motive. Actually, Krishna can fulfill all our wisheswithout difficulty because He is Almighty and full of all opulences. If we want material happiness from Krishna, it is certainly not difficult for Him to grant it. He can also give Mukti – liberation – but it is foolishness to ask anything from Krishna except Bhakti. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura used to say that asking God for mukti or anything else other than Bhakti
Hare
nihantum asuran yato mathura-puram ity-asau
tadagamad-rahah-kamo yasyah sa’sau hareti ca
Sri Krsna went to Mathurapuri in order to destroy the demons. However, due to being captivated by the love of Radha, He later returned. Therefore She is known as Hara.
Jiva Goswami
Question: |
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Dear Gurudeva, |
Lord Vishnu takes oblation to the forefathers through his Lotus feet at Gaya
First of all they visited Gaya, then Kasi, then Prayaga. Finally, with great pleasure, they came to Mathura.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 5.11
" Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed this by His example when He went to Gaya to offer obl
How can we enter into devotional service ?
Devotional service is dependent on the mercy of Krishna and His devotees. Unless we surrender to the lotus feet of a pure devotee, it is not possible to come to the platform of pure devotional service. By his own efforts a bee cannot taste the honey within a bottle. The bottle must be opened by a superior. If the bee simply licks the outside of the bottle, thinking “Now I am tasting honey,” then he is in illusion. Similarly, no one can enter into
"The efficient cause of this material world, manifested with its many varieties as the original tree, is You, O Lord. You are also the maintainer of this material world, and after annihilation You are the one in whom everything is conserved. Those who are covered by Your external energy cannot see You behind this manifestation, but theirs is not the vision of learned devotees."
It is advised, therefore, that an intelligent person associate with the great sages and saints who are on the path of salvation. By such association, one can receive instructions which are able to slacken the conditioned souls attachment for matter, and thus the intelligent man gradually gets rid of the illusion of matter and false ego and is promoted to the real life of eternity, knowledge and bliss.
by H.D.G. Srila Prabhupada
'I took the hand of that lover of gopis [Krishna] in loving converse....I forgot all else. Even my manhood left me. I began to sing and dance like a woman. My body seemed to change and I became one of the gopis. I acted as a go-between like a woman, and began to lecture Radha for being too proud....At such time I experienced moments of incomparable sweetness and joy.'- Narsi Mehta, a Gujrati bhakta.
Narsi Mehta belonged to a Vadanagar Nagar-Brahmin family of Junagarh in Kathiawar, Gujarat. He was
This year ISKCON`s World Holy Name Week (WHNW) will take place between September 10th and the 20th, 2011.
The sole purpose of WHNW is to celebrate the Holy Names globally and share this treasure with others. This can be done in many ways, although some suggestions and ideas by World Holy Name committee are given:
1. Nagar Sankirtan - Harinaam processions with WHNW and mahamantra banners.
2. Japathon - Pledges from devotees and congregation to chant extra rounds during this period.
3. 24 hours or
“Krsna says that suhrdam sarva-bhutanam (Bhagavad Gita 5.29) : "I am friend of all living entities," sarva-bhutanam. Not only human society, but animal society, the plant society, the aquatic society, there are so many living entities. Ananta-koti. Sa anantyaya kalpate. The living entities, there is no limit. There are so many quantities. And Krsna says that suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati: "When one understands that I, Krsna, is the friend of everyone..." Krsna, when says, sarv
Hare Krishna!
... Prahlada Maharaja tells us this:
sri-prahrada uvaca
sravanam kirtanam visnoh
smaranam pada-sevanam
arcanam vandanam dasyam
sakhyam atma-nivedanam
iti pumsarpita visnau
bhaktis cen nava-laksana
kriyeta bhagavaty addha
tan manye 'dhitam uttamam
"Prahlada Maharaja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Visnu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types
