narada muni - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-29T04:45:35Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/narada+muniNarada Muni, a great bhakta of the Supreme Lord by Satsvarupa Dasa Adhikarihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/narada-muni-a-great-bhakta-of-the-supreme-lord-by-satsvarupa-dasa2022-02-22T12:33:09.000Z2022-02-22T12:33:09.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10144786058,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="10144786058?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>If you have read or heard even a small sampling of the vast Vedic literature, you have come upon the name of Narada, who is depicted on the back cover of this issue of Back to Godhead. He is a great bhakta (devotee) of the Supreme Lord Narayana, or Krsna. Etymologically analyzed, nara means of Narayana or the Lord (Krsna), and da means deliverer. Narada is the deliverer of the Lord and the Lord's message. Of course there are countless preachers, gurus, evangelists, mendicants and religious representatives traveling all throughout this planet, but Narada Muni is eminently distinguished. His pupils include the greatest devotees. Also, he is not restricted to one planet, but has the facility to travel to any part of the universe without the aid of a spaceship. Most importantly, Narada teaches the topmost process of God realization bhakti, devotion to God and he is coming in the unbroken line of disciplic succession originating with the Supreme Lord Himself. These qualifications of the sage Narada are described in Vedic literatures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramayana, etc., where Narada is called the eternal spaceman.</p>
<p>Long ago, as will be described here, Narada attained the spiritual perfection of liberation from the round of birth and death in the material world. He is thus eternally unconditioned, existing in his eternal, spiritual body. In this way, he is almost as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. Narada is the deliverer of the Hare Krsna mantra, called the mahamantra or Great Chanting for Deliverance. He is described: Narada Muni bajaya vina radhika ramana name. "Narada Muni plays the vina chanting Hare Krsna." The Hare Krsna mantra Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is the potent benediction for the present spiritually deprived age, Kali Yuga, in which other spiritual processes are not possible. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 6, text 34, states: "It is personally experienced by Narada Muni that for persons who are always full with cares and anxieties on account of desiring contact of the senses with sense objects, constant chanting of the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead is just the suitable boat for crossing the ocean of nescience."</p>
<p>Most people in this age are not very serious about spiritual advancement and cannot undertake rigorous, austere disciplines, but anyone can chant Hare Krsna or simply hear about Krsna. Not only can Narada travel wherever the Lord desires him to go, carrying the first-class spiritual process, bhakti (devotional service), but he is an especially empowered authority who can convince the most fallen. In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu reveals Narada Muni as an avatara of thesaktyavesa category. Narada is not considered the Personality of Godhead Himself, but he is directly empowered with an opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to carry out the Lord's will. Narada, then, is technically a saktyavesa avatara potent with the opulence of devotion. The basis of his teaching is expressed in Narada-bhakti-sutras and Narada-pancaratra. Narada explains that nobody can check the thinking, feeling and willing activities of the individual. Therefore, if someone is desirous of getting out of the frustrating, death-bound life of material consciousness, he must change the subject matter of his activities, which is not to say he must renounce them. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, as spiritual master in disciplic succession from Narada, writes: "Instead of talking in politics of a dying man, one may discuss the politics administered by the Lord Himself; instead of relishing the movie actors he may turn his attention to the activities of the Lord with His eternal associates, the gopis." Narada recommends bhakti, or activities of the purified senses, as the process by which one can cross the ocean of birth and death, the source of all miseries, and be promoted to the transcendental position. We are already thinking, feeling and willing; if we simply begin to think, feel and will on behalf of Krsna, under the guidance of a spiritual master, then we will at once feel transcendental ecstasy and reject the material platform of life. He assures us from his own experience that devotional service activities will be successful. It is advised that we can experience the same success as Narada if we begin to follow the path of bhakti in the footsteps of this great sage, who is the dearmost devotee of the Lord.</p>
<p>In the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Narada Muni relates to his pupil Vyasadeva the incidences of his previous birth, before he became the immortal sage we all know as Narada: "O Muni [Vyasadeva], in my past life, during the last millennium, I was born as the son of a certain maidservant engaged in the service of brahmanas who were following the principle of Vedanta. When they were living together during the four months of the rainy season I was engaged in their personal service." In his previous life, then, Narada was engaged in devotional service at the earliest age. Lord Krsna says that to do service for His servants is more valuable than direct service to Himself. Narada's parentage was insignificant as his mother was just a maidservant. Narada was automatically given the most rare opportunity of rendering personal service to devotees of the Lord. Because some holy brahmanas were used to staying at the place where his mother was a servant, Narada, at less than five years of age, was in contact with them, and thus his door to liberation was opened. He states that the devotee brahmanas blessed him with their causeless mercy. They found this poor boy to be without any attachment to sporting habits; he was not naughty, nor did he speak more than required. Thus, although the devotees are impartial by nature, they were able to shower their full downpour of mercy in the form of transcendental knowledge and devotional service onto this uneducated young boy.</p>
<p>The boy Narada's association with the pure devotees was consummated the moment he took up the remnants of their foodstuff. By so doing, all his sins were at once eliminated. As servant, the boy was cleaning up for the devotees, and noticing some remnants of food on their plates he asked their permission to take, and they of course encouraged him. As pure devotees, these bhakti-vedantas (knowers of Vedanta through devotional service) ate only prasadam, or foodstuffs which are first offered to the Supreme Lord with prayers. It is understood that prasadam is not ordinary food, but once accepted by the Lord it becomes as good as the Lord Himself, by His mercy. So the boy took this mercy of the bhakti-vedantas and became infected with their qualities of purity. Having associated with them, and having once eaten the remnants of their food, Narada advanced into transcendental life.</p>
<p>He then began to hear from them about the absolute truth. This is the way in which Narada gained eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, with facility to travel anywhere in the material worlds. Simply by hearing attentively authentic information about the Personality of Godhead from a bona fide authority, all his past sins were cleaned off and he was liberated from mundane association. Narada relates to his pupil Vyasadeva: "O Vyasadeva, in that association and by the mercy of the great Vedantists describing the attractive activities of Lord Krsna, I purified my aural reception. Thus hearing attentively, step by step my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead became manifest."</p>
<p>Our spiritual master has told us many times that love of God is natural, original with us; however, due to our false attraction to the perishable material world and illusion of the body as our self and material things as our possessions, this consciousness is now dormant. So the wonderful change that occurs by chanting Hare Krsna or hearing about Krsna's activities is not an artificial imposition on the mind, but is the natural return to our original consciousness. We may not be able to completely realize this at first, but very quickly the consciousness of the sincere chanter changes, and his material anxieties and desires fade away. Narada described how he developed definite realization of the Personality of Godhead as the absolute reality and how his attention became uninterrupted in hearing about the Lord. By hearing about the absolute, one becomes associated with the supreme light which dissipates all ignorance. The bhakti-vedantas were never speaking mundane topics of politics or sensuous affairs before Narada; nor were they teaching him negative concepts of reality, such as speculations on the concept of void or the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth. They were constantly engaged in chanting about the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who possesses inconceivable potencies; and by submissively hearing, the son of the maidservant felt his ignorance being removed.</p>
<p>Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, writes: "By ignorance only the conditioned soul wrongly thinks that he is a product of the material nature and that the Personality of Godhead is also a product of matter. But in fact, the Personality of Godhead and the living being are transcendental and have nothing to do with the material nature When nescience is removed, then it is perfectly realized that there is nothing existing without the Personality of Godhead. As the gross and subtle bodies are emanations from the Personality of Godhead, the revival of transcendental knowledge permits one to engage both of them in the service of the Lord." The gross body can be engaged in rendering service, cleaning the temple, distributing Krsna conscious literature and bowing down in the temple, and the subtle mind can hear and think of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. The realization by which one can change his activities into transcendental activities develops without apprehension in execution of the bhakti path. Narada grasped this at once by his superior attraction for the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the most effective method of hearing from pure souls. As Narada tells it, "The flow of my devotional service began." Devotional service is natural to everyone, but it is choked up and suspended due to our being covered by modes of passion and ignorance. In Narada's case, the pure sound vibration of unadulterated devotees speaking the glories of the Supreme Lord at once removed the material coverings and his devotional service thus began. Or in other words, the eternal being who was residing in the body of the maidservant's son woke up, and the ultimate goal love of God became manifest in his heart. Narada's position before his teachers is a model for the disciple who wishes to attain success even within one lifetime: "I was very much attached to the bhakti-vedantas. I was gentle in behavior, and all my sins became eradicated in my heart. I had strong faith in them; I had subjugated the senses and was strictly following the bhakti-vedantas with body and mind."</p>
<p>Eventually the rainy season and the autumn passed, and the bhakti-vedantas left the place where Narada and his mother were living. But the confidential part of knowledge, devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had been implanted in Narada's heart. Knowledge of the absolute truth permanent and blissful behind all temporary shows is not a cheap or easily attainable thing. According to the Bhagavad-gita, out of millions of men one may know the absolute truth, the Personality of Godhead.</p>
<p>When the immortal sage Narada told these things to Vyasadeva, his disciple became anxious to know how the boy passed the duration of his previous life and how he finally quit his body and attained a spiritual body of sac-cid-ananda (eternal life, bliss and knowledge) as Narada Muni the eternal spaceman. Narada related that after his initiation by the bhakti-vedantas there was a tangible change in his life, but as he was only five years old and the only child of his mother, he was bound to her with the tie of affection. Instead of being dependent on the Supreme Lord who is the only independent controller, the boy was dependent on his mother's care, and she looked after him as if she were his maintainer. But Narada relates: "Once upon a time the poor woman, my mother, while engaged in milking a cow at night, was fatally bitten on the leg by a serpent as influenced by the supreme time." In this way, the sincere soul who was being looked after by his mother had her withdrawn from the world by the supreme will, and he was thus put completely at the mercy of the Lord. "I took it as the special mercy of the Lord, who always desires benediction for His devotees. Thinking in this way, I started for the northern side." This may seem surprising: a five-year-old boy, suddenly left all alone in the world, takes it as an auspicious direction from God. We find that most people when they are put into natural frustration and loss bewail the cruelty of their plight and even presume to be critical of the absolute will. But the devotee sees in every step the special mercy of the Lord. Bewailing our material losses is due to our ignorance of the real purpose of human life.</p>
<p>A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written on this point: "Mundane prosperity is a kind of material fever and by the grace of the Lord, the feverish material temperature of the devotee is gradually diminished and spiritual health is obtained step by step." So the orphaned boy at once took the daring step of making God his only shelter and maintainer. He did not spend time trying to make some economic adjustment for his future comfortable living, but he took to traveling. "I passed through many flourishing metropolises, towns, villages, animal farms, mines, agricultural lands, valleys, gardens and forests. I passed alone through many forests full of pipe, bamboo, sharp grass, weeds and caves difficult to go through alone. I visited the dangerous, fearful forests deep and dark, the play-yards of snakes, owls, jackals." The boy was not making a whimsical youth's journey by these travels. It is the duty of a mendicant to have experience of all varieties of God's creation. This is called parivrajakacarya, to travel alone through all forests, hills, towns, etc., to gain faith in God and strength of mind, as well as to enlighten the inhabitants with the message of God. In the present age this is not possible for the ordinary man, but it was possible for Narada, who was finishing his last lifetime before his liberation.</p>
<p>"After that, under the shadow of a banyan tree in a forest without any human habitation, I began to meditate upon the supersoul situated within myself, using my intelligence as I learned by hearing from liberated souls. With my mind transformed into transcendental love I began to meditate upon the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead. Tears rolled down from my eyes, and immediately the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, appeared on the lotus of my heart." It is understood that Narada was not performing a concocted meditation, but he had received knowledge from authoritative sources on how to meditate on the supersoul who is dwelling within every living being. There are five stages of transcendental development leading to love of God described in the Narada-bhakti-sutra. The first is called sraddha, or an initial interest in or liking for the Supreme Lord. After that, one practices the prescribed rules and regulations of devotional service which clear away misgivings and personal deficiencies. Then one develops firmness, or standard faith in the reality of transcendental life; then comes attraction, and then bhava, the stage prior to unalloyed love of God. Narada Muni in his previous birth was able to attain the highest stage shortly after his departure from home. The tears from his eyes indicate his feelings of separation in transcendental love for the Personality of Godhead, after which he actually was able to perceive the actual presence of the Lord by his developed spiritual senses. A.C. Bhaktivedanta writes of spiritual ecstasy such as that perceived by Narada: "Spiritual feelings of happiness and intense ecstasy have no mundane comparison. Therefore it is very difficult to give expression to such feelings. We can just have a glimpse of such ecstasy in the words of the pure devotees." "O, Vyasadeva, at that time, being exceedingly overpowered by feelings of happiness, every part of my body became lucid being absorbed in the ocean of ecstasy."</p>
<p>Narada describes the form of the absolute truth as he saw Him: "The transcendental form of tht Lord, as it is, is perfectly apt to the desire of the mind." Narada did not experience the Lord as formless, but His form is not like anything in this material world. It is described that all the differently cut and shaped forms that we are seeing all through our life do not banish all our mental disparity and dissatisfaction. But the special feature of the transcendental form of the Lord is that once it is seen, one is satisfied forever, and no material form holds any more attraction for the seer. So the Lord's form is like nothing we see now in matter. Another great devotee, Maharaj Pariksit, was able to see the form of Krsna even while he was in his mother's womb. On being born into the world, Pariksit (the word means "examiner") was always looking this way and that way, his eyes bulging to see again the form of the Lord among all the unsatisfying forms and shapes of the material atmosphere.</p>
<p>Narada saw the form of God, he was completely satisfied in his being, and then the same form was no longer present to his vision. "Not seeing that form again, I suddenly got up, being perturbed in mind, as it happens when one loses that which is desirable." Desiring more than anything to see again the form of the Lord, Narada tried to concentrate his mind on his heart, but he could not see Him anymore, and so became grief-stricken. Srila Prabhupada writes: "There is no mechanical process to see the form of the Lord. It completely depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord. Just as the surf rises out of its own accord, the Lord also is pleased to be present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply wait for the opportune moment and go on discharging the prescribed duty in devotional service of the Lord."</p>
<p>Not at Narada's command, but by that same causeless mercy, the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing Narada's attempt in a lonely place, spoke unto him, just to mitigate his grief. "O Narada, I regret very much that during this lifetime, you will no longer be able to see Me. Those who are incomplete in service or still immature in being freed from all material dirt can hardly see Me. O virtuous one, you have only once seen My Person. This is just to increase your hankering for Me, because the more you desire Me, the more you will be freed from material desire. By service of the absolute truth even for a short time, a devotee's intelligence becomes fixed firmly on Me. As a result he goes on to become My associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable material worlds. Intelligence engaged in My devotion can never be defeated at any time. Even at the time of creation, as well as at the time of annihilation, your remembrance will continue by My mercy." How wonderful is the devotee Narada, that the Lord, the supreme authority personified by sound, unseen, spoke to him, seeing him so sad for lack of the Lord's presence! Again, this is the special gift of Narada, and the ordinary devotee, what to speak of the non-devotee, should not claim to have access to the voice of the Supreme Lord. We are so puffed up and presumptuous in matters of the absolute truth, although it is the field of endeavor which, more than any other, requires us to give submissively and humbly aural reception to the bona fide authorities. For this age the authoritative Vedic literature recommends the sound vibration of the Lord's holy name, Hare Krsna, which is as good as the personal presence of the Lord. If this were not so that the Lord is present Himself when His name is uttered then how could He be considered absolute? Absolute means that He is present in His name, His fame, and His devotee. If we wish to exchange transcendental love with the absolute truth we have to qualify ourselves by the purifying process of chanting His holy name. There is no difficulty on His part in coming to us when He wills. It may be very difficult for an ordinary subject to get an audience with the king; but if the king desires to see any citizen, what is the difficulty in his coming? As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, spiritual master of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta, said, "Don't ask to see God, rather act in such a way that God can see you." Such elevated standard the perfection of human life is easily attained by constant chanting and associating with devotees and the first result of this process is the loss of misgivings. Misgivings means lamenting over something lost and hankering for something we don't have. These vanish when the superior taste derived from executing spiritual devotional service begins under the authorized spiritual master.</p>
<p>Blessed all along and taking each occurrence as an opportunity to increase his hankering for the Lord, the servant boy who was to become Narada finished the days of his life in chanting and remembering the pastimes of Sri Krsna and in traveling for distributing the Lord's message of back to Godhead, with no thought of material gain.</p>
<p>In the course of time, while fully absorbed in thinking of Krsna, Narada reached that point, commonly called death, when the change of body suddenly occurs. Narada told his pupil: "Being freed from all material taints, I met with death just as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously." It is told further that just as the illumination follows the lightning, the devotee changed his material body after death and evolved a spiritual body by the will of the supreme. The material body is a product of karma, earned by our accumulation of material desire, action and reaction. It is temporary and subject to miseries, and it is unenlightened. The spiritual body residing dormant within the material body, is eternal, blissful and in full knowledge. It is understood from authorized scriptures that even while in the material body, a pure devotee's body becomes surcharged with spiritual energy by the constant engagement of his senses in the service of the transcendental eternal Lord. It is like an iron rod in contact with fire: after a while the iron rod acts not like iron, but like fire. The material body is afflicted with inebrieties and is taken on by the living entity as a result of his desires to enjoy temporary sense gratification, without understanding his real position that he is eternal servant of the Lord and meant to please His senses. Therefore when the devotee's body becomes engaged in devotional service he becomes surcharged with the transcendental qualities. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes on this important matter, so often misunderstood by neophytes: "Change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of the qualitative modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance) upon the person of a pure devotee. There are many instances in the revealed scriptures where Dhruva and Prahlada and many other devotees were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face apparently in the same body. This means the quality of a devotee's body changes from material affinity to transcendence. By the mercy of Krsna the devotee becomes exempt from the karmic reactions of his work." In order to understand how the body of a devotee becomes spiritualized, we have to understand that consciousness is the sign of life. The sensation you have when you are pinched means you have consciousness. This consciousness, which is spread all over the body, is eternal, though the body of flesh and blood is perishable. Consciousness is a symptom of the presence of the soul, which is located in the heart. This is confirmed in the Upanisadsand Bhagavad-gita. If an ordinary conditioned human being meets a pure devotee and his consciousness is changed from the polluted desire to enjoy with the body, and he instead starts to use the body as a vehicle for service in Krsna consciousness, then his body becomes spiritualized. Any material object, a telephone, a typewriter, becomes spiritualized if used in the direct service of Krsna consciousness for propagating the Lord's transcendental message. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written that, in the eye of the Supreme Lord Krsna, the body of the converted or reclaimed devotee who has changed his standard of consciousness from material to Krsna consciousness is as good as the eternal spiritual body of a jiva in the spiritual sky who has never fallen under the conditioned state. The example Srila Prabhupada has given is that of a gold box and a gold-plated box. The gold box is compared to those who have never fallen to the material world. But once a fallen soul takes a bona fide spiritual master and becomes one hundred percent engaged in devotional service, then he too becomes liberated, even while remaining in the present body and he is thus compared to a gold-plated box. The Lord accepts the gold-plated box as equal to and as good as the gold box.</p>
<p>Narada describes his position then to Vyasadeva: "At the end of the millenium, when the Personality of Godhead Lord Narayana lay down in the water of devastation, Brahma began to enter into Him along with all creative elements, and I also entered through His breathing. After expiration of a period of 4,300,000 x 1000 years when Brahma awoke to create again by the will of the Lord, all the rsis like Marici, Angira, and Atri were created from the transcendental body of the Lord, and I also appeared along with them." Narada's entrance into the body of the Lord at the time of annihilation and re-entrance into the material cosmos occur in the same transcendental body, which is described as being just like the Lord's, without any difference between body and soul. Therefore when Narada appears in the universe as the son of Brahma, born from his heart, it is understood that this is not the forced birth of a conditioned entity, but a transcendental pastime of the devotee. Narada's appearance and disappearance in the world are in the same category of transcendence as that of the Lord, who appeared on the earth as the son of Vasudeva.</p>
<p>Narada Muni is brahmacari, living the order of celibacy without the complication of family life. He is the greatest emblem of devotional service and therefore the most learned. And he is worshipable. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, "Among sages I am Narada." His vina is charged with transcendental sound and was handed to him by Lord Sri Krsna, as stated in the Linga Purana. The vina is therefore identical with Krsna, and the glories of the absolute truth as chanted by Narada are also nondifferent from the Lord. Therefore the presence of Narada means Lord Krsna is present.</p>
<p>Narada is called the original spiritual master. His disciples, surrendered souls who first heard Krsna consciousness from his lips, include Vyasadeva, the compiler of all the Vedic scriptures, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, Dhruva Maharaj, Prahlada Maharaj, and many others.</p>
<p>"Thus I travel, constantly singing the glories of the Lord." Narada is traveling, vibrating his instrument, the vina, by his own free will. He is not being forced. His devotional service is free; he offers it out of his free will and he is free to travel when he likes. By his surrender unto the Lord he has attained complete freedom of life. The illusion of persons in the material world is that they are free, whereas actually they are bound up by the stringent laws of nature. We can only try to imagine, at this point, the unlimited freedom of Narada, whose freedom is as good as the Lord's.</p>
<p>Let us all help Narada Muni with his welfare work of the spirit. Encourage everyone you meet to chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The mahamantra will enliven the planet, will bring us all a life of transcendental bliss, and help us to have a taste of the full nectar for which we have been anxious from time immemorial.</p>
<p>If you have read or heard even a small sampling of the vast Vedic literature, you have come upon the name of Narada, who is depicted on the back cover of this issue of Back to Godhead. He is a great bhakta (devotee) of the Supreme Lord Narayana, or Krsna. Etymologically analyzed, nara means of Narayana or the Lord (Krsna), and da means deliverer. Narada is the deliverer of the Lord and the Lord's message. Of course there are countless preachers, gurus, evangelists, mendicants and religious representatives traveling all throughout this planet, but Narada Muni is eminently distinguished. His pupils include the greatest devotees. Also, he is not restricted to one planet, but has the facility to travel to any part of the universe without the aid of a spaceship. Most importantly, Narada teaches the topmost process of God realization bhakti, devotion to God and he is coming in the unbroken line of disciplic succession originating with the Supreme Lord Himself. These qualifications of the sage Narada are described in Vedic literatures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramayana, etc., where Narada is called the eternal spaceman.</p>
<p>Long ago, as will be described here, Narada attained the spiritual perfection of liberation from the round of birth and death in the material world. He is thus eternally unconditioned, existing in his eternal, spiritual body. In this way, he is almost as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. Narada is the deliverer of the Hare Krsna mantra, called the mahamantra or Great Chanting for Deliverance. He is described: Narada Muni bajaya vina radhika ramana name. "Narada Muni plays the vina chanting Hare Krsna." The Hare Krsna mantra Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is the potent benediction for the present spiritually deprived age, Kali Yuga, in which other spiritual processes are not possible. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 6, text 34, states: "It is personally experienced by Narada Muni that for persons who are always full with cares and anxieties on account of desiring contact of the senses with sense objects, constant chanting of the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead is just the suitable boat for crossing the ocean of nescience."</p>
<p>Most people in this age are not very serious about spiritual advancement and cannot undertake rigorous, austere disciplines, but anyone can chant Hare Krsna or simply hear about Krsna. Not only can Narada travel wherever the Lord desires him to go, carrying the first-class spiritual process, bhakti (devotional service), but he is an especially empowered authority who can convince the most fallen. In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu reveals Narada Muni as an avatara of thesaktyavesa category. Narada is not considered the Personality of Godhead Himself, but he is directly empowered with an opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to carry out the Lord's will. Narada, then, is technically a saktyavesa avatara potent with the opulence of devotion. The basis of his teaching is expressed in Narada-bhakti-sutras and Narada-pancaratra. Narada explains that nobody can check the thinking, feeling and willing activities of the individual. Therefore, if someone is desirous of getting out of the frustrating, death-bound life of material consciousness, he must change the subject matter of his activities, which is not to say he must renounce them. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, as spiritual master in disciplic succession from Narada, writes: "Instead of talking in politics of a dying man, one may discuss the politics administered by the Lord Himself; instead of relishing the movie actors he may turn his attention to the activities of the Lord with His eternal associates, the gopis." Narada recommends bhakti, or activities of the purified senses, as the process by which one can cross the ocean of birth and death, the source of all miseries, and be promoted to the transcendental position. We are already thinking, feeling and willing; if we simply begin to think, feel and will on behalf of Krsna, under the guidance of a spiritual master, then we will at once feel transcendental ecstasy and reject the material platform of life. He assures us from his own experience that devotional service activities will be successful. It is advised that we can experience the same success as Narada if we begin to follow the path of bhakti in the footsteps of this great sage, who is the dearmost devotee of the Lord.</p>
<p>In the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Narada Muni relates to his pupil Vyasadeva the incidences of his previous birth, before he became the immortal sage we all know as Narada: "O Muni [Vyasadeva], in my past life, during the last millennium, I was born as the son of a certain maidservant engaged in the service of brahmanas who were following the principle of Vedanta. When they were living together during the four months of the rainy season I was engaged in their personal service." In his previous life, then, Narada was engaged in devotional service at the earliest age. Lord Krsna says that to do service for His servants is more valuable than direct service to Himself. Narada's parentage was insignificant as his mother was just a maidservant. Narada was automatically given the most rare opportunity of rendering personal service to devotees of the Lord. Because some holy brahmanas were used to staying at the place where his mother was a servant, Narada, at less than five years of age, was in contact with them, and thus his door to liberation was opened. He states that the devotee brahmanas blessed him with their causeless mercy. They found this poor boy to be without any attachment to sporting habits; he was not naughty, nor did he speak more than required. Thus, although the devotees are impartial by nature, they were able to shower their full downpour of mercy in the form of transcendental knowledge and devotional service onto this uneducated young boy.</p>
<p>The boy Narada's association with the pure devotees was consummated the moment he took up the remnants of their foodstuff. By so doing, all his sins were at once eliminated. As servant, the boy was cleaning up for the devotees, and noticing some remnants of food on their plates he asked their permission to take, and they of course encouraged him. As pure devotees, these bhakti-vedantas (knowers of Vedanta through devotional service) ate only prasadam, or foodstuffs which are first offered to the Supreme Lord with prayers. It is understood that prasadam is not ordinary food, but once accepted by the Lord it becomes as good as the Lord Himself, by His mercy. So the boy took this mercy of the bhakti-vedantas and became infected with their qualities of purity. Having associated with them, and having once eaten the remnants of their food, Narada advanced into transcendental life.</p>
<p>He then began to hear from them about the absolute truth. This is the way in which Narada gained eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, with facility to travel anywhere in the material worlds. Simply by hearing attentively authentic information about the Personality of Godhead from a bona fide authority, all his past sins were cleaned off and he was liberated from mundane association. Narada relates to his pupil Vyasadeva: "O Vyasadeva, in that association and by the mercy of the great Vedantists describing the attractive activities of Lord Krsna, I purified my aural reception. Thus hearing attentively, step by step my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead became manifest."</p>
<p>Our spiritual master has told us many times that love of God is natural, original with us; however, due to our false attraction to the perishable material world and illusion of the body as our self and material things as our possessions, this consciousness is now dormant. So the wonderful change that occurs by chanting Hare Krsna or hearing about Krsna's activities is not an artificial imposition on the mind, but is the natural return to our original consciousness. We may not be able to completely realize this at first, but very quickly the consciousness of the sincere chanter changes, and his material anxieties and desires fade away. Narada described how he developed definite realization of the Personality of Godhead as the absolute reality and how his attention became uninterrupted in hearing about the Lord. By hearing about the absolute, one becomes associated with the supreme light which dissipates all ignorance. The bhakti-vedantas were never speaking mundane topics of politics or sensuous affairs before Narada; nor were they teaching him negative concepts of reality, such as speculations on the concept of void or the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth. They were constantly engaged in chanting about the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who possesses inconceivable potencies; and by submissively hearing, the son of the maidservant felt his ignorance being removed.</p>
<p>Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, writes: "By ignorance only the conditioned soul wrongly thinks that he is a product of the material nature and that the Personality of Godhead is also a product of matter. But in fact, the Personality of Godhead and the living being are transcendental and have nothing to do with the material nature When nescience is removed, then it is perfectly realized that there is nothing existing without the Personality of Godhead. As the gross and subtle bodies are emanations from the Personality of Godhead, the revival of transcendental knowledge permits one to engage both of them in the service of the Lord." The gross body can be engaged in rendering service, cleaning the temple, distributing Krsna conscious literature and bowing down in the temple, and the subtle mind can hear and think of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. The realization by which one can change his activities into transcendental activities develops without apprehension in execution of the bhakti path. Narada grasped this at once by his superior attraction for the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the most effective method of hearing from pure souls. As Narada tells it, "The flow of my devotional service began." Devotional service is natural to everyone, but it is choked up and suspended due to our being covered by modes of passion and ignorance. In Narada's case, the pure sound vibration of unadulterated devotees speaking the glories of the Supreme Lord at once removed the material coverings and his devotional service thus began. Or in other words, the eternal being who was residing in the body of the maidservant's son woke up, and the ultimate goal love of God became manifest in his heart. Narada's position before his teachers is a model for the disciple who wishes to attain success even within one lifetime: "I was very much attached to the bhakti-vedantas. I was gentle in behavior, and all my sins became eradicated in my heart. I had strong faith in them; I had subjugated the senses and was strictly following the bhakti-vedantas with body and mind."</p>
<p>Eventually the rainy season and the autumn passed, and the bhakti-vedantas left the place where Narada and his mother were living. But the confidential part of knowledge, devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had been implanted in Narada's heart. Knowledge of the absolute truth permanent and blissful behind all temporary shows is not a cheap or easily attainable thing. According to the Bhagavad-gita, out of millions of men one may know the absolute truth, the Personality of Godhead.</p>
<p>When the immortal sage Narada told these things to Vyasadeva, his disciple became anxious to know how the boy passed the duration of his previous life and how he finally quit his body and attained a spiritual body of sac-cid-ananda (eternal life, bliss and knowledge) as Narada Muni the eternal spaceman. Narada related that after his initiation by the bhakti-vedantas there was a tangible change in his life, but as he was only five years old and the only child of his mother, he was bound to her with the tie of affection. Instead of being dependent on the Supreme Lord who is the only independent controller, the boy was dependent on his mother's care, and she looked after him as if she were his maintainer. But Narada relates: "Once upon a time the poor woman, my mother, while engaged in milking a cow at night, was fatally bitten on the leg by a serpent as influenced by the supreme time." In this way, the sincere soul who was being looked after by his mother had her withdrawn from the world by the supreme will, and he was thus put completely at the mercy of the Lord. "I took it as the special mercy of the Lord, who always desires benediction for His devotees. Thinking in this way, I started for the northern side." This may seem surprising: a five-year-old boy, suddenly left all alone in the world, takes it as an auspicious direction from God. We find that most people when they are put into natural frustration and loss bewail the cruelty of their plight and even presume to be critical of the absolute will. But the devotee sees in every step the special mercy of the Lord. Bewailing our material losses is due to our ignorance of the real purpose of human life.</p>
<p>A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written on this point: "Mundane prosperity is a kind of material fever and by the grace of the Lord, the feverish material temperature of the devotee is gradually diminished and spiritual health is obtained step by step." So the orphaned boy at once took the daring step of making God his only shelter and maintainer. He did not spend time trying to make some economic adjustment for his future comfortable living, but he took to traveling. "I passed through many flourishing metropolises, towns, villages, animal farms, mines, agricultural lands, valleys, gardens and forests. I passed alone through many forests full of pipe, bamboo, sharp grass, weeds and caves difficult to go through alone. I visited the dangerous, fearful forests deep and dark, the play-yards of snakes, owls, jackals." The boy was not making a whimsical youth's journey by these travels. It is the duty of a mendicant to have experience of all varieties of God's creation. This is called parivrajakacarya, to travel alone through all forests, hills, towns, etc., to gain faith in God and strength of mind, as well as to enlighten the inhabitants with the message of God. In the present age this is not possible for the ordinary man, but it was possible for Narada, who was finishing his last lifetime before his liberation.</p>
<p>"After that, under the shadow of a banyan tree in a forest without any human habitation, I began to meditate upon the supersoul situated within myself, using my intelligence as I learned by hearing from liberated souls. With my mind transformed into transcendental love I began to meditate upon the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead. Tears rolled down from my eyes, and immediately the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, appeared on the lotus of my heart." It is understood that Narada was not performing a concocted meditation, but he had received knowledge from authoritative sources on how to meditate on the supersoul who is dwelling within every living being. There are five stages of transcendental development leading to love of God described in the Narada-bhakti-sutra. The first is called sraddha, or an initial interest in or liking for the Supreme Lord. After that, one practices the prescribed rules and regulations of devotional service which clear away misgivings and personal deficiencies. Then one develops firmness, or standard faith in the reality of transcendental life; then comes attraction, and then bhava, the stage prior to unalloyed love of God. Narada Muni in his previous birth was able to attain the highest stage shortly after his departure from home. The tears from his eyes indicate his feelings of separation in transcendental love for the Personality of Godhead, after which he actually was able to perceive the actual presence of the Lord by his developed spiritual senses. A.C. Bhaktivedanta writes of spiritual ecstasy such as that perceived by Narada: "Spiritual feelings of happiness and intense ecstasy have no mundane comparison. Therefore it is very difficult to give expression to such feelings. We can just have a glimpse of such ecstasy in the words of the pure devotees." "O, Vyasadeva, at that time, being exceedingly overpowered by feelings of happiness, every part of my body became lucid being absorbed in the ocean of ecstasy."</p>
<p>Narada describes the form of the absolute truth as he saw Him: "The transcendental form of tht Lord, as it is, is perfectly apt to the desire of the mind." Narada did not experience the Lord as formless, but His form is not like anything in this material world. It is described that all the differently cut and shaped forms that we are seeing all through our life do not banish all our mental disparity and dissatisfaction. But the special feature of the transcendental form of the Lord is that once it is seen, one is satisfied forever, and no material form holds any more attraction for the seer. So the Lord's form is like nothing we see now in matter. Another great devotee, Maharaj Pariksit, was able to see the form of Krsna even while he was in his mother's womb. On being born into the world, Pariksit (the word means "examiner") was always looking this way and that way, his eyes bulging to see again the form of the Lord among all the unsatisfying forms and shapes of the material atmosphere.</p>
<p>Narada saw the form of God, he was completely satisfied in his being, and then the same form was no longer present to his vision. "Not seeing that form again, I suddenly got up, being perturbed in mind, as it happens when one loses that which is desirable." Desiring more than anything to see again the form of the Lord, Narada tried to concentrate his mind on his heart, but he could not see Him anymore, and so became grief-stricken. Srila Prabhupada writes: "There is no mechanical process to see the form of the Lord. It completely depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord. Just as the surf rises out of its own accord, the Lord also is pleased to be present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply wait for the opportune moment and go on discharging the prescribed duty in devotional service of the Lord."</p>
<p>Not at Narada's command, but by that same causeless mercy, the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing Narada's attempt in a lonely place, spoke unto him, just to mitigate his grief. "O Narada, I regret very much that during this lifetime, you will no longer be able to see Me. Those who are incomplete in service or still immature in being freed from all material dirt can hardly see Me. O virtuous one, you have only once seen My Person. This is just to increase your hankering for Me, because the more you desire Me, the more you will be freed from material desire. By service of the absolute truth even for a short time, a devotee's intelligence becomes fixed firmly on Me. As a result he goes on to become My associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable material worlds. Intelligence engaged in My devotion can never be defeated at any time. Even at the time of creation, as well as at the time of annihilation, your remembrance will continue by My mercy." How wonderful is the devotee Narada, that the Lord, the supreme authority personified by sound, unseen, spoke to him, seeing him so sad for lack of the Lord's presence! Again, this is the special gift of Narada, and the ordinary devotee, what to speak of the non-devotee, should not claim to have access to the voice of the Supreme Lord. We are so puffed up and presumptuous in matters of the absolute truth, although it is the field of endeavor which, more than any other, requires us to give submissively and humbly aural reception to the bona fide authorities. For this age the authoritative Vedic literature recommends the sound vibration of the Lord's holy name, Hare Krsna, which is as good as the personal presence of the Lord. If this were not so that the Lord is present Himself when His name is uttered then how could He be considered absolute? Absolute means that He is present in His name, His fame, and His devotee. If we wish to exchange transcendental love with the absolute truth we have to qualify ourselves by the purifying process of chanting His holy name. There is no difficulty on His part in coming to us when He wills. It may be very difficult for an ordinary subject to get an audience with the king; but if the king desires to see any citizen, what is the difficulty in his coming? As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, spiritual master of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta, said, "Don't ask to see God, rather act in such a way that God can see you." Such elevated standard the perfection of human life is easily attained by constant chanting and associating with devotees and the first result of this process is the loss of misgivings. Misgivings means lamenting over something lost and hankering for something we don't have. These vanish when the superior taste derived from executing spiritual devotional service begins under the authorized spiritual master.</p>
<p>Blessed all along and taking each occurrence as an opportunity to increase his hankering for the Lord, the servant boy who was to become Narada finished the days of his life in chanting and remembering the pastimes of Sri Krsna and in traveling for distributing the Lord's message of back to Godhead, with no thought of material gain.</p>
<p>In the course of time, while fully absorbed in thinking of Krsna, Narada reached that point, commonly called death, when the change of body suddenly occurs. Narada told his pupil: "Being freed from all material taints, I met with death just as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously." It is told further that just as the illumination follows the lightning, the devotee changed his material body after death and evolved a spiritual body by the will of the supreme. The material body is a product of karma, earned by our accumulation of material desire, action and reaction. It is temporary and subject to miseries, and it is unenlightened. The spiritual body residing dormant within the material body, is eternal, blissful and in full knowledge. It is understood from authorized scriptures that even while in the material body, a pure devotee's body becomes surcharged with spiritual energy by the constant engagement of his senses in the service of the transcendental eternal Lord. It is like an iron rod in contact with fire: after a while the iron rod acts not like iron, but like fire. The material body is afflicted with inebrieties and is taken on by the living entity as a result of his desires to enjoy temporary sense gratification, without understanding his real position that he is eternal servant of the Lord and meant to please His senses. Therefore when the devotee's body becomes engaged in devotional service he becomes surcharged with the transcendental qualities. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes on this important matter, so often misunderstood by neophytes: "Change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of the qualitative modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance) upon the person of a pure devotee. There are many instances in the revealed scriptures where Dhruva and Prahlada and many other devotees were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face apparently in the same body. This means the quality of a devotee's body changes from material affinity to transcendence. By the mercy of Krsna the devotee becomes exempt from the karmic reactions of his work." In order to understand how the body of a devotee becomes spiritualized, we have to understand that consciousness is the sign of life. The sensation you have when you are pinched means you have consciousness. This consciousness, which is spread all over the body, is eternal, though the body of flesh and blood is perishable. Consciousness is a symptom of the presence of the soul, which is located in the heart. This is confirmed in the Upanisadsand Bhagavad-gita. If an ordinary conditioned human being meets a pure devotee and his consciousness is changed from the polluted desire to enjoy with the body, and he instead starts to use the body as a vehicle for service in Krsna consciousness, then his body becomes spiritualized. Any material object, a telephone, a typewriter, becomes spiritualized if used in the direct service of Krsna consciousness for propagating the Lord's transcendental message. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written that, in the eye of the Supreme Lord Krsna, the body of the converted or reclaimed devotee who has changed his standard of consciousness from material to Krsna consciousness is as good as the eternal spiritual body of a jiva in the spiritual sky who has never fallen under the conditioned state. The example Srila Prabhupada has given is that of a gold box and a gold-plated box. The gold box is compared to those who have never fallen to the material world. But once a fallen soul takes a bona fide spiritual master and becomes one hundred percent engaged in devotional service, then he too becomes liberated, even while remaining in the present body and he is thus compared to a gold-plated box. The Lord accepts the gold-plated box as equal to and as good as the gold box.</p>
<p>Narada describes his position then to Vyasadeva: "At the end of the millenium, when the Personality of Godhead Lord Narayana lay down in the water of devastation, Brahma began to enter into Him along with all creative elements, and I also entered through His breathing. After expiration of a period of 4,300,000 x 1000 years when Brahma awoke to create again by the will of the Lord, all the rsis like Marici, Angira, and Atri were created from the transcendental body of the Lord, and I also appeared along with them." Narada's entrance into the body of the Lord at the time of annihilation and re-entrance into the material cosmos occur in the same transcendental body, which is described as being just like the Lord's, without any difference between body and soul. Therefore when Narada appears in the universe as the son of Brahma, born from his heart, it is understood that this is not the forced birth of a conditioned entity, but a transcendental pastime of the devotee. Narada's appearance and disappearance in the world are in the same category of transcendence as that of the Lord, who appeared on the earth as the son of Vasudeva.</p>
<p>Narada Muni is brahmacari, living the order of celibacy without the complication of family life. He is the greatest emblem of devotional service and therefore the most learned. And he is worshipable. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, "Among sages I am Narada." His vina is charged with transcendental sound and was handed to him by Lord Sri Krsna, as stated in the Linga Purana. The vina is therefore identical with Krsna, and the glories of the absolute truth as chanted by Narada are also nondifferent from the Lord. Therefore the presence of Narada means Lord Krsna is present.</p>
<p>Narada is called the original spiritual master. His disciples, surrendered souls who first heard Krsna consciousness from his lips, include Vyasadeva, the compiler of all the Vedic scriptures, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, Dhruva Maharaj, Prahlada Maharaj, and many others.</p>
<p>"Thus I travel, constantly singing the glories of the Lord." Narada is traveling, vibrating his instrument, the vina, by his own free will. He is not being forced. His devotional service is free; he offers it out of his free will and he is free to travel when he likes. By his surrender unto the Lord he has attained complete freedom of life. The illusion of persons in the material world is that they are free, whereas actually they are bound up by the stringent laws of nature. We can only try to imagine, at this point, the unlimited freedom of Narada, whose freedom is as good as the Lord's.</p>
<p>Let us all help Narada Muni with his welfare work of the spirit. Encourage everyone you meet to chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The mahamantra will enliven the planet, will bring us all a life of transcendental bliss, and help us to have a taste of the full nectar for which we have been anxious from time immemorial.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://www.backtogodhead.in/narada-by-satsvarupa-dasa-adhikari/">https://www.backtogodhead.in/narada-by-satsvarupa-dasa-adhikari/</a></p></div>Narada Muni — The Transcendental Spaceman by Satsvarupa das Goswamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/narada-muni-the-transcendental-spaceman-by-satsvarupa-das-goswami2022-01-06T11:16:32.000Z2022-01-06T11:16:32.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9986112674,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="400" alt="9986112674?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></strong></p>
<p>If you have read or heard even a small sampling of the vast Vedic literature, you have come upon the name of Narada. He is a great bhakta (devotee) of the Supreme Lord Narayana, or Krsna. Etymologically analyzed, nara means of Narayana or the Lord (Krsna), and da means deliverer. Narada is the deliverer of the Lord and the Lord’s message. Of course there are countless preachers, gurus, evangelists, mendicants and religious representatives traveling all throughout this planet, but Narada Muni is eminently distinguished. His pupils include the greatest devotees. Also, he is not restricted to one planet, but has the facility to travel to any part of the universe without the aid of a spaceship. Most importantly, Narada teaches the topmost process of God realization—bhakti, devotion to God—and he is coming in the unbroken line of disciplic succession originating with the Supreme Lord Himself. These qualifications of the sage Narada are described in Vedic literatures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramayana, etc., where Narada is called the eternal spaceman.</p>
<p>Long ago, as will be described here, Narada attained the spiritual perfection of liberation from the round of birth and death in the material world. He is thus eternally unconditioned, existing in his eternal, spiritual body. In this way, he is almost as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. Narada is the deliverer of the Hare Krsna mantra, called the mahamantra or Great Chanting for Deliverance. He is described: Narada Muni bajaya vina radhika ramana name. “Narada Muni plays the vina chanting Hare Krsna.” The Hare Krsna mantra—Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare—is the potent benediction for the present spiritually deprived age, Kali Yuga, in which other spiritual processes are not possible. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 6, text 34, states: “It is personally experienced by Narada Muni that for persons who are always full with cares and anxieties on account of desiring contact of the senses with sense objects, constant chanting of the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead is just the suitable boat for crossing the ocean of nescience.”</p>
<p>Most people in this age are not very serious about spiritual advancement and cannot undertake rigorous, austere disciplines, but anyone can chant Hare Krsna or simply hear about Krsna. Not only can Narada travel wherever the Lord desires him to go, carrying the first-class spiritual process, bhakti (devotional service), but he is an especially empowered authority who can convince the most fallen. In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu reveals Narada Muni as an avatara of the saktyavesa category. Narada is not considered the Personality of Godhead Himself, but he is directly empowered with an opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to carry out the Lord’s will. Narada, then, is technically a saktyavesa avatara potent with the opulence of devotion. The basis of his teaching is expressed in Narada-bhakti-sutras and Narada-pancaratra. Narada explains that nobody can check the thinking, feeling and willing activities of the individual. Therefore, if someone is desirous of getting out of the frustrating, death-bound life of material consciousness, he must change the subject matter of his activities, which is not to say he must renounce them. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, as spiritual master in disciplic succession from Narada, writes: “Instead of talking in politics of a dying man, one may discuss the politics administered by the Lord Himself; instead of relishing the movie actors he may turn his attention to the activities of the Lord with His eternal associates, the gopis.” Narada recommends bhakti, or activities of the purified senses, as the process by which one can cross the ocean of birth and death, the source of all miseries, and be promoted to the transcendental position. We are already thinking, feeling and willing; if we simply begin to think, feel and will on behalf of Krsna, under the guidance of a spiritual master, then we will at once feel transcendental ecstasy and reject the material platform of life. He assures us from his own experience that devotional service activities will be successful. It is advised that we can experience the same success as Narada if we begin to follow the path of bhakti in the footsteps of this great sage, who is the dearmost devotee of the Lord.</p>
<p>In the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Narada Muni relates to his pupil Vyasadeva the incidences of his previous birth, before he became the immortal sage we all know as Narada: “O Muni [Vyasadeva], in my past life, during the last millennium, I was born as the son of a certain maidservant engaged in the service of brahmanas who were following the principle of Vedanta. When they were living together during the four months of the rainy season I was engaged in their personal service.” In his previous life, then, Narada was engaged in devotional service at the earliest age. Lord Krsna says that to do service for His servants is more valuable than direct service to Himself. Narada’s parentage was insignificant as his mother was just a maidservant. Narada was automatically given the most rare opportunity of rendering personal service to devotees of the Lord. Because some holy brahmanas were used to staying at the place where his mother was a servant, Narada, at less than five years of age, was in contact with them, and thus his door to liberation was opened. He states that the devotee brahmanas blessed him with their causeless mercy. They found this poor boy to be without any attachment to sporting habits; he was not naughty, nor did he speak more than required. Thus, although the devotees are impartial by nature, they were able to shower their full downpour of mercy in the form of transcendental knowledge and devotional service onto this uneducated young boy.</p>
<p>The boy Narada’s association with the pure devotees was consummated the moment he took up the remnants of their foodstuff. By so doing, all his sins were at once eliminated. As servant, the boy was cleaning up for the devotees, and noticing some remnants of food on their plates he asked their permission to take, and they of course encouraged him. As pure devotees, these bhakti-vedantas (knowers of Vedanta through devotional service) ate only prasadam, or foodstuffs which are first offered to the Supreme Lord with prayers. It is understood that prasadam is not ordinary food, but once accepted by the Lord it becomes as good as the Lord Himself, by His mercy. So the boy took this mercy of the bhakti-vedantas and became infected with their qualities of purity. Having associated with them, and having once eaten the remnants of their food, Narada advanced into transcendental life.</p>
<p>He then began to hear from them about the absolute truth. This is the way in which Narada gained eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, with facility to travel anywhere in the material worlds. Simply by hearing attentively authentic information about the Personality of Godhead from a bona fide authority, all his past sins were cleaned off and he was liberated from mundane association. Narada relates to his pupil Vyasadeva: “O Vyasadeva, in that association and by the mercy of the great Vedantists describing the attractive activities of Lord Krsna, I purified my aural reception. Thus hearing attentively, step by step my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead became manifest.”</p>
<p>Our spiritual master has told us many times that love of God is natural, original with us; however, due to our false attraction to the perishable material world and illusion of the body as our self and material things as our possessions, this consciousness is now dormant. So the wonderful change that occurs by chanting Hare Krsna or hearing about Krsna’s activities is not an artificial imposition on the mind, but is the natural return to our original consciousness. We may not be able to completely realize this at first, but very quickly the consciousness of the sincere chanter changes, and his material anxieties and desires fade away. Narada described how he developed definite realization of the Personality of Godhead as the absolute reality and how his attention became uninterrupted in hearing about the Lord. By hearing about the absolute, one becomes associated with the supreme light which dissipates all ignorance. The bhakti-vedantas were never speaking mundane topics of politics or sensuous affairs before Narada; nor were they teaching him negative concepts of reality, such as speculations on the concept of void or the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth. They were constantly engaged in chanting about the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who possesses inconceivable potencies; and by submissively hearing, the son of the maidservant felt his ignorance being removed.</p>
<p>Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, writes: “By ignorance only the conditioned soul wrongly thinks that he is a product of the material nature and that the Personality of Godhead is also a product of matter. But in fact, the Personality of Godhead and the living being are transcendental and have nothing to do with the material nature When nescience is removed, then it is perfectly realized that there is nothing existing without the Personality of Godhead. As the gross and subtle bodies are emanations from the Personality of Godhead, the revival of transcendental knowledge permits one to engage both of them in the service of the Lord.” The gross body can be engaged in rendering service, cleaning the temple, distributing Krsna conscious literature and bowing down in the temple, and the subtle mind can hear and think of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. The realization by which one can change his activities into transcendental activities develops without apprehension in execution of the bhakti path. Narada grasped this at once by his superior attraction for the Supreme Personality of Godhead—through the most effective method of hearing from pure souls. As Narada tells it, “The flow of my devotional service began.” Devotional service is natural to everyone, but it is choked up and suspended due to our being covered by modes of passion and ignorance. In Narada’s case, the pure sound vibration of unadulterated devotees speaking the glories of the Supreme Lord at once removed the material coverings and his devotional service thus began. Or in other words, the eternal being who was residing in the body of the maidservant’s son woke up, and the ultimate goal—love of God—became manifest in his heart. Narada’s position before his teachers is a model for the disciple who wishes to attain success even within one lifetime: “I was very much attached to the bhakti-vedantas. I was gentle in behavior, and all my sins became eradicated in my heart. I had strong faith in them; I had subjugated the senses and was strictly following the bhakti-vedantas with body and mind.”</p>
<p>Eventually the rainy season and the autumn passed, and the bhakti-vedantas left the place where Narada and his mother were living. But the confidential part of knowledge, devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had been implanted in Narada’s heart. Knowledge of the absolute truth—permanent and blissful behind all temporary shows—is not a cheap or easily attainable thing. According to the Bhagavad-gita, out of millions of men one may know the absolute truth, the Personality of Godhead.</p>
<p>When the immortal sage Narada told these things to Vyasadeva, his disciple became anxious to know how the boy passed the duration of his previous life and how he finally quit his body and attained a spiritual body of sac-cid-ananda (eternal life, bliss and knowledge) as Narada Muni the eternal spaceman. Narada related that after his initiation by the bhakti-vedantas there was a tangible change in his life, but as he was only five years old and the only child of his mother, he was bound to her with the tie of affection. Instead of being dependent on the Supreme Lord who is the only independent controller, the boy was dependent on his mother’s care, and she looked after him as if she were his maintainer. But Narada relates: “Once upon a time the poor woman, my mother, while engaged in milking a cow at night, was fatally bitten on the leg by a serpent as influenced by the supreme time.” In this way, the sincere soul who was being looked after by his mother had her withdrawn from the world by the supreme will, and he was thus put completely at the mercy of the Lord. “I took it as the special mercy of the Lord, who always desires benediction for His devotees. Thinking in this way, I started for the northern side.” This may seem surprising: a five-year-old boy, suddenly left all alone in the world, takes it as an auspicious direction from God. We find that most people when they are put into natural frustration and loss bewail the cruelty of their plight and even presume to be critical of the absolute will. But the devotee sees in every step the special mercy of the Lord. Bewailing our material losses is due to our ignorance of the real purpose of human life.</p>
<p>A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written on this point: “Mundane prosperity is a kind of material fever and by the grace of the Lord, the feverish material temperature of the devotee is gradually diminished and spiritual health is obtained step by step.” So the orphaned boy at once took the daring step of making God his only shelter and maintainer. He did not spend time trying to make some economic adjustment for his future comfortable living, but he took to traveling. “I passed through many flourishing metropolises, towns, villages, animal farms, mines, agricultural lands, valleys, gardens and forests. I passed alone through many forests full of pipe, bamboo, sharp grass, weeds and caves difficult to go through alone. I visited the dangerous, fearful forests deep and dark, the play-yards of snakes, owls, jackals.” The boy was not making a whimsical youth’s journey by these travels. It is the duty of a mendicant to have experience of all varieties of God’s creation. This is called parivrajakacarya, to travel alone through all forests, hills, towns, etc., to gain faith in God and strength of mind, as well as to enlighten the inhabitants with the message of God. In the present age this is not possible for the ordinary man, but it was possible for Narada, who was finishing his last lifetime before his liberation.</p>
<p>“After that, under the shadow of a banyan tree in a forest without any human habitation, I began to meditate upon the supersoul situated within myself, using my intelligence as I learned by hearing from liberated souls. With my mind transformed into transcendental love I began to meditate upon the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead. Tears rolled down from my eyes, and immediately the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, appeared on the lotus of my heart.” It is understood that Narada was not performing a concocted meditation, but he had received knowledge from authoritative sources on how to meditate on the supersoul who is dwelling within every living being. There are five stages of transcendental development leading to love of God described in the Narada-bhakti-sutra. The first is called sraddha, or an initial interest in or liking for the Supreme Lord. After that, one practices the prescribed rules and regulations of devotional service which clear away misgivings and personal deficiencies. Then one develops firmness, or standard faith in the reality of transcendental life; then comes attraction, and then bhava, the stage prior to unalloyed love of God. Narada Muni in his previous birth was able to attain the highest stage shortly after his departure from home. The tears from his eyes indicate his feelings of separation in transcendental love for the Personality of Godhead, after which he actually was able to perceive the actual presence of the Lord by his developed spiritual senses. A.C. Bhaktivedanta writes of spiritual ecstasy such as that perceived by Narada: “Spiritual feelings of happiness and intense ecstasy have no mundane comparison. Therefore it is very difficult to give expression to such feelings. We can just have a glimpse of such ecstasy in the words of the pure devotees.” “O, Vyasadeva, at that time, being exceedingly overpowered by feelings of happiness, every part of my body became lucid being absorbed in the ocean of ecstasy.”</p>
<p>Narada describes the form of the absolute truth as he saw Him: “The transcendental form of tht Lord, as it is, is perfectly apt to the desire of the mind.” Narada did not experience the Lord as formless, but His form is not like anything in this material world. It is described that all the differently cut and shaped forms that we are seeing all through our life do not banish all our mental disparity and dissatisfaction. But the special feature of the transcendental form of the Lord is that once it is seen, one is satisfied forever, and no material form holds any more attraction for the seer. So the Lord’s form is like nothing we see now in matter. Another great devotee, Maharaj Pariksit, was able to see the form of Krsna even while he was in his mother’s womb. On being born into the world, Pariksit (the word means “examiner”) was always looking this way and that way, his eyes bulging to see again the form of the Lord among all the unsatisfying forms and shapes of the material atmosphere.</p>
<p>Narada saw the form of God, he was completely satisfied in his being, and then the same form was no longer present to his vision. “Not seeing that form again, I suddenly got up, being perturbed in mind, as it happens when one loses that which is desirable.” Desiring more than anything to see again the form of the Lord, Narada tried to concentrate his mind on his heart, but he could not see Him anymore, and so became grief-stricken. Srila Prabhupada writes: “There is no mechanical process to see the form of the Lord. It completely depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord. Just as the surf rises out of its own accord, the Lord also is pleased to be present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply wait for the opportune moment and go on discharging the prescribed duty in devotional service of the Lord.”</p>
<p>Not at Narada’s command, but by that same causeless mercy, the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing Narada’s attempt in a lonely place, spoke unto him, just to mitigate his grief. “O Narada, I regret very much that during this lifetime, you will no longer be able to see Me. Those who are incomplete in service or still immature in being freed from all material dirt can hardly see Me. O virtuous one, you have only once seen My Person. This is just to increase your hankering for Me, because the more you desire Me, the more you will be freed from material desire. By service of the absolute truth even for a short time, a devotee’s intelligence becomes fixed firmly on Me. As a result he goes on to become My associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable material worlds. Intelligence engaged in My devotion can never be defeated at any time. Even at the time of creation, as well as at the time of annihilation, your remembrance will continue by My mercy.” How wonderful is the devotee Narada, that the Lord, the supreme authority personified by sound, unseen, spoke to him, seeing him so sad for lack of the Lord’s presence! Again, this is the special gift of Narada, and the ordinary devotee, what to speak of the non-devotee, should not claim to have access to the voice of the Supreme Lord. We are so puffed up and presumptuous in matters of the absolute truth, although it is the field of endeavor which, more than any other, requires us to give submissively and humbly aural reception to the bona fide authorities. For this age the authoritative Vedic literature recommends the sound vibration of the Lord’s holy name, Hare Krsna, which is as good as the personal presence of the Lord. If this were not so—that the Lord is present Himself when His name is uttered—then how could He be considered absolute? Absolute means that He is present in His name, His fame, and His devotee. If we wish to exchange transcendental love with the absolute truth we have to qualify ourselves by the purifying process of chanting His holy name. There is no difficulty on His part in coming to us when He wills. It may be very difficult for an ordinary subject to get an audience with the king; but if the king desires to see any citizen, what is the difficulty in his coming? As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, spiritual master of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta, said, “Don’t ask to see God, rather act in such a way that God can see you.” Such elevated standard—the perfection of human life—is easily attained by constant chanting and associating with devotees and the first result of this process is the loss of misgivings. Misgivings means lamenting over something lost and hankering for something we don’t have. These vanish when the superior taste derived from executing spiritual devotional service begins under the authorized spiritual master.</p>
<p>Blessed all along and taking each occurrence as an opportunity to increase his hankering for the Lord, the servant boy who was to become Narada finished the days of his life in chanting and remembering the pastimes of Sri Krsna and in traveling for distributing the Lord’s message of back to Godhead, with no thought of material gain.</p>
<p>In the course of time, while fully absorbed in thinking of Krsna, Narada reached that point, commonly called death, when the change of body suddenly occurs. Narada told his pupil: “Being freed from all material taints, I met with death just as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously.” It is told further that just as the illumination follows the lightning, the devotee changed his material body after death and evolved a spiritual body by the will of the supreme. The material body is a product of karma, earned by our accumulation of material desire, action and reaction. It is temporary and subject to miseries, and it is unenlightened. The spiritual body residing dormant within the material body, is eternal, blissful and in full knowledge. It is understood from authorized scriptures that even while in the material body, a pure devotee’s body becomes surcharged with spiritual energy by the constant engagement of his senses in the service of the transcendental eternal Lord. It is like an iron rod in contact with fire: after a while the iron rod acts not like iron, but like fire. The material body is afflicted with inebrieties and is taken on by the living entity as a result of his desires to enjoy temporary sense gratification, without understanding his real position—that he is eternal servant of the Lord and meant to please His senses. Therefore when the devotee’s body becomes engaged in devotional service he becomes surcharged with the transcendental qualities. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes on this important matter, so often misunderstood by neophytes: “Change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of the qualitative modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance) upon the person of a pure devotee. There are many instances in the revealed scriptures where Dhruva and Prahlada and many other devotees were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face apparently in the same body. This means the quality of a devotee’s body changes from material affinity to transcendence. By the mercy of Krsna the devotee becomes exempt from the karmic reactions of his work.” In order to understand how the body of a devotee becomes spiritualized, we have to understand that consciousness is the sign of life. The sensation you have when you are pinched means you have consciousness. This consciousness, which is spread all over the body, is eternal, though the body of flesh and blood is perishable. Consciousness is a symptom of the presence of the soul, which is located in the heart. This is confirmed in the Upanisads and Bhagavad-gita. If an ordinary conditioned human being meets a pure devotee and his consciousness is changed from the polluted desire to enjoy with the body, and he instead starts to use the body as a vehicle for service in Krsna consciousness, then his body becomes spiritualized. Any material object, a telephone, a typewriter, becomes spiritualized if used in the direct service of Krsna consciousness for propagating the Lord’s transcendental message. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written that, in the eye of the Supreme Lord Krsna, the body of the converted or reclaimed devotee who has changed his standard of consciousness from material to Krsna consciousness is as good as the eternal spiritual body of a jiva in the spiritual sky who has never fallen under the conditioned state. The example Srila Prabhupada has given is that of a gold box and a gold-plated box. The gold box is compared to those who have never fallen to the material world. But once a fallen soul takes a bona fide spiritual master and becomes one hundred percent engaged in devotional service, then he too becomes liberated, even while remaining in the present body and he is thus compared to a gold-plated box. The Lord accepts the gold-plated box as equal to and as good as the gold box.</p>
<p>Narada describes his position then to Vyasadeva: “At the end of the millenium, when the Personality of Godhead Lord Narayana lay down in the water of devastation, Brahma began to enter into Him along with all creative elements, and I also entered through His breathing. After expiration of a period of 4,300,000 x 1000 years when Brahma awoke to create again by the will of the Lord, all the rsis like Marici, Angira, and Atri were created from the transcendental body of the Lord, and I also appeared along with them.” Narada’s entrance into the body of the Lord at the time of annihilation and re-entrance into the material cosmos occur in the same transcendental body, which is described as being just like the Lord’s, without any difference between body and soul. Therefore when Narada appears in the universe as the son of Brahma, born from his heart, it is understood that this is not the forced birth of a conditioned entity, but a transcendental pastime of the devotee. Narada’s appearance and disappearance in the world are in the same category of transcendence as that of the Lord, who appeared on the earth as the son of Vasudeva.</p>
<p>Narada Muni is brahmacari, living the order of celibacy without the complication of family life. He is the greatest emblem of devotional service and therefore the most learned. And he is worshipable. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita, “Among sages I am Narada.” His vina is charged with transcendental sound and was handed to him by Lord Sri Krsna, as stated in the Linga Purana. The vina is therefore identical with Krsna, and the glories of the absolute truth as chanted by Narada are also nondifferent from the Lord. Therefore the presence of Narada means Lord Krsna is present.</p>
<p>Narada is called the original spiritual master. His disciples, surrendered souls who first heard Krsna consciousness from his lips, include Vyasadeva, the compiler of all the Vedic scriptures, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, Dhruva Maharaj, Prahlada Maharaj, and many others.</p>
<p>“Thus I travel, constantly singing the glories of the Lord.” Narada is traveling, vibrating his instrument, the vina, by his own free will. He is not being forced. His devotional service is free; he offers it out of his free will and he is free to travel when he likes. By his surrender unto the Lord he has attained complete freedom of life. The illusion of persons in the material world is that they are free, whereas actually they are bound up by the stringent laws of nature. We can only try to imagine, at this point, the unlimited freedom of Narada, whose freedom is as good as the Lord’s.</p>
<p>Let us all help Narada Muni with his welfare work of the spirit. Encourage everyone you meet to chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The mahamantra will enliven the planet, will bring us all a life of transcendental bliss, and help us to have a taste of the full nectar for which we have been anxious from time immemorial.<br /><strong><br />Satsvarupa das Goswami<br /> (ISKCON—Boston)</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=96604">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=96604</a></p></div>Narada Muni – The Father of Devotional Service by Mathuresha Dashttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/narada-muni-the-father-of-devotional-service-by-mathuresha-das2022-01-06T08:30:00.000Z2022-01-06T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8261514079,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8261514079?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" /></p>
<p>One of the most prominent sages in the Vedic literature, he travels throughout the universe awakening love for the Lord.</p>
<p>NARADA MUNI is exalted in Vedic texts as one of the twelve mahajanas, or great authorities on eternal truth. Details of his life and teachings are recounted in the Narada Purana, the Padma Purana, and throughout Srimad-Bhagavatam. So advanced is his level of spirituality that in these texts he is even sometimes called “Bhagavan,” a term usually reserved for the Supreme Lord, and in the Bhagavad-gita (10.26) Lord Krsna Himself says, “Of the sages among the demigods, I am Narada.”</p>
<p>As a preeminent representative of God, Narada Muni is often considered the original spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada states in his commentary to the Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.5.22), “The immediate spiritual master is the representative of Narada Muni; there is no difference between the instructions of Narada Muni and those of the present spiritual master.” Prabhupada further refers to Narada as “the father of devotional service.” (6.16.26)</p>
<p>ISKCON devotees know Narada Muni as “the eternal spiritual spaceman,” because he is described throughout the Vedic literature as a transcendental mystic who received from Krsna the ability to traverse the cosmos, delivering the Hare Krsna maha-mantra to sincere souls and instigating advancement on the spiritual path.</p>
<p>“Instigating” may seem the wrong word to describe a celestial sage, but Narada is famous for pushing people to the limit, forcing them to make decisions that enable them to advance in Krsna consciousness.</p>
<p>Narada also serves as an instigator in Lord Krsna’s pastimes. One example occurs around the time of Krsna’s birth. When the demon Kamsa hears a voice from the sky, telling him that Devaki’s eighth child (Krsna) will kill him, it is Narada who instills Kamsa with fear that any of Devaki’s children might be his enemy. Narada thereby persuades Kamsa to kill all of Devaki’s children. Narada does this to accelerate Krsna’s appearance and enhance Kamsa’s reputation as a demon, causing Krsna to eventually kill him and establish righteousness in society. (This was all done under the Lord’s mysterious internal potency. Later, Lord Krsna brought the children back to life.)</p>
<p>Another example of Narada’s instigative powers is seen in his exchange with Princess Rukmini, to whom he elaborately describes Krsna’s unsurpassed beauty and superlative qualities. Upon hearing Narada’s description, Rukmini becomes infatuated with Krsna, giving her heart to Him in total surrender. She is thus unable to marry Sisupala, to whom she was promised. Narada’s “meddling” leads to the unfolding of an important episode in Krsna’s manifest pastimes: Sisupala is humbled, and Krsna kidnaps and marries Rukmini. In the fulfillment of her heart’s desire, Rukmini serves Krsna as His loving wife in the spiritual realm.</p>
<p>In yet another important episode, Narada chides Vyasadeva for not getting at the essence of Vedic knowledge in compiling the Vedic literature. Narada tells Vyasadeva that the remedy is to describe in his writing the name, form, fame, and pastimes of Krsna. Vyasadeva does so, the result being the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the cream of ancient India’s scriptural legacy.</p>
<p>The Three Lives of Narada</p>
<p>Just who is Narada Muni, and what did he go through to become one of the most respected saints in the Vedic tradition?</p>
<p>The Srimad-Bhagavatam describes how Narada attained the audience of God and thus became renowned in the Vedic tradition. The story begins with his previous two lifetimes. During the first, his name was Upabarhana, a Gandharva, or singer from a heavenly planet. Upabarhana’s beautiful voice and handsome features made him attractive to women, and he became a playboy, losing his spiritual perspective and falling into materialistic life.</p>
<p>Narada Muni</p>
<p>Once, Upabarhana attended a festival put on by the prajapatis, residents of higher planets responsible for populating the universe. While performing sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord, Upabarhana glorified the demigods. The devotees present took this action as a great offense, because sankirtana is meant for glorifying the Supreme Lord only. The devotees then cursed Upabarhana to be born in his next life as a sudra (laborer) devoid of beauty. Fortunately, whether a saint blesses or curses, the result is the same: the recipient of the saint’s attention advances in God consciousness.</p>
<p>That’s what eventually happened to Upabarhana (Narada). When he was born as the son of a maidservant, he was inclined to devotional service and managed to serve the pure devotees of the Lord.</p>
<p>Narada’s pious mother had the good fortune to serve traveling mendicants, so five-year-old Narada had the same opportunity. Moreover, he was able to take the remnants of their meals (prasadam) and hear them speak on transcendental subjects. Primarily these two activities, says the Bhagavatam, enabled Narada to move forward in his spiritual life.</p>
<p>The traveling mendicants could not find any fault in the little boy. He seemed to be uninterested in playing like other boys; he was not naughty in any way, nor did he speak more than necessary. For all of these reasons, the sages showered their blessings upon him. Narada underwent a vital transformation and became intoxicated with God consciousness. He meditated day and night, then left home after his mother’s death to become a wandering mendicant himself.</p>
<p>As Narada traveled, he learned to dedicate every moment to the pursuit of spiritual realization. One day, during Narada’s meditation the Lord appeared within his heart he was able to see the form of God. Tears of love flowed from his eyes as he gazed upon the Lord’s beautiful form.</p>
<p>And then the Lord disappeared from his vision.</p>
<p>The Bhagavatam describes Narada’s grief-stricken condition and tells us that as much as he tried, he could not regain his vision of God. His realization: God is not at our beck and call. He appears before us by His sweet will, and if He desires to conceal Himself, no amount of meditation or prayer will force Him to show us His beautiful form. As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, has said, “Don’t ask to see God, but rather act in such a way that God will want to see you.”</p>
<p>Narada then heard the Lord’s voice, telling him that it is not possible to see God if one is not completely pure. The Lord told Narada another thing: He had shown Narada His form out of kindness and to increase his longing for Him.</p>
<p>The Lord’s enticement worked. Narada now meditated on the form of the Lord more intensely than ever before. His hearing and chanting of the glories of Krsna engulfed his soul, and he became oblivious of the world around him. When the moment of death came, he was ready.</p>
<p>“Being freed from all material taints,” Narada told his disciple Vyasadeva, “I met with death just as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously.”</p>
<p>The transition was seamless, and when the material world was again created (for the material cosmos manifests in cycles), Narada was born from the creator-god Brahma’s heart, as his most dear son. In this form, Narada had indeed reached perfection. The Bhagavatam tells us that his birth was not forced, as are most births in the material realm, but was completely voluntary: he was born merely to assist the Lord in His mission. Moreover, says the Bhagavatam, his body was just like the Lord’s transcendental and immortal, with no difference between his outer body and the inner animating spark, the soul.</p>
<p>Teacher of Pure Devotion</p>
<p>Thus, Narada is considered a perfect devotee. His teachings, found throughout the Srimad-Bhagavatam as well as in his Narada-bhakti-sutras and Narada Pancaratra, are exemplary for souls on the path of pure devotion. They embody the essence of selfless devotional service.</p>
<p>Lord Krsna, feeling grateful for Narada’s dedication and love, once asked him, “What can I do to serve you?”</p>
<p>“I do not care where I may be,” Narada replied, “but I pray that I may be allowed to constantly remember Your lotus feet.”</p>
<p>This single-minded determination marks Narada as the perfect guru, and many great sages have taken shelter at his feet. He is the spiritual master of Valmiki (the author of the Ramayana), and of Prahlada Maharaja, Dhruva Maharaja, the Pracetas, Citraketu, and many other prominent personalities in Vedic history. Most important, he is the spiritual master of Vyasadeva, often considered the model guru. For this reason, Narada Muni is the guru of gurus.</p>
<p>Transcendental Traveling Musician</p>
<p>Narada is a perfect brahmacari, a celibate whose sole purpose is pure devotional service to the Lord. The Linga Purana says that Krsna awarded Narada a vina, a stringed musical instrument, which Narada plays as he traverses the universe. Because the vina was a direct gift from the Lord, it is considered non-different from Him. Narada, then, carries the Lord with him as he travels the material cosmos, delivering the holy name to the devotees and helping those in need with his spiritual blessings.</p>
<p>Because Narada is a musician who travels throughout the universe enlightening people with Krsna consciousness, it was fitting that during Lord Krsna’s appearance five hundred years ago as Lord Caitanya, Narada appeared as Srivasa Thakura. It was in his courtyard, Srivasa Angan, that the sankirtana movement, full of song and dance, began on earth. In this way, both as Narada and as Srivasa, he uses music particularly the chanting of the maha-mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare to spread the glories of Krsna. -by Satyaraja dasa</p>
<p>Satyaraja Dasa is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and a regular contributor to Back to Godhead. He has written several books on Krsna consciousness. He and his wife live in New York City.</p>
<p>Narada becomes a Gopi</p>
<p>ACCORDING TO the Narada Purana (2.80.9-32), the Skanda Purana (2.6.2-3), and the Padma Purana (4.75.25-46), when Narada first heard that Lord Krsna had appeared in Vrndavana, he wandered Vrndavana’s twelve forests looking for any signs of his beloved Lord. With great intensity he ran through the secret bowers in which Krsna would meet with the gopis, His cowherd girlfriends. But he could not find any evidence of Krsna’s appearance.</p>
<p>Vrnda Devi, a prominent gopi who helps arrange Krsna’s rendezvous with His girlfriends, appeared before Narada and told him that to see such esoteric pastimes he would have to adopt the mood and form of a loving gopi himself. This was possible, she said, only for the most advanced practitioners of spiritual life. Vrnda Devi told Narada that he was one such soul and could affect such a change by bathing in a nearby pond known as Kusum Sarovara.</p>
<p>Narada did as Vrnda Devi had instructed and emerged from the waters as a gopi named Naradi. He was thus able to see Vrndavana with new eyes and enter into Krsna’s pastimes with the cowherd girls.</p>
<p>Later, Vrnda Devi instructed him to bathe in another pond, which came to be known as Narada-kunda, and he resumed his male form.</p>
<p>The Narada Purana says that the lesson to be learned from this episode is that even a sage as great as Narada must meditate on Vrndavana in the intense mood of a gopi to attain the highest level of prema, love for Krsna. Such meditation is possible for only the most accomplished devotees.</p>
<div><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15961">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15961</a></div></div>Gaura Purnima Story: Narada Muni & Lord Gauranga!https://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/gaura-purnima-story-narada-muni-lord-gauranga2021-03-23T10:54:30.000Z2021-03-23T10:54:30.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8696177088,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="8696177088?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>Once Narada Muni could see that Kali yuga was going to come very soon.</p>
<p>So, he thought he will ask Krishna what the solution for this was, so he went to Dwaraka.</p>
<p>That time Krishna was staying at the house of Satyabhama and he had to inform Rukmini that He was going to her palace.</p>
<p>So, she had cleaned the palace with all her maidservants, and she got the kids dressed up.</p>
<p>She got the pandits there to chant Vedic mantras.</p>
<p>She had filled water pots and banana leaves also trees of sugar cane.</p>
<p>She did everything she could to make an auspicious welcome to Lord Krishna.</p>
<p>When Krishna came from house of Satyabhama, He was given a real good welcome.</p>
<p>Rukimin sent the children to embrace their father. Then she took Him inside to the inner quarters. She had a special swing for Him, for Krishna. So, she began to do abhishek, puja for Lord Krishna bathing His lotus feet.</p>
<p>Then she started to cry. Krishna was amazed that why somebody is greeting Him and at the same time crying.</p>
<p>So, then He asked Rukmini, “Why are you crying? Is it that some servant argued with you today? Children did not listen to you? What is the reason why you are crying?”</p>
<p>She looked at Him and said, “You don’t really know why I am crying do You? Radharani knows, she knows why I am crying!”</p>
<p>She said, “I am crying because You came to my house but one day You will leave. If You promise You will never leave my house, then I won’t cry.”</p>
<p>“No, no I am not going to leave you, I am not going to make you cry.” said Krishna.</p>
<p>Like this He tried to pacify her. He brought her next to Him and wiped the tears from her eyes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Narada Muni came to the window, and Krishna called Narada Muni – “Gurudev, Gurudev.”!!!</p>
<p>In this way by appearance of Narada Muni, Krishna was saved from the embarrassing situation with Rukmini devi.</p>
<p>So along with Rukmini they bathed the feet of Narada Muni. They had a special Guru asana and they sat him on the Guru asana.</p>
<p>Krishna saw that Narada Muni was disturbed so He was wondering, “How is it that today My wife is crying, my Gurudev is disturbed. He is always peaceful.”</p>
<p>So, He asked Narada Muni, “Why are you disturbed?”</p>
<p>So Narada said, “I can see in the world that the symptoms of Kali yuga going to start, just like when the sun is going to set it begins to get twilight. So, like that we can see that people are becoming more and more materialistic. They are becoming more and more attached to the opposite sex.</p>
<p>Like this the symptoms of Kali yuga are beginning. So that means Your presence is fading off. Soon You will leave this world. Then Kali yuga will begin. So, I want to know what Your solution for the conditioned souls is. How will they get delivered Kali yuga? I am very concerned about the Kali yuga souls!”</p>
<p>Then Lord Krishna said, “Rukmini said Radharani knows what she is feeling, and you are concern about the deliverance of the fallen souls of Kali yuga. So, I will come again in Kali yuga. I will take the mood and the color of Radharani to understand mind of Rukmini and to solve your concern.”</p>
<p>So, He predicted that He would come again as Gauranga in Kali yuga.</p>
<p>He told Narada Muni to tell all the Devas to incarnate in Bengal.</p>
<p>In this way we will flood the world with harinam sankirtan.</p>
<p>So, like this Narada Muni went to the different planets to invite the people to come down to join Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement.</p>
<p>Then he went to Jagannath, Baladeva and Subadra and they advised him to go to Brahmaloka and from Brahmaloka Lord Brahma came as Haridas Thakur.</p>
<p>Narada went to Svetadwip and Goloka Vrindavan and there he saw Lord Caitanya being bathed by the queens of Dwaraka and the gopis of Vrindavan.</p>
<p>So, then he paid his obeisances and Lord Caitanya was surprised why Narada Muni was coming from the planet of the four-headed Brahma – catur mukhi Brahmaloka.</p>
<p>So, he took him aside and asked him, “What’s up?”</p>
<p>He said, “I am concerned that You are leaving the planet as Krishna and Kali yuga will begin.”</p>
<p>So, he asked Lord Caitanya what He would do to save the people of Kali yuga.</p>
<p>Lord Caitanya told all the gopis and Radharani that, “I am going to go into the four-headed brahmanda and spread love of Godhead everywhere. Which of you are coming with Me?” So, everybody wanted to come.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(As told by Jayapataka Swami on topic of Caitanya Bhagavata)</p>
<p>Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare</p>
<p>Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.</p>
<p><br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.mayapur.com/2021/gaura-purnima-story-narada-muni-lord-gauranga/">https://www.mayapur.com/2021/gaura-purnima-story-narada-muni-lord-gauranga/</a></p></div>Accepting our Lot, Gracefully by Praghosa Dasahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/accepting-our-lot-gracefully2020-09-28T10:30:00.000Z2020-09-28T10:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515068339,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="300" alt="2515068339?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<div style="text-align:justify;">Recently while reading Srimad Bhagavatam I felt as if I was committing an offence, simply in the act of that study. The words I was reciting at the time were uttered by Prajapati Daksa, they were:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">“O Narada Muni, O personality of sinful action” [SB 6.5.37]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">It is certainly uncomfortable to read such words spoken about such an elevated personality, what to say of speaking them out loud. That uncomfortable feeling is, I guess, a good protection, as it naturally helps to ensure that we avoid using such offensive language toward such a glorious personality. Of course sastra informs us that being offensive is not just restricted to offences we might make to pure devotees:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">“Just as a student in a law class is to be understood to have already graduated from general education, anyone who is engaged in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—must have already passed all lower stages. It is said that those who simply chant the holy name with the tip of the tongue are glorious” SB 3.33.7 Purport</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">The safest position to take is to not criticise any devotee that way we can be sure not to fall fowl of vaisnava aparadha:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">“A pure Vaisnava should be very careful to engage in his specific duty without criticizing others. This is the safest position. Otherwise, if one tends to criticize others, he may commit the great offence of criticizing a Vaisnava” SB 6.17.15 Purport</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">In the pastime of Jagai and Madhai, prior to them receiving the mercy of Lord Caitanya, they were glorified as having one good quality. The fact that they kept such bad association meant that they had never come into contact with devotees hence their good quality was that they had never committed vaisnava aparadha.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">There are so many references in sastra as to the importance of avoiding offending vaisnavas, so as I read the words of Daksa it seemed worthwhile to look a little deeper into why he would offend Narada in this way. On the face of it Daksa was extremely upset because his first 10,000 sons, the Haryasvas, whom he had earmarked to populate the planet with good progeny, were convinced by Narada to by-pass the grhastha asrama. Due to the inherent risks of being side tracked by maya while populating the world, Narada suggested they would be better to simply devote themselves exclusively to the path of renunciation. That was bad enough but then Daksa had another 1,000 sons to do the job his previous sons had been diverted away from but Narada had a different idea and did exactly the same again, convincing Daksa’s latest arrivals to follow in the footsteps of their elder brothers.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">This was too much for Daksa, the straw that broke the camels back, hence his offensive words and cursing of Narada that while he may be able to travel all over the universe, he will not be able to reside anywhere. Srila Prabhupada comments on this curse as a case of Daksa ego projecting, due to the fact that Daksa, being a grhamedhi, was thinking that such a curse would be unbearable; however for a preacher like Narada it was not so daunting.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">To understand better the core reason why Daksa committed this offence, we find a clear hint in the different reactions that Daksa and Narada had to their reversals. Narada’s reaction to the curse imposed on him by Daksa was ‘tad badham’ – “Yes, what you have said is good. I accept this curse” So the mood of Narada was to be tolerant (titiksava) and accept the curse. Whereas Daksa’s reversal, which really wasn’t a reversal at all, as confirmed by the verse – devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam, still Daksa saw it as a negative and his response was not one of tolerance but rather one of anger, aggression and retribution.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">The logical conclusion would seem to be that if we have faith that all apparent reversals we receive in life are actually the mercy of the Lord, then it will be far more likely that we will respond in a tolerant way, as opposed to an angry way. If we are tolerant of them then we are far less likely to fall victim to vaisnava aparadha, however if we react angrily to them we are far more likely to fall prey to vaisnava aparadha.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">Anyone who is able to accept that not even a blade of grass moves without the sanction of Krsna, will be far better prepared to be tolerant of such reversals, however fair or unfair they may appear to be. For devotees who accept the supremacy, glory and absolute position of Krsna, acceptance of life’s reversals should be that bit easier again:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">isvarah parama Krsna – The Supreme Lord is the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna [brahma samhita 5.1]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">aham sarvasya prabhavo – I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds [BG 10.8]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">krsnas tu bhagavan svayam – Lord Sri Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead [SB 1.3.28]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">yo mam evam asammudho – Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead without doubting [BG 15.19]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">And as devotees we are also aware that we can never be sure what the plan of the Lord is:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">na hy asya karhicid rajan – no one can know the plan of Lord Sri Krsna [SB 1.9.16]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">However we do know that the Lord is always fair and always favourable to His devotees:</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">samo ‘ham sarva-bhutesu – I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him [BG 9.29]</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;">So armed with all this knowledge we should be able to navigate clear of reacting angrily to the inevitable calamities that will continue to be thrown our way, who knows one day we might even come to the point of welcoming them with open arms.</div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=6174">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=6174</a></div></div>