Please Make Best Use of This Network
Hare Krishna! Pranam to all members of this transcendental devotee communication network. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev! What are we doing here???Just dumping whatever we got in our hard drive, photos, videos, lectures and so on…Someone is dumping articles, so many that as soon as I see any article from that person, I even ignore to read heading. We have to be practical and have to think for what purpose we are posting here.Frankly speaking, only very few are genuine and can appeal to our daily practical life and increase our faith towards Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna.Of course, for old devotees, it will be very useful tool to find something for which he/she was very eagerly waiting for a long time. But newer may get misguided, confused and even lose their little faith, if they are asked for something like a friendship, chat and so on… this is not the goal of joining this devotee network, isn’t it?Just coping and pasting will not help. If we are really reading, studying and practicing Srila Prabhupada’s instructions in our day to day life then I’m sure, every one of us must be having so many realizations. Why can’t we share that realization with each other? It will increase our faith to read more and more Srila Prabhupada and put His Divine Grace’s instructions in our practical life, isn’t it?“A grain of devotion is more valuable than tons of faithlessness”Anything in this material world, if used in the right way, can give us immense benefit and if misused, will become a source of trouble. Over the years, mankind has invented so many things that led to the drastic material advancement. At the same time, we have experienced that the same inventions if not used properly, will be harmful to our existence. Internet is one such invention that took communication to new heights through emails, blogs, chat, voice communication etc. But over the years these facilities have been grossly misused that the emails and chats have been used for porno, transmitting virus programs, sending junk mails, the list is endless.Srila Prabhupada is one of the greatest expounder who taught us the principle of yukta-vairagya, detachment from matter by using it in Krsna’s service. Applying the same principle, devotees all over the world have been using the internet communication to intensify the discussion of Krsna-katha which is the only panacea to the diseased material. His Divine Grace has given us so much to relish in his books that even if we discuss for our entire lifetimes we cannot be satiated by them.Here we devotees from all over the world can freely communicate their thoughts and realizations from the Vaishnava scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavata Gita and get benefited by each other’s association. We can delve deep into the treasure that Srila Prabhupada has given to this whole world in the form of his books. Anybody who has read his books seriously will agree that every tie we read his transcendental purports and lucid explanations of the verses, we can have access to the mysteries of the spiritual subject matters.Of course we can’t spot, but it is a fact, there are people who are here to just make friends and move out of this network. Well, we can’t stop them but it is shame for them because this network is not meant for this kind of activities.Let us make this communication network as a mouth-piece of Srila Prabhupada. As our spiritual grandfather he has always been giving us more than what we deserved – in terms of love, compassion, knowledge, realization and mercy. We are eternally indebted to him for guiding us along the path of devotional service.Some realization from a devotee in one corner of the world can inspire other devotees from a different part of the world. Srila Prabhupada and Sri Krishna dasa Kaviraja Goswami say in Sri Caitany aCaritamrita that ‘writing’ is an important activity of a Vaishnava and one has to write not for sense-gratification but for self-purification. Almost every acarya in our Vaishnava sampradaya have left invaluable treasure in the form of their writings that reveals the mysteries of the spiritual subject matter and makes it easy for us to tread the path back home, back to Godhead.I would like to quote Srila Prabhupada’s words on ‘writing from his lecture given in Los Angeles on August 14, 1972.“Realization means you should write, every one of you, what is your realization. What for this Back to Godhead is? You write your realization, what you have realized about Krishna. That is required. It is not passive. Always you should be active. Whenever you find time, you write. Never mind, two lines, four lines, but you write your realization. Sravanam kirtanam, writing or offering prayers, glories. This is one of the function of the Vaisnava. You are hearing, but you have to write also. Then write means smaranam, remembering what you have heard from your spiritual master, from the scripture. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh. About Visnu, not for others. Don't write any nonsense thing for any nonsense man. Useless waste of time. Visnu. Write about Visnu, Krishna. This is cultivation of Krishna consciousness. Hear, write, remember, try to understand. Don't be dull, dull-headed. Very intelligent. Without being very intelligent, nobody can have full Krishna consciousness. It is for the most intelligent man. So that intelligence will come if you try to understand Krishna. We have got so many books. Always try to understand Krishna.”As Srila Prabhupada says, writing means smaranam. It is one of the most intense activities in devotional service. If our purpose in writing is to glorify the Lord and His devotees and also for our self-purification, then the Lord gives us constant guidance as Paramatma in our hearts. We may commit our mistakes, but if our goal is to glorify the Lord then we can render devotional service even with our imperfect senses. At present our senses are sleeping but when the Lord enters into them, we get the inspiration to glorify the Lord as Dhruva Maharaja prays aptly in Srimada Bhagavatama 4.9.6 thus:dhruva uvacayo 'ntah pravisya mama vacam imam prasuptam, sanjivayaty akhila-sakti-dharah sva-dhamnaanyams ca hasta-carana-sravana-tvag-adin, pranan namo bhagavate purusaya tubhyam“Dhruva Maharaja said: My dear Lord, You are all-powerful. After entering within me, You have enlivened all my sleeping senses -- my hands, legs, ears, touch sensation, life force and especially my power of speech. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”We admit that we are full of faults and our attempts to share our ‘so called’ realizations are filled with imperfections. At the same time we do lay our hope and faith in the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, Patita Pavana Srila Prabhupada, Guru and Gauranga in making use of us in their effort to take the suffering souls back home, back to Godhead. By their mercy, even a dumb can speak and a lame man can walk. It is very nicely said in CC Madhya Lila 17.80:mukam karoti vacalam, pangum langhayate girimyat-krpa tam aham vande, paramananda-madhavam"The Supreme Personality of Godhead has the form of sac-cid-ananda-vigraha-transcendental bliss, knowledge and eternity. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him, who turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains. Such is the mercy of the Lord."So, please let us make best us of this devotee network to share (writings, lectures, videos, photos and so on) our realizations, as our loving expressions towards our beloved Lord Sri Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and his followers and devotees around the world.Hare Krishna!your servant,Gaur-gadadhar das.
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