Transcendence

2009-01-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

The beginning of a new year is always a time for hopes on betterment in our lives. We can progress in our lives being more spiritualized, and the way that I go after for my spiritual betterment is by being in association with the names of God. Is that simple. Just by being in touch with the names of God we progress in our spiritual lives. After all, the names of God being in an absolute platform will allow us to be in touch with Him.

This year I am opening my living place for holding weekly meetings, so we can chant the holy names of God. We started the year with a crowded house. After having the place cleaned, and preparing some Gauranga Potatoes for sharing with the invitees, I wait for my friend’s arrival. The first one to show up was Ramalakshana, an old friend who is very dear to me. He is Brazilian and a master on Capoeira, an African-Brazilian martial art. We did not have time to have a personal talk, so the invitees were arriving. The next to come was Kristen, followed by Priscilla. Both are my neighbors living in the same building. Early in the morning I knocked every door in the building inviting the neighbors for our meeting. So, two of them showed up. They did not know anything about Krishna consciousness, and it was the first seed planted in their hearts. They chanted, and honored prasadam. Them the place started to be crowded. Ten more people arrived; amongst them were my dear friend Advaita dasa, and his fiancée Lilayata, and Gopika who helped me to organize our meeting. Everybody was coming in a blissful mood, and they all brought some prasadam, spiritual foodstuff, to be shared with all.

Everything was blissful; the talks, the music, and friendship. The talks and music were centered in the Hare Krishna maha mantra.

The prime spiritual practice for the modern days is the Chanting of the Holy Name of God. The Hare Krishna is specifically mentioned in many Upanisads, such as the Kali-santarana Upanisad, where it is said

hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

iti sodasakam namnam
kali-kalmasa-nasanam
natah parataropayah
sarva-vedesu drsyate

“After searching through the entire Vedic literature one cannot find a spiritual method more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krishna.”

Shrimad Bhagavatam 3.9.22

2008-12-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

Let the Supreme Lord be merciful towards me. He is the one friend and soul of all living entities in the world, and He maintains all, for their ultimate happiness, by His six transcendental opulences.

2008-12-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

People in general all engage in foolish acts, not in the really beneficial activities enunciated directly by You for their guidance. As long as their tendency for foolish work remains powerful, all their plans in the struggle for existence will be cut to pieces. I therefore offer my obeisances unto Him who acts as eternal time. (Lord Brahma - SB 3.9.17)

2008-12-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

The whole trouble of the living entity in material existence is that he has an independent conception of life. He is always dependent on the rules of the Supreme Lord, in both the conditioned and liberated states, but by the influence of the external energy the conditioned soul thinks himself independent of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. His constitutional position is to dovetail himself with the desire of the supreme will, but as long as he does not do so, he is sure to drag on in the shackles of material bondage. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (2.55), prajahäti yadä kämän sarvän pärtha mano-gatän: he has to give up all sorts of plans manufactured by mental concoction. The living entity has to dovetail himself with the supreme will. That will help him to get out of the entanglement of material existence. (Shrila Prabhupada)

2008-12-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Samadhi involves concentrating the mind upon the supreme cause of all, even if one is unaware of whether His actual nature is personal, impersonal or localized. Concentration of the mind on the Supreme is certainly a form of devotional service. To cease from personal sense endeavors and to concentrate on the supreme cause is a sign of self-surrender, and when self-surrender is present, that is a sure sign of devotional service. Each and every living entity needs to engage in devotional service to the Lord if he wishes to understand the ultimate cause of his existence.

The luster of the transcendental body of the Lord mocked the beauty of the coral mountain. The coral mountain is very beautifully dressed by the evening sky, but the yellow dress of the Lord mocked its beauty. There is gold on the summit of the mountain, but the Lord’s helmet, bedecked with jewels, mocked it. The mountain’s waterfalls, herbs, etc., with a panorama of flowers, seem like garlands, but the Lord’s gigantic body, and His hands and legs, decorated with jewels, pearls, tulasi leaves and flower garlands, mocked the scene on the mountain.

The Lord fulfills the desires of everyone just as one desires. Pure devotees are interested in achieving the transcendental service of the Lord, which is nondifferent from Him. Therefore, the Lord is the only desire of the pure devotees, and devotional service is the only spotless process for achieving His favor.

Devotional service to the Lord is very much obliging to Him. There are many transcendentalists in different fields of spiritual activities, but devotional service to the Lord is unique. Devotees do not ask anything from the Lord in exchange for their service. Even the most desirable liberation is refused by devotees, although offered by the Lord. Thus the Lord becomes a kind of debtor to the devotees, and He can only try to repay the devotees, service with His ever-enchanting smile. The devotees are ever satisfied by the smiling face of the Lord, and they become enlivened. And by seeing the devotees so enlivened, the Lord Himself is further satisfied. So there is continuous transcendental competition between the Lord and His devotees by such reciprocation of service and acknowledgement.

2008-12-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Under the spell of material energy, the living entities are entrapped in the bondage of many difficulties simply for the sake of a little bit of material happiness. They engage in fruitive activities, not knowing the implications. Under the false impression that the body is the self, the living entities foolishly relate to so many false attachments. They think that they can engage with materialistic paraphernalia forever. This gross misconception of life is so strong that a person suffers continually, life after life, under the external energy of the Lord. If one comes in contact with the book Bhägavatam as well as with the devotee bhägavata, who knows what the Bhägavatam is, then such a fortunate man gets out of the material entanglement.

The living entities are constitutionally servitors of the Lord

2008-12-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

The living entities are constitutionally servitors of the Lord, who can accept all kinds of service from everyone. It is clearly declared (Bg. 5.29) that the Lord is the supreme enjoyer of the benefits of all sacrifices and penances, the proprietor of all that is manifested and the friend of all living entities. That is His real identity. Therefore, when the living entity accepts this supreme proprietorship of the Lord and acts in that attitude, he resumes his real identity. In order to elevate the living entity to this standard of knowledge, there is the necessity of spiritual association. The bona fide spiritual master desires that his disciples know the process of rendering transcendental service to the Lord, and the disciples also know that they have to learn about the eternal relationship between God and the living entity from a self-realized soul. To disseminate transcendental knowledge one must retire from mundane activities on the strength of enlightenment in knowledge in terms of Vedic wisdom.

The highest perfectional work of charity is to give people in general immunity from the anxieties of material existence. This can be done only by performing activities in devotional service to the Lord. Such knowledge is incomparable. Cultivation of the knowledge in the Vedas, performance of sacrifice, and distribution of munificent charities all together cannot form even a part of the immunity from the pangs of material existence that is gained from devotional service.

Make Progress Towards the Transcendence

2008-08-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

We should have firm faith in the Divinity. We are absolute infinitesimals, and it is only proper we should associate ourselves with the Absolute. If we show our diffidence to do so, we are likely to be entangled with the ephemeral matters of this world. Our friends are with us for a short while only. They will leave us at any time when they are called away from this world.
Whatever we do should tend towards association with the Divinity. We should not undertake any work for our temporary purposes. We are His dependents. Infinitesimals as we are, we should have our final place in Him. We should carry out all our activities for His purpose only. We should not think that we have any other thing to do. Unlike the ordinary people, we should have only one method of directing everything to Him for His service.
The external gross body is meant for a hundred years and no more. Our mental speculations are bound to be going on in our present human form. But we are obliged to leave this mortal coil and to cease our transactions with the external world at some time however ardent we may be about having associations with the manifestive nature of things. If we wish to associate ourselves with the Absolute, all non-absolute propaganda for our temporary purposes should be abandoned as far as possible, otherwise we will be led to become materialists only. That non-absolute propaganda will instigate us to entangle ourselves with worldly thoughts and ideas. We will be thinking of physical developments instead of associating ourselves with the Absolute. We are all absolutes though infinitesimally small. Because we have shown diffidence we have proved our indolence to associate with Him; so, like shooting stars, we have been simply thrown off from Him. We have rebelled against that Entity. Now to go back to Him, it is essential that all our associations and movements should tend to His service.
First of all He should be designated. What is He? What form does He have? And how are we to go back to him? When we come to know that He keeps Himself aloof from everything in this phenomenal world, we feel the necessity of associating with Him. And this association can be had if we can eliminate the external impediments which are like screens, between the Absolute Infinity and the absolute infinitesimals. Our mental speculations are meant for associating with the phenomenal objects. But some philosophers thought it possible to turn our mental speculations to Him in His abstract form, instead of His manifestive nature. But here we have got His manifestive nature for the purpose of associating ourselves with Him. We cannot have this association by any sort of privations. The phenomenal objects are undesirable things. Although they have some effect on us, they are all transient and will not hold good for us till the end of time. We do not think, like materialists think that everything will stop when we die - that all our troubles will end at death. This miserable idea should be thrown off. We should engage all our activities to associate ourselves with the Absolute, as we are ourselves associate infinitesimals. We are not the body, nor the mind, nor the external atmosphere. We require dissociation from these. These undesirable situations should be eliminated at all costs, otherwise we will be engrossing ourselves entirely in the ordinary purposes of this world.
Lower animals are used as food by many people. In ancient times, when cannibalism was prevalent in the world, people used to eat human flesh. They thought that the human body was meant for their consumption. Later on when civilisation made progress, people gave up cannibalism, but went on taking flesh of lower animals. In India persons belonging to the higher castes do not take animal food. The development of religious thoughts have stopped the practice of cruelty to animals in many ways. Science has now proved that vegetables too have life and can feel pain and pleasure. But it is not mean that we should commit suicide by abstaining from taking any food. This problem is solved when food is meant for the purpose of the Absolute.
Everything has come out of Him and everything will go back to Him and everything is meant for His service. All animate and inanimate objects have come out of him and are meant for His service only. If we purloin these things, it would be deceiving the Absolute. We are absolute infinitesimals and are deluded by the ordinary manifestive character of the phenomena. We have to get rid of this delusion. We should have a peep into the Truth, and that Truth must be reached. If we are sincere, He will expose Himself to our vision. Whatever we do, we should do it for Him, for His eternal purpose, instead of indulging ourselves in transitory transactions. Our only function is not to carry on our work for our own purpose. We should not be the recipients of the fruits of the enterprises we have. It is better for us that whatever we do should be done in His favour and for His service. We are servitors. If we keep dogs, we would be servants for dogs; if we keep horses we would be servants of horses, and if we become altruists, we would be servants of human beings only. But the Absolute should be served at all costs. We should make it a point that all our activities should tend to His service. All animate and inanimate beings have emanated from Him. We should serve the Absolute and not engage ourselves in the non-absolute.
Most people are at a loss to understand what they should do and what they are meant for. They only see the superficial sides of things. The external sides of things are quite deluding. As intelligent men, we should be very careful. We should penetrate into everything properly. Our view should not be obstructed by the morphological representation of things, nor by the ontological side of things.
The methodical arrangement of the phenomena should not be restricted to our ordinary purpose of living only. But since our aim is a peaceful life, we do not wish to be troubled by the undesirable elements of the world. Sometimes we find a little peace by keeping rules and regulations and observing civic principles. But we are again put into trouble by some misunderstanding or other of the people from outside. There is some agency working behind, which is not exposed to our present senses.
Our sensuous nerves are quite ineligible for the purpose of associating with the Truth. The semblance of devotion and truth which people may put on often deceives us.
The external features, the morphological and ontological phases of things, are sometimes found to be detrimental to our cause when our ambition is to come into touch with the Absolute. We have the facility of possessing the experience of the last ten thousand years. We can judge and discern the best method for our adoption, instead of indulging ourselves in the way the ordinary people are transacting their business round about us.
Our senses respond readily to the objects of the phenomena. Supersensuous objects are simply neglected. The eternal representations, the eternal manifestations and the eternal aspects are fully neglected. We aspire to have the fullest advantage of coming in touch with all desirable things. In our present life, we find that we are troubled by many distressful agents. We find that all these are treacherous and only lead us to the satisfaction of our senses only. This non-absolute propaganda should cease. Whatever else we may do, we should make it a point that we should have neither diffidence nor indolence in offering our services to the Absolute.
The word "Absolute" is explained in different ways. We have experience of the non-absolutes and undesirable objects of the phenomena. Our mind is found to be of a non-absolute nature. The mind discerns things for the purpose of the senses only. The Absolute is delineated as One who has reserved the right of not being exposed to human senses. If the Absolute was an object of the phenomena, we would be lording it over Him. But that is not the correct situation. We should dedicate ourselves as His servitors. We should not think that we are enjoyers and He is the predominated object of our enjoyment. He is never so.
We are obliged to pass through undesirable situations. We want to get rid of all these things. Our inner impulse should be to have access to that region where all objects will offer us special opportunity of having association with the Absolute. Our purpose should be to associate with the Fullness, with the Eternity, with the Purity, with the Best of desirables, and not to mix with the temporary things of delusive nature. We should not have a crippled idea of God-head. We should wait for the transcendental message to come to us in full. We would have then an opportunity of associating with Him. We should set apart some time to make progress towards the investigation of the Transcendence.
We are very small. Some overwhelming influence comes upon us and we are troubled. So we should have recourse to the Absolute Infinity. We should not be acting like shooting stars in flying away from Him, but we should go back to our original place. There the manifestive nature is eternally present, whereas here the phenomenal objects are meant for a few days only. So we should have this eternal benefit as our objective. We can ignore all these influences of nature, all influences of scientific discoveries, if we have the determination to associate ourselves only with the Whole Entity.
There are many things concealed and hidden and not revealed to us, and these are to be received through our aural reception. Our auditory nerves should be trained to be susceptible to sound waves from the transcendental messenger so that we can make progress towards the Transcendence.

There is Another Nature

2008-07-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

A.C. Bhaktivedanda Swami Prabhupada

The nature of the material world is that it is first created very nicely, then it develops very nicely and stays for a great number of years (even beyond the calculation of the greatest mathematician), but after that it is again destroyed during the night of Brahmä, without any resistance, and at the end of the night of Brahmä it is again manifested as a creation to follow the same principles of maintenance and destruction. The foolish conditioned soul who has taken this temporary world as a permanent settlement has to learn intelligently why such creation and destruction take place. The fruitive actors in the material world are very enthusiastic in the creation of big enterprises, big houses, big empires, big industries and so many big, big things out of the energy and ingredients supplied by the material agent of the Supreme Lord. With such resources, and at the cost of valuable energy, the conditioned soul creates, satisfies his whims, but unwillingly has to depart from all his creations and enter into another phase of life to create again and again. To give hope to such foolish conditioned souls who waste their energy in this temporary material world, the Lord gives information that there is another nature, which is eternally existent without being occasionally created or destroyed, and that the conditioned soul can understand what he should do and how his valuable energy may be utilized. Instead of wasting his energy in matter, which is sure to be destroyed in due course by the supreme will, the conditioned soul should utilize his energy in the devotional service of the Lord so that he can be transferred to the other, eternal nature, where there is no birth, no death, no creation, no destruction, but permanent life instead, full of knowledge and unlimited bliss. The temporary creation is thus exhibited and destroyed just to give information to the conditioned soul who is attached to temporary things. It is also meant to give him a chance for self-realization, and not for sense gratification, which is the prime aim of all fruitive actors.

The Lord is not only the creator and destroyer of the material manifestations of His different energies. He is more than a simple creator and destroyer, for there is His feature of änanda, or His pleasure feature. This pleasure feature of the Lord is understood by the pure devotees only, and not by others. The impersonalist is satisfied simply by understanding the all-pervasive influence of the Lord. This is called Brahman realization. Greater than the impersonalist is the mystic who sees the Lord situated in his heart as Paramätmä, the partial representation of the Lord. But there are pure devotees who take part in the direct pleasure (änanda) potency of the Lord by factual reciprocation of loving service. The Lord in His abode called the Vaikuntha planets, which are eternal manifestations, always remains with His associates and enjoys transcendental loving services by His pure devotees in different transcendental humors. The pure devotees of the Lord thus undergo a practice of that devotional service to the Lord during the manifestation of the creation and take full advantage of the manifestation by qualifying themselves to enter into the kingdom of God.

The Lord is the Supreme Enjoyer

2008-07-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

By Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The living entities are the enjoyers of the material ingredients, time, modes, etc., because they want to lord it over the material nature. The Lord is the supreme enjoyer, and the living entities are meant to assist the Lord in His enjoyment and thus participate in the transcendental enjoyment of everyone. The enjoyer and the enjoyed both participate in enjoyment, but, deluded by the illusory energy, the living entities want to become the enjoyer like the Lord, although they are not meant for such enjoyment. The jivas, the living entities, are mentioned in the Bhagavad-gitä as the Lord’s superior nature, or parä prakrti, and so also it is mentioned in the Visnu Puräna. Therefore the living entities are never the purusas, or the factual enjoyers. As such, the spirit of enjoyment by the living entity in the material world is false. In the spiritual world the living entities are pure in nature, and therefore they are associates in the enjoyment of the Supreme Lord. In the material world the spirit of enjoyment of the living entities by dint of their own actions (karma) gradually fades by the laws of nature, and thus the illusory energy dictates in the ears of the conditioned souls that they should become one with the Lord. This is the last snare of the illusory energy. When the last illusion is also cleared off by the mercy of the Lord, the living entity again becomes reinstated in his original position and thus becomes actually liberated. For this attainment of liberation from the material clutches, the Lord creates the material world, maintains it for some time, and then again annihilates it by His will. The living entities are therefore completely dependent on the mercy of the Lord, and all their so-called enjoyments by scientific improvement are crushed into dust when the Lord desires.

Illusioned by the material nature, the living entity identifies with false ego. More clearly, when the living entity is entrapped by the material body, he at once identifies with the bodily relationships, forgetting his own identity as spirit soul. This false ego associates with different modes of material nature, and thus the senses become attached to the modes of material nature. Mind is the instrument for feeling different material experiences, but intelligence is deliberative and can change everything for the better. The intelligent person, therefore, can attain salvation from the illusion of material existence by proper use of intelligence. An intelligent person can detect the awkward position of material existence and thus begin to inquire as to what he is, why he is subjected to different kinds of miseries, and how to get rid of all miseries, and thus, by good association, an advanced intelligent person can turn towards the better life of self-realization. It is advised, therefore, that an intelligent person associate with the great sages and saints who are on the path of salvation. By such association, one can receive instructions which are able to slacken the conditioned soul’s attachment for matter, and thus the intelligent man gradually gets rid of the illusion of matter and false ego and is promoted to the real life of eternity, knowledge and bliss.

Creation, Maintenance and Destruction of this Material World

2008-07-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

This material world is created, maintained for some time, and again annihilated by the will of the Lord. The ingredients for creation and the subordinate creator, Brahmä, are first created by Lord Visnu in His first and second incarnations. The first purusa incarnation is Mahä-Visnu, and the second purusa incarnation is the Garbhodakasayi Visnu, from whom Brahmä is created. The third purusa avatära is the Ksirodakasayi Visnu, who lives as the Supersoul of everything in the universe and maintains the creation generated by Brahmä. Siva is one of the many sons of Brahmä, and he annihilates the creation. Therefore the original creator of the universe is Visnu, and He is also the maintainer of the created beings by His causeless mercy. As such, it is the duty of all conditioned souls to acknowledge the victory of the Lord and thus become pure devotees and live peacefully in this world, where miseries and dangers are always in existence. The conditioned souls, who take this material creation as the place for satisfaction of the senses and thus are illusioned by the external energy of Visnu, remain again to be subjected to the laws of material nature, creation and destruction. (SB 2.10.4)

A Sane Person Ceases to Speculate on Subjects Beyond the Jurisdiction of His Tiny Brain

2008-07-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

By the limited instruments of knowledge (either the senses or the material instruments like microscopes and telescopes) one cannot even fully know the Lord’s material potencies, which are manifested before our eyes. For example there are many millions and billions of planets far, far beyond the scientist’s calculation. But these are only the manifestations of the Lord’s material energy. What can the scientist hope to know of the spiritual potency of the Lord by such material efforts? Mental speculations, by adding some dozens of “if’s” and “maybe’s,” cannot aid the advancement of knowledge—on the contrary, such mental speculations will only end in despair by dismissing the case abruptly and declaring the nonexistence of God. The sane person, therefore, ceases to speculate on subjects beyond the jurisdiction of his tiny brain, and as a matter of course he tries to learn to surrender unto the Supreme Lord, who alone can lead one to the platform of real knowledge. In the Upanisads it is clearly said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never be known simply by working very hard and taxing the good brain, nor can He be known simply by mental speculation and jugglery of words. The Lord is knowable only by one who is a surrendered soul. 2.7.43/45

The two misconceptions of life, namely “I” and “mine,” are verily manifested in two classes of men. In the lower state the conception of “mine” is very prominent, and in the higher state the misconception of “I” is prominent. In the animal state of life the misconception of “mine” is perceivable even in the category of cats and dogs, who fight with one another with the same misconception of “mine.” In the lower stage of human life the same misconception is also prominent in the shape of “It is my body,” “It is my house,” “It is my family,” “It is my caste,” “It is my nation,” “It is my country,” and so on. And in the higher stage of speculative knowledge, the same misconception of “mine” is transformed into “I am,” or “It is all I am,” etc. There are many classes of men comprehending the same misconception of “I” and “mine’, in different colors. But the real significance of “I” can be realized only when one is situated in the consciousness of “I am the eternal servitor of the Lord.” This is pure consciousness, and the whole Vedic literatures teach us this conception of life. The misconception of “I am the Lord,” or “I am the Supreme,” is more dangerous than the misconception of “mine.” Although there are sometimes directions in the Vedic literatures to think oneself one with the Lord, that does not mean that one becomes identical with the Lord in every respect. Undoubtedly there is oneness of the living entity with the Lord in many respects, but ultimately the living entity is subordinate to the Lord, and he is constitutionally meant for satisfying the senses of the Lord. The Lord therefore asks the conditioned souls to surrender unto Him. Had the living entities not been subordinate to the supreme will, why would the living entity be asked to surrender? Had the living being been equal in all respects, then why was he put under the influence of maya? We have already discussed many times that the material energy is controlled by the Lord. The Bhagavad-gita (9.10) confirms this controlling power of the Lord over the material nature. Can a living entity who claims to be as good as the Supreme Being control the material nature? The foolish “I” would reply that he will do so in the future. Even accepting that in the future one will be as good a controller of material nature as the Supreme Being, then why is one now under the control of material nature? The Bhagavad-gita says that one can be freed from the control of the material nature by surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, but if there is no surrender, then the living entity will never be able to control the material nature. So one must also give up this misconception of “I” by practicing the way of devotional service or firmly being situated in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

A poor man without any employment or occupation may undergo so many troubles in life, but if by chance the same man gets a good service under the government, he at once becomes happy. There is no profit in denying the supremacy of the Lord, who is the controller of all energies, but one should be constitutionally situated in one’s own glory, namely to be situated in the pure consciousness of being the eternal servitor of the Lord. In his conditional life the living entity is servant of the illusory maya, and in his liberated state he is the pure, unqualified servant of the Lord. To become untinged by the modes of material nature is the qualification for entering into the service of the Lord. As long as one is a servant of mental concoctions, one cannot be completely free from the disease of “I” and “mine.”
The Supreme Truth is uncontaminated by the illusory energy because He is the controller of that energy. The relative truths are apt to be engrossed in illusory energy. The best purpose is served, however, when one is directly facing the Supreme Truth, as when one faces the sun. The sun overhead in the sky is full of light, but when the sun is not in the visible sky, all is in darkness. Similarly, when one is face to face with the Supreme Lord, he is freed from all illusions, and one who is not so is in the darkness of illusory maya. The Bhagavad-gita (14.26) confirms this as follows... the science of bhakti-yoga, of worshiping the Lord, glorifying the Lord, hearing the Srimad-Bhagavatam from the right sources (not from the professional man but from a person who is Bhagavatam in life) and being always in the association of pure devotees, should be adopted in earnestness. One should not be misled by misconceptions of “I” and “mine.” The karmis are fond of the conception of “mine,” the jnanis are fond of the conception of “I,” and both of them are unqualified to be free from the bondage of the illusory energy. Srimad-Bhagavatam and, primarily, the Bhagavad-gita are both meant for delivering a person from the misconception of “I” and “mine,” and Srila Vyasadeva transcribed them for the deliverance of the fallen souls. The living entity has to be situated in the transcendental position where there is no more influence of time nor of the material energy. In conditioned life the living entity is subjected to the influence of time in the dream of past, present and future. The mental speculator tries to conquer the influence of time by future speculations of becoming Vasudeva or the Supreme Lord himself by means of culturing knowledge and conquering over ego. But the process is not perfect. The perfect process is to accept Lord Vasudeva as the Supreme in everything, and the best perfection in culturing knowledge is to surrender unto Him because He is the source of everything. Only in that conception can one get rid of the misconception of I and mine. Both Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam confirm it. Srila Vyasadeva has specifically contributed to the illusioned living entities the science of God and the process of bhakti-yoga in his great literature Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the conditioned soul should fully take advantage of this great science. SB 2.9.3

Everyone should know in clear consciousness that one is, in the execution of all activities, an instrument. A conditioned soul is instrumental in the hands of the external energy, or the illusory energy of the Lord, and in the liberated stage the living entity is instrumental to the will of the Personality of Godhead directly. To be instrumental to the direct will of the Lord is the natural constitutional position of the living entity, whereas to be an instrument in the hands of the illusory energy of the Lord is material bondage for the living entity. In that conditioned state, the living entity speculates on the Absolute Truth and His different activities. But in the unconditioned stage the living entity directly receives knowledge from the Lord, and such a liberated soul acts flawlessly, without any speculative habit. The Bhagavad-gita (10.10–11) confirms emphatically that the pure devotees, who are constantly engaged in the loving transcendental service of the Lord, are directly advised by the Lord, so much so that the devotee unwaveringly makes progress on the path home, back to Godhead. Pure devotees of the Lord are therefore not proud of their definite progress, whereas the nondevotee speculator is in the darkness of illusory energy and is very much proud of his misleading knowledge based on speculation without any definite path. SB 2.9.29

2008-07-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

The inhabitants of the Vaikuntha planets are described as having a glowing sky-bluish complexion. Their eyes resemble lotus flowers, their dress is of yellowish color, and their bodily features very attractive. They are just the age of growing youths, they all have four hands, they are all nicely decorated with pearl necklaces with ornamental medallions, and they all appear to be effulgent. Some of them are effulgent like coral and diamonds in complexion and have garlands on their heads, blooming like lotus flowers, and some wear earrings. (SB 2.9.11/12)

2008-07-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

What is realized as the Absolute Brahman is full of unlimited bliss without grief. That is certainly the ultimate phase of the supreme enjoyer, the Personality of Godhead. He is eternally void of all disturbances and fearless. He is complete consciousness as opposed to matter. Uncontaminated and without distinctions, He is the principle primeval cause of all causes and effects, in whom there is no sacrifice for fruitive activities and in whom the illusory energy does not stand. (SB 2.7.47)

2008-07-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

The Personality of Godhead is pure, being free from all contaminations of material tinges. He is the Absolute Truth and the embodiment of full and perfect knowledge. He is all-pervading, without beginning or end, and without rival. O Narada, O great sage, the great thinkers can know Him when completely freed from all material hankerings and when sheltered under undisturbed conditions of the senses. Otherwise, by untenable arguments, all is distorted, and the Lord disappears from our sight. (SB 2.6.40/41)

The Lord Reveals His Identity According to the Spiritual Advancement of the Devotee

2008-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

By Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

It is said that the transcendental name, form, quality, pastimes, paraphernalia, personality, etc., cannot possibly be perceived by the gross materialistic senses. But when the senses are purified by the process of hearing, chanting, remembering, and worshiping the lotus feet of the holy Deity, etc., the Lord reveals Himself proportionately to the advancement of the quality of devotional service. One should not expect the Lord to be an order-supplying agent who must be present before us as soon as we desire to see Him. We must be ready to undergo the prescribed devotional duties, following the path shown by the predecessors in the disciplic succession from Brahma, Narada and similar authorities. As the senses are progressively purified by bona fide devotional service, the Lord reveals His identity according to the spiritual advancement of the devotee. But one who is not in the line of devotional service can hardly perceive Him simply by calculations and philosophical speculations. Such a hard worker can present a jugglery of words before an audience, but can never know the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His personal feature. The Lord has clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita that one can know Him only by devotional service. No one can know the Lord by any puffed-up material process of challenge, but the humble devotee can please the Lord by his earnest devotional activities. Thus the Lord reveals Himself proportionately before the devotee.

The material creation is but a temporary exhibition of the material energy of the Almighty God. This material manifestation is necessary to give a chance to the conditioned souls who are unwilling to associate with the Lord in the relationship of loving transcendental service. Such unwilling conditioned souls are not allowed to enter into the liberated life of spiritual existence because at heart they are not willing to serve. Instead, they want to enjoy themselves as imitation Gods. The living entities are constitutionally eternal servitors of the Lord, but some of them, because of misusing their independence, do not wish to serve; therefore they are allowed to enjoy the material nature, which is called maya, or illusion. It is called illusion because the living beings under the clutches of maya are not factually enjoyers, although they think that they are, being illusioned by maya. Such illusioned living entities are given a chance at intervals to rectify their perverted mentality of becoming false masters of the material nature, and they are imparted lessons from the Vedas about their eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Krsna.

The living entities, by their very constitution, are spiritually as good as the Lord, and the only difference between them is that the Lord is always supreme and pure, without contamination by the modes of material nature, whereas the living entities are apt to be contaminated by association with the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. This contamination by the material modes can be washed off completely by knowledge, renunciation and devotional service. Devotional service to the Lord is the ultimate issue, and therefore those who are directly engaged in the devotional service of the Lord not only acquire the necessary knowledge in spiritual science, but also attain detachment from material connection and are thus promoted to the kingdom of God by complete liberation.

The Creation of the Material World Takes Place Again and Again

2008-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

By Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The creation of the material world, wherein the conditioned souls are allowed to act subordinately by the Supreme Lord, takes place again and again after being repeatedly annihilated. The material creation is something like a cloud in the unlimited sky. The real sky is the spiritual sky, eternally filled with the rays of the brahmajyoti, and a portion of this unlimited sky is covered by the mahat-tattva cloud of the material creation, in which the conditioned souls, who want to lord it against the will of the Lord, are put into play as they desire under the control of the Lord by the agency of His external energy. As the rainy season appears and disappears regularly, the creation takes place and is again annihilated under the control of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (8.19). So the creation and annihilation of the material worlds is a regular action of the Lord just to allow the conditioned souls to play as they like and thereby create their own fate of being differently created again in terms of their independent desires at the time of annihilation. The creation, therefore, takes place at a historical date (as we are accustomed to think of everything which has a beginning in our tiny experience). The process of creation and annihilation is called anadi, or without reference to date regarding the time the creation first took place...

By the omnipotency of the Supreme Lord, the whole material creation evolves by the process of transformation and reactions one after another, and by the same omnipotency, they are wound up again one after another and conserved in the body of the Supreme. Kala, or time, is the synonym of nature and is the transformed manifestation of the principles of material creation. As such, kala may be taken as the first cause of all creation, and by transformation of nature different activities of the material world become visible. These activities may be taken up as the natural instinct of each and every living being, or even of the inert objects, and after the manifestation of activities there are varieties of products and by-products of the same nature. Originally these are all due to the Supreme Lord. The Vedanta-sutras and the Bhagavatam thus begin with the Absolute Truth as the beginning of all creations.

Materialistic ego, or the sense of identification with matter, is grossly self-centered, devoid of clear knowledge of the existence of God. And this self-centered egoism of the materialistic living entities is the cause of their being conditioned by the other paraphernalia and continuing their bondage of material existence.

The sound representation of the Lord is nondifferent from the Lord Himself because the Lord and His representation in sound are absolute knowledge. Lord Caitanya has instructed us that in the holy name of the Lord, as sound representation of the Lord, all the potencies of the Lord are invested. Thus one can immediately enjoy the association of the Lord by the pure vibration of the sound representation of His holy name, and the concept of the Lord is immediately manifested before the pure devotee. A pure devotee, therefore, is not aloof from the Lord even for a moment. The holy name of the Lord, as recommended in the shastras—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—may therefore be constantly chanted by the devotee aspiring to be constantly in touch with the Supreme Lord. One who is thus able to associate with the Lord is sure to be delivered from the darkness of the created world, which is a product of false ego (tamasi ma jyotir gama).

The qualities of sense perception are fully represented in the earth, and they are manifested in other elements to a lesser extent. In the sky there is sound only, whereas in the air there are sound and touch. In the fire there are sound, touch and shape, and in the water there is taste also, along with the other perceptions, namely sound, touch and shape. In the earth, however, there are all the above-mentioned qualities with an extra development of odor also. Therefore on the earth there is a full display of variegatedness of life, which is originally started with the basic principle of air. Diseases of the body take place due to derangement of air within the earthly body of the living beings. Mental diseases result from special derangement of the air within the body, and as such, yogic exercise is especially beneficial to keep the air in order so that diseases of the body become almost nil by such exercises. When they are properly done the duration of life also increases, and one can have control over death also by such practices. A perfect yogi can have command over death and quit the body at the right moment, when he is competent to transfer himself to a suitable planet. The bhakti-yogi, however, surpasses all the yogis because, by dint of his devotional service, he is promoted to the region beyond the material sky and is placed in one of the planets in the spiritual sky by the supreme will of the Lord, the controller of everything.

Manufacture of the “necessities of life” in factories and workshops, excessively prominent in the age of Kali, or in the age of the machine, is the summit stage of the quality of darkness. Such manufacturing enterprises by human society are in the mode of darkness because factually there is no necessity for the commodities manufactured. Human society primarily requires food for subsistence, shelter for sleeping, defense for protection, and commodities for satisfaction of the senses. The senses are the practical signs of life... Human civilization is meant for purifying the senses, and objects of sense satisfaction should be supplied as much as absolutely required, but not for aggravating artificial sensory needs. Food, shelter, defense and sense gratification are all needs in material existence. Otherwise, in his pure, uncontaminated state of original life, the living entity has no such needs. The needs are therefore artificial, and in the pure state of life there are no such needs. As such, increasing the artificial needs, as is the standard of material civilization, or advancing the economic development of human society, is a sort of engagement in darkness, without knowledge. By such engagement, human energy is spoiled, because human energy is primarily meant for purifying the senses in order to engage them in satisfying the senses of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord, being the supreme possessor of spiritual senses, is the master of the senses, Hrsikesa. Hrsika means the senses, and ésa means the master. The Lord is not the servant of the senses, or, in other words, He is not directed by the dictation of the senses, but the conditioned souls or the individual living entities are servants of the senses. They are conducted by the direction or dictation of the senses, and therefore material civilization is a kind of engagement in sense gratification only. The standard of human civilization should be to cure the disease of sense gratification, and one can do this simply by becoming an agent for satisfying the spiritual senses of the Lord. The senses are never to be stopped in their engagements, but one should purify them by engaging them in the pure service of sense gratification of the master of the senses.

The different types of bodily construction of the living entities are exactly like different types of motorcars manufactured by assembling the allied motor parts. When the car is ready, the driver sits in the car and moves it as he desires. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (18.61): the living entity is as if seated on the machine of the body, and the car of the body is moving by the control of material nature, just as the railway trains are moving under the direction of the controller. The living entities, however, are not the bodies; they are separate from the cars of the body. But the less intelligent material scientist cannot understand the process of assembling the parts of the body, namely the senses, the mind and the qualities of the material modes. Every living entity is a spiritual spark, part and parcel of the Supreme Being, and by the kindness of the Lord, for the Father is kind to His sons, the individual living beings are given a little freedom to act according to their will to lord it over the material nature. Just as a father gives some playthings to the crying child to satisfy him, the whole material creation is made possible by the will of the Lord to allow the bewildered living entities to lord it over things as they desire, although under the control of the agent of the Lord. The living entities are exactly like small children playing the material field under the control of the maidservant of the Lord (nature).

The Supreme Lord is Pure Spiritual Form

2008-07-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Lord is pure spiritual form, transcendental to all material qualities, yet for the sake of the creation of the material world and its maintenance and annihilation, He accepts through His external energy the material modes of nature called goodness, passion and ignorance. SB 2.5.18

PURPORT by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The Supreme Lord is the master of the external energy manifested by the three material modes, namely goodness, passion and ignorance, and as master of this energy He is ever unaffected by the influence of such bewildering energy. The living entities, the jivas, however, are affected by or susceptible to being influenced by such modes of material nature—that is the difference between the Lord and the living entities. The living entities are subjected by those qualities, although originally the living entities are qualitatively one with the Lord. In other words, the material modes of nature, being products of the energy of the Lord, are certainly connected with the Lord, but the connection is just like that between the master and the servants. The Supreme Lord is the controller of the material energy, whereas the living entities, who are entangled in the material world, are neither masters nor controllers. Rather, they become subordinate to or controlled by such energy. Factually the Lord is eternally manifested by His internal potency or spiritual energy just like the sun and its rays in the clear sky, but at times He creates the material energy, as the sun creates a cloud in the clear sky. As the sun is ever increasingly unaffected by a spot of cloud, so also the unlimited Lord is unaffected by the spot of material energy manifested at times in the unlimited span of the Lord’s rays of brahmajyoti.

These three modes of material nature, being further manifested as matter, knowledge and activities, put the eternally transcendental living entity under conditions of cause and effect and make him responsible for such activities. SB 2.5.19

PURPORT

Because they are between the internal and external potencies, the eternally transcendental living entities are called the marginal potency of the Lord. Factually, the living entities are not meant to be so conditioned by material energy, but due to their being affected by the false sense of lording it over the material energy, they come under the influence of such potency and thus become conditioned by the three modes of material nature. This external energy of the Lord covers up the pure knowledge of the living entity’s eternally existing with Him, but the covering is so constant that it appears that the conditioned soul is eternally ignorant. Such is the wonderful action of maya, or external energy manifested as if materially produced. By the covering power of the material energy, the material scientist cannot look beyond the material causes, but factually, behind the material manifestations, there are adhibhuta, adhyatma and adhidaiva actions, which the conditioned soul in the mode of ignorance cannot see. The adhibhuta manifestation entails repetitions of births and deaths with old age and diseases, the adhyatma manifestation conditions the spirit soul, and the adhidaiva manifestation is the controlling system. These are the material manifestations of cause and effect and the sense of responsibility of the conditioned actors. They are, after all, manifestations of the conditioned state, and the human being’s freedom from such a conditioned state is the highest perfectional attainment.

Words of Wisdow

2008-07-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

By Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Advancement of learning, a charitable disposition, political, social or religious leadership of human society, philosophical speculations, the practice of the yoga system, expertise in the Vedic rituals, and all similar high qualities in man serve one in the attainment of perfection only when they are employed in the service of the Lord. Without such dovetailing, all such qualities become sources of trouble for people in general. Everything can be utilized either for one’s own sense gratification or in the service of one other than oneself. There are two kinds of self-interest also, namely personal selfishness and extended selfishness. But there is no qualitative difference between personal and extended selfishness. Theft for personal interest or for the family interest is of the same quality—namely, criminal. A thief pleading not guilty because of committing theft not for personal interest but for the interest of society or country has never been excused by the established law of any country. People in general have no knowledge that the self-interest of a living being attains perfection only when such an interest coincides with the interest of the Lord. For example, what is the interest of maintaining body and soul together? One earns money for maintenance of the body (personal or social), but unless there is God consciousness, unless the body is being properly maintained to realize one’s relation with God, all good efforts to maintain body and soul together are similar to the attempts of the animals to maintain body and soul together. The purpose of maintaining the human body is different from that of the animals. Similarly, advancement of learning, economic development, philosophical research, study in the Vedic literature or even the execution of pious activities (like charity, opening of hospitals, and the distribution of food grains) should be done in relation with the Lord. The aim of all such acts and endeavors must be the pleasure of the Lord and not the satisfaction of any other identity, individual or collective. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.27) the same principle is confirmed where it is said that whatever we may give in charity and whatever we may observe in austerity must be given over to the Lord or be done on His account only. The expert leaders of a godless human civilization cannot bring about a fruitful result in all their different attempts at educational advancement or economic development unless they are God conscious. And to become God conscious one has to hear about the all-auspicious Lord, as He is described in literature like the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. (SB 2.4.17)

The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, although the Lord of all followers of different paths of self-realization, is knowable only by those who are above all pretensions. Everyone is searching for eternal peace or eternal life, and with an aim to this destination everyone is either studying the Vedic scriptures or other religious scriptures or undergoing severe austerity as empiric philosophers, as mystics yogés or as unalloyed devotees, etc. But the Supreme Lord is perfectly realized only by the devotees because they are above all pretensions. Those who are on the path of self-realization are generally classified as karmis, jnanis, yogis, or devotees of the Lord. The karmis, who are much attracted by the fruitive activities of the Vedic rituals, are called bhukti-kami, or those who desire material enjoyment. The jnanis, who try to become one with the Supreme by mental speculation, are called mukti-kami, or those who desire liberation from material existence. The mystic yogis, who practice different types of austerities for attainment of eight kinds of material perfection and who ultimately meet the Supersoul (Paramatma) in trance, are called siddhi-kami, or those who desire the perfection of becoming finer than the finest, becoming heavier than the heaviest, getting everything desired, having control over everyone, creating everything liked, etc. All these are abilities of a powerful yogi. But the devotees of the Lord do not want anything like that for self-satisfaction. They want only to serve the Lord because the Lord is great and as living entities they are eternally subordinate parts and parcels of the Lord. This perfect realization of the self by the devotee helps him to become desireless, to desire nothing for his personal self, and thus the devotees are called niskami, without any desire. A living entity, by his constitutional position, cannot be void of all desires, but the niskami devotees of the Lord desire everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. They are completely dependent on the orders of the Lord and are always ready to discharge their duty for the satisfaction of the Lord. (SB 2.4.19)

The mystic yogis, after a strenuous effort to control the senses, may be situated in a trance of yoga just to have a vision of the Supersoul within everyone, but the pure devotee, simply by remembering the Lord’s lotus feet at every second, at once becomes established in real trance because by such realization his mind and intelligence are completely cleansed of the diseases of material enjoyment. The pure devotee thinks himself fallen into the ocean of birth and death and incessantly prays to the Lord to lift him up. He only aspires to become a speck of transcendental dust at the lotus feet of the Lord. The pure devotee, by the grace of the Lord, absolutely loses all attraction for material enjoyment, and to keep free from contamination he always thinks of the lotus feet of the Lord. (SB 2.4.21)

“The frog in the well” logic illustrates that a frog residing in the atmosphere and boundary of a well cannot imagine the length and breadth of the gigantic ocean. Such a frog, when informed of the gigantic length and breadth of the ocean, first of all does not believe that there is such an ocean, and if someone assures him that factually there is such a thing, the frog then begins to measure it by imagination by means of pumping its belly as far as possible, with the result that the tiny abdomen of the frog bursts and the poor frog dies without any experience of the actual ocean. Similarly, the material scientists also want to challenge the inconceivable potency of the Lord by measuring Him with their froglike brains and their scientific achievements, but at the end they simply die unsuccessfully, like the frog. (SB 2.5.10)

On The Way to Krsna

2008-05-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

BY: HDG A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI

Chapter One

Throughway to Happiness

Every one of us is searching after happiness, but we do not know what real happiness is. We see so much advertised about happiness, but practically speaking we see so few happy people. This is because so few people know that the platform of real happiness is beyond temporary things. It is this real happiness that is described in Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krsna to Arjuna.
Happiness is generally perceived through our senses A stone, for instance, has no senses and cannot perceive happiness and distress. Developed consciousness can perceive happiness and distress more intensely than undeveloped consciousness. Trees have consciousness, but it is not developed. Trees may stand for a long time in all kinds of weather, but they have no way of perceiving miseries. If a human being were asked to stand like a tree for only three days or even less, he would not be able to tolerate it. The conclusion is that every living being feels happiness or distress according to the degree of development of his consciousness.
The happiness that we are experiencing in the material world is not real happiness. If one asks a tree, "Are you feeling happy?" the tree, if it could, might say,"Yes, I am happy, standing here all year. I'm enjoying the wind and snowfall very much, etc." This may be enjoyed by the tree, but for the human being it is a very low standard of enjoyment. There are different kinds and grades of living entities, and their conceptions and perceptions of happiness are also of all different types and grades. Although one animal may see that another animal is being slaughtered, he will go right on chewing grass, for he has no knowledge to understand that he may be next. He is thinking that he is happy, but at the next moment he may be slaughtered.
In this way there are different degrees of happiness. Yet of all of them, what is the highest happiness? Sri Krsna tells Arjuna:
sukham atyantikam yat tad buddhi-grahyam atindriyamvetti yatra na caivayamsthitas calati tattvatah
"In that joyous state (samadhi), one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth." (Bg. 6.21)
Buddhi means intelligence; one has to be intelligent if he wants to enjoy. Animals do not have really developed intelligence and so cannot enjoy life as a human being can. The hands, the nose, the eyes, the other sense organs and all the bodily parts may be present on a dead man, but he cannot enjoy. Why not? The enjoying energy, the spiritual spark, has left, and therefore the body has no power. If one looks further into the matter with a little intelligence, he can understand that it was not the body that was enjoying at all but the small spiritual spark that was within. Although one may think that he is enjoying by the bodily sense organs, the real enjoyer is that spiritual spark. That spark always has the potency of enjoyment, but it is not always manifest due to being covered by the material tabernacle. Although we may not be aware of it, it is not possible for the body to experience enjoyment without the presence of this spiritual spark. If a man is offered the dead body of a beautiful woman, will he accept it? No, because the spiritual spark has moved out of the body. Not only was it enjoying within the body, but it was maintaining the body. When that spark leaves, the body simply deteriorates.
It follows that if the spirit is enjoying, it must have its senses also, otherwise how can it enjoy? The Vedas confirm that the spirit soul, although atomic in size, is the actual enjoying agent. It is not possible to measure the soul, but that is not to say that it is without measurement. An object may seem to us to be no bigger than a point and may seem to have no length or width, but when we perceive it under a microscope we can see that it has both length and width. Similarly, the soul also has its dimensions, but we cannot perceive them. When we buy a suit or dress, it is made to fit the body. The spiritual spark must have form, otherwise how is it the material body has grown to accommodate it? The conclusion is that the spiritual spark is not impersonal. It is an actual person. God is an actual person, and the spiritual spark, being a fragmental part of Him, is also a person. If the father has personality and individuality, the son also has them; and if the son has them, we can conclude that the father has them. So how can we, as sons of God, assert our personality and individuality and at the same time deny them to our Father, the Supreme Lord?
Atindriyam means that we have to transcend these material senses before we can appreciate real happiness. Ramante yogino 'nante satyananda-cid-atmani: the yogis who are aspiring after spiritual life are also tasting enjoyment by focusing on the Supersoul within. If there is no pleasure, if there is no enjoyment, then what is the point of going to so much trouble to control the senses? What kind of pleasure are the yogis relishing if they are taking so much trouble? That pleasure is ananta--endless. How is this? The spirit soul is eternal, and the Supreme Lord is eternal; therefore reciprocation of their loving exchanges is eternal. One who is actually intelligent will refrain from the flickering sensual enjoyment of this material body and fix his enjoyment in spiritual life. His participation in spiritual life with the Supreme Lord is called rasa-lila.
We have often heard of Krsna's rasa-lila with the cowherd girls in Vrndavana. That is not like ordinary exchanges that take place between these material bodies. Rather it is an exchange of feelings through spiritual bodies. One has to be somewhat intelligent to understand this, for a foolish man, who cannot understand what real happiness is, seeks happiness in this material world. In India there is the story of a man who did not know what sugarcane was and was told that it was very sweet to chew. "Oh, what does it look like?" he asked. "It looks just like a bamboo rod," someone said. So the foolish man began to chew all kinds of bamboo rods. How can he begin to experience the sweetness of sugarcane? Similarly, we are trying to get happiness and pleasure, but we are trying for them by chewing this material body; therefore there is no happiness and no pleasure. For the time being there may be some little feeling of pleasure, but that is not actual pleasure, for it is temporary. It is like a show of lightning which we may see flashing in the sky that may momentarily seem like lightning, but the real lightning is beyond that. Because a person does not really know what happiness is, he deviates from real happiness.
The process for establishing oneself in real happiness is this process of Krsna consciousness. By Krsna consciousness we can gradually develop our real intelligence and naturally enjoy relishing spiritual happiness as we make spiritual progress. As we begin to relish spiritual happiness, we proportionately abandon material happiness. As we make progress in understanding the Absolute Truth, we naturally become detached from this false happiness. If somehow or other one is promoted to that stage of Krsna consciousness, what is the result?
yam labdhva caparam labhammanyate nadhikam tatahyasmin sthito na duhkhenagurunapi vicalyate
"Upon gaining this, he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty." (Bg. 6.22)
When one attains that stage, other achievements appear insignificant. In this material world we are trying to achieve so many things--riches, women, fame, beauty, knowledge, etc.--but as soon as we are situated in Krsna consciousness we think, "Oh, no achievement is better than this." Krsna consciousness is so potent that a little taste can save one from the greatest danger. As one begins to relish the taste of Krsna consciousness, he begins to see other so-called enjoyments and attainments as flat and tasteless. And if one is situated firmly in Krsna consciousness, the greatest danger cannot disturb him. There are so many dangers in life because the material world is a place of danger. We tend to close our eyes to this, and because we are foolish we try to adjust to these dangers. We may have many dangerous moments in our lives, but if we are training ourselves in Krsna consciousness and preparing ourselves to go home, back to Godhead, we will not care for them. Our attitude will then be: "Dangers come and go--so let them happen." It is very difficult to make this kind of adjustment as long as one is on the materialistic platform and is identifying with the gross body, which is composed of perishable elements. But the more one advances in Krsna consciousness, the more he becomes free from bodily designations and this material entanglement.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam the material world is compared to a great ocean. Within this material universe there are millions and billions of planets floating in space, and we can just imagine how many Atlantic and pacific Oceans are there. In fact, the whole material universe is likened to a great ocean of misery, an ocean of birth and death. In order to cross this great ocean of nescience, a strong boat is needed, and that strong boat is the lotus feet of Krsna. We should immediately get aboard that boat. We should not hesitate, thinking that Krsna's feet are very small. The whole universe is simply resting on His leg. For one who takes shelter of His feet, it is said that the material universe is no more significant than a puddle of water found in the impression of a calf's hoofprint. There is certainly no difficulty in crossing over such a small puddle.
tam vidyad duhkha-samyoga-viyogam yoga-samjnitam
"This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact." (Bg. 6.23)
We are entangled in this material world due to uncontrolled senses. The yoga process is meant to control these senses. If somehow we can manage to control the senses, we can turn our face to actual spiritual happiness and make our lives successful.
sa niscayena yoktavyoyogo 'nirvinna-cetasasankalpa-prabhavan kamamstyaktva sarvan asesatahmanasaivendriya-gramamviniyamya samantatah
sanaih sanair uparamedbuddhya dhrti-grhitayaatma-samstham manah krtvana kincid api cintayet
yato yato niscalatimanas cancalam asthiramtatas tato niyamyaitadatmany eva vasam nayet
"One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith. One should abandon, without exception, all material desires born of false ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind. Gradually, step by step, with full conviction, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else. From whatever and wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self." (Bg. 6.24-26)
The mind is always disturbed. It is going sometimes this way and sometimes that way. By yoga practice we literally drag the mind to Krsna consciousness. The mind strays from Krsna consciousness to so many exterior objects because from time immemorial, life after life, that has been our practice. Due to this, there may be great difficulty in the beginning when one tries to fix his mind in Krsna consciousness, but these difficulties can all be overcome.
It is because the mind is agitated and not fixed on Krsna that it goes from one thought to another. For instance, when we are engaged in work, memories of events that happened ten, twenty, thirty or forty years ago may suddenly come to our mind for no apparent reason. These thoughts come from our subconscious, and because they are always rising, the mind is always agitated. If we agitate a lake or a pond, all the mud from the bottom comes to the surface. Similarly, when the mind is agitated so many thoughts arise from the subconscious that have been stored there over the years. If we do not disturb a pond, the mud will settle to the bottom. This yoga process is the means to quiet the mind and allow all these thoughts to settle. For this reason there are so many rules and regulations to follow in order to keep the mind from becoming agitated. If we follow the rules and regulations, gradually the mind will come under control. There are so many don't's and so many do's, and if one is serious about training the mind, he has to follow them. If he acts whimsically, what is the possibility of the mind being controlled? When the mind is finally trained to the point where it will think of nothing but Krsna, it will attain peace and will become very tranquil.
prasanta-manasam hy enamyoginam sukham uttamamupaiti santa-rajasambrahma-bhutam akalmasam
"The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest happiness. By virtue of his identity with Brahman, he is liberated; his mind is peaceful, his passions are quieted, and he is freed from sin." (Bg. 6.27)
The mind is always concocting objects for happiness. I am always thinking, "This will make me happy," or "That will make me happy. Happiness is here. Happiness is there." In this way the mind is taking us anywhere and everywhere. It is as though we are riding on a chariot behind an unbridled horse. We have no power over where we are going but can only sit in horror and watch helplessly. As soon as the mind is engaged in the Krsna consciousness process--specifically by chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare--then the wild horses of the mind will gradually come under our control. We must engage in Krsna's service every moment of our lives in order to keep the restless and turbulent mind from dragging us from one object to another in a vain search for happiness in the temporary material world.
yunjann evam sadatmanamyogi vigata-kalmasahsukhe na brahma-samsparsamatyantam sukham asnute
"Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the supreme consciousness." (Bg. 6.28)
Krsna serves as a patron for one who is devoted to Him. When one is in difficulty, his patron saves him. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, Krsna is the real friend of every living entity, and we have to revive our friendship with Him. The method for reviving this friendship is the process of Krsna consciousness. By practice of Krsna consciousness, mundane passionate hankering will come to a stop. This passionate hankering keeps us divorced from Krsna. Krsna is within us and is waiting for us to turn to Him, but we are too busy passionately eating the fruits of the tree of material desire. This passionate compulsion to enjoy these fruits must stop, and we must situate ourselves in our real identity as Brahman--pure spirit.

FRIENDS FROM ANOTHER WORLD

2008-05-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Srila Bhaktissidhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada

The servitors of Godhead will always look to our interest. In this material world, our friends sometimes like us and sometimes they turn against us. But in sādhu-sanga there is an opportunity of hearing about our original home from the lips of persons who are quite familiar with the same. If we neglect the opportunity we shall repent in the long run. Their words will lift us and change our mentality. All sorts of puzzling questions will be solved if only we lend our ear to those persons who have very little to do with this world. Our situations in this world are liable to change like fogs and mists. As intelligent men, our prudent nature should manage sometimes to hear of the transcendental world, instead of being unaccountably diffident. An incredulous attitude will not give us the opportunity to hear of such things.
— From an undated conversation entitled, "Correct Angle of Vision".

Atheism Under the Guise of Theism

2008-05-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

"The church that has the best chance of survival in this damned world is that of atheism under the convenient guise of theism. The churches have always proved the staunchest upholders of the grossest form of worldliness from which even the worst non-ecclesiastical criminals are found to recoil. It is not from any deliberate opposition to the ordained clergy that these observations are made. The original purpose of the established churches of the world may not always be objectionable. But no stable religious arrangement for instructing the masses has yet been successful." from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada

Nando Reis - Mantra

2008-05-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

2008-04-21T12:19:00.001-07:00

"Organized Religions"

2008-04-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

By Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

"The mere pursuit of fixed doctrines and fixed liturgies cannot hold a person to the true spirit of doctrine or liturgy. The idea of an organized church in an intelligible form, indeed, marks the close of the living spiritual movement. The great ecclesiastical establishments are the dikes and dams to retain the current that cannot be held by any such contrivances. They, indeed, indicate a desire on the part of the masses to exploit a spiritual movement for their own purpose."

Appearance Day of Sri Ramanujacarya

2008-04-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Apr 10

"Sri Ramanuja Acarya appeared around 1017 A.D in a pious brahmana family. He became the formost Acarya in the Sri Sampradaya and was reputed to be the incarnation of Laksmana, the younger brother of Lord Ramacandra.
He was a boy of extraordinary intelligence and placed himself under the charge of Yadavacarya, a renown Sankarite scholar. His guru was struck with his marvelous intellect and became very uncomfortable on account of his firm faith in Bhakti.
One day while taking a massage, Yadavacarya was explaining to Ramanuja a sutra "tasya yatha kapyasam pundarikamevamaksini" (Chandogya 1.6.7), saying that according to Sankara, the two eyes of Pundariksa are like two lotuses which are red like the nates of a monkey. On hearing this interpretation with the unbecoming and low simile, Ramanuja's soft heart, tender by nature and softened by devotion, melted and as he was massaging, tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes like flames of fire and fell on the thigh of Yadava. Looking up at the touch of the hot tears, Yadava understood that something troubled his disciple. Ramanuja explained his dismay at hearing such an unbecoming explanation from his guru. He thought it sinful to compare with the posterior of a monkey the eyes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead - who is endowed with all gracious qualities and who is the repository of all the beauty of the universe. Yadava was angry at the boy's audacity and told him to explain the verse if he could. Ramanuja analysed the word kapyasam to mean `blossomed by the sun' and the verse to mean "The eyes of that Golden Purusa are as lovely as lotuses blossomed by the rays of the sun."
After a few more such incidents when Ramanuja corrected his guru, Yadavacarya thought him to be a threat to the Sankarite line and plotted to kill him. Later it came to pass that Yadavacarya was to become the disciple of Ramanuja.
Yamunacarya, the formost exponant of Vaisnava philosophy of the time, knowing of his extraordinary ability and purity, called for Ramanuja with the intent of placing him in charge of the mission after his disappearance. Ramanuja was on his way to see Yamunacarya when he received the news of Yamunacarya's departure from the world. Arriving at Srirangam, Ramanuja went to have his last darshana of that great soul. There he noticed three of Yamunacarya's fingers were clenched. Ramanuja then made three vows: he would make the people surrender to God and initiate them by the pancasamskara - he would write a commentary on the Vedanta sutra which was later called Sri Bhashya - he would also write what is like an encyclopedia on the Puranas and would name one greatly learned Vaisnava after Parasara Muni who wrote the gem among the Puranas, the Visnu Purana.
Later Ramanuja took sannyasa and traveled throughout India vigorously defeating atheists and impersonalists by preaching the Vasistadvaita doctrine. He never failed to win over a rival in spiritual disputations.
His philosophy is visistadvaita. Brahman is Narayana -(cit-acit-isvara), Narayana with Laksmi - (transcendental form), Four Vyuha forms, Vaibhava forms. The qualities of Brahman are both nirguna and saguna. The soul is real, eternal, individual, not omnipresent, not independent of Isvara, but part. Isvara is the efficient cause of creation. It is from His will out of delight. The cause of bondage is beginningless karma. The process of release is Bhakti based on Pancaratra and Visnu purana followed by detached karma that brings jnana - Prapatti. The goal is to attain the same nature of Isvara and companionship with Him. He does not return and has no power of creation, etc.
Once while Ramanuja Acarya was staying in Jagannath Puri he offered prayers to Lord Jagannatha, who became very pleased. Lord Jagannatha appeared before Ramanuja and said, "Ramanuja, go and visit Sri Navadwipa, for very soon I shall appear there in the house of Jagannatha Misra. Sri Navadwipa is My most beloved abode and is a part of the spiritual sky manifest in this world. As my eternal servant and a leader amongst My devotees, you should go there. Let your students stay here, for they are absorbed in dasya rasa (servitorship in awe and reverence) and will not understand the advanced devotional mood, so travel there alone. Any living entity who does not go to see Sri Navadwipa has been born uselessly. Just one portion of Sri Navadwipa contains Ranga Ksetra, Venkatesvara and Yadava Acala. Therefore go to Sri Navadwipa and see My form of Gauranga. After gaining the Lord's blessing go to Kurma Sthana and rejoin your disciples."
Folding his hands, Ramanuja humbly requested Lord Jagannatha, "My dear Lord, You have mercifully told me something about Gauranga, but exactly who He is, I do not know?"
The Lord answered, "It is known to you that Lord Sri Krsna, the Lord of Goloka, is the Supreme Absolute Truth. That much is well known to My devotees. That same Supreme Personality of Godhead who resides in Sri Vrindavana is fully manifest as Gauranga, and His beloved abode, Sri Vrindavana, is manifest as the holy land of Sri Navadwipa. Navadwipa is the Supreme spiritual abode and it is transcendental to the influence of the material nature. In that divine land, Lord Gauranga eternally resides. By My mercy that holy abode has come to exist within the universe, but it remains completely unaffected by maya. This is the verdict of the scriptures. If anyone thinks that Sri Navadwipa is only a material location, then whatever devotion he has developed will wither and perish. By My will, My inconceivable energy preserves this transcendental abode within this material world. Simply by studying the scriptures, one will not be able to understand the Absolute Truth. Only by My mercy can My devotees understand."
Hearing these words of Lord Jagannatha, Ramanuja was filled with love. "My dear Lord," he said, "Your pastimes are truly astounding. The scriptures cannot fully describe Your opulences. Why is Gauranga-lila not described in the scriptures? Upon reflection, I find some hint of Gauranga tattva in the srutis and puranas. Now, however, all my doubts are gone and I am ready to execute Your will. If it is Your desire, I will go to Sri Navadwipa and from there, I will set out to preach about Lord Gauranga throughout the three worlds, giving evidences from the scriptures to all, converting them to the devotional service of Gauranga. Please instruct me. You have just to give me Your order."
Lord Jagannatha replied, "Ramanuja, do not broadcast in this way. Keep these secrets of Lord Gauranga's pastimes as they are for the present. Only after He has concluded His pastimes will the people in general come to understand them. Preach about me on the level of dasya rasa as you have always done, but within your heart, worship Lord Gauranga constantly."
Following Lord Jagannatha's order, Ramanuja secretly cultivated his attraction for Sri Navadwipa. Being very merciful, Lord Narayana led him to Vaikunthapura and showed him His transcendental form, worshipped by manifestations of His different energies. Ramanuja felt himself most fortunate to see this, but, as he watched, the Lord manifested His form as Gauranga, the son of Jagannatha Misra. Ramanuja's mind became stunned by the brilliance of His shining golden form. Lord Gauranga then placed His two lotus feet upon Ramanuja's head and Ramanuja, filled with inspiration, began to offer prayers.
Ramanuja said, "I must see Your pastimes when You appear here in Navadwipa My Lord. I shall never leave this place."
Lord Gauranga replied, "Your wish will be fulfilled, O son of Kesava. When My Navadwipa lila is revealed you will again take your birth here."
Lord Gauranga then disappeared. Greatly satisfied by the Lord's promise, Ramanuja returned to Kurma Sthana, where he joined his disciples. During his life he preached devotional service to the Lord in the mood of dasya rasa, or servitorship throughout the south of India, whilst internally he was absorbed in meditating on the pastimes of Lord Gauranga. By Lord Gauranga's mercy, he was born again in Sri Navadwipa as a devotee named Ananta to assist in the Lord's pastimes. When Lord Caitanya made His appearance in Sri Navadwipa, Ananta Vipra was already quite old, He lived in a cottage which was situated beneath a huge old banyan tree. There, within his humble abode, he would worship his Deities of Laxmi-Narayana. None could describe the pure way in which he worshipped Them."

Volume 1, The Ayodhya Kanda (The Book of Ayodhya)

2008-04-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

Translated by Karnamrita Dasa, 1997

CANTO 5

Vasishta Enjoins Lord Rama to Fast

1) Having instructed Rama, who was to be anointed the next day, King Dasaratha summoned his family priest, Vasishta, and spoke to him as follows:
2) “Please go to Rama’s residence, O ascetic, and persuade Him and His wife to observe a fast so His succession to the throne may be auspicious.”
3) The blessed Vasishta, the supreme scholar of the Veda, having said, “So be it!”, proceeded personally to Lord Rama’s palace.
4) In order to persuade the heroic Raghava– an adept in the use of mantras, to observe a fast, Vasishta, a knower of mantras, mounted a chariot suitable for a brahmana.
5) Upon reaching Rama’s palace, which shone with the splendour of a mass of white clouds, the sage entered by chariot and proceeded through its three courtyards.
6) As he arrived, Lord Rama, who considered the sage to be worthy of honour, came quickly out of His residence.
7) Hastily approaching the chariot, the intelligent Lord helped Vasishta to alight from the vehicle.
8-9) Vasishta greeted Rama, and noted His humility with satisfaction. The sage then addressed Rama, who deserved affection, and increased His joy, saying, “Your father is delighted with You, and thus he will bestow the kingdom upon You. You should observe a fast today together with Sita.
10) In the morning King Dasaratha will anoint You crown-prince with great happiness, just as Nahusha anointed Yayati.”
11) So saying, the pure ascetic counselled Lord Rama to fast together with the princess of Videha [Sita].
12) Thereafter, having been suitably worshipped by Rama, the king’s preceptor took leave of Him and proceeded from His palace.
13) Sitting then with His companions, who ever spoke endearingly, the Lord shortly took leave of them, and receiving their salutations He entered His private quarters.
14) Rama’s palace thronged with blissful men and women, and it had the semblance of a lake decorated with flocks of intoxicated birds and full blown lotuses.
15) Upon leaving Ramachandra’s residence, which resembled a king’s palace, Vasishta beheld the street crowded with people.
16) The royal thoroughfares of Ayodhya thronged with a great multitude of groups of curious men pressed close together, and was thus made impassable.
17) There was a joyous commotion as the waves of citizens glided together, and the king’s road resounded as if with the roar of an ocean.
18) The carriageway was sprinkled with water and strewn with flowers, and the whole of Ayodhya was hung with garlands and with flags that day.
19) Indeed, the crowds of Ayodhyites, along with their womenfolk and children, were so enthusiastic to see the anointment of Lord Rama that they yearned for the rising of the next day’s sun.
20) The people were eager to behold the great festival in Ayodhya, which would beautify their existence and expand their transcendental ecstasy.
21) The king’s highway being obstructed by crowds, the sovereign’s preceptor parted the flood of people as it were, gradually making his way to the royal palace.
22) Ascending the steps to the king’s residence, which resembled a mountain summit surrounded by white clouds, Vasishta met Maharaja Dasaratha, just as Brihaspati meets Indra.
23) Leaving the imperial throne as soon as he descried him, the king asked him to reveal his thoughts, and Vasishta informed him that he had done as bidden.
24) In a like manner, the members of the royal council, who sat with the emperor, rose from their seats to show respect to his family priest.
25) With the consent of his spiritual master, Dasaratha then dismissed the assembly of men, and entered his private apartments like a lion entering a mountain cave.
26) Upon entering that excellent dwelling, which was crowded with youthful women, and which vied with Indra’s abode, King Dasaratha shone like the moon in a star spangled sky.
THUS ENDS THE FIFTH CANTO OF THE AYODHYA KANDA OF VALMEEKI MUNI'S RAMAYANA

Volume 1, The Ayodhya Kanda (The Book of Ayodhya)

2008-04-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

Translated by Karnamrita Dasa, 1997

CANTO 1
Description of the Qualities of Rama
1) Taking His affectionate and sinless brother, Satrughna, who ever slays His foes, Lord Bharata proceeded to the habitation of His maternal uncle. 2) Being affectionately entertained by Yudhajit, the horse master, the righteous prince remained there for some time and received the fond embrace due a beloved son. 3) Bharata and Satrughna abided there in great happiness, having all Their desires gratified, and They always remembered Their elderly father, King Dasaratha. 4) King Dasaratha too, never forgot his absent sons, the heroic Bharata and Satrughna, who resembled Indra and Varuna.
5) Indeed, the emperor held his four mighty sons, who had issued from his body, as dear as his own arms.
6) Of the four, Lord Rama was the king's most beloved son, and like a Brahma He excelled all others in virtue.
7) Indeed, He was the eternal Lord Sri Vishnu, and had advented Himself in the world of men on behalf of the Devas, who desired the slaying of Ravana.
8) Queen Kausalya had her beauty embellished by her son of unequalled potency, just as Aditi does by Vajrapani [Indra].
9) He was endowed with supernal loveliness and heroism, and was envious of no one. He was a son unequalled in the world, and resembled Dasaratha in the possession of good qualities.
10) He was always tranquil at heart and His speech was gentle— He never spoke haughtily to any man even though He had been reviled.
11) He was often delighted by some small service rendered Him, and being self-possessed, He would forgive hundreds of misdeeds.
12) Lord Rama would converse only with self-realised souls, with those of mature character, with those advanced in spiritual knowledge, and with those advanced in years. He was always available to such persons when He was not under arms.
13) He was intelligent, sweetly spoken, and would always speak first [thus allaying others' nervousness]. He was agreeable and valorous, but was not proud of His heroism.
14) He never spoke an untruth, He offered all respect to the learned and the elderly; the people adored Him, and He loved the people.
15) He was compassionate, mild, and the worshipper of brahmanas. He pitied the unfortunate, was conversant with the principles of religion, was always kind, and was purity personified.
16) Lord Rama always had His family's well-being in mind. He considered His regal duty to be of great importance, and He contemplated the heavenly reward of such conduct with immense satisfaction.
17) He would countenance no mischief, neither did He relish vulgar talk. Like Brihaspati, He could counter specious arguments with ease.
18) His transcendental body was free from disease and the influence of old age. He was eloquent, beautiful, and adaptable to circumstances. He knew the heart of every man on earth [being omniscient], and He alone was aloof from the world of matter.
19) He alone was possessed of all conceivable qualities who was the king's son, and was as dear to the people as their own hearts.
20) He had acquired all requisite learning, had undertaken all manner of religious vows and was fully conversant with the Vedas and the Vedic supplements. Lord Rama, the elder brother of Bharata, surpassed His father in the wielding of the bow and missiles controlled by hymns.
21) He was the benefactor of the people; He was determined and noble-minded, truthful and honest. He was tutored by elderly brahmanas who were authorities in matters of religion and economics.
22) He knew the principles of religion, regulated sense enjoyment, and the acquisition of wealth. His memory was faultless, He was shrewd, and He was conversant with both worldly conventions and Vedic ritual.
23) He was modest and reserved. He kept His counsellors' advice secret and had many companions and confidential servants. His wrath and joviality were both unfailing, and He knew when renunciation and restraint were called for.
24) Rama was the personification of unflinching devotion, His wisdom was unswerving, He utterly rejected things mundane, and would never speak harshly. He was alert and infallible. He was neither unaware of the faults of His kin nor of others.
25) He knew the scriptures, He was grateful, He was learned in the art of psychology, and He was sagacious in the matter of proffering and accepting favours.
26) He attracted the self-realised, and bestowed His mercy upon them, and He knew when to suppress disturbing elements in His father's realm. He was conversant with the means of collecting revenue and He managed the state expenditure as per the scriptural ordinances.
27) He was pre-eminent in His ability to extract the quiddity of the various scriptures and of works composed in a mixture of dialects. Lord Rama enjoyed sense-pleasure within the bounds of religion and economy and was never slothful.
28) He knew how to apportion funds for the patronage of the arts that serve for amusement or sport, and He was an accomplished rider and trainer of spirited horses.
29) He was fully conversant with the Dhanurveda and was adjudged the greatest warrior in the world by the atirathas. He knew how to best the enemy in an assault, and was proficient in the deployment of military formations.
30) He was invincible in battle by either demigods or demons. He was free from spite, having subdued anger, and He was neither haughty nor envious.
31) Lord Rama was not to be disesteemed or disregarded by any living being, neither did He come under the sway of the time factor. Indeed, the Prince was endowed with super-excellent characteristics that were unequalled within the three worlds.
32) He was like the earth in point of forbearance, like Brihaspati in point of wisdom, and like Indra in point of valour.
33) He was loved by His father's subjects, and ever increased His sire's delight. Lord Rama was endowed with dazzling transcendental qualities, and He was haloed as if by the rays of the sun.
34) The earth personified adored Him who was possessed of such virtues, who was unconquerable, who was courageous, and who was the unequalled Lord of all.
35) Perceiving his son to be possessed of innumerable sublime characteristics, King Dasaratha, the subduer of foes, began to consider thus.
36) Now that the long-lived monarch had grown old he thought: "How shall I live to see my beloved Rama crowned king?
37) This is undoubtedly the foremost desire within my heart— when, pray, shall I behold my darling son anointed as emperor?
38) He is desirous of the people's prosperity and He is compassionate upon all living beings. He is dearer to my subjects than I, and is just like Parjanya, the god of rain.
39) In valour He is the equal of Yama and Indra, and in intellect He is the equal of Brihaspati. He is as constant as a mountain, and He is more qualified and virtuous than am I.
40) When I witness His dominion over the entire world, then I shall attain the kingdom of God!"
41-42) Observing such manifold qualities, which are rarely to be found in kings, to be present in his cultured son, and to a degree that is seldom to be seen in mankind, King Dasaratha and his counsellors resolved to have Rama installed as heir-apparent.
43) The emperor was somewhat elderly in body and mind, and he observed terrifying portents in the heavens and upon the earth.
44) He reminded himself, however, of the people's love for Rama— whose countenance was as radiant as the full moon, and his fears were completely dispelled.
45) For his own benefit, as well as for that of his subjects, and also to gain the affection of the public, the righteous king, who was motivated by devotional love for his son, urged the speedy coronation of Lord Rama.
46) To that end, the intelligent emperor had the prominent residents of various cities and villages brought to the capital to observe the festivities.
47) Upon arriving in Ayodhya, they were provided with fitting accommodation and with jewels and ornaments. They were given an honourable reception, and the king came personally, fully decorated, and met them, just as Brahma meets his offspring.
48) The arrangements were so quickly made that the emperor had neither the king of the Kekayas nor King Janaka brought to his capital, thinking they would hear the delightful news in due course.
49) Thereafter, as King Dasaratha, the subduer of foes, took his seat in the assembly of guests. The other sovereigns, who were esteemed by their subjects, entered and took their respective seats as well.
50) He was thus surrounded by kings who were self-controlled and endowed with the marks of nobility, by men who had come from town and village, and who sat closely about him, and he appeared like Indra in the midst of the demigods.
THUS ENDS THE FIRST CANTO OF THE AYODHYA KANDA OF VALMEEKI MUNI'S RAMAYANA

Radha Krishna Rasa Dance

2008-04-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

Shyam

2008-04-04T15:41:00.001-07:00

Teachings of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

2008-04-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

At the last stage of one’s life, one should be bold enough not to be afraid of death. But one must cut off all attachment to the material body and everything pertaining to it and all desires thereof.

The foolishness of gross materialism is that people think of making a permanent settlement in this world, although it is a settled fact that one has to give up everything here that has been created by valuable human energy. Great statesmen, scientists, philosophers, etc., who are foolish, without any information of the spirit soul, think that this life of a few years only is all in all and that there is nothing more after death. This poor fund of knowledge, even in the so-called learned circles of the world, is killing the vitality of human energy, and the awful result is being keenly felt. And yet the foolish materialistic men do not care about what is going to happen in the next life. The preliminary instruction in the Bhagavad-gita is that one should know that the identity of the individual living entity is not lost even after the end of this present body, which is nothing but an outward dress only. As one changes an old garment, so the individual living being also changes his body, and this change of body is called death. Death is therefore a process of changing the body at the end of the duration of the present life. An intelligent person must be prepared for this and must try to have the best type of body in the next life. The best type of body is a spiritual body, which is obtained by those who go back to the kingdom of God or enter the realm of Brahman...Foolish people attach more importance to the present temporary life, and thus the foolish leaders make appeals to the body and the bodily relations. The bodily relations extend not only to this body but also to the family members, wife, children, society, country and so many other things which end at the end of life. After death one forgets everything about the present bodily relations; we have a little experience of this at night when we go to sleep. While sleeping, we forget everything about this body and bodily relations, although this forgetfulness is a temporary situation for only a few hours. Death is nothing but sleeping for a few months in order to develop another term of bodily encagement, which we are awarded by the law of nature according to our aspiration. Therefore, one has only to change the aspiration during the course of this present body, and for this there is need of training in the current duration of human life.

2008-04-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

A Song in Dhanasri-raga

2008-01-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

Rahu swallowed the moon, there were great tidal waves in the ocean of the holy names, Kali was defeated, and the victory flag flew. The Supreme Personality of Godhead was manifest, and the fourteen worlds were filled with the sounds of "Jaya! Jaya!"

Gazing on the moon of Lord Caitanya, everyone in Nadiya is filled with bliss. Now all their sorrows have perished.

Dundubhi drums are struck. A hundred conchshell trumpets are blown. Flutes and buffalo-horn bugles are played. Vrindavana dasa sings the glories of Sri Caitanya Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu.

The handsomeness of His limbs defeats the sunshine. My eyes cannot bear to gaze on Him. I cannot speak any metaphors to describe His long, slightly curved eyes.

Today Lord Caitanya's glories are manifest. Sounds of joy are heard in the four directions of the earth. Each vibration of Lord Hari's names fills all the worlds up to Brahmaloka. Now the moon of Lord Caitanya is manifest.

He is splendid like sandal paste. His chest is broad. His forest-flower garland swings to and fro. His handsome face is like the cooling moon. His long arms reach to His knees.

Gazing at Lord Caitanya, the fortunate world calls out "Jaya! Jaya!" Some dance. Others sing. Kali is filled with despair.

Only pathetic fools cannot understand the truth of Lord Caitanya, who is the crown on the heads of the four Vedas. Vrindavana dasa sings the glories of Sri Caitanya Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu.

The moon of Lord Caitanya has risen. Now the ten directions are filled with bliss.

His handsome form defeats millions of Kamadevas. He smiles as He hears the chanting of His holy names.

I gaze on His charming eyes and face, marked with the signs of a great king.

Every heart in this world yearns to gaze on His limbs and on His feet graceful with the flag and thunderbolt.

His glories and opulences make all misfortunes flee far away.

Sri Caitanya and Sri Nityananda are my life and soul. I, Vrindavana dasa, sing of Their glories.

Hearing that Lord Caitanya had descended to this world, the demigods felt the presence of great auspiciousness. Gazing at the moon of His face, a moon the cools the burning sufferings of material life, they became wild with bliss.

Ananta, Brahma, Siva, and the other demigods have now assumed human forms. On the pretext of the eclipse they also chant "Hari! Hari!" I have no power to describe the glories I have seen.

The four directions of Nadiya are filled with loud sounds of "Hari! Hari!" Demigods and humans meet and enjoy pastimes. Now Navadvipa is flooded with bliss.

In Saci's courtyard all the demigods offer respectful obeisances. In the blinding darkness of eclipse no one can see them. These pastimes of Lord Caitanya are very difficult to understand.

Some offered prayers. Others held a parasol. Others fanned with camaras. Others joyfully showered flowers. Others sang. Others danced.

Lord Caitanya has come with His devotees. The atheists and offenders do not understand Him in any way. Vrindavana dasa sings the nectar glories of Sri Krishna Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu.

The dundubhi and dindima drums are struck. There are auspicious sounds of "Jaya!" There is the nectar of sweet singing. "Today we will meet a very exalted person, a person even the Vedas do not understand. Please, don't delay."

In Indrapura there is a great tumult of auspicious sounds. Everyone calls out, "Hurry! Get ready! Get ready!" "Because of our great good fortune, we will now go to Lord Caitanya, who has appeared in Navadvipa!"

They embrace and kiss each other. They have no shame. Wild with joy that the prince of Navadvipa had now taken birth, they do not know who they are and who others are either.

In Navadvipa they hear the blissful sounds of Lord Hari's holy names coming from the four directions. Tasting the nectar of Lord Caitanya's glories, they become intoxicated. They sing, "Caitanya!" "Jaya! Jaya!"

In Saci's home they gaze at handsome Lord Caitanya, who was glorious like ten million moons meeting together, who had accepted a humanlike form, and who, manifesting an eclipse, tricked the people into loudly chanting the holy names of Lord Hari.

Accompanied by all His potencies, the moon of Lord Caitanya has descended to this world. The atheists and blasphemers cannot understand Him. The two moons of Sri Caitanya and Sri Nityananda are my Lords. They are my life and soul. I, Vrindavana dasa, sing the nectar of Their glories.

Look! There is Lord Caitanya's marketplace, where He sells the jewels of prema (love for Krishna).

From the first moment of His descent into this world, the Lord preached the Hari-sankirtana movement.

Seeing that en eclipse had darkened the four directions, the people, running to bathe in the Ganga, chanted, Hari!"

Prabhupada's Teachings

2008-01-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

The deluding energy, or material nature, can act upon the living beings proportionately in terms of the living beings’ falling prey to the deluding attraction of mäyä. Moths are captivated by the glaring brightness of light, and thus they become prey to the fire. Similarly, the deluding energy is always captivating the conditioned souls to become prey to the fire of delusion, and the Vedic scriptures warn the conditioned souls not to become prey to delusion but to get rid of it. The Vedas warn us to go not to the darkness of ignorance but to the progressive path of light.

THE GAURA MOON

2007-10-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Poet Jnana Das

The regal jewel of Lord Gauranga was manifest in this world within the ocean of Sachi’s womb. Gazing at the splendor of this jewel, the people of the world yearned to attain it, and the great sins quickly hid.

Come and gaze at the moon of LordGaura! In the presence of the moon of LordGauranga’s face, of what use is the moon in the sky? Gazing at the moon of Lord Gauranga’s face, the sky’s embarrassed moon wept.

Anyone who drinks the nectar of that moon finds his hunger flees far away. The sky’smoon says: The very name of this moon is nectar. Anyone who drinks that nectar finds the hungers of this world of birth and death flee far away. That person becomes free from old age and death.

On the nectar moon of Lord Gaura’s face flows a nectar river of Lord Hari’s holy names. Jnana Das has taken some sips from that river. To dispel the fears of this world of birth and death, beat the big drum of Lord Gaura’s holyname. Yamaraja’s servants will be cheated of their due.

Bibliography
— Jagadbandhu Bhadra (editor). Gaura-pada-tara ginī. SriGauranga Press. Calcutta. 1931. Bengali.
􀀩

OBSTACLES ON THE PATH OF DEVOTION

2007-10-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Śrī Hari Bhakti-sudhodaya 10.46-50

After a minister of Hiranyakasipu preached to Bhakta Prahlad to give up the worship of Lord Vishnu, Prahlad replied:

O my master, there is no doubt that whenever one does good, one meets obstacles. It is a fact that in order to perform any auspicious act there will be many difficulties to overcome. So how can the most auspicious hari-bhajan be performed without facing obstacles?

Some unsteady persons with polluted hearts pretend to be devotees of Lord Narayan. But when they meet obstacles they give up hari-bhajan and flee like a deer from a tiger.

Even if the gods offer them temptations, if demons place them in fearful situations, or if elders advise them otherwise, devotees cannot be swayed from the path.

In spite of the obstacles that naturally come, wise persons remain resolute. They remain firm in their steadfast devotion to Sri Hari and attain the supreme goal of life.

Bibliography
— Śrī Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, of the Nāradīya Purāna. English translation by Tridandi Bhakti Prajnan Yati. Sri GaudiyaMath. Madras.1989

Shrimad-Bhagavatam 1.13.43

2007-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

As a player sets up and disperses his playthings according to his own sweet will, so the supreme will of the Lord brings men together and separates them.

PURPORT By Prabhupada

We must know for certain that the particular position in which we are now set up is an arrangement of the supreme will in terms of our own acts in the past. The Supreme Lord is present as the localized Paramatma in the heart of every living being, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gita (13.23), and therefore he knows everything of our activities in every stage of our lives. He rewards the reactions of our actions by placing us in some particular place. A rich man gets his son born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but the child who came as the rich man's son deserved such a place, and therefore he is placed there by the will of the Lord. And at a particular moment when the child has to be removed from that place, he is also carried by the will of the Supreme, even if the child or the father does not wish to be separated from the happy relation. The same thing happens in the case of a poor man also. Neither rich man nor poor man has any control over such meetings or separations of living beings. The example of a player and his playthings should not be misunderstood. One may argue that since the Lord is bound to award the reactionary results of our own actions, the example of a player cannot be applied. But it is not so. We must always remember that the Lord is the supreme will, and He is not bound by any law. Generally the law of karma is that one is awarded the result of one's own actions, but in special cases, by the will of the Lord, such resultant actions are changed also. But this change can be affected by the will of the Lord only, and no other. Therefore, the example of the player cited in this verse is quite appropriate, for the Supreme Will is absolutely free to do whatever He likes, and because He is all-perfect, there is no mistake in any of His actions or reactions. These changes of resultant actions are especially rendered by the Lord when a pure devotee is involved. It is assured in the Bhagavad-gita (9.30-31) that the Lord saves a pure devotee who has surrendered unto Him without reservation from all sorts of reactions of sins, and there is no doubt about this. There are hundreds of examples of reactions changed by the Lord in the history of the world. If the Lord is able to change the reactions of one's past deeds, then certainly He is not Himself bound by any action or reaction of His own deeds. He is perfect and transcendental to all laws.

Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.13.42

2007-10-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

As a cow, bound through the nose by a long rope, is conditioned, so also human beings are bound by different Vedic injunctions and are conditioned to obey the orders of the Supreme.

PURPORT By Prabhupada

Every living being, whether a man or an animal or a bird, thinks that he is free by himself, but actually no one is free from the severe laws of the Lord. The laws of the Lord are severe because they cannot be disobeyed in any circumstance. The man-made laws may be evaded by cunning outlaws, but in the codes of the supreme lawmaker there is not the slightest possibility of neglecting the laws. A slight change in the course of God-made law can bring about a massive danger to be faced by the lawbreaker. Such laws of the Supreme are generally known as the codes of religion, under different conditions, but the principle of religion everywhere is one and the same, namely, obey the orders of the Supreme God, the codes of religion. That is the condition of material existence. All living beings in the material world have taken up the risk of conditioned life by their own selection and are thus entrapped by the laws of material nature. The only way to get out of the entanglement is to agree to obey the Supreme. But instead of becoming free from the clutches of maya, or illusion, foolish human beings become bound up by different nomenclatures, being designated as brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas, sudras, Hindus, Mohammedans, Indians, Europeans, Americans, Chinese, and many others, and thus they carry out the orders of the Supreme Lord under the influence of respective scriptural or legislative injunctions. The statutory laws of the state are imperfect imitation replicas of religious codes. The secular state, or the godless state, allows the citizens to break the laws of God, but restricts them from disobeying the laws of the state; the result is that the people in general suffer more by breaking the laws of God than by obeying the imperfect laws made by man. Every man is imperfect by constitution under conditions of material existence, and there is not the least possibility that even the most materially advanced man can enact perfect legislation. On the other hand, there is no such imperfection in the laws of God. If leaders are educated in the laws of God, there is no necessity of a makeshift legislative council of aimless men. There is necessity of change in the makeshift laws of man, but there is no change in the Godmade laws because they are made perfect by the all-perfect Personality of Godhead. The codes of religion, scriptural injunctions, are made by liberated representatives of God in consideration of different conditions of living, and by carrying out the orders of the Lord, the conditioned living beings gradually become free from the clutches of material existence. The factual position of the living being is, however, that he is the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord. In his liberated state he renders service to the Lord in transcendental love and thus enjoys a life of full freedom, even sometimes on an equal level with the Lord or sometimes more than the Lord. But in the conditioned material world, every living being wants to be the Lord of other living beings, and thus by the illusion of maya this mentality of lording it over becomes a cause of further extension of conditional life. So in the material world the living being is still more conditioned, until he surrenders unto the Lord by reviving his original state of eternal servitorship. That is the last instruction of the Bhagavad-gita and all other recognized scriptures ofthe world.

Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.13.27

2007-10-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

He is certainly a first-class man who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within his heart.

PURPORT By Prabhupada

There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely, (1) the dhira, or the one who is not disturbed by being away from family association, (2) one in the renounced order of life, a sannyasi by frustrated sentiment, and (3) a sincere devotee of the Lord, who awakens God consciousness by hearing and chanting and leaves home depending completely on the Personality of Godhead, who resides in his heart. The idea is that the renounced order of life, after a frustrated life of sentiment in the material world, may be the stepping stone on the path of self-realization, but real perfection of the path of liberation is attained when one is practiced to depend fully on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who lives in everyone's heart as Paramatma. One may live in the darkest jungle alone out of home, but a steadfast devotee knows very well that he is not alone. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is with him, and He can protect His sincere devotee in any awkward circumstance.
One should therefore practice devotional service at home, hearing and chanting the holy name, quality, form, pastimes, entourage, etc., in association with pure devotees, and this practice will help one awaken God consciousness in proportion to one's sincerity of purpose. One who desires material benefit by such devotional activities can never depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He sits in everyone's heart. Nor does the Lord give any direction to persons who worship Him for material gain. Such materialistic devotees may be blessed by the Lord with material benefits, but they cannot reach the stage of the first class human being, as above mentioned. There are many examples of such sincere devotees in the history of the world, especially in India, and they are our guides on the path of self-realization.

2007-10-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Prabhupada's Samadhi - Mayapur Dhama - East Bengal -India

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-10-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

A forgetful, conditioned soul is fearful. But a liberated soul is never fearful, just as a small child completely dependent on the mercy of his father is never fearful of anyone. Fearfulness is a sort of illusion for the living being when he is in slumber and forgetting his eternal relation with the Lord. Since the living being is never to die by his constitution, as stated in Bhagavad-gita (2.20), then what is the cause of fearfulness? A person may be fearful of a tiger in a dream, but another man who is awake by his side sees no tiger there. The tiger is a myth for both of them, namely the person dreaming and the person awake, because actually there is no tiger; but the man forgetful of his awakened life is fearful, whereas the man who has not forgotten his position is not at all fearful.

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-10-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Lord Sri Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ad infinitum, more powerful than the most powerful sun of our experience. Millions and billions of suns are created by Him and annihilated by Him within His one breathing period. In the material world the sun is considered to be the source of all productivity and material energy, and only due to the sun can we have the necessities of life. Therefore, during the personal presence of the Lord on the earth, all paraphernalia for our peace and prosperity, especially religion and knowledge, were in full display because of the Lord's presence, just as there is a full flood of light in the presence of the glowing sun.

A conditioned living being is endowed with four principles of malpractice, namely errors, insanity, inability and cheating. These are signs of imperfection, and out of the four the propensity to cheat others is most prominent. And this cheating practice is there in the conditioned souls because the conditioned souls are primarily in the material world imbued with an unnatural desire to lord it over the material world. A living being in his pure state is not conditioned by the laws because in his pure state he is conscious that a living being is eternally subservient to the Supreme Being, and thus it is always good for him to remain subservient, instead of falsely trying to lord it over the property of the Supreme Lord. In the conditioned state the living being is not satisfied even if he actually becomes the lord of all that he surveys, which he never becomes, and therefore he becomes the victim of all kinds of cheating, even with his nearest and most intimate relations. In such an unsatisfactory state of affairs, there is no harmony, even between father and sons or between husband and wife. But all these contending difficulties can be mitigated by one process, and that is the devotional service of the Lord. The world of hypocrisy can be checked only by counteraction through devotional service to the Lord and nothing else.

Lord Chaitanya Chanting on Beads

2007-10-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-10-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

The yoga system is a mechanical way to control the senses and the mind and divert them from matter to spirit. The preliminary processes are the sitting posture, meditation, spiritual thoughts, manipulation of air passing within the body, and gradual situation in trance, facing the Absolute Person, Paramatma. Such mechanical ways of rising to the spiritual platform prescribe some regulative principles of taking bath daily three times, fasting as far as possible, sitting and concentrating the mind on spiritual matters and thus gradually becoming free from visaya, or material objectives. Material existence means to be absorbed in the material objective, which is simply illusory. House, country, family, society, children, property, and business are some of the material coverings of the spirit, atma, and the yoga system helps one to become free from all these illusory thoughts and gradually turn towards the Absolute Person, Paramatma. By material association and education, we learn simply to concentrate on flimsy things, but yoga is the process of forgetting them altogether. Modern so-called yogis and yoga systems manifest some magical feats, and ignorant persons are attracted by such false things, or they accept the yoga system as a cheap healing process for diseases of the gross body. But factually the yoga system is the process of learning to forget what we have acquired throughout the struggle for existence… Drinking water only, without solid food, is also considered fasting. This is necessary for advancement of spiritual knowledge. A foolish man wants to be a cheap yogi without observing the regulative principles. A man who has no control over the tongue at first can hardly become a yogi. Yogi and bhogi are two opposite terms. The bhogi, or the merry man who eats and drinks, cannot be a yogi, for a yogi is never allowed to eat and drink unrestrictedly.

Lord Gauranga Embraces Jagannatha

2007-09-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-09-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is one without a second, but He manifests Himself by different energies because He is by nature blissful. The living beings are also manifestations of His marginal energy, qualitatively one with the Lord, and there are innumerable living beings both within and without the external and internal energies of the Lord. Since the spiritual world is a manifestation of the Lord's internal energy, the living beings within that internal potency are qualitatively one with the Lord without contamination from the external potency.
Although qualitatively one with the Lord, the living being, due to contamination of the material world, is pervertedly manifested, and therefore he experiences so-called happiness and distress in the material world. Such experiences are all ephemeral and do not affect the spirit soul. The perception of such ephemeral happiness and distress is due only to the forgetfulness of his qualities, which are equal to the Lord's. There is, however, a regular current from the Lord Himself, from within and without, by which to rectify the fallen condition of the living being. From within He corrects the desiring living beings as localized Paramatma, and from without He corrects by His manifestations, the spiritual master and the revealed scriptures. One should look unto the Lord; one should not be disturbed by the so-called manifestations of happiness or distress, but he should try to cooperate with the Lord in His outward activities for correcting the fallen souls. By His order only, one should become a spiritual master and cooperate with the Lord. One should not become a spiritual master for one's personal benefit, for some material gain or as an avenue of business or occupation for earning livelihood. Bona fide spiritual masters who look unto the Supreme Lord to cooperate with Him are actually qualitatively one with the Lord, and the forgetful ones are perverted reflections only.

The world's movements for freedom through political, economic, social, and cultural propaganda can do no benefit to anyone, for they are controlled by superior power. A conditioned living being is under the full control of material nature, represented by eternal time and activities under the dictation of different modes of nature. There are three material modes of nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Unless one is situated in the mode of goodness, one cannot see things as they are. The passionate and the ignorant cannot even see things as they are. Therefore a person who is passionate and ignorant cannot direct his activities on the right path. Only the man in the quality of goodness can help to a certain extent. Most persons are passionate and ignorant, and therefore their plans and projects can hardly do any good to others. Above the modes of nature is eternal time, which is called kala because it changes the shape of everything in the material world. Even if we are able to do something temporarily beneficial, time will see that the good project is frustrated in course of time. The only thing possible to be done is to get rid of eternal time, kala, which is compared to kalasarpa, or the cobra snake, whose bite is always lethal. No one can be saved from the bite of a cobra. The best remedy for getting out of the clutches of the cobralike kala or its integrity, the modes of nature, is bhakti-yoga, as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita (14.26). The highest perfectional project of philanthropic activities is to engage everyone in the act of preaching bhakti-yoga all over the world because that alone can save the people from the control of maya, or the material
nature represented by kala, karma and guna, as described above. The Bhagavad-gita (14.26) confirms this definitely.

The actual fact is that every living being is an individual part and parcel of the Supreme Being, and his constitutional position is subordinate cooperative service. Either in his conditional material existence or in his liberated position of full knowledge and eternity, the living entity is eternally under the control of the Supreme Lord. But those who are not conversant with factual knowledge put forward many speculative propositions about the real position of the living entity. It is admitted, however, by all schools of philosophy, that the living being is eternal and that the covering body of the five material elements is perishable and temporary. The eternal living entity transmigrates from one material body to another by the law of karma, and material bodies are perishable by their fundamental structures. Therefore there is nothing to be lamented in the case of the soul's being transferred into another body, or the material body's perishing at a certain stage. There are others also who believe in the merging of the spirit soul in the Supreme Spirit when it is uncovered by the material encagement, and there are others also who do not believe in the existence of spirit or soul, but believe in tangible matter. In our daily experience we find so many transformations of matter from one form to another, but we do not lament such changing features. In either of the above cases, the force of divine energy is uncheckable; no one has any hand in it, and thus there is no cause of grief.

It is a fact that the material world is a great illusion because everything appears to be a tangible
reality but at the next moment evaporates like the dashing foam of the sea or a cloud in the sky. A cloud in the sky undoubtedly appears to be a reality because it rains, and due to rains so many temporary green things appear, but in the ultimate issue, everything disappears, namely the cloud, rain and green vegetation, all in due course. But the sky remains, and the varieties of sky or luminaries also remain forever. Similarly, the Absolute Truth, which is compared to the sky, remains eternally, and the temporary cloudlike illusion comes and goes away. Foolish living beings are attracted by the temporary cloud, but intelligent men are more concerned with the eternal sky with all its variegatedness.

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-09-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

There is no superior power which can check the cruel hands of death. No one wants to die, however acute the source of bodily sufferings may be. Even in the days of so-called scientific advancement of knowledge, there is no remedial measure either for old age or for death. Old age is the notice of the arrival of death served by cruel time, and no one can refuse to accept either summon calls or the supreme judgment of eternal time.

The body is born, it develops, stays, creates other bodies, dwindles and then vanishes. But foolish men want to make a permanent settlement of the perishable body and think that their estate, children, society, country, etc., will give them protection. With such foolish ideas, they become overtaken by such temporary engagements and forget altogether that they must give up this temporary body and take a new one, again to arrange for another term of society, friendship and love, again to perish ultimately. They forget their permanent identity and become foolishly active for impermanent occupations, forgetting altogether their prime duty.

2007-09-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

"Insurmountable, eternal time imperceptibly overcomes those who are too much attached to family affairs and are always engrossed in their thought." Shrimad-Bhagavatam 1.13.17

"I am now happy; I have everything in order; my bank balance is quite enough; I can now give my children enough estate; I am now successful; the poor beggar sannyasis depend on God, but they come to beg from me; therefore I am more than the Supreme God." These are some of the thoughts which engross the insanely attached householder who is blind to the passing of eternal time. Our duration of life is measured, and no one is able to enhance it even by a second against the scheduled time ordained by the supreme will. Such valuable time, especially for the human being, should be cautiously spent because even a second passed away imperceptibly cannot be replaced, even in exchange for thousands of golden coins amassed by hard labor. Every second of human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to the problems of life, i.e. repetition of birth and death and revolving in the cycle of 8,400,000 different species of life. The material body, which is subject to birth and death, diseases and old age, is the cause of all sufferings of the living being, otherwise the living being is eternal; he is never born, nor does he ever die. Foolish persons forget this problem. They do not know at all how to solve the problems of life, but become engrossed in temporary family affairs not knowing that eternal time is passing away imperceptibly and that their measured duration of life is diminishing every second, without any solution to the big problem, namely repetition of birth and death, disease and old age. This is called illusion… Because the living being is eternal, he can be happy only in the eternal abode of the kingdom of God (paravyoma), from which no one returns to this region of repeated birth and death, disease and old age. Therefore, any comfort of life or any material happiness which does not warrant an eternal life is but illusion for the eternal living being. One who understands this factually is learned, and such a learned person can sacrifice any amount of material happiness to achieve the desired goal known as brahma-sukham, or absolute happiness. Real transcendentalists are hungry for this happiness, and as a hungry man cannot be made happy by all comforts of life minus foodstuff, so the man hungry for eternal absolute happiness cannot be satisfied by any amount of material happiness. (Shrila Prabhupada)

Prabhupada's Teachings

2007-09-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Material attachment and taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord go ill together. Material attachment means ignorance of transcendental happiness under the shelter of the Lord. Devotional service to the Lord, while existing in the material world, is a way to practice one's transcendental relation with the Lord, and when it is matured, one gets completely free from all material attachment and becomes competent to go back home, back to Godhead.

Material knowledge means ignorance of the knowledge of one's own self. Philosophy means to seek after the right knowledge of one's own self, or the knowledge of self-realization. Without self-realization, philosophy is dry speculation or a waste of time and energy. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives the right knowledge of one's own self, and by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam one can get free from material attachment and enter into the kingdom of fearlessness. This material world is fearfulness. Its prisoners are always fearful as within a prison house. In the prison house no one can violate the jail rules and regulations, and violating the rules means another term for extension of prison life. Similarly, we in this material existence are always fearful. This fearfulness is called anxiety.
Everyone in the material life, in all species and varieties of life, is full of anxieties, either by breaking or without breaking the laws of nature. Liberation, or mukti, means getting relief from these constant anxieties. This is possible only when the anxiety is changed to the devotional service of the Lord. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us the chance to change the quality of anxiety from matter to spirit.

The conditioned soul, the living being in material existence, seeks happiness by employing his senses in the modes of materialism, but that cannot give him satisfaction. He then searches after the Supreme Truth by the empiric philosophic speculative method and intellectual feats. But if he does not find the ultimate goal, he again goes down to material activities and engages himself in various philanthropic and altruistic works, which all fail to give him satisfaction. So neither fruitive activities nor dry philosophical speculation can give one satisfaction because by nature a
living being is the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, and all the Vedic literatures give him direction towards that ultimate end.

2007-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Person in His Encarnation as Vamanadeva

"The Lord gives protection to all living beings because He is their supreme leader. The Vedic hymns confirm that the Lord is the Supreme Person amongst all personalities. The difference between the two living beings is that the one, the Personality of Godhead, provides for all other living beings, and by knowing Him one can achieve eternal peace (Katha Upanisad). Such protection is given by His different potencies to different grades of living beings. But as far as His unalloyed devotees are concerned, He gives the protection personally." Shrila Prabhupada

2007-09-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Shri Radha - Mayapur Dhama - India

Radha’s Birth

2007-09-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

By Danavir Goswami
(Translation by HG Kusakratha Prabhu, Purport by Danavir Goswami)

In Garga Samhita, First Canto, Eighth Chapter, 6th Verse it is said:

athaiva radha vrsabhanu-patnyamavesya rupam mahasah parakhyamkalindaja-kula-nikunja-desesu-mandire savatatara rajan

Then, placing Her glorious transcendental form in (the womb of) King Vrsabhanu’s wife, Sri Radha descended into a great palace in a garden by the Yamuna’s shore.
PURPORT
As Krsna appears and disappears independent from the laws of nature so His eternal consort Sri Radha acts. Sri Radha, Srimati Radharani and Sri Radhika all indicate the one who perfectly worships the Lord. The words Sri and Srimati are titles indicating opulence and beauty. Sri Radha descended onto this planet and entered the womb of her mother, by Her own will (avesya rupam). She was not forced to take birth through reproductive processes in the material world as other souls are.Sri Radha is originally manifested from half of Lord Krsna’s body as explained in Padma Purana:
Sri Radha is the original potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She is beautiful, graceful, saintly and full of all transcendental qualities. She enjoys pastimes in the forest of Vrndavana. She is manifested from half of Lord Mukunda’s transcendental body.
Discussing the verse above, Sri Raghava Pandita Gosvami quotes from the Sammohana-tantra, Patala 1:
His form is eternally full of bliss. It is never any other way. Radha is full of bliss. Lord Hari is full of bliss. Their forms are not composed of material elements. Their forms are full of bliss. They are the single Supreme Spirit, manifested as two for the knowledge of the devotees. The wise know that as a spark is one with the fire, so the potency and the master of potencies are one.
It is also said that according to the Brahmavaivarta Purana, Sri Radha was born from the left side of Krsna. Then Srila Raghava Pandita Gosvami further quotes the Govinda-Vrndavana-sastra, where Sri Krsna says to Balarama:
O Balarama, please listen and I will tell You something. One day, taking My flute, My heart full of bliss and My form bending in three places, I went under a kadamba tree and, seeing My own form reflected in a splendid golden platform studded with jewels, I became enchanted. At that moment My heart became filled with the sweet happiness known as conjugal love, which charms the entire world. My heart now desires to become a woman. I yearn to enjoy Myself as a woman.
As the Lord thought in this way, His heart approached itself. From the sweetness of His heart came bliss and from the bliss came Himself, manifested in a second form, a female form of transcendental bliss that could experience the direct perception of Himself.
At that time a goddess, whose form was nectar, whose fair complexion was like a host of lightning flashes, and who was decorated with glittering ornaments, appeared from the Lord’s left side. She is known as Radha, who is half of Krsna’s body, and who is the mistress of all potencies.
This is also described in the Govinda-Vrndavana-sastra, where Lord Krsna says to Balarama:
My beloved Radhika is the form if My three transcendental potencies. As I am beyond the touch of matter, so is She, whose form is My potency. Manifest in three forms, I am spiritual, My form is beyond the touch of the three modes of matter. I am the master of everything, and She is the mistress of this master of everything. She is said to be the kriya-sakti. She has the same sweetness as the other two saktis.
Sri Krishna’s three potencies (tri sakti) are the potency of desire (iccha-sakti) the potency of knowledge (jnana-sakti) and potency of action (kriya-sakti).In the Varaha-samhita, the seven coverings of the material world and the transcendental abode of Vrndavana are described as follows:
Above that is a great platform made of gold and studded with rubies, and on that platform is a charming lotus flower with eight petals.This is the favorite place of Sri Govinda. How is it possible to fully describe it’s glories? Sri Govinda, the gopis’ beloved, stays there. By His touch it has become fragrant with many flowers.
The Lord’s beloved Radhika is His dear original potency. Durga and the other goddesses in the world of the three modes are a million-millionth part of a part of Her.
Because Sri Sri Radha Krsna are not different and because Sri Krsna is the master of all potencies, therefore Sri Radha is also the master and source of all potencies. He is by nature full of sweetness and bliss, free from the three modes, and eternally manifest beyond the material nature. Because Radha is not different from Him, so is She also. It is said that within the Lord are all potencies, the modes and the material nature.
Thus Srila Raghava Pandita Goswami concludes that all potencies of the Lord are manifested from Sri Radha. This is explained in his Sri Krsna-bhakti-ratna-prakasa (The Splendor of the Jewel of Krsna-bhakti) Volume 2 Fifth Ray of Light; Third Part, verses 42-58.

APPROACH KRISHNA THROUGH RADHA

2007-09-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The aim of life is to satisfy Lord Vishnu. Krishna is the origin of visnu-tattva, and he is pleased through Radharani. Therefore we don’t keep Krishna alone. No. We keep Radha-Krishna. First you have to worship Radharani. So her appearance day, Radhastami, is today. In Vrindavan you will see that all the devotees greet one another by saying, "JayaRadhe!" because they know that Radharani is the original pleasure potency. She is always absorbed in thought of Krishna. Anyone who comes before Radharani to serve Krishna, she becomes so pleased, "Oh, here is a devotee of Krishna." She immediately recommends that person, "Krishna, here is a devotee. He is better than me." This is Radharani. I may not be a devotee. I may be a most fallen rascal. But if I try to reach Krishna through Radharani, then my business is successful. Therefore we should worship Radharani first. That is our business. Instead of directly offering a flower to Krishna, put it in the hands of Radharani: "My mother Radharani, Jagan-mata, please kindly take this flower and offer it to Krishna." Radharani says, "Oh, you have brought a flower?" Krishna said, patram puspam phalam toyam yome bhaktyā prayacchati — "If one offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." [Bg. 9.26] But don’t try to offer to Krishna directly. Offer through Radharani. It will be very much appreciated by her. This is our philosophy — to please Krishna through Radharani — and as today is the auspicious day of Radharani’s appearance, we should offer pupāñjali and pray, "Radharani, kindly be merciful and tell about me to your Krishna. Krishna is yours." Krishna is not independent. Krishna is Radharani’s property. So you have to approach Krishna through Radharani. Today is an auspicious day. Worship Radharani very nicely and be happy. — Lecture on the occasion of Radharani’s appearance day. London. 5 September 1973.

MAHAPRABHU OBSERVES RADHASTAMI AT THE HOME OF PUNDARIK VIDYANIDHI

2007-09-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Poet Ghanashyam

The poet Ghanashyam was a disciple of Sri Gati Govinda Thakur, the youngest son of Srinivas Acharya with his second wife Gaurangapriya. His father’s name was Divyasimha and his grandfather was Govinda Das Kaviraj, the famous vaisnava poet who wrote bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana and other songs. Ghanasyam’s family came from the village known as Budhuri in the Mursidabad district of West Bengal. But Ghanashyam was born at his maternal grandfather’s house at Srikhanda. He is the author of Govinda-rati-mañjarī, a book of 46 devotional poems.
Once the Nawab confiscated all the properties belonging to the family at Budhuri. However, after Ghanasyam grew up, the Nawab once heard Ghanasyam sweetly singing some devotional songs. Pleased with his devotion, the Nawab awarded␣Ghanasyam a large amount of land at Budhuri and requested him to live there. Ghanasyam had a son named Svarupanath and a grandson named Haridas. The deities of GauraNitai installed by Haridas are still worshiped today in Budhuri at the original home of Govinda Das Kaviraj.

What happiness there is today in the house of Pundarik Vidyanidhi! Singing about the pastimes of the birth of Radhika, Gaura, the son of Mother Sachi, dances in ecstasy. What can that new style of dancing be compared to?

All around him, the Lord’s associates in the dress of cowherd boys carry pots on their shoulders in a joking mood. Mixing butter and yogurt with turmeric they laughingly smear it on everyone’s body.

The sweet sounds of the musicians playing the mrdanga drums, small and large cymbals, and conch shells, fills the air. Who is not dancing to the beat of dhik dhik dhennānā?

In ecstasy, the ladies evoke auspiciousness by making the sound “ululu”. The abode of Pundarik Vidyanidhi has become as beautiful as the home of Maharaja Vrishabhanu. The poet Ghanasyam writes this song with a heart overflowing with joy.

QUALITIES OF RADHA

2007-09-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

By Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode

Śrī Caitanya-śikāmrta, chapter 7, part 7
In this section of Śrī Caitanya-śiksāmrta, Thakur Bhaktivinode discusses Srimati Radharani’s qualities. He includes a list of her twenty-five most prominent qualities that is based on the list, in Sanskrit, given by Srila Rupa Goswami in Ujjvala-nīlamani, and also quoted in Caitanya-caritāmrta madhya 23.91. Bhaktivinode gives direct Bengali translations of the Sanskrit terms, and then in many cases gives a further Bengali explanation.
Radha is the essence of the hlādinī-śakti, the epitome of love. Although she is splendid with sixteen types of decorations and twelve types of ornaments, she is so beautiful that she does not need decorations or ornaments. She has well-curled hair, a shining face, longeyes, splendid breasts, a thin waist, well-formed shoulders, and jewel-like fingernails. There is no such combination of wonderful qualities in all the three worlds. The sixteen beauties of her body are: her bath, the sparkle of the jewel in her nose, her blue dress, her sash, her earrings, her braid, the sandalwood on her body, the flowers in her hair, the garland around her throat, the lotus in her hand, the betel in her mouth, the kastūrī (musk) on her chin, the kajjala on her eyes, her colored cheeks, the lac decorations on her feet, and the tilaka on her forehead. The twelve orna-ments that beautify her are the jewel in her hair, her silver earrings, the belt on her hips, the gold locket around her neck, the gold pin in her ear, the bracelets on her wrists, her throat ornaments, the rings on her fingers, the necklace around her neck, her armbands, her jeweled anklets, and the rings on her toes.
Like Krishna, Vrindavaneshwari Radha is endowed with unlimited good qualities. Of her qualities, twenty-five are prominent: 1)madhurā [cārudarśanā] — she is sweet [she is beautiful in appearance]; 2) nava-vayā [kiśora-vayasa-viśisthā] — she is newly youthful [she is at a special adolescent age]; 3) capalā — she is restless [she has a restless glance]; 4) ujjvala-smitā[ānandamaya hāsyayuktā] — she has an effulgent smile [her smile is blissful]; 5) cārusaubhāgyera rekhāyukta [pādādite candrarekhā]— she possesses beautiful, auspicious lines on her body [her feet have moon-like markings]; 6) gandhe mādhavake unmādita karena — her fragrance drives Madhava mad; 7) sagita-vistāre abhijñā — she is fully conversant in musical composition; 8) ramya-vāk —her speech is pleasing; 9) narma-panditā — she is expert in joking; 10) vinītā — she is humble; 11) karunā-pūrna — she is full of compassion; 12) vidagdhā, caturā — she is witty; 13) pātavānvitā — she is efficient; 14) lajjā-śīlā— she is bashful; 15) sumaryādā [sādhumārgaha-ite avicalitā] — she is respectful [she acts strictly according to the religious principles of the sadhus]; 16) dhairya-śālinī — she is patient; 17) gāmbhīrya-śālinī — she is grave; 18)su-vilāsā — she is playful; 19) mahābhāva-paramotkarsatasinī — she shows symptoms of great ecstasy; 20) gokula-premavasati — she is the object of love for the residents of Gokula; 21) jagat-śrenī-sadyaśā [yāhāra yaśa anantajagate vyāpta] — her fame is spread through unlimited universes; 22) gurv-arpita-guru-sneha, guru-janera atyanta snehāspada — sheis the object of affection for elders; 23) sakhī-ganera pranayādhīna — she is dependent on the love of her gopi friends; 24) krsna-priyāvalīmukhyā — she is the chief of those most dear to Krishna; 25) santatāśrava-keśavā, keśavasarvadā tānhāra ājñādhīna — she always keeps Keshava under her control.
Bibliography
— Bhaktivinode Thakur. Śrī Caitanya-śiksāmrta. Sri Chaitanya Math. Mayapur. Bengali. Gaurabdha 420.
— Bhaktivinode Thakur. Śrī Caitanya-śiksāmrta. English translation by Sri Bhanu Swami. Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education.
— Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrta. English translation and commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Los Angeles. 1975.

Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.11.16/17

2007-09-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

The Lord's chest is the abode of the goddess of fortune. His moonlike face is the drinking vessel for eyes which hanker after all that is beautiful. His arms are the resting places for the administrative demigods. And His lotus feet are the refuge of pure devotees who never talk or sing of any subject except His Lordship.

PURPORT
There are different classes of human beings, all seeking different enjoyments from different objects. There are persons who are seeking after the favor of the goddess of fortune, and for them the Vedic literatures give information that the Lord is always served with all reverence by thousands and thousands of goddesses of fortune at the cintamani-dhama, the transcendental abode of the Lord where the trees are all desire trees and the buildings are made of touchstone. The Lord Govinda is engaged there in herding the surabhi cows as His natural occupation.
These goddesses of fortune can be seen automatically if we are attracted by the bodily features of the Lord. The impersonalists cannot observe such goddesses of fortune because of their dry speculative habit. And those who are artists, overtaken by the beautiful creation, should better see to the beautiful face of the Lord for complete satisfaction. The face of the Lord is the embodiment of beauty. What they call beautiful nature is but His smile, and what they call the sweet songs of the birds are but specimens of the whispering voice of the Lord. There are administrative demigods in charge of departmental service of cosmic management, and there are tiny administrative gods in the state service. They are always afraid of other competitors, but if they take shelter of the arms of the Lord, the Lord can protect them always from the attacks of enemies. A faithful servant of the Lord engaged in the service of administration is the ideal executive head and can well protect the interest of the people in general. Other so-called administrators are symbols of anachronisms leading to the acute distress of the people who are governed by them. The administrators can remain safely under the protection of the arms of the Lord. The essence of everything is the Supreme Lord: He is called the saram. And those who sing and talk about Him are called the sarangas, or the pure devotees. The pure devotees are always hankering after the lotus feet of the Lord. The lotus has a kind of honey which is transcendentally relished by the devotees. They are like the bees who are always after the honey. Srila Rupa Gosvami, the great devotee acarya of the Gaudiya-Vaisnava-sampradaya, has sung a song about this lotus honey, comparing himself to the bee: "O my Lord Krsna, I beg to offer my prayers unto You.
My mind is like the bee, and it is after some honey. Kindly, therefore, give my bee-mind a place at Your lotus feet, which are the resources for all transcendental honey. I know that even big demigods like Brahma do not see the rays of the nails of Your lotus feet, even though they are engaged in deep meditation for years together. Still, O infallible one, my ambition is such, for You are very merciful to your surrendered devotees. O Madhava, I know also that I have no genuine devotion for the service of Your lotus feet, but because Your Lordship is inconceivably powerful, You can do what is impossible to be done. Your lotus feet can deride even the nectar of the heavenly kingdom, and therefore I am very much attracted by them. O supreme eternal, please, therefore, let my mind be fixed at Your lotus feet so that eternally I may be able to relish the taste of Your transcendental service." The devotees are satisfied with being placed at the lotus feet of the Lord and have no ambition to see His all-beautiful face or aspire for the protection of the strong arms of the Lord. They are humble by nature, and the Lord is always leaning towards such humble devotees.

As the Lord passed along the public road of Dvaraka, His head was protected from the sunshine by a white umbrella. White feathered fans moved in semicircles, and showers of flowers fell upon the road. His yellow garments and garlands of flowers made it appear as if a dark cloud were surrounded simultaneously by sun, moon, lightning and rainbows.

PURPORT

The sun, moon, rainbow and lightning do not appear in the sky simultaneously. When there is sun, the moonlight becomes insignificant, and if there are clouds and a rainbow, there is no manifestation of lightning. The Lord's bodily hue is just like a new monsoon cloud. He is compared herein to the cloud. The white umbrella over His head is compared to the sun. The movement of the bunch-hair fan of flukes is compared to the moon. The showers of flowers are compared to the stars. His yellow garments are compared to the rainbow. So all these activities of the firmament, being impossible simultaneous factors, cannot be adjusted by comparison. The adjustment is possible only when we think of the inconceivable potency of the Lord. The Lord is all-powerful, and in His presence anything impossible can be made possible by His inconceivable energy. But the situation created at the time of His passing on the roads of Dvaraka was beautiful and could not be compared to anything besides the description of natural phenomena.

WHO IS RADHARANI?

2007-09-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

By Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada

Sri Radha is Sri Krishna’s eternal consort and the crest jewel among his lovers. There is no one as dear to Krishna as Sri Radha.
Sri Radha is not inferior to Krishna in any way. Lord Krishna himself accepts two forms, one as the enjoyer and the other as the enjoyed.

In this way he relishes eternal pastimes. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmta (ādi 4.56) states:
rādhā-ka eka ātmā, dui deha dhari’ ye vilase rasa āsvādana kari’
Radha and Krishna are one and the same, but they have assumed two bodies. Thus they enjoy each other, tasting the mellows of love.
If Sri Radhika’s beauty were not greater than the beauty of Krishna, who is overwhelmed by his own beauty, then she would not have been able to attract that most enchanting Krishna. Thus she is known as Madan-mohan-mohini. Krishna is compared to the full moon, and Radha is like his effulgence. She is also the origin of all of Krishna’s energies.
Servants do not have sufficient words to properly describe their worshipable Lord, but the worshipable Lord can describe the truth about those servants. That is why Lord Krishna alone is capable of revealing Sri Radhika’s glories to us. Another personality who can reveal the science of Sri Radha is the spiritual master, who directly serves Krishna and the daughter of Vrishabhanu and who is an intimate devotee of Sri Gaurasundar.
Lord Krishna is the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure and the origin of all beauty and transcendental qualities. He is the shelter of all opulence, heroism, and knowledge. Only he is capable of understanding Sri Radha’s greatness. What can puny human knowledge understand about her glories, or even the knowledge of liberated souls? It is impossible to describe her greatness — she whose only shelter is Krishna and who is able to enchant the most enchanting Krishna. Because of her opulence and sweetness, the whole world is bewildered.

From Amrta Vani, collected teachings of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Compiled in Bengali by Sri Bhakti Bhagavat Mayukha Maharaja. Adapted and translated into English by Bhumipati Das and Isvara Das. Touchstone Media. Mumbai. 2004. Pages 125-126.

2007-09-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Please meditate on the transcendental potency who bears the name Radha, who with a very sweet flood of limitless beauty has washed away all material dualities, who with the graceful motions of Her transcendental limbs enchants all moving and nonmoving living entities, and who with arrows of shyly smiling sweet sidelong glances wounds dark-complexioned Lord Krishna and overwhelms Him with the transformations of ecstatic love.

The Spiritual Quest

2007-09-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

By Satyaraja dasa (Steven J. Rosen)

What compels people to shave their heads, don robes, and spend their lives chanting the names of God?
Ever wonder why people become Hare Krishnas? Why do they give up all that they know and love and engage in a complete about-face? And it’s not just the Hare Krishna tradition, more technically known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism -- why do people become monks, or nuns, or cloistered ascetics of any stripe? What is it that seems to take people over, to make them change, or transform -- to search after God as if nothing else matters?
The ancient Greeks called it metanoia, which literally means “beyond thought.” It refers to that “turning around” in one’s consciousness, that “inner turnabout” that is required if one is to embrace the spiritual quest with any seriousness. In Sanskrit, too, we have a word: paravritti, which means “reversal.” Or janatagha-viplavah - “a revolution in consciousness.” Again, it refers to that upheaval in thinking that enables us to give up conventional life and to go for it -- I mean, really go for it -- where we set aside everything we once knew in favor of the Absolute Truth. When the teachings of the sages touch us on a deep level, or if our spiritual evolution is at a stage when we can no longer ignore it -- we must apply the teachings as if our lives depended on it. This is spiritual life.
Before that point, we are like villagers living in a small valley, right at the foot of a huge mountain. Having spent generations in this valley -- our fathers lived there, as did our fathers’ fathers -- we have forgotten the larger world that lies beyond our familiar surroundings. Our daily concerns, worries, and deeply embedded patterns of life have all but blinded us to the summit in our midst, even if our eyes sometimes fall upon the majestic peak just outside our village.
Sometimes we hear stories of others who have scaled the mountain, but we scarcely believe it can be done. Indeed, life is too short, and we have other things to do. Who has the time? Still, occasionally, the trials and tribulations of life make us look up and wonder: Is there more to life than this? Is this mountain perhaps more approachable than I thought? Is it worth scaling? Would I lose all that I cherish if I get sidetracked with this impossible mission? Is there a way back?
We see as we continue asking such questions how they become more pragmatic, as if deep down we want to forget the entire notion of ever really scaling the mountain.
Sometimes a crisis in life makes us forget these all-too-practical questions -- and we do in fact embark on the journey. And sometimes we’re just ready to go.
But most of us continue to live in the shadows of our valley, in the light and dark of the material world. We learn from the sages that this spiritual ignorance (avidya) is the root cause of all suffering -- of birth, death, old age, and disease. This ignorance crystallizes in false vision (mithya-drishti) -- we take the body as the self and our valley as all that is. This creates false ego (ahankara), and with it a succession of lives, bound together by all our actions, our karma,
Gradually, with the vicissitudes of time, we come to learn from our cumulative mistakes, and the great teachers in history put out hints in the ether -- teachings for those of us who want to start the long journey up the mountain. As time goes on, we develop a taste for “the correct view” -- for reality as opposed to illusion.
Still, we falter. Generations of illusion have brought us to a point of familiarity. Our plight became comfortable, and the journey, as a result, arduous. The valley is all we know.
Even once we truly commit to a path, we remain on a tottering platform -- the mind is always accepting and rejecting, causing us to be unsteady in our determination. Our emotions and inner reality do not live up to our insights -- we know what we have to do, but we don’t feel like doing it. Therefore, we practice self-restraint (virati), for the sages tell us that we must re-train ourselves.
Once we do this with some regularity, we have entered spiritual life proper. We develop a taste for letting go of material distractions, and for embracing those things that bring us closer to God. Through simple spiritual exercises -- like chanting and refraining from sinful activity -- we gradually overcome the binding force of our familiar home, and we become free from anger, pride, delusion, and greed.
This leads to our greatest challenge -- how focused is our meditation? Our minds are flickering, as already stated, and though we have come a long way, the mind’s flickering nature is difficult to overcome. The oscillating attention span of a spiritual neophyte can be a great obstacle (pramatta-samyata), powered by karmic deposits that we have all but forgotten. Inattention while chanting and compromising our spiritual discipline prove that we have yet a long way to go.
But with time, practice, and the grace of a bona fide teacher, one can make steady progress, until one is a spiritual adept. Transcendence awaits us, and our small valley appears smaller still. We wonder how we ever called it home, as we scale the mountain we were destined to climb.
In conclusion, we will never even admit to the great mount’s existence if we don’t want to look up, if we don't want to see the beautiful vista that is our birthright. Usually, it is fear that stops our gaze. We don’t want to lose all the things that hold meaning for us in the here and now. Also, the mountain seems daunting. Let’s face it -- who wants to leave their comfortable home for a seemingly endless trek up a formidable and rocky terrain? And yet there it is, staring us in the face.
So, why do people become Hare Krishnas? Take a quick glance, deep inside, and consider the possibilities. The trip is exciting and it is one that great souls have made throughout recorded history. Let us not blind ourselves to that. When we study their lives and teachings, we become more inclined to the journey -- we see that our tiny valley pales in comparison. And that at the mountain’s peak is Krishna, God -- whatever one prefers to call Him -- and that we have found our true home.

Arca Incarnation - By Shrila Prabhupada

2007-09-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

The transcendental form of the Lord installed in a temple is not different from the Lord personally. Such a form of the Lord is called arca-vigraha, or arca incarnation, and is expanded by the Lord by His internal potency just to facilitate the devotional service of His innumerable devotees who are in the material world. The material senses cannot perceive the spiritual nature of the Lord, and therefore the Lord accepts the arca-vigraha, which is apparently made of material elements like earth, wood and stone but actually there is no material contamination. The Lord being kaivalya (one alone), there is no matter in Him. He is one without a second, and therefore the Almighty Lord can appear in any form without being contaminated by the material conception. Therefore, festivities in the temple of the Lord, as held generally, are like festivals performed during the manifestive days of the Lord of Dvaraka, about five thousand years ago. The authorized acaryas, who know the science perfectly, install such temples of the Lord under regulative principles just to offer facilities to the common man, but persons who
are less intelligent, without being conversant with the science, mistake this great attempt to be idol worship and poke their nose into that to which they have no access. Therefore, the ladies or men who observe festivals in the temples of the Lord just to have a look at the transcendental form are a thousand times more glorious than those who are nonbelievers in the transcendental form of the Lord.

Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.11.13/15

2007-09-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

The city gateway, the household doors and festooned arches along the roads were all nicely decorated with festive signs like plantain trees and mango leaves, all to welcome the Lord. Flags, garlands and painted signs and slogans all combined to shade the sunshine.

PURPORT

Signs of decoration in special festivals were also collected from the gifts of nature, such as the plantain trees, the mango trees, fruits and flowers. Mango trees, coconut palms and plantain trees are still accepted as auspicious signs. The flags mentioned above were all painted with the picture of either Garuda or Hanuman, the two great servitors of the Lord. For devotees, such paintings and decorations are still adored, and the servitor of the master is paid more respects for the satisfaction of the Lord.

The highways, subways, lanes, markets and public meeting places were all thoroughly cleansed and then moistened with scented water. And to welcome the Lord, fruits, flowers and unbroken seeds were strewn everywhere.

PURPORT

Scented waters prepared by distilling flowers like rose and keora were requisitioned to wet the roads, streets and lanes of Dvaraka-dhama. Such places, along with the marketplace and public meeting places, were thoroughly cleansed. From the above description, it appears that the city of Dvarakadhama was considerably big, containing many highways, streets and public meeting places with parks, gardens and reservoirs of water, all very nicely decorated with flowers and fruits. And to welcome the Lord such flowers and fruits with unbroken seeds of grain were also strewn over the public places. Unbroken seeds of grain or fruits in the seedling stage were considered auspicious, and they are still so used by the Hindus in general on festival days.

In each and every door of the residential houses, auspicious things like curd, unbroken fruits, sugarcane and full waterpots with articles for worship, incense and candles were all displayed.
PURPORT
The process of reception according to Vedic rites is not at all dry.
The reception was made not simply by decorating the roads and streets as above mentioned, but by worshiping the Lord with requisite ingredients like incense, lamps, flowers, sweets, fruits and other palatable eatables, according to one's capacity. All were offered to the Lord, and the remnants of the foodstuff were distributed amongst the gathering citizens. So it was not like a dry reception of these modern days. Each and every house was ready to receive the Lord in a similar way, and thus each and every house on the roads and streets distributed such remnants of food to the citizens, and therefore the festival was successful.
Without distribution of food, no function is complete, and that is the way of Vedic culture.

Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.11.12- By Shrila Prabhupada

2007-09-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

The city of Dvarakapuri was filled with the opulences of all seasons. There were hermitages, orchards, flower gardens, parks and reservoirs of water breeding lotus flowers all over.
PURPORT
Perfection of human civilization is made possible by utilizing the gifts of nature in their own way. As we find herewith in the description of its opulence, Dvaraka was surrounded by flower gardens and fruit orchards along with reservoirs of water and growing lotuses. There is no mention of mills and factories supported by slaughterhouses, which are the necessary paraphernalia of the modern metropolis. The propensity to utilize nature's own gifts is still there, even in the heart of modern civilized man. The leaders of modern civilization select their own residential quarters in a place where there are such naturally beautiful gardens and reservoirs of water, but they leave the common men to reside in congested areas without parks and gardens. Herein of course we find a different description of the city of Dvaraka. It is understood that the whole dhama, or residential quarter, was surrounded by such gardens and parks with reservoirs of water where lotuses grew. It is understood that all the people depended on nature's gifts of fruits and flowers without industrial enterprises promoting filthy huts and slums for residential quarters. Advancement of civilization is estimated not on the growth of mills and factories to deteriorate the finer instincts of the human being, but on developing the potent spiritual instincts of human beings and giving them a chance to go back to Godhead. Development of factories and mills is called ugra-karma, or pungent activities, and such activities deteriorate the finer sentiments of the human being and society to form a dungeon of demons.
We find herein the mention of pious trees which produce seasonal flowers and fruits. The impious trees are useless jungles only, and they can only be used to supply fuels. In the modern civilization such impious trees are planted on the sides of roads. Human energy should be properly utilized in developing the finer senses for spiritual understanding, in which lies the solution of life. Fruits, flowers, beautiful gardens, parks and reservoirs of water with ducks and swans playing in the midst of lotus flowers, and cows giving sufficient milk and butter are essential for developing the finer tissues of the human body. As against this, the dungeons of mines, factories and workshops develop demoniac propensities in the working class. The vested interests flourish at the cost of the working class, and consequently there are severe clashes between them in so many ways. The description of Dvaraka-dhama is the ideal of human civilization.

Second Annual Conference on the Convergence of Science and Spirituality

2007-09-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
The Bhaktivedanta Institute is pleased to announce that the Second Annual Conference on the Convergence of Science and Spirituality will be held at the Iliff School of Theology, in Denver Colorado, on the 29th of September, 2007.
Renowned theologian Matt Fox will headline a group of exciting speakers. He is well known for his work on Creation Spirituality, which emphasizes the original blessing, rather than the original sin, of Catholic teachings. Dr. Fox draws alot of inspiration from Vedic texts for his work, especially with regards to the various levels of consciousness and realization.
Also speaking are Dr. Hector Rosario ( Ananatha ram dasa ) who, in his paper, will bridge the mathematician Godel's ontological arguments with the Vaishnava philosophical framework.
Dr. J.N. Srivastava, longtime supporter of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, will present a paper which is based on a scientific exploration on the nature of reality, which includes both Quantum reality and the realm of pure ideas.
Other speakers include Dr. Vic Mansfield, astrophysicist and Buddhist Scholar; Biofield pioneer Dr.Beverly Rubik; Dr. Larry Goldberg, quantum philosopher; Dr.David Trickett, Methodist minister and president of the Iliff School ofTheology, and Dr. Frank Kaufmann of the Interreligious Federation for World Peace.
We invite those who are able to, to please attend this Conference. Dr. T.D.Singh ( Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami ) was the inspiration for this annual conference, and this year, the Conference is to be held in his honor. Apresentation of his works and his mission will be a highlight of this Conference.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Mohan Ashtakala (Hari mohan dasa) mohan@binstitute.org

Shri Shri Radha Madhava - Mayapur Dhama

2007-09-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Krsna Battles Vyomasura - By Shrila Prabhupada

2007-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

"Later that morning Krsna went to play with His cowherd boyfriends on the top of the Govardhana Hill. They were imitating the play of thieves and police. Some of the boys became police constables, and some became thieves, and some took the role of lambs.
While they were thus enjoying their childhood pastimes, a demon known by the name of Vyomasura, "the demon who flies in the sky," appeared on the scene. He was the son of another great demon named Maya. These demons can perform wonderful magic. Vyomasura took the part of a cowherd boy playing as a thief and stole many boys who were playing the parts of lambs. One after another he took away almost all the boys and put them in the caves of the mountain and sealed the mouths of the caves with stones. Krsna could understand the trick the demon was playing; therefore He caught hold of him exactly as a lion catches hold of a lamb.
The demon tried to expand himself like a hill to escape arrest, but Krsna did not allow him to get out of His clutches. He was immediately thrown on the ground with great force and killed, just as an animal is killed in the slaughterhouse. After killing the Vyoma demon, Lord Krsna released all His friends from the caves of the mountain. He was then praised by His friends and the demigods for these wonderful acts. He again returned to Vrndavana with His cows and friends."

The control of the Lord is Everywhere

2007-09-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

The control of the Lord is everywhere, and if the Lord is pleased, every part of nature will be pleased. The river will flow profusely to fertilize the land; the oceans will supply sufficient quantities of minerals, pearls and jewels; the forest will supply sufficient wood, drugs and vegetables, and the seasonal changes will effectively help produce fruits and flowers in profuse quantity. The artificial way of living depending on factories and tools can render socalled happiness only to a limited number at the cost of millions. Since the energy of the mass of people is engaged in factory production, the natural products are being hampered, and for this the mass is unhappy.
Without being educated properly, the mass of people are following in the footsteps of the vested interests by exploiting natural reserves, and therefore there is acute competition between individual and individual and nation and nation. There is no control by the trained agent of the Lord.

Satan's Philosophy

To be nonviolent to human beings and to be a killer or enemy of the poor animals is Satan's philosophy. In this age there is enmity toward poor animals, and therefore the poor creatures are always anxious. The reaction of the poor animals is being forced on human society, and therefore there is always the strain of cold or hot war between men, individually, collectively or nationally.

The Constitutional Position

The living being's constitutional position is one of serving a superior. He is obliged to serve by force the dictates of illusory material energy in different phases of sense gratification. And in serving the senses he is never tired. Even though he may be tired, the illusory energy perpetually forces him to do so without being satisfied.
There is no end to such sense gratificatory business, and the conditioned soul becomes entangled in such servitude without hope of release. The release is only effected by association with pure devotees. By such association one is gradually promoted to his transcendental consciousness. Thus he can know that his eternal position is to render service unto the Lord and not to the perverted senses in the capacity of lust, anger, desire to lord it over, etc. Material society, friendship and love are all different phases of lust. Home, country, family, society, wealth and all sorts of corollaries are all causes of bondage in the material world, where the threefold miseries of life are concomitant factors. By associating with pure devotees and by hearing them submissively, attachment for material enjoyment becomes slackened, and attraction for hearing about the transcendental activities of the Lord becomes prominent. Once they are, they will go on progressively without stoppage, like fire in gunpowder. It is said that Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is so transcendentally attractive that even those who are self-satisfied by self-realization and are factually liberated from all material bondage also become devotees of the Lord.

Krishna, the All Attractive

Krsna is naturally attractive for all living beings because He is the chief eternal amongst all eternals. He alone is the maintainer of the many eternals. This is stated in the Katha Upanisad, and thus one can obtain permanent peace and prosperity by revival of one's eternal relation with Him, now forgotten under the spell of maya, the illusory energy of the Lord. Once this relation is slightly revived, the conditioned soul at once becomes freed from the illusion of material energy and becomes mad after the association of the Lord. This association is made possible not only by personal contact with the Lord, but also by association with His name, fame, form and quality.

By Srila Prabhupada

2007-09-05T17:40:00.001-07:00

Sri Gopaladevashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Gopaladeva
by Visvanath Chakravarti Thakura

Text 1

May Srila Gopaladeva, whose heart is charming and gentle, for whom pure love is the only wealth, who wears garments and made by His devotees, who is splendidly handsome, and who wears many kinds of jewel ornaments, eternally appear in my heart.

Text 2

May Srila Gopaladeva, who virtues and handsomeness have no equal, who is the king of all sweetness, who is served by all bodily splendor, whose face is praised by millions of moons, whose smile defeats nectar, and whose eyebrows playfully dance, appear in my heart.

Text 3

May Srila Gopaladeva, who is the abode of all ever-fresh opulence and auspiciousness, whose left hand rests on His waist, who possesses handsomeness multiplied millions of times, who protects His devotees, and who expertly increases their love for Him, appear in my heart.

Text 4

May Srila Gopaladeva, whose sidelong glances gradually increase His devotees' love, whose knowing smile announces His nectar pastimes, who remembers the Kamadeva-yajna, and who is a lake where the swans of pure love play, appear in my heart.

Text 5

May Srila Gopaladeva, the three lines on whose charming waist, created from looseness and slight chubbiness, are like the mark of Kamadeva, appear in my heart.

Text 6

May Srila Gopaladeva, who showers transcendental bliss, who shares lunch with His friends, who gives them Govardhana Hill, the crest-jewel of mountains, and who shines with friendship for Sridama, appear in my heart.

Text 7

May Srila Gopaladeva, who with devotional potency placed loving devotional service in the pure heart of Madhavendra Puri, appear in my heart.

Text 8

Even today sweet loving service to Srila Gopaladeva may be seen at every moment. What saintly devotee can count the many offerings made to Him? May Srila Gopaladeva appear in my heart.

Text 9

May Srila Gopaladeva appear in the heart of the pure-hearted devotee who, living either at home or in the forest, remembers Him by chanting, either in the day or night, these eight verses glorifying the Deity of Govardhana Hill.

Sri Madana-Gopaladevashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Madana-Gopaladeva

Text 1

O Madana Gopala, please place Your lotus feet, which are marked with a thunderbolt, lotus, conchshell, waterpot and fish, which eclipse all splendors, and which with soft soles have conquered Vrindavana Forest, in my heart. Please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 2

With every step splendid garlands of the cooling moonlight of Your toenail-moons and the words of Your talkative anklets bring happiness to the path of my ears, eyes, and breath. O Madana Gopala, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 3

O Madana Gopala, as You plunge me in the sweetness of the glittering golden earrings at Your cheeks, in the tilt of Your jeweled crown, and in the handsomeness of Your expertly moving restless eyes, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 4

You place a flute on the red of Your lips, which are worshiped by the splendor of Your smile and decorated with the effulgence of teeth that defeat the splendor of rubies. O Madana Gopala, whose pastimes cannot be understood by the people, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 5

You are splendid with golden earrings, many necklaces and garlands, dancing anklets and bracelets, and many other jewel ornaments, which are themselves decorated by the splendor of Your form. O Madana Gopala, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 6

O Madana Gopala, with Your merciful glances, which are arbors of millions of celestial desire-trees, with the new blossoms of the splendor of Your face, which eclipses millions of moons, and with the kandala flowers of Your hands, which have nails to attack millions of Kamadevas, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 7

O Madana Gopala, who appeared in a humanlike form and was served by Siva and all the demigods, O merciful one, who showed the Earth eternal spiritual love, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 8

On the Yamuna's shore is shady kadamba grove and a glorious jewel palace where You eternally play with Radha and Lalita. O Madana Gopala, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Text 9

Into the nectar lake of love for Your lotus feet You quickly plunge a sincere devotee who reads these eight nectar verses glorifying You. O Madana Gopala, please protect me, for I am now Your home.

Sri Govindadevashtaka Eight Verses Glorifying Sri Govindadeva

Text 1

May Sri Govindadeva, who enchants the eyes of all living entities with the graceful tilt of the peacock feather in His golden crown shining with pearls and jewels, be my shelter.

Text 2

May Sri Govindadeva, who enchants the devotees' hearts with His cheeks kissed by the splendor of His smile and the dancing of His earrings, be my shelter.

Text 3

May Sri Govindadeva who, by glancing at His beloved to attain the nectar of Her sidelong glance, arouses the love of all the demigoddesses, be my shelter.

Text 4

May Sri Govindadeva, who maddens the pious gopis with the graceful movements of His eyebrows, which are sprinkled by the beauty of His moving locks of hair, splendid earrings, and His cheek placed on His left shoulder, be my shelter.

Text 5

From far away blocking their ears with the music of His flute and their noses with the sweet fragrance of His body, He enters the gopis hearts and pulls them to Him. May Sri Govindadeva be my shelter.

Text 6

With the weight of His youthful handsomeness and the flooding ocean of His spiritual love, He fills the devotees on earth with wonder. May Sri Govindadeva be my shelter.

Text 7

Chanting mantras, the great devotees learned in the scriptures worship Him as He sits on a spiritual lotus flower in a jewel palace beneath a grove of desire trees. May Sri Govindadeva be my shelter.

Text 8

Handsome as Kamadeva and dressed and ornamented as if for a coronation, He enchants the inhabitants of the three worlds with the splendor of His body. May Sri Govindadeva be my shelter.

Text 9

Sri Govindadeva plunges in the flowing river of His mercy one who reads aloud this Govindadevashtaka, his mind meditating on the Lord's lotus feet. May Sri Govindadadeva be my shelter.

Sri Gopinathadevashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Gopinatha

Text 1

On His mouth is a smile. In that smile is nectar. In that nectar is a flute, and in that flute is a nectar ocean of music. Gopinatha plunges the gopis in the waves of that ocean. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 2

With the movement of the peacock feather in His red crown splendid with pearls and peacock feathers, He robs the jewels of the activities of our hearts and eyes. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 3

The splendor of His broad thighs embraces His yellow dhoti. Glistening bells decorate His hips. A gopi kisses His left shoulder. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 4

He wears yellow garments. Necklaces of flowers, gold, jewels, pearls and gunja decorate His neck. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 5

He wears a white crown, white ornaments, and two or three splendid white garlands. His fame and purity are splendid and white. At the auspicious morning and evening aratis He kisses our heart. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 6

He is handsome. He is decorated with the four marks of srivatsa, sri, kaustubha, and hairs standing erect in ecstasy. The fortunate devotees gaze on Him with pure love. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 7

Is He a dark tamala tree surrounded by a golden vine? Is He a dark cloud with blazing lightning at both His sides, or is He a dark moon in the midst of two radha-stars? Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives. Note: One of the 27 celebrated stars is named radha.

Text 8

He is a personified Ganges of pure love. He shows mercy to the poor and the shelterless and nourishes them with the nectar remnants of His meals, which cannot be attained even by the demigods. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Text 9

Gopinatha does not see millions of sins of one who, carefully nourishing love for His lotus feet, reads this Gopinathashtaka with a happy heart. Broad-chested Gopinatha is the goal of our lives.

Sri Gokulananda-Govindadevashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Gokulananda-Govindadeva

Text 1

Flooding the world with of the nectar of Your handsomeness, a million times You drown the happinesses of material love and at every moment increase the devotees thirst to see You with their eyes. O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 2

Your handsomeness rebukes the blue lotus. The goddess of fortune performed severe austerities to attain a fragment of the good fortune of the gopis, who easily attained Your fragrance. O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 3

The tala-raga and other melodies sung by Your voice and flute shine in the ear. What is nectar in comparison? What is impersonal Brahman? What is the happiness of Vaikuntha? O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 4

Their breasts plunged into nectar by the touch of Your feet, the gopis attain a good fortune much greater than the goddess of fortune's. The sound of the dundubhi drums of Your fame conquers all. O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 5

Brahma, Siva, and the other demigods taste the remnants of Your meals. They do not find nectar in the remnants from any other lips. O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 6

Everyone proclaims that the all-attractive nectar of Your pastimes is sweeter than the impersonal Brahman. Vyasa's son Sukadeva Gosvami is a testament to this. O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You.

Text 7

Your six wonderful opulences delight the hearts of the saintly devotees who meditate on them. O Lord, O ocean of nectar, O Govinda, O Gokulananda, I bow down before You millions of times.

Text 8

May he who regularly reads this Gokulananda-Govindadevastaka and yearns to attain pure love and service for Your feet find his desire to plunge his heart in the ocean of Your sweetness fulfilled.

Sri Svayam-Bhagavattashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying the Master of Six Opulences

Text 1

May Nanda's son, who is full of six opulences, who from His very birth was supremely (1) opulent, who displayed supreme (2) strength by killing a multitude of demons, who became supremely (3) famous by protecting Arjuna, who manifested supreme (4) wealth at Dvaraka, the capitol of the Yadus, who spoke supreme transcendental (5) knowledge to Arjuna, and who exhibited supreme (6) renunciation in the Yadus' fratricidal war, be pleased with me.

Text 2

May Nanda's son, who is full of great opulences, who at the time of His birth had a four-armed form, who once ate clay, who revealed millions of universes within His mouth, who broke a yogurt pot, and who displayed numberless transcendental forms to Brahma, be pleased with me.

Text 3

He employed the strength of His two lips on Putana, the strength of His arms on Kesi and Nriga, the strength of His feet on Kaliya, the strength of His body on Kamsa and Trinavarta, and the strength of His weapons on Banasura and other demons. May Nanda's son, who possesses all strength, be pleased with me.

Text 4

He possesses all fame because He gives liberation to His enemies, because although He took birth in human society, He defeated Siva and the other demigods, because He is submissive to the humble devotees who offer obeisances to Him, because He gave a benediction to Draupadi in the assembly, and because He was lavishly worshiped in the Rajasuya sacrifice. May Nanda's son be pleased with me.

Text 5

He has numberless gopis in Vraja, numberless queens and sons in Dvaraka, parijata trees, the sudharma assembly house, and other opulences, Outside His door Brahma and the demigods offer prayers and bring gifts. May Nanda's son, who possesses all wealth, be pleased with me.

Text 6

He gave to a dear friend the jewel Bhagavad-gita, which has no equal in the world. With love He gave to Uddhava the ultimate truth of the Vedas. He gave to the saintly gopis, who thought Him more dear than life, the knowledge of the sweetest nectar. May Nanda's son, who possesses all knowledge, be pleased with me.

Text 7

He brought an offensive hunter to Vaikuntha in his own body. He abandoned His own proud relatives, even though the sruti declares that they were already liberated and had eternal spiritual bodies. May Nanda's son, who possesses all renunciation, be pleased with me.

Text 8

Although He is unborn, He takes birth. Although He is affectionate, He is aloof from everything. Although He enjoys pastimes, He is inactive. He is both all-pervading and limited. He possesses and does not possess ego and possessiveness. May Nanda's son, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of all opulences, be pleased with me.

Text 9

He who serves this Bhagavattashtaka, which is an excellent medicine to remove the hundred fevers of doubt, and becomes overwhelmed with happiness by tasting in his mind the sweetness of the Lord's opulences, enters the path that leads to the Lord's personal association.

Sri Jagan-mohanashtaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Jagan-mohana

Text 1

On His crown of gunja and colorful flowers a peacock feather moves to and fro. He wears handsome gorocana tilaka. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 2

Gopis maddened by the movements of His eyebrows pierce His eyes with arrows of sidelong glances. The tip of His nose is decorated with a splendid jewel and a beautiful pearl. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 3

The splendor of His moving locks of curly hair kisses the charming smile on His cheeks. The tips of His swaying earrings touch His handsome shoulders. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 4

His neck tilted, He holds a glistening flute to His bent lips, which rebuke the splendor of the bimba fruit and bandhuka flower. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 5

Three lines clearly mark His splendid neck as He sings melodies delightful to the ear. His chest is decorated with a glittering Kaustubha jewel, and His shoulders are broad. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 6

Reaching to His knees, and decorated with glistening bracelets and armlets, His handsome, bending arms are like Kamadeva's great wooden bolts. He is decorated with garlands of priceless pearls, jewels and flowers. I bow down before Jagan- mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 7

Marked with a charming line of hairs, His abdomen is like a banyan leaf that moves as He breathes. He is dressed in yellow garments, and His ankle-bells tinkle melodiously. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 8

Decorated with jewel anklets, one foot is placed behind the other. His complexion is dark. His form bends in three places. He enjoys pastimes with Sri Radha under a desire tree. I bow down before Jagan-mohana, the Lord whom I worship.

Text 9
May he who by reading these eight verses remembers Srimaan Jagan-mohana-deva attain pure love of God. May he become plunged into the nectar of direct service to the Lord's feet.

Anuraga-valli The Vine of Love

Text 1

Please give me millions of bodies and millions of mouths in each body. By Your mercy place millions of tongues in each mouth. O Lord, may Your millions of transcendental qualities dance on those tongues.

Text 2

What is the use of a soul that does not have millions of bodies? What is the use of a body that does not have millions of mouths? What is the use of a mouth that does not have millions of tongues? What is the use of a tongue that does not chant Your millions of names?

Text 3

O Lord, may I perpetually have hundreds of bodies, and may each body have thousands of mouths. May each mouth have millions of tongues, and may each tongue chant millions of Your Holy Names.

Text 4

O Madhava, whenever, wherever, or whoever chants Your names and pastimes, there may I with millions of ears eternally drink Your nectar.

Text 5

May I have millions of ears and millions upon millions of tongues. Then, O Lord, I will eternally and happily hear and chant Your pastimes

Text 6
May I have millions of ears, millions of eyes, millions of hearts and minds, and millions of tongues. Hearing about, seeing, and embracing the ocean of Your handsomeness, I will drink its sweetness.

Text 7

May I have millions of eyes, ears, noses, tongues and chests, so that I may continually taste the nectar of Your handsomeness, Your sweet sounds, sweet fragrance, and Your embrace.

Text 8

May I have millions of feet to go to Your side. May I have millions of hands to serve You. May I have millions of intelligences to teach that service. O Lord, please grant me these boons.