Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan das

When Krishna thrusts his mercy, inconceivably (Reflections on the departure of Vaishnava Seva Prabhu’s father)
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Vaishnava Seva Prabhu’s father, Shriman C K Shah, left his body on 17-7-17 at 11.03 pm. The day coincided with the disappearance day of Srila Loknath Dasa Goswami and the Brahmotsava of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath.

The auspicious moment of departure

Three years ago, he had started developing dementia. And four months ago, his left side had been paralyzed, which had left him mostly bed-ridden and semi-conscious. He had been on the border of life and death, with no hope of recovery and with the possibility of passing over at any moment.

Thankfully, when that moment came, his family was around him. Vaishnava Seva Prabhu had very much wanted to be by his father’s side during his last moments. He had been concerned that if that time came during the day when he was in surgery, he wouldn’t be able to leave the operation theater with the surgery half-done. And if that moment came at night when he and his wife, Kalindi Mataji, were asleep, then too his father would depart alone. Wanting to prevent that eventuality, he would wake up several times each night just to check his father’s condition.

Fortunately, that moment came when both he and Kalindi Mataji were at home. On the night of 17th July, after Vaishnava Seva Prabhu finished his dinner prasad at around 10.45 pm, he got an intuition that something was wrong. He noticed that his father’s breathing had become slower and more strained than usual. He immediately called Kalindi Mataji and she found that his pulse had gone down to an all-time low. Sensing that the end was near, they both started chanting intensely. Despite being paralyzed, his father, on hearing the kirtan, started moving his leg gently in response to the singing – he had a habit of doing that while hearing kirtans. Slowly, the movement of the leg decreased. And within the next seven minutes, he breathed his last, with the sound of the holy names in his ears.

In addition to the time of departure, even the day of departure had worked out wonderfully. For several months, Kalindi Mataji had been reading scripture to him every night. She had completed reading the full Bhagavad-gita a few days ago and had thereafter started reading the Bhagavatam. Just that very night, she had read the Bhagavatam chapter about Kunti’s prayers, repeating the celebrated namo pankaj nabhaya … (1.8.22) verse thrice in his ears. After completing that chapter, she had started reading the next chapter about Bhishma’s departure. As this chapter describes the ideal way to depart, Shri Shah’s hearing that chapter on his last night was a special blessing.

The buildup to the auspicious departure

Not only was the moment of departure divinely orchestrated, so were the preceding events that laid the setting for this moment.

For many years, Shri Shah had been averse to even visit Vaishnava Seva P’s house, leave alone stay there. Like most fathers, he had had great dreams for his son. When Vaishnava Seva Prabhu had started practicing bhakti, his father had […]

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Even after practicing bhakti, we explode at people who irritate us – what can we do?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/07-17%20QA/Even%20after%20practicing%20bhakti,%20we%20explode%20at%20people%20who%20irritate%20us%20-%20what%20can%20we%20do.mp3

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Can you explain some section of scripture that we can’t easily understand?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/07-17%20QA/Can%20you%20explain%20some%20section%20of%20scripture%20that%20we%20can’t%20easily%20understand.mp3

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Spiritualizing our relationships 4 – Accept yourself to relate better with others
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[Phone talk to everydaychant.com online sanga]

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/07-17%20classes/Spiritualizing%20our%20relationships%204%20-%20Accept%20yourself%20to%20relate%20better%20with%20others.mp3

 

 

Podcast Summary

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/07-17%20classes/Summary%20-%20Spiritualizing%20our%20relationships%204%20-%20Accept%20yourself%20to%20relate%20better%20with%20others.mp3

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The relief of turning away from the social mirror
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How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young – or slender.

 –  William James

While navigating through life’s inevitable challenges, we often increase our burdens by uncritically accepting prevailing definitions of success as our life’s goals. One incessantly glamorized success-definer is an ideal figure, which nowadays means a young, slender figure.

Of course, we need to be healthy, and we would like to look good. But when looking good becomes an obsession, we subject ourselves to unnecessary torment. We adopt dubious dieting fads, swallow ‘fat-cutting’ magic pills and potions or undergo extreme exercise routines. Our mood goes up and down in inverse proportion to the reading on our weighing machine. Obsession with the ideal figure sentences us to hours and years of agitation and dissatisfaction.

To prevent such torment, we need to protect our self-conception from becoming distorted by the social mirror. After all, the social mirror is fickle – what figure is considered ideal varies according to cultural and historical conceptions of beauty. Not many generations ago, several parts of the world considered a moderately plump figure attractive, for it indicated prosperity; a thin figure indicated poverty and was considered not so-attractive.

Someone may argue, “But today’s social mirror is what matters for me.” Yes, and we can work to improve our figure as needed. But we needn’t let it become an obsession. We need the confidence that we are at our core far better than the reflection shown by the social mirror.

Such confidence comes naturally when we cultivate spiritual knowledge. Wisdom-texts such as the Bhagavad-gita explain that we are eternal souls, different from our physical bodies. As we are eternal parts of the all-attractive whole, God, Krishna, we partake of the attractiveness of the whole. Presently, we can seek to increase our attractiveness in two ways – by working outwards to improve our looks or by working inwards to excavate our soul’s attractiveness. Working outwards gives at best ephemeral results. Bodily looks come with an expiry date, which can’t be extended much. In a materialistic culture, old people are frequently considered unattractive, unwelcome and unworthy. Hence, the fervent attempts of many senior citizens to look younger using hair-dyes and face-lifts. But it doesn’t work – even with the best of technology, the body’s degeneration remains unstoppable.

In contrast, working inwards to manifest our soul’s attractiveness yields enduring results. Recognizing that we are souls and that our bodies are our vehicles, we focus less on how the vehicle looks and more on where we are going with the vehicle. When we live with spiritual purpose, we find inner contentment through our fulfilling inner connection with Krishna. Whatever our looks or age, spiritual knowledge paves our way to inner security and satisfaction. Thus breaking free from the compulsion to look good in the social mirror, we feel liberated – liberated to be ourselves. The Bhagavad-gita (13.10) indicates that knowledgeable people refuse to get carried away by the opinions of the masses.

When we accept ourselves for what we are, we […]

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As science fiction movies show robots with emotions, can’t scientific progress imbue robots with consciousness?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/07-17%20QA/As%20science%20fiction%20movies%20show%20robots%20with%20emotions,%20can’t%20scientific%20progress%20imbue%20robots%20with%20consciousness.mp3

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If impulses can be controlled, why can’t instincts be controlled?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/07-17%20QA/If%20impulses%20can%20be%20controlled,%20why%20can’t%20instincts%20be%20controlled.mp3

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After practicing bhakti for many years, our enthusiasm goes down and we just go through the motions – how can we know whether we are actually going towards Krishna?
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Answer Podcast

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Suppose Krishna desires me to win a race, but I decide to not participate – what happens?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/07-17%20QA/Suppose%20Krishna%20desires%20me%20to%20win%20a%20race,%20but%20I%20decide%20to%20not%20participate%20-%20what%20happens.mp3

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