Hare Krishna! Who Are All These People? And What Kind of…
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Hare Krishna! Who Are All These People? And What Kind of Monotheism Is This Anyway?
Rukmini Devi Dasi: Do you sometimes come to the temple and wonder about who are all these figures on the altar? Is this some kind of idol worship? Are we not supposed to ask? And we hear that Bhakti is a monotheistic tradition: How is that, when there are eight different figures on the altar? If you were raised in a tradition different from Bhakti, (and most of us were…) this kind of worship is likely to feel a bit foreign or even uncomfortable to you. Rukmini Walker will try to unpack how the Bhakti tradition itself explains this important core practice, as given by our line of teachers.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19703

Union
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

The genuine spiritual realization, which is to be found on a much higher level than that of religiousness, is the experience of a fulfilled soul, of a sage, of an enlightened person who, precisely for being wise, sees the creation, the creatures and the Creator simultaneously and as an integrated unity. For this reason the service he offers to the Creator works automatically also for the well-being of the creatures and of the creation as a whole.
The philosophical concept of ahimsa, non-violence, obviously is not to be limited to human beings, as the respect for life includes all living entities and the creation itself.
The research for spiritual realization, for the highest self, focal point of the personality, corresponds to the discovery of God and to a loving relationship with Him.
When we are placed out of our centre, not only we vanish as an identity, but even God disappears, and it is only when we find again God that we find again ourselves, inconceivably two and One at the same time.

Matsyavatara das

Jammu and Kashmir High Court bans sale of Beef in the state On…
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Jammu and Kashmir High Court bans sale of Beef in the state
On Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir High Court imposed ban on sale of beef in the state. A Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal today banned sale of beef in Jammu and Kashmir.
The ban came after a Public Interest Litigation against cow slaughter filed by Advocate Parimoksh Seth. The PIL said that slaughtering or killing of bovine animals were an offence punishable under Section 298-A and possession of such slaughtered animal an act punishable under Section 298-B of the RPC.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/HGI9Mv

Worship of the spiritual master: Part 2
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 August 2015, Vrindavan, India, Bhagavad Gita 17.1)

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Srila Prabhupada said that surrender means to surrender to all the little things; to all the small things. It is not just one big surrender, “Krsna, I am offering you my life!!”

We can make a very dramatic announcement but the reality is that it is in the little things that we do not surrender. The little things matter! Therefore worship of the spiritual master goes beyond offering flowers or incense. It is in every action that we worship the spiritual master. Every action of our life is an action of worship.

 

Hare Krishna! Appreciating Sankirtan Prabhu’s frontline literary…
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Hare Krishna! Appreciating Sankirtan Prabhu’s frontline literary outreach
Chaitanya Charan das: The feature that struck me most about his writing was what could be called its inter-disciplinary scope. He brought bhakti wisdom into a mature dialogue with the yoga tradition in his book Bhakti-Yoga Pilgrimage and with contemporary psychology in his other writings. Drawing pertinent points eclectically to address various current concerns, he then insightfully illumined the underlying issues with the light of aptly distilled devotional insights. Overall, he was one of the pioneers in our movement in striving to penetrate the huge and largely untapped self-help genre of writing. With a heavy heart at the departure of a fellow author and friend, I seek his blessings for continuing in my own small way the literary legacy of our tradition.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19700

Hare Krishna! From Kibbutz To Krishna One evening in 1978 Dorit…
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Hare Krishna! From Kibbutz To Krishna
One evening in 1978 Dorit and her husband saw a television program featuring Murari Chaitanya Das, a Hare Krishna devotee who had just become the ping pong champion of Israel. He was openly speaking about his experience of Krsna consciousness and Dorit was impressed. On the beach the next morning her husband saw a Hare Krishna devotee and stopped him, thinking him to be Murari Chaitanya. The devotee, Locanananda, told him that their spiritual leader was presently visiting Israel and invited him to come to a public program where the guru would speak. So they went, and Dorit listened attentively. The guru’s words inspired her to start practicing Krsna consciousness. Her husband went along with it.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19696

Thursday, September 3rd, 2015
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Thursday, September 3rd, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

For Granted

The couple from South Africa were quite amazed by the no boundaries neighbourhood yards. There are little or no fences, walls, or gates to demark one’s territory or there’s no barbed wire or the likes or foreboding broken glass to keep intruders out. This enthrals them. We take this very much for granted in our free world here in most of North America.

Now don’t get me wrong. South Africa’s a great country. I go there every year, yet segregation of sorts persists there.

Another thing that has excited Tamohara and Merumala, the couple, is the fact that the guru of our world community, Iskcon, had not only visited the very building that they are staying in but he, Srila Prabhupada, was also the negotiator involved in the purchase of this building. He also spent some time in our temple and ashram for a three to four day stay back in ’76. In fact, he slept in the room where I now sleep. I take it so much for granted. He planted his, as we say, lotus feet on the floor of the quarters where I reside and rested his body and conducted conversations in the very space that I pace, sit in and lie in. Oh, wretched me, how is it that I cannot appreciate this enough?

After our walk, with the keen observances made by Tamohara and Merumala about home and properties and the way we live here in North America, we had a sit down in our guru’s quarters. They were clicking away with their camera at all they considered novel. For instance, the table off of which he ate and the bed that he slept on are both still here and are intact.

Finally, one thing that really struck the two happened at the tail end of our walk when we came to a street light, which over there in South Africa is called a ‘robot’ (pronounced with a strong rolling ‘R’). A bus driver stopped at that juncture, he opened the door of the bus and wished us a ‘good one’. He then took the intercom phone in his vehicle and sang a bhajan. The couple was astounded, “Is everybody in Canada this friendly?” Anyways, did the bus driver impress us? Yes, he did. Was he feeling good? Yes, he was. I wish I had his enthusiasm.

 
May the Source be with you!

5 km

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015
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Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

Humid

Dense moisture hung in the air. It decided to spill heavily in the form of rain and just when one of our visiting monks was departing. Navayogendra Swami hails from Northern Indiaand makes his pilgrimage here, jet-setting (no criticism implied here). Yes, he had put Toronto on his itinerary before leaving for Vancouver.

The downpour came, but for five minutes or less, and as the swami was leaving a young couple from South Africa arrived – Tamohara and fiancé, Merumala. They are trying out ashram living for a week in a place new to them – Canada. They’ve also come to see me and this is one of the reasons for grounding myself for the week.

Welcome to Canada!

Humidity persisted, even into the night, and there was no way I was going to sleep easy. It meant a trek down any old wayward street. I decided on the ancient trail, Davenport. Here, indigenous folks did tread but it hardly looks like the days of yore. It is now a so-called ‘developed’ area. From there I moved onto Yonge Street which is also very built up.

I was my usual self, calm, robed, and with japameditation beads in hand (the right one) going southbound. Groups of people passed by me, mostly youthful ones. One group of lads ‘from the burbs’ I thought, walked by me but one with a baseball cap stopped in front reminding me of Krishna merely by his stance. No, he did not take the iconic three-fold bending form that Krishna is known for, rather, he stood before me in pranam format, that is, hands folded together. It was Shrey, the son of my secretary, a pious young teenager, who like many of his friends with a Krishna background, gives me a reminder of the Supreme.

Thanks for that, Shrey.

Immediately I thought, "Do you know where your children are?" thinking about the parents. But Shrey is quite old enough. He mentioned he just came from the game. The city’s baseball team, the Blue Jays, are having a great season so there’s a bit of a hype in the air. Anyways, it was a pleasant surprise and that little incident was worth the experience on this humid night.

 

May the Source be with you!

6 km

Tuesday, September 1st, 2015
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Tuesday, September 1st, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

The Learning Theme of the Day
 
We had looked at 'The Gita' this morning from the perspective of seeing the nature of nature. In Chapter Two we were reminded of the ups and downs of life. You learn tolerance from it.

At noon I heard a bit of shouting coming from the temple's foyer. It was two women in a disagreement. "By golly," I thought, "this shouldn't happen in a temple." Yet it does from time to time. A little lack of tolerance perhaps. If I allow for a cool-down period and if I'm given the strength and courage, I dare shoot for making peace between the two as early as tomorrow.

In the evening Nick and I hit a trail with lots of ups and downs. I took the lead as we moved through the ways of the ravine. The intention was to bear the slight inconvenience of the upward and downward mobility. Tolerance, we were imposing it on ourselves.

Both Nick and I had learned of three excellent plum trees. They are rather tucked away from the view of most hikers. The trees had their branches drooping with fruit. Two in particular yielded so many of those juicy and fleshy balls that due to their maturity most of the harvest had fallen to the ground. It was a minor discouraging factor but one nonetheless. Most fruit pickers prefer to pluck whatever is there on the tree as opposed to gathering them from the ground. Ants tend to devour the grounded ones.

Anyways, it's a small lesson in tolerance. It's required to grab them in time. Timing is precise. Three days before they were perfect for the picking.

Our guru used to say, "Strike while the iron is hot!"

 

May the Source be with you!

6 km

Srila Prabhupada Vyasapuja
→ Ramai Swami

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On the occasion of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance anniversary, an excerpt from a poem I wrote:

Thy gentle graces won our heart.

We feel too weak to live apart,

O Prabhupäda, whom we all revere,

Our Guru, whom we hold so dear.

 

O greatest saint of noblest heart,

Auspicious the day you did depart

To the brilliant spiritual world above,

Rewarded for thy faithful love.

The devotees at Brisbane temple blissfully observed Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasapuja. 

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Festival Report – Janmastami Celebrations!
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

Janmastami Celebrated in Grand Fashion at Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!
Festival Report by: Smruthi Venkateshan
Recordings by: Hitesh Patel
Pictures by: Sahil Srivastava

On Saturday, September 5th, the Hare Krishna Temple celebrated the biggest birthday bash of the year, Sri Krishna Janmastami. This is one of the most auspicious days in the Vaishnava calendar as it marks the birthday of Lord Sri Krishna.

As the guests started pouring in from all over the Greater Toronto Area, the festivities began with more enthusiasm than ever before. In the evening there were many performances, bhajans and lectures given by many devotees. During the festivities a beautiful abhisheka (bathing ceremony of small Deities) was performed with an ecstatic kirtan by the Radha Murari group from ISKCON Scarborough.  Following the abhisheka, Bhaktimarga Swami put on a brilliant play highlighting all the wonderful qualities of Lord Krishna. All the performers received rave reviews from the audience with a thunderous applause.

The mood was set and all the devotees were eager to see their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha for the annual tradition of the special midnight darshan! When the clock struck midnight, the doors opened to reveal the gorgeous Deities of Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha, decorated in their dazzling flower outfits! All those gathered enjoyed this joyous occasion by popping balloons, having a shower of flowers and singing their hearts out for the kirtan.

This was truly the biggest birthday bash of the year, and it is marked by the excitement that still lingers in the air. Hare Krishna!


Recordings of Kirtans from Janmastami:






Pictures from the Festival:

...

Community Town Hall – September 27, 2015
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

UPDATE - The Town Hall will NOT be broadcast live online in an effort to promote better in-person attendance.

We are very excited to announce that ISKCON Toronto will be hosting our next Town Hall on Sunday, September 27, 2015 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm in Govinda’s Dining Hall.  This Town Hall will present an opportunity for our vibrant Hare Krishna community to come forward and engage in a productive, two-way dialogue about our Hare Krishna temple and community at large.

The Town Hall will begin with a small presentation from the ISKCON Toronto Temple Council, highlighting the successes, challenges and financial developments over the last several months.  After this, we will open up the dialogue to our entire community to share their thoughts, dreams, concerns and suggestions about how we can continue to grow our temple and community.

Please accept this as a warm invitation for you to come and attend our Town Hall.  We continue to host these Town Halls every three months in an attempt to increase the communication between the temple management and our dear congregation.

If you are unable to make it to the Town Hall, but would like to share some ideas, suggestions or feedback, please feel free to fill out our form by clicking here or email us at templecouncil@torontokrishna.com.  You can also visit the Temple Council's website at templecouncil.torontokrishna.com.

We hope to see you on Sunday, September 27, 2015 - please feel free to pass along this warm invitation to your devotee friends!  Hare Krishna!

Sincerely,
The ISKCON Toronto Temple Council
templecouncil@torontokrishna.com
www.torontokrishna.com

Offering to Srila Prabhupada – Meditating on your life for dedicating my life
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your divine lotus feet. All glories to the timeless bhakti legacy that you so tirelessly shared with us.

This year I gained a significantly deepened appreciation of how inconceivable your struggle was and how incredible your success was. I had the opportunity to write the text for a small photo-book about your life-story entitled “Prabhupada: The Moments that Made the Movement.” While I have read, heard and spoken about your remarkable life many times, writing enabled me to plumb unexplored depths in my appreciation of you.

Contemplating the defining moments of your life reminded me forcefully of the magnitude of the mountains that confronted you and the Everests that you still scaled. By trying to put in words how you took Krishna’s message of love to all the inhabited continents of the world, I felt myself coming closer to you – the saint who simply loved Krishna and who wanted the whole world to love Krishna.

In the early days of my bhakti practice, your biography Prabhupada Lilamrita was the book that inspired me the most. Each year as I practice bhakti, I on one hand appreciate more and more the spell-binding luminosity of spiritual love. But on the other hand I also realize more and more the desolate darkness of self-centered desires that crowd and cloud my heart. On many occasions of discouragement and disappointment, reading the last five chapters of the first volume of Lilamrita and the first five chapters of the second volume have provided me immense encouragement. Writing and thereby meditating on how much you struggled to give the bhakti legacy to us puts my small struggles in receiving and sharing that legacy in perspective.

In fact, it was after reading Lilamrita for the first time that my resolve to dedicate my life to your mission became solidified. I still remember how after reading it I prostrated myself in front of your picture in the book and begged for your mercy to overcome my many conditionings so that I could serve you lifelong. Writing about your amazing life brought intense memories of those honeymoon days in bhakti and kindled the flames of my devotional desires.

On this auspicious day, I seek your blessings to re-dedicate myself to sharing the message of love that you brought to me – and millions of fortunate souls before me and after me.

Your servant,

Chaitanya Charan das

 

The post Offering to Srila Prabhupada – Meditating on your life for dedicating my life appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Appreciating Sankirtan Prabhu’s frontline literary outreach
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Sankirtan Prabhu, who departed on the auspicious day of Janmashtami after a sustained battle against cancer, was a frontline fighter in Lord Chaitanya’s army. He was on the frontline in striving to share bhakti wisdom in China, despite the many restrictions and obstacles there. While that service is glorious, I, as an author, appreciated most his frontline outreach through writing.

I first had his association in a student-teacher relationship when he was one of my Bhakti-shastri teachers in Pune. Thereafter, when he started writing, he very kindly started treating me like a friend, sharing his plans and challenges in writing and seeking my inputs. Though English was not his first language (as it is not mine either) he strove vigorously to share the universal spiritual truths he had learnt in this contemporary lingua franca.

The feature that struck me most about his writing was what could be called its inter-disciplinary scope. He brought bhakti wisdom into a mature dialogue with the yoga tradition in his book Bhakti-Yoga Pilgrimage and with contemporary psychology in his other writings. Drawing pertinent points eclectically to address various current concerns, he then insightfully illumined the underlying issues with the light of aptly distilled devotional insights. Overall, he was one of the pioneers in our movement in striving to penetrate the huge and largely untapped self-help genre of writing.

With a heavy heart at the departure of a fellow author and friend, I seek his blessings for continuing in my own small way the literary legacy of our tradition.

The post Appreciating Sankirtan Prabhu’s frontline literary outreach appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Hare Krishna! Car maker’s great-grandson, a Krishna disciple, to…
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Hare Krishna! Car maker’s great-grandson, a Krishna disciple, to speak at Houston Hindu celebration
If not for bad timing, Alfred Ford might not have been booted from the family home. But the young great-grandson of auto magnate Henry Ford chose to announce his conversion to the Hare Krishna movement just as Detroit newspapers trumpeted the Hindu spiritual awakening of Elizabeth Reuther, daughter of United Auto Workers Union president Walter Reuther. Fords and Reuthers mixed as well as motor oil and water, and even a bit of guilt by association was too much for the Ford clan. “They kicked me out of the house,” Ford said of his angry parents. Within a few years, the familial crisis subsided, and today Ford, sometimes known as Ambarisa Das, has become an international ambassador for the Hindu-based teachings for the late Abhay Charan De, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19693

Sri Krishna Janmastami 2015
→ Mayapur.com

Please view the following galleries: • Day Darshan • Night Darshan • Abhishek • Samskaras The auspicious Janmashtami day in Mayapur was packed with spiritual events. The day started with stunning mangal arati darshan. Next, there was katha on Lord Krishna’s birth by HH Bhakti Brihat Bhagavat Swami and HG Jananivas Prabhu. Not just the altar […]

The post Sri Krishna Janmastami 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The following is the 3rd lot of Nava-vraja Mahima original pictures for sale on ebid
→ SivaramaSwami.com

O-A3-018  Gopala  350 euros

The post The following is the 3rd lot of Nava-vraja Mahima original pictures for sale on ebid appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Hare Krishna! Madhudesha commemorates Jaladuta…
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Hare Krishna! Madhudesha commemorates Jaladuta anniversary
Madhudesh Yatra, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to the country with a programme in a port city in the country on 3rd September 2015. After Srila Prabhupada departed Kolkata in August 1965 on board the Jaladuta, the ship docked in Colombo, Cochin and a port city in Madhudesha on 3rd September, before arriving in Boston. The special program was celebrated in a factory on the banks of an international canal. Several hundred people attended the celebration which featured kirtan, aratik, a lecture on Srila Prabhupada’s life, and how he stopped in Madhudesha on his way to Boston.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19687

Tribute to Shrila Prabhupada
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


Dear Shrila Prabhupada, please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace!

Namo om vishnu padaya krishna preshtaya bhu-tale 
Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin iti namine 

Om ajnana timirandhasya 
jnananjana shalakaya 
cakshur unmilitan yena 
tasmai shri gurave namah 

With a touch of bitterness mixed with so much joy I write to celebrate the holy day of your Vyasapuja, your holy and salvific appearance in this world. This world otherwise horrible host of incarnations marked by joy and pain that obsessively would end each time with the tragedy of death, harbinger of the next rebirth in the infinite cycle of samsara. 
You came and you have given us the opportunity and the means to redeem ourselves, save ourselves and fall in love with God. 
Glory and infinite gratitude to You for bringing the divine light of hope and faith in the darkness of our existence! 
My mother, Anandavrindavana Devi Dasi, a fervent devotee of yours, your admirer and servant, recently left her old and exhausted body, and her physical presence has disappeared from the sight of our eyes, thus exiting at the same time from our relationships, and this has left a large void, yet filled by an infinite and poignant feeling of Love at a distance. 
I’m telling You this, not to sadden You, but to offer my experience of how this event made me realize, once again, the infinite luck we received to have known You, immediately welcomed You into our heart, and later served You, by shaping my life, both of my parents life and the life of my whole biological and spiritual family in accordance with Your divine teachings. 
The writing of this letter implies every year - at least once a year- a honest and deep look into the mirror of our consciousness, and every time, it is for me both arduous and highly beneficial because, by seeing the good and the bad in me allows me to adhere strongly to the first one and even more decisively take distance from the second one. So I offer You the conclusions I have drawn from this immersion by seeking what unites me to You.
When I think of whom, in the course of this incarnation has had the greatest influence on the human and spiritual forming of my character, no doubt it's You. 
When I think of whom, who over the last forty years I have turned to, every time I found myself faced with crucial choices, no doubt it's You. 
When I think of whom my heart bestows the utmost gratitude on, no doubt it's You. 
You are the source of my inspiration. You are my model of active and contemplative Bhakti. 
You are the one whom I dedicate my every initiative to, because I know that the success of my offer to God depends on obtaining Your Divine Grace under the form of intercession.
You, with Your behavior, teaching and works, are the most divine thing that I could see in this life. 
You are to me more than a father and a mother, whom I love dearly, because I was born from You into Knowledge and Love. 
I honor You and give You all my gratitude for what I have accomplished. 
I ask You for forgiveness for any lack in my behavior and the blessing of being able to serve You with ever increasing commitment, purity and spiritual strength. 
With infinite gratitude and devoted affection I offer the remaining years of my life, waiting, when it will be, to come to You, by Krishna, among the blessed people! 
Your servant, 
Matsyavatara dasa

Ultimate goal
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

We haven’t arrived in this world to build houses, to create organizations, to erect churches or temples and turn the earth into a garden; this is not the purpose of our existence.
We are here to gain spiritual realization; everything else is just a means to this goal, everything else is to be used by us for the purpose of our development.
We have to act, because without acting we would starve, we would die from thirst or from sleep… but action is functional and what counts is the goal for which we act.
What elevates us on the platform of spiritual evolution and what shows us the Truth behind appearances, is the spirit with which we offer our action.

Matsyavatara das

Hare Krishna! Iskcon Devotees Honestly the devotion and…
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Hare Krishna! Iskcon Devotees
Honestly the devotion and dedication by the Devotees of ISKCON is too exemplary and beyond any words to describe. Please accept my infinite humble pranams to one and all GURU MAHARAJS, and the Devotees who are serving and who have WISELY carrying out their life to SRI SRI RADHE KRISHNA,in the SriDham, I am spell bound by their Dedication towards SRI SRI RADHE MADHAV, GURU MAHARAJ, even in FLOODS, [leave alone normal day, daily duties] doing the duties with utmost LOVE , AFFECTION AND CONCERN in preparing the koil for timely pujas, decorating the LORDSHIPS AND GURUMAHARAJ,with ornaments, attires, flowers . Even in early morning, during the day and night devotees do the duties, perfectly instructed by SRI SRI GURU MAHARAJ.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19677

Spiritual Vision
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it”. Bhagavad-gita VII.14
In the Bhagavata Purana the “ocean” of the material existence is described as something scaring, terrifying, in which the jivabhuta – the conditioned living entity – life after life is forced to experience birth (jati), old age (jara), disease (vyadhi) and death (mrityu).
Only by the mercy of Guru and Krishna this ocean of obstacles becomes like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print.
All in all, there is no real dichotomy between nature and spirit, as both energies arise from the same supreme Consciousness, God, Who permeates the entire universe, exactly as the individual consciousness permeates the entire body of the living entity.
Therefore in the world everything is tightly connected: the subject to the object, spirit to nature, the living entities to each other and each of them to the Supreme, the individual bodies to the cosmic body, the individual mind to the universal mind.
A deep comprehension of these thick connections and relationships between micro- and macrocosm is an essential requirement on the path of spiritual realization, which in the vaishnava-vedic tradition does absolutely not imply an escape from the world, but rather means the development of an organic and complete vision of the absolute Reality.
Matsyavatara das