Planet ISKCON

Varnasrama series

All India Padayatra Visits A Village In Tamil Nadu (Album with photos)
Acarya Dasa: After travelling to Tenkasi we headed for Trevelli, but somewhere along the way we lost track and ended up in a different village. The residents here were happy to see us, and welcomed Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar by paying obeisances. They seemed to know very well who Their Lordships were and how They were travelling all over India distributing mercy.
Ramanuja Dasa: We were quite astonished by how they knew all of this. One resident approached us and asked where we were going to stay the night. We had not made any arrangements yet, so he offered to help. I asked him how they knew about us and to my surprise he said,

“This is the village of Ramanuja Dasa, a devotee of the Sri Sampradaya. He came to our village and preached about Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar.”

He went on to say that Ramanuja Dasa explained to them about padayatra and said one day padayatra may even come to their village. Ramanuja Dasa had served Nitai Gaurasundar doing pujari seva on padayatra for seven years. He currently stays in Vrindavan and is a very great devotee who does a lot of austerity. During catur masa he eats only once a day, he doesn’t wear shoes, and he completed the ‘Char Dham’ yatra by himself.

The Lord’s arrangements

We realized that we actually had not lost track at all by coming here; this was part of Their Lordships’ plan. This was how the Lord reciprocated with them, personally coming to give darsana to those who were serving Them and had been waiting for Them.

We performed sankirtana and were joined by many of the locals who danced to the holy names.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/WNKvuQ

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 01-22-2017

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Anuttama, Bhima (Chair), Chaitanya Mangala, Kripamaya, Ranaka and Sri Tulasi Manjari.

Recording secretary: Jamuna Jivani

1. Directorship Renewal

Chaitanya Mangala was re-elected to a three-year term as a Board Member.

2. Directorship Renewal

After serving an initial one year term, Sri Tulasi Manjari was re-elected to a three-year term as a Board Member.

3. New Director

After serving one year as a Board Advisor, Vraja Johnson was elected to an initial one-year term as a Board Member.

4. Bhima’s Retirement as Director and Chair & Selection as Advisor

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to simultaneously honor Bhima’s three years of volunteer service to ECO-Vrindaban and to keep him involved in a consultative capacity.

RESOLVED: The Board accepts Bhima’s retirement as a Board Member and Chairperson and selects Bhima as Advisor for a one-year term.

5. Sri Tulasi Manjari as Board Chair

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to fill the vacant position of Chairperson.

RESOLVED: The Board designates Sri Tulasi Manjari as the ECO-V Chairperson for one year, ending after the January 2018 annual meeting.

6. Radha-Krishna’s Retirement as Board Advisor

The Directors expressed their thanks for Radha-Krishna’s service as an Advisor and will send her a letter of appreciation.

7. Jaya Krsna to Continue as Advisor

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to maintain a team of advisors.

RESOLVED: The Board renews Jaya Krsna’s role as Advisor for a one-year term.

8. Devala as a New Advisor

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to maintain a team of advisors.

RESOLVED: The Board invites Devala as an Advisor for a one-year term.

9. Annual Renewal of Officer Roles

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to fill the officer roles for 2017.

RESOLVED: The Board designates Kripamaya as the ECO-V President for one year, ending after the January 2018 annual meeting.

ALSO RESOLVED: The Board designates Ranaka as the ECO-V Secretary and Treasurer for one year, ending after the January 2018 annual meeting.

Preparing My Mind and Heart for Gaura Purnima

Готовлю свой ум и сердце к Гаура-пурниме

Verse 1: “Seeing that the spotless full moon has risen on the earth in the home of Sachi, the spotted full-moon hid itself in great shame on the pretext of a lunar eclipse.”

[ на старом фото: настоящие деревянные сандалии, сосуд для воды и дхоти Господа Чайтаньи в храме Гамбхира в Джаганнатха Пури ]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208609538658870&set=a.3707173840886.2134384.1321748113&type=3&theater

By Krishna Dharma Das

A recent class given 19th of February 2017 in Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK. My friend I am severely struck and all my sense departs, when Krishna’s name enters my ears and lodges in my heart. And then there is another one whose flute enchants my mind, seizing it with such madness that I can no peace find. Again there is a third one, whose brilliance I see in pictures of purest beauty that are entrancing me. Shame upon my sinful self for loving all these three at once, and thus I think it best if death does now take me. Continue reading "The Sages of Naimisaranya
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By Sukhayanti Devi Dasi

In July of 2005, I met the devotees for the first time. I was a young hippie girl, looking for something else that life could offer without really knowing what it was. I went travelling in Europe thinking maybe it could be found there. The East Germany rainbow festival had about 3000 people attending that year, I was there too. By the end of 3 weeks in that festival I was getting tired of it. It felt so fake. All those so called transcendentalist, I felt like I was being cheated. You would see young and old westerner man walking around calling themselves “babji” while having 10 ladies following them and smoking chilom most of the day. I was just thinking how I would really like to get out of that place and go find somewhere where I can really dive deep into spirituality. I was considering asking around where I could attend a Buddhist silent meditation retreat. That is when the devotees appeared. I was in charge of the kitchen that morning and out of no where these monks walked into the kitchen asking me if I can look after their bags as they put up their tent. They were all dressed in their devotional clothes (or at least that is how I remember them), they had their shaved heads and a unique effulgence. I was drawn to them because it was clear that they were true spiritual practitioners. Continue reading "Being effulgent
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By Nila Kamal das

Kitchari prasad was served throughout the day till after 5pm. It was wonderful to see the leaders in our movement serving prasad to the locals, everyone who witnessed this also became enthusiastic to serve. At one point it was noted that the line for serving was bigger than the line for eating! Jayapataka Swami gave a wonderful discourse on the glories of the Advaita Acarya and Madhavendra Puri. Another highlight of the event was when Subhag Swami spontaneously started a kirtan in the middle of his lecture. At the end of the kirtan, thousands of devotees were chanting and dancing with their arms raised in the air. Continue reading "Santipur Utsav
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Anwser Podcast

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The post Shouldn’t bhakti be a natural evolution in our love, not an imposition based on being told whom to love? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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[Address to god-family at Houston, USA]

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The post Balancing intensity and sensitivity in bhakti – Learning from HH Radhanath Maharaj’s example appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Here is a small update on the current activities that are going on in the TOVP.

1. We started making a full size sample of the wooden windows.
This is the beginning of the frame around the windows, on the very top underneath the domes.
All together there are 240 windows to cover, lots of work!
You can see in this image how big and think the wood has to be for such a large window.
Sadbhuj prabhu and the team went to inspect the workmanship.

2. We have just received a cast iron piece that the factory made for us which is part of the railings design.
They have refined their technique to the way we wanted it, now we want to commence the production.
In this image you will see we are holding one of the pieces, which weights 13 kg and it’s quite thick.
Definitely this cast iron will last forever!

3. Production of the GRC Rib Segments has commenced on a full scale.
They are ready to be placed on the actual domes ribs once the waterproofing is completed. Each segment weights 450 kg!
For each small dome we will need 120 segments. At the moment we are producing 1 segment a day but more mold are being fabricated to be able to produce 3 per day.

Many jobs have started this new year. We will keep you updated on the progress!

The post New Year, New Works Begin appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

The Mayapuris were one of the original second generation ISKCON groups to bring Gaudiya Vaishnava kirtan to the forefront of the burgeoning mainstream kirtan scene. Since their debut, others have continued to forge the path, with Madi Das and his Bhakti Without Borders charity album winning a Grammy nomination. Inspired by Madi’s achievement, the Mayapuris hope that with their second album, they can bring kirtan further into the mainstream, to places it hasn’t been before.

After the first six years of the movement, at the beginning of the 1970’s, a first change took place, which of course was not contested by anyone. As those new decisions were adopted, and instead of the simple separation between men and women that Prabhupada wanted, a real segregation was taking place.

The Paris temple is situated in Sarcelles, the northern suburb. Sri Sri Radha Paris-Isvara were installed by Srila Prabhupada in 1973 during one of his visits to the city. The yearly Paris Ratha-Yatra is a very popular festival. A video by Vrishabhanu Das.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 February 2013, Vrindavan, India, Caitanya Caritamrta, Seminar 1)

What yuga are we living in? Kali yuga? What yuga? CAITANYA YUGA!

This yuga is no longer Kali yuga. It’s one day in a day of Brahma where the entire pastime is completely different, where Kali yuga becomes the background. It’s just a backdrop. It’s not at all Kali yuga.

“O Kali yuga, Kali yuga, Kali yuga!”   We also get into it sometimes – Kali yuga katha!

“Kali yuga is so bad! How bad is Kali yuga!”  Everybody does it.

But what is this Kali yuga? It is a backdrop, simply a stage for the mercy of Lord Caitanya flooding everything, flooding the entire world!

It is said that when you want to see a diamond, you place it against a dark background. You have a box and in the box, you have some dark velvet or dark silk, and you put this big diamond on top, and then it stands out. If you have some white cloth as a background, it’s not the same.

So yes, we need this dark backdrop of the age of Kali yuga so that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya will shine in their completely amazing glory!

Veda course in Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK.
A Three Month Residential Course for Men.
The residential Veda Course is designed ...

Again listening to Srila Prabhupada’s talks in Juhu, I was struck by his frank and realistic assessment: “What do they know about nation? Everyone is interested in his own pocket, that’s all. ‘What money is coming in my pocket.’ Where is the nationalism? If there was nationalism, how such havoc could have happened? There is no feeling of nationalism, because they are not thinking of the nation; they are thinking of their own pocket. Where is the nationalism? These are simply bogus slogans. Actual unity, nationality, universality, is in Krishna consciousness. It is a fact. Let them see. Men, women—we do not hate anyone. ‘Come on. Take to Krishna consciousness.’ ”

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Since everything is at the end temporary, no matter how grand the show may be materially speaking, in the grand scheme of things is simply fluff. The opening and middle may be grand but the end is it ends. The scene changes, people change and everything has to be dismantled. Of course, then the next group arrives, sets up their tent and the show continues. Regardless, all things must pass and this temporariness of this world makes reality less valuable than it is presented to us.

Below is a nice description, I thought, sort of describing this grand but temporary show.

aja-yuddhe muni-śrāddhe
prabhāte megha-ḍambare
dam-pate kalahe caiva
bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā

Aja yuddhe means two goats fighting. I vividly remember growing up in India, I have often seen two goats fighting clashing their horns and heads. Literally one can hear the noise of the clash like two gladiators in a ring. Then, the owner comes and shews the goats away and they are like friends again. This exaggerated fight between goats represents our grand illusory world.

Muni-śrāddhe means the sage or muni is trying to have a grand ceremony but living in the forest, what can they possess, some fruits, leaves etc. Although it is a ceremony but not very ceremonious. Again grand in stage but not much to show in terms of offering.

Prabhāte megha-ḍambare is rumbling of the clouds but no rain. This is very common. Everyone must have had this experience of dark ominous clouds with thundering sound but either there is little rain or no rain. One more instance of grand opening but just fluff.

Dam-pate kalahe, this is the most common although now a days this is not just innocent. When a husband and wife fight with each other, they chastise and shout at each other but a true loving couple do not continue the fight. After things calm down, they get back as if nothing happened. However, this is not the case much anymore but certainly once couples never separated despite arguments and fighting. In that sense, such fighting is not fighting.

All the above examples give us a clue that we should deal with life and life incidences with a smooth handle. In other words, if things get sour, let time heal the wounds because after all everything begins with a bang bambhārambhe, but ends with fluff laghu-kriyā (not very significant).

This is the nature of this world.

Hare Krishna

By Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Goswami

This is, this is the poetry and also the full knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam, and so we can get that by milking the surabi cow of Srila Prabhupada purport. That’s what happens in the opening statement by Srila Prabhupada, it’s in once sense it’s a shocker I don’t know if you caught that. It’s a shocking statement. I will read it again because that’s why I like to go through these purports incumbently because that way we can milk the most out of it. We will cover the whole purport but want to make sure this extraordinarily points and then understand why this opening statements by Srila Prabhupada are shocker. Continue reading "From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir – Srimad Bhagavatam class, March 1, 2017
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“Choosing to Offend” (6 min video)
We have to avoid all offenses against vaishnavas. When we offend a vaishnava… Krishna, He can tolerate some offense, He can forgive someone for offending Him. But He can’t forgive someone who offends a vaishnava.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/IausKR

Practicing Tolerance.
Vaisesika Dasa: As with practitioners of other skills, those who consciously take up the practice of tolerance develop a greater capacity for it.
Unlike the practice of many other talents however, to practice tolerance one needn’t go anywhere or buy anything, as ample opportunities to exercise one’s toleration muscle come unsought.
A first step in the practice of tolerance is to prepare oneself to welcome disturbances when they arise.
As the Dalai Lama puts it, “In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”

Acting on such sage advice, once while my friend and Godbrother, Satyadeva Prabhu and I were touring through Japan, we were obligated by circumstance to travel for many hours in a car alongside an unruly child. At first, we both felt frustrated and disturbed. However, when we decided to take our encounter as a chance to practice tolerance, we felt relief and soon, we were both smiling after nicknaming our restless prepubescent travel mate, “guruji.” At the end of the trip, we both thanked guruji for teaching us tolerance.

In the Gita, Lord Sri Krishna lists tolerance among nineteen other vital elements on the path to spiritual knowledge. (Bg. 13. 8-12)

One who practices tolerance gains a unique perspective to see how circumstances come and go and also sees that he or she is not the master of them. Admitting that I am not the supreme controller is not only foundational to advancing in spiritual life; it is also a great relief.

Some synonyms for the word tolerance are: open-mindedness, broad-mindedness, forbearance, liberality, patience, charity, and understanding. (Sounds nice, right?)

Try greeting the day with a determined aim to tolerate some unfavorable news, a difficult person, or some awkward circumstance. Not only will you be surprised at how many opportunities you’ll get, you may also be stunned by the spiritual insight you gain just from this one simple practice.

Those who practice tolerance not only become spiritually wise, they also please Krishna.

“The Lord is very satisfied with His devotee when the devotee greets other people with tolerance, mercy, friendship and equality.” (SB 4.11.13)

“One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me-such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.” (BG 12.13-14)

Varnasrama Series

Famous Hip Hop Rapper Waka Flocka Flame receives Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Dharmaraja Das distributes books to famous Hip Hop Rapper, Waka Flocka Flame, who has been practicing vegetarianism for a few years now!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

By Braja Vilas das

Yet another year has passed in our lives as we approach Gaura Purnima 2017, and we wish to take this opportunity to once again thank you for your support and encouragement. Your dedication has inspired us spiritually, and has helped us practically to achieve our goals and maintain the construction pace over the years. In many ways this is the real New Year celebration for all ISKCON devotees, as we observe Mahaprabhu’s appearance and make our vows and commitments to continue to help expand His mission throughout the world and deepen our own Krishna consciousness. Continue reading "Gaura Purnima Message 2017 from the TOVP
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OUR FAMILY BUSINESS - a new ebook in all flavors, for all devices.
Vaisesika Prabhu’s super-successful book about the art of transcendental book distribution, “Our Family Business”, is now available as an ebook in all flavors, for all devices. What if you could build your devotee community, deepen your Krishna consciousness, give others the opportunity to learn about bhakti, and perform the dharma of the age all at the same time?
In this very readable book, Vaisesika Dasa discusses why we should join the family business of distributing transcendental knowledge through the written word, as well as how book distribution benefits distributors, the devotional community, and all those who receive one of Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Our Family Business makes it clear that every devotee and every service is part of the sankirtana effort. Even if book distribution is not your primary service, expect to be enlightened, encouraged, and enlivened by reading this book.

Get it now!

bbtmedia.com:
http://bbtmedia.com/en/ebook/en-ofb

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ej0QDgAAQBAJ

iBookstore:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1202903656

Amazon:
www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUUUMEZ

Hare Krishna!

Your servants at bbtmedia.com

By Purushottam Kumar

Yudhisthira, an Indian king, who ruled about 5000 years ago once said that the most astonishing thing in this world is that people see others are dying every moment but they never ever believe that one day they too would die Continue reading "Journey Back Home
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By Chaitanya Charan das

Action is what catches our attention. For example, in a cricket test match, when the action slows down as the batsmen start playing defensively, our interest sags. But when the action rises – the bowler delivers a googly that clean bowls the batsman or the batsman hits a huge six, for example – then our attention peaks effortlessly. Continue reading "How can we improve our concentration during meditation?
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By Mathuresha Dasa

While Lord Krishna enjoys the informality of intimate dealings at home with devotees who are in the mood of family and friends, in the office of creator Lord Maha-Vishnu attracts worshipers who prefer a God primarily endowed with grand, omnipotent, awe-inspiring features. Maha-Vishnu’s caliber is inconceivable. To illustrate, the Bhagavad-gita and other texts say that not only are we not alone in the universe, but the universe itself is not alone. Past the enormously distant shell of our own universe are an uncountable number of others. These innumerable universes, in a form described variously as seeds and golden eggs, float from the pores of the skin of Maha-Vishnu as He lies sleeping on the Causal Ocean, a body of transcendental water that separates the spiritual and material realms. Maha-Vishnu breathes out, and the universes come into being for trillions of years. He breathes in and absorbs all the universes and their inhabitants back into His body until His next exhalation in the cycling of creation. Continue reading "Time and Again
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5 Gems from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur.
Chaturatma Dasa: While studying about Madhavendra Puri I came across these gems. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that there are 5 primary counter examples we should learn from Ramachandra Puri: (1)Faultfinding, especially finding fault in Vishnu and the Vaishnavas, is extremely detrimental to ones spiritual advancement. A devotional practitioner should look at his own faults rather than at others. By correcting his own faults, he will be able to make some advancement.

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Some thoughts on ‘Fast Breaking’
Hari Parshad Das: Sometimes, I’ve seen devotees ask other devotees or myself about the Ekādaśī fast breaking time. While I do understand that the convention is to use the phrase 'fast breaking’ and I have no problems with anyone using it, I should also in a humble way say that this phrase does not do justice to the original Sanskrit term — 'vrata-pāraṇam’.
The English term 'breakfast’ originally came from the old English term 'undernmete/morgenmete’, which means meal at 9am / meal at morning. This was because the body would be fasting from all food at night during sleep and the morning meal at around 9am would break that fast.

The term vrata however does not exactly mean 'fasting’. Vrata means 'vow’. Fasting (upoṣaṇam) is one of the activities of a vow. The day of an Ekādaśī vrata is ideally supposed to be free from all other encumbrances; a day dedicated to giving that well deserved loving one-pointed attention to the love of our life — Krishna.

The term pāraṇam means 'successful completion’. (Hindi = पार लगाना)

Thus, the term vrata-pāraṇam literally means 'successful completion of vows’. We’re not supposed to break our vows. We’re meant to complete them.

On the pāraṇa day (dvādaśī), we take permission with a heavy heart from our beloved deity to go back and be absorbed in our day to day work. The devotee completes his/her ekādaśī vows by praying:

ajñāna-timirāndhasya
vratenānena keśava
prasīda sumukho nātha
jñāna-dṛṣṭi-prado bhava

Translation: Lord Keśava! Please bestow favor on this insignificant soul blinded by ignorance and kindly bestow the eyes of divine knowledge as a result of following this [Ekādaśī] vow.
— (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 13.231)

Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll | Highlights (2 min video)
Highlights from our awesome flagship event yesterday at King’s university with special guest Kadamba Kanana Swami, put together by Filmwork Studios.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/e0rY8H

किसी वस्तु को स्पर्श करने, चखने, सूंघने, देखने तथा सुनने से इन्द्रियों को सुख मिलता है| आज पूरी दुनिया इन पाँच स्रोतों से सुख भोगने के पीछे भाग रही है| भौतिकवादी जीवन का यही एकमात्र उद्देश्य है|
भौतिकवाद भोगवाद को बढ़ावा देता है| भौतिकवाद वस्तुओं को ऐसे सुन्दर-सजीले रूप में प्रस्तुत करता है कि वे और अधिक आकर्षक बन जाती हैं| इस प्रकार हमारी भोग-इच्छा रूपी अग्नि में ईंधन का काम करती है| तकनीकी प्रगति और मीडिया का दुरूपयोग करके कामुकता को बढ़ावा दिया जाता है| लोगों को इस भ्रम में डाला जाता है कि वे इन वस्तुओं को प्राप्त करके सुखी हो सकते हैं| परन्तु अधिकांश लोग इन भोग वस्तुओं के पहुँच से दूर रहते हैं| इस प्रकार, चारों ओर प्रदर्शित भोग-वस्तुएँ लोगों की अतृप्त वासनाओं को बढाने में ईंधन का कम करती है और उन्हें जलाती रहती है|

यद्यपि हम इस भोगवादी प्रचार को नहीं रोक सकते, किन्तु व्यक्तिगत रूप से इसपर रोक लगा सकते हैं| अर्थात्, बुद्धि कि सहायता से मन में उठने वाले विचारों पर अंकुश लगा सकते हैं| मूल रूप से हम सब आत्मा हैं और सर्वाकर्षक भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण के सनातन प्रेम में आनंद लेना हमारा अधिकार है| हमें यह ज्ञान देकर भगवद्गीता हमारी बुद्धि को सशक्त बनाती है|

आत्मा के रूप में हम स्थाई एवं सनातन हैं और यह संसार अस्थाई है| भगवद्गीता (२.१४) बताती है कि हमें सर्दी-गर्मी, सुख-दुःख आदि के अस्थाई स्वभाव को समझकर उन्हें सहन करना चाहिए| हमें लगता है कि हमें केवल दुखों को सहन करना है और सुखों का भोग करना है| फिर गीता क्यों हमें सुख-दुःख दोनों को सहन करने के लिए कहती है? क्योंकि ये दोनों एक ही सिक्के के दो पहलू हैं| जितना अधिक हम सुखद परिस्थितियों में भोग करेंगे उतनी अधिक हमारी चेतना भौतिक संसार में लिपटने लगेगी, और फिर अप्रिय परिस्थिति उत्पन्न होने पर हमें उतना ही अधिक दुःख होगा| इसलिए हमें सुखों को भी सहन करना है| सहन करने का अर्थ है कि हमें सुखों की बढ़ा-चढ़ाकर कल्पना नहीं करनी है और आवश्यकता से अधिक उसमे संलग्न नहीं होना है| सुखों को सहन करने से हमारी चेतना सांसारिक बंधन से मुक्त होने लगती है|
क्या सहन करने का अर्थ सबकुछ छोड़ना है? भक्तिमार्ग पर सहन करने का अर्थ सबकुछ छोड़ना नहीं होता| भक्तियोग हमें श्रीकृष्ण से जोड़ता है और हमें इस संसार के भोगों से कहीं अधिक सुख प्रदान करता है|

हे कौन्तेय! क्षणभंगुर सुख-दुःख का आना और समय के साथ उनका चले जाना, यह सर्दी और गर्मी के आने-जाने के समान है| हे भरतवंशी, ये सुख-दुःख इन्द्रिय-स्पर्श से जन्म लेते हैं| मनुष्य को चाहिए कि विचलित हुए बिना इन्हें सहन करना सीखे|
(भगवद्गीता २.१४)

The post १२. इन्द्रियों की अग्नि में ईंधन न डालें appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

आजकल अनेक सैल्फ-हैल्प पुस्तकें सलाह देती हैं – “अपनी दृष्टी बदलिए, सकारात्मक सोचिये|”

सकारात्मक सोच निश्चित ही अच्छी है, परन्तु हमारी सोच तभी पूर्ण सकारात्मक हो सकती है जब हम न केवल अपनी सोच को अपितु अपने दृष्टिकोण को भी बदलें| अर्थात्, हम कैसे देखते हैं, इसके साथ-साथ हम कहाँ से देखते हैं, वह भी महत्वपूर्ण है|

मान लीजिए हम किसी ऊँची इमारत के नीचे खड़े हैं| हम स्वयं को बौना महसूस करेंगे| परन्तु यदि हम हवाई जहाज में बैठकर उसके ऊपर उड़ने लगे तो वही इमारत छोटी हो जाएगी| इमारत वही है परन्तु अब वह छोटी लगने लगी है| यह केवल सोच बदलने से नहीं अपितु दृष्टिकोण बदलने से हुआ है| अधिकांशतः दृष्टिकोण बदले बिना केवल सोच बदलने का प्रयास कल्पना होती है| जब तक हम उस ऊँची इमारत के नीचे खड़े रहेंगे हम उसे छोटी नहीं देख सकते|

भगवद्गीता आरम्भ में ही हमारा दृष्टिकोण बदलती है| कैसे? हमारी स्थिति बदलकर| भगवद्गीता हमें हमारे परिवेश एवं परिस्थितियों से ऊपर उठाकर हमारी सोच को बदलती है| गीता (२.१३) में बताया गया है कि मूल रूप से हम अविनाशी आत्मा हैं और भौतिक जड़ वस्तुओं से भिन्न एवं श्रेष्ठ हैं| जिस भौतिक शरीर को हम अपनी सच्ची पहचान मानते हैं वह हमारी आत्मा के ऊपर पड़ा हुआ एक अस्थाई वस्त्र है|
हवाई जहाज में उड़ते समय धरती पर होने वाली उथल-पुथल हमें प्रभावित नहीं कर पाती है| हम जानते हैं कि हम उनसे कहीं ऊपर हैं| हाँ, हवाई जहाज पर धरती से मिसाइली हमला करके उसे नष्ट किया जा सकता है, परन्तु हमारी आत्मा किसी भी भौतिक साधन द्वारा नष्ट नहीं की जा सकती है| चाहे कितना भी बड़ा खतरा क्यों न हो, वह हमारी आत्मा को हानि नहीं पहुँचा सकता| और हम भक्तियोग के पालन द्वारा स्वयं इसका अनुभव कर सकते हैं|

जब भी इस संसार की समस्याएँ और नकारात्मकताएँ हमें घेर लें तो हमें केवल यह स्मरण करना है कि हम अविनाशी हैं| यह बदला हुआ दृष्टिकोण हमारी चेतना को शान्ति एवं विश्वास से भर देगा| तब न केवल हमारी सोच अपितु हमारा जीवन भी सकारात्मक हो जायेगा|

जिस प्रकार देहधारी आत्मा निरन्तर इस शरीर में बाल्यावस्था से युवावस्था में तथा युवावस्था से वृद्धावस्था में जाती है, उसी प्रकार मृत्यु के पश्चात् यह दूसरी देह में प्रवेश करती है| धीर पुरुष इस परिवर्तन से भ्रमित नहीं होते|
(भगवद्गीता २.१३)

The post ११. केवल सोच को नहीं, दृष्टिकोण को बदलिए appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.