Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

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The post Gita 13.09 To cultivate detachment from matter, contemplate the distresses of material existence appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

We have a significant problem on our hands: the Vedas are very clear that Śrī Guru is an absolute necessity, the very foundation of every educational and developmental methodology; yet gluts of cults knowingly or unknowingly exploit the guru principle for gross and subtle wealth. Searching from Harlem to the Himalaya, it is difficult to find even one truly realized Guru-Disciple pair; but everywhere we look we find thousands upon thousands of gurus and disciples in the transcendental disciplines who, upon close examination, aren’t giving or getting anything earth-shatteringly transcendental at all.

Some will say, “The very idea is wrong. The Vedas are wrong. You don’t need a guru.”

I don’t say that. Instead, I think, “The way we comprehend and understand the Guru Disciple relationship is wrong. And I don’t need that.”

So, what’s wrong with it?

Ideal Gurus and Disciples

In his Gītā, Śrī Krishna expresses the perfect Guru-Disple relationship in a nutshell:

तद्विदधि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः

tad-viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Dīkṣā [enlightenment] can happen when you try to understand spirituality from a wise person who has actually experienced the reality of consciousness and perception. That person can enlighten you through your submission, rigorous inquiry, and service.

This statement has two parts. The first part establishes what a real guru is. The second part establishes what a real disciple does.

A real guru is ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः (jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ) – a person who has “actually experienced the reality of consciousness and perception.”

A real disciple is someone who gets that experience too, from the wise, by means of three things:

1. प्रणिपातेन
   praṇipāt(ena)
   Submission
2. परिप्रश्नेन
   paripraśn(ena)
   Rigorous inquiry
3. सेवया
   seva(yā)
   Service

In Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindu, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī exactly echoes this Gītā verse in what he identifies as  the three most essential initial steps of sādhana-bhakti:

1. गुरुपादाश्रय
   guru-pāda-āśraya
   This echoes Krishna’s advice to be receptive, humble and submissive to the guru
   (praṇipāta – submission)
2. कृष्णदीक्षादिशिक्षण
   kṛṣṇa-dīkṣa-adi-śikṣāna
   This echoes Krishna’s advice to ask many questions from many angles while trying to put everything into practice in the real world
   (paripraśna – thorough inquiry)
3. विश्रम्भेणगुरोःसेव
   viṣrambheṇa-guroḥ-seva
   This echoes Krishna’s advice to make oneself useful
   (seva – service)

Now let’s examine how the gluts of fruitless or marginally-fruitful contemporary guru-disciples implement the above advice.

The Reality about Gurus

Krishna explicitly said that a guru must be tattva-darśana. This phrase literally means “sees reality” – which means a guru must directly experience the real essence of the subject they are teaching.

Compare this with the hoards of people willing to “accept disciples”. Some of them pull a coin from your ear (or some equivalent “miracle”) to impress you into believing they are tattva-darśanaḥ. Others claim they are tattva-darśana because they can surreptitiously hold their breath for 15 years (by not having sex, eating grains, standing on their tiptoes, or whatever). Others claim they are tattva-darśana because they have, “fully dedicated their lives to their spiritual master’s mission”. Others don’t even bother claiming anything at all, they just let your own desire for a messiah work its own magic.

Indeed that’s powerful magic! We are eager for a messiah. That’s why we don’t find much fault with any of the above – even though it is just like a person proving they are rich by showing us a picture of a mansion, or a doctor claiming we have cancer by pointing to our fatigue instead of showing the actual cancer cells. It takes significant knowledge of medicine to be able to tell a real doctor from a quack. The combination of our inherent laziness and our desire for a miraculous messiah make us accept the idea that we don’t really need all that troublesome, time-consuming, and complicated medical knowledge anyhow, because this doctor standing before us is obviously so charming and wonderful.

At the very least, “tattva-darśan” means the guru must have fluent conversance (darśan) in all the details of their subject (tattva), which, in our context, means the śāstra. 90% of the guru’s on display today do not even know the Vedāṅga, what to speak of the Veda; they do not even know Sanskrit grammar, what to speak of the secrets locked in the Sanskrit mantras and ślokas of the Veda and Purāṇa. Most of them have not even carefully studied their own guru’s commentary on their own main śāstra, when, in fact, the minimum qualification is to thoroughly know not only the interpretations and implications of the primary texts of the primary ācāryas of one’s own school, but to also thoroughly know how those relate to the interpretations, implications and texts of the other significant Vedic schools.

You may look for the maximum qualification or you may look for the minimum qualification in a guru. You’ll be hard pressed to find either. This doesn’t mean you should give up, but it does mean you should be prepared for the reality that you will need to do a lot of homework and have a lot of patience to be able to tell the difference between a diamond and a cubic zirconia.

The Reality about Disciples

As mentioned, a real disciple is someone who directly experiences reality as a result of interacting with the wise guru in three ways:

1. प्रणिपातेन
   praṇipāt(ena)
   Submission
2. परिप्रश्नेन
   paripraśn(ena)
   Rigorous inquiry
3. सेवया
   seva(yā)
   Service

The majority of modern “disciples” hardly do any of these at all. We think that we are disciples because we underwent some formality like changing our name or getting a mark on our foreheads or a pat on our back in front of a burning banana. End of story. Now we have the immigration document required for the Pearly Gates.

“Guru saves.”

Just as kitchari requires beans, rice and water – discipleship requires submission, inquiry, and service. Leave one out and you don’t get “kitchari.”

For example, we may give a donation, or feed our guru, but if we ask no questions and have no interest in changing our inner lives – we are not disciples. Or, if we expect gurus to answer our minuscule questions minutely but ask for yard-sale “merciful” discounts on the seva to be given in return – we are not disciples. Some ignorant people even lambast the very concept of practical service in reciprocation for education as, “prostitution.”  This is certainly not going to give us guru-darśana.

All the ingredients — “rice, beans, and water” — are required. The combination of praṇipāta (desire to change / submission) and paripraśna (through inquiry) is a particularly important, inseparable compound.

We may sometimes ask a question, but we don’t really listen carefully to the answer. Listening carefully (praṇipāta) would result in followup questions (paripraśna) and a change in how we experience and live life (seva). We don’t listen very carefully because we don’t really care. We have no praṇipāta — what we really want is a guru who will ratify and justify the convictions and opinions we already have. When such “disciples” become “gurus,” they create perversions of their school, and this is a phenomenon rampant to dangerously rabid proportions in contemporary Hindu / Vedic circles.

The Guru-Disciple Cult Reality

The above illustrates the danger of inquiry without submission, but now let’s look at the danger of submission without inquiry. This is where the cults come from. “Follow your guru!” is the essence of their “philosophy.” To distribute and share the power in larger cults they say, “Follow your guru’s friendly neighborhood local representative.” In a cult, the level of our submission and “surrender” is the only important barometer of our sincerity and “advancement.”

Cults are thriving these days, because the gurus are inept, and cults protect that. Too much inquiry would expose the guru’s ineptitude, so the cult-culture dissuades it. This is sometimes called “a culture of faith” and deceitfully purported to be the genuine Vedic culture.  It drums up the importance of submissive “surrender” (praṇipāta) loudly and enthusiastically enough to drown out the cries for help from rigorous inquiry (paripraśna). Those who ask too many questions are ridiculed and made to feel like something is wrong with them.

Of course, cults also drum up the importance of seva (practical service), because hey, since nobody, guru or disciple, is getting anything transcendental from this whole shebang after all, the guys on top can at least eek out a nice iPad and three hot meals a day (if only they were so renounced) as a sādhya salary for the sweat they seem to break by accepting all those ignorant obeisances and accolades every day.

Now What?

The world seems to be full of half-assed disciples and cult-gurus who encourage them to remain like that. If we want real enlightenment, what should we do? We should go back and read the section, “Ideal Gurus and Disciples,” strive for that, and let the rest of the world keep on in their merry escapades.

Vraja Kishor dās

www.vrajakishor.com

My God-brother, Jagjivan Prabhu, passed from this world last November 2016. He joined ISKCON at New York temple in 1970 and left for South America in 1974.

He helped to establish many centres there and lived the last years of his life in Paraguay.

The GBC body honoured him in Mayapur and his ashes were taken by Mayapur Mandir’s new boat, the Jaladuta 2, to the Ganga where the devotees performed puja and kirtan.

HG Jagajivan das’s ashes immersed in Ganges (2 min video)
Here is a link to a video of HG Jagajivan das ACBSP ashes immersed in the Ganges on Monday, Feb 20th, Sridham Mayapur. In attendance were many GBC, Sannyasis, and Senior devotees.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/FXHe1v
Offering of lamps to Mother Ganga after the ceremony.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/2ISkWV

Day of art and culture of West Papua, Pebruary 6, 2017 was celebrated by cultural parades from all ethnic groups who live in that area. Arts and culture serves as an adequate medium to unite the people. Language in form of arts and culture is universal which everybody can understand. The varied colours of arts and culture makes the world a beautiful place. The cultural parade in Manokwari, capital city of West Papua, attracted many visitors. This also attracted devotees to take the opportunity to spread the glories of Lord Krishna in the land of Papua. The ratha yatra team worked with the Manokwari Hindu Parisad and participated in the cultural parade, pulling Lord Jagannath’s chariot on Ratha Yatra. Continue reading "Manokwari, West Papua, sees the first Jagannatha Ratha Yatra
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No Ugly Gopis, Please!
Srila Prabhupada: I don’t know who has given you this idea of shaving your head and wearing white garments. In India only the widows are allowed to shave their head. I have never suggested to your husband to take sannyasa. We can discuss this matter further when we shall meet again in London for Ratha-yatra. You remain the beautiful maidservant of Krishna. That is your business, and you should dress yourself always very nicely so that by seeing you Krishna will be pleased. Don’t try to be ugly before Krishna. Krishna does not like ugly gopis. We are transcendental artists, musicians, writers, so everything should be beautiful for Krishna. After all we are members of Krishna’s family, just like Krishna had 16,000 wives and each wife had thousands of servants and maidservants, and all of them were very beautiful for serving Krishna and his queens. So the servants of the gopis and queens cannot be ugly; they are as beautiful as the queens. In the Vaikuntha world there is no need of serving anything because everything is already clean and beautiful. It is so clean that just like a mirror when the maidservants would sweep the floor they could see the reflections of their bodies. So remain always in Vaikuntha y a; na, simply by thinking of the glories of the Lord. Don’t try to do anything artificially. That is sahajiya, which means a class of men that take everything very cheap. You want to perform sacrifice so continuously read our Vedic scriptures and perform the Vaikuntha yajna. It — Letter to Himavati. 15 June 1972.
To read the entire article click here: https://archive.org/details/bindu394

Doubts cloud market surge.
Vaisesika das: Yesterday the front-page headline of The San Mateo Times read: “Doubts cloud market surge.”
The simple facts behind this headline are that hopeful economic news stimulated a weeklong stock market rally.
But yesterday, as traders got mixed economic reports, they pulled back, stopped buying, and the trading surge stalled.
The reason according to the Times: doubts.
When doubts cloud one’s mind or heart, a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction creeps in and the result is that one holds back. (The word, doubt, in fact comes from a Latin word that means, “hesitate”.)

Our free movement in any realm of life comes only when we are free from doubt.

For example, we require confidence even to cross the street.

Indeed, in the scripture doubts are often compared to clouds. And in the Gita, Arjuna refers to doubts as demons.

At Kuruksetra, Arjuna was at first paralyzed by doubts about his duty and he asked Krsna to remove them.

After hearing from Krsna, Arjuna “regained his memory, was firm and free from doubt and ready to act according to Krsna’s instructions.”

To achieve such enthusiasm, one must follows Arjuna’s example.

Confirming this, Rupa Goswami says that the first and most important steps in devotional service are:

1) Taking shelter of a vaisnava guru (adau gurv-asrayam); and 2) inquiring from the guru (sad-dharma-prccha).

Srila Prabhupada writes:

“One must accept a Vaisnava guru and then by questions and answers one should gradually learn what pure devotional service to Krsna is. That is called the parampara system.”

(Cc Antya-lila 7.53)

Any sincere person who follows this system will become free the burden of doubts and will advance to the highest stage of devotional service.

My Conversation With Krsna.
Mahatma das: I called up Krsna the other day because I was having a really hard time. There were so many things going wrong and I couldn’t understand why. So I said, “Krsna, you love me, right? “And feelingly He said, “Of course. I love you unconditionally.” So I questioned how you can love someone and at the same time make their life difficult.” “Oh yes,” Krsna said, “It’s quite possible.” And explained how.
“You know when you are sitting in a chair and after a while you become uncomfortable?”
“Yeah.”
“So what do you do?”
“I move to another position.”
“So when I see you need to get out of your present position and move to a better position, I make your life a little uncomfortable. When I do this you start wondering why it’s like this. And then you call me up. By the way, if everything were going perfectly, would you have called me up?
“Okay, okay, I get it. But will the suffering ever stop?”
“Oh sure, when you learn your lessons. Of course, you could also learn them without suffering. You know, like do what I say. But you don’t seem to do that enough and you tend to get sidetracked. So that’s when I need to give you a little push. You see I really do love you, but sometimes it’s tough love.”
“So what happens when I learn all the lessons?”
“You graduate. When you leave this world, you won’t to come back because there’s nothing more for you to learn. You are ‘out of here’ as they say in your country.”
“Yeah but I am a slow learner, and that means I must suffer a lot. It doesn’t see fair.”
“But you are the one creating your own suffering. Anyway, the material world is not a good place to stay if you don’t like suffering. So don’t keep complaining about suffering. It comes with the reincarnation package. But I use suffering to help devotees eventually overcome their tendency to cause their own suffering. Remember, my gift to you is the freedom to choose the right thing. And your gift to yourself is to choose the right thing.”
“But wouldn’t it have been better if you didn’t allow me to mess up?”
“No, you really wouldn’t be able to live without your full freedom. You’d actually go crazy. Plus, since most people n Kali yuga are not very intelligent, you will find that you usually learn best by making mistakes and suffering the consequences. And when my devotees need to make a change or learn something new, and they are stuck, I make things a little difficult for them. But I do it because I love them.”
“Yeah, it does seem like life’s difficulties carry invaluable lessons.”
“Yes. Think of the people that have hurt you or caused you some misery and consider whether you have learned anything, or grown, by going through those difficulties. Those who hurt you were some of your best teachers, but I bet you called them some pretty nasty names. You see, I put people in front of you that disturb you so you can learn to be more tolerant, forgiving and compassionate. Didn’t you always use to say ‘It’s all Krsna’s mercy’ when you were a new devotee?”
“Yeah, but …”
“So you think it’s My mercy when everything goes well and someone else’s fault when it doesn’t?”
“Well, it’s easier to see it’s your mercy in hindsight and it’s easier to blame someone when I am going through the problem because sometimes people do hurtful things to me.”
“Mahatma, there is no one to blame. They are just agents of your karma. Do you blame your teeth when you bit your tongue?”
“To be honest, sometimes I do.”
“Exactly, we always are looking for someone or something to blame, always looking to make an excuse.”
“Okay, I get it. If I am so perfect, if I have all good qualities, I wouldn’t have taken another body. So I have a few more things to learn and you are making sure I learn them.”
“That’s it. Your offender brings you valuable lessons. You honor Me and great sadhus for bringing you the gift of knowledge that life is suffering. Yet isn’t it hypocritical that you blame your “offender” when he or she brings you the same gift as a life lesson? Should you bow to me and blame the other? Is it possible that all things work to help you and there is really no one to blame and no one to forgive?

His Holiness Bhakti Vigna Vinasha Narasimha Maharaja’s class during yesterday’s Sravana Utsav-2017 event in Mayapur (video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/TDcCB3

From a multi-billionaire to pauper in the street, everyone is seeking the wealth of love. The gaudy gizmos, exotic holidays, luxury cars, sports bikes, late night dance parties, Valentine ‘s day, thousands of friend lists on Facebook, millions of followers on Twitter and 70 mm celluloid screens, may titillate or stimulate the senses and mind, but in the real reel of our life it cannot quench the thirst of love in our heart. This thirst can be better apprehended by the analog of the gardener. As when the gardener waters the root of the tree, then as the natural by-product twigs, branches are nourished and ultimately we get the reward of fruit. Similarly only when we being part and parcel (soul) of Supreme God(Supersoul), offer our loving propensity in our primary and original relationship with Krishna (Supreme God) with all our heart, then as the natural by-product, we love our brother, neighbor, spouse, boss, country, humanity, dog, cat and so on . Continue reading "The Great Apostle of ‘love of God’
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On the 20th of February 2017, HH Subhag Swami Maharaj and a group of fifty enthusiastic devotees travelled to Govinda Ghosh’s residence in Agradwip. Govinda Ghosh was a close associate of Mahaprabhu as were his two brothers: Madhava and Vasudeva. The official Navadvip Mandala parikrama starts on the 28th of February, thus Maharaj decided to get us mentally prepared. The Ekadasi after Gour Purnima is the disappearance day of Sri Govinda Ghosh. On this occasion, thousands and thousands of pilgrims travel to Agradwip and visit the samadhi mandir of Govinda Ghosh and his beloved deities; Radha Gopinath. At this sacred place, Maharaj narrated two sweet pastimes of Govinda Ghosh. Continue reading "Radha Gopinath of Govinda Ghosh
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Our bass guitarist Naam Bhakti Devi Dasi (Namrata Sobti) had an inclination towards Krishna and by chance she once went to the ISKCON temple in Chandigarh. Gradually, she developed a lot of faith in Srila Prabhupada's teachings and started telling the same to rest of the band members. So, one by one each one of us started going to the temple. The band leader Nirdosh Sobti (now Nav Kishore Nimai Das) was the ‘toughest nut to crack’, so it took a bit of time for him to join others. Other band members knew that if he would build up faith in Krishna Consciousness then he would contribute a lot in the sphere of sankirtan music as he was the only one in the band who was gifted with loads of talent and was teaching other members the basics of music at the same time. He was one the best guitar players in entire North India at that time and later went to become of the best lead guitarist in India. Continue reading "Madhavas- The devotional Rock Band
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Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

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The post Gita 13.08 The Gita is not a glorification of war, but a delineation of dharma appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 November 2012)

Tamal Krsna Maharaj used to keep this picture in his house in Vrindavan. Prabhupada is so blissful in this picture that Tamal Krsna Maharaj was taken aback by the power of that happiness. Devotional service is susukham kartum avyayam (Bhagavad-gita 9.2), is joyfully performed. And then the rain of flowers showered by the devotees is a symptom of love and respect. That loving exchange is the basis of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement. Prabhupada gave so many wonderful gifts of devotional service and the devotees took up that devotional service with so much sincerity…

Jaganath Puri dham Harinam Sankirtan (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Because we are in ignorance, maya, at any time we may forget Krsna. Therefore we must always engage in Krsna consciousness so that we shall not forget Him. That is indicated by Kuntidevi by the words sravana-smaranarhani. The word sravana means “hearing,” smarana means “remembering,” and arhana means “worshiping the Deity of Krsna.” One should always engage oneself in hearing about, remembering, and worshiping Krsna. All the centers of the Krsna consciousness movement are opened only for this purpose – to facilitate chanting, dancing, and worshiping so that we shall not forget Krsna. Sada tad-bhava-bhavitah: [Bg. 8.6] if we always think of Krsna, there is a chance that we shall remember Krsna at the end of life (ante narayana-smrtih [SB 2.1.6]). >>> Ref. VedaBase => TQK 18: Liberation from Ignorance and Suffering
Find them here: https://goo.gl/BeW5bD

The year 2016 was a very marvelous year for the TOVP as all the works planned were completed. The superstructure has been fully completed with many major works. In 2017 we look forward to commence the prime internal and external detailing work such as blue tiles and ribs on the domes. We will see the Kailash completed and even the Chakras will be installed! We would like to thank Ambarish Prabhu, the fund raising team, the construction team and all the devotees that are participating in bringing this extraordinary offering to Srila Prabhupada and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to life. Let's keep on working together to please Srila Prabhupada! Haribol Continue reading "TOVP Update 2017
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I am a member of the Governing Body Commission for the Hare Krishna movement and I wanted to share the Code of Honour which is printed and placed on our seats during meeting times. It’s good and can apply to other organizations. There are ten points. Continue reading "GBC Code of Honour
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 September 2009, Pretoria, South Africa, Lecture)

Through saintly persons we ourselves get courage and determination. Alone we don’t get it. Therefore in spiritual life, when alone one doesn’t go very far. One must follow in the footsteps of the Mahajans, the great souls…

Harinama in London, Saturday night 18/02/2017 (videos)
One can see enlightenment among the elderly at pilgrimage sites in India, especially in Vrndavana. There one sees many old people visiting temples with intense devotion early in the morning. Hundreds of old people walk the circumambulation (parikrama) paths despite physical debilities. Some are bent nearly double! Someone might criticize that these people are not being provided with the Western medical treatment that could add a few years to their lives or ease their pain. But the sincere babajis and widows of Vrndavana who somehow make their way every morning to see Krsna in the temples and who call out “Jaya Radhe!” are actually fortunate and most intelligent. They are taking the krsna-rasayana, the elixir that will grant them eternal life in Krsna’s spiritual abode. The Vedic sastras recommend that one drink this elixir from the beginning of life, but even if one neglects to do so earlier, one should by all means drink it during the waning days of life and thus cure the disease of repeated birth and death. From the commentary to Mukunda-mala, mantra 37 The commentary to Mukunda-mala was started by Srila Prabhupada and completed by SDG
Watch them here: https://goo.gl/IK3wF9

"That place, time and condition one must resort to which are favorable for mental concentration. He should resort to that place only, seize that hour only, place himself in that condition only, see those comforts only, which are favorable to securing serenity of mind. For by time, place, etc., there is no peculiarity said to be wrought in meditation, but all inquiry about time, place, etc is meant for making the mind serene.’’ Continue reading "Chanting 16 rounds Hare Krishna must give result if properly executed
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Rangoli designs in Krishna-Balaram Mandir, Vrindavana.
Devotees from Pune made beautiful rangoli in front of the Samadhi this m...

Elephant procession in Mayapur (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: There is no such thing to become master. It is useless. You cannot become master. Ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27]. You cannot become master. Jivera svarupa haya nitya krsna dasa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. Either man or woman, everyone is servant of Krsna. We have to be trained up in that platform, how to become the best servant, not only servant directly, but servants, of the servant. This is called parampara servant. My spiritual master is the servant of his spiritual master, and I am also servant of my spiritual master. Similarly, we think “servant of the servant.” There is no question of becoming… This is material disease [Cc. Madhya 13.80]. krsna bhuliya jiva bhoga vancha kare pasate maya tare japatiya dhare As soon as we become puffed up – “Now I shall become master. I shall be simply giving order. I shall not follow anyone” – that is maya. That disease is going on beginning from Brahma down to the ant. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.24 – Mayapur, March 2, 1976
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Tg3a67

Food For Life - Nepal (Album with photos)
First wedding sponsor
Today on the day 19 Feb 2017 our newly wed couples Dr Rajendra Tamrakar and his beloved wife Dr Siprala Tamrakar, and Mr Roshan Tamrakar his beloved wife Ms Ranjita Tamrakar have made a kind donation to the Food For Life Nepal, midday meal program.
Mr Roshan Tamrakar and his better half-Ms Ranjita Tamrakar had visited one of the school and personally feed the children where FFLN is serving the children with mid-day meal. After serving the meal they offered their best wishes to FFLN.
Thank you for the support, love & laughter to the children. We wish you both the couples happy married life.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ZKnReE

HH Badrinarayan Swami has been a member of ISKCON since 1970. He began associating with members of the Hare Krishna movement while still at school and joined the Laguna Beach (California) temple in his eighteenth year. A year later, he took initiation from Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles. Again at an early age, Badrinarayan Swami became a temple president—first at Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1973 to 1977, and then in San Diego from 1978 to 1995. His commitment to the GBC is lengthy, spanning twenty-four years, and he genuinely appreciates his peers as wonderful, kind, intelligent, powerful and humble members of that body, who take on the weight of service and responsibility for the whole society. Remarkably, Badrinarayan Swami has maintained his home base at ISKCON San Diego for the last three decades, which has added to the stability and continuity of the community. Continue reading "From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir – Srimad Bhagavatam class, February 20, 2017
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HH Romapada Swami Maharaja is a disciple of ISKCON Founder Acarya His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was first introduced to this movement of Krsna consciousness when he was a college student more than 37 years ago. He has accepted renounced order of life- sannyasa, and preaches the message of true devotion by traveling all over the United States of America, Canada, the Caribbean, India, and many other parts of the world. He is also serving the movement for years as a Governing Body Commissioner (GBC) of ISKCON in the North America region. HH Romapada Swami very strongly believes in educating everyone in the process of devotional service. He frequently makes presentations and delivers seminar lectures across the world, in many famous educational institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvad University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Penn State University, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, BITS-Pilani, and at many renowned corporate offices such as Microsoft, Lucent Technologies, just to name a few. Continue reading "From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir – Srimad Bhagavatam class, February 18, 2017
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The word vanaprastha is composed of the words vana, meaning “forest” and prastha, meaning “to go,” so a vanaprastha is “One has gone to the forest.” Vanaprastha is an asrama in the Vedic varnasrama system. An asrama can be both a physical and mental place and refers to “a place where one cultivates spiritual life, where culture of the spiritual is foremost.” The vanaprastha order is complete retirement from householder life, a time when one prepares oneself for going back to Godhead. It requires shedding one’s material attachments to become free of the repetition of birth and death (samsara). Every man and woman should be trained for this purpose. Continue reading "The Vanaprastha-asrama and its practical application
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QUESTION: I heard people saying that the eater absorbs the consciousness of the cook. Is that true?

First of all, what is described as “consciousness” here is really referring to the “mind.”

Yes, of course, the mind is influenced by everything it experiences – so eating food cooked by a greedy person will make your mind more greedy. And yes, of course, the mind influences everything it creates – so a greedy person puts some “greed germs” into the food he or she cooks.

But can we please be a little bit realistic and practical here for a second?

Getting OCD about who has cooked what is like standing next to a roaring jet engine and complaining that the person next to you has their iPod headpones turned up too loud. Our minds are always agitated and unsettled by huge and powerful influences. We cannot notice the effect of eating food cooked by a person who has a certain frame of mind.

Except we can all notice the most powerful mental state: love. If someone loves you very much, the way they cook and serve you the food has a very obviously delicious taste to it, much beyond the sugar, salt and spices. So, when food is cooked by really sincere bhaktas there is something noticable about its taste and how it delights our minds in a sublime way.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

Q: Does the maha-mantra by itself unfold Jnana or would you have to get some Jnana to chant the mantra effectively?

If you have no impediments, then the mantra alone will allow you to directly experience the full reality: Krishna loving Rādhā in Vṛndāvana.

However, if you are like the rest of us, you have impediments that need to be worked out, so you will need sādhana (“practice” – a method of getting rid of impediments). 

If you have a very deep, accurate conception of who and what you, Krishna, and everything else is, then your sādhana will quickly get rid of your impediments and thus allow you to directly experience the full reality via the mantra.

However, if you are like the rest of us, you have a lot of misconceptions about yourself, the world, and Krishna – so your sādhana will not be very useful. That means you need sambandha-jñāna – study of śāstra with guru to get rid of these misconceptions.

So, you simply cannot tell a person “just chant.”

They will lose faith in the whole thing, because nothing really substantial will happen. They will not experience Krishna loving Rādhā in Vrindāvana by “just chanting” for millions of years. They have to take up sādhana-bhakti, and to do that they need correct understanding of what the world even is. So, the best thing to do is to teach people śāstra and help them understand what the world is, and what they are, and what God is. Then they can chant effectively.

Q: Do I need to take the mantra (presumably Diksha) and conception of the mantra (presumably Siksa) from the same person or can I do so from different personnel?

You can get dīkṣā and śikṣā from different persons, so long as you have admiration for both, and so long as there is not conflict of meaning or practice between the two. In other words, if the śikṣā-giver teaches you about the mantra in a way that the dīkṣā-giver disagrees with, you’ll run into problems.

Q: Can I take a second mantra from a different guru than the one who gave the first? I took the Maha Mantra Diksha from Iskcon, which is called Hari Naam Diksha. The next step is Brahaman Diksha where you are given sacred thread and Gayatri Mantra to chant along with Maha Mantra. Do I also need to get this from an Iskcon guru?

The mahāmantra does not need dīkṣā. Anyone can chant the mahāmantra effectively, so long as they have no impediments in their conceptions. “Mahāmantra dīkṣā” is a modern term for a convention followed in ISKCON and, I think, other Gaḍīya Maṭh branches. 

Anyone can chant Hare Krishna. But practically everyone has impediments, so dīkṣā and śikṣā are a practical necessity.

Dīkṣā concerns the Krishna-mantras like “kṛṣṇāya govindāya…” and “kāmadevāya vidmahe…” Contemplation of these Krishna Mantras are part of the sādhana to remove impediments to fully experiencing the mahāmantra.

“Threads” and savitrī gāyatrī  are not part of Vaiṣṇava dīkṣā. Yes, all Gauḍīya Maṭha branches, including ISKCON, give a thread and savitrī gāyatrī during dīkṣā. Again, this is their own unique convention. It is a holdover from about a century ago, when their Ācārya wanted to radically illustrate his point that Vaiṣṇavas are better than brahmanas and can do anything brahmaṇas can do. The thread and savitrī gāyatrī are not an essential part of Vaiṣṇava dīkṣā. Outside of Gauḍīya Maṭha, no other Vaiṣṇava’s include these in dīkṣā.

Q: You have said, “Only the person who has the full realization is fully qualified to propogate the parampara. Others are less qualified. Some are unqualified entirely.” So, who would decide this qualification of a person or does it become self evident from the speech, behaviour and action of the person? As I understand that no body decided for Suka or Suta but it was self evident and by the Divine arrangement relishable Bhagavatam unfolded for us.

You perceive it directly. “By contacting this person, I experience Krishna so much more clearly and directly.” 

Sūta and Śuka are perfect examples. All the sages perceived the qualities of Śuka and therefore made him the guru for Parīkṣit. Same for Sūta; Śaunaka and the Naimiśāraṇya sages made him their guru because they percieved the qualities of his realization.

Don’t accept someone as a guru because other people do, or people other people say “this guy is a guru.”

Vraja Kishor das

www.vrajakishor.com

Tagged: diksa, diksha, Guru, guru-tattva, Hare Krishna, initiation, Mahamantra

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Bhāgavata defines reality as jñāna.¹

Most people think jñāna means “knowledge.” OK, fine, but what is knowledge, anyway?

Prathamam pramāṇam pratyakṣaḥ – Knowledge is experience.

Knowledge is not stuff in a book. Those are words, which are a part of gaining knowledge; a part of the educational process, śabda.

You know something when you experience it firsthand. There are other ways of coming to knowledge, such as anumāna (rationale) and śabda (education). But these just lead us to pratyakṣa (experience). Experience is what knowledge really is. You only really know something when you have experienced it firsthand.

Firsthand experience doesn’t necessarily mean perfect knowledge, because our tools for experiencing are flawed. Rationale (anumāna) and education (śabda) help to alleviate those flaws.

Reality is Jñāna

Let’s come back to Bhāgavata’s definition of reality: “reality is jñāna.”

Jñāna is experience. Reality is what you experience.

We experience guṇa (qualities). Specifially we jīvas experience the guṇa of prakṛti (qualities of “matter”). We experience redness, coldness, warmth, loudness, sweetness, smoothness, and so on… kindness, harshness, enmity, friendship, and so on… These objects are inseparable components of experience.

Experience involves the experiencer and experienced. The three things — experience, the experienced, and the experiencer — cannot be separated without causing the whole triplicate to disappear from existence.

This is why Bhāgavata specifically defines reality as advaya jñāna – “unseconded experience” (very difficult term to translate) – the advaya (“non-dual”) part of the phrase indicates that the experiencer and experienced are distinct facets of a single entity: experience.

Redness has no reality unless it is experienced by an experiencer.

An experiencer cannot experience redness without the agency of experience (“consciousness”).

Experience cannot act upon redness without an experiencer (“conscious agent”).

The Vedas

So, we hear that “knowledge is beginningless” or “The Veda (knowledge-source) is Beginningless.” Now you can figure out what that means. The knower (experiencer) and the known (reality) are two eternal manifestations of knowledge (consciousness).

The effort to “gain” knowledge is actually an effor to clarify our consciousness, remove impediments (“anartha”) from our consciousness so that our perception of reality can be direct and fully clear. The Veda and the sādhana of its study are techniques to accomplish that.

So by śabda (education from the Veda) and anumana (the sādhana of deliberation upon and practice of that education) our pratyakṣa (experience) of tattva (reality) will become immediate, firsthand, direct and perfectly clear. Then, according to the same verse of Bhāgavata, we will experience reality to one of three extents: brahman, paramātmā, or bhagavān. (A subject for another post…)

Vraja Kishor das

www.vrajakishor.com

1 “tattvam-yaj jñānam-advayam”

प्रतिष्ठः सूकरविष्ठा

pratiṣṭhaḥ sūkara-viṣṭhā

“Ego is Pig Shit”

The roots of our ego are in our homes, homeland, upbringing, culture and religion. Tell anyone that their culture or religion has some good point, and they will think you are wise. Tell anyone that their culture or religion is not so refined or evolved, they will call you a racist, etc. etc.

We love our pig shit.

Don’t insult my pig shit.

Objectively speaking, Vedic culture (with its music, dance, poetry, grammar, sciences, and most importantly, its concept of consciousness, divinity, happiness, and love) is far, far, far more evolved and sophisticated than any other culture ever was or will be. The shattered remenants of it survive in disjointed shards in its old stronghold, India. Even these shattered remenants can often put other cultures to shame.

Tell this to an Indian, they will say you are wise.

Tell it to a Westerner, they will think you are biased.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

It’s amazing to observe the invisible hand of time, taking you closer and closer to your next life destination without you even realising it. Every Monday, I think back and wonder where the weekend went. When I hit Friday, I look back and wonder where the week went. Before you know it, your entire life has finished. If one lives a life of week days and weekends doing mundane chores, it’s surely fruitless. One must remember everyday that time + material nature is in full control of our day-to-day existence. They make us do stuff and we think we are the doers. To make each day an investment, look for opportunities to pray, worship, remember and serve God. Only in this case, can one not feel guilty of losing time through their fingers.

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