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Business leaders, spiritual teachers advocate charity in business.
“Our greatest treasure here is our own culture. India has a historic opportunity in today’s times to do great things for the benefit of the country and the World”, said Radhanath Swami Maharaj, ISKCON Spiritual leader and one of the keynote speakers at Artha Forum.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/3Zya1Z

The post Daily Darshan:November24, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Prabhupada Teaches How to Stay High Forever

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 06 September 2016, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.26)

Vedic culture is all about dharma. The kshatriya is not to become non-violent but they should use their violence only to protect the principles of religion thus they are protectors and not aggressors – not just big guys with big muscles; big bullies where you cross the road when you see one coming down the street. No, this is a sudra with muscles and there are plenty of them. It is not that everyone with big muscles is a kshatriya. The proof of that is Ekalavya who was practicing shooting targets with arrows and wanted to be a disciple of Dronacharya. The story goes as…

Once when the Pandavas and Dronacharya were on a forest excursion hunting, they had a dog with them. At one point, the dog targeted Ekalavya who was dressed in animal skin. The dog was barking at Ekalavya and Ekalavya shot an arrow and wove through the lips of the dog and sealed its mouth! This was quite an extraordinary feat so when Arjuna saw this, he said to Dronacharya, “You told me that you were going to make me the greatest archer in the world but look at this!?”

Then Dronacharya asked Ekalavya, “So, how have to learnt this art of archery… who is your teacher?” Then Ekalavya bowed down and said, “It is you who is my teacher!” Long before, Ekalavya had gone to Dronacharya to be accepted as a student and Dronacharya would not accept him, subsequently Ekalavya had made a statue of Dronacharya, worshipped that statue and continued his training in archery and had become very expert at it.

So when Ekalavya said, “You are my teacher, Guru Maharaj!”

Then Dronacharya said, “You didn’t give me any dakshin!”

Ekalavya, “Whatever you desire…”

Dronacharya, “Give me the thumb of your right hand!” and Ekalavya cut his right thumb and gave it!

So this is a bit gruesome, how could Dronacharya act in such a way? Is this Vedic, is this brahminical… Was there no love… Couldn’t he just accept Ekalavya as his disciple after all his effort and happily say, “You did well my boy…” For all his dedication what did Ekalavya get!? Losing the thumb of his right hand! Was Dronacharya a ruthless brahmana?

This is a bewildering pastime in the Mahabharata but if we look a little deeper, then we understand that kshatriya is not about muscle or arrows or archery… being a kshatriya is about dharma and dedication to dharma then the power, muscles, weapons and violence are meaningful! Violence without adhering to dharma is dangerous. Therefore Dronacharya was not cruel, he understood, “If I let this man out in the world without appropriate dharma, today he closed the mouth of a dog, tomorrow God knows what he will do this ability…”

So Ekalavya gave his thumb and was no longer a great archer but he became a true disciple of Dronacharya but at a price. He was not an archer but he got something else – he got the mercy of Dronacharya. By this sacrifice, he became elevated. In this way, he can see that ultimately, Ekalavya got the benediction of what he desired.

Typically, a group of people or an institution promote a particular cause or multiple causes. For example, a State University promotes the cause of higher education. A political party promotes certain causes to its electoral votes. A church or temple promotes set of values or causes related to scripture or gods in the name of religion. A nation of people come together to promote a specific cause in the name of nationalism etc. So like this in our society we have multiple groups promoting different and varying causes.

In order to address a problem invariably we have to be part or associate with a particular group or institution. So one may ask is the institution more important than the cause or is the cause more important than the institution? Which drives which?

There is a fine line between the institution and cause. If we as the adherents to the institution and cause do not realize the difference, then we will charter into the territory of sectarianism. Personally, sectarianism is the singular problem plaguing the minds of modern civilization. We become more passionate of the institution than the cause itself. Because in the real world, nothing is black and white like the mission statement of an institution which means to address one cause we have to cross party lines. So while we are loyal to an institution, party, caste or nation, it is essential we always remember to put the primary cause or problem in front of everything else. This mental due diligence will help us keep away from sectarian differences.

Perhaps in the real world, this may not be practical all the time but as an individual we can commit to always remind ourselves of why we are here and work with others and their differences to address our root cause.

Hare Krishna

When I was a new devotees it seemed like our spiritual advancement was like a rocket going straight and fast to our spiritual destination, and surely in a few years we would board that spiritual flower airplane piloted by the best of devotees, and go “back home, back to Godhead.” However, after some years my shiny, fast, roller blades become covered in thick, heavy mud and what had at first seemed like a full throttle race to the finish line turned into a slippery crawl, where sometimes I seemed to be going nowhere, or even sliding helplessly backwards down the rocky, dusty hill with no footing or holds.

Reading that Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has sometimes referred to spiritual advancement in bhakti as the “zigzag path,” has normalized my ups and downs in spiritual life, helping me to understand my difficulties, or starts, stops, and reverses not as a personal anomaly but as natural for every seeker. When we are on the ground, we have to rise up with the help of the ground, so this is my attempt to stand and go forward aided with the staff of mercy, prayer, and knowledge.

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By Nikunja Vilasini Devi Dasi

Reading or hearing about Krishna’s astounding pastimes in Vrindavana will satisfy our innate spiritual need to be connected with the supreme spiritual person, Sri Krishna. Mundane tales bind us to the material sphere, whereas spiritual tales uplift us. They are ever fresh and purify our hearts. When we are in contact with Krishna’s name, form, abode, and pastimes, we are in direct contact with Him. Our spiritual nature becomes uncovered, and we begin to see things as they are. Free from illusion, we see beyond the purview of the material mind and senses. When we're steeped in pure devotion, neither supernatural powers nor anything else can distract us from serving and pleasing Krishna. Continue reading "Worlds of Magic, Worlds of Truth
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By Vishakha Devi Dasi

Simply by hearing about Krishna and His devotees, we will lose our longtime desire to control and enjoy this world, and as we gradually reduce our desire to dominate, we will proportionately enjoy spiritual happiness. A Vedic mantra says that as we associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we proportionately relish our eternal blissful life. So, eternal blissful life can be ours if we desire and pray for it. “When will Nityananda bestow His causeless mercy upon me so that my desire for material enjoyment will become very insignificant? When will that time come?” (Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura, Lalasamayi Prarthana 2). By the causeless mercy of our transcendental superiors, our desires will no longer be material, but spiritual. At that time the modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance will release their ironlike grip on us. We’ll be completely free. Continue reading "Are We Bound or Free?
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By Urmila Devi Dasi

The enlightened devotee’s detachment derives from the superior satisfaction of spiritual love. The rising tide of spiritual love gradually increases to a flood. This love, real love, means giving rather than taking. It means giving oneself for the pleasure of God. It means being an agent to unite the Lord and His energy of pleasure – Krishna with Radha, Narayana with Lakshmi, Rama with Sita. Of course, the Lord and His eternal consort do not depend on a tiny soul to aid their union. It is the kindness of the Lord that He engages the expanded living beings in this way so as to share His bliss. The finite soul, thus linked with the infinite through loving service, eternally experiences ever-expanding ecstasy. Such is our natural, constitutional, inherent nature. Let us take daily steps toward regaining our nature and letting go of its pale reflection. Continue reading "Austerity and Pleasure: Managing Our Sexuality While Waiting for Transcendence
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“To identify with the mind” means to accept its desires as our desires and unthinkingly act on them. “To identify the mind” means to recognize that the desires popping up inside us are the mind’s desires – “Aha! That’s the mind speaking” – and to intelligently evaluate whether to act on them or not.

“Don’t identify with the mind; identify the mind” – this can be a contemporary English rendition of the key call of the Bhagavad-gita (06.05): Elevate yourself with the mind; don’t degrade yourself[1]. When we identify with the mind, we act according to its shortsighted, self-defeating desires, thereby degrading ourselves. When we identify the mind, we check its desires and choose to act only on those desires that are worthy, thereby elevating ourselves.

 

Redefining external and internal

Suppose we had a house with a large courtyard that had a fence with the main security gate. Suppose we found someone inside the fence. Just because they were inside our premises, we wouldn’t assume that they belonged, that they were related with us. We would investigate who they were and then decide how to interact with them.

We need to be similarly cautious when we find some unexpected desires popping up inside us. We often think of physical objects as external and desires as internal. This external-internal classification is based on our thinking of ourselves as our body. However, the fundamental teaching of the Bhagavad-gita (02.13)[2] is that we are souls. The mind is made of matter, although of a kind subtler than the physical matter we are accustomed to. Being material, the mind is an external covering on the soul. So, from the perspective of our real identity as souls, the mind is external to us, as are the desires in it.

But we usually think of the desires inside us as our desires. Some of our desires can be like intruders who have slipped through the main security gate and entered into the premises. Just as those residing in the house are especially vulnerable to such intruders, we too are especially vulnerable to the inimical desires that have penetrated into our mind. We misidentify with such desires and act on them. For example, we may have resolved to diet for health. But then a desire to eat something fatty pops up within us. If we mistake that desire to be our desire, we end up bingeing. If we can recognize that desire as an unwanted trespasser, we can strive to resist it.

How can we identify the mind instead of identifying with the mind?

Here are four strategies:

• Labeling
• Advising
• Purifying
• Persisting

 

Labeling

When we interact with people regularly, we gradually form labels for them: “He’s lazy,” “She’s fussy,” “He’s rash”, “She’s vain.” This labeling tendency can mislead. People are a complex blend of strengths and shortcomings, but labeling reduces them to just one of their traits.

Still, labels, if used carefully, can serve as helpful functional guides. People are what they are, and aren’t likely to change overnight. Once we understand their nature, we can adapt to them. For example, some people are grumpy when they wake up in the morning. If we have to live with them, then a label can remind us to not take their morning mood too seriously.

Labels can help us identifying the mind instead of identifying with it. When we find ourselves in a grumpy mood, we can label the mind, “Today, my mind is grumpy.” Many devotional songs employ this strategy of labeling the mind. The philosopher-saint, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, in his song Dushta Mana, labels the mind as wicked while reflecting on how it misleads and how it can be led back on the right path.

The purpose of labeling is to contextualize the behavior, not perpetuate it. By observing ourselves, we can note phases when our mind is, say, grumpy and label it accordingly. But we don’t want the mind to stay grumpy. So, rather than labeling it as grumpy, we can label as grumpy the phase it is going through. The label can help us lower our expectation, thereby preventing a mismatch between our expectations of the mind and its amenability. We steel ourselves internally to not take its mood too seriously and learn to work around it.

Additionally, while tolerating people’s grumpiness, we also try to improve their mood. Similarly, while tolerating the mind’s moods, we can also try to improve its mood. Changing the mind is, in fact, the thrust of the remaining strategies.

 

Advising

There are few things we give as freely as advise. And when it comes to behavior, we often give advice quite expertly. When others tell us their problems, we frequently counsel them to act in ways that we ourselves would do well to remember and apply.

We can use our advising propensity to advise our mind. Our advising others won’t benefit us as much as our advising our own mind. Devotional songs use this strategy of advising the mind. For example, the saint-poet Govinda das in his song bhajahu re mana urges his mind to stay fixed in Krishna, assuring it that such focus will grant sublime peace.

Does the mind listen to good advise? Maybe not immediately, but over time, it does listen. The mind is stubborn, but not incorrigible; it is reformable. Vital for reforming is reformulating. We need to reformulate the mind’s conceptions in the light of spiritual knowledge.

For example, the mind may have its pet conceptions about which worldly things will bring happiness. But such things usually provide just a little happiness in the beginning followed by a long tail of misery (Gita 18.38)[3]. To advice the mind where it can find real happiness, we need to reformulate our understanding of life and its purpose. The best way to such reformulation is the regular study of scripture. Scriptural study helps us understand that real happiness is found in higher spiritual reality: in loving remembrance of Krishna and in purposeful devotional service to him.

We need to not just study scripture, but study it regularly because the mind is outstandingly forgetful. It forgets both how worldly pleasures are so superficial and short-lived, and how devotional fulfillment is so substantial and sublime. Recognizing that the mind is a slow learner, we need to keep advising it repeatedly by regular scriptural study.

Improving the mind requires not just education but also purification. That brings us to the next strategy.

 

Purifying                   

The mind is a creature of habit. It acts according to its habitual patterns, even when we want to act differently. For referring to our innate pattern of thinking and acting, a commonly used word is inclination. This is a particularly apt word; its other meaning serves as a good metaphor for the way the mind functions. Inclination also refers to the tilt of a physical structure such as a floor. If the floor is inclined southwards, whatever water falls on it will naturally flow south. If we want the water to flow north, just our intention to make it flow that way won’t be enough; we need to couple that intention with reconstruction. Only when we make the floor inclined northwards will water naturally flow that way.

Inclination determines flow – this principle applies to our inner world too. Our desires naturally flow according to our mind’s inclination. For example, as people get addicted to alcohol, their mind becomes increasingly inclined towards it. Even if they resolve to become sober, their desires keep going towards alcohol because their mind is still inclined that way. Just their resolution to abstain doesn’t change their mind’s inclination. They need to couple their resolution with mental reconstruction. Such reconstruction is brought about through purification.

To better appreciate the necessity of purification, let’s re-consider the point of changing our conceptions of happiness. Whereas education changes our conscious conceptions, purification goes deeper, changing our subconscious definitions of happiness.

Bhakti-yoga is the most potent process for purifying ourselves because it brings us in contact with God, Krishna, who is all-pure and all-purifying. The more we connect with Krishna in a mood of devotional service, the more we access spiritual happiness that makes worldly pleasures seem pale and stale. And the more we relish higher happiness and realize how it is far preferable to mundane indulgences, the more our mental flooring gets reshaped. When our mind becomes naturally inclined towards Krishna instead of worldly things, our inner struggle ceases. The Gita (06.27)[4] points to this state while outlining how purification brings pacification of the mind and satisfaction of the soul.

 

Persisting

For the mind to change its ways takes time. During the interim period, we need to be persistent in our devotional practices. The Gita (06.26)[5] characterizes the mind as restless. Restlessness typifies children too. When a mother tells her little girl to study, she factors in the restlessness natural to childhood. Accordingly, when her child gets distracted, she doesn’t get irritated – she gets her girl back to studies, gently but firmly.

We need to become like a mature mother for dealing with the child-like mind. Instead of getting exasperated when it gets distracted, as it inevitably will, we need to expect its distractibility and prepare for it. The same Gita verse (06.26) recommends that whenever the mind wanders, we re-focus it, calmly and consistently.

As the child grows up, she understands the importance of studying and herself chooses to focus on studies. Similarly, when we persist in the practice of bhakti-yoga, the mind grows up and understands what is truly important. Thereafter, it naturally focuses on important things and ultimately the most important thing: our eternal relationship of service with Krishna.

Additionally and far more consequentially, our persistence in practicing bhakti-yoga pleases Krishna. He appreciates our intention, even if we can’t always translate it into action. By his omnipotent grace, he progressively empowers us to first rein in the mind and then reform it.

Ultimately, to identify the mind instead of identifying with it, we need to identify with Krishna, as his eternal parts. When we become situated and satisfied in serving him, the mind becomes our friend and we swiftly and joyfully progress towards success and happiness, both in this life and the next.

 

[1] One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

[2] As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

[3] That happiness which is derived from contact of the senses with their objects and which appears like nectar at first but poison at the end is said to be of the nature of passion.

[4] The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest perfection of transcendental happiness. He is beyond the mode of passion, he realizes his qualitative identity with the Supreme, and thus he is freed from all reactions to past deeds.

[5] The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krishna, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.

The post Don’t identify with the mind – identify the mind appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

It was Ford and Reuther, and the ceremony was covered by Time magazine, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press!
Udayananda: We had kirtan competitions. Devotees from the Chicago temple would do their thing, the L.A. devotees would do their thing, the Radha-Damodar party would do their thing and the London devotees would do their thing, like that.

Conversation.

Devamrta, Niranjana, Sivarama Swamis.

“One’s ability to respond.”
The word, responsibility, derives from Old French, respondre, “to answer.” In other words, responsibility, can be literally taken as, “one’s ability to respond.”

The post Daily Darshan:November23,2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Hladini, Sandhini And Samvit.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has three kinds of internal potency, namely the hlādinī-śakti, or pleasure potency, the sandhinī-śakti, or existential potency, and the samvit-śakti, or cognitive potency. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.12.69) the Lord is addressed as follows: “O Lord, You are the support of everything. The three attributes hlādinī, sandhinīand samvit exist in You as one spiritual energy. But the material modes, which cause happiness, misery and mixtures of the two, do not exist in You, for You have no material qualities.”
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta—-1:4:60—-purport).

Five beings that should always be appreciated & valued and PROTECTED.
When they are thus valued (as any great wealth is), they will be protected by those who value them. Lack of protection indicates a lack of appreciation – that is, the fault is not with the wealth, it is with the unappreciative wealth holder. Danakeli Dasi once wrote a very nice explanation why they should be protected.

Initiation ceremony (Album with photos)
Nitya Lila Devi dasi receiving Harinam diksa and Vedanta-krit das receiving brahminica...

Torrents Of Rain!
Giriraj Swami: Reading Srila Prabhupada’s Light of the Bhagavata, I was struck by text 12 and his commentary on it:
“The mountains, although being struck by torrents of rain during the rainy season, are not shaken, just as those whose hearts are dedicated to the transcendental Personality of Godhead are never disturbed, even when harassed by great misfortune.” (LOB 12)
“Because a person who is spiritually advanced accepts any adverse condition of life as the mercy of the Lord, he is completely eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom. Even though a person takes to the devotional service of the Supreme Lord, he may sometimes become diseased, impoverished, or disappointed by life’s events. A true devotee of the Lord always considers these sufferings to be due to past sinful activities, and thus without becoming disturbed he patiently awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Such devotees are compared to high mountains, which are never agitated in any way, even when struck by powerful torrents of rain in the rainy season. Rather, such devotees remain humble in spiritual enlightenment. Free from pride and envy, they easily gain the mercy of the Lord and go back home, back to Godhead.” (LOB 12 purport)
Hare Krishna.

“Translating ‘Dharma’ and the Dharma of Translation”
Krishna Kshetra Swami: Yesterday I gave a 2-hour lecture at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Faculty of Religion) here in Beijing. My lecture title: “Translating 'Dharma’ and the Dharma of Translation” (focusing on the Bhāgavatam). Nice, bright group of students and scholars, some of whom I met last year.

A video by Krishna Wisdom describing the nature of the soul, based on the ancient teachings of the east, taken from the Bhagavad Gita - As It Is, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 

Bhikshu Gita 1 – Minimize misery by identifying the misery caused by the mind (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.42)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
Podcast :

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Bhikshu Gita 2 – The mind makes it difficult for people to change – be understanding (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.43)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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Bhikshu Gita 3 – The mind makes the unreal seem real and the real seem unreal (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.44)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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Bhikshu Gita 4 – The mind distracts us from bhakti in the name of bhakti (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.45)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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Bhikshu Gita 5 – Happiness comes by raising the standard of longing (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.46)
Congregation program at Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Answer Podcast

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The post Bhakti is not about attachment or detachment but about commitment – please explain. appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post How can we weaken our bad desires and strengthen our good desires? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post How can we avoid forgetting our resolutions? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Congregation program at Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates
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The post Bhikshu Gita 5 – Happiness comes by raising the standard of longing (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.46) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

During my five-day visit to Bahrain in 2016, I spoke a four-part series on the Bhikshu Gita, a section from the Uddhava Gita in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. This song of the mendicant contains penetrating insights about the nature of the mind and its pivotal role in aggravating our distresses.

During the series, the discussion spontaneously evolved towards how the mind affects our relationships. I analyzed how our mind’s preconceptions and misconceptions lead us to snap judgments about others, thereby hurting our relationships with them. Overall, I tried to open the audience’s minds to appreciate the difficulties others have in overcoming their conditionings.

Later, I heard from devotees about their overall positive experiences while practicing bhakti in Bahrain. As a part of the government’s “This is Bahrain” program, the devotees had done their first public kirtan recently and had even been included as a part of a Bahraini delegation to a global summit of inter-religious harmony.

It was revealing to know that when Bahrain had its own version of the Arab Spring a few years ago, the protesting Bahrainis had conscientiously avoided targeting any of the immigrants’ vehicles (“We have nothing against you.”) or even the government buildings (“Our protests are against the rulers – why should we damage our own nation’s property?”) Although the protests had eventually been crushed violently by the government, the protestors hadn’t resorted to vandalism, thus countering the prevailing stereotype that people of a particular religion resort to violence at the slightest provocation.

I was reminded forcefully that no blanket label applies to any group of people. People everywhere are essentially the same – and the wide spectrum of various kinds of people can be found in any cross-section of society. The Bhagavad-gita (18.20) states that knowledge in the mode of goodness means to see the similar spiritual essence in all living beings, whatever be their bodily coverings. It struck me that while I was speaking to help my audience open their minds, hearing from them was opening my mind too. During traveling preaching, this realization has come upon me repeatedly: what I teach may benefit others, but what I learn benefits me much more.

On a separate note, I had just returned from a two-month tour of the West, where having over a hundred people attend a program was a luxury reserved only for Sundays. But here in Bahrain, having nearly two hundred people attend programs every day, for five days in a series, was an encouraging testimony to our movement’s vibrancy – and to the Bahraini devotee-leaders’ dedication.

Apart from the series on the mind, I also gave five other classes. To the teenagers of the community, I spoke on “Navigating the emotional and social turbulence of adolescence.” To a well-wisher whose brother had suddenly passed away, I spoke on “Learning from the guru named death.”
My trip to Bahrain was coordinated by Krishna Prema Prabhu, who was one of the founding doctors of the Bhaktivedanta Hospital and is doing powerful preaching in Bahrain. He has attracted many doctors to the practice of bhakti. Rarely do I have to ask others for the meanings of English words, but when he introduced the doctors he had cultivated, many of them were specialists in areas that I was only vaguely familiar with. I was encouraged to see that our movement in Bahrain was attracting such well-educated, intelligent people – not just the masses, but also the classes.

Much of Bahrain comprises land that has been reclaimed from the ocean – something that is considered a remarkable feat of material progress. I felt enlivened to see that our movement in Bahrain has achieved a similar spiritually remarkable feat: amidst the ocean of Kali yuga in the middle of a place that was traditionally considered deeply in the throes of the darkness of illusion, our movement has reclaimed many, many souls.

The links for the lectures I gave in Bahrain are here:

Bhikshu Gita 1 – Minimize misery by identifying the misery caused by the mind (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.42)

Bhikshu Gita 2 – The mind makes it difficult for people to change – be understanding (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.43)

Bhikshu Gita 3 – The mind makes the unreal seem real and the real seem unreal (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.44)

Bhikshu Gita 4 – The mind distracts us from bhakti in the name of bhakti (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.45)

QA on Practical application of bhakti

Demystifying Gita 18.66 – Does surrender mean giving up dharma?

Navigating the social and emotional turbulence of adolescence

Learning from the guru named death

The post Opening minds while getting one’s own mind opened (Reflections on visit to Bahrain 2016) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Prabhupada’s Chant Versus LSD

Reading Srila Prabhupada’s Light of the Bhagavata, I was struck by text 12 and his commentary on it:

“The mountains, although being struck by torrents of rain during the rainy season, are not shaken, just as those whose hearts are dedicated to the transcendental Personality of Godhead are never disturbed, even when harassed by great misfortune.” (LOB 12)

“Because a person who is spiritually advanced accepts any adverse condition of life as the mercy of the Lord, he is completely eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom. Even though a person takes to the devotional service of the Supreme Lord, he may sometimes become diseased, impoverished, or disappointed by life’s events. A true devotee of the Lord always considers these sufferings to be due to past sinful activities, and thus without becoming disturbed he patiently awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Such devotees are compared to high mountains, which are never agitated in any way, even when struck by powerful torrents of rain in the rainy season. Rather, such devotees remain humble in spiritual enlightenment. Free from pride and envy, they easily gain the mercy of the Lord and go back home, back to Godhead.” (LOB 12 purport)

—Giriraj Swami

 

How to see or know God? People often challenge, "show me God!". But according to the vedic paradigm, the way one can know God first is through hearing or sravanam. Hence the vedas has another name called sruti. So through hearing eventually we will be able to see God face to face.

Krishna Kripa das: Alachua County Hare Krishnas Chant Before Gators Game

By Chandan Bhatia

As a child, Nimai cried a lot and would not stop until everyone sang “HAR! HARI!” and clapped their hands. His golden ankle bells tinkled as He kicked His legs while an Sachimata’s lap and as He took His first faltering steps while learning to walk. Being promised sweets and ksira, the ladies coaxed Nimai to dance for them. That same Supreme Lord who is unapproachable even to great sages and demigods, danced awkwardly on His short chubby legs and smiled sweetly at the ladies as they chanted “HARI” and clapped their hands. Two thieves attempt to steal the Lord’s ornaments One day two thieves saw the Nimai roaming about the streets alone. Seeing His fine ornaments, they conspired to steal them. One of the thieves picked Him up saying "O dear! O dear!" while the other joined him saying, “Where have You been for so long?” Continue reading "Two thieves attempt to steal the Lord’s ornaments
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By Giriraj Swami

We all want to know who we really are, what role we are meant to play in God’s plan, what contribution we are meant to make to God’s work. And, by God’s grace, we may get a sense of our calling, what we are meant to do in His service. But even then, we may shrink from what we know is our duty, shirk what we know is our responsibility. We may fear the challenges ahead and retreat into what we imagine will be a safer, more comfortable place. We always have that choice--to face God and the mission he ordains for us, or to flee from Him, and in doing do, depart from our true self. Especially as we grow older, we may wonder what fruits our efforts will bear, whether we should even bother to make the effort. Even those who have labored faithfully in the service of the Lord may wonder what will come of the efforts they have made, the projects they have undertaken. Continue reading "Finding Ourselves – Who We Are and What We Are Meant to Do
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