Monthly Archives: January 2017

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

VISHNUJANA MAHARAJA EXPLAINS HOW TO TAKE GUIDANCE FROM PHYSICALLY ABSENT SRILA PRABHUPADA

January 30, 2017 in Articles by Yasoda nandana dasa

Serving the guru in his absence (Vishnujana Swami 1973)

VISHNUJANA MAHARAJA EXPLAINS HOW TO TAKE GUIDANCE FROM PHYSICALLY ABSENT SRILA PRABHUPADA 


…His Divine Grace, we all know many examples how he knows everything about relative and absolute truth. He is able to decide accurately at every moment what is to be done. He is able to know what is most auspicious to be performed at a particular moment when there are so many things that could be done. 

Why? 

Because he is in direct touch with Krishna and he knows what Krishna’s preference is. He is not bewildered, like Arjuna was bewildered in the beginning in the Bhagavad-Gita — “What is most auspicious? On one hand, I’m supposed to fight because I’m a kshatriya; on the other hand, they are my grandfathers, I am not supposed to kill them.” 

He didn’t know what is most auspicious to be performed. You see? But when he controlled his mind and senses, being convinced by Krishna, by His instructions, then he agreed to act under Krishna’s instruction. Krishna sat on his chariot, “Arjuna, you kill him now.” “Oh, but Krishna, this one is not even with his weapons, he is not even on his chariot.” 

Krishna said, “Kill him.” So he killed him immediately — a completely immoral act. He killed him, because the supreme morality is to act on the order of Krishna. So only one who has Krishna riding in his chariot and giving him instructions: “You shoot here,” “You do this now,” “You go here now,” “You get married,” “You don’t get married,” “You do this” — only he is able to know what is to be done, what is not to be done. 

Others, they only do the wrong thing, always do the wrong thing. Krishna consciousness is not artificial. Either we come to the point of having that Krishna-sun arisen in our heart, thereby being able to understand Krishna’s desire and the relative and absolute, or we have to remain on the mental platform, speculating what is to be done, what is not to be done. 

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by Damaghosa dasa

qualification needed to understand Bhagavad Gita

January 26, 2017 in Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

 Qualification needed to understand Bhagavad Gita

1.)Mayapur Feb 26 1977
Prabhupāda: It is said, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. (aside:) If there are outsiders, they should be given plate. [break] The dhīras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2]. These words are there. Actually to understand this Kṛṣṇa philosophy, it is not for ordinary person.

Brahmānanda: What is the qualification for understanding?

Prabhupāda: These things are there. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. The rājarṣi means the topmost class. Rāja means government or the king. So simply the government man or the king will not suffice. He must be ṛṣi, saintly person. So, topmost man in the society, at the same time, he must be saintly. That is the qualification of understanding Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa uses this word, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ.

Brahmānanda: Sometimes we see that an Indian, he’s living at least a more saintly life than the life that we have led, but sometimes we are more qualified to hear than some Indian men.

Prabhupāda: Yes, because you have got qualification-dhīra. What I say, you hear with patience. And those who are adhīra, they cannot. Sometimes… Aye. (someone enters) You can come this side. [break] Two words is very important. One is, that in the beginning one must be dhīra, not restless.Restlessness is for the animal, or a child. He is restless. He cannot understand. An animal, a cat and dog… Sometimes they remain very silent before the master, but not always. Their habit is not silent. So this understanding, that “I am not this body,” is not possible for, say, restless person, that “I am not this body.” It is specially mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, dhīra. He must not be a restless animal, always busy. Just like monkey. Monkey is always busy. But as soon as the monkey comes, everyone knows he is very busy. He can jump very nicely. And immediately they take a stick, “Get out! Get out! Get out!” Busy fool. Fool, if he remains little silent, so he does less harm. But if he is busy, he is more harmful. So this is the position at the present moment, that people are kept in the animal civilization and they are busy. So they are creating more harm. It is not for the good of the society. They are creating more harm. This dehātma-buddhi is the conception of the animals.
yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]
So this dehātma-buddhi, “I am this body,” is very strong at the present. They think dehātma-buddhi, extended, is very good. And that I was speaking, that a person is taking care of his own body or own dress, but they say, “We shall not take care of my body but for others body also, my son’s body, my grandson’s body, my relative’s body.” So that means extending the activities of taking care of the dress. So that I said, that a washerman is taking care of many people’s dress, but that does not mean that he is very elevated man. He is nothing but a washerman. But people are interested to take care of the dress. This body is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya [Bg. 2.22]. We are changing the dress. And so long we are interested with dress of the body, not of the body, so the person who has got this body will remain animal. Sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]. So people are not prepared even to hear about this distinction, that “I am not this body; you are not this body.” The modern civilization has trained up, educated people, in such a way that the more you think yourself, “I am this body—’I am American,’ ‘I am Indian,’ ‘I am brāhmaṇa,’ ‘I am this, I am that’ “—and you feel and act like that and create trouble like that, then you are called civilized. Is it not? This is the defect of modern civilization. The more you keep yourself in the darkness of accepting this body as yourself-national feeling, social feeling, family feeling, community feeling-then... But we are speaking from a different platform. Our movement is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa begins His teaching from a different platform. He begins from the platform of the soul. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. His teaching to Arjuna begins, first of all convincing him that “You are not this body.” And He’s describing the nature of the soul-na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin na hanyate—in so many ways, adāhyo ‘yam aśoṣyo ‘yam, so many. Find out this verse. Who will find out? Hm.

2.)Vrndavana Aug 13 1974
Prabhupāda: So Nārada Muni, by the grace of the mahātmās, he could understand that this material position is very dangerous, and… Dangerous means duḥkhālayam, always miserable condition. But one cannot understand. Unless he’s Kṛṣṇa conscious, he cannot understand what is the miserable condition of this material world. He cannot understand. This is māyā. He’s suffering, but he’s thinking, “I am happy.” This is called māyā.  So when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the grace of the Supreme Personality, guru krsna, by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa, then he understands that this place, this material world, is full of miseries. Then  brahma jijnasa. But foolishly people do not understand that it is a miserable condition. 

3.)750919SB.VRN Lectures
So to forget Krsna and to become subjected to the condition of
material nature, that is called material life. Material life means to
give up the idea of going back to home, back to Godhead, but making
plan here to be happy. This is called maya, or material life.
Some Conclusions-What is the qualification to understand Bhagavad Gita? Srila Prabhupada tells us above there are two things-one must become saintly and dhira or, non restless,or patient. One time he also described impatience- as a lack of goodness. More good reasons for living in the country on your own farm land-the mode of goodness automatically comes with the food. 

The next thing he tells us is that unless one actually is Krsna Conscious, he will not be able to understand that this place is meant only for misery, and consequently will always be making plans for some so called happiness. Therefore we have the early chapters in BG meant for such persons-Karma yoga, jnana yoga, astanga yoga, and finally after many lifetimes when we really do understand-100% of only bhakti yoga for the serious practitioner  .

Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
———————————
Today’s Deity Darshan

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

The Brahmana and the Sweet Rice

January 25, 2017 in Padmapani Dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

compiled by Padmapani dasa

“In some of the Purāṇas the evidence is given that if someone is simply meditating on devotional activities, he has achieved the desired result and has seen face to face the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this connection, there is a story in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa that in the city of Pratiṣṭhānapura in South India there was once a brāhmaṇa who was not very well-to-do, but who was nevertheless satisfied in himself, thinking that because of his past misdeeds, and by the desire of Kṛṣṇa, he did not get sufficient money and opulence. So he was not at all sorry for his poor material position, and he used to live very peacefully. He was very openhearted, and sometimes he went to hear some lectures delivered by great realized souls. At one such meeting, while he was very faithfully hearing about Vaiṣṇava activities, he was informed that these activities can be performed even by meditation. In other words, if a person is unable to actually perform Vaiṣṇava activities physically, he can meditate upon the Vaiṣṇava activities and thereby acquire all of the same results. Because the brāhmaṇa was not very well-to-do financially, he decided that he would simply meditate on grand, royal devotional activities, and he began this business thusly:
 
Sometimes he would take his bath in the River Godāvarī. After taking his bath he would sit in a secluded place on the bank of the river, and, by practicing the yoga exercises of prāṇāyāma, the usual breathing exercise, he would concentrate his mind. This breathing exercise is meant to mechanically make the mind fixed upon a particular subject. That is the result of the breathing exercise and also of the different sitting postures of yoga. Formerly, even quite ordinary persons used to know how to fix the mind upon the remembrance of the Lord, and so the brāhmaṇa was doing this. When he had fixed the form of the Lord in his mind, he began to imagine in his meditations that he was dressing the Lord very nicely in costly clothing, with ornaments, helmets and other paraphernalia. Then he offered his respectful obeisances by bowing down before the Lord. After finishing the dressing he began to imagine that he was cleaning the temple very nicely. After cleansing the temple, he imagined that he had many water jugs made of gold and silver, and he took all those jugs to the river and filled them with the holy water. Not only did he collect water from Godāvarī, but he collected from the Ganges, Yamunā, Narmadā and Kāverī. Generally a Vaiṣṇava, while worshiping the Lord, collects water from all these rivers by mantra chanting. This brāhmaṇa, instead of chanting some mantra, imagined that he was physically securing water from all these rivers in golden and silver water pots. Then he collected all kinds of worshipful paraphernalia — flowers, fruits, incense and sandalwood pulp. He collected everything to place before the Deity. All these waters, flowers and scented articles were then very nicely offered to the Deities to Their satisfaction. Then he offered ārātrika, and with the regulative principles he finished all these activities in the correct worshiping method.

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by Damaghosa dasa

Everyone should grow his own food–SP

January 25, 2017 in Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

“So let us try to make an attempt to organize a New Vrindaban scheme, and I shall request all my students to develop this idea and show a good example to this Western part of the world where people are always engaged in ugra-karma, asuric-karma.”
“Everyone has to earn his livelihood by agriculture,..”
“Every man must possess a piece of land..”
“The first necessity is that you should be self-sufficient. That is God’s arrangement.”
“There are so many land. Come here and grow food. Grow fruit. That is… That is the desire of Krsna. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Produce food and eat in sufficiently, be strong, and chant Hare Krsna. That is our philosophy.”
“When men are uncivilized, they do not how to grow food, they kill animals in the jungle and eat. When they are civilized, they know how to grow food now and the nice food grains, fruit, flowers”
“There is a proverb: agriculture is the noblest profession. Is it not said? Agriculture is noblest, and Krsna was farmer, His father”.
“I wish to introduce this ideal now. Then if we are successful this cheating civilization will stop.”
“ The beginning of life is how to become cent percent obedient to guru.”
“We want two favours. One from guru, one from Krsna. That’s all. We don’t want anyone’s favour. “
Hare Krsna-below and above we have compiled some quotes and realizations based upon these quotes and the application in our personal life of these quotes or instructions by Srila Prabhupada. Everybody knows-chant Hare Krsna and be happy. How that instruction was to be applied as the days move more into kali yuga can be found within this article.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
————————

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by Damaghosa dasa

How a man in Calcutta turned dead rats into a fortune for himself

January 25, 2017 in Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna–

Below we have a nice explanation by Srila Prabhupada of modern society where the vast majority of people work for a small number of “masters”. This is called dependent living where your entire existence is dependent upon so many others, instead of living independently and depending upon God, or Krsna for maintenance.And the more they increase their technology dependence, the more people become slaves to it and thereby lose their human qualities and more importantly, the search for the purpose and meaning of life. Life becomes merely a daily search for bread and water, and the ability to satisfy one’s basic needs, just like an ordinary animal, is called “material success”. 
Yet the irony of this plight is that nobody becomes happy by it, whereas in the opposite approach where one learns how to depend upon God, or Krsna for his maintenance, he does become happy because first of all, he is obeying the Lords orders to do so, and secondly, he is in direct touch with the Supreme Controller by his God centered work. Krsna never tells us in His Bhagavad Gita to produce tires, motors, cars, computers, and endless gadgets meant to make our lives easy.
 I just heard a news byte recently where these hand held devices have become so addictive that people , especially kids going to school, lose sleep at night by intentionally waking up to check their tweets, and text messages. And then there is all those millions that still drive a car and text or talk at the same time, endangering all those around them. And this is just a tip of the technological iceberg. Bhaktivinode Thakur more than a hundred years ago predicted that the more you become implicated in machines, the more you are entangled in kali yuga, the dreaded age of fighting and hypocrisy. 
So, as always, the choice is ours, which path we will take.
damaghosa das
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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Srila Prabhupada Quote

January 25, 2017 in Articles by Yasoda nandana dasa

Anyone who has a natural tendency for rejecting sense-gratification 
is considered to be advanced or liberated in spiritual life. 
Your appreciation of Maya as false and Krishna as the only reality is a great asset. Nobody has ever gained anything by becoming a tool in the hands of Maya, but everyone has become eternally happy by serving Krishna.
– Srila Prabhupada letter, August 27, 1967

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Wishing you and your family A Wonderful day in Krishna Consciousness.
In Service Of Srila Prabhupada,
Team Srila Prabhupada Quotes
Hare Krishna!
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by Yasoda nandana dasa

sri nimai nitai los Angeles

January 17, 2017 in Articles by Yasoda nandana dasa

20170107_190249

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Srila Prabhupada explains Ganga Sagara Mela

January 15, 2017 in Yasoda nandana Dasa by Yasoda nandana dasa

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Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 3: “The Status Quo” : SB 3.33: Activities of Kapila : SB 3.33.34 : PURPORT :
It is understood that Kapila Muni first went towards the Himalayas and traced the course of the River Ganges, and He again came to the delta of the Ganges at the sea now known as the Bay of Bengal. The ocean gave Him residence at a place still known as Gaṅgā-sāgara, where the River Ganges meets the sea. That place is called Gaṅgā-sāgara-tīrtha, and even today people gather there to offer respects to Kapiladeva, the original author of the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy. Unfortunately, this Sāṅkhya system has been misrepresented by an imposter who is also named Kapila, but that other system of philosophy does not tally with anything described in the Sāṅkhya of Kapila in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,


Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 4: “The Creation of the Fourth Order” : SB 4.29: Talks Between Narada and King Pracinabarhi : SB 4.29.81 : PURPORT :
Śrīdhara Svāmī informs us that Kapilāśrama is located at the confluence of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal, a place known now as Gaṅgā-sāgara. This place is still famous as a place of pilgrimage, and many millions of people gather there every year on the day of Makara-saṅkrānti and take bath. It is called Kapilāśrama because of Lord Kapila’s living there to perform His austerities and penances. Lord Kapila propounded the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy.
Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 5: “The Creative Impetus” : SB 5.17: The Descent of the River Ganges : SB 5.17.9 : PURPORT :
The place where the Ganges flows into the salt water of the Bay of Bengal is still known as Gaṅgā-sāgara, or the meeting place of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. On Makara-saṅkrānti, in the month of January–February, thousands of people still go there to bathe, hoping to be liberated. That they can actually be liberated in this way is confirmed herein. For those who bathe in the Ganges at any time, the results of great sacrifices like the Aśvamedha and Rājasūya yajñas are not at all difficult to achieve. Most people in India are still inclined to bathe in the Ganges, and there are many places where they can do so. At Prayāga (Allahabad), many thousands of people gather during the month of January to bathe in the confluence of the Ganges and Yamunā. Afterward, many of them go to the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Ganges to take bath there. Thus it is a special facility for all the people of India that they can bathe in the water of the Ganges at so many places of pilgrimage
Srila Prabhupāda: [break] Any circumstances, they can adjust. [break] Oh, Gaṅgā–sāgara.

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by Yasoda nandana dasa

Srila Prabhupada Quote

January 12, 2017 in Articles by Yasoda nandana dasa

Even if one distributes ten million cows in charity during an eclipse of the sun, lives at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna for millions of years, 
or gives a mountain of gold in sacrifice to the brahmanas, he does not earn one hundredth part of the merit derived from chanting Hare Krishna.
– Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, adi 3.79, purport

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by Damaghosa dasa

ACTUAL MATERIAL ADVANCEMENT

January 10, 2017 in Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

Śrīla Prabhupāda Says – [Regarding the actual meaning of ‘material advancement’]

[Letter to Rūpānuga: Hawaii 14 March 1969]

Your seventh question, “How is it that there is so much material “advancement” in the USA even though there is no formal demigod worship? Is a man after economic development automatically worshiping Lord Śiva whether he is making Yajña or not?” Actually there is no material advancement in the USA.

Material advancement means there is amply opportunity for eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Superficially, it appears that in the USA there is sufficient provision of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, but actually nobody is safe even in his good apartment. I have got practical experience in New York. Several times my typewriter and tape recorders were stolen and the police could not take any action. There are many persons in the Bowery street, they have no shelter to live. So if a certain fraction of the people are supposed to be very materially happy at the cost of others, that is not material advancement.

Had it been so, then why there are so many persons confused and frustrated? So actually there is no material advancement here. Here, I am seeing practically that Gaurasundara, such a nice intelligent and qualified boy, he has to work hard 12 hours simply for his subsistence. I think there are many instances like that, so this is not material advancement. You can call it capitalist advancement, and the reaction for such advancement is communism. Such movement is simply suppressed in your country, but actually the reaction is this.

So the Western type of civilization, industrialism and capitalism, is no material advancement. It is material exploitation. When one gets the bare necessities of life, namely peaceful home, sumptuous eating, necessary sex life, and feeling of security, then it is called material advancement.

In the absence of such four preliminary necessities of life, it is not at all material advancement—just try to understand. According to Vedic civilization, a man is supposed to be rich when he has got sufficient grains and cows. Here we have neither sufficient grains or cows, but you have got sufficient quantity of papers only—falsely thinking that it is money. When there is some catastrophe, this bunch of papers will neither supply milk or grain. They will be seen only and the man will starve.

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