No grudges...

Its more of a self reminder and well came at the right time...:)

Don't hold grudges. It will fill your heart with smudges. The transcendental nature of a Vaisnava is that he is always a very forgiving person. He holds no malice towards anyone. The Vaisnava always gives mercy to others whether they reciprocate with him or not. Therefore he has fully qualified himself to be the recipient of the unlimited mercy of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this regard it is sometimes said, "Whatever goes around, comes around." and "You reap what you sow." The more we give mercy, the more we receive mercy. Therefore the devotee intelligently gives mercy to everyone in all times, places, and circumstances. The result is that he swims perpetually in the unlimitedly merciful ocean of bliss.

Depression

Q Why Do I Suffer from Depression?
Why do I suffer from depression? It is very, very painful and desperate. Am I suffering from previous sinful reactions? And I am not able to meet devotees right now, I feel very, very lonely. Even though I chant Hare Krishna and read spiritual articles or books every day, I still feel very depressed and lonely. What should I do?

Ans. Self-Centeredness
Depression is the result of self-centeredness. You are not meant to consider yourself to be the center of existence. If you embrace this untruth that you are the center, is it sure and certain that you will be depressed. The easy way to both conquer and prevent depression is to always remember that since Krishna is the source of all existence, He is naturally also the center of all existence. Therefore all of your thoughts, words, and deeds should be centered around Him, not around yourself. As soon as you become Krishna-centered your self-centeredness will naturally go away, your depression will be gone, and you will be enjoying life like anything at every moment.

Every Wave Is Favorable

Its a beautiful letter by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, really worthwhile reading again and again when we feel upset, sad or lost due to our losses in material life. Hare Krishna!

[Originally published in The Harmonist]

September 1927, 441 Chaitanya Era
My affection-incarnate,

I have this morning come to Sri Gaudiya Matha from Puri. Immediately on arrival at the station I heard that by the will of God your son has gone away from us. You knew him as your son; he is a servant of Krishna. He came into the household of a Vaishnava, and you served him in the office of the parents of a Vaishnava, he has gone away after accepting that amount of service which he was in need. Your son indeed got his body from you, but he is a soul — a Vaishnava. His eternal duty is service of God.

A Vaishnava comes into this world on the pretext of individual need and remains in material space for the allotted period of such mission and thereafter proceeds where-so-ever Baladeva sends him according to his fitness. You know Maha Laksmi (Sat-Energy) dwells in the heart of Baladeva, and Krishna with His Ecstatic Energy dwells in Maha Laksmi; therefore, your son has gone away in order to serve the object of his worship. As he happens to be a soul — a Vaishnava emanating from Lord Nityananda, the Incarnation of the Power of Being, if you learn to look upon Nityananda as son, you will no longer experience any want. Nityananda Himself has been present as the Knower of the heart of your son; you have served Him; continue to serve Him still.

The mass of matter of which the body of your son was composed in elemental space, has dissolved into five elements. But the Soul of your son remains employed in the constant service of God and His Energy. Your son, as an object of selfish enjoyment has been disassociated from the company of his father as a similar object of selfish enjoyment. He is an object of enjoyment of God, and therefore, his duty as a Vaishnava is to remain the object of God’s enjoyment, that is, God’s servant.

God knows that you are not enthralled in the bondage of Maya (Illusory Energy). He will not, therefore, overwhelm you in misery, aiding you with the Power of His Infinite Mercy. Please, recall to memory the Story of Srivas and His son. Peruse ‘Shokashatan’ of Thakur Bhaktivinode and Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat of Thakur Vrindavana dasa. At the time when Mahaprabhu accepted Sannyasa, He said to His aged mother, His wife Vishnupriya devi, and to the inhabitants of Navadvip: “I am only a being, variously connected with you. After my departure, establish in my place all these relationships with Krishna and afford me the opportunity of freely serving Krishna.”

In the absence of your son, you also will have more time for serving Godhead. What God does is for our good. What more can I say to console you?
With Eternal Blessings,
Sri Siddhanta Saraswati

Living a Full, Exciting Life for Krishna

In Krishna consciousness the road is a fabulous guru. While traveling and preaching the science of Krishna consciousness all over the world we face so many difficulties, so many obstacles being constantly put in our way by the material energy. We must always keep our faith in Krishna and go forward with determination, enthusiasm, and patience. There is one test after another after another. And we must become expert in passing them in order to remain unimpeded in successfully purifying our hearts and victoriously pushing forwarding the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world.

But even if we sometimes blunder or fail along the way, it is not defeat. We may sometimes lose a battle, but we will definitely win the war. On the principle of "Failure is the pillar of success" we capitalize on mistakes utilizing them to their fullest advantage. We carefully note how we erred so that we will not make the same mistake again.

When our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, was struggling in India to print the First Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, he would sometimes go without eating in order to be able to purchase paper for printing his books. The printer, Mr. Surendra Kumar Jain, would feel so sorry for Srila Prabhupada that he feed him breakfast. Mr. Jain, seeing what he thought was such a hopeless situation for a poor old Swami who was working so hard without any followers and with practically no money would implore him, "Swamiji, why don't you stop this?" Srila Prabhupada replied, "No. It is my mission. And one day you will see, Surendra Kumar, that I will succeed in my mission."

So this is the kind of determination we must have to purifying our consciousness and to spread this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. Even if it appears completely hopeless and impossible, we must never give up our faith that we can become pure devotees and that this Krishna consciousness movement will indeed inundate the world. Global Krishnization will surely come to pass in due course of time because it has been predicted in the Sri Caitanya Caritamrita. The author, Krishna Das Kaviraja, is a fully self-realized soul and is thus a perfect knower of past, present, and future. In that sweetest of all scriptures he states:

saj-jana, durjana, pangu, jada, andha-gana

prema-vanyaya dubaila jagatera jana

"The Krishnna consciousness movement will inundate the entire world and drown everyone, whether one be a gentleman, a rogue or even lame, invalid or blind."---Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi Lila, 7.26

Our spiritual master (Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) has given us a mission, to become pure devotees and make the entire world Krishna conscious. From the material point of view it sometimes seems hopeless to become pure because we are so entangled in material consciousness. Considering the present world situation it also seems hopeless that the entire world could become Krishna conscious. After all the entire world is tightly enwrapped and entwined in material sense gratification. Practically no one has any interest in Krishna consciousness and we are often persecuted. But the expansion of the Krishna consciousness movement does not depend on the material energy. It depends on the spiritual energy.

Within the scope of the spiritual energy anything is possible. Even those things that are materially impossible can easily become possible within the divine energy, the spiritual energy. So we must always stay connected with the spiritual energy. This is the key.

At every minute we must remain "online" with Krishna, connected with Him by always being engaged in at least one of the nine activities of devotional service, which are listed as follows in Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.23:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh

smaranam pada-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dasyam

sakhyam atma-nivedanam

1. Hearing about the Lord.

2. Chanting His glories.

3. Remembering Him.

4. Serving the Lord's lotus feet.

5. Worshipping the Lord

6. Praying to the Lord.

7. Executing the orders of the Lord.

8. Befriending the Lord.

9. Surrendering everything unto the Lord.

If we can always hold fast to at least one of these nine times, especially the first one because it is the easiest, then our perfection will be guaranteed and Lord Caitanya will utilize us as His instruments for awakening the dormant Krishna consciousness lying there within the hearts of all.

There is no such as defeat if we always keep the pleasure of Guru and Krishna as the goal of our existence. They are always pleased by the sincerity of our endeavor, whether the results of our actions are externally quantifiable or not. Of course, when the endeavor is sincere it is sure and certain that in due course of time that results will be there as guaranteed by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita:

yad yad acarati sresthas

tat tad evetaro jana

hsa yat pramanam kurute

lokas tad anuvartate

"Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues." Bhagavad-gita 3.21

There is no greater, more blissful, more glorious, more fulfilling life than a life fully dedicated to the service of Lord Sri Krishna. Always depending on Him and doing everything for His pleasure we are blessed with the opportunity to live the ideal life of excitement and adventure.

A Good Relationship with Krishna

Q: How can we have a good relationship with Krishna, if we can't have a good relation between us human beings? Because we always have misunderstandings in our material relationship what shall we do to keep our relation with Krishna in good condition?

Ans: Carefully Follow His Instructions
The reason we do not have good relations between human beings is that we do not base them on a loving relationship with Krishna. We base them instead on the selfish principle of what I can get out of this other person for my own enjoyment. In short, this is called exploitation. This exploitative non-Krishna conscious mood is the cause of all the conflict in the world today.As soon as we surrender to Krishna we derive complete satisfaction and happiness simply from being His devotee. Therefore we no longer feel any need of trying to exploit others for our own happiness. Having a good, conflict-free relationship with Krishna is not difficult. All we have to do is carefully follow the instructions as given in the Bhagavad-gita and as confirmed by the bona fide spiritual master. Then everything becomes perfect.

Please note: This blog is just compilations of stuff by pure devotees and shastras, I read and gather and want to share with all.

Being afraid of one's true Identity...

Q: What should one do if he is afraid of his true identity? how we should not be afraid of realizing our real self ?

Ans: Reactivate and Celebrate Your True Identity

Because in the course of having a personal sense of identity we have suffered so many trials and tribulations we may sometimes think that it would be better if we did not have an identity at all. This is the philosophy of thinking that identitylessness is superior to identity. When we subscribe to this philosophy and we hear that we have an eternal true identity we become afraid thinking that it would better to merge or disappear into oneness or nothingness.

But if we will take complete shelter of the Lord under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master each of us will experience the reawakening of our original, blissful, enlightened identity as the eternal servant of Lord Krishna in any one of five primary rasas or relationships.(reverence, servitude, friendship, parental affection, and conjugal love. Rasa also indicates the boundless pleasure enjoyed in such reciprocations. ) And in this enlightened state of consciousness we will be very happy and satisfied resituated in our true identity. This happiness is millions and billions of time greater than the temporary sense of happiness one may experience by embracing identitylessness.

So there is nothing to be afraid of. Take Krishna's shelter and guru's guidance and become fully happy by flipping the switch to reactivate and celebrate your true identity, the eternal spirit-self.

How to flip that switch?

Chant Hare Krishna with love.

P.S: I would like your comments on this one guys. It seems like a stupid question, but isn't it significant? Let me know.

Secret to Utopia

We can achieve unlimited energy, freedom, and bliss if we will stick tightly to this path of awakening our original divine nature. It is only due to our conditioned existence of misidentifying the body with the self that we are presently in a suffering condition. In other words, we do not have to suffer at all. Suffering is simply an artificial situation experienced by the soul when he dreams that he is the center of existence. Therefore all we have to do to get out of suffering condition is to master the art of being Krishna-centered instead of self-centered. Because we have been completely self-centered for millions of lifetimes it takes some time to overcome our self-centered natures. But if we will take shelter of a purely Krishna-centered spiritual master, by his grace we will gradually transition from gross self-centeredness to pure Krishna-centeredness and thus achieve the perfectional stage of spiritual enlightenment, 100% pure love of Krishna.

Purpose of the Universe

Q If the purpose of human being is to attain oneness (merge) with consciousness (i.e. universe) then what is the purpose of universe ?

Ans: Which Universe?

Which universe are you talking about? The purpose of the human being is not the merge or become one with the universe or with consciousness, which is something different from the universe. The purpose of the human being is reawaken his loving relationship with that Supreme Person, who is the source of all consciousness and of all the universes. To inquire, "What is the purpose of the universe?" presupposes that there is only one universe. The fact is that there unlimited millions of universes within this material world, and there is a spiritual universe also. The material universes serve are places of reformation for the living entities who have fallen down from their original positions in the spiritual universe. These material universes help the fallen living beings to regain their original positions in the spiritual universe.

'Hindu' didnt exist...

Q Why should we believe the Hindu Vedic scriptures? How are they bona fide? Some people asked me, "How can you believe in what someone wrote thousands of years ago?" Were the Vedas for controlling the society by making the people fearful so that they would stay within their limits?

Ans: Yes Because They Come from Krishna.
The Vedic scriptures are not Hindu. Hindu is a word coined by the Muslims. It does not appear in the Vedic scriptures.

The Vedas are bona fide because they are coming from God Himself as confirmed by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita:
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-krd veda-vid eva cāham
"By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."-Bg 15.15(Bg=Bhagvad Gita, As it is, available for free at http://vedabase.net/bg/en)
The fact that the Vedas are millions of years old and that they are still just as powerful and effective today as they were in ancient times proves their credibility.The ancient Vedic civilization was controlled and directed by the Vedic scriptures as explained by the Vedic sages and implemented by the Vedic kings. It was not at all a fearful society. In fact it was quite to the contrary. It was a society completely free from fear, not like today's society where you cannot trust anybody. We can't even get on airplane without being searched for weapons.

GOD= Krishna?

Q. Define GOD? Why is Krishna God?

Ans. God has been defined by the great sage Parasara Muni as that person who possesses the greatest quantity of power, beauty, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. If we analyze all of the great persons throughout history, we will see that no one can equal or excel Krishna in possession of the above named opulences. Only Krishna and him alone possesses all these qualities and to the maximum.Therefore according to the test of Parasara Muni we can rightfully conclude that Krishna is God.

What Am I?

Q: What am I? Am I the soul only or the subtle body and the soul? Please enlighten me.

Ans: Soul Covered by Gross and Subtle Bodies
You are the soul, but you are presently covered by two types of bodies: the gross body and the subtle body. The gross body is composed of earth, water, fire, air, and ether. And the subtle body is composed of mind, intelligence, and false ego. Beneath these two coverings is the actual self, the soul. The gross body is given up at the time of death when you accept another gross material body according to the state of your consciousness at the time of death. The subtle body goes with you birth after birth until you become completely free from its clutches and go back to the spiritual sky for reviving your original spiritual form. The gross body is given up at the end of each lifetime in exchange for a new gross body either as a human being, a plant, or an animal. And the subtle body travels with you through your millions of births until it is finally given up at the time of your spiritual emancipation.

"What to Do When Your Mind is Very Disturbed"

Krishna consciousness is that state of mind in which one is completely free fromall disturbance. But a neophyte devotee who is still trying to develop hisKrishna consciousness is not purely absorbed in Krishna consciousness yet andtherefore sometimes experiences disturbances of mind as he struggles to advancehimself along the path of bhakti.
What should he do when such disturbances arise? He should certainly not abandonthe pathway of Krishna consciousness thinking that because he could not quicklyachieve the supreme perfection that therefore the process of Krishnaconsciousness does not work.
Just as a woman who gets married cannot expect to have a baby immediately, theprocess of Krishna consciousness takes time. We must be patient while weconfidently await the attainment of the desired result, pure love of God.
The main thing to do when your mind gets disturbed is to keep your spirit ofdedication to Krishna 100% alive. Do not lose your faith in the process.Understand that the mental difficulties you are experiencing are merely theburning off of your past sinful activities. There is a wonderful versein the Srimad Bhagavatam, which can be very helpful in times of distress:
tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak
"My dear Lord, any person who is constantly awaiting Your causeless mercy to bebestowed upon him, and who goes on suffering the resultant actions of his pastmisdeeds, offering You respectful obeisances from the core of his heart, issurely eligible to become liberated, for it has become his rightful claim."--Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.8
If you can remain steadfast in spite of the difficulties, Lord Krishna willrecognize your impeccable sincerity and will reward you with rapid advancementalong the path of bhakti.
By HH Sankarshan Das Adhikari