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sri sri guru gauranga jayatah!
Year-4,
Issue 7 Posted: 18 August 2011
Dedicated to nitya-lila pravista om visnupada
Sri
Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja
Inspired by and under the guidance of nitya-lila pravista om
visnupada
Sri
Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja
Upamanyu
– The Ideal Guru-sevaka
by
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada
The
great acarya Ayodadhaumya Muni had a disciple named Upamanyu. He once
instructed Upamanyu to take the cows out to graze every day and return to the
asrama with them at sunset. So, following the order of his guru,
Upamanyu used to protect his guru’s cows and take them out to graze every
day, and when he returned at sunset, he would offer prostratedobeisances
to his gurudeva and then sit before him with folded hands.
One
day, seeing that Upamanyu was very healthy, his gurudeva asked him, “O my
son Upamanyu, you are becoming very healthy and strong. What have you been
eating every day?”
“O
Gurudeva,” Upamanyu replied, “I have been maintaining myself by begging
alms.”
“Listen
carefully,” said the acarya. “It is quite improper for you to accept
anything you collect as alms without my knowledge or permission.”
So
from that day on, heeding his guru’s order, Upamanyu began offering any
grains he collected as alms to his gurudeva, but the acarya would
always take all the alms without giving anything to Upamanyu.
*
* *
One
day, as usual, Upamanyu returned with the cows at dusk and offered obeisances to
his gurudeva. But when the acarya saw that his disciple was still
very healthy looking and actually quite strong, he asked him, “O my son, I take
all the food you beg, without giving anything to you, but still, I see that you
look so healthy. What do you eat?”
“O
my lord,” Upamanyu replied, “after I give all the alms I have collected to you,
I go out begging a second time so that I can eat a few handfuls of food.”
“Just
see!” exclaimed the acarya, “this behaviour is not dharmic for a
gentleman, nor is it a proper action for him. By this you are depriving other
beggars of their lot. Furthermore, by this act you will gradually become very
greedy.
Upamanyu
took the instruction of his guru on his head and continued grazing his
guru’s cows every day.
*
* *
Then
one day, when Upamanya returned from cow grazing at dusk and offered obeisances
to his guru, the acarya again asked, “O my son Upamanyu, I take
all the alms you collect as you wander here and there, and I have forbidden you
to collect separately for yourself, yet you look even healthier than before!
What are you eating these days?”
“I
have been maintaining my life by drinking cow’s milk,” Upamanyu replied.
“But
I never gave you permission to take any milk,” the acarya exclaimed. “You
have done a great injustice by doing so.”
At
this, Upamanyu begged his guru for forgiveness, and continued his service
of taking the cows out to graze everyday. Some days later, when Upamanyu
returned from cow grazing and prostrated before his gurudeva, the
acarya again asked,
“Upamanyu
my son, you give all the alms you collect to me without eating any of it. You
never go out a second time to collect for yourself, and I have forbidden you to
take cow’s milk. How is it that you still look so healthy? What are you eating
now?”
“After
the calves drink milk from their mothers’ udders, I collect the foam that has
seeped out of their mouths,” explained Upamanyu.
“The
calves are very peaceful. In order to show you some mercy, they do not drink all
the milk they need, but rather leave some for you on their mouths in the form of
foam. You are stealing their food. Do not do this anymore.”
Upamanyu
took the instruction of sri gurdeva on his head and continued his
guru-seva.
*
* *
One
day while grazing the cows, Upamanyu became extremely hungry and thirsty. He did
not know what to do. If he failed to somehow maintain his life, he would be
abandoning his service to his guru. Thinking this way, he ate some
akanda leaves (calotropis gigantea), not realizing they were
extremely poisonous.
Almost
immediately he became completely blind. Alone and unable to see, Upamanyu
wandered about helplessly until he fell into a well.
Meanwhile,
when dusk came and went and Upamanyu had still not returned, the acarya
became worried. He told his other disciples, “I ordered Upamanyu not to eat any
type of food. Now I am worried that he has become too malnourished to
return.”
Saying
this, the acarya took several of his disciples and entered the forest to
look for Upamanyu, loudly calling his name as they searched. When they came near
the well, Upamanyu heard the calls of the acarya. In a loud voice, but
with abundant humility, he narrated the story of how he came to be at the bottom
of a well.”
When
the acarya heard of Upamanyu’s condition, he told him to offer prayers of
eulogy to the twin Asvini Kumaras, the doctors of the demigods, and informed him
that the disease that had blinded him could be cured by their mercy.
The
Asvini Kumaras were very satisfied with Upamanyu’s prayers. They appeared before
him and offered him a small cake to eat, explaining that it would cure the
disease that had blinded him.
Upamanyu
replied, “I cannot take this cake without first offering it to Srila Gurudeva
and receiving his permission.”
The
twin Asvini Kumaras said, “Previously, your gurudeva also offered prayers
of eulogy to us. We were very pleased with him at that time and therefore gave
him a cake. He ate that cake without the permission of his guru, so, as
his disciple, you should act just as your acarya did. You should also
take this cake and eat it.”
Upamanyu
folded his hands and spoke to the Asvini Kumaras, “I humbly request you, please
do not ask me to eat this cake without first offering it to Srila Gurudeva.”
The
Asvini Kumaras were so pleased to see Upamanyu’s intense guru-bhakti.
Theysaid, “You will regain your vision and you will also attain
supreme auspiciousness.”
Upamanyu
immediately regained his sight and was brought out of the well. He returned to
his gurudeva and fell at his lotus feet, explaining all that had
happened. The acarya was so pleased that he blessed Upamanyu: “You have
passed the examination,” he said. “Now, all the Vedas and dharma-sastras
will forever remain on the path of your memory and you will attain supreme
auspiciousness.”
*
* *
This
narration from the Mahabharata provides us with an example of the ideal
guru-sevaka. The real guru-sevaka will never personally enjoy any
object belonging to his guru. Service alone is his nitya-dharma,
oreternal, constitutional function. However severe and intense sri
guru’s instructions may be, the true guru-sevaka contentedlyfollows them without deviation. While serving his guru, such a
disciple forgets his personal happiness. Indeed, he will even gladly sacrifice
his very life to serve his guru. The true guru-sevaka thinks as
follows:
tomara
sevaya duhkha haya yata sei to parama sukha seva-sukha-duhkha, parama
sampada nasaye avidhya-duhkha
Saranagati
(2.8) by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Whatever
suffering I endure in the course of serving you, I experience as the greatest
happiness. In the course of serving you, both happiness and distress are the
highest wealth, because they destroy the misery of ignorance.
The
disciple who follows his guru’s orders and teachings, rather than
imitating his actions and practices, will never be deprived of his guru’s
mercy. Rather than taking the Asvini Kumara’s advice to imitate the actions of
his guru, Upamanyu followed his guru’s order. He refused to eat
the healing cake without his guru’s permission.
An
intelligent person knows to follow the orders and teachings (vani) of
great personalities. By this alone, all of his most cherished spiritual desires
are fulfilled. None but those who perform service to sri guru with this
mentality can pass even the most difficult test the world puts them through. All
the deep and secret truths of the scriptures manifest in their hearts alone and
remain situated on the path of their memory forever! Solely by the mercy of
sri gurudeva, the highest auspiciousness – service to Sri Krsna – will be
obtained.
Translated
by the Rays of The Harmonist team from Upakhyane
Upadesa
_____________________ Upakhyane
Upadesa is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada’s instructions
through the medium of scriptural moral
tales.
Rays
of The Harmonist On-line; Year 4, Issue 7, "Upamanyu – The Ideal Guru-sevaka",
by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License to ensure that it is
always freely available.
You
may redistribute this article if you include this license and attribute it to
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Hare Krsna Juan, The 3rd Annual Sustainable Living and Natural Health Fair is happening on Saturday beginning at 11a at New Goloka. There's lots to do here for everyone! For more information, click here. Then, join us this Sunday with family and friends as we come together as a community in honor of Sri-Sri Radha-Golokananda. Arati, kirtan, discourse and sumptuous prasadam are always a welcome end to the weekend.
Sunday Program Guest Speaker: Titiksava Karunika das
Watch this space for upcoming events and general announcements... and be sure to check www.newgoloka.com for more detailed information on upcoming happenings
Hare Krsna Juan, Join us this Sunday with family and friends as we come together as a community in honor of Sri-Sri Radha-Golokananda. Arati, kirtan, discourse and sumptuous prasadam are always a welcome end to the weekend.
Hare Krsna Juan, Join us this Sunday with family and friends as we come together as a community in honor of Sri-Sri Radha-Golokananda. Arati, kirtan, discourse and sumptuous prasadam are always a welcome end to the weekend.
Thanks for all the mails you have sent encouraging me to send out more newsletters. I am making a "new years resolution" to send out regular newsletters so please give me your blessings so I have the strength and inspiration to do this.
You may have noticed we are getting a lot of comments on the website at:
I can see from the comments that the vast majority of people are under the impression that somehow we can turn this world into a happy, peaceful place. They seem to be thinking this is the purpose of religion and spiritual life.
When people come to understand there is a God, and He is all-powerful, their natural tendency is to try and get God to help them solve their problems of life.
So many people write: "Will Krishna help me get a promotion at work," or "Will Krishna help me pass my exams." or "Will Krishna find me a nice wife..." It is endless. It seems that everyone wants Krishna to do something for them and they are asking me how they can get Krishna to do these things for them...
In one sense this is good. Of course Krishna is God and He can do anything, and it is the nature of someone who believes in God to turn to Him in times of need. This is also good. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (7.16):
O best among the Bhāratas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me--the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
So there are four types of good people who turn to Krishna or God and perform devotional service: one who is distressed, one who wants money, one who is inquisitive and the one who is searching for knowledge of the absolute.
Krishna goes on to say that of these four types of people the one who is searching for knowledge of the absolute is the best because his motivation is a genuine search for spiritual knowledge. Still Krishna says the other three types: the ones who are distressed, who want money and who are inquisitive; are all great souls, because when they have some need they turn to Krishna for it.
But these three types of people are not really rendering pure devotional service. When they need something they approach Krishna and ask him for it. But they are pious, they believe in Krishna but they want to use Krishna to satisfy their own desires in the material world.
There is a very nice story that illustrates these people. There was once an old lady who lived in the forest. Every day she would go out into the forest to collect a big bundle of wood to burn in her cottage for cooking and for keeping warm. So one day she had collected a very big bundle of nice dry wood and was carrying it on her back when suddenly it fell off he back, it was very heavy. So she called out "Oh God help me..." And God appeared in front of her and asked, "You called, what do you want?" So she asked God, "Can you please help me get this bundle of sticks on my back again..."
So you see this is not very intelligent. All the old lady could think about was getting the sticks back to her cottage so she could get the fire going and start the cooking... So when she got the chance to see God, instead of asking for something really valuable, all she could think of was "Please get this bundle of sticks on my back again..."
Of course this is not going to help her in the long run. She will get the sticks back to the cottage and light the fire and do the cooking and burn the sticks and will be out in the forest again the next day looking for more sticks. And that is the nature of this material world. Nothing is permanent here. But we are looking for a permanent situation.
And all these questions I am getting: "Will Krishna help me pass my exams, Will Krishna get me a promotion at work, Will Krishna find me a nice wife..." It is all the same as this old lady asking God to put the heavy bundle of sicks on her back again.
Practically everyone is "worshiping" God in this mood. The Christians are praying to God, "Give us our daily bread..." It is always "Give me this, give me that..."
However as devotees of Krishna our idea is completely different. We know things are going on in this material world as a result of our karma and are not very concerned about changing that. Whatever is meant to come will come, whatever position in the world we are meant to have that will be, we don't care for that. All a devotee cares about--in whatever position of life of situation he finds himself in--is how to serve Krishna, how to please Krishna.
A devotee never wants to take service from Krishna. He never wants to ask Krishna for anything. he wants to render service to Krishna. That is why Krishna consciousness is called "devotional service." Krishna consciousness means to engage our mind, our body, our senses; everything, in the service of Krishna. And if we can do that then we will become happy. Because our natural, eternal constitutional position is that we are servants of Krishna.
A devotee is not very concerned about anything else because he understands that these things are not under his control. Things are happening in our lives. People are coming into our life and people are leaving our life. Sometimes we are rich, sometimes we are poor. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad. These things are coming and going like the waves in the ocean. Just like you can not stop the waves in the ocean and you can not stop the tides coming in and going out similarly in our lives these situations will be constantly changing. Happiness and distress, heat and cold, poverty or good fortune. It is going on according to the modes of material nature and according to our karma. It is fixed up and we have no control over it. There is no point trying to change it...
The best way is to simply accept things as they unfold and not be attached to any particular position and simply, "make the best use of a bad situation." Having a material body is a bad situation, but we can use this material body in the service of Krishna and that is making the best use of it.
I do not really know how to express this as what I am speaking here goes so much against all the modern education and brainwashing we have all been subjected to. But really we can not change our material situation very much. The mood of the devotee is to simply accept the material situation he finds himself in and engage himself in the service of Krishna.
I am trying to express that this material world is not our home, we do not belong here. We are spiritual living beings, all part and parcel of Krishna. We belong in the spiritual world, in the Kingdom of God, serving Krishna there. That is our home, that is where we can be eternally happy. We can not be happy here in this material world any more than a fish can be happy if you take it out of the water and provide it with all riches and comforts on the land. The fish is a creature of the water. He belongs in the water. There is no way he can be happy out of the water.
Similarly with us. We are spiritual living entities, we belong in the spiritual world, we can not be happy out of the spiritual world. Here in the material world we are exactly like the fish out of the water. We can't breathe here... Our nature as spirit souls is sat, cit, ananda. It means we are eternally young, we are full of knowledge and our nature is to be ever increasingly blissful. But here, in the material world, we are covered by and are identifying with this material body which is just the opposite. It is asat--getting old and dying; acit--full of ignorance and nirananda--full of distress. So like the fish out of water here in the material world we living entities are our of our natural environment and no matter how much money or how many beautiful women or how many followers we get there is no way we can be happy here. Just like there is no way the fish can be happy out of the water. The only way is you have to put the fish back in the water.
For us the only way is we have to get out of this material world and go back home, back to Godhead. And to do that we have to stop asking Krishna for things and instead ask Him to engage us in His service. Instead of asking Krishna to do things for us we need to be learning from Srila Prabhuapda how we can do things to please Krishna... If you have questions and comments on this email then rather than replying to the email directly please post them on the article at: http://krishna.org/making-the-best-use-of-a-bad-situation/
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
www.KrishnaStore.com
Hare Krishna Juan
It seems every Indian thinks the most important thing Krishna stresses in the Bhagavad-gita is that “You should do your duty.” Krishna's instructing Arjuna to do his duty as a ksatriya and fight in the battle is certainly a very strong theme in Bhagavad-gita:
"Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me, and at the same time you should continue your prescribed duty and fight. With your mind and activities always fixed on Me, and everything engaged in Me, you will attain to Me without any doubt." (Bg. 8.7)
Arjuna is a ksatriya, a fighter, and therefore his duty is to fight. All political avenues have been explored and there is no alternative to the fight. Therefore it is Arjuna’s duty to fight. And Krishna is instructing him to fight. The situation is quite difficult for him however because practically speaking all the soldiers on the battlefield on both sides are Arjuna's friends and family members. Therefore in the beginning Arjuna becomes bewildered.
Although Arjuna knows it is his duty to fight, when he is seated on the chariot in the middle of the two armies, Pandavas on one side and Kurus on the other side Arjuna looks everywhere on both sides and sees only friends and family members and his teachers. Everyone is related to him in some way. So he thinks that if they fight this will be a great disaster and even if he is victorious in the battle because so many friends and family members will be killed on both sides. Arjuna is feeling that his life would not be worth living, even though he may be victorious in the battle. So he decides, “Krishna I shall not fight.” And he proposes going to the forest and living under a tree as if he give up the fight his reputation as a great fighter would be spoiled as everyone would think that he fled from the battlefield in fear of being killed after seen the very strong army of the Kurus.
In this position Arjuna is completely bewildered and he does not know what to do. So he surrenders to his friend Krishna. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna changes at this moment. In the beginning of the discussion they were friends, but Arjuna becomes bewildered and does not know what to do so he accepts his friend Krishna as his spiritual master, as his guru and surrenders to Him.
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam
"Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." (Bhagavad-gītā2.7)
So you see what has happened here. Krishna has instructed Arjuna that he should do his duty as a Ksatriya and fight. But Arjuna realized that if he does that then it will be disastrous for his friends and family who will mostly all get killed. So Arjuna is thinking that it would be better for everyone if he did not do his duty. Then the battle would not take place and his family members would not be killed.
Arjuna says here that he is confused about his duty. So the real point here is that Arjuna does not know what his duty is so is surrendering to Krishna and saying to Krishna “Please instruct me.” Arjuna is now Krishna's disciple, a soul surrenderd to Krishna and he will now do whatever Krishna tells him to do.
So the actual central point of the Bhagavad-gita, is really to surrender to Krishna in the mood of Arjuna, “Please instruct me.”
At this point it does not matter what Arjuna thinks is his duty. Actually at this point Arjuna is completely confused about his duty. On one hand he knows that he has the duty as a ksatriya and he should fight but on the other hand he has another duty to his friends and family and does not want to see them killed. So Arjuna is confused about his duty. So Bhagavad-gita is not actually about “doing your duty.” Arjuna does not even know what his duty is, so how can he do his duty? Many of us are also in the same position. We are confused about our duty.
The message of Bhagavad-gita is surrender to Krishna and get Krishna to instruct us, “please instruct me,” to let Krishna claify to us what is our duty.
It is not that we know what our duty is and Bhagavad-gita is telling us that we must do that. No. Bhagavad-gita is telling us to surrender to Krishna and let Krishna instruct us as at to what our duty is. Of course in Arjuna's case he was speaking with Krishna directly, but for us Krishna advises that we approach Him through His bona fide spiritual master and the spiritual master can let us know what we should do, what is actually our duty. Of course we can also hear from Krishna and from Sirla Prabhupada and from a careful study of Bhagavad-gita a thoughtful person can conclude what is his duty. Krishna will speak to him and Prabhuapda will speak to him...
These things can be discussed very elaborately and for a long time but really the Indian idea that Krishna is telling Arjuna to do his duty is a very superficial understanding of the Gita. It is true of course. Because when Arjuna surrenders to Krishna Krishna does instruct him to fight. But Krishna could have also instructed Arjuna to leave the battlefield and Arjuna would have done that also if that is what Krishna wanted him to do. The point is Arjuna accepted Krishna as His spiritual master and agreed to do whatever Krishna instructed him to do. Arjuna surrenderd to Krishna.
So the real point of Bhagavad-gita is surrender to Krishna. Not doing one’s duty. Actually one's duty is to surrender to Krishna and Krishna actually concludes His instructions to Arjuna in the Gita by saying exactly this:
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (Bg. 18.66)
This is a very radical way really for Krishna to conclude His instructions in the Bhagavad-gita with. In India and all over the world they have invented so many dharmas, or occupations, or religions and Krishna is concluding here that Arjuna should give up all these dharmas or religions and simply surrender unto Him. So this is Krishna's real message, the real conclusion of Bhagavad-gita. Surrender to Krishna. This is the main message.
This is adapted from Srila Prabhuapda's Bhagavad-gita As It Is. If you do not have the book please get it and read it from:
This email is a little long but it is very important information and I would very much appreciate it if you can take the time to go through it and if you have any questions or comments please post them at the article at www.Krishna.org (the link is at the end of this email) and I will answer you there.
Although there are thousands and thousands of philosophical and spiritual groups around the world most of them are following one of four basic philosophies: personalism, yoga, impersonalism or voidism. There are also a few other athiestic philosophies which try to explain the existence of the universe and the living entities without any spiritual connection but we will not discuss them here.
All philosophers and followers of religion naturally question the nature of the Supreme and the ultimate perfection--the destination the perfect living beings attain.
The personalists understand the Supreme is a person and surrender to Him, worship Him and serve Him. They conclude the ultimate destination is the spiritual world, the Kingdom of God—the place where the Supreme Lord lives—and they want to go there and have a personal relationship and render service to the Lord.
The yogis meditate on the Lord within their hearts—the Supersoul. Their ultimate realization is the personal form of the Supreme Lord as Paramatma within their hearts. Unfortunately yogis generally get distracted by the yoga-siddhis, the yogic perfections. These mystic perfections enable yogis to achieve wonderful powers within the material world—but the real perfection of yoga is to realize the Supreme Lord within the heart and surrender to Him and serve him. Therefore the perfect yogi will become a personalist, a devotee, ultimately.
The impersonalists conclude that the Supreme is an impersonal energy or force. They want to merge with or become one with the Supreme—imagining that when they merge with the impersonal energy of the Supreme they will somehow become one with and equal to the Supreme. The impersonal philosophy is very common because generally demonic people want to become god—they have no interest in surrendering to and serving anyone—certainly not God—so this impersonal philosophy allows them to believe there is no god above them, there is no authority, only an impersonal force, an energy and they are thinking of becoming one with that energy and becoming the supreme themselves. Most Indian gurus and philosophers these days are impersonalits even though they may speak something of Krishna, Vishnu—still ultimately, directly or indirectly, they hold impersonal views and actually want to become the supreme themselves rather than surrendering to and serving the Supreme Lord. Practically the whole “new age” philosophy in the West is impersonalism. Because for the demonic people the idea of becoming one with the supreme is much more attractive than surrendering to the Supreme Lord.
The voidists conclude that ultimately there is no supreme—only a void. They do not believe in any ultimate destination at all. They imagine that ultimately everything is void and they are trying to cease to exist. They imagine stopping their existence will be the solution to all their problems. The Buddhists are the typical example of followers of the voidist philosophy. They are atheistic. They do not believe in God and do not accept the living entities have an eternal soul and believe that ultimately they can cease to exist. Modern scientists are also generally voidists.
These four philosophies—personalism, yoga, impersonalism and voidism—appear time and time again in slightly different variations all over the world. Really you can not find any other philosophy. Sometimes there is some mixture but these are the basic four elements.
So what is correct? In India so many believe “whatever you think, whatever you accept—that is good for you.” This is not true but it is a very common belief among Indian philosophers. Something does not become correct and good for you just because you believe it.
To actually find the truth we have to find a reliable authority and all of these philosophers except the voidists/Buddhists accept the Vedas as their authority. So the personalists, impersonalists and yogis all share the same authority / scriptures—the Vedas—while the Buddhists/voidists reject the Vedas.
The void philosophy comes from Lord Buddha who is accepted in the Vedas as an incarnation of Vishnu. But he preaches against the Vedas. He said: “I condemn any scripture that condones animal killing” and because the Vedas contains references to animal sacrifices he rejected the Vedas and went on to present his own philosophy based on the principle of ahimsa, non-violence.
Lord Buddha preached that non-violence is the highest religious principle. Although I do not have the space to get into it in great detail here his purpose was special. At the time Lord Buddha was preaching in India the whole country had become meat-eaters and they were justifying the animal-killing by references in the Vedas related to animal-sacrifice. Meat-eaters are not able to understand much philosophy and they were also atheistic. You can not ask an atheist to surrender to God—he will just get angry. In this situation in India Lord Vishnu appeared as Lord Buddha—he is the Supreme Lord—but he said “I am not God...” and he presented a philosophy that was very attractive to the meat-eating atheists of the time.
In Buddhism there is no god, no eternal soul and the ultimate destination is nirvana—the void—nothingness... But Lord Buddha's main purpose, the main point of his preaching was: ahimsa parama dharma, “non-violence is the highest religious principle.” So with this preaching Lord Buddha was able to convince the Indian people to become vegetarians—and that is really the only purpose of his preaching and his concocted philosophy.
Once the Indian people became vegetarians by the strength of Lord Buddha's preaching they were able to understand more subtle philosophical points and Lord Shankaracharya who is an incarnation of Lord Shiva, appeared and easily defeated the Buddhist philosophy and re-established the authority of the Vedas.
Shankaracharaya is an incarnation of Lord Shiva and he was also unable to give the people the ultimate truth because they were still atheists following the Buddhist philosophy and still unwilling to surrender to the Supreme Lord. So Shankaracharya presented a misrepresentation of the Vedas, particularly the Vedanta Sutra, in which he attempts to eliminate any personal aspects of the Supreme Lord by word-jugglery and false logic.
Although the Vedanta Sutra clearly describes the Supreme Lord as personal in the ultimate issue Shankaracharya's commentary, the Sariraka-bhasya, exclusively stresses the impersonal all-pervasive energy of the Supreme Lord as the ultimate and completely denies any personal aspect at all. The teachings of Shankaracharya are often referred to as “covered Buddhism” because basically he has presented many of the Buddhist ideas but supported them by a misinterpretation of the Vedanta Sutra.
Shankaracharya has simultaneously re-established the authority of the Vedas and also presented a misinterpretation of the Vedas. It is stated in the Padma Purana that Lord Shiva appeared as a brahmana in the age of Kali to preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is nothing but a type of Buddhist philosophy: mayavadam asac-chastram pracchannam bauddham ucyate mayaiva vihitam devi kalau brahmana-murtina. Lord Shiva, speaking to his wife Parvati-devi, foretold that he would spread the Mayavada philosophy in the guise of a sannyasi brahmana just to eradicate Buddhist philosophy. This sannyasi was Sripada Sankaracarya. In order to overcome the effects of Buddhist philosophy and spread Vedanta philosophy, Sripada Sankaracarya had to make some compromise with the Buddhist philosophy, and as such he preached the philosophy of monism, for it was required at that time. Otherwise there was no need for his preaching Mayavada philosophy. (Srila Prabhupada SB 4.24.17 purport)
So the athestic impersonal and voidist philosophies that now flood the whole world all stem from the preaching of Lord Buddha and Lord Shankaracarya.
The Buddhist/voidist philosophy is incorrect. There is no factual basis to it at all and any thoughtful philosophically inclined person can easily see the many flaws in it. It is completely in contradiction with the Vedas which every other philosopher accepts—although they have their different interpretations.
The Buddhist philosophy is sunyavadi—or zero. Their idea is to make everything zero. The Buddhist will look at everything in the world and see it is ultimately a source of suffering so he will say that all these sources of suffering should be eliminated. And then ultimately when everything is eliminated you come to nirvana which means to finish all the varieties and to become zero.
This zero or sunyavadi philosophy is not a very attractive proposal. We want enjoyment, we want happiness—but the Buddhists are frustrated—they think happiness and enjoyment are impossible because they only have information about material enjoyment which they correctly realize is not actually enjoyment at all—so they conclude the best thing is to cease to exist—nirvana—to become zero...
There is however a serious problem for the Buddhist... In reality one can not cease to exist. It is not possible because the soul is eternal. It can not be killed or cease to exist under any circumstances whatsoever. So this Buddhist/voidist idea of nirvana is simply impossible. It is wrong, incorrect, impossible.
So for bona-fide philosophies we can reduce the list to only three: personalist, yogi and impersonalist. All these three philosophies are accepted in the Vedas as being bona-fide ways of understanding at least a part of the Lord's energies.
"The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding by the knower of the Absolute Truth, and all of them are identical. Such phases of the Absolute Truth are expressed as Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan." (Bhag. 1.2.11)
These three divine aspects can be explained by the example of the sun, which also has three different aspects, namely the sunshine, the sun's surface and the sun planet itself. One who studies the sunshine only is the preliminary student. One who understands the sun's surface is further advanced. And one who can enter into the sun planet is the highest.
Ordinary students who are satisfied by simply understanding the sunshine—its universal pervasiveness and the glaring effulgence of its impersonal nature—may be compared to those who can realize only the Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth. The student who has advanced still further can know the sun disc, which is compared to knowledge of the Paramatma feature of the Absolute Truth. And the student who can enter into the heart of the sun planet is compared to those who realize the personal features of the Supreme Absolute Truth.
Therefore, the bhaktas, or the transcendentalists who have realized the Bhagavan feature of the Absolute Truth, are the topmost transcendentalists, although all students who are engaged in the study of the Absolute Truth are engaged in the same subject matter.
The sunshine, the sun disc and the inner affairs of the sun planet cannot be separated from one another, and yet the students of the three different phases are not in the same category. (from Srila Prabhupada's purport to Bhagavad-gita 2.2)
So this is the key to understanding the three philosophies: personalism, yoga and impersonalism. The personalists realize Krishna—the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they realize everything.
The Paramatma form of the Lord in the hearts of all living entities upon which the yogis meditate is an expansion of Krishna—so if one realizes Krishna he also realizes His Paramatma feature. The impersonal effulgence is simply the glare or shining that is emanating from the transcendental body of Krishna. So if one can see the transcendental body of Krishna naturally he can also see the shining effulgence emanating from Krishna's body—that is the Brahmajoti, the destination of the impersonalists.
So the three types of philosophers: personalists, yogis and impersonalits are all realizing different aspects of the same Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.
They are all studying the same subject however the personalists are able to simultaneously understand and appreciate all the different energies and expansions of Krishna but the yogis are only able to see the Paramatma form of the Lord in their hearts and the impersonal energy of the Lord and the impersonalists are only able to realize the Brahmajoti, the impersonal, all-pervading aspect of the Supreme Lord.
Therefore the realization of Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the complete realization of the Absolute Truth and the yogis and impersonalists have only partial realization—but they are realizing and studying the same Krishna—their vision is limited to particular aspects only.
There are many different sampradayas or groups of devotees in India and they are realizing different aspects of the Supreme Lord or have slightly different philosophical outlooks. We are the followers of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada describes His's philosophy of acintya-bheda abheda-tattvam (inconcieveably simultaneously one and different) as:
“Attraction for water depends on the purity of the taste, and this pure taste is one of the energies of the Lord. The impersonalist perceives the presence of the Lord in water by its taste, and the personalist also glorifies the Lord for His kindly supplying water to quench man's thirst. That is the way of perceiving the Supreme. Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya-bheda and abheda-tattvam-simultaneously one and different.”
So there is no contradiction between the personal aspect of Krishna in Krishna consciousness and the impersonalists or the yogis understandings.
However the devotees of Krishna take offense at the Mayavadis who following the Sariraka-bhasya commentary of Vedanta Sutra by Shankacharaya try to establish that the impersonal aspect is supreme and that any time Krishna appears He is in maya and all of Krishna's pastimes are also maya. (That is why we call them “Mayavadis”—because they consider that Krishna and His pastimes are maya.)
So the Vaisnavas have a very big disagreement with the Mayavadis but that will be the subject of another article.
And post your question there and I will answer it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
www.Krishna.org
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
DARSAN of Srila Gurudev His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj will be webcast from Kolkata on September 23, 2011 (Friday) on the auspicious occasion of Sri Indira Ekadasi at 6.45 PM IST on www.sreecgmath.org.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
All Glory to Sree Guru and Gauranga!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams!
I hope the webcast of Srila Gurudev's darsan on 23rd September was good. The ending note especially, as few of you mentioned, was important for all of us. He said that we should do (remember or worship the Lord) from the core of the heart. After few minutes of darsan He added, "He (Sri Krishna) knows whether we are doing from the heart or not. We cannot deceive Him."
Later in the night, after His dinner, Srila Gurudev called me and said, "Earlier I used to speak in English. Now I have some sort of difficulty. They ask me to say something but they do not understand Bengali." Then He took the Kartik Handbook by Himself and said to me, "Send page no. 1-4 (Sri Bhajan Rahasya, Rahasyer Pragbandha) to them. By reading that they will get everything. You tell that they should read this. It is very nicely written by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswti Thakur. It is originally in Bangla, I translated to English. They should go through this."
So, Srila Gurudev wants all of us to read those few pages. Many of you during Darsan webcast ask me on chat to tell Guru Maharaj for few words to all of us. Now He Himself said these. Let us read those pages 1-4 very carefully from the Kartik Handbook and get His blessings. If you do not have the book already download from http://www.sreecgmath.org/CMS/pdfs/kartik_handbook.pdf.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
It seems some of you could not access the link provided by me in my earlier post. This is only because of '.' at the end. The following link should work.
By the grace of Sree Sree Guru Gauranga Radha Shyamsunder jiu, Most Revered Srila Gurudev and His sevaks arrived in New Delhi Math on 28th September at 9.30 PM. Welcome and Arati were grand.
On the 1st of October most revered Srila Gurudev will grace all of us through Harikatha about Most Revered Siksha Guru Nityalila-Pravista Om Vishnupad 108 Sree Sreemad Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj. Video conference will begin at 7.45 PM. Live English interpretation from Hindi Harikatha. Visit: www.sreecgmath.org
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Srila Gurudev along with His personal assistants reached Sri Goverdhan at around 5.15 PM on October 4, 2011. Srila Gurudev's bliss did not go unnoticed after having darsan of Sri Giriraj. While on the way, His eagerness to be there instantly could not be hidden. He had darsan of Mansi Ganga before reaching the Giriraj itihas kendra (Museum of Sri Giriraj's history and Srila Madhav Maharaj's pastimes).
After reaching there devotees desired to perform Srila Gurudev's Arati for which He said, "Goverdhan is our object of worship. Arati should be performed to Him." As per His desire and instructions Sri Goverdhan's Arati was performed and later His.
All devotees are welcome for the grand opening ceremony of the center on October 13, 2011 between 9.00 AM and 12.00 noon. For those who are not aware of directions to get to our Giriraj itihas kendra, here are the directions. After reaching Goverdhan bus stand, you have to take the Radhakunda parikrama marg (not Goverdhan Parikrama marg). From the bus stand, this center is about 2 kms on the Radhakunda marg (much much before Radha kunda and Shyam kunda). After you cross Chutad Teka within 200m you find a freshly painted 3-storey building on the left (the center does not have dooms to resemble a math or a temple). Further from the center is Pancamukhi Hanuman Mandir. So our center is in between Chutad Teka and Pancamukhi Hanuman Mandir. This is enough for you to get there. This is how our center looks like: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=224 925577562006&set=a.224925480895349.59390.100001336974155&type=1&theater (courtesy- Sri Radha Madhav Prabhu)
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
N.B.: Please visit the audio and video section in www.sreecgmath.org for the recent Harikatha uploads.
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranam!
Srila Gurudev His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj will perform worship of the Tridanda on the occasion of His 50th Sannyas Tithi (day as per lunar calender) on October 11, 2011. Later His Divine Grace will speak about the glories of Sri Goverdhan followed by His Sannyasi god-brothers and disciples performing arati to Him. This grand event will take place near our Giriraj Itihas Kendra, Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Goverdhan, Mathura.
Those who cannot personally be present for the event can take part through our webcast on www.sreecgmath.org . Webcast will begin at 9.00 AM IST. Live interpretation of Harikatha in English language.
Don't miss the event.
Sree Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Note: Due frequent load shedding and power fluctuations and many other challenges, there can be many interruptions during the webcast. Yet, we'll try our best to give you the best.
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Srila Gurudev will deliver Transcendental Divine Harikatha on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of centennial museum of Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj and Sri Giriraj History Center on October 13, 2011 at Sree Giriraj Itihas Kendra, Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Goverdhan, Mathura, India.
The webcast of Harikatha and live English interpretation will begin at 10.30 AM IST. Visit www.sreecgmath.org to participate in the webcast.
Sree Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Note: With the locally available internet facility, we will try our best to give you good audio and video.
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Most Revered Srila Gurudev, after completing a month-long Braj Mandal tour, arrived in New Delhi at 5.15 PM on November 9, 2011. His health is steady.
On November 11, 2011 Srila Gurudev will speak Transcendental Harikatha at 8.00 PM IST in New Delhi. Webcast of the event will begin at 7.45 PM IST. Live English interpretation of Harikatha. Visit www.sreecgmath.org.
Srila Gurudev is scheduled to depart from New Delhi for Kolkata by Indigo 6E-203 at 3.30 PM IST on November 12, 2011.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas,
Dandavat Pranams.
This mail is for the information of those who have not visited our website recently. Others may ignore.
The media coverage of Srila Gurudev's tour to Braj Mandal are updated in the website www.sreecgmath.org. Kindly visit audio section to listen to full Harikathas in Hindi/Bengali. Lecture notes and English translation will be uploaded in a day or two. Please revisit the audio section if you want English translation of lecture notes.
Harikathas are always nourishing. They are ever fresh. They are beyond time. This is especially true when the Harikatha emanates from the lips of a pure devotee. That potent medicine is necessary for us all. Always.
But due to our ill-luck Srila Gurudev is not permitted by doctors to speak Harikatha often as before. There were days when Srila Gurudev used to speak Harikatha 3-4 times a day, interact with all devotees, speak eloquently in Bangla, English and Hindi. Devotees have mercifully captured those precious moments in a tiny camera and prepared a pool of Harikathas for us.
By the inspiration of Most Revered Gurudev, we plan to webcast the pre-recorded Harikathas every weekend starting from November 26, 2011. If there are special occasions during the week, we try to play those recordings of Srila Gurudev.
These weekend webcasts will be possible only when Srila Gurudev is not on tour (while in Kolkata only). As per the convenience of Indian and western devotees, English Harikatha will be on every Saturday at 11.00 AM IST and Harikatha in Hindi will be on every Sunday at 8.00 PM. (Suggestions are welcome.) Translation channel from either English-Hindi or Hindi-English will not be available to start with.
I hope devotees will make use of this wonderful opportunity to watch live streaming of recorded videos in a virtual (or online) assembly simultaneously exchanging their ideas over the chat window. This will be launched on a trial basis for the next 3 weekends before we leave for Hyderabad on 15th of December. Depending on the users' response and desire, we'll resume after coming back from there again.
Hope to see you for the inauguration of virtual class room at 11.00 AM on November 26, 2011 with some transcendental kirtans and Harikatha by Srila Gurudev.
Sri Guru Vaishnava dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Webcast of darsan of Most Revered Gurudev distributing Prasad to devotees in Kolkata Math and exchanging loving words with them on the auspicious occasion of Sri Mokshada Ekadasi on the 6th of December 2011 at 6.00PM IST on www.sreecgmath.org.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Webcast of darsan of Most Revered Gurudev distributing Prasad to devotees in Kolkata Math and exchanging loving words with them on the auspicious occasion of Sri Mokshada Ekadasi on the 6th of December 2011 at 6.00PM IST on www.sreecgmath.org.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Webcast of darsan of Most Revered Gurudev distributing Prasad to devotees in Kolkata Math and exchanging loving words with them on the auspicious occasion of Sri Mokshada Ekadasi on the 6th of December 2011 at 6.00PM IST on www.sreecgmath.org.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Webcast of darsan of Most Revered Gurudev distributing Prasad to devotees in Kolkata Math and exchanging loving words with them on the auspicious occasion of Sri Mokshada Ekadasi on the 6th of December 2011 at 6.00PM IST on www.sreecgmath.org.
Sri Guru Vaishnava Dasanudas, Prahlad Das
Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah!
Revered Vaishnavas, Dandavat Pranams.
Like a chakor bird (monsoon bird) eagerly waits for the first rain to quench her thirst, devotees must be eagerly waiting to quench their thirst of listening to the glories of Lord and His devotees through His pure devotees. That wait is coming to an end very soon. The rain of Harikatha directly emanating from Srila Gurudev is going to be showered on all of us on 14th day of this month on the holy disappearance of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad. Srila Prabhupad ki Jai!
Webcast details: 14, Dec. 2011 @ 10.30 AM from Kolkata on www.sreecgmath.org
Lord Krishna surely tests the sincere desire of the devotees. His blessings come late (depending on sincerity) but whet they come, they come inundating. Pleased with the sincere desire of all devotees, Srila Gurudev will deliver Harikatha on 3 occasions between 14 and 21st of this month. There will be Harikatha on 16th and 20th of December in Hyderabad. We will try to webcast those events as well (provided we get good internet connectivity). Please watch out for announcements on www.sreecgmath.org.
