Chanting! Dancing! and Feasting!

Confluence at Pandharpur

2011-12-24T13:37:00.003+05:30

This article appeared in the November 2011 issue of the Back to Godhead (India) magazine.

Confluence at Pandharpur

The holy site of Pandharpurunites two powerful Bhakti movements that will spread the holy names of theLord all over the world.

“Oh, most ISKCON followers arewell-off, intelligent city dwellers, the elite, quite different from the simplerural devotees of Lord Viööhala of Pandharpur.” Time and again people havepointed this out to me, often with an accusatory undertone. It’s as if having apredominantly urban following poses a threat to ISKCON’s spiritual credibility.But during my recent trip to Pandharpur, as I reflected on this disturbingperception, I found it gradually replaced by an exhilarating prospect.

From the balcony in my room at theISKCON Pandharpur guesthouse, I got a panoramic view of Çré Pandharpur Dhäma.Everything one comes to Pandharpur for lay before my eyes to behold and savor.

Kshetreshu teertheshvathadaivasteshu

bhakteshu sarveshva iha vaigarishtham

sri pundarikam kilachandrabhaga

sri vitthalaste munipundarikah

(-- Padma Purāna 32.44)

The best holy place, holywaters, deity, and devotee are Pandharpur, the Chandrabhaga, Lord Viööhala, andPuëòaléka respectively.

The river Bhémä, known here as theChandrabhaga (“moon’s crescent”) because of its path, flowed from right toleft, cutting across a wide expanse of the holy land. Almost directly in frontof me and across the river, only two hundred meters from where I stood, rosePandharpur’s most precious possession: the famous Çré Viööhala Rukmiëé Temple,which houses the ancient Deity of Lord Viööhala. Densely dotting the oppositeriver bank I saw a multitude of devotees eagerly bathing in the Chandrabhaga’sholy waters.

Pandharpur, situated in the Solapur districtof Maharashtra, is Maharashtra’s spiritual capital. The image of Lord Viööhala,with His hands on His waist, standing on a brick, waiting for His devotee, isingrained in the consciousness of most Maharashtrians. Every year for centuriesnow, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims from villages all over Maharashtraand from Gujarat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, walk to Pandharpur withunflinching faith in Lord Viööhala’s protection as an offering of devotion.During their love-walk (väré), these värkarés immerse themselvesin remembering the Lord and chanting His holy names, playing musicalinstruments like karatalas (hand cymbals) and mådaìgas or otherdrums to accompany their singing. Leading up to the Äñäòha Çukla and KärtikaÇukla Ekädaçés, devotees walk 15–20 days to take darçana of their LordViööhala, who is always eagerly waiting for them. No one seems to mind thatapproximately a hundred thousand others are vying for their Lord’s darçanatoo.

What Makes Pandharpur aDhäma?

The Lord’s place of residence is calleda dhäma. A dhäma is also a place where remembrance of the Lordcomes naturally. Therefore, places where the Lord or His pure devotees havevisited or performed pastimes are dhämas. The Lord also declares in the PadmaPuräëa that He resides wherever His devotees are glorifying Him.

nähaà tiñöhämi vaikuëöhe

yoginäà hådayeñu vä

tatra tiñöhämi närada

yatra gäyanti mad-bhaktäù

“I am not in Vaikuëöha nor in thehearts of the yogés. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying Myactivities.”

Pandharpur fits all the abovedefinitions of a dhäma. Lord Kåñëa, the emperor of Dvärakä, once camehere in search of His beloved wife Rukmiëé, who was upset. While here, Heremembered His great devotee Puëòaléka. On reaching Puëòaléka’s house, He sawPuëòaléka serving His Vaisnavaparents. Puëòaléka, although overjoyed to see the Lord personally at his door,asked Him to wait on a brick while he finished serving his parents. The Lord,His heart overflowing with love for His devotee, patiently stood on the brick,His hands on His waist, waiting for His devotee to attend to Him. Puëòalékalater requested the Lord to stay in Pandharpur forever and bestow spiritualperfection on anyone who merely took His darçana. Of course, the Lordagreed. In recent times, another great devotee, Tukäräma, visited Pandharpurregularly. He also broadcast the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holynames (saìkértana) throughout Maharashtra, so much so that Pandharpurand saìkértana are now inseparable.

Pandharpur and ISKCON

Saìkértanaand ISKCON are also inseparable. ISKCON is the modern-day home of the worldwidesaìkértana movement and is popularly known all over the world as theHare Kåñëa movement after the Hare Kåñëa mantra saìkértana that is itsessential activity. While millions know about Pandharpur and many know aboutISKCON, few seem to know about ISKCON’s connections with Pandharpur, bothhistorical and contemporary.

To my left, as I looked down from thefirst floor balcony of the ISKCON Pandharpur guesthouse, I saw a smallstructure of columns supporting a dome. Beneath the dome, on a raised platform,three pairs of footprints are installed. The soles of Lord Visnu’slotus feet in each form are marked with distinctive symbols, and these threepairs of footprints depict the symbols on the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya, LordNityänanda, and Lord Viçvarüpa. Viçvarüpa, the elder brother of Lord Caitanya,is an incarnation of Lord Balaräma. He took sannyäsa in Pandharpur afterhe had traveled all over India. Lord Nityänanda received spiritual initiationfrom Çré Lakñmépati Tértha in Pandharpur, and Lord Caitanya Himself visited andstayed at Pandharpur during His travels around India. The great Gauòéya Vaiñëavaspiritual master Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura sings, gaur ämära, je saba sthäne,karalo bhramaëa raìge, se-saba sthäna heribo ämi, praëayi-bhakata-saìge: “Iaspire to see, in the company of loving devotees, all the places visited byLord Caitanya.” Çréla Prabhupäda writes, “A devotee should make a point ofvisiting all the places where Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu performed His pastimes.Indeed, pure devotees of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu even want to see the places Hesimply visited for only hours or minutes.” This is the 500-year-old historicalconnection between Pandharpur and ISKCON.

Today, under the leadership of HisHoliness Lokanätha Swami, ISKCON has a temple in Pandharpur—the Çré Çré RädhäPaëòharénätha Temple. Çréla Prabhupäda once commented, “Our Lokanätha Swami isjust like Saint Tukäräma. The whole of India and specifically Maharashtra isenthused with Kåñëa. Now you have to revive their Kåñëa consciousness. This isTukäräma’s country, but now they are becoming bad politicians. So revive themby the process of the saìkértana movement. I am very glad that you arepreaching village to village and will cover all of Maharashtra.” Today,Lokanätha Swami is the head of ISKCON’s international Padayäträ Ministry. Underhis guidance many padayäträs have been organized all over the world. ButLokanāthaSwami, with his childhood rooted in varés to Pandharpur, and because hisspiritual master likened him to the Tukäräma of ISKCON, has a special place inhis heart for Pandharpur.

ISKCON’s Contribution toPandharpur

Serving the Lord, the devotees, and thedhäma is central to the bhägavata culture the saìkértanamovements of both Tukäräma and ISKCON espouse. Lord Kåñëa says in the Bhagavad-gétä(18.68–69) that no one is dearer to Him than those who spread the message ofthe Gétä among devotees. Pandharpur is full of devotees, and ISKCON’sexpertise in presenting the Bhagavad-gétä’s message is well-known. Inhis talks in India and abroad, Lokanätha Swami often speaks about LordViööhala. Consequently, many devotees from around the world have started tovisit Pandharpur. ISKCON Pandharpur also reaches out to the nearby ruralcommunities, where their programs are attended by the local folk. LokanäthaSwami’s Marathi book Bhü-Vaikuëöha, compiled after a lot of scripturalresearch, reveals the unique spiritual stature of Pandharpur and weeds outnon-scriptural and anti-scriptural misconceptions about the path of pure bhaktithat is this dhäma’s very essence.

During the annual värés toPandharpur, ISKCON’s Bhaktivedanta Hospital conducts free medical camps forresidents of Pandharpur, and ISKCON’s Food for Life organization distributesfree wholesome prasäda to the värkarés. This year ISKCON servedaround three hundred thousand devotees in these ways. Over the years, theauthorities of the Çré Viööhala-Rukmiëé Temple and ISKCON Pandharpur haveworked together on many occasions. ISKCON also conducts regular programs insidethe Viööhala-Rukmiëé Temple. ISKCON’s regular and significant contributionsover the years have not gone unnoticed by the government, either. TheGovernment of Maharashtra wishes to transform Pandharpur into an internationaldestination so that Lord Viööhala’s glories may spread throughout the world.Looking at the amazing transformations ISKCON’s presence has brought in holyplaces like Mäyäpur and Våëdävana, the government has asked ISKCON to help leadthis task. And ISKCON Pandharpur has enthusiastically accepted the government’srequest that they arrange for the construction of a bathing ghäta. Thisghäta—which will be known as Prabhupäda Ghäta—will be onthe ISKCON temple’s side of the river. With lawns, fountains, and otherrelaxation areas, it promises to make the pilgrims’ visit to Pandharpurconvenient, thus making Pandharpur an even more attractive destination.

Confluence at Pandharpur

At first look, the rural devotees ofLord Viööhala, with their modest means and simple ways, seem to have nothing incommon with ISKCON’s predominantly urban followers. Those who have given theirhearts to the värkarés sometimes find it hard to appreciate ISKCON’smethods. Time and again I have come across people, some genteel, some vehement,who say that ISKCON caters only to the well-educated urban elite. “Why doesn’tISKCON do something for the rural poor?”

I was stumped when someone first askedme this question. It struck me as odd; as if there is no meeting place between värkarésand urbanite devotees. The apparent conflict is easily resolved in light of howand where these two glorious saìkértana movements started. Tukärämalived and started preaching the message of love of God in the nondescriptIndian village of Dehu, whereas Çréla Prabhupäda was a Calcutta boy and latertraveled to the United States to begin his preaching mission in New York City.How can we expect the two movements to have the same kind of followers—at leastinitially?

But the bhägavata culture makesno distinction between rich and poor among its followers. To judge a spiritualmovement based on the bank balance of its adherents instead of on its teachingsis material vision. But putting that aside, as ISKCON’s various activities inrural Pandharpur prove, ISKCON doesn’t intend to restrict itself to anyparticular strata of society. ISKCON’s mission is to spread Krishna’sholy name to every town and village on earth. Since most of India lives invillages, it’s only a matter of time before ISKCON will have more ruralfollowers than urban in India. To realize that day - when the whole world,villager or city-bred, chants the holy name - is the mission of all the sincerefollowers of Lord Caitanya, Çréla Prabhupäda, and ISKCON.

ISKCON in Pandharpur symbolizes theconfluence of two great bhakti traditions, one rural and one urban. Theproposed Prabhupäda Ghäöa promises to be the site where the two bhakti currentswill mingle and embrace each other. Then the combined force of these two greatcurrents will wash away materialistic standpoints that allow us to think onecurrent is holier than the other. Both are holy.

Looking down from my vantage point, abalcony in the ISKCON Pandharpur guesthouse, I saw in my mind’s eye thousandsof devotees carpeting the near bank of the Chandrabhaga at the place wherePrabhupäda Ghäöa will soon appear, and many others eagerly dipping into thesacred and refreshing waters.

After a confluence, there is no cleardistinction between the constituent currents. Similarly, in the current ofbhakti that will now flow from Pandharpur, it will be hard to distinguishbetween the rural and the urban currents; they will unite and flow togetherwith great force and reverberate the holy names of Lord Viööhala in roaring saìkértana.

A Hare Krishna Composition by Cousins

2011-12-24T13:01:00.000+05:30

The Rising Moon of Mayapur

2011-12-24T12:50:00.004+05:30

The following article appeared in the October 2011 issue of the Back to Godhead (India) magazine as the cover story.

The RisingMoon of Mäyäpur

In alittle-known village of Bengal on the banks of the river Ganga, anextraordinary temple is coming up. From here, the flood of Lord Caitanya’smercy will inundate the entire world.

The world’s great spiritual traditionsare all but lost. All that remains of them are a few sincere followers and afew grand monuments. Millions visit these monuments, not usually to enhancetheir spirituality but because of the monuments’ architectural and historicalsignificance. The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (ToVP) aims at nothing lessthan making wholesome, authentic spiritual life again appealing to people.Combining modern technology, ancient science, timeless wisdom, and pulsatingculture, the very creation of the ToVP will fulfill fascinating prophecies.Will it indeed flood the world with sublime love of God?

The Mäyäpur Connection

TheToVP is rising on the banks of the Ganges in the holy town of Mäyäpur, WestBengal, India. ÇrélaBhaktivinoda Öhäkura, father of the modern-day Kåñëa consciousnessmovement, narrates in his Navadvépa-dhäma-mähätmya how Lord Nityänandaspoke to Çréla Jéva Gosvämé about the future of Mäyäpur. Lord Nityänanda prophesized:“When our Lord Caitanya disappears, by His desire, the Ganges will swell. TheGanges water will almost cover Mäyäpur for a hundred years, and then the waterwill recede. Then, by the Lord’s desire, Māyāpurwill again be manifest, and the devotees will build temples of the Lord. Oneexceedingly wonderful temple (adbhuta-mandira) will appear—from whichGauräìga’s eternal service will be preached around the world.”

Mäyäpuris ISKCON’s international headquarters; Çréla Prabhupäda chose it as such becauseit’s the place where Lord Caitanya appeared. Lord Caitanya, who is KåñëaHimself in a golden form, appeared in Mäyäpur a little over five hundred yearsago with the mission to flood the world with the highest love of God—a lovethat had rarely been revealed to this world before. He spread the Hare Kåñëamantra throughout India, and prophesized that one of His commanders-in-chiefwould one day spread the same holy name to every town and village in the world.In 1965, at almost seventy years old, Çréla Prabhupäda arrived in the USA.Within twelve spectacular years he inspired the founding of 108 temples incities around the globe. Now thirty-five years later, ISKCON continues tospread Lord Caitanya’s mission, with the goal of fulfilling the prediction that Kåñëa’s name will be heard in every town andvillage. Today, ISKCON has about five hundred temples, farm communities,restaurants, and schools. But while all of these are ISKCON temples, thisupcoming ToVP in Mäyäpur will undoubtedly be “the” ISKCON temple.

It’ssignificant that Çréla Prabhupäda chose Mäyäpur as ISKCON’s internationalheadquarters. Even today Mäyäpur is not overly connected with the rest of theworld; he didn’t choose it for the material facilities it could provide.Rather, Çréla Prabhupäda well knew the incomparable spiritual significance ofMäyäpur. Here Lord Caitanya first revealed his superexcellent presentation ofVaiñëavism: Gauòéya Vaiñëavism. Mäyäpur is the highest seat of GauòéyaVaiñëavism, just as Vatican City is the highest seat for Roman Catholics andMecca serves in the same capacity for Muslims. Now with the construction of themagnificent ToVP, Gauòéya Vaiñëavism will be prominent on the world’s spiritualmap. Millions from all walks of life will be attracted to the sublimephilosophy and culture that built it.

Templeor Planetarium?

TheTemple of the Vedic Planetarium—the name itself arouses interest. ÇrélaPrabhupäda had a clear vision—one he expressed on many occasions—for the ToVP.He wanted “a unique Vedic Planetarium to present the Vedic perspective of life,including a gigantic display of the material and spiritual worlds, which couldbe viewed by visitors from different levels as they traveled through theplanetarium.” ŚrīlaPrabhupādawanted to use something startling and state-of-the-art to attract people fromaround the world to Mäyäpur. Once they arrived, their spiritual journey wouldbegin and they would be given the chance to practice Kåñëa consciousness, ifonly for a few days, ushering auspiciousness into their lives.

Asidefrom the presentation itself, Çréla Prabhupäda recognized the hold modernatheistic science has on most people. He wanted to challenge the mechanisticunderstanding of the universe. To educate people in the principles of Vediccosmology is a crucial aim of the ToVP. Cosmology studies the origin, purpose,structure, and function of the universe, and Vedic cosmology gives extensiveinformation not only about the structure of the phenomenal universe as we seeit, but about its source, purpose, and the subtle laws that govern it.

Thefundamental concept pervading Vedic cosmology is that everything and everyonehas a relationship with and dependence on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ÇréKåñëa, the source of the creation, maintenance, and dissolution ofthe manifested worlds. The Vedic Planetarium and Science Center willattractively present this profound understanding. It will also offer solidscientific arguments that underpin the concepts of Intelligent Design. And ofcourse, the ToVP will continue to challenge and counter popular atheisticclaims about human ancestry by showing through evidence and logic that lifecannot come from matter and that humans could not have evolved from apes.

TheToVP’s aim is the aim of any true temple: to attract people to Kåñëa (God) andto educate them about Him. Five hundred years ago Mäyäpur and the nearby townof Navadvépa were centers of learning in logic, philosophy, and spirituality. Today,Mäyäpur hosts primary school students as well as adults taking advanced coursesin Vaiñëava philosophy and practice. Mäyäpur’s leaders are already planning tobuild a university. Along with an academic education, however, future Mäyäpurstudents will also experience apractical lifestyle centered on devotion to God. The ToVP will be the hub ofthis spiritual education.

Thuseven with the emphasis on the Vedic Planetarium, the ToVP is most definitely atemple and not a planetarium. It’s a temple with a difference, the first of itskind, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Grandand Exquisite

TheToVP is the biggest Vedic temple being built in the last 1000 years. ÇrélaPrabhupäda is the original ToVP architect. In his letters and conversations hehad clearly outlined its key features. The temple is coming up honoring allthose instructions.

InJuly 1976, Çréla Prabhupäda expressed his preference for the outer design ofthe temple. While visiting Washington, he instructed his disciples Yadubara Däsaand Viçäkhä Devé Däsé to take detailed photos of the US Capitol building, whichwould serve as a prototype for the ToVP. The most prominent external feature ofthe ToVP will thus be its three towering domes. Based on Prabhupäda’s variousinstructions, the tallest and central dome, more than 300 feet tall, will housethree sets of deities. The leftmost set will be of the disciplic succession,the venerable line of spiritual masters in which Çréla Prabhupäda has come. Inthe center will be the effulgent and huge Païca-tattva deities: Çré KåñëaCaitanya, Prabhu Nityänanda, Çré Advaita, Çré Gadadhara, and Çré Çrévasa, whoare already being worshipped today in the present Mäyäpur temple. And on theirright will be the gorgeous Çré Çré Rädhä-Mädhava and Their eight principalcowherd girl friends. The combined presence of all these deities on the140-foot wide ToVP altar will offer a Deity darçana unmatched in thisworld.

Thehuge temple space around the central deities will be big enough to hold 10,000devotees. The high ceiling of the dome will remind visitors of the greatness ofGod and inspire humility and submissiveness. Hanging inside the central domewill be a chandelier with a difference: a moving 3-D model of the structure ofthe universe as described in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Visitors will beable to study the structure of the universe from multiple levels. At each levelwill be galleries and exhibits to explain the various aspects of the universe,along with its purpose. The highest level will take visitors on a tour to thespiritual world.

Thecentral dome walls would be of the best of marble ornamented by gold inlays.The magical and expensive onyx marble, which is known for its translucence anddelicacy, will adorn the altar. The central dome will be flanked on either sideby two smaller domes. The dome on the right will house the deity of LordNåsiàha. Its interiors will be South Indian style and dominated by black. Thedome on the left will house the Vedic Planetarium. The temple would implementgreen architecture; a state-of-the-art natural air flow system will ventilatethe huge central and right domes without using air-conditioners. In contrast,the Vedic Planetarium, consisting of multiple floors, seminar halls, etc. willbe fully air conditioned.

Thetowering domes will be visible from miles away. Thetemple will be situated within beautiful landscaping with water bodies,fountains, and lawns. The massive size will awaken visitors to the temple’simmense significance. The outside walls would be in various exquisite shades ofblue, white, and gold. The best marble to clad the outer walls will comedirectly from the quarries of Turkey. True to its purpose of being a worldtemple, its architecture would be an eclectic blend, borrowing heavily from Vedicand non-Vedic styles of sacred architecture. The main entrance would be likethat of a classic Vedic temple with pillars and a courtyard. The magnificentdomes would in robin-egg blue and would be reminiscent to the famous Fabergeeggs designed by the famous Russian jewelry firm, House of Faberge. Fabergeeggs are elaborate jewel-encrusted eggs, typically miniature. Along the samelines, the ToVP domes would be elaborately ornamented with weavings of gold.Above the entrance to the central dome would be an astronomical clock similarto the famous Prague Astronomical Clock. Eight staircase towers all around thestructure would lend delightful symmetry. At night, the play of light wouldcreate another breathtaking scene. Apart from these major features, there willbe innumerable finer aspects that will lend unprecedented beauty to thismagnificent temple.

TheRising Moon of Mäyäpur

ÇrélaPrabhupäda requested his disciple Ambaréña Däsa (Alfred Ford, great grandson ofHenry Ford) to help finance the ToVP. Taking this instruction as his very life,Ambaréña Däsa is personally financing a major portion of the total expenses.The temple construction started in 2009 and is well under way. Çréla Prabhupädatalked about the ToVP most with another disciple, Bhavänanda Däsa, who wasinvolved for many years with the early development of the Mäyäpur temple. Henow serves as the Creative Director for the ToVP. Ñaòbhuja Däsa, a 22-yearMäyäpur veteran and Project Coordinator for the completion of ÇrélaPrabhupäda’s Puñpa Samädhi, is now heading the ToVP project as the ProjectDirector. Working under him are Puëòarékäkña Govinda Däsa as the Site ProjectCoordinator and Viläsiné Devé Däsé as the Consultant Coordinator coordinatingall architects and drawings.

GammonIndia, one of the largest physical infrastructure construction companies inIndia, is building the temple. Mr. Vibhuti Choudhary is acting as theconsultant. The plan is for thesuperstructure to be complete within the next three years. If possible, eventhe Deities will be moved to Their grand new location. The completion of theexternal decorative work will take some years beyond to complete. 2016 is the50^th anniversary of ISKCON. The ToVP team’s desire is to presentthis grand temple to Çréla Prabhupäda in 2016 as a token of love and immensegratitude for the unfathomable gift of Kåñëa Consciousness that he has giventhe world.

ÇrélaPrabhupäda said that the ToVP already exists; Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura saw it.Whatever the Lord desires automatically becomes manifest by His icchä-çakti(the power of His desire). Now, what remains is to put the bricks and cement,and steel and paint, all in their place. Çréla Prabhupäda explained that Kåñëashowed Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukñetra that He had already killed Arjuna’senemies. Arjuna still had to fire his arrows and become the instrument for thekilling. Similarly, whoever will help in physically building the ToVP willbecome famous as an instrument of the Lord in fulfilling His most cherisheddesire—of spreading His message in every town and village.

ÇrélaPrabhupäda made Mäyäpur the center of ISKCON. The ToVP touches the life ofevery ISKCON friend and member in a way unlike any other ISKCON temple. It isthe root of the ISKCON tree. By watering this root, one will feel more stronglyconnected to the mission of the Lord. From this root the highest spiritualnourishment will reach all devotional branches all over the world.

ÇrélaPrabhupäda named the present Mäyäpur temple complex “Çré Mäyäpur ChandrodayaMandir”. The word candra means “moon” and refers to the effulgent moon of LordCaitanya. The word candrodaya can be split as either chandra-doyäor candra-udaya. The former refers to the doyä (mercy) of LordCaitanya, and the latter to the udaya (rise) of Lord Caitanya’s mission.About the ToVP, Çréla Prabhupäda had once said, “The plans and contemplationsare going on in different phases; now when Caitanya Mahäprabhu will be pleasedit will be taken up.” That time has come. With the rise of the ToVP, theresplendent moon of Lord Caitanya will ascend further and bathe the world withthe most pleasing moonlight of love of God.

The Eternally Limitless And Me

2011-10-16T12:15:00.004+05:30

This article appeared in the September-October 2011 issue of Back To Godhead International.

The Eternally Limitless and Me

A mental journey leading to the conclusion that existence is unlimited finds support in the Vedic scriptures.

From early childhood I wondered where the limit of the universe might be. At night, as the stars twinkled enigmatically overhead and the moon majestically presided over the celestial assembly, I pondered what lies beyond this universe.

Suppose I ventured out into the enchanting night sky and some fine hour reached its limit. What would I find beyond it? If I ever found the boundary, I'd be able to distinguish between the two sides of it: inside the boundary, and beyond it. With the spirit of adventure and the anticipation of new discoveries, I would continue my journey. But then I might come across another boundary, and another, and another. Either I'd keep finding boundaries, or after a certain number of boundaries, I'd never find the next one. In either case, I concluded, I would never find a boundary beyond which existence ceased. Existence is unlimited. That idea seemed incomprehensible to me, but undeniable.

My childhood mental journeys were all but forgotten till I came across the profound Vedic wisdom, which addresses the fundamental questions whose perplexity discourages many from all but token enquiry. We read in the Vedic scriptures that existence is indeed unlimited, even though the universe we live in has a boundary. The universe is shaped like a sphere and covered by layers of material elements, like earth, water, fire, and air. The sky we see at night is inside this universe and can be called the material sky. But beyond this limited universe is the unlimited existence of the spiritual sky, which has no limits. In one corner of that spiritual sky rests the whole material creation, with countless material universes, one of which we presently live in. In the unlimited spiritual sky are innumerable unlimited spiritual planets, called Vaikuçõhas, on which the Supreme Lord resides in His unlimited all-powerful forms along with His uncountable loving devotees. There they enjoy unlimited loving pastimes, experiencing ever increasing and ever fresh happiness.

Lord Brahma to Sri Krishna: "What am I, a small creature measuring seven spans of my own hand? I am enclosed in a potlike universe composed of material nature, the total material energy, false ego, ether, air, water, and earth. And what is Your glory? Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just as particles of dust pass through the openings of a screened window. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.11)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains: "The spiritual sky, which is full in all six opulences, is the intermediate residence of Lord KRsça. It is there that an unlimited number of forms of KRsça enjoy Their pastimes. Innumerable Vaikuçõha planets, which are just like different rooms of a treasure-house, are all there, filled with all opulences. Those unlimited planets house the Lord's eternal associates, who are also enriched with the six opulences." (CaitanyacaritamRta, Madhya 21.48.49)

In today's scientific age, there is a strong emphasis on gaining knowledge through experiments whose results are tangible to the gross senses. If something is beyond direct sense perception, then we try to come to logical conclusions based on the data we obtain through our senses. However, since the senses are inherently imperfect (e.g., we can experience only the light within a certain band of frequencies), any knowledge they can provide is imperfect. In the face of this, one is left with no option but to accept and follow some higher authority that promises knowledge unapproachable by mere gross senses. The holy scriptures are one such authority. While our mental excursions can lead us to some conclusions, they can never give us any details about the nature of the transcendent Absolute Truth. On the other hand, the revealed scriptures, such as the Vedic literature quoted above, have not only acknowledged the fundamental questions, such as those about existence, but have authoritatively provided answers to them in great detail and clarity. Such deep insight is possible only because Vedic literature is not of mundane origin but is apauruseya, of divine origin. As stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.1.1), at the beginning of the creation of the universe, the perfect authority, Lord Sri Krishna, imparted the complete Vedic knowledge to Brahma from within his heart.

Looking for the Source

Another question I wondered about as a child is the origin of everything. Each thing in our experience has a source, but what is the source of everything? And when did everything start coming into being? I did some thought experiments and arrived at this: For there to be an instant in time when existence came into being, there would have to be a time when existence was absent. That is, at time t, there was non-existence.nothing existed. And then, out of nowhere, literally, at time t + dt, voila! There was existence! Existence came out of nonexistence. This, I was convinced beyond doubt, is not possible. So, what's the alternative explanation? The only alternative is that there is existence eternally, for all time instants t. Since we are certain that there is existence, and that existence cannot crop out of nonexistence, existence is eternal.

The source of everything, Lord Sri Krishna, exists eternally and doesn't depend on anything else for His existence. He says in the Bhagavad-gita (10.8), "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts."

So, existence is not only unlimited, but also eternal. Eternally unlimited existence. Again, incomprehensible, but undeniable. The Vedic scriptures confirm this as follows. The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, and His energies exist eternally and simultaneously. Just as the sun and sunlight exist simultaneously (the sun being the source), so the Lord and His energies exist simultaneously (the Lord being their source). One of the Lord's energies is the material energy, of which the material universes are made. This energy is also eternal, but its different manifestations are temporary. Therefore, everything inside this universe and the universe itself is temporary, being temporary manifestations of the eternal material energy of the Lord. The time scales might vary astronomically; some manifestations exist for a few minutes, while some, like this universe, exist for millions of years. But in any case, all are temporary. And they are hopelessly insignificant in size and duration when compared to the eternally unlimited nature of existence.

Is My Existence Limited?

The next question I pondered, especially after finding myself lost inside eternal limitlessness, was about my own existence. If my existence is limited to the eighty-odd years of the existence of my body, then nothing of this world is of any significance at all. What is eighty years compared to eternity? All human endeavors, philosophy, morality, achievement, emotions, aspirations, philanthropy.everything.is just plain insignificant. All discussions on any matter whatsoever are insignificant. Right and wrong, justice and injustice, independence and slavery, this philosophy or that, sports, politics, showbiz, likes and dislikes, virtue and sin, nothing is any more significant than an invisible harmless speck of dust compared to the vast desert. And therefore, I could resign myself to doing whatever I like for the hopelessly limited expanse of my existence.

But what about the other possibility? What if my existence is not limited to just this one lifetime? What if it extends to many lifetimes? What if it is eternal? If so, then how I lead my life becomes an important question because I don't want to be uncomfortable for any significant length of time. How should I act so that my existence is comfortable and happy?

The Vedic scriptures assert, and base their teachings on, the fundamental understanding that life is eternal. All living beings, called souls (atman), have existed eternally and will continue to exist eternally.

Lord Krishna says, "For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (Bhagavad-gita 2.20)

Forgetful Souls

The souls' original home is one of the spiritual planets, and they have an eternal relationship of love with the Lord. The souls are thus meant for an eternal life of happiness and enjoyment experienced through spiritual senses by lovingly serving the Lord in the spiritual planets. The souls who desired an existence independent of the Lord were kindly provided by the Lord with this material world, with a material body to interact with the material world, and with the forgetfulness of their true identity. Thus, typically, the souls in the material universes are forgetful of their original position as an eternal loving associate of the Supreme Lord. However, because the souls have known sublime love and happiness in the spiritual world, they seek the same experience in the material world. Averse to serving anyone else, they develop the notion that they can achieve happiness only by gratifying their own mind and senses. Thus, in the quest for unlimited happiness through the temporary and limited material senses, they either resign to frustration (tolerating it or venting it), or they start exploiting others for their own selfish desires. In any case, the temporary and limited material senses, by interaction with the objects of this material world, can never taste the happiness the soul tastes through spiritual senses by loving service to the Lord. This situation is, in a nutshell, the cause of all the ills of this material world.

Lord Krishna says, "The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind." (Bhagavad-gita 15.7)

Thus, the root cause of all misery is that we are, of our own volition, looking for happiness in the wrong place. Unless we engage our mind and senses in the loving service of the Lord, the unlimited happiness we seek will never be ours. Nothing in the material world can give us that, as we can easily see by observing the lives of the richest and most materially successful people. What is the source of all lasting happiness? The Bhagavad-gita (2.65.66) answers: "For one thus satisfied [in KRsça consciousness], the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one's intelligence is soon well established. One who is not connected with the Supreme [in KRsça consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?"

Peace and Happiness Through Selfless Service

A satisfied and peaceful mind is the basis of lasting happiness. How do we keep our minds satisfied, especially in an age where glittering promises of instant pleasures surround us? Many of us might have found that helping others brings a sense of satisfaction to our lives. Why? The Vedic scriptures explain that the very nature of the soul is selfless service to the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. Thus, because serving someone other than Krishna resembles service to Him, it delivers a drop of the ocean of satisfaction and happiness in store for us when we start lovingly serving Krishna directly. When we start serving KRsça, very shortly we start experiencing a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. And naturally we want to share with others our good fortune of discovering real happiness.

People sometimes ask, What's the use of serving God, who doesn't really need our help, instead of serving the needy and unfortunate of this world? The answer, which you've likely figured out by now, is that every soul needs to serve God. Only by serving God can souls be as happy as they want to be. Therefore, we should serve God for our own benefit. Moreover, having understood this fundamental truth, we would naturally want to serve others by encouraging them to also serve God and thus find true happiness in their lives. This is the only real service one can render to others; all else will just be a mere semblance of service, with no lasting positive impact, because nothing else tries to cure the root cause of all maladies. Thus, let all types of social workers carry on their good work, but also add this most important factor of spreading God consciousness.into their list of activities. With that, their endeavors will be truly successful; without that, all their endeavors are but utter failures. In the words of Prahlada Maharaja, an exemplary devotee of the Lord: "Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visçu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.31)

The scriptures inform those seeking happiness away from God that unlimited happiness is found only in serving Him. Thus, by knowing that one's true self-interest lies in serving God, the typically selfish soul of this world starts serving Him. And by serving God, even just for one's own benefit, one's dormant love for God awakens, transforming actions of self-interest into selfless actions of love. The soul's nature is to love and serve God, and once reinstated in that natural original consciousness, the soul just wants to serve God out of pure love. A pure devotee of God does not consider whether he himself is happy or not; his only concern is how to serve and please the Lord. The devotee's love moves Krishna, who is all-loving, and Krishna reciprocates in such a way that the devotee's happiness knows no bounds. Still, the pure devotee's actions are motivated not by Krishna's reciprocation but only out of pure love. The pure devotee never seeks his own happiness; he always seeks Krishna's service. Indeed, this is the very definition of pure love, and pure love for Krishna is the very essence of the existence of the soul.

"This is the natural result of intense love of Godhead. The devotee does not consider personal inconveniences or impediments. In all circumstances he wants to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Chaitanya-Charitamrta, Madhya 4.186)

Thus, the journey that started from the terrace of my house as I gazed into the lovely night sky led me beyond the boundaries of the material world into the limitless expanse of the spiritual sky. It further led me into the eternally limitless existence of the Lord and His energies. Discovering such incomprehensible vastness made me wonder about the significance of my own existence. Further excursions led me to discover the eternity of my own existence, and of my natural eternal state as a loving servant of God.

What's more, I now find myself on an even more fascinating journey - a journey from selfishness to self-interestedness to selflessness. The incomprehensible but undeniable eternal limitlessness of existence out there has led me to discover myself in here.

Let My Heart Be Warmed Again

2011-09-10T15:59:00.000+05:30

My cousin Sanket Joshi has beautifully composed and sung my poem "Let My Heart Be Warmed Again".

Let My Heart Be Warmed Again

Many verses have I penned,

Various moods have flowed along,

With no mention of the Supreme Lord,

All but parts of some useless song.

Now that I try to write again,

Glorifications of that Supreme Lord,

The rebellious mind helps no more,

I find it hard, to even start.

And so I pray to that Supreme Lord,

Let my heart be warmed again,

Let it overflow with nectarean words,

To drench Him as will torrential rain!

Mind Games

2011-09-09T12:01:00.002+05:30

An edited version of this article appeared in the August 2011 issue of Back To Godhead (India edition).

Mind Games
Use your mind-key to open the door to eternal happiness.

My friend at IIT used to say, “It’s hard to carry on, but it’s harder still to let go.” When a college student says this, he’s almost always referring to a situation in which his sweetheart considers him just another homo sapiens. Or sometimes it might refer to a problem more serious than an unrequited and juvenile infatuation; he could mean something like having to bear the burden of financially maintaining his family while trying to study as much as any other student. But in all cases, this catchy line implies suffering from an attachment that is both unfulfilling and painful, yet one the mind cannot let go—either because the attachment is due to an obligation or, as in most cases, because it’s a mental fancy. When it’s a fancy, the mind becomes preoccupied with a “perfect” world where everything is ideal, even as the sights and sounds of the “real” world remind us of the harsh reality. The mental utopia is so intoxicating—and the sobering bouts of reality so agonizing—that we tend to prefer imagination to reality. It’s hard to carry on, but harder still to let go.

Mind: The Past-Present Oscillator

Yes, to let go of an obligation because it’s painful is undutiful. But most often, it’s not really our pressing obligations that bother us. Rather, it’s our mind. It is the nature of the mind, as Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.6.30–31) explains, to latch onto and become obsessed by unfulfilled desires, only to reject them later. For example, the mind tends to dwell on unfortunate past events—maybe a missed promotion at the office or something sad from our childhood. It also tends to dream of a grandiose future—a big house or immense wealth or power. We then hanker for this fantastical idea like mad. Not only that, even if our desires are fulfilled, the mind remains dissatisfied. Even that big house at the seaside will not keep the mind at bay. It will find something else to want, something else to moan about. A mind so engrossed in the past and future is uncontrolled, and an uncontrolled mind saps our energy; it doesn’t let us live in the present. The fickle mind forces us to run behind targets that move tirelessly and erratically. Go on with this long enough and it will lead to a mental breakdown. But it’s not actually the mind that breaks; it’s us who become tired of chasing the mind’s whimsical demands. The uncontrolled mind continues to do what it does best—torture us.

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (6.6), bandhur ätmätmanas tasya yenätmaivätmanä jitaù/ anätmanas tu çatrutve vartetätmaiva çatru-vatthe: “For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.” Not only is the uncontrolled mind our greatest enemy, it’s also our closest neighbor. The combination is terrifying. Yet we tend to ignore the situation and play into the traps of the mind. In the art of war, it’s vital to know the opponent’s strengths. Only then can one devise a strategy to neutralize the enemy’s advantage and perhaps even use it to for our own good. The uncontrolled mind’s greatest strengths happen to be our greatest weaknesses: (a) we think, subconsciously at least, that our happiness lies outside ourselves, in favorable external situations; and (b) that we can control those situations.

The Nature of Material Happiness

Because we think that happiness is found in external situations – a big house or immense wealth or high social status, or even things like job security and good health - the mind can lure us into its obsessions. Impelled by the promise of happiness through these situations, we feverishly try to grab or create them. Why do we believe the mind? Because we think we can control the world and can therefore create and maintain external situations. It sounds outrageous to say we think we are controllers when it’s so obvious that we are not; yet we hanker for future favorable circumstances as if we control them. Since we don’t control most of the circumstances of this world, it’s obvious that even if we find ourselves in a favorable situation, it might not last. For example, even if we land a great job, it will not give us happiness all the time; the same job might become unfavorable after some time. Similarly, a big house might soon become a burden rather than a luxury. Thus, not only are the situations in this world temporary, even the same external situation might not remain favorable for long. The Bhagavad-gita (5.22) warns us that running after temporary external situations is a recipe for misery: “An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunté, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.”

The quest for happiness is natural to the soul. The Bhagavad-gita (15.7) explains that all living beings are sac-cid-änanda—eternal souls with full knowledge and bliss—and part and parcel of the Supreme Lord Kåñëa. We are meant for an eternal life of happiness and enjoyment, lovingly serving the Lord in our original home, the spiritual world. The souls in this world, us, are typically those who desired to experience an existence independent of Kåñëa and for whom Kåñëa kindly provided this material world along with a body they could use to interact with it. He also allowed us to forget our true identity. However, because we once tasted sublime love and happiness in the spiritual world, we are ever seeking for that same happiness even in this material world - but without serving the Lord. Since we are generally averse to serving anyone, we have developed the notion that we can become happy only by gratifying our own mind and senses. Yet our temporary and limited material senses can never taste in material pursuits the happiness we have tasted through spiritual senses by lovingly serving the Lord. Thus the mental dissatisfaction.

The Secret of Mind Control

This leads us to the secret of mind control. Controlling the mind does not mean stopping the mind’s activities but engaging the mind in the Lord’s service. Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.27.5) offers this infallible technique: “It is the duty of every conditioned soul to engage his polluted consciousness, which is now attached to material enjoyment, in very serious devotional service with detachment. Thus his mind and consciousness will be under full control.” The great devotee King Ambarisha exemplified this technique; he engaged not only his mind but all his senses in serving the Lord.

According to the Gita 2.50, the art of transforming our day-to-day life into a spiritual journey is called yoga. By constantly engaging in the joyful process of devotion, we not only control the mind but attain spiritual perfection. Instead of brooding over the temporary ups and downs of our life, why not use them as opportunities to serve and remember Kåñëa? Why not look at our life as a tool to be used to help our spiritual advancement? Why look at our life, insignificant as it is, as the end in itself? The human form of life holds the key to spiritual perfection. Why brood over the rust on the key when you can use it to open the door to eternal happiness?

Defending As It Is

2011-05-22T22:13:00.008+05:30

This article appeared in the March/April 2011 issue of the Back To Godhead (International edition) magazine of ISKCON.

Defending "As It Is"

Does the Bhagavad-gita allow for multiple interpretations?

Scholars all over the world accept the Bhagavad-gita, which talks about the all encompassing Absolute Truth, as one of the most important books from India. Simple yet profound, easily accessible yet mystical, it continues to be the subject of myriad interpretations. But since the Absolute Truth, the subject of the Gita, is one entity and not many, then logically the Gita must have only one ultimate conclusion.

Srila Prabhupada chose to name his commentary Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This presumptuous-sounding title puts off many. A common retort is, "How can one man have a monopoly on what the Bhagavad-gita means?" However, by using this title Srila Prabhupada wants to highlight that the Bhagavad-gita has a specific message. And even more important, by using this title Prabhupada wants to tell readers that his commentary presents that specific message as it is, without change.

Is the Bhagavad-gita Ambiguous?

One common objection to identifying a single conclusion to the Bhagavad-gita is that the book is ambiguous and can be interpreted in multiple ways. Without denying that some verses can be variously interpreted, one can still clearly understand the ultimate conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita from its own unambiguous declaration of it.

[extract]

Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit. Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. This confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me. For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear." (18.64.69)

[end extract]

There can be no other interpretation of these verses than the obvious one: Become a pure devotee of Krishna and surrender completely to His sweet will. Since this is the summary instruction at the end of the Bhagavad-gita, all of Lord Krishna's other instructions must support and point to it. Not only that, the words guhya-tamam ("most confidential") appear three times in the Bhagavad-gita (9.1, 15.20, 18.64), and in all three places the words describe knowledge about unalloyed devotional service to Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada highlights this clear specific message – Bhakti - throughout his commentary. But others contend that because the Bhagavad-gita talks about other spiritual paths, these must be on the same level as bhakti. Lord Krishna does indeed speak about karma-yoga (developing detachment from the results of one's work), jnana-yoga (philosophical speculation to discern spirit and matter), and dhyana-yoga (meditation to the realize the self and God). How then can we say that unalloyed devotion to Krishna is the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita? Apart from the fact that the Bhagavad-gita itself declares so unequivocally, as noted above, a study of the Bhagavad-gita reveals that all other processes Krishna speaks of depend on bhakti for their practice and success. Here are a few examples:

"Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight." (3.30)

"One who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me." (7.17)

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." (7.19)

"And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me, he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion." (6.47)

Thus, we see that whether it be karma-yoga (3.30), jnana-yoga (7.17, 19), or dhyana-yoga (6.47), all depend on devotion to Krishna. We find similar references throughout the Bhagavad-gita. And at the end of the Gita, Lord Krishna declares that bhakti is the single supreme

conclusion, independent of any other process.

What About Intellectual Freedom?

Despite the evidence given above, some people refuse to accept that the Bhagavad-gita has just one conclusion; they think that accepting this premise would preclude any intellectual discussion of the book. Fortunately, that's not true. Even though the conclusion is beyond all philosophical conjecture, being as bright and clear as the sun on a cloudless day, the complete text of the Bhagavad-gita is like a gem-studded highway leading to the conclusion. Each verse is profound and can provide deep realizations, all in line with the conclusion. In fact, as one continues to follow the principles of the Bhagavad-gita, the realizations become deeper and deeper still, each coming along with the thrill of a new discovery. Also, understanding the concepts of the Bhagavad-gita stimulates the intellect. Figuring out how one concept leads into another, how the various concepts interrelate, how one concept explains another, and so on, is an intellectual adventure replete with astonishing discoveries and unexpected surprises.

For example, while one is wading through the marshy land of so many types of religion, through the fog of so many clouding philosophies, trying to reach a clear conclusion about faith, the sunlight of transcendental knowledge imparted in the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita regarding faith in different types of people shows the way. Then the solid ground of the fourteenth chapter, about the three modes of nature, assures us that dry land is near. And finally, the discovery of Lord Krishna's discussion, in the seventeenth chapter, of faith in the different modes of nature takes us safely out of the marshlands of confusion, high and dry, with a clear understanding of faith. The essential teaching is that the best faith is that which is reposed in Krishna.

Such philosophical and intellectual excursions help us realize the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita. And even the less intellectually gifted can understand the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita because Krishna rewards the sincere student with the intelligence to do so (Bg.10.10) Accepting the unambiguous conclusion of unalloyed devotion to Krishna in the very beginning doesn't thwart intellectual pursuits. On the contrary, the Bhagavad-gita is a treat for intellectuals who, using their intellectual muscles, wrestle to grasp the ever deepening profundity of Krishna's message. Their sincerity and devotion to Krishna attracts His mercy, which then bestows the fruits of their intellectual labors. Krishna encourages such use of intelligence by declaring that those who study the Bhagavad-gita worship Him by their intelligence. (Bg. 18.70)

Faithless Misinterpretations

Some people won't accept that the Gita has just one message because they think its words just can't be literally true, making the verses open to more than one interpretation. They find it hard to believe some of the things mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita. Many of the concepts stated simply in the Bhagavad-gita are beyond the common man's perception. For example, the Bhagavad-gita talks about heaven, hell, and the spiritual world, all three of which lie beyond ordinary perception. But taking the message of the Bhagavad-gita "as it is" implies accepting as true the existence of heaven, hell, and the spiritual world. In fact, one of the most important messages in the Bhagavad-gita is the call to get out of the cycle of repeated birth and death in the material world and go back to the spiritual world. Unless we accept the existence of the spiritual world, how can we take the message of the Bhagavad-gita seriously, or "as it is"? Anyone who understands that the goal of life as stated in the Bhagavad-gita is to get out of the cycle of birth and death will never propagate anything less than that in the name of the Bhagavad-gita. But since many people don't believe the literal meaning of the words of the Bhagavad-gita, too many commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita do not highlight this goal enough. Instead, they may use the concepts described in the Bhagavad-gita as mere management tips to become better leaders in the material world. Although the Bhagavad-gita's concepts can certainly help us manage our lives better, that is not their ultimate purpose. All such commentaries are not taking the message of the Bhagavad-gita "as it is."

Inconceivable Krishna

Some people don't accept the direct message of the Gita because they believe that the Absolute Truth is impersonal. Therefore, when Krishna speaks of Himself (the person) as the highest truth, they take Krishna as a metaphor representing the impersonal Absolute Truth. This bias distorts the "as it is" meaning of many Gita verses.

These philosophers can't fathom how a person could possess the inconceivable opulence and powers described in the Bhagavad-gita. For example, how could a person always be everywhere? Krishna explains that He is everywhere in His unmanifested form .i.e., in the form of His unlimited energies.and at the same time, since He is the source of everything, He is always aloof from His creation. (Bg. 9.4.5) Just like the sun, which rests in one place in the sky but pervades all of creation, Krishna sits aloof from His creation but still pervades it. Philosophers overwhelmed by Krishna's mystic powers and unable to fathom them try to hide their bewilderment by lowering the status of Krishna. Instead of the all-powerful person whose energies are all-encompassing and everywhere, they want Him only to represent an all-pervading impersonal entity. However, as soon as this is done, the message doesn't remain "as

it is." Lord Krishna addresses this problem: "Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme." (Bg. 7.24)

The "as it is" meaning of "I" used by Krishna throughout the Bhagavad-gita is straightforward. Only a person (and not an impersonal entity) will speak in terms of "I" and "mine," as Krishna does throughout the Gita. Moreover, only if Krishna is accepted as a person and not as a mere metaphorical instrument does the conclusion of devotion to Krishna makes sense. How can one love something impersonal? Thus, philosophers who don't accept that the Absolute Truth is the person Krishna must forego the literal meaning of the Bhagavad-gita and interpret it in many concocted ways.

Why Take the Message "As It Is"?

Some may raise the objection that even if the Gita has just one clear message, why must one take that message "as it is"? But that's like asking why you must take the doctor's prescription as it is. Why not interpret it the way you want? The answer is simple: Just as misinterpreting a doctor's prescription won't cure your illness, misinterpreting the message of the Bhagavad-gita won't help your spiritual progress. Arjuna accepted the message of the Bhagavad-gita as it is (Bg. 10.14), and so should we, if we are interested in achieving the desired result of studying and following it. The desired goal of the Bhagavad-gita is to get out of the cycle of birth and death by reviving our dormant love for Krishna.

The Essence of "As It Is"

Some people object to Prabhupada's seemingly presumptuous use of "as it is" in the title of his commentary because it seems to imply that only his commentary is accurate, or that it's better than everyone else's. But any commentary on the Gita that sticks to Krishna's clear message is "as it is." Thus all commentaries by Vaisnava acaryas, such as Ramanujacarya and Madhvacarya, are "as it is" commentaries. Although the commentaries by the different Vaisnava acaryas seem to differ from one another in some respects, they are all "as it is" commentaries because their conclusion is unalloyed devotion to Krishna. Different acaryas preach the message of the Gita in different social and intellectual climates, and therefore emphasize the philosophical and practical details that most suit the times. But they all aim to bring many people to the concluding principle of the Bhagavad-gita: unalloyed devotional service to Krishna.

A person clear about the Gita's "as it is" conclusion can easily identify commentaries that are not "as it is." Srila Prabhupada deliberately used the phrase "as it is" in the name of his Bhagavad-gita commentary, not to defy the revered Vaisva commentaries, which are all "as it is," but to defy all those that do not highlight unalloyed devotion to Krishna as the only conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita. Prabhupada's commentary title continues to shake up and entice all who come in contact with it.

Freedom of expression is the mantra in today's world. Even the Absolute Truth has become a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact. In such a setting, Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is presents an outright challenge to the incumbent intellectual scene. One can't resist getting intrigued by such audacity. Only one who has something awesomely powerful up his sleeve can take on the whole world in this manner. Don't miss the opportunity to study Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is and see for yourself how his commentary lives up to its catchy name.

The God Logic

2011-01-22T12:37:00.005+05:30

This article appeared in the November-December issue of the Back To Godhead (International) magazine.

Can scientists accept God?

Many modern scientific-minded people find it hard to accept that God exists. The scientific method consists of conducting physical experiments and verifying the results, and God just doesn't seem to fit in: He can't be produced or studied in a laboratory, His behavior can't be analyzed, His interactions with elements can't be plotted on a graph. But throughout history the realm of science has expanded, with newer tools and methods enhancing the power of experimentation and perception. It's about time we expand it more.

God and the Scientific Method

Spirituality is as scientific and logical as any branch of science. To understand how, we need to first understand the general definition of the scientific method. In principle, the scientific method consists of collecting data through observation and experimentation, and then formulating and testing a hypothesis. Subsequent experiments then try to prove or disprove the hypothesis. If the results of the experiments match the predictions of the hypothesis, the hypothesis gains credence. Otherwise, ideally at least, the hypothesis is discarded. (Unfortunately, hypotheses are often prematurely accepted as truth. The Big Bang theory and black holes are examples of this.)

We can quite easily apply the scientific method in our quest for spiritual truths. Around us in nature we see laws, design, beauty, majesty, symmetry, intricacy, and so on. We can surely hypothesize the existence of a supremely intelligent being who is the source of all that exists. Many of the most celebrated scientists and thinkers have expressed such views. For example, Isaac Newton said, "The wonderful arrangement and harmony of the cosmos would only originate in the plan of an almighty omniscient being. This is, and remains, my greatest comprehension."

The scriptures of most major religions have always asserted the existence of God. Along with assertions, they detail processes by which one can perceive God in lesser or greater degrees. For example, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.9.31) Lord Vishnu says, "Knowledge about Me as described in the scriptures is very confidential, and it has to be realized in conjunction with devotional service. The necessary paraphernalia for that process is being explained by Me. You may take it up carefully."

Following scriptures and sincere devotees of God is not blind faith. It is accepting the existence of God as a sound hypothesis, and then experimenting, by following the prescribed process, to establish or disprove the hypothesis. By sincere effort on a well-documented path

revealed in the scriptures, one can perceive God.

Initially, a little bit of reasonable faith (hypothesis) is required to start off (experiment) on a path suggested by the scriptures and the devotees of God. A systematic understanding of the science of God fortifies one's faith, which strengthens even more when one sees that the results of following the process match the theory. And the fortified faith, in turn, inspires one to follow the process even more sincerely, leading to even deeper experiences of God. As with any other form of learning, a teacher advanced in the practice of the science is a must. One can take practical instructions from the teacher, ask him deep questions, and study the scriptures under his guidance. Of course, the teacher must a devotee of God; otherwise how can he guide his students toward direct perception of God? As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita (4.34), "Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth."

Direct Experience

Even though God is beyond the perception of the common man, He appreciates the sincerity of the seeker's efforts and responds accordingly. To the degree that God reciprocates, the internal world (essentially the desires) of the seeker transforms. Although direct audience with God is difficult to achieve quickly, one can reap many other tangible results in a short time, and thereby gain confidence in the scriptural instructions.

A sincere seeker's realizations are in line with the principles of the scriptures, and therefore are not hallucinations. Powerful transcendentalists in all spiritual traditions have spoken or written about their experiences with God. To discard all their experiences as irrelevant is presumptuous. Furthermore, realization of spiritual truths helps the practitioner lead a better, more meaningful life, and to have better control of his life than others. While results of material processes can be verified in a laboratory, the results of spiritual ones can be verified in the laboratory of one's own heart. Lust, greed, anger, and other dirty things in the heart reduce drastically and quickly when one practices spiritual processes. The practitioner can easily verify these internal transformations, which manifest externally in the form of positive changes in one's life. A person progressing spiritually will give up bad habits like intoxication, increase spiritual activities like prayer and meditation, and improve in qualities like patience, mercy, cleanliness, and tolerance.

Along with these changes comes the lasting joy of spiritual happiness. The practitioner discovers a positive energy driven by the lofty goal of spiritual progress and enjoys the process itself. Spiritual activities are natural to the soul, and consequently the most joyful.

These tangible results inspire the practitioner to continue following the process, leading to more results, all of which are tangible. In fact, what was abstract and theoretical yesterday

becomes practical and tangible today. What was once just the word of scripture becomes the reality of one's own life. What more proof could one ask for?

In the Bhagavad-gîtå (9.2) Lord Sri Krishna summarizes this point succinctly: "This knowledge [spiritual knowledge] is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed."

It's a Science

Following a spiritual process as described above is as scientific as the so-called scientific method. Spirituality is a verifiable science, and moreover, it is genuinely helpful to everyone who practices it. The tools and methods for practicing this science might not be prevalent in the scientific world today, but surely the ancient wisdom traditions suffered from no such handicap. Their system of logic and reasoning did not exclude God from its domain; on the contrary, all their logic was used to eventually establish the existence of God as an undeniable fact. Indeed, theirs was the God logic.

The Eternally Limitless and Me

2011-01-22T12:15:00.004+05:30

A slightly edited version of this article appeared in the November 2010 issue of Back To Godhead (India Edition) magazine.

We read from the Vedic scriptures that existence is indeed unlimited. This universe we live in has a boundary. It is shaped like a sphere covered by layers of material elements like earth, water, fire, air, etc. The sky we see at night is inside this universe and can be called the material sky. But beyond this limited universe, there is the unlimited existence of the spiritual sky which has no limits. In that spiritual sky there are unlimited material universes, in one of which we presently live. Apart from that, in the unlimited spiritual sky there also exist unlimited spiritual planets on which the Supreme Lord Himself resides in His unlimited all-powerful forms along with His uncountable loving devotees enjoying unlimited loving pastimes experiencing ever increasing and ever fresh happiness.

Another question I have wondered is about the origin of everything. Everything has a source, but what is the source of everything? And when did everything start coming into being? So, I started my thought experiments. Very soon I reached to the following. For there to be a time instant at which existence came into being, there has to be a time instant at which existence was absent. That is, at time t, there was non-existence – nothing existed. And then, out of nowhere, literally, at time t+dt, voila! There was existence! Existence came out of non-existence. This, I was convinced beyond doubt, is not possible. So, what’s the alternative explanation? The only alternative is that there is existence eternally, for all time instants t. Since we are certain that there is existence, and that existence cannot crop out of non-existence, existence is eternal.

Combined with my earlier conclusion, that existence is unlimited, this means that existence is not only unlimited, but also eternal. Eternally unlimited existence. Again, incomprehensible, but undeniable. But the Vedic scriptures confirm this as well. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and His energies exist eternally, and simultaneously. Just like the Sun and sunlight exist simultaneously, the Sun being the source, the Lord and His energies exist simultaneously, the Lord being their source. One of the Lords energies is the material energy of which the material universes are made of. This energy is also eternal, but its different manifestations are temporary. Therefore, everything inside this universe and the universe itself is temporary, being temporary manifestations of the eternal material energy of the Lord. The time scales might vary astronomically; some manifestations exist for a few minutes, while some, like this universe, exist for millions of years. But in any case, all temporary; and in fact hopelessly insignificant compared to the eternally unlimited nature of existence, in terms of both time and size.

The next question I have pondered, which quite logically followed the above conclusions, is about my own existence in this whole eternally unlimited scheme of things. If my existence is limited to the hundred years of the existence of my body, then nothing of this world is of any significance to me at all. What is a hundred years compared to eternity? All human endeavors, philosophy, morality, social welfare activity, achievement, emotions, aspirations, everything, is just plain insignificant. All discussions on any matter whatsoever is insignificant; right and wrong, justice and injustice, independence and slavery, this philosophy or that, sports, politics, showbiz, likes and dislikes, virtue and sin, nothing is significant any more than an invisible harmless speck of dust compared to the vast desert. And therefore, I could resign myself to doing whatever I like for the hopelessly limited expanse of my existence.

But what about the other possibility? What if my existence is not limited to just this one lifetime of hundred years? If it extends to many lifetimes at least? And what it if my existence is actually unlimited. If so, then how I lead my life becomes an important question because I don’t want to be uncomfortable for any significant length of time. How should I act so that my existence is comfortable and happy? And this question opens up all the discussions.

The Vedic scriptures assert, and are in fact based on, the fundamental understanding that life is eternal. All living beings are called souls (atman) who have existed eternally and will continue to exist eternally. Their original home is one of the spiritual planets, and they have an eternal relationship of love with the Lord. The souls are thus meant for an eternal life of happiness and enjoyment experienced through their spiritual senses by lovingly serving the Lord in the spiritual planets. The souls who desired to experience an existence independent of the Lord were kindly provided by the Lord with this material world and with a material body to interact with the material world. Thus, typically, the souls in the material universes are forgetful of their original position as an eternal loving associate of the Supreme Lord. However, because the souls have experienced sublime love and happiness in the spiritual world, they seek the same experience in this material world. They develop the notion that happiness can be derived only by gratifying their own mind and senses. Thus, in the quest for unlimited happiness, but through the temporary and limited material senses, either they are resigned to frustration (either tolerating it quietly or venting it out), or they start exploiting others for their own selfish desires. In any case, that which is experienceable only through spiritual senses by loving service to the Lord can never be experienced by the temporary and limited material senses merely by interaction with the objects of this material world. This situation is, in a nutshell, the cause of all the ills of this material world.

Thus, the root cause of all misery is that we are, of our own volition, looking for happiness in the wrong place. Unless the mind and senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord, that which we are seeking – unlimited happiness – will never be ours. No amount of material ingredients can give us that. If it were so, all rich people would be happy and all poor ones sad. But by observing things around us we can clearly see that happiness levels have nothing to do with material affluence. What is that X-factor then that is the source of all lasting happiness? A few people begin to understand that the foundation of happiness is satisfaction. Being satisfied with what one has. An unsatisfied soul can never be happy, and a satisfied soul doesn’t require much to be happy. And what brings satisfaction? Selfless service.

Quite a few of us have the experience that helping others brings a sense of satisfaction to our lives. Many people dedicate their lives keeping the ideal of service as their guide. Why does selfless service bring about satisfaction? The Vedic scriptures explain that the very nature of the soul is selfless service to The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus, even a semblance of it, i.e. service to someone other than Krishna, brings about a drop of that ocean of satisfaction and happiness that is in store for us when we start lovingly serving Krishna directly. When we start serving Krishna directly, very shortly we start experiencing a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. And but naturally, we want to share our good fortune of discovering real happiness with others.

Very often the question crops up that what’s the use of serving God who doesn’t really need our help instead of serving the needy and unfortunate of this world? The answer, which the reader would have figured out by now, is that it’s the need of every soul to serve God. Only by serving God can a soul really be as happy as he really wants to be. Therefore, one should serve God for our own benefit. Moreover, having understood this fundamental truth, one would naturally want to serve others by encouraging them to also serve God and thus find true happiness in their lives. This is the only real service one can render to others; all else will just be a mere semblance of service with no lasting positive impact, because nothing else tries to fix the root cause of all maladies. Thus, let all forms of social workers carry on their good work, but also add this most important factor of spreading God consciousness into their list of activities. With that, their endeavors will be truly successful; and without which they are all but utter failures.

At this point another question raises its hood, especially in the minds of the cynical. So, after all, they say, all you want is your own happiness. You are not really as selfless as you want us to believe. You are serving God because it gives you happiness; that’s not really selfless. We acknowledge the astute intelligence behind this question. And the answer to this very question is what actually touches the heart of all sincere devotees of God. For those who are seeking happiness away from God, we inform that unlimited happiness is found only in serving God. But by rendering some service to God, even selfishly, the dormant love for God starts getting revived. And very soon the person who had started serving God for personal satisfaction starts rendering service out of love. This is the natural state of the soul. It’s the nature of the soul to love and serve God, and once reinstated in that natural original consciousness, the soul just wants to serve God out of pure love. For a pure devotee of God, there is no consideration of whether he himself is happy or not, all he is concerned about is how he can serve His Lord and please Him. The Lord, who is all loving, is moved by the love of such a devotee and reciprocates in such a way that the devotee’s happiness knows no bounds. However, still, the pure devotee does not act motivated by Krishna’s reciprocation, but out of pure love only. The pure devotee is never seeking happiness, he is always seeking service – indeed, this is the very definition of pure love; and pure love for Krishna is the very essence of the existence of the soul.

Thus, the journey which started from the terrace of my house, gazing into the lovely night sky, led me beyond the boundaries of the material world into the limitless expanse of the spiritual sky. It further led me into the eternally limitless existence of the Lord and His energies. Discovering such incomprehensible vastness made me wonder about the significance of my own existence. Further excursions led me to the discovery of the eternity of my own existence, and of my natural eternal state of being a loving servant of God. Thus, at this point in my life, my focus is on reviving my natural spiritual consciousness and helping others do the same.

The incomprehensible but undeniable eternal limitlessness of existence out there has led me to discover myself in here.

Defending As It Is

2010-07-04T18:43:00.009+05:30

The following article appeared in the July 2010 issue of Back To Godhead India.

Multiple conclusions?

Vedic scholars world-over accept the Bhagavad Gita as one of the most important transcendental literatures originating in India. It talks about the all encompassing Absolute Truth. It’s simple, but profound. It’s easily accessible, yet mystical. Simultaneously being simple and mystical, the Bhagavad Gita continues to be the subject of myriad interpretations. However, since the Bhagavad Gita talks about the Absolute Truth, it must have only one ultimate conclusion, since the Absolute Truth is one.

Srila Prabhupada chose to name his Bhagavad Gita commentary “Bhagavad Gita As It Is”. This presumptuous sounding title puts off many. A common retort is “How can one man have a monopoly on what the Bhagavad Gita means?” However, by using this title, Srila Prabhupada wants to highlight that not only does the Bhagavad Gita have a very specific message, but also that his commentary presents it as it is, without change.

Is Bhagavad Gita ambiguous?

One common objection to identifying a single conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita is that the Bhagavad Gita itself is ambiguous, and that it can be interpreted in multiple ways. Some point to some verses which can be easily interpreted in multiple ways. Without denying that, one can still clearly understand the ultimate conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita from its own unambiguous declaration of it.

BG 18.64-69:

“Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit. Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. This confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me. For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.”

There cannot be any other interpretation of the above series of verses but that about becoming a pure devotee of Krishna and surrendering oneself completely to His sweet will. Since this is the Bhagavad Gita’s supreme instruction, all other instructions in the Bhagavad Gita must be subservient to and be pointing to this single instruction. The above verses come at the very end of the Bhagavad Gita, and can therefore be considered its conclusion. Not only that, the words guhya-tamam (most confidential) have been used thrice in the Bhagavad Gita – BG 9.1, BG 15.20, and in BG 18.64 above; in all three places they are used to describe knowledge about unalloyed devotional service to Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada highlights this clear specific message – Bhakti – all throughout his commentary. But some others contend that the Bhagavad Gita talks about other spiritual paths as well - like karma yoga (the process of developing detachment from the results of one’s work), gyaan yoga (the process of mental and philosophical speculation to be able to clearly discern between the material and spiritual), and dhyaana yoga (the process of meditation eventually leading to the realization of the self and God). How then can we say that unalloyed devotion of Krishna is the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita? Apart from the fact that the Bhagavad Gita itself declares so unequivocally, as already noted, even a slightly deeper study of the Bhagavad Gita reveals that all other processes described in the Bhagavad Gita depend on Bhakti for their practice as well as its fruition. Here are a few examples:

BG 3.30: Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight.

BG 7.17: One who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.
BG 7.19: After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

BG: 6.47: And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me — he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.

Thus, we see that whether it be karma yoga (BG 3.30 above), gyaana yoga (BG 7.17,19 above), or dhyaana yoga (BG 6.47 above), all of them depend on devotion to Krishna. We find such references all over the Bhagavad Gita. On the other hand, at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, as its supreme instruction (BG 18.64-69), Bhakti is declared to be its single supreme conclusion, independent of any other process.

What about intellectual freedom?

Despite the evidence given above, some people refuse to accept that the Bhagavad Gita has just one conclusion; they think that accepting this premise would preclude any intellectual discussion on the Bhagavad Gita. That’s not true. Even though the conclusion is as bright and clear as the sun on a cloudless day, the complete text of the Bhagavad Gita is like a gem-studded highway leading up to the final conclusion. Each verse is profound and can provide deep realizations, all in line with the final conclusion. In fact, as one continues to practice the principles of the Bhagavad Gita, the realizations become deeper and deeper still, each coming along with the thrill of a new discovery. Understanding the concepts of the Bhagavad Gita decidedly stimulates the intellect. Figuring out how one concept leads onto another, how the various concepts are interrelated, how one concept is used to explain another, and so on, is an intellectual adventure replete with astonishing discoveries and unexpected surprises.

For example, while one is wading through the marshy land of so many types of faiths, through the fog of so many clouding philosophies, trying to reach a clear conclusion about what exactly is faith, the sunlight of transcendental knowledge imparted in the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, regarding faith in different personalities, shows us the way. Then, the solid ground of the fourteenth chapter regarding the three modes of nature (sattvik, rajasik, tamasik) assures us that dry land is near. And finally, the discovery of the seventeenth chapter regarding faith in the different modes takes us safely out of the marshlands of confusion, high and dry, with a clear understanding of faith. One’s faith is guided by the modes of nature, but the results of any kind of faith are bestowed by Krishna alone. Thus, the best faith is that which is reposed in Krishna.

Such philosophical and intellectual exertions are very helpful in realizing the correct conclusion. But the beauty is that even those who are not intellectually very gifted are not bereft of the ultimate conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita; Krishna personally rewards a sincere student with the required intelligence to realize the Absolute Truth (BG 10.10).

Thus, intellectual pursuits are certainly not thwarted even if one accepts, at the very outset, the unambiguous final conclusion of unalloyed devotion to Krishna. On the contrary, the Bhagavad Gita is an intellectual’s treat as he wrestles using his intellectual muscles to try and grasp the ever deepening profundity of the message of the Bhagavad Gita. His sincerity and devotion to Krishna attracts Krishna’s mercy, which then bestows the fruits of his intellectual labors. Krishna encourages such use of intelligence by declaring that one who studies the Bhagavad Gita is actually worshipping Krishna by his intelligence (BG 18.70).

Faithless Mal-Interpretations

Some people think that the words of the Bhagavad Gita just can’t be literally true, and hence open to more than one interpretation. They find it hard to believe some of the things mentioned in it – for example, the Bhagavad Gita talks about heaven, hell, and the spiritual world, all three of which are not perceptible to the general populace. But, taking the Bhagavad Gita message “as it is” implies accepting the existence of heaven, hell, and the spiritual world as truths. One of the most important messages in the Bhagavad Gita is about getting out of the cycle of repeated birth and death in the material world and going back to the spiritual world.

BG 9.3: Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.

Those who understand this goal would never propagate anything less in the name of the Bhagavad Gita. But since many shun the literal meaning of its words, there are so many commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita which do not highlight this goal. Instead, they use the Bhagavad Gita concepts as mere management tips for becoming better leaders in this material world. Although the Bhagavad Gita can certainly help us manage our lives better, that is not its ultimate purpose. None of these commentaries are “as it is”.

Inconceivable Krishna

There is another reason why some people don't accept the message of the Gita literally; they believe that the Absolute Truth is impersonal. Therefore, when Krishna speaks of Himself (the person) as the highest Truth, they take Krishna as a mere instrument that metaphorically represents the impersonal Absolute Truth. This distorts the “as it is” meaning of the Gita text.

These philosophers can’t fathom how Krishna, whose inconceivable opulence and powers are described in the Bhagavad Gita, can be a person. For example, how can an entity always be everywhere, yet being a person? Krishna explains that He is everywhere always in His unmanifest form, i.e. in the form of His unlimited energies. At the same time, since He is the source of everything, He is always aloof from His creation (BG 9.4-5). Just like the sun, which is situated in one place in the sky, but whose energies pervade all creation, Krishna is situated aloof from His creation, but still pervades it.

Overwhelmed by such mystic powers of Krishna, unable to fathom them, such philosophers try to hide their bewilderment by lowering the status of Krishna from being the all powerful person whose energies are all encompassing and everywhere, to being just a representation of an all pervading impersonal entity. However, as soon as this is done, the message doesn’t remain “as it is”.

BG 7.24: Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.

The “as it is” meaning of “I”, used by Krishna throughout the Bhagavad Gita is quite straightforward. Only a person (and not an impersonal entity) will speak in terms of “I” and “mine” the way Krishna does all throughout the Gita. Moreover, only if Krishna is accepted as a person (and not as a mere metaphorical instrument), does the final conclusion of devotion to Krishna makes sense. How can one love something impersonal? Thus, by not accepting that the Absolute Truth is the person Krishna, such philosophers are forced to forego the literal meaning of the Bhagavad Gita text and to interpret it in many concocted ways.

“As It Is” - Why?

Some may raise the objection: why must one take the Bhagavad Gita message “as it is”? This is like asking why should one take the doctor’s prescription as it is? The answer is simple; a concocted interpretation would keep us away from the desired goal. Arjuna accepted the words of the Bhagavad Gita “as it is” (BG 10.14), so should we if we are interested in achieving the desired result of studying and following it. The desired goal of the Bhagavad Gita is to get out of the cycle of birth and death in this material world - by reviving our dormant love for Krishna.

The essence of “As It Is”

Some people object to Prabhupada's seemingly presumptuous use of "as it is" in the title of his commentary; it seems to imply that only his Gita commentary is accurate, or that it's better than everyone else's. But any commentary on the Gita that sticks to Krishna's clear message is "as it is." All commentaries by Vaishnav acharyas like Sripad Ramanujacharya, Sripad Madhvacharya, etc. are “as it is” commentaries. Although the commentaries by the different Vaishnav Acharyas seem to differ, since all of them conclude with unalloyed devotion to Krishna, they are all “as it is”. Different acharyas preach the message of the Gita in different social and intellectual climates, and therefore emphasize the philosophical and practical details that most suit the times in terms of effectiveness in bringing the general mass of people towards the ultimate conclusive principle of the Bhagavad Gita – unalloyed devotional service to Krishna.

There can be many concocted conclusions of the Bhagavad Gita. But when one is clear about its “as it is” conclusion, one can easily identify conclusions which are not “as it is”. Srila Prabhupada deliberately used the phrase “as it is”, not in defiance to the revered Vaishnava commentaries which are all “as it is”, but in defiance to all those others which did not highlight unalloyed devotion to Krishna as the only conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita. Prabhupada’s commentary title continues to shake up and entice all those who come in contact with it.

In today’s world, freedom of expression is the mantra. Although the Absolute Truth is not subject to personal opinions, it has still become a matter of choice rather than a matter of fact. In such a setting, Prabhupada’s “Bhagavad Gita – As It Is” is an outright challenge to the incumbent intellectual scene of the world. Irresistibly audacious. Only one who has something awesomely powerful up his sleeve can take on the whole world this way. Don’t miss this opportunity. Take up Prabhupada’s “Bhagavad Gita – As It Is” and see for yourself how Prabhupada’s commentary lives up to its catchy name.

_._._

The Flight to Light

2010-05-15T22:50:00.008+05:30

I saw a swift bird,
And wished I could fly,
Freely roaming far and wide,
High into the sky.

I saw a sleek car,
And wished I too could zoom,
From one town to another,
I would arrive too soon.

I saw a lovely lady,
And wished her in my car,
An evening after another,
I would be her star.

I saw a trendy sportstar,
With accolades against his name,
I wished I could be number one,
On top of my game.

I saw the rugged mountaineer,
And dreamt of Mount Everest,
I wished I were scaling,
Along with the best.

Thus my life passed,
Anxious to be what I’m not,
Convinced that all happiness,
Is out there to be got.

And then I saw a devotee,
Just chanting the Holy Names,
Surely I didn’t want this,
It didn’t make no sense!

But then I saw him again,
He didn’t have all that stuff,
But he was just so happy,
Was it just a bluff?

Very soon I found,
What was really the bluff –
To think that the source of happiness,
Was all the other stuff.

Fooled by the media blitz,
Which promises immediate pleasure,
Blinded by its powerful glare,
I had lost the real treasure.

Deluded by the silver screen,
Immersed in that filmy song,
On roller coaster rides with happy endings,
I had wasted my time so long.

Maddened by the sports mania,
With the ball’s movement I rose and sat,
With no one to tell me any better,
Had sought happiness in wielding the bat.

Shackled by my limitations,
Wanting to break free,
I had desired to be an insignificant bird,
Whose life is but from a tree to a tree.

Looking for a life full of meaning,
Yearning for something to dedicate to,
If nothing else, at least, I had thought,
Let me scale a mountain or two.

Oh! How I have been deceived,
By the society in which I live,
False promises of happiness,
Is all that it can give.

Now I’m finally disillusioned,
By the grace of the devotee,
Who impressed it upon me,
What it is to be truly happy.

In fact, I’m an eternal soul,
Part and parcel of the Lord,
To serve Him is my original nature,
Unlimited happiness is the reward.

By looking for happiness somewhere else,
I was never satisfied with whatever I got,
Because nothing else was actually that,
Which my heart unknowingly sought.

Now when I see a bird fly,
It reminds me of my own flight,
From the murky shores of dissatisfaction,
High into the sky of eternal light.

_._._

The Mango Reason

2010-05-03T22:06:00.004+05:30

Yes, it’s the mango season. No, it’s not a typo. While I nibble at pieces of delicious mangoes, let me write about the mango reason.

After His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur “offended” the Lord, he took a vow. What was his offense? When he was not more than four years old, he took a mango before it had been offered to the family deity of the Lord. His father, the great Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura rebuked him: “All food is to be enjoyed by the Lord. Nothing should be taken unless first offered to Krishna. You have committed a serious offense.” The not-quite-four year old boy took this to heart and was greatly pained for committing this “offense”. So, instead of the mango, he took a vow – to never eat mangoes again in his life.

I am not a mind reader of any sort, and yet I can confidently say that to most who have come across this vow for the first time, it would seem extreme to say the least. But let this initial shock not keep us unaware of the unprecedented glories of this great acarya. If anything, this uncommon reaction to a seemingly insignificant mistake should wake us up from the cozy bed of our self-created convenient notions about what is right.

The great spiritual leaders – acharyas – are eternally liberated souls. That is, they have no attraction for the things of this world except when those things are used in the service of the Lord. So situated, their whole existence is for the sole purpose of service to the Lord by their body, minds, and words. Thus, for them to give up things of this world, for which the ordinary man would give his life, is no big deal. On the other hand, by sometimes exhibiting such jarring behavior, the great acharyas set the highest standards of perfect spiritual life. By setting this example, even at the tender age of four, Srila Saraswati Thakur brought out the importance offering everything to Krishna first before using it for oneself. This loving spiritual principle is not very difficult to appreciate for those whose heart has even a little affection for the Lord. But in the age of Kali, where all spiritual principles are flushed down the drain, establishing even such simple principles necessitates drastic measures, contrary to the notions of the spiritually blind society. And to go against the flow of the ravaging social trends, it takes the courage and might of the great acharyas who can swim against the current, and take many along in their wake.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur had instructed him verbally; but knowing well that most people in this world are too spiritually dull to give heed to verbal instructions, Srila Saraswati Thakur gave us the same instruction by following it in its strictest sense. An acarya is one who preaches by example, and this great acarya set this example to be glorified and worshipped by all sincere seekers of devotional perfection. Srila Saraswati Thakur did not expect any of his followers to follow his example, thus acknowledging that it was not the kind of offense that required a life-sentence of mangolessnesss. But still, all throughout his life, whenever he was offered mangoes, he would refuse to accept them, saying that he was an offender. Why? What was the reason behind that Mango Vow? What was that Mango Reason?

Here is an example of how the great acharyas go to extremes, willing to suffer all kinds of inconveniences. Not to mention the scathing jibes from the representatives of a spiritually bankrupt and yet bombastic society. The acharyas do so not for egoistically making a point, but for the spiritual welfare of the general mass of people who have been knocked out by the punches of the agents of Kali in the form of all kinds of subtle and gross godlessness. After being knocked out, people are now being carried away by the current, tossed on the ever increasing waves of socially acceptable forms of godlessness, with only the ocean of doom as their final destination. The great acharyas execute unprecedented missions, and set extraordinary examples, all to shake back such misguided unfortunate children of God to the wakefulness of spiritual existence, so that they can swim back to the safety and unlimited joy of spiritual life. This is the reason – the Mango Reason – why he took and lifelong kept his uncommon Mango Vow.

This mango season let’s offer our heartfelt worship at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, who not only took that Mango Vow, but lived all his life just for one reason – the Mango Reason.

The Eternally Limitless and Me

2010-04-17T16:39:00.004+05:30

From my early childhood I had wondered where might be the limit of the universe I live in. At night, as the stars twinkled enigmatically overhead, with the moon majestically presiding over the celestial assembly, I pondered what lies beyond this universe. Suppose I venture out into the enchanting night sky and some fine hour reach its limit, what will I find beyond it? If I ever find the boundary, I’ll be able to distinguish between the two sides of it, inside the boundary, and beyond it. Certainly, the inside part belongs to this universe, but if I can perceive the beyond, then certainly the inside is not all that exists; there is existence beyond too. And so, with the spirit of adventure and with the anticipation of new discoveries, I would continue my journey. But then, I could come across another boundary, and another, and another. At every boundary, there will certainly be something beyond it, because a boundary implies the existence of the beyond. Either I’ll keep finding such boundaries, or after certain number of boundaries, I’ll never find the next bounding limit. In either case, I concluded, I would never find a boundary beyond which existence ceased. Existence is unlimited. Incomprehensible, but undeniable.

We read from the Vedic scriptures that existence is indeed unlimited. This universe we live in has a boundary. It is shaped like a sphere covered by layers of material elements like earth, water, fire, air, etc. The sky we see at night is inside this universe and can be called the material sky. But beyond this limited universe, there is the unlimited existence of the spiritual sky which has no limits. In that spiritual sky there are unlimited material universes, in one of which we presently live. Apart from that, in the unlimited spiritual sky there also exist unlimited spiritual planets on which the Supreme Lord Himself resides in His unlimited all-powerful forms along with His uncountable loving devotees enjoying unlimited loving pastimes experiencing ever increasing and ever fresh happiness.

Another question I have wondered is about the origin of everything. Everything has a source, but what is the source of everything? And when did everything start coming into being? So, I started my thought experiments. Very soon I reached to the following. For there to be a time instant at which existence came into being, there has to be a time instant at which existence was absent. That is, at time t, there was non-existence – nothing existed. And then, out of nowhere, literally, at time t+dt, voila! There was existence! Existence came out of non-existence. This, I was convinced beyond doubt, is not possible. So, what’s the alternative explanation? The only alternative is that there is existence eternally, for all time instants t. Since we are certain that there is existence, and that existence cannot crop out of non-existence, existence is eternal.

Combined with my earlier conclusion, that existence is unlimited, this means that existence is not only unlimited, but also eternal. Eternally unlimited existence. Again, incomprehensible, but undeniable. But the Vedic scriptures confirm this as well. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and His energies exist eternally, and simultaneously. Just like the Sun and sunlight exist simultaneously, the Sun being the source, the Lord and His energies exist simultaneously, the Lord being their source. One of the Lords energies is the material energy of which the material universes are made of. This energy is also eternal, but its different manifestations are temporary. Therefore, everything inside this universe and the universe itself is temporary, being temporary manifestations of the eternal material energy of the Lord. The time scales might vary astronomically; some manifestations exist for a few minutes, while some, like this universe, exist for millions of years. But in any case, all temporary; and in fact hopelessly insignificant compared to the eternally unlimited nature of existence, in terms of both time and size.

The next question I have pondered, which quite logically followed the above conclusions, is about my own existence in this whole eternally unlimited scheme of things. If my existence is limited to the hundred years of the existence of my body, then nothing of this world is of any significance to me at all. What is a hundred years compared to eternity? All human endeavors, philosophy, morality, social welfare activity, achievement, emotions, aspirations, everything, is just plain insignificant. All discussions on any matter whatsoever is insignificant; right and wrong, justice and injustice, independence and slavery, this philosophy or that, sports, politics, showbiz, likes and dislikes, virtue and sin, nothing is significant any more than an invisible harmless speck of dust compared to the vast desert. And therefore, I could resign myself to doing whatever I like for the hopelessly limited expanse of my existence.

But what about the other possibility? What if my existence is not limited to just this one lifetime of hundred years? If it extends to many lifetimes at least? And what it if my existence is actually unlimited. If so, then how I lead my life becomes an important question because I don’t want to be uncomfortable for any significant length of time. How should I act so that my existence is comfortable and happy? And this question opens up all the discussions.

The Vedic scriptures assert, and are in fact based on, the fundamental understanding that life is eternal. All living beings are called souls (atman) who have existed eternally and will continue to exist eternally. Their original home is one of the spiritual planets, and they have an eternal relationship of love with the Lord. The souls are thus meant for an eternal life of happiness and enjoyment experienced through their spiritual senses by lovingly serving the Lord in the spiritual planets. The souls who desired to experience an existence independent of the Lord were kindly provided by the Lord with this material world and with a material body to interact with the material world. Thus, typically, the souls in the material universes are forgetful of their original position as an eternal loving associate of the Supreme Lord. However, because the souls have experienced sublime love and happiness in the spiritual world, they seek the same experience in this material world. They develop the notion that happiness can be derived only by gratifying their own mind and senses. Thus, in the quest for unlimited happiness, but through the temporary and limited material senses, either they are resigned to frustration (either tolerating it quietly or venting it out), or they start exploiting others for their own selfish desires. In any case, that which is experienceable only through spiritual senses by loving service to the Lord can never be experienced by the temporary and limited material senses merely by interaction with the objects of this material world. This situation is, in a nutshell, the cause of all the ills of this material world.

Thus, the root cause of all misery is that we are, of our own volition, looking for happiness in the wrong place. Unless the mind and senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord, that which we are seeking – unlimited happiness – will never be ours. No amount of material ingredients can give us that. If it were so, all rich people would be happy and all poor ones sad. But by observing things around us we can clearly see that happiness levels have nothing to do with material affluence. What is that X-factor then that is the source of all lasting happiness? A few people begin to understand that the foundation of happiness is satisfaction. Being satisfied with what one has. An unsatisfied soul can never be happy, and a satisfied soul doesn’t require much to be happy. And what brings satisfaction? Selfless service.

Quite a few of us have the experience that helping others brings a sense of satisfaction to our lives. Many people dedicate their lives keeping the ideal of service as their guide. Why does selfless service bring about satisfaction? The Vedic scriptures explain that the very nature of the soul is selfless service to The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus, even a semblance of it, i.e. service to someone other than Krishna, brings about a drop of that ocean of satisfaction and happiness that is in store for us when we start lovingly serving Krishna directly. When we start serving Krishna directly, very shortly we start experiencing a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. And but naturally, we want to share our good fortune of discovering real happiness with others.

Very often the question crops up that what’s the use of serving God who doesn’t really need our help instead of serving the needy and unfortunate of this world? The answer, which the reader would have figured out by now, is that it’s the need of every soul to serve God. Only by serving God can a soul really be as happy as he really wants to be. Therefore, one should serve God for our own benefit. Moreover, having understood this fundamental truth, one would naturally want to serve others by encouraging them to also serve God and thus find true happiness in their lives. This is the only real service one can render to others; all else will just be a mere semblance of service with no lasting positive impact, because nothing else tries to fix the root cause of all maladies. Thus, let all forms of social workers carry on their good work, but also add this most important factor of spreading God consciousness into their list of activities. With that, their endeavors will be truly successful; and without which they are all but utter failures.

At this point another question raises its hood, especially in the minds of the cynical. So, after all, they say, all you want is your own happiness. You are not really as selfless as you want us to believe. You are serving God because it gives you happiness; that’s not really selfless. We acknowledge the astute intelligence behind this question. And the answer to this very question is what actually touches the heart of all sincere devotees of God. For those who are seeking happiness away from God, we inform that unlimited happiness is found only in serving God. But by rendering some service to God, even selfishly, the dormant love for God starts getting revived. And very soon the person who had started serving God for personal satisfaction starts rendering service out of love. This is the natural state of the soul. It’s the nature of the soul to love and serve God, and once reinstated in that natural original consciousness, the soul just wants to serve God out of pure love. For a pure devotee of God, there is no consideration of whether he himself is happy or not, all he is concerned about is how he can serve His Lord and please Him. The Lord, who is all loving, is moved by the love of such a devotee and reciprocates in such a way that the devotee’s happiness knows no bounds. However, still, the pure devotee does not act motivated by Krishna’s reciprocation, but out of pure love only. The pure devotee is never seeking happiness, he is always seeking service – indeed, this is the very definition of pure love; and pure love for Krishna is the very essence of the existence of the soul.

Thus, the journey which started from the terrace of my house, gazing into the lovely night sky, led me beyond the boundaries of the material world into the limitless expanse of the spiritual sky. It further led me into the eternally limitless existence of the Lord and His energies. Discovering such incomprehensible vastness made me wonder about the significance of my own existence. Further excursions led me to the discovery of the eternity of my own existence, and of my natural eternal state of being a loving servant of God. Thus, at this point in my life, my focus is on reviving my natural spiritual consciousness and helping others do the same.

The incomprehensible but undeniable eternal limitlessness of existence out there has led me to discover myself in here.

Lord Chaitanya and His Commander-in-Chief

2010-02-11T19:00:00.012+05:30

February 28, 2010 is the appearance anniversary of the Supreme Personality of Godhead - Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu- who is none other than Sri Krishna Himself. This most auspicious day is celebrated all over the world, by those who are fortunate enough to know the the glories of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as Sri Gour Pournima.

Around 5000 years ago, Sri Krishna appeared in Sri Vrindavan. He established the principles of religion by killing great demons like Kamsa, and by speaking the superlative knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita. That was the Dvaapaar Yuga. The yuga has since changed; we are now into the Kali Yuga – the age of rapid decline of spiritual standards. To reestablish the highest religious principles, just around 500 years ago, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna once again descended into this world, this time appearing in Mayapur, West Bengal, in His eternal form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Srimad Bhagavatam glorifies this most loving avatar of the Lord as follows:

krishna varnam tvishaakrishnam
saangopaangaastra-paarshadam
yadnaih sankirtanam praayair
yajanti hi su-medhasah

In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions (Srimad Bhaagavatam 11.5.32).

Lord Chaitanya brings Sankirtan to the streets!

In this age of Kali there is no way of achieving spiritual perfection other than loudly chanting the holy names of Sri Krishna in sankirtan. In this avatar, the Lord doesn’t kill the demons, but kills the demonic tendencies present in their heart, by giving them the Holy Name. Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as the yuga-avatar, incarnated for the express purpose of spreading the Holy Name Sankirtan movement far and wide, even outside the land of India. The following verse from one of the authoritative biographies of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat – reveals His mission in unambiguous words:

prithvith aachhe yata nagaraadi graama
sarvatra prachaara haibe mora naama

“In every town and village of the world, the chanting of My name will be heard.” (Caitanya-Bhaagavata, Antya 4.126)

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu treated the highly learned non-devotional scholars like the great Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and Sri Prakashananda Saraswati by His unparalleled scriptural and philosophical acumen. And he treated the masses by the all-conquering weapon of the sweet uproarious chanting of the Holy Name in Sankirtan. Be it the philosophy or the Sankirtan, by both methods, hearts were transformed, and everyone who came in touch began chanting the holy names of Krishna and experienced the divine bliss of Love of God. Even the most wretched infamous evil brothers Jagai-Madhai, who had left no sin uncommitted, weren’t spared by the all merciful Sri Chaitanya. Indeed, after converting even them to superlative Vaishnavas, Lord Chaitanya’s fame knew no bounds.

Lord Chaitana delivers the sinful Jagai-Madhai

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appointed one of His most trusted servants to carry out the unprecedented and monumental task of spreading His mission all over the world. His prediction of such a personality is recorded in the Chaitanya Mangal as follows (paraphrased):

If sinful people get away by being in distant countries where my personal preaching will not reach, I will send my devotee commander in chief, senaapati-bhakta, to deliver them.

Carrying the divine grace of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His Divine Grace AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada - the senaapati-bhakta - ventured into unchartered territories, outside the safety of his peaceful dwelling in Vrindavan, to carry out the mission of the Supreme Lord. In 1965, at the ripe old age of 70, Srila Prabhupada found himself alone on the streets of New York, with unflinching faith in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy as his only shelter. But what is impossible for the Lord. In 1966, Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) as the medium through which he would spread Lord Chaitanya’s message. In a short span of 12 years, the Hare Krishnas became a household name all over the world. Just like Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada applied the two-pronged strategy by writing volumes of authoritative philosophical literature for the classes, and by bringing Sri Hari Naam Sankirtan to the streets all over the world for the masses.

Srila Prabhupada

Even today, as the number of devotees and well-wishers grows, the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu continues to reach thousands through the medium of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. On this most auspicious occasion of Sri Gour Pournima, the appearance anniversary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we look back in amazement at the limitless mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the astounding accomplishments of Srila Prabhupada, and the unimaginable potential that this movement holds for the future.

_

The Poetry Page

2010-01-04T20:14:00.006+05:30

This page contains a list of (and links to) the Krishna Conscious poetry I have written so far.

The Flight to Light (May 15, 2010)
A Prayer To Srila Prabhupada (May 23, 2008)
Let My Heart Be Warmed Again (April 23, 2007)
Wake Up! Wake Up! Oh Ignorant Me! (February 21, 2007)

The God Logic

2010-01-04T19:57:00.006+05:30

The following article appeared (with minor edits) in the Back To Godhead (India Edition) of January 2010.

I was sitting in my lab in the basement of the Computer Science Department in IIT Mumbai. Aditya walked in, as if in a trance, and sat down in front of his computer without even noticing me. After half an hour or so, he was still in his reverie.

“Aditya!” I called out from across the lab.

“Oh! Hi! You are here. I have been looking for you”.

I didn’t tell him that I was here for the last half an hour.

“Want to come for a walk,” I suggested. It was mid-morning of a gorgeous winter day. Streams of water came in bursts from the rotating sprinklers and sparkled brilliantly under the morning sun, and then splashed over the beautifully manicured lush green lawns inside the IIT Mumbai campus.

Aditya is a brilliant B.Tech., Computer Science student in IIT Mumbai. He is fun loving and jolly, but at the same time he is looking for answers to the deepest questions of life.

“I went to the ISKCON temple yesterday,” Aditya opened up, “and the speaker said that spirituality was as scientific and logical as any other branch of science. In what ways is spirituality scientific? Can you please explain? The answer to this question is very important to me.” I have been associated with ISKCON for a few years now, and I am also Aditya’s fellow IITian. This combination led him to me.

While walking past the lawns I collected my thoughts. I replied, “To understand this, we need to first understand what the general definition of the scientific method is. In principle, the scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses. The hypotheses act as guiding light for the subsequent experiments. The results of those experiments give the hypotheses various degrees of truth. If the results of the experiments match with the predictions of the hypotheses, the hypotheses are declared as truths. Otherwise, the hypotheses are discarded.”

Aditya nodded. “So then, can we apply the scientific method in our quest for spiritual truths?” he asked.

“Yes, we can. Based on what we see around us in nature—the symmetry, the design, the laws, the beauty, the majesty, the intricacy, etc.—we can surely hypothesize the existence of a supremely intelligent being who is the source of all that exists. Since hypotheses are part of the scientific method, we are still within the realms of science. This assertion has been confirmed by many of the most celebrated scientists and thinkers that we know of. For example: Newton said, ‘The wonderful arrangement and harmony of the cosmos would only originate in the plan of an almighty omniscient being. This is and remains by greatest comprehension.’ ”

“But what about the experiments? And what about the results of those experiments? Until we get those results, God will just remain a hypothesis.” Aditya was quick to point out.

I was ready. “The Holy Scriptures of all major religions have asserted the existence of God. Along with the assertions are given the processes by following which one can perceive God in lesser or greater degrees. Therefore, all that is needed in perceiving God is sincere efforts along a well-documented path as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. The effects of following the Holy Scriptures, including the effect of being able to perceive God directly, depend a lot on the sincerity of the seeker. God knows everything, including the seeker’s sincerity, the seeker’s motivations behind approaching God, the seeker’s past deeds, and many other factors. Based on all these, God reciprocates with the seeker. Based on the degree of reciprocation by God, the internal world (essentially the desires) of the seeker surely gets transformed, whether the seeker’s external circumstances do so or not. And perception of God no longer remains mere theory. Although direct audience with God is very difficult to achieve quickly, many other tangible results are experienced in quite a short span of time, and this builds one’s confidence in the scriptural instructions.”

A cloud of doubt covered Aditya’s bright face. Meanwhile we had turned right on the main road towards the IIT Mumbai guesthouses. “But how can we be sure that what we experience is not some hallucination?”

We were going deeper and deeper into the subject matter now. I replied simply, “A sincere seeker’s realizations are in line with the principles of the scriptures. As one progresses along the spiritual journey, God reciprocally empowers the senses of the seeker to perceive Him. Hallucinations are illusory perceptions characteristic of mentally deranged people, whereas realization of spiritual truths helps the practitioner, even in day-to-day affairs, to lead better and more meaningful lives. A spiritualist is in much better control of his life than many others, and certainly more so than one gripped by hallucinations. Many sane and highly intelligent people have experiences of God. Powerful yogis and other transcendentalists in all traditions of world, in past and present have spoken or written about their experiences with God. Would you call all their experiences as hallucination?”

Aditya was starting to enjoy this discussion. He was getting answers to the questions that had disturbed him. And he liked a light-hearted verbal fight. “Why should I follow the Holy Scriptures and the holy men blindly? Is that scientific?” As soon as he asked the question, the answer also struck him. Even before I replied, he exclaimed, “Let me answer that myself! Having reasonable faith in the words of the Holy Scriptures and of the sincere devotees of God is like accepting the existence of God as a sound hypothesis. Following the processes they recommend is like the experiments.”

I was impressed. I elaborated a bit more on that. “Yes, that’s correct. Initially a little bit of reasonable faith is required to start on a path suggested by the scriptures and the devotees of God. But that faith is quite a reasonable one. Along with that is also needed a systematic understanding of the science of God. This understanding, along with the sincere practice, will fortify our faith when we see that the results of following the process match with what the process states. And the fortified faith, in turn, will inspire us to follow the process even more sincerely, leading us to even deeper experiences of God. This science is presented in the Holy Scriptures. As with any other form of learning, a teacher advanced in the practice of the science is a must. From him one can take practical instructions, ask questions, and study the scriptures under his guidance. Quite naturally, such a teacher is himself a devotee of God, otherwise how can he guide his students towards a practical direct perception of God?”

Sharp that he was, Aditya asked me, “What tangible effects can be seen by following the processes? How can we know that they work? We can verify other processes by the results they produce. What about spiritual processes?”

We had entered into the area of the guesthouses, which overlook the Powai lake. As we walked along the bank of the lake, I replied, “Spiritual processes also produce tangible results. While results of other processes can be verified in a laboratory in a university campus, the results of spiritual processes can be verified in the laboratory of one’s own heart. By practicing spiritual processes, the dirty things in the heart like lust, greed, anger, etc., reduce drastically. These are very tangible transformations and can be verified by the practitioner. For example, before taking up spiritual practices, a person may have many bad habits like smoking, drinking, etc., which he may find almost impossible to give up. But as if by magic, without too much effort, these bad habits disappear from the life of the practitioner. Along with that relief, comes the lasting joy of spiritual happiness; he thoroughly enjoys the process itself. This is because spiritual activities are natural to the soul, and consequently most joyful. The practitioner experiences a positive energy by coming in touch with his real spiritual nature and eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord. And based on these tangible results, the practitioner is inspired to continue following the process, leading on to more results, all of which are tangible. In fact, what used to be abstract and theoretical yesterday, becomes practical and tangible today.”

To drive the point home, I challenged him, “If the scientific method of gaining knowledge is considered scientific, how then is following a spiritual process as described above not scientific?”

Aditya’s face became grave. He thought for a while. The sunlight was dancing on the ripples of the lake. Aditya replied, “What you just told me sounds very logical to me. Let me summarize. There are well-defined processes laid down in the scriptures which the sincere devotees of God have always been following. Moreover, there are well-known effects of following the spiritual practices. Therefore, while one is following them, one can easily cross-check whether he is experiencing the same effects or not as he continues to practice spirituality. I am convinced. In fact, I wonder why so many people oppose the idea of God and spirituality? It’s a verifiable science, and it is genuinely helpful to everyone who follows it.” As we reached towards the end of the road, Aditya’s mood was once again happy and bubbling. “Hey, you know what, your logical presentation has really enlivened me. I liked the way you mapped the scientific process to the spiritual process.” Aditya’s joy was contagious. I replied, “I could see that you were following the logic of the reasoning competently too. That’s what made our conversation so lively.”

After a thoughtful pause, Aditya said excitedly, “I have just thought of a name for the logic behind spiritual practices that we just discussed.” “So, what’s the logic called?” I played up to his mood.

“The God Logic”, he roared.

Back To Godhead Articles

2010-01-04T19:49:00.009+05:30

This page contains the list of my articles (and links to them) that got published in ISKCON's magazine - Back To Godhead.

Back To Godhead (International Edition)

The Eternally Limitless And Me (September-October 2011)
Defending As It Is (March-April 2011)
The God Logic (November-December 2010)

Back To Godhead (India Edition)

Confluence at Pandharpur (November 2011)
The Rising Moon of Mayapur (October 2011)
Mind Games (August 2011)
The Eternally Limitless and Me (November 2010)
Defending As It Is (July 2010)
The God Logic (January 2010)

Bhakti Is Not A Fad; Fad Is Not Eternal

2009-12-05T17:44:00.001+05:30

Many of those who can’t appreciate unalloyed Bhakti and its certain outcome of going back to the eternal spiritual world discourage practicing devotees in many ways. One of them is to say, every time a devotee is glorifying the process of unalloyed Bhakti, that Bhakti is just one of the fads that the practitioner is presently going through. By trying to undermine the sublime position of Bhakti, these detractors try to bring Bhakti to the platform any of the innumerable mundane activities like watching movies or playing games which people tend to develop temporary fads of.

But, just how preposterous is this attempt of pulling down the most sublime eternal truth to the platform of insignificance! Are the serious seasoned spiritualists so dumb that they can’t distinguish between the eternal and the temporary? Isn’t the whole point of spiritual practices to attain an eternal spiritual position giving up the temporary ones of this material world?

The practicing devotees whose faith is yet a bit malleable must take heart in this contemplation. Bhakti is not something of this world. It is, in fact, the means to transcend this world of temporary fixations. It is the eternal constitutional (i.e. natural) activity of the eternal soul. The soul is eternal, and needs something to keep it eternally interested. And that activity is Bhakti.

It is the duty of all devotees to strongly refute such uninformed claims regarding Bhakti. Due to such off-hand careless remarks by so-called learned misguiders, many innocent people can remain bereft of their natural right to eternal happiness with Krishna in the spiritual world. How unfortunate is that? A devotee’s heart goes out for the suffering souls and thus he can’t tolerate when people get diverted from their real benefit to running after unreal expectations of happiness in this material world.

The preaching movement is so difficult. Its like a surgery performed without the sanction of the patient. Most in the material world are averse to Bhakti because they don’t know that their true self-interest lies therein. But as devotees of the Lord, it’s our duty and an expression of love for Krishna and all the suffering souls to preach boldly despite the odds.

All Glories to the Unlimited Vaishnavas! Ananta Koti Vaishnava Vrinda Ki Jai!!

Truth about the Absolute Truth

2009-08-23T15:26:00.002+05:30

Today’s world is characterized by freedom of expression. Gradually all kind of censoring is going away, subtly at first, blatantly later. All notions of right and wrong are becoming personalized – What I like is good. Period. No other consideration. I don’t poke my nose in others’ life, so I expect that no one should poke theirs in mine. Such freedom of expression has also made its way into notions about spirituality. Spirituality is about the Absolute Truth, which does not depend on personal preferences. However, today, even spiritual conclusions have become a matter of choice, rather than a matter of fact.

In such a relativistic environment, when some spiritual organization asserts their path to be superior to that of others, it’s seen as a clear case of blatant fundamentalism. But, one would do well by taking a step back and evaluating a spiritual path on its profoundness rather than on how it fits into ones current lifestyle. Since spirituality talks about the unchanging Absolute Truth, it’s up to the human beings to align themselves to that unchangeable Absolute Truth, rather than making the foolish and imaginary attempt at changing the unchangeable.

The understanding that spirituality talks about an Absolute Truth which is independent of all personal preferences should make a sincere seeker seek out for that Truth, rather than trying to just reason about it. What’s the guarantee that whatever conclusion his reasoning takes him to is actually the Absolute Truth? Therefore, the scriptures tell about another procedure to approach the Absolute Truth. It does not preclude logic and reasoning, but gives it a particular direction. We will talk about that procedure a little later (look for *).

The scriptures of all wisdom-traditions point us to the Absolute Truth. Not all of them describe the Absolute Truth to the same degree. And sometimes, their conclusions seem to differ. The difference can be understood to be one of two types. Either one conclusion is higher than the lower, and therefore includes the lower one; or one conclusion is actually incompatible with other. Now, if we make a hierarchy of the various conclusions of the different spiritual paths, we must end up with one topmost path which includes the conclusions of all others in that hierarchy. The conclusion of this topmost path thus will most closely represent the Absolute Truth. However, it’s possible that there might still be some other paths whose conclusions are not compatible with the highest in the hierarchy we just described. This means that this left out path neither includes all the conclusions of the others, nor are all its conclusions included in any other.

Since the Absolute Truth must include all conclusions, if we have more than one conclusion claiming to be the Absolute Truth, then only one of them is actually the Absolute Truth, and all others are either bogus, or included in the actual Absolute Truth.

(*) The procedure talked about in the scriptures is one of sincerely following the instructions of the scriptures under the guidance of one who has realized their conclusions. Since the conclusions of any spiritual path are well-known before hand, a practitioner can clearly verify whether his practice is leading him to the same realizations as those claimed by the path.

Now, one may wonder, that by following any one of the scriptures, one can only reach up to the realizations mentioned by that particular scripture. What if there are even higher realizations than that offered by the particular path he is following? This natural question clearly supports the notion that there can be different scriptures which proffer different levels of spiritual realizations to the practitioner and that one path can definitely be higher than the other.

This discussion might prompt one to hastily declare that since there is a possibility of realizations higher than those offered by even the highest conclusions known yet, why not leave aside the scriptures and try one’s own way? This is certainly an intelligent enquiry, but one which is easily answered when one hears the nature of the Absolute Truth from highly elevated souls who have realized the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna.

The Absolute Truth is defined as the source of everything, and of whom there is no source. The Absolute Truth is the supremely independent entity who does not depend on anything else for His existence; on the contrary, everything else depends on Him for its existence. The Absolute Truth is the fountainhead and the supreme controller of everything, including the power of reasoning. No other definition of the Absolute Truth can better this one, and hence, any path that leads one to the realization of such an Absolute Truth can be considered the highest of all.

The Vaishnavas realize this Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. The Vedic scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, declare Sri Krishna as the Absolute Truth (param satya). No other scripture of the world describes the Absolute Truth in such detail and clarity as do the Vedic scriptures. At the same time, the theistic conclusions of all theistic wisdom-traditions are included in the spiritual path of the Vaishnavas, known as the Bhagavat Dharma.

Even the conclusions of the impersonalist spiritual paths (who claim the Absolute Truth to be an undifferentiated entity with no attributes) are included in the Vaishnava conclusion of the Supreme Person as the Absolute Truth. This is because the Vaishnavas don’t deny the impersonal undifferentiated entity which is the goal of the impersonalist, but on the contrary describe it as an emanation from the Supreme Person, just like sunrays are an emanation of the sun. The sun is clearly superior to the sunrays, being their source.

But what about the non-theistic conclusions of some of the popular wisdom-traditions like Buddhism? The Buddhist conclusion is that ultimately there is nothing. Since the Absolute Truth is the source of everything, and surely something exists (at least the power of reasoning that “nothing exists” exists), and that nothing can come out of “nothing”, the Absolute Truth must surely not be “nothing”. Moreover, the Vaishnavas have positively realized the Absolute Truth as Sri Krishna, and they don’t have to go into a long philosophical debate to convince themselves of that. A man who can see does not have to prove to himself that the sun exists, and the blind man with his own ability can only reach up to the conclusion that there is no such thing as light. On the other hand, how can one realize that actually there is “nothing”? Similarly, some others might claim that actually there is no God. But again, on what grounds can one insist that an entity does not exist when someone else has actually realized the existence of that entity?

By exercising ones mental muscles, one can only reach up to the understanding of impersonalism. This is because material mind and senses cannot conceive of a personality as Supremely powerful as Sri Krishna. Impersonalism essentially boils down to saying that ultimately everything just exists and there is no one supreme entity independent and superior to all other existence. In other words, all entities that exist must just be manifestations and parts of the sum total of everything that exists. And this sum total of everything that exists is the Absolute Truth. Even though voidism (e.g. Buddhism) sounds a bit different in its conclusion, as far as comparison with Vaishnavism goes, for all practical purposes, it’s the same as impersonalism. This is because it doesn’t allow for the existence of a Supreme entity who is the source of everything, and of whom there is no source. In fact, voidism doesn’t allow for the existence of anything! Thus, both impersonalism and voidism are a result of not being able to reach the conclusion of a Supreme Person being the Absolute Truth. Since its not possible to reach the Vaishnav conclusion by one’s own mental speculation, what possibility is there of reaching a higher conclusion than Vaishnavism just by the power of logic and reasoning?

The Vaishnavas have realized the Absolute Truth to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna, and therefore, any other conclusion about the nature of the Absolute Truth must either include the Vaishnava conclusion, or be included by it. If not, we can safely reject it as bogus. One has no right (and means) to deny that the Vaishnavas have actually realized the Absolute Truth to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. One can only judge one’s own conclusion against the Vaishnav one. And better still, one can give up ones mental speculation and accept the lofty Vaishnav conclusion and earn a chance to someday come face to face with the Absolute Truth, who is not an unreciprocating impersonal entity, nor is who “nothing”, but who is the supremely beautiful and loving Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna.

Janmashtami Realizations 2009

2009-08-15T23:27:00.002+05:30

As I was finishing my 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra today, I was thinking about 12noon. That was the time I would break my fast. Today is Nandotsav, and also the appearance day of His Divine Grace Srila AC BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON, and the savior of the whole world. Yesterday was Sri Janmashtami, the appearance day of Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yesterday I fasted till midnight and also chanted 32 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Meanwhile, I have been reading the biography by HH BhaktiVikasa Swami Maharaj of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada, the gurudev of Srila AC BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada. All these spiritual activities in the last 48 hours have given me a few realizations. Here they are.

(1)

I chanted 32 rounds yesterday more easily than I chant my 16 rounds every day. Earlier this year on Gour Pournima I managed to chant 64 rounds despite not being fully fit. Again, quite miraculously, I could do so more easily than the daily 16 rounds. For me, this is quite solid proof that mercy plays a most important role in execution of our spiritual practices. And that on Madhava Tithis (special days related to Madhava, Krishna) the Lord is especially merciful on the prayerful devotee. How else can I explain the ease with which I chanted so many rounds on these days? Can anyone explain this mechanistically? Just for those who would start trying to do so, let me state clearly that it was not any special mental adjustment on my part. All I did was a brief prayer to the Lord that “let me chant these many rounds today”. I say this prayer almost daily, but the effect is never as it is on these Madhava Tithis.

(2)

Fasting reveals how much we are sense controlled, or how much we are not sense controlled. Yesterday, on Janmashtami, time and again, my mind went ahead to midnight, after which I would honor Ekadashi Prasadam. But, it was more about what I would honor than just the fact that I would honor some Prasadam item. This shows how my tongue is hankering for palatable dishes. If those dishes are easily available, we don’t consider how much we hanker for them. But when we fast, these things are revealed. So, I have a long way to go in controlling my tongue.

I read in the Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Vaibhav (the biography of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada) that during his vow of chanting one billion names of the Lord, he used to only eat plain rice cooked by his own hands once a day. No spices or anything else. Here was a real-life example of what a perfect transcendentalist is – one who has controlled the urges of his senses.

(3)

I replaced the newspaper from the hands of my grandmother with the Krishna Book. After some time she was very excited about what she had just read. She had already read the Krishna Book once, but she told me, “How beautifully Vasudev is explaining to Kamsa about things… I don’t remember reading all this the first time I read this book!” I told her that this is the way with all transcendental literature, and what to speak of the crest jewel of all of them, Grantha Raj Srimad Bhagavatam. And the Krishna Book is the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, and its sweetest part. Sri Krishna thus showed special mercy on my grandmother this Janmashtami. And my Mom has started reading the Krishna Book too! Jai!

Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!
Sri Krishna Janmashtami Ki Jai!

Yearning for Eagerness in Vrindavan

2009-08-14T20:41:00.013+05:30

(Sri Sri Krishna Balaram)

November 01, 2008

The train chugged its way into the railway station. It was 0650. For those present outside the train on the railway station platform, this was not the most awaited moment of the century. For many who were inside the train, this was a long awaited moment, at least for those who considered the wait from the start of their train journey to its end a long wait. And for others like me, this was one of the most special moments in our lives. Around five thousand years ago, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna chose to appear on this earth to relieve it off the burden of evil. And this was the place he chose to appear. Mathura.

It was my first visit to Mathura. As soon as I alighted from the train, I fell flat like a stick to offer my respects. I like to do this. I like to forget all concerns for petty things like keeping my clothes spotlessly clean when it comes to following my heart. While this is not always possible in the “civilized” society, who can blame me if I do this as an offering to the Lord, especially in His holy dham, especially when I have arrived there just to do that – to offer my heart to Krishna in the hope that He will steal it away and never return it back.

It’s difficult to describe what I was feeling, simply because I was myself not sure. Instead of theorizing what I should be feeling, I just decided to soak it all in. On the alert, I tried to devour by my eyes and ears as much as possible. The sun had just arisen on the horizon and was greeting us a warm welcome from across the vast fields. Men wearing saffron robes – sadhus – were very much part of the scene. On seeing them, I tightened my mental muscles and reminded myself not to offend, even mentally, the residents of the dham. They are all, sadhus or not, very dear to Krishna, and Krishna has granted them special residence in his own special home – Mathura.

But Mathura was not my final destination. Along with a few other devotees who had travelled in the same train, we sat in a sawari-rikshaw (in principle, a cab) and proceeded to the most holy place in the universe – Sri Vrindavan Dham. We rattled along through the city of Mathura. We passed by Krishna Janma Bhumi (birth place of Sri Krishna), which shares a common wall with a big mosque. I saw hoardings all over the place advertizing discourses on the Srimad Bhagavatam. I saw cows accepting eatables (most probably it was Krishna Prasad) at the doorsteps of small houses lining narrow streets. Everything reminded me of Krishna.

After a 15Km trip, we reached Sri Dham Vrindavan. The rikshaw stopped. I asked the devotees whether we are supposed to get down here. As soon as I got down, I offered my heartfelt dandavats to the Holy Dham and made sure I don’t brush off the dust from my clothes when I stood up. To be smeared by the dust of Sri Vrindavan Dham is a sure-shot way to attaining the most cherished spiritual goal - of unalloyed love for Krishna. At the beginning of each day of my trip, my kurta started off pristine white and at the end of the day the front was more or less brown. All day I was just looking for opportunities to fall flat on the ground in supplication.

(A view of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir)

After getting up, I looked around trying to figure out exactly where I was. Bewildered, I asked a devotee and he replied “Krishna Balaram Mandir”. What? Where? My eyes frantically darted around trying to find the temple. About 25-30 yards ahead, on the left of the road, stood the beautiful Krishna Balaram Temple, also known as the “Angrezon Ka Mandir” (Foreigners’ Temple) in and around Vrindavan. Srila Prabhupada’s western disciples created quite a stir when they first came to Vrindavan with Prabhupada. Foreigners were not supposed to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. He was exclusively the property of India, and even more exclusively, of Vrindavan. Well, all that changed when Krishna’s pure devotee Srila Prabhupada, on the order of his Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati (another pure devotee), gave Krishna to the whole world in accordance with the desire of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is none other than Sri Krishna.

(The courtyard)

As I entered the front gate, I crossed the Samadhi of Srila Prabhupada and offered dandavats. As I moved forward, I came to a big gate. On one side of it a doorman was pulling on a big rope to ring a big bell somewhere above. I asked him if I could ring it too. No, is what he replied, in such a tone that all further communication was impossible. As soon as I entered the gate, something happened. I just couldn’t keep ambling anymore. Something (someone?) within me impelled me to run. I ran. Down the steps, onto the courtyard, across the courtyard, up the steps, into the main temple room. There I was, my heart throbbing in anticipation, eyes searching for that sight, of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram! There I beheld, one at a time, Sri Sri Krishna Balaram, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai, and Sri Sri Radha Shyamsunder. I offered dandavats and prayers before each of them. I was so happy, and my trip was already a success. I had just tasted a drop of Krishna Prem.

(Sri Sri Radha Shyamsunder)

Ever since, time and again, I remember those lovely moments. How I had run for taking darshan of Their Lordships. How eager was I to just behold them. My heart yearns for the time when my whole existence will be made up of only such moments - of intense eagerness for Sri Sri Radha Shyamsunder.

The God Logic

2009-03-09T12:09:00.003+05:30

Based on observations made by our senses, existence or non-existence of God cannot be proven by logic and argument. If we stick to the principle of “seeing is believing”, or in more generalized terms, directly perceiving is believing, then we will reach to the conclusion that there exists no God, because a general person in this world cannot directly perceive the existence of God.

But if we accept that our powers of perception are limited, then we can at least come to the allowance that there might exist God, who is beyond the power of our direct perception. This is not a proof for the existence of God, but at least, by discarding the certainty about the non-existence of God, it lays the foundation for further enquiry into the topic of existence of God.

The holy scriptures of all major religions have asserted the existence of God. Along with the assertions are given the processes by following which one can perceive God in lesser or greater degrees. How can the senses which we have accepted to be powerless to perceive God suddenly gain the required power? God appreciates the sincerity of the seeker’s efforts, and to that degree empowers the senses of the seeker to perceive God. Therefore, all that is needed in perceiving God is sincere efforts along a well documented path as revealed in the holy scriptures.

The effects of following the holy scriptures, including the effect of being able to perceive God directly, depend a lot on the mood of the follower. God knows everything, including the seeker’s mood, the seeker’s motivations behind approaching God, the seeker’s past deeds, and many other factors. Based on all these, God reciprocates with the seeker. Based on the degree of reciprocation by God, the internal world (essentially the desires) of the seeker surely gets transformed, whether the seeker’s external circumstances do so or not. And perception of God no longer remains mere theory.

So, have we proved the existence of God? No. We have just stated what the holy scriptures state and what sincere devotees of God have been telling us all along. These statements cannot be proven unless one follows the process. But they can be proven to oneself, by direct perception, if one follows the process. Now, the only question is: are the devotees of God bluffing us? If we think so, then obviously we will continue to not accept the existence of God. And if we do believe the devotees of God, we will accept that God exists and can be perceived by following devotional practices and processes.

Well, there you go! The non-believers will jump on to this explanation saying that it relies on faith and not on hard evidence. That it depends on abstract things like perception, and that too on others’ perceptions. What is the proof that that perception is not a hallucination? But hallucinations are a characteristic of mentally deranged men, and devotees of God hardly show any symptoms of mental derangement. So, the question that remains, in its more refined form, is: should one believe the verifiably sane (and in a lot of cases verifiably very intelligent) devotees of God when they say that God can be perceived by following a certain process? For most neutral people, the reasonable answer is Yes.

Yes, initially a little bit of reasonable faith is required to start off on a path suggested by the scriptures and the devotees of God. But that faith is quite a reasonable one. Along with that is also needed a systematic understanding of the science of God. This understanding, along with the sincere practice, will fortify our faith when we see that the results of following the process match with what the science states. And the fortified faith, in turn, will inspire us to follow the process even more sincerely. This science is presented in the holy scriptures. As with any other form of learning, a teacher advanced in the practice of the science is a must; from whom one can take practical instructions, to whom one can ask deep questions, and under whose guidance one can study the scriptures. Quite naturally, such a teacher is himself a devotee of God, otherwise how can he guide his students towards a practical direct perception of God?

So, have we proved the existence of God? No. And we have already accepted at the very outset that God cannot be perceived with the limitedly powerful senses. But we have reasonably argued that sincere practitioners of the processes required to perceive God (which are documented in the holy scriptures) have stated that God can be perceived by following those processes. We have also stated that a systematic study of the science of God is required to help us sincerely follow the process and also to cross-check the theory of the science with its practical application.

Having reasonable faith does not fall out of the limits of the scientific method. The hypotheses of the scientific method are nothing but leaps of reasonable faith. These hypotheses act as guiding lights for the subsequent experiments. The results of those experiments give the hypotheses various degrees of truth. If the results of the experiment match with the predictions of the hypotheses, the hypotheses are declared as truths. Otherwise, the hypotheses are discarded.

Similarly, having reasonable faith in the words of the holy scriptures and of the sincere devotees of God is like accepting the existence of God as a hypothesis. Following the processes they recommend is like the experiments. The science of God is like the guiding principles based on which the hypothesis can be cross-checked with the practical experiences. If the scientific method of gaining knowledge is considered scientific, how then is following a spiritual process as described above not scientific?

The non-believers can choose not to take up any spiritual path. That is their choice. However, they cannot prove that God does not exist. There are a lot of things outside a general man’s power of perception and one cannot scientifically make conclusive statements about such things staying within those limiting boundaries of perceptionn. The non-believers generally tend to reject the instructions of the scriptures and the devotees of God, but put forward their own arguments about why God must not exist. In other words, they say that God does not exist because if he had existed he would have acted in such and such a way. And so on. But in making such statements, the non-believers propose their own idea of God. But God does not necessarily have to be like what people who deny God’s existence say. If on the other hand, one studies the science of God under proper guidance, one will get answers to a lot questions whose lack of satisfactory answers turn many people into non-believers. One cannot choose to deny God’s existence and at the same time propose how God should behave. And one who accepts God’s existence will naturally learn the science of God from the holy scriptures under the guidance of sincere devotees of God who have been applying the science in their lives for a lot of years.

The devotees of God encourage the general mass of people to take on devotional spiritual paths. This is out of their compassion. The devotees have experienced the grace of God and are eager to share it with others. They do not any vested interests in propagating the science of God. But what is the motive behind the non-believers’ vehement opposition to God-consciousness? Many non-believers say that God and science don’t go together. That God is fiction. But, we have already explained that in that sense, all hypotheses of the scientific method are fiction. They are not proved unless experiments are conducted to prove them. Some other non-believers point out that religion has been the cause of great violence all throughout history, and therefore one must just relegate God to being a non-entity. In other words, if God existed, He would not allow such violence in the name of religion. Therefore, God does not exist. Again, such an understanding reveals the lack of awareness about science of God. In fact, most of the arguments against the existence of God stem from a lack of even basic understanding of the science of God. The non-believers may retort with saying that they think the science of God is just a figment of someone’s imagination. But, we have already explained a few times that this science can be compared to an element in the scientific method, and only experimentation (actually following the spiritual devotional process) can prove it one way or the other.

Apart from these reasons, some non-believers just hate God. Most of their arguments are just to cover up this hatred. They don’t care whether God exists or not. They just hate Him. Why? Maybe life has not gone according to their plan and they see this as an evil act of God. There can be many other reasons. But all of this again point to a lack knowledge about the science of God. If God exists, why does He let me suffer? Unless one studies the science of God, how can one know the answer to this question?

So, have we proved the existence of God? Yes and No. We have definitely asserted that non-believers cannot make any conclusive statements about the non-existence of God. As for those who have at least a little faith that God exists, they can use the scientific method to verify their faith by following the devotional spiritual processes under the guidance of sincere and experienced devotees of God. Simultaneously, they can learn the science of God under the proper guidance so that they can verify the results of their practices against what the science states. If the practitioner can verify this, then he would have proved the existence of God to himself. For those who do not care to conduct the experiments, the existence of God still remains a mystery. They can not prove that God does not exist, and without following the devotional spiritual processes, they cannot prove that God exists. They are nowhere.

This, then, is the God Logic.

Stone-Alive

2009-01-31T17:52:00.002+05:30

While I was zooming along on the beautiful tree-lined highway, suddenly I hit the brakes! Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when your car tire runs over a tiny little squirrel that chooses to scamper across the road just late enough so that you cant do much about what’s about to happen, you get that sinking feeling. And unless you are quite stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not so joyful. That guilty feeling lingers on for a while before it’s replaced by things more important than the life of an innocent squirrel that chose the wrong moment. But this time, I was not feeling any remorse. Because I had just overrun, not a tiny little squirrel, but a little boulder. It was just a stone, and by definition, it was already dead. Stone-dead.

Just suppose for a moment that this stone had life. It still has all the characteristics of a stone, but just that it knows that it exists. No matter how many trucks choose to trample it, since its after-all a stone, it does not feel any pain. And just as is fit for a stone, it cannot feel any joy when the spring is round the corner. Isn’t that the most coveted state of existence? Well, granted that there is no experience of the exhilaration before the promising spring, but then definitely that’s not a bad price to pay for escaping the agony of being crushed to pulp under the nonchalant tires of a nameless truck. Yes, the stone is so happy to be alive, as alive as a stone!

Wait a moment! This does not sound quite right. Are we saying that the life of a stone is better than our present lives? Suppose you go to someone and open up your heart to him: “I have such and such problem in life. What could be the reason? What is the remedy?”. And that person replies: “Because you are not yet dead, you are suffering.” Its not an answer that will fill you up with so much joy that your heart cant contain it. Such a stone-hearted reply will hardly help you. And yet, there are so many philosophers who will tell you just this. Not quite as bluntly, but that will pretty much be the essence of their philosophy. You are suffering, they will say. Suffering is because of your desires. Put an end to all your desires. Do not rejoice for anything, and do not lament for anything. And so on. That means one must eventually, not immediately, but eventually, try to become qualitatively just like a stone, or something equivalent that has the same qualities of lifelessness as does a stone!

The philosophy I am referring to is known as impersonalism. It has got many flavors, but all of them have one central theme. That ultimately, the highest truth, the source of everything, is an un-variegated oneness. And therefore, since the ultimate truth is that quality-less oneness, attaining the ultimate truth lies in merging oneself into that oneness. Once merged into that oneness, since its all oneness, there is no question of the dualities represented by happiness and sorrow, pain and pleasure, good and bad, and so on. Hmmm, sounds quite like our friend, Mr. Stone. And what’s more, in such a merged state, true to the definition of oneness, all individuality of the “merger” is lost.

Lets think for a moment or two about this. Who will get really hooked onto such a philosophy whose end goal is negation of all that characterizes life? The immediate response that pops up in our minds is: those who are so totally frustrated with their lives that life has become an unbearable burden for them. To them, the philosophical escape to featureless oneness gives relief from the pains of their routine lives. They do not mind the concomitant philosophical relinquishment of all pleasures either, since they don’t have much to rejoice in their lives anyway. The other category of people who would hook on to this philosophy is of those who have understood the miserable and temporary nature of this world. Since their understanding is based on sound philosophical understanding of the truth of the temporary nature of all things in this world, they choose to not be part of any of it. Due to this strong philosophical conviction, it is not so tough for them either to desire becoming desire-less.

So yes, people do have valid reasons for accepting the impersonalistic philosophy. But if I ask myself to write an essay on “The Happiest Day of My Life”, it will hardly glorify a day I spent in nothingness doing nothing thinking nothing feeling nothing with no one around. Instead it will perhaps glorify a day which I spent in a scenic natural place with a stream of crystal clear water flowing nearby, joking and playing around with my best friends, and feeling a strong current of joy surging through me. Someone else might have a different essay, but surely it will not describe a day full of nothings.

Why then is the impersonalistic philosophy so prominent? Because, most people of this world hardly ever actually live the “happiest day of their life” that they would describe in the essay. And even if they live some, the number is just too insignificant compared to the number of other days. In order to make all their days the “happiest days”, they redefine their happiness as oneness, or even nothingness. This way, their happiness means the absence of all sorrow. Since positive happiness of this world has the dual counterpart of unhappiness, to eradicate the unhappiness, they would go to the extent of eradicating the happiness too!

But what if one could live the happiest day of one’s life every day? For ever. Would you still like to take the other alternative of living days full of nothings? What if every day of your life is in a place where every step is a dance and every word is a song? A place where not only is there no sorrow, but where positive happiness abounds in boundless abundance? A place where happiness does not have the unhappy counterpart. Who in their right minds would reject such a destination and opt for a mindless existence devoid of anything at all!

The make-or-break question is whether such a place of boundless happiness really exists? The answer is that it does. This place is called the Spiritual World or the Kingdom of God. A place full of life and joy where all the inhabitants are always engaged in the loving service of God and as a result are completely blissful at all times. The essential difference between this world and that is that in the spiritual world every thing is spiritual, i.e. eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. As opposed to that, in this world everything is material, i.e. temporary, devoid of knowledge, and devoid of any bliss. Further, the oneness that the impersonalists desire to become desire-less in, is just the spiritual sky in which the spiritual Kingdom of God exists. Any person who is convinced about the existence of the spiritual world will quite naturally make this choice. Because this is the place which more than fits the place we described in our “The Happiest Day of My Life” essay. Those philosophers who make this choice are known as devotees of God. By serving God, even in this world, the devotees experience spiritual bliss. They do not have to attempt desirelessness, because all their desires are centered around serving God. Such desires are all spiritual, and the happiness derived from them does not have the unhappy counterpart. Contrast this with the impersonalists’ understanding of desirelessnesss where it means no desires whatsoever. The impersonalists do not know that the spiritual kingdom of God exists beyond the oneness of the spiritual sky. Therefore they settle for the lower platform of happiness defined as “absence of sorrow”.

Our journey started with a dead stone. Then we wandered around for a while in nothingness with our imaginary not-quite-alive Mr. Stone. Eventually we crossed over the featureless oneness (or nothingness), and fortunately reached where we really wanted to be! The spiritual world. Since everything there is spiritual, even the stones there are spiritual, i.e. they are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss! Stones that are truly alive - Stone-Alive!

The Mechanism of Faith

2009-01-31T17:46:00.005+05:30

Introduction

Throughout history, faith has been the bedrock for all spiritual advancement. Indeed, it is said that faith is the most essential ingredient for success in spiritual matters. This article tries to put this statement into perspective. It is essentially for readers who have faith that faith (more particularly, faith in a higher and more powerful living being) works. Even for others, this article will have some good food for thought. It will discuss the origin and rationality of faith, its advantages and absolute necessity, and how it works. The article will then go one level deeper when it concludes with an analysis of the different kinds of faith and their respective gradations. This article should strengthen the faith of the faithful, and inspire the faithless to become faithful.

Faith refers to a strong belief in something that cannot be proven empirically. And advancement can be defined as the process of going to a state of existence which is better than the present one. Since spiritual matters are beyond the conception of the limited material senses, and hence cannot be perceived empirically with the use of the limited material senses, it is only with at least a little initial faith that one can endeavor for spiritual goals and make advancement in that direction.

Faith – Origin, Rationality, and Advantages

Faith in someone originates from past experiences or knowledge of wonderful acts performed by that person. If those acts were actually performed by that person, then how can one claim that faith in that person is irrational? However, blind faith is irrational. Blind faith is a perversion of reasonable faith. It is reasonable faith gone wrong. For example, suppose a medical doctor named John has accomplished some marvelous feats such as curing seemingly hopeless medical cases, then putting faith in him is reasonable faith. However, putting faith in every person named John is blind faith, and is clearly based on ignorance of the simple fact that all Johns are not the same.

Once one has logically and philosophically ascertained a particular personality as one’s object of worship, the real role of faith begins. Life is full of ups and downs. To follow a particular way of life according to the instructions of the object of worship, in all circumstances, requires unflinching faith in the instructions of that person. To attain any goal that requires a process to be followed, perseverance is most essential. And perseverance through all the reversals is not possible without such unflinching faith. Thus, not only is the initial faith required (along with sound philosophical understanding) to start off on a spiritual journey, faith is required even more for continuing on that journey so that with such perseverance the sought after spiritual goal is eventually attained. This is why faith is absolutely essential for spiritual progress.

Faith also plays an important role in keeping oneself calm even in the midst of upheavals. A faithful person, not only carries on with his/her chosen path, but he/she is also confident, by dint of his/her faith, that his/her chosen path will carry him/her through all these upheavals.

The Mechanism of Faith

Faithful people always find themselves amidst three kinds of people: 1) those who are totally faithless and have faith in no one, 2) those who have the same faith as themselves, and 3) those who have faith in someone else. Faithful people thus find themselves caught up between these two classes of people, the faithless and those with faith in someone else. We have already explained earlier in the article that having faith in someone who is quite evidently highly powerful cannot be termed as irrational, and therefore those who are faithless are actually irrationally dogmatic in rejecting faith as irrational. But what about the other class of people, those who have some other faith?

To answer this question, we need to understand the mechanism of faith. How faith works? When one worships a more powerful living being, that living being if pleased bestows benedictions on the worshipper. Thus, the results of a particular kind of faith depend on the power of the corresponding object of worship of bestowing benedictions. Thus, there can be as many kinds of faith as there are different objects of worship. All these faiths can be reasonable faiths because all these objects of worship might surely be powerful personalities. However, some of these personalities are more powerful than the others and therefore the kind of benedictions they can offer will differ. Thus, one can clearly grade the different kinds of faith according to the magnitude of benedictions that the various personalities can offer. Obviously, faith in the person who can offer the best benedictions can be considered as the best faith. To say that all kinds of faith are same is saying that all the different personalities have the same power, which is not the case.

This discussion naturally leads us on to the question: Who is the most powerful person in whom I should repose my faith and offer my worship? Srimad Bhagavad Gita deals with this subject matter in quite some depth. At the very beginning of the 7th chapter, Lord Sri Krishna instructs Arjuna as follows:

BG 7.7: O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

And a little later, in the 7th chapter, Lord Krishna explains why. We will get the answer shortly. Also, if Sri Krishna is clearly the Supreme object of worship, why are so many other faiths prevalent all over the world?

BG BG 7.20 : Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.

Who are these demigods mentioned by Lord Krishna in this verse? Just like a national government, which has a prime minister along with a cabinet of ministers each heading a particular administrative department, similarly, the universal government has one Supreme God, and a lot of subordinate gods. These subordinate gods are in charge of the various administrative affairs within the universe. For example, someone is in charge of the rainfall, someone is in charge of the sunlight, and so on. These subordinate gods are technically called demigods. And the one Supreme God is Krishna Himself as He has proclaimed in the Bhagavad Gita verse 7.7 that we cited earlier in the article.

And what are material desires? To answer this, one must first understand what is ‘material’ and what is ‘spiritual’. The Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all that exists. Thus, to put it simply, a thing is considered material when that thing is seen as being independent of the Supreme Lord. Since everything is owned by the Lord, everything is thus related to Him. Therefore, those desires which have no motive of serving the Supreme Lord are called material desires. In most cases, the corollary of this definition is that material desires are those desires whose sole motive is one’s own sense gratification. On the other hand, spiritual desires are those whose sole aim is to please the Lord by acting according to His instructions.

Because of material desires, one’s intelligence is covered up and one cannot understand that worship of Sri Krishna is the highest. This is so because the desired material results are quickly obtained by the worship of the demigods. On the other hand, even the material desires of one who worships Krishna are purified into spiritual desires. Less intelligent people, whose intelligence is lost due to material desires, cannot understand this as the greatest mercy of Sri Krishna, and therefore do not worship Him.

However, even if one wants to worship someone else, it is Krishna Himself who facilitates it, as stated in the following verse.

BG 7.21: I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

Further, even the results of such worship are actually given by Sri Krishna though it looks as if they have come from the other object that is being worshipped!

BG 7.22: Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.

However, even though the results are given by Sri Krishna, these results are of a different nature than the results obtained from Sri Krishna by His direct worship. How?

7.23 : Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.

Even though all results are given by Sri Krishna, those obtained through the medium of others are temporary, and those obtained by direct worship of Sri Krishna are permanent.

A question may arise here that if the results of worshipping some one other than Sri Krishna are temporary, and that worship of someone else is also facilitated by Sri Krishna, then why does Krishna facilitate it at all? That is explained by Srila Prabhupada as follows: “The answer is that if the Supreme Lord as Supersoul does not give such facilities, then there is no meaning to independence. Therefore He gives everyone full independence — whatever one likes — but His ultimate instruction we find in the Bhagavad-Gita: one should give up all other engagements and fully surrender unto Him. (BG 18.66) That will make man happy.” (BG 7.21p)

At this point, we can briefly mention that if the worship of such authorized representatives of the Lord, the demigods, is not proper, then what to speak of worshipping some human beings as God? Unfortunately, especially in India, there are so many human beings who are either self-proclaimed Gods or who are Gods by popular opinion. In the light of the above discussion, it will suffice to say that if not even all persons mentioned in the authorized scriptures are the highest objects of worship, then how can those who have absolutely no mention in the scriptures be appropriate objects of worship? The scriptures are there to guide humanity, and it’s safest to follow the scriptural injunctions, especially in critical spiritual matters.

The Only Faith

Thus, even though we have earlier referred to faith in any powerful person as reasonable faith, in the light of this above knowledge from the Bhagavad Gita, in the strict sense, faith in anyone but Sri Krishna is blind faith because in actuality the others are not capable of giving any benedictions on their own. It is only due to lack of intelligence and due to ignorance about the supreme position of Sri Krishna and the subordinate position of all others, that people worship others instead of Sri Krishna. Just like not all Johns are as powerful as the one powerful John (in the example we cited earlier in this article), no one is even remotely as powerful as Sri Krishna. In fact, Sri Krishna is the only one powerful, and everyone else derives his/her power from Sri Krishna.

Conclusion

In summary, we have seen in this article that having faith in a more powerful personality is quite rational. Having faith has a lot of advantages including peace of mind and the ability to face daunting situations in life. However, its most important role is in keeping one going, even amidst reversals, on one’s chosen path. In the second half of the article, by citing from the Bhagavad Gita, we analyzed the different kinds of faith in terms of the results that they produce, as well in terms of the actual provider of those results. The clear conclusion that came out of that discussion was that Sri Krishna is the Supreme and the only object of worship in whom one should repose one’s faith.

From this article, the three kinds of people can derive their respective benefits as follows. Those who are already worshipping Lord Sri Krishna can strengthen their faith in Him by this empowering knowledge from the Bhagavad Gita, the universally acknowledged book of sublime knowledge. Those whose faith presently lies elsewhere may want to rethink and assess why they have put their faith in someone other than Sri Krishna. What final destination are they going to reach by continuing to practice their faith? Is the result of their worship going to be temporary or permanent? And those who presently claim that faith is irrational can surely start thinking why putting faith in an obviously powerful personality irrational? By this contemplation, they might soon change their mind and start worshipping the supreme object of worship, Lord Sri Krishna.

Hare Krishna!

Jayapataka Swami - Back in the Field!

2009-01-25T22:51:00.004+05:30

January 25, 2009

Applause. The kind that bursts out from the hearts of the audience after a moment of stunned silence. The kind that seems to last forever. The kind that no one wants to ever end. The kind that follows a moment that everyone wants to etch into their memories for all time to come. The kind that typically follows an awesome performance that touches the hearts of the audience very deeply. Today, I was part of one such applause.

I am writing this while watching His Holiness Jayapataka Swami who is sitting in a wheelchair about twenty-five feet from me. It’s the 22nd annual Pune Yatra, in the bungalow of H. G. Krishna Chandra Prabhu in Pune, India. It’s as if the celestial giants have descended upon earth. What else would you say if you are amidst HH Radhanath Swami, HH Bhakticharu Swami, HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Chandramouli Swami, and HH Bhakti Vishwambhar Madhava Swami? A couple of days ago, on the first evening of this four-day Yatra, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja indicated at the possibility that perhaps HH Bhakticharu Maharaja might join us all. This news was received very enthusiastically. But when he also told us that perhaps HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja might also join us, the cheers were uproarious.

And why not? HH Jayapataka Maharaj is a darling of all the Vaishnavas. Srila Prabhupada declared that he is an eternal associate of Lord Chaitanya. Prabhupada gave him Sanyaas when he was just 21. He took up, and continues to execute, major responsibilities in Srila Prabhupada’s mission, including the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir and many others. He is pretty much the spiritual master of the whole Navadwip Dham! One can’t think of Sri Mayapur Dham without thinking of Srila Jayapataka Swami Maharaja. His glories are unlimited. Not for nothing did Srila Prabhupada give him the name Jayapataka – the victory flag – signifying the victory of Lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan Movement. Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam.

But recently, by the inconceivable will of the Lord, this glorious and extraordinarily brave soldier of Lord Chaitanya was put into a precarious situation. In the Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Temple of ISKCON Juhu, Maharaja had a severe stroke of brain hemorrhage. Doctors said he had no chance. And even if he did survive, he would be no better than a vegetable. Devotees all over the world were shocked! The whole Vaishnava community of ISKCON united in their prayers to the Lord to let Maharaja stay longer on this earth and shower upon everyone his matchless association and mercy. Kirtans roared all over the world. HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja dedicated the Karthik Vrindavan Yatra to HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja, where all devotees prayed fervently to the Lord for Jayapataka Swami Maharaja’s recovery. Thus there was hope, but the situation was still critical, and tense.

Over the next few weeks, I kept myself updated about Maharaja’s health by visiting http://www.jpsoffice.com/. His condition has been steadily improving. According to the doctors, that’s a miracle. But for Krishna nothing is impossible. And how could it be, because He is the cause of all causes. Just before the Pune Yatra, only once, this thought had struck my mind: How nice will it be to have HH Jayapataka Maharaja with us in the Yatra? Surely, due to these recent events, devotees all over the world remembered the glories of Maharaja and thus got purified.

Maharaja is still recuperating, but things look in control now. He traveled for around four hours in an ambulance from Bombay to Pune just to give us his divine association. This is an example of his unlimited mercy. He addressed us briefly yesterday evening. He told us how grateful he was for all the devotees for praying for him. We were all touched. And then again, today while HH Radhanath Maharaja was showering us with the lotus words from his lotus mouth during the Srimad Bhagavatam class, entered the scene HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja. As was planned, HH Radhanatha Swami Maharaja stopped his class and handed over the Vyasasana to HH Jayapataka Maharaja.

Maharaja’s speech is not completely back yet. So he had a devotee repeat his words, although one could understand quite a bit of what he spoke directly. Just his presence was electrifying. He spoke about his last year’s Bangladesh trip, his various helicopter rides, and also he spoke very fondly about his recent stay at the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital in Bombay. His every word was nectar for all the devotees. He informed us that every month around twenty-five patients become devotees in the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital. And then, out of his natural humility, he said that now that he had also been a patient in that hospital, he might also become a devotee.

More than once, my eyes were moistened by his words. He spoke for about an hour. The devotee who had made tens of thousands of devotees was all the while exhibiting his natural humility. Who can fathom the glories and sweetness of a true Vaishnava?

But what was it that was touching everyone’s heart? I had not been able to put it in words. That thought was there somewhere in my sub-consciousness, but I had not yet expressed it in words. HH Radhanath Maharaja had hinted at it more than once. This was a historic event, he said. But exactly what was historic? After enthralling the devotees by his humility, love, and humor, even in his far-from-perfect medical condition, he ended with: “It’s good to be back in the preaching field.”

That was it! That was the historic event. This great general of Lord Chaitanya’s army was back. Back from the dead. There was no chance for him, but here he was. Inspiring devotees, distributing Krishna Prem. Once again! “It’s good to be back in the preaching field”, he said.

Stunned silence. Applause!

Waterful Nasik!

2008-09-28T18:55:00.006+05:30

Waterful Nasik!
September 19-21, 2008.

I had no idea about the holiness of Nasik until recently. And until I went there, I had no idea about just how holy it is. And its only after coming back from there that I am beginning to realize just how fortunate I was to visit the holy dham of Nasik. Krishna willing, it will not be long before I visit it again, this time with a more proper consciousness, that of reverence, that comes along with more knowledge about the dham. That Lord Sri Gaura Sunder Himself visited all those places is more than enough for a Gaudia Vaishnava to visit them again and again.

Around 21 devotees, most of us counselees of H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu and H. G. Yashoda Rani Mataji, started off in a 25-seater at around 1800 from the Sri Sri Radha Kunjabihari Temple, Pune. It was raining quite a bit and incessantly for most of the journey. Along the way we got quite a few phone calls warning us that Nasik is under water! The news channels were flashing “Maha-pur (literally - huge flood) in Nasik!” along with graphic pictures. But a few devotees told me that they were quite unconcerned despite such usually disturbing news. Sometimes people tend to think that the bad things of life will not happen to them. In this ignorance, such people proclaim their fearlessness by doing dare-devil acts. However, sooner or later, typically after the youth has fled away, the false sense of fearlessness and invincibility evaporates, replaced by a nagging fear of death and misfortunes. On the other hand, the devotees are never under the illusion that this material world is safe. However, still, because of taking shelter of the Supreme Lord Krishna, the devotees experience true fearlessness. More than personal safety, devotees were praying that they get darshan of the various holy places.

Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai of Nasik Temple

We reached Nasik at around 0100 at night and checked into a hotel that we had booked before hand. At least there was no flooding in that area of Nasik. However, all night it was raining. A few of us attended the Mangal Arati in the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple (ISKCON) which was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. It was still raining during the whole morning program. The ISKCON temple is almost a replica of the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple of Chowpatty. The devotees are very simple and humble and they won over my heart. The deities, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, are most beautiful, reminding one of their namesakes in Chowpatty. And so are the Sri Sri Gaur Nitai deities. The local Nasik devotees told us that it will be impossible for us to visit some of the holy places. But H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu and other devotees had a strong desire to be able to visit all the places. As if miraculously, the rain had stopped completely at the end of the morning program at around 0900. We all honored prasadam at 1000 and around 1100 we were off! Rohit Prabhu, a resident devotee of the Nasik temple, kindly accompanied us to guide us.

Raam Kunda, over flooded!

First of all we visited Raam Kunda. Its on the banks of the sacred Godavari River. I will not go into the details of all the many pastimes associated with that place. Actually the whole area in and around Nasik is the well-known Dandakaranya forest area where Lord Sri Ramachandra spent so much if His time while in exile. In fact, this place got its name Nasik because Lord Lakshman had cut off Shurpanakha’s nose (called nasika in Sanskrit) at this place. The previous day the Godavari had flooded over and its water level rose 10-15 feet above the road level! All the dwellings on the banks were deluged and quite a lot of property was damaged. I heard that around 10 people lost their lives too. Fortunately for us the water level had reduced and we could relatively safely take the darshan of the Ganges of the South, the Godavari, and bathe in its strong current. One could definitely feel the spiritual vibrations in that place even though the Raam Kunda, and the accompanying Lakshmana Kunda and Sita Kunda are all very much in the middle of the city. Due to the over flooded Godavari, all these Kundas and the river had become just one big body of water. We visited the nearby Kapaleshwar Lord Siva temple too and saw from outside (couldn’t go in due to the aftermath of the flooding) the Lord Balaji Temple which Lord Chaitanya Himself had paid a visit. Srila Prabhupada had also visited this place.

Nearby is the Sita Gufa (Sita Cave) where Lord Ramachandra had hid Mother Sita while He single handedly fought and destroyed 14,000 rakshasas. There are 5 banyan trees around there which are said to be existing since Lord Raam’s time, and which give this place the name Panchavati. Then, our bus took us to Tapowan whose strong spiritual vibrations were unmistakable. There is a temple of Lord Lakshman in that place, the only temple in the world where He is presiding without Lord Ramachandra being present. Nearby was the confluence of the Godavari and the Kapila Ganga, which we visited. On the way back to the hotel, we paid a running visit to the Sunder Narayan Temple which is on the bridge that runs over and across the Godavari. From that vantage point we were met with a sight that touched our hearts and filled it with love and affection for the Lord. We could see that the ghat on which we had bathed just a few hours ago was once again under 2-3feet of water. The first thought that struck us was that this was surely the mercy of the Lord! It was as if He had arranged that when we came to the river bank, the water level was low enough for us to have a proper bath, and as soon as we were done, the water level started rising again, so much so that it over flooded the ghats once again.

That evening we were invited by a glorious Krishna Conscious family, that of H. G. Jugal Kishore Prabhu. It was in his house that Krishna Consciousness took roots in Nasik. For the last 10 years, he and his family host a weekly program. Their deities are one of most gorgeous house deities I have ever seen. They resemble Sri Sri Radha Madhava of Mayapur, and to some they also resembled Sri Sri Radha Gopinath of Chowpatty. The next day morning a few of us attended the Mangal Arati in the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple. After the morning program, we honored delicious prasadam. All our meals in the Nasik temple were sumptuous and delicious. Nasik devotees told us that none of them is an actual cook, but from the prasadam, it was not at all apparent.

Trayambakeshwar

Around 35kms from Nasik is a gorgeous temple of Lord Siva – Trayambakeshwar. It is one of the Jyotirlingas. Lord Chiatanya had visited this temple. Nestled amidst beautiful hills, with a huge courtyard, the temple is a pleasing sight to behold. We were standing in the queue for Darshan for about an hour and all the time we worshipped Lord Siva by loudly singing Hari Naam Sankirtan. Surely Lord Siva was pleased. A lot of other visitors were joining in the kirtans! We also managed to distribute 9 books. Nearby is the small pond which is the source of the Godavari. I will not go into the detailed pastime. After packing our luggage and checking out from the hotel, we visited Taket on the way back to Pune. This is the place where Lord Jatayu, the great devotee of Lord Raam, had given up his life fighting Ravana trying to release Mother Sita from the demon’s clutches. Lord Raam had performed his last rites personally at this place. Unfortunately, around 1 km from the actual temple, the road was submerged in 2-3 feet deep flowing water that flowed across the road. We decided not to cross it. Thus, we will have to visit this temple in our next trip. We heard that it’s a must-see temple! Apart from this temple, we could not visit the Brahmagiri hill, which also Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had personally visited, and we also could not visit the place where Lord Kapila, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, instructed His mother Devahuti in the devotional Sankhya philosophy. I did not know before going to Nasik that it is such a holy place. Next time, I will go with a better consciousness and try to soak in the dham as much as possible.

Pond which is the source of the Godavari

näsike tryambaka dekhi’ gelä brahmagiri

kushävarte äilä yähän janmilä godävari

Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu then visited Näsika, where He saw the deity of Tryambaka [Lord Siva]. He then went to Brahma-giri and then to Kushävarta, the source of the river Godävari.

CC Madhya lila 9:317

Sunset at Taket

On the way back to Pune, in the bus, just like the journey from Pune to Nasik, we engaged ourselves in a lot of Krishna Conscious games. The devotees are so wonderful and sweet that despite being so senior they are eager to serve every other devotee. This is the proof of their advanced Krishna Consciousness. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to associate with such gems. Actually, I do not have any doubt that our Nasik trip was a success despite the heavy floods only because of the strong desires of the Vaishnavas. And I, just by the dint of being with them, obtained the same good fortune. This is the effect of Vaishnava association. I pray to Srila Prabhupada, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai that they always keep me in such exalted association so that one day even I may attain that supreme destination, Krishna Prem.

Your servant,
Abhijit.

The Ahobilam Adventure!

2008-08-26T18:58:00.012+05:30

(On top of the Ugra Stambha!)

The Ahobilam Adventure
August 13-17, 2008

aho veeryam aho shouryam aho bahu parakrame
naarsimhah param devam ahobilam ahobalam

Let me first offer my obeisances unto Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnavas, by whose mercy I am presently following the sublime process of Krishna Consciousness. Let me also beg forgiveness from all the devotees who came along for this Ahobilam trip for all the offences I would have committed against them because of all my shortcomings. I also pray to Lord Narasimha Dev for His blessings before starting this article.

Contents

0. How to reach Ahobilam, Places to visit, Where to Stay, Contact Numbers, and Itinerary
1. Prelude
2. Glorifying the Organizers in Lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan Movement
3. Day One-Two : The journey to Ahobilam, and Four temples
3.1. Bhargava Narasimha Swamy
3.2. Chatravata Narasimha Swamy
3.3. Yogananda Narasimha Swamy
3.4. HG Purushottam Murali Prabhu
3.5. Prahlad-Varada Narasimha Swamy
4. Day Three : Adventure Day! Five temples, Prahlad’s School, Ugra-Stambha!
4.1. The Morning Japa
4.2. Varaaha (or Krodha) Narasimha Swamy
4.3. Jwaalaa Narasimha Swamy
4.4. The Ugra-Stambha!
4.5. Malola Narasimha Swamy
4.6. Prahlad’s School and Cave
4.7. Ahobila Narasimha Swamy
4.8. Karanja Narasimha Swamy
4.9. HG Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu
5. Day Four : The Paavana Experience!
5.1. Paavana Narasimha Swamy
5.2. Mahanandi
5.3. Back to Cuddappah and Pune
6. Epilogue

0. How to reach Ahobilam, Places to visit, Where to stay, Contacts, and Itinerary

Nearest Railway station coming from Pune is Cuddappah in Andhra Pradesh. Its 125 Kms from Ahobilam. 3 hour car drive.

Places to visit

1. Nine self-manifest Narasimha deities (nava-Narasimha)
1.1. Bhargava Narasimha (Ahobilam)
1.2. Chatravata Narasimha (Ahobilam)
1.3. Yogananda Narasimha (Ahobilam)
1.4. Karanja Narasimha (Ahobilam)
1.5. Ahobila Narasimha (Lower Ahobilam)
1.6. Varaaha (Krodha) Narasimha (Lower Ahobilam)
1.7. Jwaalaa Narasimha (Upper Ahobilam, Vedadri hills)
1.8. Malola Narasimha (Upper Ahobilam, Vedadri hills)
1.9. Paavana Narasimha (Upper Ahobilam, Garudadri hills)
2. Prahlad’s school and cave (Upper Ahobilam, near Malola Narasimha)
3. Ugra-Stambha (Upper Ahobilam, Vedadri hills, via Jwaalaa Narasimha)
4. Prahlada-Varada Temple (Ahobilam)
5. Sri Ahobila Math (Ahobilam)

Place to stay and contact numbers

1. Sri Ahobila Math
1.1. 9490515284
1.2. 08519 252045

Itinerary

All the places can be visited in two days. But best is to give three days so that one can take darshan nicely and spend sufficient time at the various places. Roughly:
Half day for all places in Ahobilam
One day for all places on Vedadri hills
Half day for Paavana Narasimha (Garudadri hills)

1. Prelude

Ever since I heard that the pillar from which Lord Narasimha, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had burst out exists on the surface of the earth, I was fascinated. HG Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu (whom I will henceforth refer to as SKCP in this writeup) first told me about that place. “Have you been to Ahobilam?” he asked. “Ahobilam? What’s that? Never even heard of it” I said. “What! You have not heard of Ahobilam? What are you doing?” He was quite shocked that I did not know about Ahobilam. But when I heard about it from SKCP, I had no doubt in my mind that I must go there. I repeatedly started expressing my desire to SKCP and he was so kind to me that he decided to gift me an Ahobilam trip! Thank you very much Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu. I will be ever grateful.

2. Glorifying the Organizers in Lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan Movement

(Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu)

And so it began. One of the most memorable and unique experiences in my life. SKCP organized the whole trip from the very beginning. I was more of a spokesman. We reached out to about 40 devotees through email. But soon the whole of Pune congregation knew about it. We booked most of the tickets two and a half months in advance. As the trip grew closer, we had to finalize more and more things. Lodging, Prasadam (meals and snacks), road transport in and around Ahobilam, medical equipment, etc. I am mentioning this especially to bring out the point that even for arranging a 3-day trip for 20-odd devotees takes a lot of planning and efforts. When I experienced this for the first time in my life (typically I stay away from administrative tasks), I realized how much trouble the devotees of Lord Chaitanya take to propagate His mission. One can clearly see that organization is one of the most important limbs of Lord Gauranga’s mission and to organize things day-in-and-day-out surely puts a lot of strain on the body and mind. Suddenly I realized how important is this skill of organizing in Lord Chaitanya’s movement, and that therefore I should also try to become decently good at it in order to serve Srila Prabhupada effectively. Organizing, it seems to me, is not only one of the most challenging services, but since not all might know how tough it is, it is also one of the most thankless. I therefore pay my heartfelt obeisances to all devotees who serve the movement in the role of organizers. And SKCP is a brilliant organizer!

3. Day One-Two : The journey to Ahobilam, and Four temples

We started from Pune on the evening of August 13, and reached Cuddappah (Andhra Pradesh) around 1230 on the 14th. In the train we recited all the Mangal Arati prayers and kirtans. HG RamKrishna Prabhu then gave a short Bhagavatam class. In Cuppappah, four sumos were already waiting for us to take us to Ahobilam. We reached the holy dham of Ahobilam at around 1500. The lodging had already been arranged for us in the Sri Ahobila Math. After a quick shower and a quick lunch, all of us were ready for what we had come for! Darshan of the Lord! Ahobilam is the place where Lord Narasimha Dev has exhibited (and keeps exhibiting even to the day) numerous pastimes. The most famous of them is of course the protection of the pure devotee Prahlad by the destruction of the demon Hiranyakashipu. There are nine different self-manifest (svayambhu, or svayama-vyakta) deities of Lord Narasimha amidst the hills of the Ahobila Kshetra. Aho-bilam literally means “wonderful cave” referring to the caves in which some of the nine self-manifest deities appeared and/or stay. Ahobilam is also referred to as Aho-balam, referring to the wonderful strength of Lord Narasimhadev. These nine deities together form one Divya-Desham. There are 108 such Divya-Deshams all over India. All of these are temples of Lord Vishnu in His various forms. Apart from these nine deities there are other temples and spots which are all transcendental. Hold your breath, and read on, as I take you through all of them one-by-one.

3.1. Bhargava Narasimha Swamy

I have always liked to be in the middle of nature. And I love to travel too. Therefore, I reminded myself again and again, before and after reaching Ahobilam, that I am not here for a trekking picnic to have a nice time, but that I am here for the sacred task of taking the darshan of Lord Narasimha in His special abode. Ahobilam has three parts. Ahobilam, Lower Ahobilam, and Upper Ahobilam. That day we visited four temples in Ahobilam. This dham is considered next only to Tirupathi by the devotees of the glorious Sri Sampradaya.

We climbed into four four-wheel drive jeeps and started for Bhargava Narasimha. We took off from the main tarmac road onto a dirt road made slushy and uneven in a lot of places by the recent rains. Quite a roller-coaster experience. SKCP was in my jeep and was very excited. We sang the Narasimha Pranam while we jostled around in the jeep barely holding onto something so as not to fall off or hurt ourselves. It was quite an exciting experience. The jeeps reached a spot on the hills in the jungle from where we had to walk for 5 minutes or so to the stairs that led up to the temple of Bhargava Narasimha. I and SKCP were without any footwear and either the stones were pricking us now and then, or we were kicking the stones unintentionally now and then. The sole and the front part of the thumbs were most exposed to injury. But, with the knowledge that any trouble or pain one undergoes in the dham purifies one’s past sins, the occasional bursts of pain were blissful because they reminded me of Lord Narasimha even more intensely. We climbed up the stairs amidst lush green foliage. The kids were having a ball. I was just too happy to speak much. I was trying to immerse my consciousness into the dham. Just to take it all in as much as possible so that I can later meditate on it when I am actually out of the dham.

Bhargava Muni wanted to see the Lord in His form when He was just about to kill Hiranyakashipu. He performed tapasya here and pleased the Lord who appeared in front of him in the form where His two hands are just about to enter Hiranyakashipu’s belly. Both the Lord and Hiranyakashipu are looking in the direction of Bhargava Muni. Hence the name Bhargava Narasimha!

3.2. Chatravata Narasimha Swamy

(Chatravata Narasimha Swamy)

Still barefoot, I, along with the other devotees, walked back to the jeeps. After another roller-coaster ride, we were on the tarmac road once again. “Thank God” someone said, “Oh no!” I said. I was actually enjoying the ride. We swapped the jeeps with the sumos and now headed towards Chatravata Narasimha. The sumos stopped on the road far way from any visible temple. But I soon realized that this was because the road that led off to our right towards the temple was blocked by a fallen tree! Just part of the eternal Narasimha Lila! Lord Narasimha is not easily attained nor is He to be taken for granted. I and SKCP (and perhaps most others) were enjoying every moment of it. The plot thickened a bit though when we found that not only was the tree fallen, it was also on fire! Presumably the fire was due to a broken electric wire. Now I had to be really careful without my footwear. Dodging the smoldering embers, we crossed that hurdle without casualty. Some devotees took a little detour, and instead of coming through the blazing maze of the broken tree, they had to contend with a 5-6 feet deep ravine to cross. This way or that, Lord Narasimha was making sure that our remembrance of Him intensifies. This was His causeless mercy.

Chatravata Narasimha is smiling widely in this temple. He was very pleased to hear the musical performances of two Gandharvas, Haahaa and Hoohoo, and therefore personally appeared here to give them audience. While doing so, he started counting the musical beats on His left thigh with His left hand. It’s a beautiful deity and one is amazed how such a deity can be self-manifest. Laxmiji is seated on the right side of His chest on a lotus flower. The deity is the very emblem of peace and tranquility.

Just outside the temple we encountered saffron clad renunciates. Later I heard a devotee mention that these renunciates cant be bogus because Ahobilam is not really a commercial place. I immediately instructed my mind to be as non-judgmental as possible in the dham.

3.3. Yogananda Narasimha Swamy

We encountered the same obstacles while going back to our sumos. By Lord Narasimha’s mercy, no one was injured (as far as I know). Next we went to visit Yogananda Narasimha. Here is where the Lord taught Yoga to His most beloved Prahlad. The Lord Himself is sitting in a particular Yoga-asana which is impossible for anyone except Him to perform. There is also a Yoga belt around his knees. One time, somehow this deity got damaged and the then Jeeyar got very much disturbed. (Jeeyar is the term used to refer to the spiritual master of the Ahobilam Math.) His health went down, and so on. Therefore a new deity was installed in the same temple on a raised platform just behind the original self-manifest one. Thus, today there are two Yoganada Narasimha Swamy deities in that temple, the original self-manifest one, and the later installed one. Of course, Vaishnavas understand that both deities are as bona fide as the other.

3.4. HG Purushottam Murali Prabhu

(HG Purushottam Murali Prabhu on top of the Ugra Stambha)

With hearts full of deep satisfaction, we returned back in our sumos to the Sri Ahobila Math where we were staying. SKCP, UgraNarasimha Prabhu, and others were busy chalking out the next day’s plans. But I was still trying to get into the mood of the dham. I was trying to fix my consciousness on the significance of a dham. The dham is non-different from Vaikuntha, and I was trying to comprehend just how fortunate I was to be there, amongst devotees. While I was lost thus in my thoughts, I heard a booming “Hare Krishna Prahbu!” from SKCP. I was jolted out of my thoughts and it took me some moments to realize what was going on. Who is he to whom SKCP is calling out “Hare Krishna!” so happily and excitedly in Ahobilam? Must be an ISKCON devotee, and must be someone whom SKCP knows. And in another few moments even I wanted to start dancing of joy! I did not actually do so, but I remember telling one devotee that I really wanted to dance in happiness! Because we had just met HG Purushottam Murali Prabhu! A saffron-clad brahmachari (celibate) disciple of HH Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami Maharaj.

So many thoughts erupted in my mind. But the essence of all of those was that just how much mercy were we getting! Because of Srila Prabhupada and his followers, its only a matter of time before Lord Chaitanya’s movement spreads in every town and village on the face of the earth. And those who are instrumental in this mission are glorious beyond description. HG Purushottam Murali Prabhu told us some things about himself. He has an engineering degree. After marrying off his sisters, he decided to dedicate his life fully to the service of the Lord. He told that he was always spiritually inclined and had decided to be a lifelong celibate even while he was in the 9th standard in school. He used to study a lot of Sri Sampradaya literature as well as Srila Prabhupada books. But finally he decided to join ISKCON, one of the main reasons being that Srila Prabhupada emphasizes clearly the process to be followed in this age of Kali. He has managed to acquire a 10acre land in Allacata (100 Kms from Ahobilam) and a 1acre land in Ahobilam. Soon Krishna Conscious centers will be developed on these lands. College preaching will also start soon in that region of India. Sometime later this year he will be presenting a paper in an international conference related to spirituality.

For us, his arrival was god-sent, literally. It was quite clear to us that Lord Narasimha had arranged this for us, His own children. Throughout our next two days’ excursions and adventures, PMP was with us as a loving and caring spiritual guide and inspiration. We did not have time to hear long lectures from him, but with his behavior he taught us the sublime Vaishnava qualities like humility and service attitude. With him around, we were feeling safe and secure and quite at home in the daunting hills of Ahobilam.

I will refer to Purushottam Murali Prabhu as PMP henceforth in this article.

3.5. Prahlad-Varada Narasimha Swamy

The Prahlad-Varada Narasimha Swamy Temple is just a one-two minute walking distance away from the Sri Ahobila Math. My heart swells in joy as I remember it. It is not one of the nava-Narasimhas (nine Narasimhas) and if PMP had not been with us, we would not have given too much attention to it. But PMP took us there. It’s a gorgeous temple, built by the famous king Krishna Dev Raya. All the sculptured pillars are carved out of single pieces of rock. The main deity is that of Sri Prahlad Varada Narasimha (It’s a Laxmi Narasimha Deity). Just outside the main temple hall, before taking darshan of the Lord, PMP narrated to us a most fascinating pastime. This deity was installed by none other than, hold your breath… none other than Lord Balaji! I was stunned. Lord Balaji married Padmavati, and for Padmavati Lord Balaji installed this deity of Lord Narasimha here. The pastimes of the Lord are sweeter than nectar. How can words capture the feelings of joy that I was experiencing that time, and even now, as I remember those golden moments from the unforgettable Ahobilam Yatra.

(Group photo on the steps of Balaji Temple in the Prahlad-Varada Temple complex)

The temple also has a deity of Amrutavalli Taayar. Taayar means Laxmiji. Just like Sri Radha has a special position in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya, Taayar has similar significance in the Sri Samprdaya. There is also a temple of Lord Balaji in the temple premises along with other structures in the honor of the various acharyas. There is also a hall in which all nine Narasimha deities of the nava-Narasimhas are sculptured on pillars. Some of them have been partially broken by the Islamic invaders, but most of them are fine.

This temple is a classic Sri Sampradaya Temple and I was very much impressed. One can feel the strong vibrations of devotion all around and also sense the mood of joyfulness as well as seriousness in all the dealings of the Sri Vaishnavas. The guru-shishya disciplic succession is one of the most pleasing systems of the Vedic culture. The respect for the predecessor acharyas acts like a unifying bond and a soothing balm for the entangled souls of this world which is so prone to quarrel and disunity. The culture and lifestyle of the Vaishnava residents of Ahobilam reminds one of the Vedic times where the temple of the Lord was the center of all activities.

Just before entering the main temple, to the left, is a pond, typical of many old South Indian Temples. Every year, the festival of Brahmotsava is celebrated in South India. An important deity travels to all the major Sri Sampradaya temples and that journey ends at Ahobilam. At this end of the journey, the Sudarshan Chakra of the Lord bathes in this pond.

4. Day Three : Adventure Day! Five temples, Prahlad’s School, Ugra-Stambha!

Without PMP, we would have had to rely on the guide while trekking up and down the various places we had to visit. Not only that, the guide is definitely not the best person to hear Hari Katha from. But now, with PMP with us, I was bubbling with anticipation for the next day. We still took the guide with us, and he did prove to be very useful and helpful, but we now could hear the various pastimes of the Lord from the mouth of His devotee, and that was just too good. Before leaving for the trip, I had this one concern that we will not have association of a senior devotee who knows a lot about Ahobilam. But the presence of PMP solved all that. PMP and SKCP then finalized the plans for the next day and then we all slept, but not before a few managerial tasks for SKCP and me. Amongst them was the task of distributing snacks (which we had got along from Pune) to all devotees who would carry them with them while trekking the next day.

4.1. The Morning Japa

Piyush Prabhu, Manish Prabhu, SKCP, and I got up early in the morning at around 0300. At around 0400 we were all at the Prahlada-Varada Narasimha Temple. We found a nice spot facing the magnificent gopuram of the temple and sat there to chant. It was one of the best chanting I had ever done. The brahma muhurta hours, the strong spiritual vibrations of Ahobilam, the fresh morning air, and the seriously chanting devotees… all of it combined to form one of the best chanting spots one could dream of. When my mind wandered and I opened my eyes, I could see Piyush Prabhu chanting intensely. This inspired me to chant intensely as well. Time and again I was amazed at my great good fortune that I have landed up in this place, a place which was unheard of for me only a few months ago. I understood that the Lord does fulfill all desires of His devotees, and I was touched by these thoughts.

4.2. Varaaha (or Krodha) Narasimha Swamy

Almost all devotees were ready to go by 0630. Most of them jumped into three of the Sumos and started off for Lower Ahobilam, from where our trek would commence. SKCP and I stayed back for PMP to arrive. We gave ourselves the deadline of 0700 after which even we would have left off without PMP. Perhaps somehow he has got caught up in some work, perhaps he has forgotten, perhaps this, perhaps that… SKCP told me that each time he sets himself such deadlines, the expected event always occurs before it. It was time to see if that trend continues… Haribol! Sure enough, at the strike of the hour, PMP came marching along and SKCP looked at me and with a huge smile and his booming voice exclaimed, “I told you so! You see? He’s here just in time! Its 0700!”.

Lord Narasimha was bestowing His mercy in different ways. Putting us in little anxieties, and then taking us out of them as well. This way He was increasing our remembrance of Himself in His own abode. This is mercy! Fortunately, we reached Lower Ahobilam just a few minutes after the other Sumos. At Lower Ahobilam is another one of the nava-Narasimhas, but we decided to visit Him while returning. We collected a stick for each of us (for trekking) and started off. Soon we entered the jungle and the uphill climb started. We were walking along the Bhavanaashini River. It was a small but forceful stream with ponds in various places. The water was sparklingly clean and nectar to drink. Later in the trip we were fearlessly filling in our water bottles with the water from the flowing Bhavanashini river. It evaporated our fatigue and rejuvenated us for the trek ahead. Just the sight of it was soothing.

There are three hills in Ahobilam. Vedadri, Garudadri, and Achalachalam (need to confirm this name though). The personified Vedas had performed austerities to please the Lord on the Vedadri, and Garuda had done the same on the Garudadri. That day we were going to visit the temples on the Vedadri. The first temple we came across was the Varaaha Narasimha Swamy Temple. Just like all other deities of the nava-Narasimhas, this deity is also self manifest, and it resides in a cave. Lord Varaaha is facing upwards towards His left, and Laxmiji is sitting on His left shoulder holding one of His tusks. A beautiful deity and it evoked emotions of love and affection in my heart for the Lord. How beautiful, elegant, and magnificent is the Lord in everything He does.

4.3. Jwaalaa Narasimha Swamy

After about at least an hour of trekking we arrived at the cave temple of Jwaalaa Narasimha. The cave has a 3-4 deities. One of them is of Lord Narasimha coming out of the pillar. One of them is Lord Narasimha chasing after and catching Hiranyakashipu just before killing him. There is also a deity of the Lord holding Hiranyakashipu on His lap, two hands holding Hiranyakashipu down, and two hands just about to rip him apart! Surely awesome! It reminded me of the utter helplessness of every living entity in front of the might of the Lord. And yet, the Lord is so merciful that He lovingly takes care of us even though we are rebellious. Of course, Hiranyakashipu committed grave Vaishnava Aparadhs, and therefore the Lord gave a different kind of treatment to him. Jwaalaa Narasimha is the place where the Lord finally killed Hiranyakashipu.

The path leading to the Jwaalaa Narasimha goes under an overhanging rock. At the same time, the Bhavanashini river falls down from somewhere above this rock in the form of a waterfall. All of us had nice quick refreshing shower under this waterfall both while going towards and going away from the Jwaalaa Narasimha. And we also filled our water bottles with that water. We had to be careful though. Just beyond the not-so-tall railing was a deep vertical drop. In fact, the place we were standing at was a narrow ledge on the face of a vertical rock. Its quite amazing that we were all quite relaxed all this while. Near the temple, towards the right of the path (the left of the path was the vertical drop), is a small pond where Lord Narasimha washed the blood off His hands after killing the demon. Even today, the rocks around that pond are tinged with red. The water itself is crystal clear and nectarean.

4.4. The Ugra-Stambha!

All this while, I was sub-consciously aware of the Ugra-Stambha. I had heard from devotees that it was deadly dangerous to scale it, especially in the rains. Fortunately, the rains had stayed away apart from the occasional very light drizzle. But still, the general notion was that scaling the Ugra Stambha is something almost impossible. With these thoughts in mind, I was preparing my mind for an extremely dangerous experience. I had past experiences that I could imagine this one to be like. I remember once I was climbing down a vertical cliff without any cliff-hanging gear. It was an experience I will not forget for a long time. Death was one mistake away. I was thinking perhaps the Ugra Stambha would be something of that sort. In fact, not until we heard encouraging words from PMP were we certain about scaling the Stambha. But with PMP with us, encouraging, most of us were prepared to undertake that mission.

We had the first glimpse of the Ugra Stambha on the way to the Jwaalaa Narasimha. It was a majestic site. And from where we were, scaling it was seeming quite impossible. From there we could also see that what is left of the Ugra Stambha resembles the head of Garuda who is looking ahead majestically. There is one slot each on the two faces of the Ugra Stambha which resemble the eyes of Garuda. And the vertical walls of the hills on both sides of the Stambha resemble the wings of Garuda. Thus, we beheld the form of Garuda flying majestically! It was one of most magnificent sights I had ever seen in my life.

With so much uncertainty around the trek up the Ugra Stambha, everyone was praying to Lord Narasimha for protection. 3-4 elderly devotees had decided to stay back at the Jwaalaa Narasimha temple. It was a wise decision. The climb up was steep, but not unmanageable for young people. However, it was the first time in my life I was trekking with a dhoti instead of standard trekking gear. The idea of doing so had sounded quite ridiculous to me initially, but SKCP insisted that in the dham we should look like dham-vaasis. I was still unsure for some time, but eventually decided to go ahead with the dhoti plan. Hopefully SKCP was pleased with this decision of mine too.

We were climbing up the Stambha from the side opposite to what we had seen from below. On the way the guide pointed to me a grave of a person who fell from the top of the Ugra Stambha and died. I did not announce this to the rest, and asked the guide to also not mention these things right now. As HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami Maharaja (Spiritual Master of SKCP) says, “The mind is very powerful. Better not think of death or accidents especially while driving etc.” Without much difficulty we reached the very top. But that was not the final destination. The trickiest part came now. First, we had to cross over a small bridge-like natural structure. It was just 3-4 feet wide, and on both sides were steep drops. The left side drop was no so dangerous (at least that’s what it seemed to me), but the right side drop was sure-shot death. We removed our footwear so that we get a better grip. We crossed the bridge sitting down on the bridge. We couldn’t afford a slip. But after some time, the tension eased and everyone crossed eventlessly.

But again, there was more to come! We were at the highest point in that area. In all directions we could see deep valleys. There was no shelter but Lord Narasimhadev. After this point, we had to climb down at a very steep angle. While looking down, one could see the deep valley, and one wrong step would lead one to certain death. The climb down itself was not necessarily tough, but the margin for error was too small. Those with fear of heights were shivering. Just before starting this climb down, there was dead silence. It was as if no one else was there but you and Lord Narasimha. That time I took shelter of Lord Narasimha Dev by remembering Him intensely. I had no doubt that whether I come back or not is totally in His hands. One devotee decided to stay up there and not proceed.

After 10-15 minutes of tricky steep ups and downs, one reached the final destination. At that place, which is perhaps a rough circle of diameter 5-6 feet, are the lotus foot prints of Lord Narasimhadev. Everyone circumambulated those while SKCP and Manish Prabhu loudly recited the Narasimha Prayers for the others. SKCP and Manish Prabhu were also expertly helping other devotees come up to the final destination. When PMP found out that one devotee had not come, he personally went and got him. Mercy!!

The devotees then came back. The way back was tricky too but we all came back safely. Many devotees expressed later that at some point or the other they did think that Lord Narasimha was their only shelter. I was more relaxed while coming down. Looking at it objectively, I think the trek was not difficult for regular trekkers. But then, Ahobilam is a dham and therefore it is inconceivable and absolutely anything can happen here. I would say that the trek seemed easy to me for the sole reason that Lord Narasimha was merciful upon me. I have had enough experiences in my short Krishna Conscious life to know for certain that without the Lord’s mercy, I cannot do anything. I cant even chant my 16 rounds without His mercy, then what to speak of climbing up and down the Ugra Stambha safely.

4.5. Malola Narasimha Swamy

After safely negotiating the Ugra Stambha, which was possible only by Lord Narasimhadev’s mercy, the rest of the trek was relatively simple. The kids, Mumjal and Chaitali, were having a ball! It was Chaitali’s birthday that day, and climbing the Ugra Stambha was her birthday gift! On the way back and towards our next destination, we looked back at the Ugra Stambha again and again. It struck me that I had just been to places which I keep hearing about all the time! It took some time for the fact to sink in that I had just returned from the very pillar from where Lord Narasimha emerged! Perhaps my hair was standing at that time…

After about half an hour or so, we reached the temple of Malola Narasimha Swamy. “Ma” refers to Laxmiji, “Lola” means “dear to”. The Lord who is very dear to Laxmiji – Malola. Narasimhadev married Chenchu Laxmi, a tribal girl, and this angered Laxmiji. In this Malola Narasimha Temple, the Lord is trying to pacify Laxmiji. For me, and perhaps for all present, who are used to hearing about the destruction of Hiranyakashipu, these other sweet pastimes of Lord Narasimhadev are very very heart warming. That same Lord who was angry beyond description because His devotee was troubled, in this pastime is trying to pacify His another devotee Laxmiji. Not for nothing is the Lord known as Bhakta Vatsala. The Malola Narasimha deity is one of the sweetest deities I have ever seen. My heart is still stirred as I remember that awesome man-lion trying to somehow pacify Laxmiji who has become annoyed with Him. Oh, what a pastime!

PMP told us that this is one of the most powerful places and one can clearly feel the strong vibrations there. He also told us that each of the nava-Grahas (9 planets considered in astrological calculations) has one of these nava-Narasimhas as its Adhipati. Thus, anyone who takes darshan of these nine Narasimhas wont be affected by the bad effects of the nava grahas. He also explained that Vaishnavas are anyways exempt for any such planetary effects. But then, I cannot claim myself to be a Vaishnava, and therefore, at least because of taking the darshan of the nava-Narasimhas, I will be saved from the bad effects of the nava grahas.

4.6. Prahlad’s School and Cave

(Prahlad's School)

Around a 15 minute walk from the Malola Narasimha Temple is a mystic place, in the sense that once you go there, you wont feel like coming back. At least that was my experience. It’s the school where Prahlad studied. It’s a wide open space in the middle of all the rocky hills. Nowhere else did I see such open space in the Ahobilam hills. The surface of that open space is also made of rocks, but its more like a rock flooring than a rocky uneven surface. Not only that, the whole surface is checker-boarded with horizontal and vertical lines carved in that stone. One can also find some kind of script etched on that stone surface. But even without all this, the moment I saw that place, my heart was captured. How wonderful will it be to just be there and read and hear the Bhagavatam amongst exalted devotees? We chanted 1-2 rounds there. At the far end of the flat surface is a small cave where Lord Narasimha gives Yoga practical classes to Prahlad. The theory classes are held at the Yogananda Narasimha Temple which we visited the previous day. I did not want to leave that place, but of course I had to. PMP told us that many senior ISKCON devotees including HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja comes to this spot to chant. No wonder. Even an insignificant neophyte like me could experience the potency of the place, then what to speak of pure devotees.

4.7. Ahobila Narasimha Swamy

A 20minute walk took us back to Lower Ahobilam where we visited the Temple of Ahobila Narasimha Swamy. Fearing the invaders, the 6th Jeeyar of the Ahobila Math (the current Jeeyar is the 45th) hid the golden utsav deities of the Lord someplace in the temple and sealed that place. Its said that the 6th Jeeyar is still worshipping those deities in that sealed place. Few years ago the Chief Minister of the state started a project to unearth those golden deities. The contractor, his family, and the main engineer, all died. The project was scrapped. The deity in that temple is that of Ugra Narasimha. The cave also has in it a cot for the Lord, most probably for the times when He comes out of the temple for processions etc.

4.8. Karanja Narasimha Swamy

We returned the sticks, sat in our Sumos, and started off for Karanja Narasimha Swamy Temple, which is on the way back to the Sri Ahobila Math where we were put up. Lord Hanuman did a lot of tapasya in this place. Lord Narasimha appeared, but Hanuman refused to accept Him as his Lord. He longed for Lord Ramachandra. Lord Narasimha told Hanuman that He was indeed non-different from Lord Ramachandra. Still Hanuman did not accept. Then, the Lord showed Hanuman His form as Lord Ramachandra. Only then was Hanuman satisfied and started worshipping Him with folded palms. Due to this pastime, the Lord holds a bow in His left hand, like Lord Ramachandra, in this temple. The Lord appeared near a Karanja tree and hence the name Karanja Narasimha Swamy.

4.9. HG Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu

Needless to say, everyone was dead tired. We reached back to the Sri Ahobila Math at around 1630. Perfectly in time in order to get enough rest before the next day’s exertions start. I and Piyush Prabhu went with PMP to the place where he stays. It was a nice walk through the rural village of Ahobilam. PMP worships the deity of Sri Sri Radha Ahobileshwar in the place where he stays. I was barefoot again and was enjoying it. Sometime during this walk I think, one stone pierced my right foot near its base. After that walking barefoot was really some kind of austerity. But yet, I took it as mercy of the Lord.

Even as everyone was taking rest, SKCP was taking care of the organizational part of the trip. 6 new devotees had arrived from Hyderabad, and SKCP quickly arranged for their lodging, prasadam, guide, transport, etc. Without worrying about his own fatigue, he massaged the legs of the elderly devotees personally. Surely, he got a lot of blessings from all the devotees. Then we distributed the snacks to all devotees for the next day’s trek. Somewhere in between we also went out for a stroll. The weather was beautiful with a nice cool breeze. We had some lemon juice, bought some souvenirs, and so on. Then we settled most of the accounts with the Sri Ahobilam Math. And so many such things that kept us from going to bed. Finally, we slept at around 2300.

During the whole trip, there were so many organizational things to be done. That causes so much mental strain. But SKCP did all that without anyone else knowing anything about it. I was very impressed. SKCP is a great asset for Lord Chaitanya’s movement, and it was a privilege to assist him in serving the devotees.

Not only that, even while trekking, he kept encouraging everyone, especially the ones who were very tired. Someone told me that SKCP was the source of strength and inspiration for them. He was always jolly, always extending himself for helping out others, and always considering how to best serve the Vaishnavas. Hats off to SKCP! Three cheers for SKCP!!!

5. Day Four : The Paavana Experience!

After the hectic previous day, I did not wake up at 0300. But Piyush Prabhu did! Actually, at the end of the previous day’s exertions, Piyush Prabhu had developed severe pain in one of his knees. AvinashGovinda Prabhu (physiotherapist) told him that it was an internal ligament related pain and could get quite nasty. Despite all this, Piyush Prabhu still got up at 0300 and was ready by 0400 and set off to the Prahlada Varada Temple for chanting. I reached there at around 0530. I chanted most of my rounds before we left the Sri Ahobilam Math at around 0730. I also took quite a few snaps of the temple, and in particular of the magnificent gopuram.

5.1. Paavana Narasimha Swamy

It was Balaram Jayanti that day and most of the devotees were on a nirjal (without even water) fast till noon. The sumos took us to Lower Ahobilam. This time we trekked up the Garudadri. The previous day we had trekked up the Vedadri. The initial 1000-odd steps are followed by a 5km walk to the temple of Paavana Narasimha Swamy. Bharadwaj Muni had performed tapasya here to cleanse himself of all sins. Hence this deity is known as Paavana (purifying) Narasimha.

As soon as we started walking up the steps, we encountered the first signs of what was to follow. Blood! The Paavana Narasimha Swamy is associated with a most bewildering pastime. Lord Narasimha married a tribal girl Chenchu Laxmi (who appeared in the tribe called Chenchu) on the spot where the Paavana Narasimha Temple is situated. Now, these tribal people eat meat. In fact they sacrifice animals right in front of the temple and offer it to the Lord. Well, they don’t take the meat inside the temple, but they offer it to Him from outside. The temple is still a Sri Vaishnava Temple, and therefore, the pujaris wont allow any meat inside the temple.

As we climbed up, the surroundings became more and more pleasing. At one point, we could see the Malola Narasimha Temple as well as Prahlad’s school on the opposite hill. It was a beautiful sight. After the stairs finished, a beautiful slightly descending path weaved through the jungle as we steadily progressed to the Paavana Narasimha Temple. We offered some Prasadam to a person, but PMP warned us to not do so here. Who knows, these people could be naxalites too! I heard PMP chanting “Ugram Veeram, MahaVishnum, Jwalantam Sarvato Mukham; Narasimham Bheeshanam Bhadram, MrutyurMrutyu NamamiAham”. I also started chanting it.

On the way, at least 4 freshly sacrificed, freshly skinned, beheaded bodies of goats passed us. It was a gruesome sight. When we reached the temple after a one and a half hour walk, I was shocked even more. It was a Saturday, and PMP told me that the local tribesmen come here on Saturdays to sacrifice an animal whenever some of their material wishes get fulfilled. The place was full of tribesmen and tribeswomen. Though in saris, the women were shaven headed and reminded me of rakshasaas. The whole scene was more like a meat market than of a temple of Sri Vishnu. Dead cut-open carcasses hung upside down. Some people were even selling liquor. As we stood in line to take darshan of the Lord, we could see them skinning and cooking the heads of goats. All around were disturbing sights. I remember saying to Piyush Prabhu that this was as fearsome place.

But soon we got Darshan of the Lord and I relaxed a bit. Meanwhile, before standing in the line, PMP took a few of us to the house (cave) of Chenchu Laxmi. We climbed a small but steep hill barefoot. With some injury already to my foot, this was a challenge. But it was worth it. The cave has deities of Chenchu Laxmi, Hanuman, and Lord Narsimhadev. There also is a short tunnel through which we all went in order to perform a parikrama. It was frightening and exciting. The kids were jubilant! We spent quite some minutes up there. The stench of the dead meat below was repelling us and we preferred to be up here.

Soon we left the temple. On the way, the clock struck 12! There, right in the middle of the jungle, we all celebrated Balaram Jayanti! We placed small laminated photos of the Lord on the ground, resting against small rocks, and PMP led a kirtan. One of the most heart-touching moments of the trip, at least for me. This is the stuff the most cherished dreams are made of. After the kirtans we rested for 5-10 minutes, had some Prasadam and lots of water, and started walking again. In about an hour or so, we were back to Lower Ahobilam. Some devotees were really exhausted, but otherwise everyone was fine. We had our lunch Prasadam at the Math there (not the Sri Ahobila Math where we were put up). Nice and simple and soothing south Indian prasadam.

(SKCP and Me)

5.2. Mahanandi

After reaching back the Sri Ahobilam Math, we packed up quickly and left after paying obeisances to the holy dham of Ahobilam. The sumos then took us to a place called Mahanandi. It has a beautiful pond of crystal clear water whose source is unknown, and a temple of Lord Siva. Unfortunately, when we reached there, it was closed. We had our dinner Prasadam sitting on the earth there and then sat back in our sumos.

5.3. Back to Cuddappah and Pune

SKCP was with me in the sumo and we were very tired. PMP was also in the sumo as were Piyush Prabhu and his father. SKCP and I were having a nice time as if we had become kids once again. These are the moments I cherish most, and what’s more, these moments gives me a glimpse of what kind of joy awaits us in the spiritual world where we will be so close to Krishna. After about three hours, at around 2300, we reached the Cuddappah Railway Station. Everyone was very tired and very sticky with sweat. The waiting rooms of the station were very good and provided us good rest. Our hero, SKCP, boarded the 0030 train to Chennai, while the rest of us had to catch a morning train. We boarded the 0430 train. Quite some time we slept in the train. At other times, we talked about our trip very fondly. I spent a lot of time with AvinashGovind Prabhu and his wife, Piyush Prabhu and his father, and also Ugra Narasimha Prabhu, Nitin Prabhu and their wives. In the evening we had an hour or so of Bhajan Sandhya in which quite a few devotees sang various bhajans and kirtans. The whole atmosphere was surcharged with the holy name of Krishna! So many co-passengers would have surely benefited immensely. We reached Pune around 2330.

6. Epilogue

It was without question one of the most memorable experiences of my life. My heart was captured by the various places I visited and also by the inconceivable and sweet pastimes of the Lord. This is a long write-up, and yet I have surely missed so many things. But then, who has ever been able to capture the Lord? Days after I have returned from Ahobilam, some part of me still lingers on in Ahobilam, as if calling the rest of me back there again. Lord Narasimha was very merciful to all of us by letting us come to His abode and protecting us against all possible dangers. Devotees have been asking me for this article ever since I returned from Ahobilam. I hope that this article meets their expectations at least to some small degree. I pray that this article will inspire others to visit Ahobilam and get Lord Narasimha Dev’s mercy too.

aho veeryam aho shouryam aho bahu parakrame
naarsimhah param devam ahobilam ahobalam

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

The Children’s Ratha Yatra!

2008-07-30T15:35:00.005+05:30

Jagannath-Baladev-Subhadra-Sudarshan on Their Ratha!

More snaps:

http://picasaweb.google.com/toleyabhijit/RathaYatraChildrensVoice_July2008

On July 19, 2008, on behalf of Children’s VOICE, enthusiastic devotees arranged for a grand Ratha Yatra Festival for the pleasure of Lord Jagannath! Lord Jagannath is so kind that every year once he comes out of His temple at Sri Jagannath Puri Dham to give darshan to millions of living entities all over the universe. But Srila Prabhupada, His pure devotee, is even more kind! He has brought the transcendental festival of the Ratha Yatra to the streets of all the major cities in the world! Srila Prabhupada’s mercy continues to increase day-by-day as his followers continue to strive hard to push ahead his movement.

One such example was this children’s Ratha Yatra. It was arranged very lovingly by Deepali Mataji, Jyothi Mataji, Madhuri Nidhi Mataji, and Anna Mataji and their friends under the wonderful and able guidance of H. G. Yashodarani Mataji. The venue was the house and society in which H. G. Sri Badarayani Prahbu resides.At around 4pm, the small kids started arriving at the venue with their parents. The Mataji devotee gang then started decorating the beautiful kids with tilak, gopi dots, etc. After they were so decorated, the excited kids sat bubbling with excitement in front of His Grace Gaura Krishna Prabhu! Sunil Rao Prbbhu was instrumental in inviting him for this occasion. H. G. Gaura Krishna Prabhu is a brahmachari disciple of H. H. Lokanath Swami Maharaj. He led an ecstatic kirtan to which the kids and their parents responded enthusiastically. He also passed around the mike to the kids so that they could each lead one Hare Krishna Mantra each! Varying the tempo of the kirtan between slow to medium to super fast, he enthralled everyone present. After the kirtan, he impressed upon the children that today they are supposed to take Krishna back from Kurukshetra to Vrindavan where all His relatives and friends are waiting desperately to meet Him.

The bubbling children were then given banners and flags. Some of the flags were small round pieces of paper with Lord Jagannath ‘s face painted on them. A beautiful red Ratha was already ready for carrying Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladev, Mother Subhadra, and the Sudarshan Chakra on their journey. Once the Ratha was properly positioned, Their Lordships arrived to sit on them. H. G. Gaura Krishna Prabhu performed an arati for the deities while Piyush Prabhu led a sweet kirtan. The kids were too excited already to wait any longer! And after the conch shell was blown, the children pulled the Ratha! Jai Jagannath!

Children pulling the Ratha

The Mataji devotees had made wonderful arrangements. The kids were well trained. Some of them were sweeping the path before the Lord’s Ratha. Others were showering flower petals before the path of the Lord’s Ratha. All the parents were full of smiles and some even actively took part in pulling the cart and other arrangements.

Meanwhile H. G. Gaura Krishna Prabhu and Piyush Prabhu were leading an ecstatic kirtan, simultaneously playing the bongo and the mridangam respectively. H. G. Sri Badarayani Prabhu and others played the kartals while Piyush Prabhu’s father and others carried on their shoulders the speaker. Everyone was blissful. Almost all the balconies in the surrounding buildings had people curiously looking at the amazing scenes below. Lord Jagannath was at His merciful best! The Ratha was pulled out on the streets! Traffic was stopped as the Lord of the Universe rode gallantly pulled lovingly by His devotees. Never before has such mercy been available to the people of the world. Lord Chaitanya’s devotees were singing and dancing on the street as if inviting everyone to join in the eternal pastimes of Lord Jagannath.

Along the way, quite a few people came out of their houses to offer their respect to Lords Jagannath-Baladev-Subhadra-Sudarshan. They offered Him incense, flowers, and even some bhoga. It was a touching scene as amidst rousing kirtans the Lord accepted the offerings of His children. For those who are too busy to pay Him a visit, the Supreme Lord Himself comes out to give darshan. What mercy! Jai jagannath! Jai Gaur-Nitai! Jai Srila Prabhupada!

The Ratha finally reached its final destination, back to Sri Badarayani Prabhu’s house. H. G. Gaura Krishna Prabhu and Piyush Prabhu, as if tireless, continued leading ecstatic kirtans as the kids danced with gay abandon. Prasad distribution followed and everyone honored the delicious Chinese preparations. Surely, a lot of kids and parents were touched and inspired by this event. Surely the efforts of all the devotees did not go in vain. Surely Lord Jagannath was pleased! Let us congratulate and thank H. G. Yashodarani Mataji, Deepali Mataji, Jyothi Mataji, Madhuri Nidhi Mataji, Anna Mataji, Sri Badarayani Prabhu, Sunil Rao Prabhu and their friends for their efforts. And let us thank H. G. Gaur Krishna Prabhu and Piyush Prabhu for their tireless enthusiasm and ecstatic kirtans. Let us also thank and congratulate everyone who participated in this most auspicious festival of the Ratha Yatra! Jai Jagannath! Jai Jaannath! Jai Jagannath!

Yours in the service of Krishna, Abhijit.

The Rediscovery of True Happiness

2008-06-26T18:28:00.004+05:30

Hare Krishna!

Since this is a long article, here is a summary. Conditioned souls are under the illusion that what they are doing will give them happiness. All material activities are different ways of enjoying independently of Krishna. But true happiness lies only in serving Krishna. Therefore the Krishna Conscious movement of Srila Prabhupada, out of immense compassion, condemns all material activities, and dispels all illusions, so that people can get a chance to be truly happy by serving Krishna.

I had been struggling with my mind for the last few days. My not so old past came haunting back at me and captured my mind in its vice-like grip. I knew all the philosophy but still I struggled. I have fortunately come out of that struggle and I am so glad that it did not take me too long. Only a couple of days. In those pre-Krishna Conscious days I used to take shelter of my mentally concocted philosophy in such situations. But since that philosophy was not founded on the principles of the Bhagavad Gita, it did not really cure the root cause of all mental maladies -- the misidentification of the self with the material body.

This time also I took shelter of philosophy, the Krishna Conscious philosophy. And not surprisingly, it got me out of my struggle and pacified my mind. So what was my problem? Well, some might find it childish, but sports lovers will be able to identify with it quite easily. I was a huge sports fan. Even today, I appreciate the qualities of a good sportman, the unflinching focus on the goal, the one-pointed determination to achieve it, the courage to face defeat, the humility while accepting the trophy, and so on. What has changed is that I can philosophically understand the insignificance of sports, despite all the hoopla that tends to shroud it.

However, what still lingers on with me is the urge to achieve something grand. I can now clearly see how watching sports was my way of fulfilling those desires of mine. That’s why such sports and heroic movies are so famous and so are the real life heroes. Because by hearing about them or watching them one vicariously enjoys their glories. But unfortunately, one also suffers their failures! And this was the exact cause of my struggle. I have a special attraction towards a sportstar from my pre-Krishna Conscious days. He always used to win, and therefore I used to love him. I had given my heart away to him. But now he has started losing, and guess what, despite all the philosophy I know, I feel the pain when he loses! Well, not much, but enough to disturb me when I realize how I still misidentify so much with the material body, and that too of someone else! I definitely have a long way to go.

As is my wont, I started thinking deeply about exactly what about the situation was disturbing me. Was it just the fact that my former hero lost a match? Or was it something deeper? As a result of some deep introspection, I could experience the various truths of the Krishna Consciousness philosophy very strongly. Here is that same introspection in words.

As I said, I feel very strongly about accomplishing grand things. Now, how is that bad? Well, it takes you away from the service to Krishna. OK, that’s the correct answer. But then, what should I do in life? If I don’t do what I really like to do, will I not be miserable? That’s the question that was really bugging me. In fact, I identified this exact cause only a couple of days ago when I was thinking deeply about my struggle with my favourite sportsman losing a match. In fact, this question is what deters so many people from Krishna Consciousness initially. I know a few examples personally. It disturbed me too initially, but somehow by the Lord’s mercy, I could overcome it enough at that time to start following Krishna Consciousness. People attached to a particular material activity find it very difficult to accept that their favourite activity is actually harmful to them, and even more difficult to accept that they better give up that activity if it cannot be dovetailed in the Lord’s service in a significant way. Watching and playing sports is definitely one such activity. There are many more such activities, but lets focus on this activity as an example.

So, back to the question. If life is not lived in the pursuit of something grand, then what kind of a life is that? Or at least cant I just appreciate the grand things in this world? Why deny myself even that? Surely, appreciating the good in others is not bad. And so on…

One vicariously enjoys the grand accomplishments of others. If my favourite sportsman wins, I am on top of the world. But unfortunately, I feel depressed if that sportman loses. Why? Because I identify with him! Its one illusion to identify with one’s own material body, but an even greater one to identify with someone else’s material body!

In the midst of all these thoughts came another thought, why do I at all want to accomplish great things? Hmmm… sounds quite a stupid question at the first glance. Why not? But then I started thinking deeper. Why do I want to accomplish great things? Just like that. But that’s not a sound philosophical answer. Why do I want to accomplish great things? Why don’t all have similar aspirations? Why does someone else want some thing else? Why the difference? And why does someone else want what he does? Why? Then it struck me! Because by accomplishing what one wants, one will become happy! Yes, that’s the commonality between all kinds of desires. To be happy. Yes, anandamayo abhyasat. The spirit soul is full of bliss and is always looking for it. Nothing wrong in that! Things started falling into place.

All activities done by a living entity are with the sole purpose of getting happiness out of the activity. Now, selfless (considering the colloquial definition) people of this world might say that they are working for the happiness of others, but still, they are acting for someone’s happiness. They also accept that everyone should be happy and in that way they get their satisfaction or happiness. Since they are acting for others’ happiness, they acknowledge that happiness is ultimately what everyone is seeking. They can’t deny this.

So, does one want to be happy or does one want to be great? Obviously, ultimately one wants to be happy. No sane man will say that I want to be great but not happy. How to get that happiness? Different people try using different means. But the purpose is to get happiness. But over a period of time they get so much engrossed in the process that they forget to analyze whether their activities are actually giving them happiness or not. They get so much attached to the means that they forget the goal. For example, in the beginning I might think that to be happy I need to become a great sportsperson. But in trying to become a great sportsperson, I lose my happiness. I am shrouded by anxieties, envy, restlessness, mental strain, and so many other things. Till I become the world’s number 1, I work hard for it, and after I reach there, I work hard to remain number 1. But surely one day I will have to face the truth, as my body will gradually decline and I will no longer be able to remain number 1. It will hurt like anything. And this is the story even for the world number one, what to speak of others. Of course, the others will say that the journey itself is the reward, but still that does not reduce the miseries too much. But I will undergo all this suffering for what? Well, to try hard to be world number 1. Isnt that a nice thing? But did you start out with that aim? No. Your aim was to be happy. But instead of that you were always anxious to become or remain world number 1. This logic cannot be understood by one who has become too much attached to the world number one spot. For him, that becomes his only goal even though at a certain point it becomes very painful. But still he is so attached to the world number one spot now, that anyone who will suggest anything else will be considered a fool by him. Even if it hurts, he will not give up his quest for the world number 1 spot.

How long can one enjoy in this world? And for those brief moments of joy, how much miseries one needs to undergo? Is it worth all the trouble? One attached to those brief moments will say “Yes!”. But the question is, do you want to be happy or do you want to be world number one? What is more important to you? In fact you earlier wanted to be happy, not world number one. But over a period of time your goals changed and you did not even know. You got caught up in the illusion that world number one is the only way to be happy and never thought twice about it. But actually, you don’t want to be world number one. You just want to be happy.

Therefore, when we see that someone is attached to something, we can understand that its only because that person thinks that that something will make him/her happy. But Krishna Conscious philosophy states that the only way you can be happy in the true sense (eternally) is by serving and loving Krishna (God). The materially attached person cannot accept this because he does not want to leave his own personal material attachments. He thinks that he will become unhappy if he does that. He cannot understand, because of the material attachment, that what he really wants is to be happy, and that his material attachments are not really giving him happiness.

The strongest material attachment is in the form of the false ego. Stronger than the mental and the intellectual attachments. When the material attachment becomes egoistic, enjoyment is derived from the satisfaction of the false ego. That I am great, I am powerful, I am the master, I am the best, I am the world number 1, and so on. The living entity rejoices so much in these illusory thoughts that its almost impossible to take him out of that illusion. He becomes completely attached to his egoistic thoughts. His happiness is derived from these thoughts. At that stage, any suggestions of surrendering to God sound ridiculous to him. And such men can develop atheistic tendencies and sometimes even can start thinking that they are God. This is the Mayavada philosophy, that I am God.

But soon enough their grand illusions are dispelled when they face various kinds of distresses in their life. But the attachment to the enjoyment of the false ego is so strong that even then such a conditioned soul does not accept that he is not happy in what he is doing. Even though he is looking for happiness, he will still be so attached to his egoistic ways, that he will continue carrying on those ways thinking that that is real happiness, even if it is hurting him. Just like (I read this in one of the lectures by HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj) in a mental asylum, a mad man bangs his head against a wall until blood starts pouring out and he still keeps banging. He actually thinks its very pleasurable. That’s why he is in the asylum. He is crazy and does not understand that this so-called pleasure is actually very harmful to him.

All conditioned souls are under the illusion that whatever they are doing will give them happiness. That’s why they are doing those activities. Who will work for unhappiness? Everyone works for happiness. The conditioned life started when the living entity residing in the spiritual world started thinking that there are ways of getting happiness other than serving Krishna. Even though they were still looking for happiness, they wanted it independent of the Lord. Thus using their minute independence, they chose to look for happiness somewhere else. And they are still trying to find it. Each and every material activity is just another way of finding happiness independent of Krishna. Some activities are obviously like that and some are more difficult to discern. But one way or other, all material activities, each and every one of them, is just another attempt at trying to enjoy separately from Krishna. But, the truth is that there is no true happiness independent of Krishna.

And thus, out of immense compassion, the Krishna Conscious movement of Srila Prabhupada condemns all material activities as useless and dangerous. It urges all who care to hear to gradually spiritualize their lives so that ultimately all of them can experience true happiness. Yes, it is difficult to let go of material attachments which are seemingly harmless, but then that’s the price to pay for eternal happiness. Surely, its not too much if you understand this.

People ask, why do you condemn the materialists when then don’t condemn you? The answer is that we are not coming down to the level of materialists and fighting against them. We are actually representing the all-merciful Krishna and trying to make as many people as possible truly happy. If we don’t condemn the materialistic activities, how will the materialists come out of the illusion that their activities will give them true happiness? If no one speaks the truth, how will anyone know about it? Therefore, out of their causeless mercy, the Lord’s pure representatives forcefully present the truth to all and urge all to come and experience true happiness.

Only a misinformed person can find fault in the activities of pure devotees of the Lord. Let us not be one of them, and let us continue steadily on the path chalked out for us by the great devotees of the Lord. Really grand things can only be spiritual in nature. Of the material, there is no longevity, and of the spiritual, there is no limit. Let me pray to Srila Prabhupada that my urge for the grand be effectively doevetailed into the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – Lord Gauranga.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Are we ready for the Challenge?

2008-05-25T21:43:00.005+05:30

A lesson from a materialist

Hare Krishna!

Yesterday, I attended a social gathering on the occasion of the wedding of one of my acquaintances. He is part of an activist group (which I will not name for the sake of anonymity) which looks out for social problems and tries to activate the exploited to rise up and fight against the oppression. Even though the problems they try to solve are purely on the bodily plane, still their intention is noble, at least on the face of it. There are innumerable such organizations or activist groups. They have always been around and they will always be around in the future too. And of course, the problems they try to solve will also always be around. That is, they will never be solved, for the simple reason that the activists do not know the root cause of all the problems – lack of Krishna Consciousness. Lord Krishna confirms this in the Bhagavad Gita 17.28, “Anything done as sacrifice, charity or penance without faith in the Supreme, O son of Prtha, is impermanent. It is called asat and is useless both in this life and the next.”

But we will not go into that in this article. What I want to point out in this article is that even some of these people show a lot of dedication and determination to follow the way of life they believe is the best. This acquaintance of mine has married a spouse who is also a social worker. My acquaintance did not consider how physically attractive the spouse is, how educated, how much is the salary, and so on, but just considered that the two of them can together follow their chosen path. This was quite inspiring to me. We can learn so much from the lives of such determined people.

We, as Krishna Conscious people, have the highest goal in front of us. To become Krishna Conscious, and to make others Krishna Conscious. Do we know of a loftier ideal to follow in life? If not, then we must be prepared to sacrifice a lot of things in order to achieve our goal. We must be determined that no matter what, we will follow the path in the best possible way. This is what I learned yesterday from a materialist. Can we surrender ourselves to Krishna more than any materialist does to his/her ideal? Are we prepared to take on this challenge? Time will tell.

Your servant,
Abhijit.

A Prayer to Srila Prabhupada

2008-05-23T14:41:00.013+05:30

A Prayer to His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Wandering in this world of deception,
I was in search of Perfection,
Exactly what, I did not know,
But surely something, I believed so.

Inspiration I got from all that’s grand,
Mediocrity I couldn’t stand,
But no matter how hard I tried,
Perfection I was always denied.

There were times of infatuations,
I couldn’t resist their temptations,
This is it! my mind impelled,
But one-by-one, the illusions dispelled.

Broken and bruised, my heart so torn,
Had given up hope, I was forlorn,
In the depths of despair I was lost,
In the waves of misery, I was tossed.

While I was being tortured so,
Crushed and dismantled, my proud ego,
All the miseries and pains to erase,
Came into my life, His Divine Grace!

His disciples carry him in their hearts,
All of them are doing their parts,
By bringing his mercy to one and all,
By not letting his glorious mission stall.

Through his followers, he came to me,
His books are there for all to see,
I finally found it, it was here,
Perfection, which was to me so dear!

His Divine Grace, my lord and master,
His Divine Grace, saved me from disaster,
Oh! Srila Prabhupada, thanks a lot,
Oh! Srila Prabhupada, forget me not.

Let my life be a mission glorious,
Let me take on the task so serious,
Of spreading far and wide your glories,
In every town and village there is.

What can a fool like me can do?
I am insignificant, it is true,
But what’s impossible for you my Lord,
Kindly a drop of mercy award.

When will come to pass that day,
In which my every breath will say,
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

This degraded sinner prays to you,
Oh! Lord, Oh! Master, Oh! Jagat Guru!
May you always be guiding me,
Under your feet let my existence be.

Eternal Form of the Supreme

2008-04-30T14:44:00.002+05:30

Hare Krishna!

The Srimad Bhagavatam explains that the Supreme has three aspects – the impersonal Brahman, the all pervasive localized Paramatma, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead Bhagavan, Krishna. The Bhagavan aspect is the most superior of the three because it’s the source of the other two.

Thus, impersonalism is not totally bogus. Just that its incomplete. Similarly, the realization of the Paramatma located within the heart of every living entity is also partial. But the realization of Krishna is the complete realization of God since by realizing Krishna the other two aspects are also realized. But by understanding the other two factors, Krishna is still not realized.

Now, coming to Mayavada. The problem with Mayavada is that it denies the Bhagavan aspect! It claims that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme realization of the Absolute Truth. That sometimes the Supreme Brahman gets covered by ignorance and is then called as the Lord! And when the Brahman is covered by ignorance to a large degree, its called the jiva. I am not going into the exact specifics here, but the point I am making is that the Mayavadis say that there is no such thing as an eternal sat-chit-ananda form of the Supreme. Instead, they say, that “Lord” is the term that refers to the Supreme Brahman covered by ignorance. This “Lord”, they say, has a material body.

Vaishnavas do not deny the impersonal aspect of Krishna (Brahman is the bodily effulgence of Krishna) nor do they deny that there are similarities between the Lord and the jiva. They understand that there are a lot similarities but at the same time a lot of differences too. But the Mayavadis deny the sat-chit-ananda form of Krishna! This is the main flaw of the Mayavada philosophy. They are thus the greatest offenders unto the lotus feet of Krishna.

I want to emphasize that the main problem with Mayavada is the concept that the Supreme does not have a sat-chit-ananda form. The contention is not about what is the nature of the various forms of the Supreme. The contention is that the Supreme has an eternal sat-chit-ananda form. The Mayavadis deny it, but the Vaishnavas assert it. Vaishnavas understand that Krishna can take any form as he likes since He is the Supreme controller and all energies are His servants. Therefore, He might take on any form whether so-called material or spiritual, but in all circumstances He is the Supreme controller. He is not controlled. But the point is that the Supreme has an original sat-chit-ananda form (Mayavadis deny this). And Krishna is that Supreme. He may take any form He wishes, but His original form is the form of Krishna. And the form of Krishna is eternal.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Defending Deity Worship against Word-Jugglery

2008-04-23T16:43:00.010+05:30

Understanding the greatness of God as a step towards understanding His personal form

...
Resolving apparent contradictions and exposing the futility of word-jugglery

...

Hare Krishna!

Last Saturday, on the Walking Plaza book stall, two young, nice, and learned Islamic gentlemen came and were curious about the Krishna Conscious philosophy. They were well-armed with their logic and arguments against the form of the Lord. They were trying to defend the Islamic position of “no idol worship”. They were very polite and it was a very gentlemanly discussion.

As is often the case, less informed people call us “Hindus”. On top of that, since the Vedic knowledge is so vast, there are innumerable different categories of Vedic followers. Therefore, no one really understands what they refer to as “Hindu”ism. However, one unfortunate by-product of the so-called “Hindu”ism is the atheistic philosophy of Mayavada, which says that the Supreme has no form and further that every living being is the same Supreme, without any difference at all. And this unfortunate by-product of so-called “Hindu”ism is quite popular amongst the unfortunate people of the Kali Yuga.

The Islam asserts that there is God and that not everyone is God. But they have difficulty in understanding the form of God. The Quran makes fleeting references to the form of God, but does not describe His form in any detail at all. On the contrary, the Quran says that the form of the Lord is not like this, not like that, not like this, not like that, and so on. This is not really any positive information about the form of the Lord. As a corollary, the Quran also strongly condemns worshipping material forms as God. And thus, the Islamic followers find it extremely difficult to accept deity worship, which is one of the most prominent features of the Vedic way of life. They cannot understand the difference between a deity and an idol. A deity is not a whimsical form of the Lord, but an authorized one. An idol, on the other hand, is a whimsical creation of sentimentalists, which is condemned even by knowledgeable deity worshippers.

Now, to defend their principle of “no idol worship” (which they equate with “no deity worship” for lack of understanding about the difference between the two), the two gentlemen I met that day used the following arguments. Let us analyze them closely.

(1)

They quoted a verse from some Vedic literature that emphasizes the impersonal aspect of the Supreme. As is generally the case, they, or their guides, have resorted to taking only that part of the Vedic knowledge that matches their preset conclusion of “no idol worship”. But the Upanishads (very much part of the Vedas) point to the Puranas and the Itihasas (histories like the Mahabharata and Ramayana) as the fifth Veda and therefore assert their authority. And the Puranas and Itihasas are full of detailed descriptions of the form and pastimes of the Lord.

In short, taking shelter of the Vedas cannot prove that the Lord’s form is un-knowable. It is not revealed in the Quran, but it is very much revealed in the Vedic literature.

(2)

They also told me that they know some “Arya Samaj” followers who claim that the Lord does not have a form, and that the Arya Samaj followers are the only true followers of the Vedic path! Quite an audacious statement. Anyways, as we have already noted, there are a lot of groups who come under the Vedic umbrella and who follow the Vedas to different extents. No one can deny that there are strong Vedic followers who accept the personal aspect of the Lord as the Supreme realization. Then, who is right? The Vedic literature talks about both the impersonal as well as the personal aspects of the Supreme and also states that the personal aspect is the highest realization of the Supreme. We will not go into that discussion in this article. For details, one can refer Srila Prabhupada’s books.

(3)

When I had responses for first two arguments, they now started using logic. “If the Lord is supremely powerful, why does He have to descend to this world? Cant He delegate someone else to execute His will?” The undertone of the question was, I thought, that the Lord cannot descend in this world in a human-like form. By saying that He comes in a human-like form, are we not limiting Him? How can the unlimited have a limited form? Well, this is the classic question by those who do not understand the inconceivable potencies of the Lord.

The Lord descends to this world, not as if forced, but of His own sweet will. He comes for the pleasure of His devotees and also to annihilate the miscreants. Sometimes He sends His representatives, and some times He Himself comes.

How the unlimited Lord can have a “seemingly” limited form can be understood when we understand how the Lord is unlimited in the first place. Why not try to understand this first and then argue that He can not have a form, or that even if He has, He cannot come down in a human-like form? Srila Prabhupada emphasizes in a lot of places that most people know that “God is Great” but very few know “how great?”. In other places Srila Prabhupada says that it is important to have a very solid conception of God to be able to love Him and serve Him. For example, the conception of God as great, not like this, not like that, unlimited, all-merciful, etc. is not as solid as the conception of God having a beautiful all-spiritual form holding a flute, crowned by a peacock feather, amidst His devotees on the banks of the Yamuna. But even the conception of the unlimited-ness and all-pervasive-ness of the Lord needs to be more refined to really understand the personal form of the Lord.

(Krishna expanded Himself into hundreds of Vishnu Forms when Lord Brahma stole His cowherd friends)

Srila Prabhupada explains in so many places with the analogy of the Sun and the sunlight how the Lord can be in one place and can still have His influence all over. In “Teachings of Pralhad Maharaja”, Srila Prabhupada explains that the Lord is all-pervasive and all-knowing due to His expansions and consciousness. A plenary (full in all respects) expansion of the Lord is residing inside each and every atom of the material creation. If this is so, is it any surprise at all that the Lord is all-pervasive and all-knowing? And clearly, taking a form smaller than an atom is not impossible for the Lord. In fact, that is one of inconceivable potencies. Thus, the Lord can be simultaneously present everywhere. So, what’s the big deal if He comes to the earth for enjoying pastimes with His devotees? In the same book, Srila Prabhupada also explains that just like the consciousness of the soul is pervading the whole body, similarly the consciousness of God is pervading all that exists. So, we have the example of our own body to understand how a localized soul can be conscious of a wider field of activities. If it is possible for the minute soul, then why not for the Supersoul – God?

Thus, the Lord can have a form and at the same time be unlimited by His expansions and consciousness. His coming to His material creation in a human-like form (or in any other form) is not really so difficult to understand.

(4)

Now coming to the word-jugglery. This is a trick that Mayavadis use a lot. But word jugglery does not alter the truth. Those two gentlemen showed me a couple of their tricks last Saturday. I told them in the answer to how God can come in a human like form that God can do anything He likes. By saying that He cannot do something means we are limiting Him. In response, they asked, “Can God lie? Can God do injustice?”. And they were taken aback when I said “Yes, He can lie!” They were shocked. They have no such information! H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu jumped in the conversation and said “Yes, God can lie and still do justice!” All this was quite visibly beyond their realms of understanding. They would have never dreamt that someone may say that the Lord can lie. Well, we know that the Lord can not only lie, but He can steal, He can run away from a battlefield, and He can perform so many other transcendental activities. And yet, His activities are always perfect, though sometimes quite inconceivable.

When this piece of word-jugglery backfired on them, they went on to another one. What I gleaned out of these attempts was that they first wanted to establish that though the Lord can do anything, there are still some activities that He cannot. And once that is established, they would have come to the point that coming to the earth in a human-like form was also one such activity. For them, God lying is a contradiction, and similarly the unlimited Lord coming in a human-like form is also a contradiction. And contradictions don’t exist. In this way, I thought, they wanted to lead me to the conclusion of “no idol worship”, or that we cannot know the form of the Lord and therefore we must not worship a form as God. Anyway, that God can lie was certainly a big blow to their logic sequence. Agreed that contradictions don’t exist, but just because someone thinks something is a contradiction doesn’t necessarily mean that it is indeed a contradiction. It can also mean the lack of correct understanding. We have already described how the unlimited Lord coming in a human like form is not a contradiction.

Their next trick question was “Can God die?” And pat came the reply from me “Yes!” And then they were even more shocked. Ofcourse, I added “His birth and activities are all transcendental”. But they were still a bit bewildered. Actually there is no meaning to the question “Can God die?” One can’t really expect a simple answer to such a question. But Krishna inspired me from within to say “Even we cannot die, then where is the question of God dying!”.

On this answer, they were still a bit flummoxed. They then went on to the question “Do you believe in heaven and hell?” I said “Yes”. The discussion went on for some time and then they left. But I was left with a deep stream of thoughts after this discussion. So far I had had to contend with Mayavadis, but this time I was contending with the Islamic conception of God, which according to the Vedic wisdom is not quite complete.

A little bit more about trick questions. “Can God die?” Ofcourse He can’t. But is that a limitation of God? Ofcourse not! That is part of the definition of God. But since God cannot die, does it mean that He cannot descend into His creation? If yes, then that is surely a limitation of God. But the Lord does not have any limitations. Thus, the word jugglery might sometimes be very catchy, but its nothing more than what it is – word jugglery. Another trick question is “Can God create something that He cannot lift?” Well, again, since the Lord has created something, He is in total control of His creation in all respects at all times. How does His not being not-in-control of His creation be a sign of His limitation? That is, how is His Supreme control over His creation a sign of limitation? No person with a little common-sense will fall for these childish tricks.

Ofcourse, Prabhupada, the genius that he is, replies even to trick questions like “Can God create something that He cannot lift?” affirmatively. And then he explains how the Lord in His childhood pastimes struggles to life the footware of His father Nanda, but then effortlessly lifts the Govardhan! I guess that’s why I replied to both questions “Can God lie?” and “Can God die?” affirmatively, just like Srila Prabhupada. Because our understanding is that God can do anything. Period. Word jugglery does not take away anything from the unlimited and inconceivable potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – Krishna.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Inconceivable, but not Incoherent

2008-04-17T15:08:00.009+05:30

The inadequacy of Mayavada
The completeness of Achintya-Bhed-Abheda

(Srila Prabhupada makes a point!)

Hare Krishna!

My analytical mind engages me in philosophical wrangling time and again. Unanswered, or unsatisfactorily answered, philosophical questions constantly nag me, and my mind becomes hyperactive in search of answers. As is quite unsurprising, I had the most difficult time with the questions regarding Mayavada – the last snare of Maya. Lord Chaitanya has warned us against listening to Mayavada philosophy. It is poison. It is spiritual suicide.

My difficulties were not that the Mayavada philosophy might be true, because it seems quite obvious to me that it is false. Saying that everyone or everything is God is another way of saying that there is no God. Further, clearly everything is not “One” since my thoughts and my neighbour’s thoughts are different. If both us were same, then everything about us would be the same, including thoughts, actions, likes, dislikes, and so on… Therefore, it was quite clear to me that a philosophy suggesting such a “One”ness is quite inadequate to explain things that happen all around me and no sane man will think twice about it.

But my difficulties arose when I found that somehow this seemingly inadequate philosophy is all over the place! It is almost ingrained in the society and in the scholarly and so-called spiritual literature. I was quite disturbed. How can such a philosophy gain acceptance? And if it has, what is the underlying philosophy? Is it a coherent philosophy? How does it explain everything using the clearly inadequate concept of the absolute undifferentiated un-variegated “One”ness?

Though the philosophical wrangling still goes on in my mind about Mayavada, the mental agitation has more or less vanished. That was because of the mercy of H. G. RadheShyam Prabhu (Temple President, ISKCON Pune). In a brief standing meeting he told me the reason for the mental agitation. “Because we are not immersed in Shaastra”, he told me. “Have you read all Srila Prabhupada Books with purports? Once you do that, all your questions will be answered.” From that day, I have never felt agitated because of philosophical doubts. H. G. RadheShyam Prabhu has filled me with the confidence that Srila Prabhupada’s books have the answers to all questions.

That taken care of, over a period of time I have understood that the Mayavada philosophy is indeed quite incoherent and full of internal inconsistencies. Its essential concept of the absolute, indivisible, and completely pure supreme “One”ness is violated time and again as it tries to explain the obvious variety in the creation. Either the indivisibility is violated, or the complete purity and supremacy is violated. And when the philosophy is confronted with questions whose answers violate the essential concept of the absolute, indivisible, and completely pure supreme “One”ness, it takes shelter of its classic “brahma satya, jagat mithya (only Brahman is Truth, this world is false) cover up. But how did the part of the absolute, indivisible, and completely pure supreme Brahman become covered up by ignorance? How can the indivisible be divided into parts? And how can the completely pure supreme become covered up by ignorance? The answer – “Oh.. brahma satya, jagat mithya… its false, don’t worry about it…” So, what is false? Either the concept of the absolute, indivisible, and completely pure supreme “One”ness is false, or the explanation that they give about “”part” of Brahman gets covered by “ignorance”” is false. This is a classic inconsistency in the Mayavada philosophy for which the only answer we can expect from it is “brahma satya, jagat mithya”. Sounds philosophical, but its not philosophy. Its word jugglery.

(Lord Chaitanya transforms the Mayavadis of Varanasi into Vaishnavas!)

On the other hand, Lord Chaitanya's philosophy of “achintya bhed-abheda” suffers from no inconsistencies. The philosophy is that of “simultaneous, inconceivable oneness and difference” between the Lord and His energies. The absolute, indivisible, and completely pure supreme “One” is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Everything animate and inanimate emanates from Him and therefore it’s His energy. In this sense, everything is God. Everything is One. But, that’s not all. The energies of the Lord are simultaneously also ‘not the Lord’. This is not a contradiction. Srila Prabhupada gives so many analogies. The classic ones are a) that the sun and the sunlight are simultaneously one and different, and b) that the cow and her milk is simultaneously one and different. The cow’s milk is a separated energy of the cow. The simultaneous oneness and difference is even more evident when we consider that the qualities of the part-and-parcel living entities are same as that of the Lord. Those qualities are the sat-chit-anand qualities. And most strikingly, the living entities have their own minute free will as well! The Lord has supremely free will, and the living entities have minute free will. So this is sameness. But each living entity can use the free will freely independent of another living entity’s free will. This is a clear example of difference. Simultaneous sameness and difference. Not very difficult to understand actually, once Srila Prabhupada explains it in an easily understandable way. So, how did the “parts” of the Supreme Lord come about if He is indivisible? Well, they didn’t come about at a particular point in time. They were always separated energies of the Lord. Only that the nature of this energy is spiritual and not material as in the example of the cow’s milk. The Lord has two kinds of separated energies, spiritual and material. The living entities are part of His spiritual energies. Therefore, just like the Lord, being spiritual living entities, they are also indivisible! But the living entities are eternally separated energies, they did not break away from the Supreme Lord at some point in time. Similarly, the material energy is also His separated energy, eternally separated from Him, though He is the source of both the spiritual and the material energies. Lord Krishna clearly mentions this in the Bhagavad Gita that though He is the source of all that be, He is still aloof. The living entity, since it has its own minute free will, can choose to enjoy independently of Krishna, and therefore can come under the influence of illusion, thinking itself to be the master. However, the Lord Himself can never come under the influence of illusion since He is source and controller of the illusory energy as well. Thus, though the Lord and the living entities are same in so many ways (free will, indivisible, etc.), there is still so much difference (energetic vs. energy, controller vs. controlled, source vs. emanations from the source). Simultaneous inconceivable sameness and difference!

Phew! These are the inconceivable potencies of the Supreme Lord Krishna. But, note that the explanation is not incoherent. Thus, any philosopher can clearly see that the Mayavada philosophy is full of internal inconsistencies while the “achintya bhed-abheda” philosophy quite easily handles all possible questions about the soul, God, and the relationship between the two. It also easily explains the variety we see all around and it also appreciates the common underlying principle of all existence, Krishna – the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The “achintya bhed-abheda” can also easily reconcile apparently contradictory scriptural statements, some of which advocate “One”ness and some of which advocate “difference”.

Though initial faith is required for following any of the paths, which intelligent person will follow a philosophy which is obviously incoherent? Then why is Mayavada so popular? Srila Prabhupada explains that the main reason is envy for the Lord. That’s the main reason the living entity was covered by the illusion of thinking itself as the master, and since it wants to hold on to that conception, after all attempts of trying to lord over material nature fail, the living entity takes to this Mayavada philosophy which Srila Prabhupada calls the last snare of Maya.

As far as intelligent people are concerned, and especially devotees, one must develop the firm conviction that Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada are the only shelter. Its only because of their mercy that we could quite easily see through the façade of the Mayavada philosophy of blatant atheism. Without their mercy, there would have been no hope for us to stand against the so-called scholars who propagate atheism in the name of philosophy. Such miscreants have played a havoc in the society and Srila Prabhupada’s movement is the only shelter for the misguided souls of this age.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Look Who's Chanting!

2008-04-16T17:32:00.012+05:30

(Book Distribution Nectar)

(Srila Prabhupada's with his books in the Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Temple, Chowpatty, Mumbai)

Hare Krishna!

By the mercy of H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu, I (along with a few other glorious devotees) have tasted the bliss of spreading the mercy of Lord Chaitanya in the form of distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Every Saturday and Sunday JaiNarsimha Prabhu sets up his book stall on the Walking Plaza. I (and a few other glorious devotees) try to go there to assist him.

Two recent developments have really inspired me a lot to seriously take up this service of distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. One, my recent visit to the San Jose ISKCON Temple where the massive book distributor H. G. Vaisesika Prabhu is inspiring the youth of the Silicon Valley to regularly go out and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. And two, H. G. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu! He is a disciple of H. H. Bhakti Vikasa Swami Maharaj and has recently joined our company. Book distribution is his life and soul! This is the way he wishes to please and serve his spiritual master. His intense desire for book distribution has rubbed on to me a little and I hope that in his association even I make this service my life and soul. These are ofcourse high sounding words from such a little mouth as mine, but then, what is impossible in the association of great Vaishnavas like H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu and H. G. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu who have so clearly made their own desires one with the desires of Srila Prabhupada and their respective spiritual masters?

This Saturday a couple of amazing things happened. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu urged me to write an article on it, and this is that article. We were standing near our stall and engrossed in book distribution. Not far away, amateur pop singers were performing their music show on the temporary wooden stage that is setup every weekend on Walking Plaza. Only by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada’s Transcendental Book Distribution were we quite unaffected by the going-ons of the Walking Plaza, which is pretty much the hub of mundane gross sense gratification in the city of Pune. The site of those glittering gems, Srila Prabhupada’s books, was the only solace to the eyes. The constant chanting of Hare Krishna was the only solace to the ears. The feel of the “Bhagavad Gita – As It Is” was like the warm embrace of the Lord. The glorification of Srila Prabhupada’s books was the only solace for the wandering mind. The techniques used to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books were the only solace for the intelligence. The pleas to the customers to take a Prabhupada book were just what the false ego needed. Thus, Srila Prabhupada’s books were gradually washing away all our anarthas (impurities) and establishing us in the state of Samadhi -- constant engagement in the service of the Lord!

Just then, I remember, I saw Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu telling someone “At least fifty. Five-Zero.” I didn’t understand what it was all about and so I again went back to raising my two hands, chanting Hare Krishna (loudly, but not as loud as the music), holding “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” in one hand and “Coming Back” in another and hoping that someone notices the stall and at least stops by. Sometimes it happens that no one comes for a long time. And then I start hoping desperately that I should atleast be able to distribute one book today. And then someone comes along and takes two Bhagavad Gitas! It happened this Sunday. And I cannot tell you how grateful I felt to those two young boys who took the Bhagavad Gitas. Anyways… coming back to “Five-Zero”. A few minutes later, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu told me that the person has ordered 50 Bhagavad Gitas!! I was stunned for a moment. And I was also very happy for Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu. I could imagine how happy he must be at that moment and how he must be restraining himself and not jumping and roaring around in joy! :-)

But this is not all! Its not even the main reason Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu urged me to write this article. The main reason is what follows. Suddenly, out of the blue, we heard the Hare Krishna Mahamantra! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Since I was myself chanting the mantra, it took me a while to realize what was happening. Then, to my astonishment, I realized that the Mahamantra was being chanted by someone on that wooden stage! “Look who’s chanting!!” In the mike! Audible to all! He chanted it a few times and also asked the crowd to repeat it behind him! And Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu did repeat it behind him. Louder than the mike! Louder than the hundreds of people gathered around. And Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu also roared “Once more! Once more!” It was an amazing experience!

(H. G. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu!)

Surely the person was inspired by the Paramatma within to chant the MahaMantra in the microphone. Surely he got lots and lots of “ajnata sukruti” because of it. Surely, the hundreds of people assembled there benefited from the transcendental sound vibration emanating from the lips of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu. And surely, the book distribution stall was the only reason all this happened! Time and again it is demonstrated by the Lord that book distribution is a completely transcendental and mystical activity and that its power is unfathomable. No wonder Srila Prabhupada loved it like nothing else.

These pastimes remind me of the pastimes of H. H. Indradyumna Swami Maharaj, whose “Diary of a Travelling Preacher” is filled with such inconceivable happenings. As I can now clearly see, there is no exaggeration in those pastimes. They are there for all to see. Lord Chaitanya is the most munificent Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore what is it that He cannot do? And yet, the nature of the Lord and His activities is such that each time the pastimes seem as if new and fresh! Each time it takes our breath away, and each time it takes us that little bit closer to Him.

Your servant,
Abhijit.

Lord Chaitanya - The Most Munificent!

2008-03-23T03:38:00.011+05:30

1530, March 22, 2008.
Mountain View, California, USA.

(Lord Gouranga during Abhishek on Gour Pournima - March 21, 2008, Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan Temple (ISV - ISKCON silicon Valley), San Jose.)

Hare Krishna!

Today is the last day of this US trip. And the Krishna Conscious activities are yet not over! I will shortly go to H. G. ShyamLila Prabhu's house for attending an "Essence of Bhagavad Gita" class. Such is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Lords Chaitanya-Nitai that wherever you go you will find devotees and Krishna Consciousness. Who can describe the glories of the Sankirtan movement? We keep hearing that Lord Goura Sunder is the most munificent incarnation of Godhead. In fact, He is Godhead Himself in His most munificent mood. But actually, as with so many other truths that we hear or read about in Srila Prabhupada's movement, we cannot really fathom the true magnitude of the significance of this truth.

Yesterday was the appearance day of Lord Nimai. The same darling of Yasoda Mai came again as the life and soul of Mother Shachi. What have we done to deserve being part of His Sankirtan movement? Are we spotlessly pure, are we severely austere, are we madly in Love of God? Then how is it that such ordinary persons like me are associating (through their teachings) with such Paramahamsas like Srila Prabhupada, Srila BhaktiSiddhanta, Srila BhaktiVinod, the six Goswamis, and so on ? How is it that I have got access to the Srimad Bhagavatam through a bonafide disciplic succession, whereas pure devotees in the past had to struggle so hard to get the same mercy?

The answer lies in understanding the significance of the phrase "the most munificent incarnation of Godhead". Lord Gour Hari is so merciful that he doesnt look for any qualifications while showering His mercy. He doesnt require that one be in the mode of goodness, or austere, or pure hearted, or scholarly, or already devoted, and other such qualifications. He doesnt look for a reason or a cause to bestow His divine mercy. That is the meaning of causeless mercy. Without such causeless mercy, what chance is there for the people of this age to get Love of God? Which other form of worship can the Kali Yuga residents perform? Can they do elaborate daily deity worship in their homes amidst their tight work schedules? Can they perform regular fire sacrifices in the cities that they live in where there is no place to even walk safely? Will they leave all their worldly activities and go to the Himalayas in search of perfection? These thoughts do not even cross their minds.

Even if someone develops a desire to take to spirituality, he/she finds that these authorised paths are not possible for him to practice. They are just too tough. Therefore, such an unfortunate person either gives up the idea of spirituality as impractical and too utopian, or he/she takes to other unauthorised practices that are typically mental concoctions of some imperfect human being. Thus, either they are frustrated, or they are cheated. In such an unfortunate state of affairs advents the Lord of Goloka - Goura Sunder. He rises as if millions of suns and dissipates the dense clouds of spiritual ignorance, spiritual laziness, frustrated material and so-called spiritual endeavours, and misdirected pursuits of happiness, by the brilliant rays of the sound vibrations of the infallible holy names of Himself! The Sankirtan Movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the only shelter for all souls in this dark age of Kali. No process can be as authorised as His Sankirtan movement, because He is the Supreme Lord, and this process is created by Him directly. And at the same time, it is so easy that a even a new born baby can take part in it. No qualifications are required. This is His munificence.

When it comes to preaching to the masses, to one and all, the teachings have to be simple and not esoteric. And yet, for the movement to serve its purpose, the message must be powerful enough to take one back to Godhead. Furthurmore, the philosophy has to be infallible for it to stand against the scores of mental speculators and armchair philosophers whose only aim tends to be the satisfaction of their puffed up egos and whose only occupation tends to be rejecting the conclusions of the standard authorities of the scriptures like Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Lord Chaitanya, Narada, Vyasa, etc. This impossible combination of requirements are quite easily met by the teachings of His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charanarvinda BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada. And his advent on this earth is another example of the unfathomable munificence of Lord Gouranga.

(Lord Gouranga is Krishna Himself, in the mood of Srimati Radharani!)

In Pune, there are hundreds of devotees. But in San Jose, there are only about a hundred (at the moment). There is a different kind of charm in such a small congregation. I am always touched when I see the humble heartfelt attempts of the San Jose devotees to serve Srila Prabhupada by helping H. G. Vaisesika Prabhu (temple president and massive book distributor). Especially, I get a lot of inspiration here to go out and distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. I hope and pray that after reaching Pune, with the blessings of the Vaishnavas, I can add book distribution to my list of regular Krishna Conscious activities.

(H. G. Vaisesika Prabhu pointing at something during book distribution)

Yours in the service of Krishna,

Abhijit.

Anonymous – The Saviors and The Saved! (Book Distribution Nectar)

2008-02-18T10:17:00.010+05:30

(H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu on one of his book distribution stalls)

...

February 17, 2008.

Hare Krishna!

Yesterday was a very special day. I have realized that the more one is engaged in distributing Lord Chaitanya’s and Srila Prabhupada’s causeless mercy, the more one’s every day, every moment, starts becoming special. Every day becomes a festival in which the occasion is that at least one more living entity has now got access to Lord Chaitanya’s divine unparalleled munificence. And thus, yesterday was a multi-occasion festival – because multiple living entities got His mercy. In the form of His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s books.

My grandmother (dad’s mom) has recently started reading the Marathi Krishna Book everyday. She reads at least one chapter everyday. A couple of days ago, my mom’s parents had visited us and my grandmother (dad’s mom) ‘preached’ my other grandmother how the Krishna Book is so nice! And so my other grandmother also started reading it. And she seemed to like it too. I noticed that. Then later I noticed that even my grandfather was reading it and seemed to like it. So, while my mom’s parents were leaving, I humbly gifted that Marathi Krishna Book to them. They very gladly accepted it. Jai! But that’s not all. The next day (yesterday) my grandmother (dad’s mom) asked, “Where is the Krishna Book? I have just read Lord Brahma’s Prayers to the Lord. The next chapter is about the deliverance of Dhenukasura”. She was missing the book! I promised to get her a replacement. When at night I gifted her another Krishna Book, she was very happy! Jai Srila Prabhupada!

In the evening I went to the temple (Sri Sri Radha Kunjabihari Temple, ISKCON Pune) and bought the Marathi Krishna Book for my grandmother. While I was about to leave the temple to join H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu for his book distribution stall, I was fortunate enough to meet two devotees who glorified H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu. They told me that he recently received an award from the hands of H. G. Vijay Prabhu for his book distribution exploits. H. G. Radheshyam Prabhu (Temple President) heartily glorified H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu by singling him out as the only person in Pune so actively distributing Prabhupada’s books. He informed everyone present that H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu was in Los Angeles for 18 years and perhaps that’s the secret of his love for book distribution, which according to Srila Prabhupada is the shortcut to Krishna! I was very happy to hear the glorification of H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu who has very mercifully accepted me as one of his counselees.

Shortly I joined H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu on the Walking Plaza. He sets up his book distribution stall every Saturday and Sunday there. It’s a totally materialistic street full of mostly young couples walking hand in hand. Then there are young men and women who want to put up a show of being very “cool” so as to attract the opposite sex, either consciously, or sub-consciously as a result of being a part of today’s degraded (and fast degrading) culture where one’s self worth totally depends on how popular one is amongst other unprincipled people leading aimless lives who harbor similar notions about their own self worth. Long gone is the era where a man (or woman) was recognized for his/her character and not for his/her hair style and other bodily characteristics. Apart from these two categories there are people from all other walks of life too who pass by our stall. And some stop by too. And then there are those who take a book! Festival! I try to speak something about the books to those who stop by. H. G. Jai Narsimha Prabhu has instructed me how to. I just try to follow his instructions. Yesterday, we sold Bhagavad Gita to (among others) a man from Iran, a lady from Norway, and a lady from Morocco! All of them were really interested and were looking forward to reading it. I was thrilled!

Along with Jai Narsimha Prabhu, yesterday there was another devotee named Sumit. I mentioned to him how people sometimes give us a look as if to say that they are too busy doing more important things in life than reading spiritual books. But Sumit Prabhu immediately replied, “They have not yet got mercy. Even I was like them two years ago.” I suddenly adjusted my mental state from feeling proud to feeling immensely grateful. It was a blow to my false ego to accept that there is still a lot of pride there in my heart. But one has to take that such blows as the mercy of the Lord. I am very thankful to Sumit Prabhu for saving me by reminding me that whatever I am doing today in Krishna Consciousness is only because Srila Prabhupada bestowed his causeless mercy upon me through his followers and books. “Pride cometh before the fall.”

Sumit Prabhu also told me a beautiful story. His own story. He told me that two years ago he was a total atheist. Then one day some devotee handed him a book and then he started reading. Now he is a practitioner of Krishna Consciousness. He told me that after a few days he again came across that devotee who had sold him that book. Sumit Prabhu recognized him but the devotee did not recognize Sumit Prabhu. So Sumit Prabhu thought, “Boy, this person does not even know me… and look what he has done for me!” I was stunned by that statement. I got a glimpse into the selfless nature of the service of book distribution. The giver doesn’t know the one he is giving to and the receiver doesn’t know the one who is giving. Both are anonymous – the savior and the saved. This story also illustrates the power of Srila Prabhupada’s books of transforming staunch atheists into devotees! It thus reinforces our conviction that distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books is the highest act of compassion. No wonder that book distribution is so dear to Srila Prabhupada.

While we were packing up for the day at around 9pm, the person running the stall next to us (fruit juice etc.) came and offered us a glass of fruit juice each! I was further amazed and had no words to express my wonder about the inconceivable mercy of Lord Chaitanya. How it transforms hearts. Not just of the people who are directly serving Him, but also of those who just see those who are directly serving. And then another person came and very humbly asked me in Hindi, (paraphrasing the words and the mood which I could perceive) “Please give me a book that will pacify my mind and soul… that if I just read, I will feel really light…” I heard in his request a sincere plea. It sounded to me as if he was crying out for mercy. I felt that this young man was really in some misery and I was touched by the simplicity of his heart in asking for help. He had come to right place. I thought about which book I should recommend. Bhagavad Gita or the Krishna Book? No other book came to my mind. Krishna Book! Yes, that’s what I recommended to him. He said he will buy one the next day. I hope he does. I have personal experience. Krishna Book is non different from Krishna and His mercy. Just by taking sincere shelter of the Krishna Book all that is troublesome to the heart is wiped away. Just by crying out to the Lord and in that mood reading the Krishna Book can change ones life. Krishna will take charge of that soul. No doubt.

I have started realizing that Srila Prabhupada’s books are an unlimited storehouse of mercy. But to access that mercy requires helpless surrender to them. The more one is in the mood of helplessness, the more one can access the mercy of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Those books are non-different from Lord Krishna. And thus, the same logic applies. The more you are helpless, the more you are surrendered, the more you are sincerely seeking their shelter, the more they will reciprocate. I have started realizing how though this knowledge is freely available to all, it is still secret. Because this knowledge can only be accessed in proportion to the degree of surrender. We keep hearing these principles so many times, but when that little realization comes, it is so sweet… and so humbling.

Oh! Just how attractive is Krishna Consciousness? Who can fathom? I have started realizing how being a part of spreading the mission of Lord Chaitanya is the most sublime activity of all. I have got a glimpse into what it means to be compassionate. Lord Chaitanya’s instruction is : “jeevan saarthak kari, kar paropkar”. “Perfect your life and then be compassionate to others (by helping them to become perfect themselves)”. Our lives must be lived for being compassionate to others. At our stage we are ourselves so much struggling with Maya that it is difficult to even imagine that we can bestow some compassion on to others. But actually, it is possible. Just distribute Prabhupada’s books! Or do some other service. Just help the mission in some way. That is an act of the highest form of compassion, to assist the mission of Lord Chaitanya. We should always remember that we shouldn’t just focus on our own perfection, but also try to help others to perfect their life. Ours is a compassion mission. That’s why we do not go to the Himalayas and chant and read there. We live in the cities for a purpose – to distribute the compassion of Lord Chaitanya even to the most fallen.

I pray to Srila Prabhupada that my sadhana improves, that my service to his mission increases, and that somehow I can become and remain an instrument of Lord Chaitanya’s compassion in his hands.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Modes of Nature – The Plight and the Extrication

2007-12-31T10:14:00.000+05:30

(When Krishna and His friends were threatened by a forest fire, Krishna swallowed the fire.)

December 30, 2007

Dear All,

Yesterday, I was transferred back in time to the days when I was very much entangled and harassed by the modes of nature. The eternity of the soul’s existence can be easily divided into two types of phases of existence – the ones in which the soul is not Krishna Conscious, and the ones in which it is. The former is an existence full of plight and the latter is the existence leading to the extrication from such plight and to the eventual establishment of the self beyond the dualities associated with the modes of nature into the realm of the eternal and blissful existence of the Kingdom of God. Before coming to Krishna Consciousness, making such an analysis would not have been possible. In that state of ignorance, all attempts at rationalizing the observations around are baffled by that unrelenting foe known as the Duality of material existence. This duality is characterized essentially by the personal definitions of the favorable and the unfavorable, and by the dissension caused between different individuals because of conflicting definitions of the same.

We were talking yesterday about different kinds of music – Indian Classical, Western Classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal, and so on… Three of us were there and initially I too was trying to establish by likes and dislikes as the “correct” ones. And inevitably, there was some disagreement amongst us. Since one always wants to be “correct”, a disagreement of this kind suddenly gives rise to at least a slight discomfort in the heart. And as soon as that happened I fearfully realized that I had been gullible and had been sucked into the world of duality once again by the stealthy forces of Maya -- that illusion-causing potency of the Lord which keeps everyone bound to this material world! After this, I lost interest in the discussion and while physically present there I was intellectually trying to get to the essence of what Krishna wants to teach me using this particular situation.

That feeling of discomfort immediately reminded me of the same feeling I used to get before coming to Krishna Consciousness. I remember how I cherished my likes and dislikes and maintained that I was the wisest of all by having those particular ones. That how liking Indian Classical music is better than liking Hard Rock. How tennis was a better sport than cricket. How the sporting heroes I loved were better than their sporting rivals. How the political views I harbored (though I was never really into politics ever) are better than those opposing them. Fortunately, I never cared too much about too many worldly things but of the few I did care for, I was quite strong about it. And of course, those were the ones that gave me most misery.

What is that misery? When one harbors strong likes and dislikes in this world of duality, inevitably one encounters opposing forces in the form of opposing ideologies, fans of other sports stars, patrons of another genre of music, readers of another kinds of books, and so on. In the face of such opposition, one tries to somehow establish within ones mind that what one is doing is the best. Such a mental adjustment is flimsy and once agitated it takes a long time for the mind to again get settled into a calm state. Unfortunately, the time it takes is so long that the probability of having a calm mind for a considerable duration of time is quite low, almost nil. All this eventually leads to the classic heinous philosophical conclusion that is the root cause of all sorts of nonsense that prevails in the modern world – “You do what you like, I do what I like. There is no absolute right and no absolute wrong.” This way everyone can freely do whatever one likes to do without worrying about what others think about it and more particularly, whether it is right or wrong.

This conclusion never ever satisfied my heart. But nevertheless, I had no other option but to accept it in the absence of a better answer. Given all the evidence around me, and without any understanding of the transcendental, this conclusion was all that I had. I even wrote a mail to one of my highly intelligent acquaintances that I accept that “Everything is Relative. There is nothing Absolute”. I was never happy about this philosophical conclusion… but I had no other option.

Truth alone satisfies the heart. If one is not satisfied with the Truth then it means either that what one thinks as Truth is not the Truth or that it is the Truth but that one is not harmonizing oneself with it. If harmonizing oneself with the Truth doesn’t satisfy the heart, then how will anything else for any considerable duration of time? Can building ones life on a flimsy foundation of untruth ever lead to prolonged satisfaction of the heart? Won’t one be harassed by unsuspected harsh surprises if one does not understand what is Truth and what not?

The Truth is that everyone in this material world has acquired a certain combination of the modes of nature based on their activities and desires from their past lives. Everything in this material world, including likes and dislikes, depends on the modes of nature acquired. So its not surprising that different people think different things to be right. The Truth also is that there exists a Supreme Person Krishna (God) who is the source of everything, from whom everything emanates, whose existence depends on nothing else, and on whom everything else depends. He is the supreme cause of all causes and is inexhaustible and unlimited. Krishna is thus the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Truth is also that we are all souls, eternal parts of that Supreme Absolute Truth Krishna and can be happy only if we base our existence on this knowledge. Unless one builds ones life on the foundation of this Truth, one is bound to be unhappy. Not only that, the ignorance of this knowledge of Truth gives room for other partial truths or even blatant untruths to take birth from imaginative brains and become known as truths. And this in turn gives rise to the popular ignorant conclusion that “You do your thing, I will do my thing.”

But, your thing and my thing can not be fundamentally different because you and I have the same fundamental identity (in Truth) as a part of the Supreme Lord Krishna. And thus your thing and my thing should be fundamentally same – to serve Krishna. This is the Absolute Law. Whatever be your material likes and dislikes, mould them in such a way so as to please Krishna! Then, despite your likings being different from mine on a material relative platform, they will be the same on the spiritual absolute platform. Both of us will like to serve Krishna but perhaps according to our different ways. Such is the unifying nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth Lord Krishna! Under Him all contradictions are resolved and hence all philosophical questions answered while completely satisfying the heart.

In fact, by working on such a spiritual platform, ones activities will cease being material. They will be transcendental to the modes of nature because by working only for the pleasure of Krishna, one can cut the strong ropes of the modes of material nature that bind one to this material world. Thus, one who is in the plight of being bound by these ropes can be extricated by using all his activities in the service of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus he will gradually transcend the modes of nature and eventually achieve that supreme abode of the Lord in which there are not contradictions and everything is perfect and where once gone, no one returns back to this miserable existence of duality in this material world.

The ISKCON movement of Srila Prabhupada is facilitating such dovetailing of all resources in Krishna’s service all over the world and is thus doing the world the greatest welfare. Let us all join hands and help spread this movement all over the world like wild fire and please Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna!

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra, Pune, December 2007

2007-12-24T18:47:00.000+05:30

For more snaps, visit : http://picasaweb.google.com/toleyabhijit/RathaYatraDec2007

(above : Their Lordships Jagannath-Baladev-Subhadra on Their Chariot!)

The Jagannath Ratha Yatra

December 16, 2007.

Pune, India.

Dear All,

The mercy of Srila Prabhupada manifests in multifarious ways, but not many are more magnanimous than the Ratha Yatra. That rare opportunity of pulling the chariot carrying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord of the Universe, the Supremely Merciful – Lord Jagannath – was earlier restricted only to the few millions who visited the eternal land of the Purushottam Kshetra Jagannath Puri. That same eternal pastime of the Supreme Lord is now enacted in 500 cities around the world.

For the layman this might be just another piece of information in this world of information technology about just another exotic carnival procession. For the more informed and appreciative, this might be a source of amazement especially in the light of the fact that such Ratha Yatras are now held in all major cities of the world like San Francisco, New York, London, etc. in many important streets of those illustrious cities. A few might also know that the heads of states of many of these countries openly express their appreciation for this event in their respective countries. But only the spiritually well versed will truly appreciate the significance of this development in the modern history of mankind. That rare opportunity is no longer available only to a few millions, but to the whole of human race.

Just how important is this contribution of Srila Prabhupada can be seen from a simple fact that surprisingly, there are many people even in India who read in the newspapers about the Jagannath Ratha Yatra every year and yet they do not know who is Jagannath or even how does He look! So ignorant has the general mass become about God that they don’t even know much about one of His most important lilas. But this situation is gradually changing. Once again the light of knowledge of and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is illuminating the darkeness of this age. All due to the efforts of one divine resplendent personality – His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

(above : Advertizing the Sudarshan Yajnya to be conducted for Sri Sri Radha VrindavanChandra Temple Project (NVCC))

This year again the Ratha Yatra was enacted in Pune, India on December 16, 2007 from 2pm to 7pm. It was conducted by the devotees associated with the Sri Sri Radha Kunjabihari Temple, ISKCON, Pune. A single rath (chariot) carried all three of them – Lord Jagannath, His elder brother Lord Baladev, and Their sister Subhadra. Enthusiastic devotees had assembled there from the very beginning. Everyone was eager to pull this rath which was spiritualized by these divine passengers! Finally, amongst loud chanting of “Haribol”s, the Lord started His journey! To where?

Devotees know the story. The Vrajavasis (residents of Sri Vrindavan Dham) were burning in separation from the Lord of their hearts. Their Lord was now in the holy land of Kurukshetra. So, they all went to Kurukshetra and when their eyes finally fell upon the Lord, they wanted to drink His unmatched beauty with their eyes. They couldn’t bear any longer their Lord being away from them. So they put their Lords Krishna and Balaram and Their sister Subhadra in a huge chariot they had built. And then they started pulling that chariot to Vrindavan. Oh, what love! Who can fathom the love that exists between Krishna and His supreme devotees, the Vrajavasis? Oh, just by meditating on this pastime, the heart of a sincere soul is overwhelmed by love of God. That same Lord Jagannath so much loves to be pulled by His devotees into their hearts that every year He comes out of His temple in Jagannath Puri just to give His devotees a chance to once again pull Him into their hearts! He is ready to come… into the hearts of those who lovingly welcome Him. He is not holding back! He is not discriminating! He is giving Himself to whoever wants Him! Oh, what mercy!

(above : The Lord of the Universe Jagannath parades through the streets of Pune!)

Dearest Srila Prabhupada has pulled His beloved Lord Jagannath to 500 cities all over the world. So far. Now Lord Jagannath is even more freely distributing His mercy. And so it happened in Pune. The Ratha was pulled by devotees along the following path : Sangam Chowk, Yashwant Rao Chauvhan Natyagruh, Karve Putala, Karve Road, Karishma Chowk, Nal Stop, and finally to Gandhi Lawns. Devotees were enthusiastically inviting the onlookers to participate in this pastime by pulling the rath. Fortunate people were accepting the invitation… and how unfortunate were those who didn’t? The Lord of the Goloka, that most celebrated of Kings, that unrivalled proprietor of all that be, for the sake of His children, was parading through the dense polluted air of the Karve Road. He was giving His majestic Darshan to all… with arms extended as if inviting everyone to take shelter of His warm and loving embrace.

The yatra culminated at the Gandhi Lawns where the Lord received a rousing welcome from His devotees! There, the assembled devotees were addressed to by H. G. Bala Govinda Prabhu. First of all he led a sweet recitation of the Sri Jagannathashtakam. In his lecture he covered the historical significance of the Ratha Yatra and its significance to all of us today, that of pulling the ratha with the mood of pulling Lord Jagannath into our hearts. Then he explained the philosophy of ISKCON in simple words and also mentioned how ISKCON does two kinds of activities – internal and external. Internal (or hidden) activities are those that deal with the purification of the soul through the study of Vedic scriptures, chanting of the holy name, and other devotional activities. External activities are those like the “Food for Life” free food program, and others. After that he briefly mentioned about the upcoming new Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra ISKCON temple in Kondhwa. He explained how the temple will be like a university (by conducting courses based on the Vedic scriptures), a hospital (by helping people get rid of the material disease of forgetfulness of the Lord), and a house (in which everyone can take shelter of their original father’s home). He ended the lecture by a kind request to all present to help in some way or the other to build this temple for the Lord. The evening ended with sweet kirtans and of course dinner prasadam.

Surely the Jagannath Ratha Yatra will bestow all auspiciousness on the city of Pune and especially on those who were fortunate enough to be part of it that day. Jai Jagannath! Jai Srila Prabhupada!

(above : Jagannath! Baladeva! Subhadra!)

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.