Srimad Bhaagavatam -- The Solution To All Problems!

Dear All,

This article was motivated by a mail conversation I had with an atheist and a social reformer. Let us call him Mr. Friend. I clearly could see how it is very very difficult for a person caught up in such a combination of ideologies to understand Krishna Consciousness. A passionate person who bases his actions and convictions on just the visible bodily miseries of the underprivileged section of the society is so much engrossed in those visions in his mind, that for him that is the only reality. Such people just cannot understand that there is a higher reality which controls this visible reality. I discussed this with H. G. Ramananda Prabhu and he told me that some people just cannot understand the “paro dharma” (Supreme Religion – Bhaagavat Dharma) that the devotees follow.

I have so many thoughts on this issue that I had a tough time organizing them all and presenting them as lucidly as I could. I have been thinking about this for the past 2-3 days. I will present the thoughts point wise and as far as possible one thought will lead to another. But many thoughts are also interrelated so a totally sequential approach wont be possible. Lets see how this unfurls.

Before going ahead let me tell you that in this article we will see how the Bhaagavatam and the life of the pure devotees erase all confusions from our minds :-)

A. Concern for all living entities

As devotees, we are surely concerned about the welfare of the underprivileged class of society. In fact we are concerned about the welfare of all the classes of society – animal or human or plant and so on. Note that we are not the ones who just speak big things and do nothing. In fact I have not seen plans into actions anywhere as fast as in ISKCON. I have already written a few articles on ISKCON’s contribution to the society in the way the general mass of people like to see – i.e. providing for the bodily necessities. Here : http://thebandwagonofmoltengold.blogspot.com/2007/03/putting-iskcon-in-perspective.html

B. The deserving get the deserved

When I told this to Mr. Friend, I got a very surprising response. He said something to the effect that helping people in this way (providing free meals, eye camps etc.) is wrong! Can you believe this coming from a social reformer? Well, to be fair, he also told why he was saying this. He said that by such help, the underprivileged become dependent on the helpers. Instead he said one should empower the underprivileged by giving them the basic necessities as a right rather than as mercy or compassion. Hmmmm…..

Here we can see how there are conflicts of ideologies even amongst the social workers! Some say we should provide help, some say we should instead empower them by making them aware of their rights! I was going to reply to him about this but then realized that Mr Friend is not going to accept the fact of existence of God and all my answers are going to make no sense to him. So I told him this much and closed the discussion.

However, as devotees, we know that who has right on what is decided by the Lord and everyone gets what he/she deserves.

C. Material solution versus Spiritual Solution

Let me mention here that Mr. Friend was getting very touchy about the plight of the garbage workers. Apparently there is a documentary on this topic and seeing it Mr. Friend and his friends have been inspired to do their thing! To empower the garbage workers by making them aware of their rights. They will then demand them and therefore escape their hellish existence and stop the negligence that the authorities show towards them. This seems to be their plan.

On this I have a few thoughts…

-.-

This is a typical “union making” mentality. One can see it in the Hindi movies of 2-3 decades ago. “Hamari Maange Poori Karo”. And then Amitabh Bachchan will fight for their cause and he will be friends with the son of the owner and the struggle between the haves and the have nots.

The problem with this approach is that it is trying to empower the have nots (making them aware of their rights) and inciting them to confront the haves. But how can one expect a lasting peace in such a scenario? If suppose after a battle (legal or otherwise), the garbage workers get their rights, how long will this situation stay? There will always be animosity between the two parties, isn’t it?

-.-

And the second and more important problem is that this kind of agitation will at best make the garbage workers into a better class of garbage workers! That is the goal of all this struggle. There is no higher goal. That is what they will lose their sleep for. This is symptomatic of the material existence and of the material way of solving things.

-.-

Instead, consider the spiritual solution. “Isavasyam idam savam…” Isopanishad, text one. Everything belongs to the Lord, and one should take only as much as is his quota and not encroach upon the others’ quota knowing well to whom it belongs. Wont this totally solve the problem of one class of people exploiting the other? Then why not try to implement it? And for that we need to approach both the haves and the have nots.

Ours is a complete solution. It is not a one-sided one. We also care for the garbage workers, but our way of solving the problem is based on the timeless wisdom and knowledge, not on animal philosophy of fighting like dogs and cats. Our solution is not based on the philosophy of “profit for one at the cost of another”, but on “eternal benefit for both by service to the Lord”.

D. Srimad Bhaagavatam to the rescue!

While I was churning these thoughts in my mind, I resumed hearing the Bhaagavatam from where I had stopped the previous day. And by divine arrangement the following verses I heard or read (I don’t remember which of the two):

-.-

http://vedabase.net/sb/4/29/en

SB 4.29.36-37: The real interest of the living entity is to get out of the nescience that causes him to endure repeated birth and death. The only remedy is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead through His representative. Unless one renders devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, one cannot possibly become completely detached from this material world, nor can he possibly manifest real knowledge.

SB 4.29.38: O best of kings, one who is faithful, who is always hearing the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always engaged in the culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and in hearing of the Lord's activities, very soon becomes eligible to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face.

SB 4.29.39-40: My dear King, in the place where pure devotees live, following the rules and regulations and thus purely conscious and engaged with great eagerness in hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in that place if one gets a chance to hear their constant flow of nectar, which is exactly like the waves of a river, one will forget the necessities of life — namely hunger and thirst — and become immune to all kinds of fear, lamentation and illusion.

SB 4.29.41: Because the conditioned soul is always disturbed by the bodily necessities such as hunger and thirst, he has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

-.-

The third verse above was like a strong beam of sunlight piercing through the clouds of thoughts that were floating around in my mind. It scattered all these thoughts away and once again I could see clearly things as they are. I read that while hearing the constant flow of nectar of the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one forgets the necessities of life – namely hunger and thirst. And if one forgets the bodily necessities, where is the question of poverty? As they say, one whose needs are least is the richest. The devotees of the Lord do not require anything of this world. They are fully satisfied by hearing the nectarean glories of the Lord! Therefore, why not instead of fighting for bodily necessities, aim towards reducing them and thus become happy? Is this not a better solution? Why not change oneself to be aloof from bodily miseries instead of trying to change the whole world around? Which is more feasible?

-.-

The last verse above gave the reason why such a reduction in bodily necessities is essential. It is not only for being able to be aloof from the bodily miseries. But because if one is too much disturbed by the bodily necessities, he/she has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is actually the main reason. But the Bhaagavat Dharma is such that while addressing the main point, it addressees all other points as well!

E. Proof of the existence of the soul which is aloof and different from the body

Ofcourse, reducing the bodily necessities is not just a theoretical proposal. The great devotees have shown it by their examples. This proves the existence of the indivisual as a soul which is totally aloof and different from the body. And the way these great souls reached such aloofness from the body is by unalloyed devotional service to the Lord. Therefore, keeping all these facts in mind, no one can deny the truth behind the existence of soul and God.

F. Devotional service to the Lord is the solution to all problems

Thus devotional service to the Lord is definitely the solution to all kinds of bodily and mental problems of this world. Those not taking to it have only themselves to blame.

G. Poverty? Or Spiritual Opulence?

I recently heard from Amol Katkar Prabhu something he heard from a recorded lecture by H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj. That the devotees that time in New Vrindavan (West Virginia, USA) used to have nothing to eat and so they cooked the leaves of the trees in the jungles and ate them. Now.. what can I say more about this…

But one can think about this. Does it mean that the devotees were poverty stricken? Yes, from a material viewpoint. But an emphatic NO from a spiritual one. These devotees were taking all these bodily troubles for the spiritual purpose of following the instructions of their spiritual master and of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They were the (and still are) the most spiritually (that is in reality) opulent people in the whole creation.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.

Letter To A Polite Refuser

Here is the mail I just wrote to one of my friends when the friend politely refused to donate :-)

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Anyways, I understand. Not all are fortunate enough to understand the significance of this event. Thats why we are building this temple. So that we can propogate the "Science of God" to a large number of people and thus help the whole humanity.

But not all understand this. Most people think that they will become happy if they have a good bank balance, a good education, a good spouse, a good house, good children, good car, and so on.. But any intelligent person can understand that no one is completely satisfied for long with any of these.. everyone is always aiming for something which he has not got or lamenting for something he has just lost.. Carrying on all life in this constant state of anxiety for the future or lamentation for the past, the person one day dies and all that was dear to him/her cannot save him/her from death. So foolish are people that they overlook this stark reality and carry on their day-to-day activities without taking a moment off and contemplating on all these truths.

It is to take people out of this slumber of ignorance that we are coming up with this grand temple. Because people do not accept the truth that God exists, they are sufering and they will ocntinue to suffer unless they accept it. One cannot expect happiness if one totally ignores facts.

We pride ourselves as being scientific minded people but do not try to ask the most fundamental questions and seek their answers.. Who am I? Who is God? Does God exist? What is my relationship with Him? Why is there suferring in this world?

But those who are intelligent ask these questions and for their benefit we are coming up with this temple. But the temple will be such a place that those who just visit will also get inspired and start thinking about these fundamental questions.

Because of this fund raising exercise, I have found out that almost all my close friends are atheists. It is quite unfortunate. Those who say they accept the existence of God do not really do so because they do not act in that consciousness. They do not really try to understand Him and His teachings.. then what is the use of accepting Him?

Why are we more interested in the Scinece of 0s and 1s than in the Science of God? Just saying "I do not believe in God" wont prove His non-existence. And isnt it worth the trouble to try and understand Him and find out whether He exists or not? People take all kinds of trouble to scale the Mount Everest and some die in the process. Then what is the logical reason for not taking the trouble for understanding God? Is scaling Mount Everest more important than understaning God? Is a Ph.D. more important than understanding God? Is anything else more important than understanding God?

Whether you believe or not believe, the truth remains. As the saying goes, "Truth comes as a conqueror for those who know not the art of receiving it as a friend". For those who do not accept the truth of the existence of God, God conquers them in the form of death.

Take care,
Abhijit.

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Tit Bits From The Fund Raising Marathon

Here is a mail I just wrote to one of my friends (husband and wife). Ofcourse I have deleted the names.

Hey X and Hey Y! :-)

Here is some wonderful and inspiring news! Its almost as if Lord Krishna has replied to X's mail... Read on!

Yesterday we had a meeting where devotees were telling there fund raising experiences. Here are a few.

1. One of the lady devotees gave Rs 2000 to her maid servant as her one month salary. The maid servant immediately returned the amount and said that this she wants to donate to the construction of the new temple! The devotee was so touched by this that she is going to now sell one flat she owns and give all that money to the temple construction! Jai Shri Krishna! :-)

2. In another devotee's house, the maid servant got so inspired by the tireless and sincere efforts of the devotees to serve the Lord by building a magnificent temple for Him, that she started telling about it to the other houses she goes for work. And because of this she has already collected atleast Rs 10,000!

3. One 11 year old boy asked the devotees "Can I also sponsor one square foot?" And the devotees asked how he could do that? The boy replied that for the past three years he has been collecting funds in his small piggy bank on the Ganesh Utsav day. He has so far collected Rs 2100! This boy actually did sponsor Rs. 2000 for one sq.ft.

4. Devotees were going around to big shops to raise funds. When they came out of one shop, they saw a shopkeeper who was selling some things sitting on the footpath and he asked these devotees what they were doing... The devotees told him.. not really expecting anything from him.. But to their great surprise, the man instructed his wife to go home and bring Rs 2000 for one sq. ft.!

Thus we see that I have already told you how 13 sq.ft. got sponsored from people whom we least expect (this does not include the money that will come by selling off the flat!). However, this teaches us that while serving the Supreme Lord with love and devotion, mundane vision and mundane calculations are not always good enough. The temple of the Lord is going to get built whether we donate or not. It is only our great fortune that the Lord has so easily given us this wonderful opportunity to serve Him. We just have to donate some amount of money which we will anyway spend in temporary things. Cant we donate some to the one who has provided us all the money? Are we so ungrateful?

I hope your hearts have been touched by all the events I have narrated. Please think about this very seriously. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. All scriptures say that building a temple for Lord Krishna is one of the most glorious activities. A vibrant temple of Lord Krishna becomes the hub for the welfare of all humanity. The real welfare of the humanity is not in getting good food and shelter and clothes... These are definitely necessary things... but not the real eternal welfare. The eternal welfare is for people to start understanding, loving, and serving Krishna. And for this purpose only are we building this magnificent temple.

Please open up your hearts to encompass the whole humanity and not just one or two people. Please join us in raising this glorious offering of Love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead -- Lord Sri Krishna.

You will not get such an opportunity again..

Your ever well wisher,
Abhijit.

Conversation With An Adversary

Following is a mail exchange I had with a person recently. Lets say his name was XYZ.

XYZ wrote:

Hi ,

Just few days back I saw a documentary type movie which speaks about the phenomenon of Life and universe.

Here attached is a pdf of 100 quotes from the movie.

It explains about the kind of experiences we get in our day to day life and why we get them.

It also suggest how we can transform it by understanding fundamental law behind the Creation, it is the "Law of Attraction" .

The movie is worth watching and the Quotes are worth reading.

I replied:

Thanks :-) It will be nice if we can get some scritural backing to this "Law of Attraction". Otherwise, I can also come up with my theory about the Creation.

But whats the value of all such theories if they are not backed by scriptures and not preached by Acharyas coming in parampara?

Too many quotes are based on "feelings". Feelings can change. Our thoughts can change. Our perceptions can change. But the reality never changes. What is that unchangeable reality? What is that Absolute Truth? I am interested in that. I might feel something today and something else tomorrow. I have recognised that my thoughts and beliefs are not necessarily mathcing the truth. Lord Krishna never told Arjuna to just imagine that he is happy! That is bogus philosophy and any sane man will reject it outright! Arjuna did not just imagine that he is happy. He fought after He understood the Truth. And even Sripad Shankaracharys never tells something bogus like "Imagine that you are happy". Vedic literature is not about imagination, but about truth.

According to Shankaracharya, everything is one. But that theory has been totally smashed by the Vaishnav Acharyas. Not only that, Lord Siva himself tells Parvati in the Padma Puran : "I am going to come and preach this bogus Mayavada philosohpy to bewilder the Buddhists into accepting the Vedas. But saintly people should avoid Mayavada philosophy which claims that everyone is GOD."

Sripad Shankaracharya's philosophy is very technical. No one can understand it easily. To follow it requires taking Sanyas. One cannot follow it staying in city life. It requires a lot of austerity.

Saying that everyone is GOD is saying that there is NO GOD. This is atheistic philosophy and is therefore not supported by the Vedas. Vedas say that everyone is part of God and qualitatively one with Him. Not that everyone is equally powerful as GOD.

Lord Chaitanya who is Krishna himself (if you accept Bhagavad Gita, you have to accept Lord Chaitanya's teachings because Lord Chaitanya and Krishna are the same person), has unambiguously warned everyone that whoever will fall into the trap of Shankaracharya's Mayavada philosophy will cause "sarvanash" unto himself.

The choice is ours.

Regards,
Abhijit.

XYZ replied:

Hi Abhijit,

Yes , to prove any theory we must find out backing from old scriptures and acharyas.

But just want to know , have you read it..if time permits in office { which is very difficult }

Just want to acknowledge validity of your argument but want to say that just try to understand ..whether, can you connect your life experiences with this.

I replied :

I can have various theories that can explain my life experiences. But I am interested in the truth. What is the real explanation? That only Vedic literatures can give when studied under an authentic Spirirual Master (Guru) who comes in parampara. No one who is not in parampara can give spiritual truths.

We have been taught by our spiritual master to not read literature not coming from an Acharya. Just like milk touched by a snake becomes poisonous even though it looks like milk, similarly, knowledge taken from someone not authentic (in parampara) is like poison even if it looks like Vedic knowledge.

Ofcourse, the original Guru is GOD himself.

XYZ replied :

Abhijit,

One thing ..your experience { which we call "ANUBHUTI" } is the one and final thing which keeps you on the path ..Not just and thought.

Simply thoughts without experience brings frustration.

Its experience of god, not so may thoughts which you wrote about different philosophies, that is which we want.

When I asked you can you connect your experiences with this, then I mean that experience is a authentic thing, not simply making a theory from something.


I replied :


This debate can go on for ever :-)

All I am saying is this : Truth or Reality is independent of my thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. Truth is something that does not depend on anything else for its existence. Whether I experince it or not, Truth will remain what it is.

I want to know what is that Reality or Absolute Truth?

I dont care for opinions of people who are not in an authentic parampara. That is the Vedic way of knowledge - to get it from parampara. Any other way of knowledge is faulty.

Just like if a blind man cannot experience light, does it mean there is no light? Or just because I can experience the sight of water in the desert does it mean that there is actually water there? Similarly, Truth does not depend on my experince. It is independent of my experinces. What we experince as truth might not be the actual truth.

I hope these examples are pretty straightforward..

Abhijit.

XYZ replied :

So what do you think ..what is keeping you on this path.

Is it only scriptures ? But don't have any experience of Joy and Peace in chanting !

What if you feel all chanting and Kirtana boring..no juice at all. Does the simply these examples of snake, light and desert will inspire you to be on path?


I replied :

From the very first day I met you, I had liked you. I like thinking people :-)

As I said, this debate can go on for ever.

Atleast you have to accept that experiences do not _necessarily_ represent the truth.

About chanting and devotional activities.. Most people do not feel any juice in it in the beginning. They think its a waste of time. Otherwise why does everybody not chant and do Kirtan? Why only a little percentage of the population is doing devotional activities? Why most of the people spend their spare time in watching TV, reading novels, reading newspaper, and so on? Does this mean that all these activities are better than chanting and kirtan?

No. This does not mean that chanting and kirtan are useless. Both of us will agree on this point, right?

Spiritual activities seem distasteful to almost everyone in this age. But if one is fortunate to associate with the devotees of Lord Krishna, the natural attraction for the Lord arises in the heart. Just like when a boy associates with a girl, his natural attraction for her is awakened. And gradually when the person serves and chants in the association of devotees, he also become purified. Then he can realise the truths about Krishna and scriptures.

Thus we see that whether one likes to do Kirtan or not, that is the most beneficial activity. Just like a patient suferring from Jaundice doesnt like to take sweets but generally doctors will advice to take sugarcane juice. So, even if the diseased patient experiences bitterness when he/she drinks the sugarcane juice, as his disease starts subsiding, he can experience the sweetness in the sugarcane juice. The taste of the sugarcane juice has not changed, just the perception of the person has changed from the diseased condition to the healthy one.

Thus, we should not rely totally on our experiences. Even if sometimes chanting doesnt feel very ecstatic, one must continue doing it and even if smoking might make one feel good (I have never smoked..) we must avoid doing it.

Thus, our sense perceptions and mental states should not form the basis of our activities. Activities should be based on the scriptures and the instructions of the Guru even if the activities do not seem palatable in the beginning. That is only because we are in the diseased condition.

Ofcourse, with this philosophical and scriptural understanding, and sincerely following the instructions of the spiritual master, one will gradually realise the truth and also attain everlasting bliss. Gradually he will experince real happiness that is not based on mental adjustments or sense pleasures or intellectual achievements, but based on pure love for God which is the natural state of every soul.

What is keeping me on this path is definitely the joy I experience in serving Krishna. But you will notice that this joy is on the spiritual platform and not on the bodily, mental, or intellectual one. It is because I am trying to get situated in my natural state of loving God. Its because lot of my activities are now connected to the Supreme Lord Krishna. Not because I am trying to artificially feel that I am happy or something vague like that.

In fact, only those activities that are based according to the Truth can give everlasting happiness. Any other activity can give at best temporary happiness.

So, it is a must to first know the Truth and then act accordingly. So, our quest should be to first of all find out the Truth.

Therefore I keep posing this question : What is the Absolute Truth?

And the Answer according to Narada, Vyasa, Devala, Asita, Arjuna, Sukadev Goswami, Lord Siva, Lord Brahma, Bali Maharaj, Lord Chaitanya, Srila Prabhupada, Santa Tukaram, even Shankaracharya (in his Gita Mahatmya) is Krishna!

Therefore whoever acts according to Krishna's instructions (same as Lord Chaitanya's instructions) will surely find true eternal happiness. All others will only suffer in this material world trying to imagine some kind of temporary happiness.

Cheers!
Abhi.


XYZ replied :

Hi Abhijit,

Just to end up but not to stop..

On the first day of our discussion I had spoken to you that this discussion is going on from Yugas..

Neither you or me can end up the things.

Sometimes we will again continue with the things.

Any way I like discussing on it on e-mail because everything is getting documented otherwise it would have been lost.


I replied :

:-) Yes, we will stop for now.

Actually debates do not lead one to the Absolute Truth. Only by the mercy of the Spiritual Master can one understand God. Even if the debate is an old one, there still exists the Truth that is independent of what the debators think :-)

I will end with saying : One must carry on ones quest for the Truth by sincere enquiries, honest hearts, and service to our Guru.

Frankly, I am very very eager to know the truth. You would have felt that in my mails. I hope you are too.

Warm regards and Best wishes,
Abhijit.

XYZ replied :

Yes abhijit .

I could feel your longing for TRUTH.

And the truth is above debaters and beyond the power of comprehension of debaters.

When one transcends different Levels of existence the TRUTH opens up in front of him as a reality-pure experience, not simply thoughts we do now.

What is most important is following spiritual practice, keeping faith in master and his Grace helps one to do that also.

So getting a master and following his instructions is what we need to do.

All the Best,

I replied :


Yes. Agreed totally! :-)

Thats why its so important to get a Spiritual Master and then follow him sincerely so that ultimately we realise the TRUTH.

As far as I am concenred, I am trying to follow the instructions of Lord Chaitanya (who is Krishna Himself) which have been passed down from Him in parampara through the literature written by His intimate disciples (like the 6 Goswamis) and His pure devotees who have no other motive but serving Him.

Here is a list of some of the evidences from the Vedic Literature to establish the Lord Chaitanya is God Himself :

http://www.acbspn.com/godhead/gaura_1predictions.htm

Therefore I know that my future is very safe as long as I keep following Lord Chaitanya's teachings:-)

All the Best to you too!

Warm Regards,
Abhijit.

XYZ replied :


Yes ,

All the Best for your future :-) .

As per as I am concerned I am happy, convinced following the Path and I am getting the results also.

The results, your experiences gives you confidence in Path, not just something you read from somewhere.

Regards,

I replied :

Ofcourse, I am getting the results too. I am not following purely on theoretical knowledge. The end result of following Lord Chaitanya is an eternal blissful life in the spiritual world where one is always serving Him with a lot of love and devotion. We are interested in that rather than merging into the Supreme and lose out on all the bliss that comes with serving the Lord. That kind of result the devotees consider worse than hell. For a devotee the only concern is loving service to the Lord. Therefore, depending on what end result one desires, one can follow a particular path.


XYZ replied :

Hi Abhijit,

what is this ?

** We are interested in that rather than merging into the Supreme and lose out on all the bliss that comes with serving the Lord. That kind of result the devotees consider worse than hell**

If you don't have complete experience how can you say something is hell and something is heaven.


I replied :

You asked, therefore I am answering:

Thats the verdict of the Vaishnav Acharyas, not mine. They know the truth. Otherwise whats the need of approaching a Spiritual Master if he cannot tell me the truth. We have no choice but to accept the verdict of the Spiritual Master.

Anyways, as I said, if you think merging into the Supreme is better than serving the Lord, its your wish. However, the fact remains that many impersonalists have become devotees of the Lord (like Sukadev Goswami who later spoke the Bhagvatam to Parikshit Maharaj, The four Kumaras who were the sons of Lord Brahma, and more recently Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Prakashanand Saraswati etc.). But there is no instance in the scriptures where a pure devotee of the Lord became an impersonalist wanting to merge into the Supreme.

Even people envious of Krishna like Shishupal merged into Krishna.. then why would a devotee aspire for the same result that even demons get? Devotees aspire for something higher which demons cannot get, and that is serving the Lord with love and devotion.

But as I said, the choice is yours. No one can force you to become a devotee of Krishna. That only happens when we get mercy of a pure devotee.

Warm Regards,
Abhijit.

Things To Ruminate On

Things to ruminate on:

1. My beliefs do not necessarily match the actual reality.

2. Unless I work according to the actual reality I can not expect lasting happiness and satisfaction.

3. Therefore its important that I atleast try to find out the reality.

4. If such a quest requires some difficult steps, then I should take them even if they seem "extreme" because my whole future depends on whether I am ready to take up some pains for lasting gains.

5. What is the use of a "balanced life" if it doesnt give me lasting happiness and joy? In fact, a balanced life can be a means to achieve the end of lasting happiness, but not the goal in itself.

6. I have to accept that I am not happy and satisfied and have never really been so all my life. Therefore, if I carry on with life as I have been all these years, there is not much hope that I will suddenly find happiness and satisfaction. This is not pessimism, but realism and logical reasoning.

7. But that does not mean that I can never be satisfied and happy. Just saying this means I dont really want to take the pains to be really happy. There is a saying "Everyone has the will to win, but not many have the will to prepare to win".

8. Because I know people who are satisfied and happy. So, if I consult them and follow their instructions, I can also find real lasting happiness and satisfaction.

9. But I need to follow their instructions strictly with proper understanding of why I am doing what. I should not whimsically follow some instructions and reject others based on my convenience. Its like taking a medicine does whimsically and still expecting a recovery.

10. Krishna Consciousness is a science and not just a set of beliefs.

11. Its followers are serious about the goal they want to achieve and therefore are ready to take the trouble for it. The followers are very focussed in life and have a definite aim in life. They are happy and satisfied. Therefore whatever they follow definitely works!

12. Some famous critic has remarked something like : "If truth is what works, then definitely there is truth in the message of 'Bhagavad Gita - As It Is' because its followers are so happy and joyful.."

The choice is mine. Do I want to scientifically understand the truth by enquiry, contermplation, regulative principles in habits, service to God, etc. or do I want to reject everything that even slightly goes against my comfort zone and therefore deprive myself of the truth?

Established in Non-Truth!

Dear All,

Suppose I have an exam to give tomorrow. Then accordingly, I will study, not do any dangerous stunts on my bike lest I get hurt, wont stay awake late at night lest I dont get up tomorrow, wont eat out lest I get sick, and so on.. Given the facts, one acts accordingly. Similarly, today I have to leave for Pune from Nanded at night. So, I'll plan my day accordingly. Or suppose I have a deadline to meet at work, then I will work keeping in mind that deadline. However, if I dream that I have to go to the moon today, I will still not plan my day accordingly :-) because I know that it was just a dream. In short, one naturally acts keeping in mind the truth and not keeping in mind the non-truth.

So then why dont we inquire about the Absolute Truth? Who am I? Who is God? Does God exist? What is this cosmic manifestation? What is my role it it? Why is there misery in this world? Without knowing answers to these questions where is the question of happiness? If I am a cricketer, but try to be like a footballer, how can I be happy? If I am a soul and a part and parcel of God, how can I be happy without taking His shelter? How can I be happy if I do not act according to my natural inclinations? How can I expect happiness if I base my actions on non-truth and not on truth?

The truth is that we are all part and parcels of Krishna and therefore its our natural propensity to serve Him. We have forgotten that and are instead trying to serve so many others but not Krishna. Not only that, we keep watching movies and reading novels and therefore keeping ourselves in a dream (fictitious) world and do not open up to reality. Thats why the great Acharyas condemn sense gratification so much. Indulging in personal sense gratification keeps us more and more engrossed in the temporary sense titilations and therefore we are unable to understand or enquire anything about that which is beyond the senses.

So many great saints have given their lives to propogating this message. And still we are so unfortunate that we will continue suferring the miseries of this material world and still not turn our attention to what the saints have said. We come up with our own justifications about why we cannot take to the instructions of the great saints. We think that we know better than the great saints about our welfare. We think that there is no God despite the fact that nothing else has been able to relieve us of our misery. This is our stubborn and foolish arrogance. We are suferring but we will not accept that. We can see that the devotees of God are the most satisfied people, and yet we will not take up the process!

Why? Because we are too attached to sleeping, smoking, meat-eating, watching TV, reading fiction novels, reading newspaper and so on. We can go on for hours speaking useless socio-political talks but wont use that time for chanting the Holy Name. This is our pitiously unfortunate situation.

Who can save us if we cannot identify the truth in the message of the saints and especially of Srila Prabhupada?

Abhijit.

Attracted By A Book!

Dear All,

While I was going from Parbhani to Nanded by a state transport (s.t.) bus, I was reading the book "Science of Self Realisation" by His Divine Grace A. C. BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada. I was travelling alone and therefore was immersed in the reading. I was oblivious to the sights and sounds around me and even to the heavy shower that hit us along the way. Generally, I would have sat back and tried to enjoy the thrill that one gets while seeing the sheets of rain drenching the landscape, the intoxication caused by the smell of the earth as it quenches its thirst, and the quite inexplicably sweet melodious sound that emanates when the heavy shower interacts with things all around. And Ofcourse, if one tries to enjoy these sense pleasures then one is also inescapably aware of the various inconveniences that are caused by the water dripping from the window sill and wetting ones clothes and making one uncomfortable. This is the nature of the material world.. there is no complete bliss.. only partial bliss at best. However, I was immersed in my reading of the transcendental words of Srila Prabhupada and therefore was not looking for enjoyment of the senses. And therefore, I was not greedily sitting near the window to enjoy my senses and therefore not getting irritatingly wet :-) In short, because I was more interested in reading Prabhupada's book than in enjoying my senses, I was happy!

One person sitting beside me was time and again peeping into the book. After a while I handed the book over to him and prayed to Srila Prabhupada to make that person into a great devotee. Prabhupada has said that even touching his book will bring immense benefit to a person. Therefore, I am sure that that person had the great good fortune of touching Prabhupada's book that day :-)

Later, when I was sitting in hospital in Nanded, I was still reading that book :-) (I was in a hospital because my grandmother was not quite well.. She is still in the hospital. Nothing critical though..) In the hospital too, the person sitting beside me was peeping into the book. Perhaps he was atracted by the book cover.. the soul passing through the body as the body grows from the infancy to oldage and finally out of the body at death. So, I handed the book over to him too :-) Seeing the interest of others, the watchman of the hospital guarding the entrance to the ICU also couldnt resist and came to me to have a look at the book :-)

The best part hapenned sometime in the hospital itself. The person beside me explicitly asked me the book and passed it on to a person sitting next to him who passed it on to the person next to him. And that person hapenned to be a Muslim! That boy was the most interested in the book amongst the three and he browsed through it briefly and returned the book to me. Something inspired me from within and I just started explaining to them what the cover of the book depicts. The explanaiton of how I remain the same despite my change in body from infancy to oldage and how my mom would never say that I am not the same person really impressed them. Similarly the example of how at death the body remains in front of our eyes but still something passes away which distinguishes the live body from the dead. And ofcourse, once I was given this openeing, I was bound to take advantage of this opportunity to speak about the sublime truth and philosophy of Krishna Consciouness so expertly preached by His Divine Grace!

In a hospital no one has to be convinced that there is suferring in this world. And so when I spoke about the necessity of serving God irrespective of our situation in life it really impressed them. The three of them really were listening very very respectfully! And they were really impressed. And I was thinking just how inconceivably great is Srila Prabhupada! Well, this was not the end of it all..

That Muslim boy then came and sat beside me and started talking to me. I told him about Krishna Consciousness and the supreme position of Love of God and Service to God! And he was totally agreeing. He told me that Islam is also based on "Mohobbat" (love) and "Ibadat" (worship) and it also teaches one to serve Allah. And I told him about how actually there is only one religion -- Love of God. And then I told him that I dont represent Hinduism but that I represent Sanatan Dharma. The eternal relgion of Love of God. I told him that actually Hinduism, Islam, Christiaity are man-made religions whereas the only true religion is one -- Love of God! And I told him how just as sweetness was the "dharma" of sugar, Love of God is the "dharma" of he soul. And boy, was the boy impressed with all this.... He was very sweet and respectful.

He then asked me about the book! :-) I took this opportunity to glorify His Divine Grace. How he went to the US at the age of 70 and so on. And the boy was really impressed. It must have been quite a site. When my parents came to the hospital, they would have got the shock of their life! Seeing me in a very animated and amiable conversation with a person with a beard, and a Muslim hat and so on... basically with an unmistakably Muslim boy :-)

So many people held the book these last couple of days. They have all been blessed no doubt. But most of all the nice young (doing B.A. first year) Muslim boy who appreciated so much Krishna Consciousness and Srila Prabhupada. May Srila Prabhupada be merciful upon him and take him to the lotus feet of Gauranga!

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.