Monthly Archives: September 2014

What is the meaning of Prabhupada ?

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Hare Krishna.

23rd September, 2014. Gurgaon

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I randomly opened Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta yesterday and this beautiful verse, with an enlightening purport by Srila Prabhupada, opened up.

Q : What is the meaning of word Prabhupada ?
Answer:

kāśī-miśra kahe, — āmi baḍa bhāgyavān
mora gṛhe ‘prabhu-pādera’ habe avasthāna (CC Madhya 10.23)

Translation:
When Kāśī Miśra heard the proposal, he said, “I am very fortunate that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Lord of all prabhus, will stay at my home.”

Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport ‘In this verse the word prabhupāda, referring to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, is significant. Regarding this, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda comments, “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and all His servants address Him as Prabhupāda. This means that there are many prabhus taking shelter under His lotus feet.”

The pure Vaiṣṇava is addressed as prabhu, and this address is an etiquette observed between Vaiṣṇavas. When many prabhus remain under the shelter of the lotus feet of another prabhu, the address Prabhupāda is given.

Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Advaita Prabhu are also addressed as Prabhupāda. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Advaita Prabhu and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu are all viṣṇu-tattva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu. Therefore all living entities are under Their lotus feet.

Lord Viṣṇu is the eternal Lord of everyone, and the representative of Lord Viṣṇu is the Lord’s confidential servant. Such a person acts as the spiritual master for neophyte Vaiṣṇavas; therefore the spiritual master is as respectable as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya or Lord Viṣṇu Himself. For this reason the spiritual master is addressed as Oṁ Viṣṇupāda or Prabhupāda.

The ācārya, the spiritual master, is generally respected by others as Śrīpāda, and the initiated Vaiṣṇavas are addressed as Prabhu. Prabhu, Prabhupāda and Viṣṇupāda are described in revealed scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Caitanya-bhāgavata. In this regard, these scriptures present evidence accepted by unalloyed devotees.’

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Difference between devotees & non devotees, and some analogies.

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Hare Krishna.

21st September, 2014. Gurgaon.

Quotes-by-Srila-Prabhupada-on-Difference-Between-A-Devotee-and-A-Non-Devotee

I recently heard two wonderful analogies about devotees, I am sharing them below.

As the many waves of the rivers flow into the ocean, so do all these great warriors enter blazing into Your mouths. (BG 11.28)

I see all people rushing full speed into Your mouths, as moths dash to destruction in a blazing fire. (BG 11.29)

The first was when I was listening to a lecture by HG Chaitnaya Charan Prabhuji on NoI and heard this amazing description of the above often repeated analogies of rivers rushing into water and moths dashing into fire, that death will come to everyone present there. Prabhuji quoted Vedanta Desika of Sri sampradaya who compared moths to non devotees and rivers to devotees in the following ways :

1. River enters naturally into sea where as moth forcefully enter the fire. Similarly people like Duryodhana enter death forcefully by doing adharma where as warriors like Bhishama and Drona are forced by the providence to be on the wrong side and they have to fight and also die also, but there is a difference between the two.

2. Rivers don’t lose their primary identity after merging into seas (water remains water) where as moths gets burned and lose their primary identity after getting burnt. Similarly devotee do not lose their identity after death. On the other hand materialists when they die, lose whatever they value. Devotees continue as before and serve the Lord, their essentials doesn’t change either in the material world or in the spiritual world. What they were doing before they do afterwards as well, death doesn’t effect them in a major way.

3. When moths go towards fire the don’t do any good to themselves or to the fire. But rivers irrigate the land and also provide water to everyone on the way to sea. Similarly when devotee lead there lives they are benefiting everyone, when they speak Krishna katha not only they are living a spiritual life but also spreading Krishna consciousness. Non devotees are no good to anyone.

The second one was when I heard a most wonderful seminar by HH Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaj on cleansing our heart. Maharaj first stated how a brahmana has three stages in his devotional life :

1. Dvija : when one is born in a brahmana family
2. Vipra : when one becomes an expert and is inspired
3. brahmana : One who knows Brahman.

Maharaj stated that similarly a devotee too has three stages in his life

1. First stage : When one gets initiated by the mercy of his Guru
2. Vipra : when one feels internally inspired to progress in bhakti
3. Vaishanava : when one understands Brahman

I then searched for analogies written by Srila Prabhupada and I hit a jackpot at this link.

I am sharing some of them below

1. As the river flows on till she reaches the sea, similarly pure devotional service flows by the association of pure devotees till it reaches the ultimate goal, namely, transcendental love of God.

2. His Divine Grace the spiritual master can kindle the spiritual fire from the wood-like living entity by imparting proper spiritual messages injected through the receptive ear.

3. He is slapped by the police. He says, “Oh, I am independent. Go on slapping.” This is insanity. Is it not insanity? The police slaps him, and he says, “I am independent.” Do you think independence? So that sort of independence we are having.

4. Tiger can kill many animals. Does it mean it is very important animal? No. It has no use in the society. Undoubtedly, it is very powerful. It has got the good weapons to fight and it can kill many. These are not qualifications for good men or good society.

I request devotees to kindly share useful analogies you may have heard with all of us.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Why do devotees keep a Shikha ?

by

Hare Krishna.

19th September, 2014. Gurgaon

Shikha

I always have questions regarding my shikha and the dos and don’ts that go with it.
I read earlier that the shikha signifies one-pointed focus on a spiritual goal and devotion to God. It is also an indication of cleanliness, as well as personal sacrifice to God. I recently found some interesting information on iskcondesiretree on shikha which I am copying here for the pleasure of devotees.

What is the significance of keeping a shikha ?

Shikha is a tuft of hair at the back of head specifically kept by Vaishnavas and Brahmanas.

It is an established rule that anyone who recites vedic mantras should not have hair on face and head. So, those who need to perform vedic rituals are advised to remove hairs.

However, there are many reasons for having Shikha:

  1. When Devotee leaves body Krishna pulls the soul from the top most Chakra which is on the head under the shikha.
  2. It is said that according to the karma of a soul the living entity at the time of death leaves body from different places from mouth, nose, etc… But a devotee who leaves this body from that “chakra” (Shikha) attains high planets of Spiritual world.
  3. Also hair is needed to protect that chakra. But women do not cut their hair, because their other lower chakras are not good protected but if they have long hair they protect them with hair.
  4. The Vaishnavas following a descending spiritual path that is they depend on the mercy of the Supreme Lord at every step to pull them out of Maya. So when we are drowning in Maya and only our head is out of the water, Guru and Gauranga can still pull us out comfortably by holding our head by this tuft of head called the shikha. So the shikha shows the subordination and dependence of the devotee on the causeless mercy of Lord Gauranga-Krishna at all times.
  5. The Mayavadis follow the ascending path since they egotistically confident of achieve God and coming out of illusion by the dint of their insignificant efforts or sadhan. So they do not keep a shikha because they do not need the mercy of the Lord.

6) Shikha is also like a spiritual antenna on the top of the head meant to show to the Lord and that we are aspiring recepients of His causeless mercy.

7) One must have a sikha to perform any kind of yajna. Therefore in Indian tradition all the brahmanas, Vaisnava or otherwise, keep a sikha. Although there seem to be no sastric injunctions regarding the size of the sikha, Gaudiya Vaisnavas traditionally keep the sikha about the size of a calf’s hoofprint, approximately 1.5 inches in diameter.

8) Srila Prabhupada mentioned this in a conversation with some of his disciples in Hawaii (6.5.1972):
“ GaudiyaVaisnavasikha is an inch and a half across — no bigger. Bigger sikha means another sampradaya…. And they have to be knotted”

9) Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta says:
The sikha may be any length, but it should be kept tightly knotted and only untied when you are washing, The Hari-bhakti-vilasa observes that members of the upper classes even tie the sikha before taking the final ablutions of a bath. This particularly applies when bathing in a body of water such as a river or a lake, in which case to not tie the sikha prior to bathing is considered low class and disrespectful to the sacred rite of bathing.
You may tie it in a simple manner for bathing, retying it more carefully after the bath.* cleaning, or oiling it. Also, when going to sleep, attending funeral rites, or observing a period of mourning, you should keep the sikha untied. Since an untied sikha is a sign of a death in the family, it is inauspicious to go about one’s daily duties with an untied sikha. It is also said that if one keeps the sikha untied, the body may become weak.
While tying your sikha after bathing, chant the Hare Krsna mantra, or, if initiated with Gayatri mantras, silently chant the Brahma-gayatri (first line of Gayatri). The sikha should not be braided (traditionally only women braid their hair), nor should it be kept long and disheveled. Naturally, if the sikha is too short to be tied, it is all right to leave it open, but it should not be disheveled.

10) Significance of Shaving head – It is a symbol of renunciation. If you see materialists, they are extremely fond of hair. Decorating hair etc pulls us into bodily consciousness. This is not good for practicing spiritualists. So as an indication of renunciation from material consciousness devotees shave head.

11) Significance of shikha – Another view: It is a symbol of duality of souls and supreme Lord. Impersonalists believe that there is no duality between the supreme and the living entity and they are expected to shave their heads completely. Vaishnavites believe in the philosophy that there is clear and eternal distinction between supreme god Krishna and living entities. The shikha is symbol of Krishna which is large and the remaining very little hair is the symbol of insignificant and innumerable conditioned living entity

12) Scientific reasons for having shikha:
(A) A person who keeps shikha attracts cosmic energy which imparts enlightment.
(B) The small portion of hair that hangs from behind our head applies little pressure on our brains that helps one to improve concentration and mind control and improve memory.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.