Monthly Archives: September 2015

Rekindle our love for Krishna

by

Hare Krishna.

27th September, 2015. Gurgaon.

Sometimes when devotees share how they still feel insecure and isolated, rather than insulated, in the material world, it really saddens my heart. We should continuously remind ourselves that the material energy, though separated, works under the control of the Supreme Lord Krishna and that it does not, and can not, act independently. The missing link is the dormant state of Love for Krishna. The umbilical cord called ‘Priti’ which is lying dry in our heart needs to be nourished via devotional service. Once nourished  it starts to flourish back and a loving connection with Krishna reestablishes. One should then be able to cross this ‘Bhava Sagar’ (material ocean) in a much more confident and sure-footed manner, rather it becomes a joyful service.

Srimad Bhagavatam says in 11.2.41

khaṁ vāyum agniṁ salilaṁ mahīṁ ca
jyotīṁṣi sattvāni diśo drumādīn
sarit-samudrāṁś ca hareḥ śarīraṁ
yat kiṁ ca bhūtaṁ praṇamed ananyaḥ

A devotee should not see anything as being separate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Ether, fire, air, water, earth, the sun and other luminaries, all living beings, the directions, trees and other plants, the rivers and oceans — whatever a devotee experiences he should consider to be an expansion of Krishna. Thus seeing everything that exists within creation as the body of the Supreme Lord, Hari, the devotee should offer his sincere respects to the entire expansion of the Lord’s body.

The BBT purport goes :

As already explained in this chapter, bhayaṁ dvitiyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear or illusion arises from thinking that there is something not dependent upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now, in this verse, the specific process for overcoming this fearful illusion is given. One must train one’s mind to see everything that exists as an expansion of the potency of the Supreme Lord. By offering respects to everything and meditating upon everything as part of the body of the Lord, one will become free from fear. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (5.29), suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām: Krishna is the well-wishing friend of every living being. As soon as one understands that everything that exists is under the powerful control of one’s most beloved friend, one comes to the stage in which the whole universe becomes a blissful abode (viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate), because he sees Krishna everywhere.

In Bhagavad-gītā (6.30) the Lord says:

yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati
tasyāhaṁ na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na praṇaśyati

“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda comments,“A person in Krishna consciousness certainly sees Lord Krishna everywhere, and he sees everything in Krishna. Such a person may appear to see all separate manifestations of the material nature, but in each and every instance he is conscious of Krishna, knowing that everything is the manifestation of Krishna’s energy. Nothing can exist without Krishna, and Krishna is the Lord of everything — this is the basic principle of Krishna consciousness.”

What is the qualification to see Krishna everywhere?

The qualification for seeing Krishna everywhere is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38):

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Śyāmasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee.”

SB 11.2.54, BBT Purport : A pure devotee is completely free from the tendency to enjoy things separately from the Lord’s service. He does not see anything in the universe as unfavorable, because he sees everything as the expanded potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee’s purpose in existing is to give pleasure somehow or other to the Supreme Lord. Thus everything that a pure devotee experiences, moment by moment, increases his ecstatic loving desire to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord.

Why don’t we understand this simple fact?

The same purport adds: The three modes of material nature torment the conditioned soul, who absorbs his mind in the separated, material energy of the Lord. The function of this separated energy, bhinnā prakṛti, is to take the living entity away from the reality, which is that everything is within Krishna and Krishna is within everything. Being covered by gross ignorance, the bewildered conditioned soul believes that only the objects of his own limited vision actually exist.

What is our real suffering in the material world?

The same purport explains: In fact, everyone is suffering the pangs of separation from Krishna. Because the conditioned soul imagines that he has no eternal relationship with Krishna, he is unable to ascertain that all his miseries are due to this separation. This is māyā, or “that which is not.” Actually, to think that misery arises from anything other than separation from Krishna is to be in illusion. So when a pure devotee sees living entities suffering within this world, he correctly feels that just as he is suffering because of separation from Krishna, all other living beings are also suffering from separation from Krishna. The difference is that a pure devotee correctly ascertains the cause of his heartbreak whereas the conditioned soul, bewildered by māyā, is unable to understand his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and the unlimited pain arising from neglect of that relationship.

How do we rekindle our love for Krishna ?

Hearing and chanting about Krishna is the simple and only solution!

Srila Prabhupada writes ‘Persons advanced in spiritual knowledge always hear and chant about Your transcendental pastimes because this process has the specific potency of nullifying the accumulated results of sinful life. Intelligent persons factually dip into the ocean of Your nectarean activities and very patiently hear about them. Thus they are immediately freed from the contamination of the material qualities; they do not have to undergo severe penances and austerities for advancement in spiritual life. This chanting and hearing of Your transcendental pastimes is the easiest process for self-realization…the devotee who wants to elevate himself simply by the process of devotional activities, especially by hearing and chanting, very soon comes out of the clutches of the dualities of material existence. By this simple process of penance and austerity, the Supersoul within the devotee’s heart is very much pleased and gives the devotee directions so that he may go back home, back to Godhead.’ – Krishna Book (Prayers by the Personified Vedas)

Hence we should all develop a habit to read Srimad Bhagavatam, or Krishna Book, daily.

The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God. (SB 1.2.16 p)

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Are we conscious in Krishna consciousness?

by

Hare Krishna.

13th September, 2015. Gurgaon

Srila Prabhupada

Since last many days few terms are coming again and again as I read and hear various lectures, become conscious in Krishna consciousness, shelter, surrender and ‘conscious cooperator’. Of course it helps that these days most of my hearing is from lectures from HG Srimati Mataji. These topics are too subtle for my conditioned heart but slowly they are entering my consciousness or let me admit that I trying to imbibe them, struggling but trying is my current state.

As I was trying to get a grip on what is actually meant by the term ‘conscious cooperator’, I wrote a mail to Srimati Mataji and received the below reply

Conscious cooperator’ is a multi-level and very subtle field. It begins with us taking into our heart the very essence of the teachings and mood of Srila Prabhupada and the acaryas he represents so wonderfully.

Then as luck would have it in the next session Mataji broached this topic briefly and I am sharing the same.

Srimati Mataji : As aspiring devotees we should see Krishna’s hand in our daily lives, that whatever is happening in our life, there is certain reason for it. It is there to teach us a certain lesson or redirect us in a certain way.

Another Devotee: When something happens to us many a times we feel we don’t deserve it, so we ask other devotees to pray for us! In a way this also means that Krishna is not intelligent enough that I am receiving something which I don’t need. We should know that everything which is happening to us has a purpose. We should not take on a victim’s mentality and think, even subconsciously, that we are victims. We should see Krishna’s hand in everything happening to us.

Srimati Mataji: Right. If there is something in our life which is causing us disturbance or difficulty, the first thing we should ask is that

Krishna what are You trying to tell me? What am I supposed to learn from this?

Because it will keep coming up again and again and again until we have learned the lesson.

Then Mataji asked another devotee to share her experience of Ouch ! This devotee shared that for a long time she has been praying to Krishna to make her remember His name under all situations. The devotee said that in past she has twice broken her wrist, an elbow and her hip but every time this happened only one word comes out of her mouth… Ouch! She admitted that she is unable to remember Krishna instinctively at such moments and her list of injuries continue!

Srimati Mataji : So there is always a reason why things are happening to us and unless we become a conscious cooperator it won’t help. Our mood should be that I want to learn, that I am trying to understand what I am supposed to learn under these circumstances. What change I am supposed to make in my consciousness and my life.

It is a good practice, if we do not understand the reason, to sincerely pray to Krishna to inspire us in our heart to make us understand what do You want me to learn from it?

I am quoting two paragraphs from the Prayer Srila Prabhupada wrote on board the ship Jaladuta to show the mood of our founder acharaya. This too is from a book Srimati mataji has written on Srila Prabhupada, Mataji entitled these paras as a

Prayer of Surrender

āniyācho jadi prabhu āmāre nācāte
nācāo nācāo prabhu nācāo se-mate
kāṣṭhera puttali jathā nācāo se-mate

O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.

bhakti nāi veda nāi nāme khub daro
‘bhaktivedānta’ nām ebe sārthak koro

I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I have been designated as Bhaktivedānta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedānta.

Markine Bhagavata-Dharma

(His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at Boston Harbor, September 17, 1965)

The principle here is that Srila Prabhupada is seeing this arrangement as Krishna’s arrangement. And actually we also have to try to develop this vision, to see Krishna’s plan in everything, to see Krishna’s arrangement in everything- that we have surrendered to Him, and so he is taking care of us.

Sometimes we may experience setbacks or disappointments ,but actually Krishna has some reason for giving them to us. We should try to understand that, and if we do we’ll never be disappointed in life.

Prabhupada’s complete surrender is amazing: “I am Your instrument. You can use me. You can engage me as You wish. I have no agenda of my own, no personal agenda. My agenda is whatever You desire. I am here to accept Your desire as my life and soul, to give everything to please You, to serve You.

(Markine Bhagavata-Dharma commentary  by HH Giriraj Maharaj, Three rivers, CA-2002)

So we get some idea as to what should be the mindset of a devotee of Lord Krishna: 

  • See Krishna’s hand in all our circumstances
  • Have complete faith and dependence on Krishna’s intelligence 
  • Learn to become a ‘conscious cooperator’.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

PS : I have received many mails requesting me to share Srimati Mataji’s lectures. Many of her lectures are private but here is the link to an amazing seminar on the Holy Name mataji gave at Sri Sri Radha Gopinath temple, Chowpatty, some years back. If we hear it  sincerely and seriously then there is no reason why our quality of japa would not improve.  Press here for the link.