The key to success in spiritual life is intense focus in our service. We can realize Krishna through a dedicated attempt to glorify Him by our service. We should always try to remember that every act of ours is an attempt to glorify Him and please Him. By remembering this frequently, we can increase our focus in our service.
The best way to overcome the effects of tribulations is by patiently accepting them as the ultimate plan of the Lord. When Yudhishtira Maharaj was intensely lamenting post the battle of Kurukshetra, the Lord arranged for him to hear transcendental instructions from Sri Bhishmadev so that he will be pacified.
One of the important lessons that our Guru Maharaj always taught us is, "Do not depend on anybody for your devotional service. As long as you have the strength to carry on a certain service, you keep doing it and Krishna will automatically arrange for all facilities like men, finance, etc."
We know that preaching is the best way to please the Lord. But sometimes when we preach to new people, they don't take it seriously and we become discouraged by their response. How can we effectively preach the glories of Lord ?
Of all the types of anarthas we possess, envy upon other living entities and the Supreme Being is the most dangerous because it is the only anartha which cannot be engaged in Lord's service and it is the root cause of our separation from the Supreme Being.
Maharaj, having gone through all the ashramas in sequence is able to judge the problems of each ashramas, especially grhastha ashrama which is such a challenging ashrama for the sheer reason of our direct involvement with the material modes and nature.
Srila Prabhupad explains how spiritual master knows what is the condition of his disciple. Just like a physician knows. By simply feeling the beating of pulse, a... An expert physician can know what is the condition of this patient, and he treats him and gives him medicine accordingly.
We all look to seek benedictions from the Lord, which are mostly materially motivated. Of course the Lord bestows upon us whatever we deserve but that is not the real indication of His benedictions.
Out of the 9 Nrsimhadev deities present there, 4 of them are on the top of steep hills which takes an arduous walking austerity through thick forest and the pathway filled with stones, rocks and woods. The rest of the 5 deities reside surrounding the foothills of the mountains
In today's mail, I would like to share with all of you a very nice rhyme which has been composed by H.G.Atma prasad Prabhuji - our God-brother from Minneapolis, who is currently serving in Sri Prahlad International school in Rajkot.
"I am not this body", This is always an alluring statement to live. We may have some degree of understanding, however that gyaan is rarely translated to action. Verses of Bhagavad Gita 2.13 in particular, shed lot of light in a common sensical way
By the magnanimous mercy of Lord Narasinghadev, we were able to visit the holy dham of Ahobilam - where Lord Narasinghadev had manifested once again, the pastimes of rescuing His dear devotee Prahlad Maharaj from his demoniac father Hiranyakashipu, as per request of His devotee Garuda
Our shastras are so full of transcendental instructions provided to us in so many ways. Some instructions are straight-forward coming from the lotus mouth of the Lord or His pure devotees. Some lessons we can get through instructive pastimes or (allegorical) stories. And some of them we can get it through narrative qualities of pure devotees.
One who comes in contact with Krishna consciousness in any way is at once liberated from material existence, but his liberation in the initial stages is imperceptible. Imperceptible means that something cannot be perceived, experienced, or measured.
The omnipresent Supreme Lord, resides in the heart of all living entities and provides equal opportunities to everyone to come to Him. But based on the behaviour of the individual soul, He showers His blessings accordingly.
In the translation Prabhupada tell us "one pointed attention". The opposite of this is to have our attention branched into many other areas. This is the main problem. We are always bothered about so many other things that we forget Bhagavatam.
After listening to the strong advice of Vidura, Dhrtarashtra and Gandhari along with Vidura himself left the palace for the forest without anybody's notice. The next day morning, Yudhistira Maharaj became anxious on not seeing his two uncles and aunt and enquired Dhrtarashtra's secretary Sanjaya as follows:
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said, yare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesa. This is a very important statement to meditate upon and we can see in the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam the exalted devotee Prahlad Maharaj while preaching to his demoniac friends
There is a very powerful section of description in the 13th chapter 1st canto of Srimad Bhagavatam titled, "Drtharashtra Quits Home". In this chapter the narration is filled with instructions that have high practical value. The behavior of each personality in this chapter is worth meditating and practicing in our lives.
All our attempts in devotional service are aimed at pleasing the Supreme Lord and win His heart. In our material life, people may be impressed by our family, our beauty, education, our abilities etc., but as far as the Supreme Personality Of Godhead Sri Krishna is concerned, He only values the feelings in our heart and our virtues.
The beginning of the devotional service is from the unflinching faith in the existence of the Supreme Absolute Truth, which we doubt very much. Kali-yuga, you know? samshayah everywhere, it is doubtful, completely doubtful.
In the olden vedic days, almost 10-20 people used to stay under one roof, the figure was much more than what I havementioned. But now even husband and wife find it difficult to stay with each other. Reasons for this are many & the list is endless.
In this verse Lord is explaining what is reality. All the things in this universe and also on various universes have no value if there is no relation to the Lord. So practically whatever work we are doing or whatever we are thinking should be linked to Krishna only and no one else.
In our day to day activities, sometimes we tend to get ourselves more absorbed in acquiring material opulence that we forget to priortise time for spiritual activities. Prabhupad gives a valid reason in this regard in the purport of verse 3.1.44 of Srimad Bhagavatam that "Ordinary living beings work for the improvement of their conditional lives".
Maharaj explained that, "The first quality we all should have is unflinching devotional service. There may be 100 types of good qualities but with sincere devotion to Krishna rest all will follow. This is the easiest way. So as soon as we go to Krishna, all good qualities assemble in him."
Detachment always has counteraction and attachment has interaction. Detachment is the main quality of person who has unflinching faith in Krishna. The material examples always fall short of the spiritual reality.
First of all we would like to thank Guru Maharaj for suggesting us to come back from Auckland to India and it is because of his causeless mercy that I amable to study Srimad Bhagavatam today. It was my longing desire to read Srimad Bhagavatam for all these days but because of my anarthas I could not do it everyday.
It may be argued that since Daksha was the father-in-law of Lord Siva, it was certainly the duty of Lord Siva to offer him respect. In answer to that argument it is explained here that when a learned person stands up or offers obeisances in welcome, he offers respect to the Supersoul, who is sitting within everyone's heart.
Once there was a flock of cranes passing living happily in a lake under the guidance of their noble king crane Musthika. One day, one of the cranes suggested that they would get more tastier food in a lake in the neighbouring village.
If you stay in the city there are so many deviations because every vibration whether it is a material vibration or the transcendental vibration, it preserves itself in the atmosphere and as we think, those particular types of vibrations are attracted.
When I visited Rajkot recently and spent a little time with my spiritual master, I had noted down some of the profound realizations that he spoke out of his vast and transcendental experience. I am sharing those points with you all.