But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things . Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"
Sometimes it so happens that we come across certain bad qualities in the people we meet. In such situations, it is important for us not to meditate on/brood over these qualities and judge their behaviour.
"When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental jubilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brahmanaas as a transcendental festival
Sometimes we speak that "I'll preach." What you will preach? First of all get the power of attorney; then preach. Preaching is not so easy that anyone and anyone can preach without... Krsna-shakti vinaa nahe naama pracaarana.
No other senses will act when you are sleeping. But the ear will act. Therefore, in this age, when people are so fallen they will not hear anything, if we chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra, he'll be awakened to Krishna consciousness. This is practical."
Scientists may argue that by their inventions, life is made easier and happier. But this is not true. There may be newinventions in medicine, mobile, automobile etc. An automobile company may make use of a new technology to manufacture a carat low price. But what is the use ?
Today we had a mother of 6 year old child who is schoolmate of our daughter Supriya visit our house. While I was talking to her it was very surprising to hear that she is working as a SAP consultant, returns home not before 9 pm, her husband is in USA and she leaves her only daughter under the care of somebody.
"Then that supreme authority, personified by sound and unseen by eyes, but most wonderful, stopped speaking. Feeling a sense of gratitude, I offered my obeisances unto Him, bowing my head."
In our personal lives also, we see in many situations that we try to protect our near and dear ones from various calamities such as disease, earthquake, floods etc., But sometimes we fail inspite of all the attempts.
In India there is a very commong saying "Karma Kiye Ja. Phal Ki Apeksha Mat Kar." It means do your work without any expectation of fruits of that action.
"An intelligent person does not take interest in a place, even in the topmost planetary system, if the pure Ganges of topics concerning the Supreme Lord's activities does not flow there, if there are not devotees engaged in service on the banks of such a river of piety, or if there are no festivals of sankirtana-yajna to satisfy the Lord [especially since sankirtana-yajna is recommended in this age]."
The article went as follows: ...an 'Indianised' Bible with references to the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmriti anddrawings of a turbaned Joseph and sari clad Mother Mary with baby Jesus in her arms, is making waves in Kerala (a state inIndia).
I was sharing this point with my senior godbrother H G Purnendu Krishna prabhu and he shared with me his conversation with Maharaj on the same subject that he had earlier. He paraphrased Maharaj saying that this is the height of craziness one can go to.
The struggle of existence in any part of the world are the same inspite of finding various modern scientific ways to mitigate the material inebrieties and it is like transferring our burden from one shoulder to another and there is no escape for it.
"The jurisdiction of Krishna consciousness extends everywhere, and one who knows Krishna consciousness is blessed. Those who do not know Krishna are in illusion, and so knowledge of Krishna is liberation, and ignorance of Him is bondage."
Usually when we meet our friends we ask, Then, what's the news?. The news is generally meant to convey something about politics, movies or economics or about our daily life. We usually share what happened in these fields and continue the conversation.
One of the very nice lesson which Srila Prabhupada has taught us is to address devotees as "Prabhus" and "Mathajis". But it is important for us to understand the real intent behind this as well. If we keep un-necessary grudge with devotees and superficially address them as "Prabhus", then the whole purpose is lost.
"Whatever Devotional Service you planned to do tomorrow, do today, what devotional service you planned to do today, start it now, for there will be a devastation in a few momemts, then when will you do it?"
By grace of Gurudev and Lord Jagannath, I tried to practise the same formula for the past one week and I could really experience the improvement in the quality of chanting and the way I do things at home and work. The problem I face most of the time is that I simply concoct that I am the most busiest person in the world.
"Any questions,clarifications, please ask."...Usually this is the way a preacher ends the class following the footsteps of our acharya Srila Prabhupada.
Two weeks back I had gone to leave H G Kalacakra Prabhuji to the bus stand when he was on his way to Bangalore. We had a brief chat about the way our relationship has developed since we met one-and-half years back, when, he made a very profound statement.
Maharaj encouraged me by saying, "Gopalkrishna, don't worry about numbers." He expressed his pleasure in knowing that the shloka class has been started.
Whenever we see somebody very happy or performing very good devotional service immediately the envy within us prevents in appreciating their activities and we try to find fault with their actions (thus we gratify our senses). We can see this very evidently in our day to day life.
Most of his students don't become black belts because they get bored and want him to teach them something new. He insists that if they can just find some small way to improve their moves every day eventually they will become black belts and usually much sooner than they expected.
We (myself and my prabhu) were happy to see for the first time our God sister HG Manasi ganga mathaji and her son Nanda kishore Prabhu from Minneapolis, who are presently in India on a pilgrimage tour.
1. Our body which is fresh like a blooming flower deteriorates within a span of a few years;
2. With the passage of time, life in each of the four yugas deteriorates not only in quantity (number of years) but also in quality;