When Parikshit Maharaj was moving in the forest, he found the personality of kali beating a poor bull and had cut off three of its legs. The bull which represented dharma was in a very sorry state and Parikshit Maharaj was enraged at the act of Kali purusha.
There is no need of running away from the responsibilities but there is a need of waking up. Don’t run away but wake up in your own situations. And know that all situations however good or bad we may have they are all temporary by nature.
In this particular verse the exchange of love between the Lord and His eternal devotees in Dwaraka is so wonderfully portrayed. More importantly three important qualities of the Lord are highlighted
Maharaj explained, "We only wish well for others if we are really connected to heart. Heart to heart connection in this material world are completely impossible, our relationship is always clouded by some selfish interest. Again the fact is that Krishna is ignored. We fail to see Krishna in others and start discriminating."
I am sure all of us have experienced in the last 5-10 years a big interest in yoga practice especially in Western countries and to my surprise Middle East countries. Literally yoga has become a way of life for many people, almost everybody knows something about yoga, and there are yoga centers in every town and place
The goal of our life is to help each other in progressing in spiritual life and not to waste this precious birth in petty fights. We never know when each one of us would depart this world. So what is the point fighting among ourselves when we are alive ?
Surrender to a spiritual master is not a 'once in a life' activity done at the time of initiation and then forgotten. Surrender is an eternal activity and it has to be performed every moment of our existence. Total surrender involves following the instructions of the spiritual master obediently and carefully
One point we must realise is that the devotees may try to fight against the providence, but they accept the providence and submit to the Lord. Despite reverses, they without interruption are favourably disposed in their attitude towards serving the Lord.
Our Scriptures are highly common sensical. In other words, they are meant for practical application. But many times we, due to lack of maturity tend to take the statements in the scriptures superficially and finally complain that the scriptural statements are just imaginary.
We are in this fast changing material world and because of so much competition and ever changing situations we are always uncomfortably placed and always in anxiety of our present comfortable position to continue especially where we are working.
Many times we think that Lord Indra is in charge of rain and Lord Krsna has nothing to do with this small management issue but on the contrary Lord Krsna in this verse confirms that He is the one behind the rain and heat. And Lord Krsna says to Arjuna that this is the most confidential knowledge.
From Bhagavad Gita we can understand that the Lord's descent into this material world in various spiritual forms is for three purposes apart from His own sweet will. All His incarnations have the following purposes.
Among the four ashramas, each ashrama has its own challenges. But Grhastha ashrama is the most common among 99% of the human beings and it has a very unique set of challenges. Infact normally it is not possible to understand the difficulties of this ashrama unless we go through it ourselves and face the challenges.
Once Mata Parvati and Lord Siva were discussing about Kali Yuga and Mata Parvati being compassionate to all the souls of the universe was asking why in this age of Kali there are so many unfortunate souls who are not able to manage to even get their daily bread.
The devotees in Chrompet, a suburb of Chennai, are conducting very inspiring satsang programs, children's programs and mangala arati programs every week in and around their neighborhood. As part of the outreach program, they conducted a program at a nearby orphanage two weeks ago.
We come across different living entities suffering due to different miseries. It might not be possible for us to help/solvethe miseries of others. But we can always chant for the suffering souls - Our compassion to them should neither deviate us from our spiritual duties nor make them lazy.
kriyaaha kurvan - work has to be performed. Sometimes in neophyte mentality we think that devotional service means to give up our occupational duties. Such path is never recommended. Krishna in Bhagvad Gita 3.8 says niyatam kuru karma tvam - perform your prescribed duty.
Everyone in this world want to possess wealth/beauty and social status, which are manifestations of Mother Lakshmi's opulences. Nowadays we are working hard to earn lakshmi, and our labor is like churning the ocean of milk. As in lakshmi swayamvara, the demons wanted to posses mother Lakshmi.
The precarious condition of the living entity within the womb of his mother is described here. On one side of where the child is floating is the heat of gastric fire, and on the other side are urine, stool, blood and discharges.
When we do any activity, we are expected to be conscious of that activity. His Divine Grace gives the definition of consciousness as energy of the soul that pervades the whole body. This so called minute energy of the soul is there because of the presence of the Supersoul.
This verse reminds me particularly of Prahlad maharaj. He had seen the Lord through the process of hearing right in the womb of his mother from bonafide Guru Srila Narada muni. Thus his heart became cleansed and the Lord was seated in his heart. He was constantly remembering Krishna .
Every one of us have our own basic nature and it is hard to change it without being Krishna conscious. And the only way we can purify our contaminated nature is by utilizing in Krishna's service. What to speak of a normal being, even a man of complete knowledge acts according to his own nature as Sri Krishna points out in Gita 3.33
He told that there was this boy who although good in studies, used to spend good amount of time with friends and would return home late by 2 or 3 in the morning. One day when he did not go out, the parents were worried. They thought that something is wrong or this behaviour is abnormal.
Whenever we open our eyes, we should see everything in this world as a property of Krishna whether it is material or spiritual. When we see Krishna in everything we see, then this propensity to enjoy sense gratification can be curbed to a large extent. But this requires lot of practice and determination.
We all know the importance of association. But we should associate with persons who have 100% faith in the Supreme Lord. Recently I came across this beautiful passage in the book Matchless Gift/chap5 wherein Srila Prabhupada mentions one incident in the life of Namacharya Srila Haridasa Thakura
Arjuna asked Lord Krsna, "What is the destination of the man of faith who does not persevere, who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization but who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism?"
Knowing that we are in the diseased condition of life it becomes mandatory to remember taking the medicine regularly. When we approach a doctor, he suggests a course which has to be followed on a regular basis, so as to completely cure us from our ailments.
Everyone in the material world is full of thoughts about how to maintain his family, how to protect his wealth. We plan various ways to keep our wealth secure(in form of investments, property, when only Krsna knows if we are going to enjoy our hard labour in future or not), but all our attempts will soon wash out, when death grabs our life air.
Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport that the process of advancing in Krishna consciousness and devotional service is described here. The first point is that one must seek the association of persons who are Krishna conscious and who engage in devotional service.
The spiritual master gives each of the disciples various instructions according to the capacity of his disciple and therefore it is incumbent on the part of the disciple to carry out it rigidly. This is where we all fall down and we are unable to receive the mercy of Spiritual master and the Supreme Lord Krishna.
The life of Raghunatha das Goswami is exemplary one. Though born in an aristocratic family and possessing a beautiful wife, he was eager to serve the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu always. When he first expressed his desire to renounce worldly pleasures, Mahaprabhu advise him not to take hasty decisions, but to practise renunciation internally.