We always by default calculate the advancement of a person's spiritual nature based on his material opulence. But that is not always true. The spiritual advancement of a person is determined by how he responds to the various challenges offered by maya to forget Krishna.
That day the priest declared, "Today no offering, only Bhagavatam eating and Bhagavatam drinking" but if the boy wanted his rotis he could make them himself.
Equalizer is a term used in Electronics Engineering and of late it is being used in the field of Sports. In a football match, if two equally powerful teams are playing a very tough match, with one of the teams leading by a goal, then the leading team is supposed to dominate the match.
The current educational system with its emphasis on assimilation of too many facts and figures and the assessments being based on the scores in the examination, puts a lot of stress and pressure on the children and added to it is the highly competitive environment which makes admission into the higher institutes of learning and procuring a job, a great nightmare and stressful experience.
Once when Srila Prabhupada was in Mayapur some of his disciples spotted a snake in Srila Prabhupada’s bathroom and after some anxious search they finally killed it.
Usually in this world we see that we get many people to participate in happy occasions like marriage, birthday bash, business party and help in arrangements and create lot of scene in the occasion (the help is rendered only for this purpose).
When Hanumanji was crossing the ocean to trace Sita mataji, on the way he was caught by Lankini and she was about to eat him. But quickly Hanumanji gave her a punch and blood came out from her mouth and the effect of the punch was so powerful that the moment she got the punch, her body got purified.
In the pastime of King Citraketu laughing at Lord Siva, for having his wife seated on his lap, amidst assembly of sages, Lord Siva understanding the intentions of Citraketu smiled and remained silent and so did his followers. But Mother Parvathi became angry and was quick to react.
"Any person who is conscious of his friend's beneficent activities and never forgets his service is called grateful. In the Mahabharata, Krishna says, "When I was away from Draupadi, she cried with the words, 'He Govinda!' This call for Me has put Me in her debt, and that indebtedness is gradually increasing in My heart!"
Even as a child we would have realised that when we are paying 100% concentration to our studies we would take less time to understand and by-heart it. But when our mind is distracted by games, television etc, we would take very longer time to study the same portion. Same holds true for every prescribed duty in our life.
The yogi continued, "You say you are a king. May I tell you, who you are? You are a slave of my slave!" Stunned, Alexander asked. "How am I a slave of your slave?"
"Just as devotees whose minds are absorbed in the Personality of Godhead remain peaceful even when attacked by all sorts of dangers, the mountains in the rainy season were not at all disturbed by the repeated striking of the rain-bearing clouds."
There were two farmers who were engaged in cultivation of paddy. The first one was very agile and sincere and started working from the first month, strictly following the procedures laid down for cultivation.
If we chant offenselessly, Rama and Krishna are still present in this age. Even if one is sinful and cannot give up sinful life immediately, if he chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with devotion and faith he will certainly be freed from all sinful activities, and his life will be successful.
We always wonder whether our children will grow up and take to Krishna Consciousness or will they deviate from this transcendental path. Simultaneously, out of our natural affection we pray to Krishna for the welfare of our children so that they become His devotees in their adulthood. But with all our endeavors we cannot ensure that they will definitely stay on as devotees in the future.
First of all, such worship is done out of ignorance and to a large extent with the intention of avoiding controversial situations. And by continuing to worship all gods everyone is happy and most important of all, this is what is acceptable to the society we live in;
Once a student from a far off place approached a sage, to learn from him, how to attain happiness. The student had a big bag with him containing clothes, cash and other items. The sage looked at him and then suddenly snatched the bag and ran. The student was taken aback. He started chasing the sage. But the sage was fast and disappeared quickly.
"O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."
This is very true especially in this age of Kali wherein we can find 99.99 percent of the population of the world are only engaged in solving all the problems of material life with the material perception and most of them do not think to go out of the material box to enter into a spiritual perspective. In the same way most of us being devotees of the Lord, we try to solve immediately the so called material problems with temporary material solutions and thereby do not think on spiritual angle of vision.
A candidate for spiritual advancement must be nonviolent, must follow in the footsteps of great acharyas, must always remember the nectar of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, must follow the regulative principles without material desire and, while following the regulative principles, should not blaspheme others. A devotee should lead a very simple life and not be disturbed by the duality of opposing elements. He should learn to tolerate them.
It is usually very difficult for us to forgive a soul who is constantly offending us. But being a true Vaishnava, Prthu Maharaj possessed this valuable jewel of forgiveness and he willingly forgave Indra who had been source of disturbance in completing his 100th horse sacrifice.
Deterioration cannot be stopped, but those who are near Krishna they will be saved. If you are running after Krishna, He manages that we have income and time.
The composition of Srimad Bhagavatam itself is not from this conditioned world. How can we ignore such literature and go to some scratch ? We may have done sins or we may do sins but this literature should not be forsaken.
When we are engaged in any service either occupational or devotional, we have our own set of hidden goals and motives. Such expectations hinder our progress. It is very important that we perform all service without any tinge of expectation. When there is expectation, then despair and disappointment automatically follows, when they are not met.
Our gross body constantly deteriorates but we do not realize this in our usual day-to-day activities. We are aware of the recommended activities for maintaining the body. However we find endless excuses to ignore the recommendations and do whatever we like.
But one who has tasted the beauty of the Supreme Lord Krishna, in the course of his advancement in Krishna consciousness, no longer has a taste for dead, material things
Sometimes we plan to do a certain type of service but either we may not get opportunity or even if we get the opportunity to serve due to poor health conditions, we may not be able to perform the service. In such conditions we must learn to accept the reality and we should not attempt to go against the circumstances.