Lord Krishna’s hand is decorated with flute. Krishna is very simple and He uses a flute which is made from natural bamboo. It doesn’t require a manufacturing company. Krishna does not have a big orchestra. Such a simple thing decorates His lotus hands.
In this material world we go through many things. As soon as we get up in the morning, we worry about what our boss is going to say, or how we are going to fire someone.
"One should cease performing conventional religious practices and should be attracted to those which lead to salvation. One should eat very frugally and should always remain secluded so that he can achieve the highest perfection of life."
In the beginning of the 6th Canto, Parikshit Maharaj asks a very intelligent question to Srila Sukadeva Goswami. He inquires that people in general commit mistakes and do some atonement only to repeat the same mistake again. So what is the point in that atonement which does not get one person out of the entanglement of comitting mistakes repeatedly?
"My dear most friend and eternal companion, please forgive me as I have neglected you so long in so many cycles of 8,400,000 forms. Please, please my dear most friend, I don’t want these cycles anymore".
"Harassed by famine and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become completely ruined."
In the history of mankind we have come across many instances where people have revolted to rectify a particular situation in which they have been placed by the will of providence.
Whenever someone asks us "How long you are in Krishna consciousness?", immediately we could the no. of years (or months) since we first heard about this philosophy, and convey that as our level of experience. In essence we do not understand what the word "Krishna conscious" actually means. It is actually very simple - Krishna consciousness means to be Conscious of Krishna.
Nowadays we see people of all ages (be it a child, student or adult) gets frustrated with life. Reason for the same is very nicely found in the above verse. We don't want to give up everything unto Krishna. We still believe that we are the doers and do not want to surrender unto Him.
I was 4 years old, and getting interested in the world, and how things all worked, and one thing that was a big part of me was to ask the question WHY? It was a new beginning. So one day, I came back from play and my mom came back from work. She told me to get into the car because we were going to do some shopping.
Recently Maharaj was advising a very important aspect regarding the symmetry of heart beat. Maharaj was instructing, "Sajjan, one of the US doctors who has got a lot of experience in medical science and is a specialist in heart disease was analyzing the various patients she has seen during her experience.
We're all here by Srila Prabhupada's mercy only. Unless we follow seriously we cannot pass it on. What we often forget is this world is 1) temporary and 2) very much changing. That is REAL-isation.
"Thereafter, the King of the elephants, Gajendra, fixed his mind in his heart with perfect intelligence and chanted a mantra which he had learned in his previous birth as Indradyumna and which he remembered by the grace of Krishna."
We are always wondering as to why we are not making any progress in our spiritual life and we are expert at blaming so many things and people around us for all the impediments we face in devotional service.
"The duty of a brahmana is to culture the quality of forgiveness, which is illuminating like the sun. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is pleased with those who are forgiving."
The vrik-shrota tends to be quiet and lethargic most of the time. But during the sessions of Bhagavat discourses, he goes on disturbing others around him with comments that are not related to the topic. He also asks deliberate, irrelevant questions to disturb others and divert their attention.
Our beloved Srila Gurudev has asked me several times that I must write in Sri Granthraj, but due to material conditioning I failed to obey his orders. I beg forgiveness at his lotus feet. Last time, when I was in Rajkot I recited a scripturalinstruction to Srila Gurudev,
We all know that from time immemorial we have forgotten our relationship with the Lord and hence we are not able to really relate our relationship inspite of so much hammering into our mind from the various classes we attend on Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad Gita.
Material possession cannot solve all our problems in life. Nor can they give us peace of mind. In fact their presence only give us more anxiety and trouble.
Prabhupada writes in CC Madhya Lila 20.117 that we have forgotten our relationship with the Lord from time immemorial ("anaadi bahir mukha") because of the influence of material nature for so many years and it is really very difficult to revive our eternal relationship with HIM.
Many of us have tendency to crib for everything and anything in life. If we don't have a job, we crib. Once we get job, we crib for promotions, hikes, own-house, life-partner, kids, car, land, property. The list is endless.
"Being full of contradictions, all forms of religion but bhagavata-dharma work under conceptions of fruitive results and distinctions of "you and I" and "yours and mine."
Sometimes it is difficult to believe that this age is an age of degradation, especially when we have great modern concepts such as nano technology, paperless offices, i-phones, cryogenic engines, Supernets etc., which are direct proofs of a technological revolution.
The parents we are blessed with, the school/college we study, the teachers we meet, the books, the food we eat, the house we stay, the clothes we wear, the tests/exams/interviews we attend, the job we get, the various challenges we face in life, the life-partner we get, the children we get, each and everything is gift from Krishna.
It is quite common experience to find that even theistic people who are engaged in worship of demi-gods, hesitate to take the path of devotional service to Supreme Lord Krishna. While one is worshiping the demi-gods, there are not much rules and regulation involved.