Our friends, relatives and so-called wives and children are not only fallible, but also bewildered by the outward glamor of material existence. As such, they cannot save us. Still we think that we are safe within the orbit of family, society or country."

Duryodhana wanted to trigger Dronacharya's anger and so he refers to Dhrstadyumna as Drupada's son. Drona and Drupada were friends in gurukul and at that time Drupada had told Drona that in future he could always approach him for help and that he would willingly give half of his kingdom.

Every child can become a great devotee of the Lord provided the parents give the impression of the same to the child from the beginning. Children learn alot by observing what the parents and elders do.Our attachment and affection to the child should not lead to degradation of their character. There is a famous proverb - "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Inorder to inculcate good behaviour in the children, there need to be right mix of love and strictness.

Once Krishna and Arjuna were having private conversation and Krishna had asked the doorkeepers not to let anyone inside. Sanjaya had come there to deliver some message. When doorkeepers told him that they would not be able to let him in, he asked them to just go and inform Krishna about his arrival.

A man’s misconduct affects his family members. Then a man’s devotional service can also benefit his family members. This is not just a man. It also refers to a woman. Also to a child. Prahlad Maharaj’s devotional service saved generations of his family.

We must understand that, as devotees, not only are we responsible for our own devotional service, we are all responsible for the devotional service of those who depend on us. And normally those who depend on us are our family members. So it is very important that each of us take responsibility for our own devotional service because, how we behave as devotees will affect others who depend on us.

Dhrtarashtra was anxious that his sons might loose the war and even die. He knew that his sons were at fault for all the mishaps and were on the adharma side. Fighting the battle in the holy place will not be favorable for them and they are bound to be defeated.

"Dhrta-rashtra means one who was eager to grab the nation - Like him we are also "dhrta-money", "dhrta-house", "dhrta-spouse" etc. Instead of being "Dhrta" for these things we should behave like Lord Brahma and be "Dhrta Hari"

At the time of death, due to phlegm and wind and so on, if the devotee is unable to think of Me, I myself think of him. If I don't do so, then no one else can be considered to be more ungrateful (than I am)."

When one attains self-realisation, then there is not even a drop of impact due to the sanchit, praarabdha and kriyamaana karma - (sins which are accumulated, sins which are already fructified, sins which are being created in the present) Only the ashes remain. That means the karma (action) becomes akarma (inaction).

In the scriptures, Sun is called "Savita" (the creator). Grhastha ashram is the main one among the four ashrams. Quoting the names of the kings like Surya, Manu, Ikshvaku, etc., the Lord says as to how in the ancient age, the householders learnt the karma yoga, and by living in their respective ashramas attained self realization by destroying their desires.

When we do not have 'what we desire' and when we have 'what we do not desire', this is called as misery. If we simply leave 'I want' and 'I don't want', they where is the question of misery?

We, in Krishna consciousness, have to show how to solve problems by actually solving them in ISKCON and by sharing our solutions with the world. We have to show, "Why things fail without Krishna" by ourselves not failing and by ourselves never being without Krishna. And this work is to be carried out by every Krishna conscious devotee, not only by a few leaders or few writers.

One of the significant point our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj used to say often in regard to the prayers in Srimad Bhagavatam is that we should not stop with just reciting or studying the prayers of different devotees. We should also study the Lord's response to the devotee after the prayers are offered.

In Mahabharata, when Dronacharya was killed in the battle, his son Ashwattama, unleashes the Narayana astra on the Pandavas. Narayana astra is a very powerful weapon. The Pandavas were unaware of how to counteract this weapon. The weapon is so fierce that it in turn fires a powerful tirade of millions of deadly weapons simultaneously. Lord Krishna knew that the intensity of the astra rises with increase in resistance.

Goshtipoorna (Tirukoshtiyur Nambi) said very gladly, “After  all, now I can cast off my physical body since I have found one who would take the greatest care of Ramanuja. This was a test to find the person most concerned about  Ramanuja’s well-being. Kidambi achan! Henceforth Ramanuja will not go out seeking ‘bhiksha'(alms). We entrust you with serving him food personally cooked by you.”

We had a similar experience when we started the Granthraj forum. In the beginning we were pretty raw and unorganized in our postings. Our Guru Maharaj, H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj, instructed this low-born and uncivilized living entity to keep posting one offering every day. He insisted, "Kalacakra, this is my order to you son. Ensure that one offering is published every day without fail."

It is important for us to understand that there is no short-cut to attain these symptoms artificially. Srila Prabhupada sounds a warning to such mundane imitators in his purport, "Lord Caitanya never tried to be the master of the holy name; rather He taught us how to be servants of the holy name. If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion, but he will never attain perfection in chanting the holy name."

The hunter and his wife received the two saintly devotees and also washed their feet with great devotion. Devotion is the key point here. He had a humble cottage and had not prepared any paraphernalias to receive them as the two saints came unexpected, but by their great love, respect and devotion the hunter and his wife extremely pleased Narada muni and Parvata muni.

The inclination to give pain to others (especially unprovoked), has its roots in our envious nature. Srila Prabhupada writes beautifully in his purport to BG 12.15, "Generally a materialistic person becomes very happy when there is something for his sense gratification and his body, but when he sees that others have something for their sense gratification and he hasn’t, he is sorry and envious."

ne of the important lessons we should also learn from the hunter in the way he paid his obeisances after whisking away the ants on the ground. He did not want his act of devotional service to be a disturbance to other living entities even if it is an ant.

We worry more about the externals like our clothes, body etc. getting dirty than thinking about the benefits of paying dandavat pranam to exalted vaishnavas and the Supreme Lord. Even while praying or offering obeisances inside the temple we meditate on the slippers that we left outside. We can change the cloth easily even if it gets dirty but we cannot change the body easily once we get it.

Srila Prabhupada's usage of words are nothing short of magical. He uses the word 'alacrity' to represent the mood of the hunter upon seeing his beloved spiritual master. 'Alacrity' is derived from the latin word, 'alacer' which means 'lively' & 'physical quickness coupled with eagerness or enthusiasm.'

Srila Prabhupada often quotes his father's one most powerful realization, "If Krishna wants to take your possession He will take it away with His twenty hands. How much can you protect with your two hands? And if Krishna wants to give you, He will give with His twenty hands, how much can you accept with your two hands?"

Srila Prabhupada says in his purport, "To award fearlessness to the common man is the greatest act of charity." When Mrgari turned from a hunter to a devotee, not only the human beings but also all the animals became fearless of him. This is a great lesson we can learn from the hunter.

The transcendental touch of Narada muni has started working in the hunter's life immediately. There is this famous saying, "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future." The beauty of devotional service is that even if we were the worst of sinner in the past, as soon as we become saintly, the past is forgotten and we are welcomed and honored by the same people who were cursing us once for our frightful actions.

Narada muni teaches us a very important lesson as a spiritual master. Being a dear servant of Krishna, even though he had all the power at his disposal, his aim is to bring the living entities closer to Krishna simply by pure bhakti and not by mundane attraction to magical powers, name & fame etc.

A bona fide spiritual master will never betray our faith in him. In fact, he will give more than what we deserve. Earlier, the hunter had to work so hard just to supply food for his family, but by Narada muni's blessings now without harming other living entities he would be supplied so much food that he would be in anxiety how to distribute the excess food.

Srila Prabhupada then goes on to clarify further, "One may live in a cave, in a cottage beside a river, in a palace or in a big city like New York or London. In any case, a devotee can follow the instructions of his spiritual master and engage in devotional service by watering the tulasī plant and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra."

The special qualification of the hunter is that he was genuinely repentant of his past sins and in an effort to absolve himself of those sins, he took complete shelter of a pure devotee such as Narada muni. Most importantly, he did not have any expectation upon Narada muni that he should do this favor to him.

It is vedic etiquette that whenever we fall at someone's feet, we don't do it just for formality, get up immediately to do something else. We fall at their feet in a mood of respect and surrender, which implies that "Now I am yours. You can do whatever you want with me."

With the dawn of the new year and new decade we are officially commencing Granthraj in our new system. By Krishna's mercy and with the immensible dedication of Srividya mataji & Sharma Prabhuji, we have migrated our email server overcoming several technical challenges. Our heartfelt gratitude to their undaunting support.