ancient_paztriot

Humility, service, surrender; it's all the same essence. We should mentally be thinking "Please forgive my offenses" during and at the end of everything we try to do for Krsna. We can even do this with qualified men. Not others.

Maybe the demons see devotees jerking Krsna around and think, "What's the difference?"

You should be the first one to know.

Feel like your life is upside down?

SB 3.12.2 Brahma first created the nescient engagements like self-deception, the sense of death, anger after frustration, the sense of false ownership, and the illusory bodily conception, or forgetfulness of one’s real identity. PURPORT Before the factual creation of the living entities in different varieties of species, the conditions under which a living being in the material world has to live were created by Brahma. Unless a living entity forgets his real identity, it is impossible for him to live in the material conditions of life. Therefore the first condition of material existence is forgetfulness of one’s real identity. And by forgetting one’s real identity, one is sure to be afraid of death, although a pure living soul is deathless and birthless. This false identification with material nature is the cause of false ownership of things which are offered by the arrangement of superior control. All material resources are offered to the living entity for his peaceful living and for the discharge of the duties of self-realization in conditioned life. But due to false identification, the conditioned soul becomes entrapped by the sense of false ownership of the property of the Supreme Lord. It is evident from this verse that Brahma himself is a creation of the Supreme Lord, and the five kinds of nescience which condition the living entities in material existence are creations of Brahma. It is simply ludicrous to think the living entity to be equal with the Supreme Being when one can understand that the conditioned souls are under the influence of Brahma’s magic wand. Patanjali also accepts that there are five kinds of nescience, as mentioned herein.

Maybe alot of spiritual reminders or caution signs up as numerous as the street signs would be a good idea. Reality is, we live in a world where people cheat each other because they find ways to gain personally by that. Strong take the weak and so on. Much of the demon's activity is restricted by it being "too" overt. They can't be too obvious about their fringe behavior. So there is pretext and deception that they thrive in. I'm just amazed at what little pretext they get away with these days. There really are powerful demons who, "in the name of" this or that, just try to play God and religion and everbody and everything as their "amusement". When someone doesn't strike you as genuine, then you may naturally suspect alterior motives. I've pointed out many times before, the posts of some people on this board are not consistent with "real life". Sincere people just don't demonstrate the intent and result of what some of these people present themselves as. You wonder way some of them stay. I certainly wonder that about Govindaram. How long has he been here? … Therefore, there is something sinister going on. Is it a movie stage where to props and script are now real-time? I don't like tv much myself and I think the people that dedicate themselves to such a phoney world are pitiable. (No doubt they see themselves as worldly and advanced - and in control). Feel like the consumer elite where everyone is pitching for your commital? Everyone trying to appease you? Maybe you're just being programed.

SB 3.2.28 When the Lord displayed His activities just suitable for childhood, He was visible only to the residents of Vrndavana. Sometimes He would cry and sometimes laugh, just like a child, and while so doing He would appear like a lion cub. PURPORT If anyone wants to enjoy the childhood pastimes of the Lord, then he has to follow in the footsteps of the residents of Vraja like Nanda, Upananda and other parental inhabitants. A child may insist on having something and cry like anything to get it, disturbing the whole neighborhood, and then immediately after achieving the desired thing, he laughs. Such crying and laughing is enjoyable to the parents and elderly members of the family, so the Lord would simultaneously cry and laugh in this way and merge His devotee-parents in the humor of transcendental pleasure. These incidents are enjoyable only by the residents of Vraja like Nanda Maharaja, and not by the impersonalist worshipers of Brahman or Paramatma. Sometimes when attacked in the forest by demons, Krsna would appear struck with wonder, but He looked on them like the cub of a lion and killed them. His childhood companions would also be struck with wonder, and when they came back home they would narrate the story to their parents, and everyone would appreciate the qualities of their Krsna. Child Krsna did not belong only to His parents, Nanda and Yasoda; He was the son of all the elderly inhabitants of Vrndavana and the friend of all contemporary boys and girls. Everyone loved Krsna. He was the life and soul of everyone, including the animals, the cows and the calves.

SB 2.8.18 Please also explain what may generally be the common religious affiliations of human society, as well as their specific occupational duties in religion, the classification of the social orders as well as the administrative royal orders, and the religious principles for one who may be in distress. PURPORT The common religion of all classes of human beings, regardless of whosoever and whatsoever one may be, is devotional service. Even the animals may be included in devotional service to the Lord, and the best example is set by Sri VajraìgajI, or Hanuman, the great devotee of Lord Sri Rama. As we have already discussed, even the aborigines and cannibals can also be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord if they happen to be under the guidance of a genuine devotee of the Lord. In the Skanda Purana there is a narration that a hunter in the jungle became the most enlightened devotee of the Lord by the guidance of Sri Narada Muni. Therefore devotional service to the Lord can be equally shared by every living being. Religious affiliation in terms of different countries and cultural circumstances is obviously not the common religion of the human being; rather, the basic principle is devotional service. Even if a particular type of religious principle does not recognize the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the followers still have to obey the disciplinary principles laid down by a particular leader. Such a leader of a religious sect is never the supreme leader because such a circumstantial leader comes to the position of leadership after undergoing some penance. The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not, however, require to be under disciplinary action to become leader, as we see in the activities of Lord Krsna. The occupational duties of the castes and the orders of society, following the principles of livelihood, also depend on the principle of devotional service. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that a person can achieve the highest perfection of life simply by awarding the results of his occupational duty unto the devotional service of the Lord. People following the principles of devotional service to the Lord can never be put into difficulty, and thus there cannot be any question of apad-dharma, or religion in distress. As will be explained in this book by the greatest authority, Srila sukadeva GosvamI, there is no religion save and except the devotional service of the Lord, though this may be presented in different forms.

SB 2.8.4 Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna manifested in their hearts within a short time. PURPORT Cheap devotees or materialistic devotees of the Lord are very much desirous to see the Lord personally without meeting the requisite qualifications. Such third-grade devotees should know well that material attachment and seeing the Lord face to face cannot go together. It is not such a mechanical process that the professional Bhagavatam reciters can do the job on behalf of the third-grade materialistic pseudo-devotee. The professional men are useless in this connection because they are neither self-realized nor interested in the liberation of the audience. They are simply interested in maintaining the material establishment of family attachment and earning some material benefits out of the profession. Maharaja Pariksit had no more than seven days to live, but for others Maharaja Pariksit personally recommends that one hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly, nityam, always by one's own effort and with serious devotion also. That will help one to see the Lord Sri Krsna manifested in one's heart within no time. The pseudo-devotee, however, is very anxious to see the Lord according to his whims, not making any serious effort to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and without detachment from material benefit. That is not the way recommended by an authority like Maharaja Pariksit, who heard and benefited by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam.

One of many impossible hurtles? I can rest my mind from the fear of returning home or not. Looks like I have plans here… ............................... SB 2.6.20 The spiritual world, which consists of three fourths of the Lord's energy, is situated beyond this material world, and it is especially meant for those who will never be reborn. Others, who are attached to family life and who do not strictly follow celibacy vows, must live within the three material worlds. PURPORT The climax of the system of varnasrama-dharma, or sanatana-dharma, is clearly expressed here in this particular verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The highest benefit that can be awarded to a human being is to train him to be detached from sex life, particularly because it is only due to sex indulgence that the conditioned life of material existence continues birth after birth. Human civilization in which there is no control of sex life is a fourth-class civilization because in such an atmosphere there is no liberation of the soul encaged in the material body. Birth, death, old age and disease are related to the material body, and they have nothing to do with the spirit soul. But as long as the bodily attachment for sensual enjoyment is encouraged, the individual spirit soul is forced to continue the repetition of birth and death on account of the material body, which is compared to garments subjected to the law of deterioration. In order to award the highest benefit of human life, the varnasrama system trains the follower to adopt the vow of celibacy beginning from the order of brahmacarI. The brahmacarI life is for students who are educated to follow strictly the vow of celibacy. Youngsters who have had no taste of sex life can easily follow the vow of celibacy, and once fixed in the principle of such a life, one can very easily continue to the highest perfectional stage, attaining the kingdom of the three-fourths energy of the Lord. It is already explained that in the cosmos of three-fourths energy of the Lord there is neither death nor fear, and one is full of the blissful life of happiness and knowledge. A householder attached to family life can easily give up such a life of sex indulgence if he has been trained in the principles of the life of a brahmacarI. A householder is recommended to quit home at the end of fifty years (pancasordhvam vanam vrajet) and live a life in the forest; then, being fully detached from family affection, he may accept the order of renunciation as a sannyasI fully engaged in the service of the Lord. Any form of religious principles in which the followers are trained to pursue the vow of celibacy is good for the human being because only those who are trained in that way can end the miserable life of material existence. The principles of nirvana, as recommended by Lord Buddha, are also meant for ending the miserable life of material existence. And this process, in the highest degree, is recommended here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, with clear perception of ideal perfection, although basically there is no difference between the process of Buddhists, saìkarites and Vaisnavites. For promotion to the highest status of perfection, namely freedom from birth and death, anxiety and fearfulness, not one of these processes allows the follower to break the vow of celibacy. The householders and persons who have deliberately broken the vow of celibacy cannot enter into the kingdom of deathlessness. The pious householders or the fallen yogIs or the fallen transcendentalists can be promoted to the higher planets within the material world (one fourth of the energy of the Lord), but they will fail to enter into the kingdom of deathlessness. Abrhad-vratas are those who have broken the vow of celibacy. The vanaprasthas, or those retired from family life, and the sannyasIs, or the renounced persons, cannot break the vow of celibacy if they want success in the process. The brahmacarIs, vanaprasthas and sannyasIs do not intend to take rebirth (apraja), nor are they meant for secretly indulging in sex life. Such a falldown by the spiritualist may be compensated by another chance for human life in good families of learned brahmanas or of rich merchants for another term of elevation, but the best thing is to attain the highest perfection of deathlessness as soon as the human form of life is attained; otherwise the whole policy of human life will prove to be a total failure. Lord Caitanya was very strict in advising His followers in this matter of celibacy. One of His personal attendants, Chota Haridasa, was severely punished by Lord Caitanya because of his failure to observe the vow of celibacy. For a transcendentalist, therefore, who at all wants to be promoted to the kingdom beyond material miseries, it is worse than suicide to deliberately indulge in sex life, especially in the renounced order of life. Sex life in the renounced order of life is the most perverted form of religious life, and such a misguided person can only be saved if, by chance, he meets a pure devotee.

Hridayananda… "… Yes, you should help. You can help also. You can maintain a normal life and so on… pursue whatever you're pursuiing. But at the same time you can be enlightened. And you can help this spiritual revolution".

SB 4.29.72 When one is a youth, all the ten senses and the mind are completely visible. However, in the mother’s womb or in the boyhood state, the sense organs and the mind remain covered, just as the full moon is covered by the darkness of the dark-moon night. PURPORT When a living entity is within the womb, his gross body, the ten sense organs and the mind are not fully developed. At such a time the objects of the senses do not disturb him. In a dream a young man may experience the presence of a young woman because at that time the senses are active. Because of undeveloped senses, a child or boy will not see a young woman in his dreams. The senses are active in youth even when one dreams, and although there may be no young woman present, the senses may act and there may be a seminal discharge (nocturnal emission). The activities of the subtle and gross bodies depend on how developed conditions are. The example of the moon is very appropriate. On a dark-moon night, the full shining moon is still present, but it appears not to be present due to conditions. Similarly, the senses of the living entity are there, but they only become active when the gross body and the subtle body are developed. Unless the senses of the gross body are developed, they will not act on the subtle body. Similarly, because of the absence of desires in the subtle body, there may be no development in the gross body.

Anyone care to comment on this? eternally existing in a form not exceeding nine inches? ................................................... SB 2.6.13-16 Beginning from me [brahma] down to you and Bhava [siva], all the great sages who were born before you, the demigods, the demons, the Nagas, the human beings, the birds, the beasts, as well as the reptiles, etc., and all phenomenal manifestations of the universes, namely the planets, stars, asteroids, luminaries, lightning, thunder, and the inhabitants of the different planetary systems, namely the Gandharvas, Apsaras, Yaksas, Raksas, Bhutaganas, Uragas, Pasus, Pitas, Siddhas, Vidyadharas, Caranas, and all other different varieties of living entities, including the birds, beasts, trees and everything that be, are all covered by the universal form of the Lord at all times, namely past, present and future, although He is transcendental to all of them, eternally existing in a form not exceeding nine inches. PURPORT The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His partial representation, measuring not more than nine inches as Supersoul, expands by His potential energy in the shape of the universal form, which includes everything manifested in different varieties of organic and inorganic materials. The manifested varieties of the universe are therefore not different from the Lord, just as golden ornaments of different shapes and forms are nondifferent from the original stock reserve of gold. in other words, the Lord is the Supreme Person who controls everything within the creation, and still He remains the supreme separate identity, distinct from all manifested material creation. in the Bhagavad-gita (9.4-5) He is therefore said to be Yogesvara. Everything rests on the potency of Lord Sri Krsna, and still the Lord is different from and transcendental to all such identities. in the Vedic Purusa-sukta of the rg mantra, this is also confirmed. This philosophical truth of simultaneous oneness and difference was propounded by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and it is known as acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Brahma, Narada and all others are simultaneously one with the Lord and different from the Supreme Lord. We are all one with Him, just as the gold ornaments are one in quality with the stock gold, but the individual gold ornament is never equal in quantity with the stock gold. The stock gold is never exhausted even if there are innumerable ornaments emanating from the stock because the stock is purnam, complete; even if purnam is deducted from the purnam, still the supreme purnam remains the same purnam. This fact is inconceivable to our present imperfect senses. Lord Caitanya therefore defined His theory of philosophy as acintya (inconceivable), and as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita as well as in the Bhagavatam, Lord Caitanya's theory of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva is the perfect philosophy of the Absolute Truth.

America has been making "the best" machines for a century. They pride themselves on being 'wizards' for this. Now in Vedic terms this is low class. Have the mechanistic technologies been employed for the benefit of the public who "certainly" pays for them? 300 channels of sh_t on the tv to choose from? Hear a commercial everytime you make a phone call? Get charged for using that automated computer when checking your account? Get hassled and charged by the government everytime money changes hands? DISAGREE WITH THE GOVERNMENT and there is no privacy. Not only is there no privacy, you are targeted for removal. They try to trap you into doing something and lock you up as a criminal. Nevermind they are running the sting. And maybe you're just trying to save trees… or something infinitely important. Yes, they have powerful laws for high-tech criminals. Only problem is, everyone comes under that net except the biggest criminals calling the shots. An advanced civilization? Prabhupada agreed they were advanced in hedonistic terms. It is true… they have superior machines that extend their arrogant and envious senses. But they just try to shove sh–t down people's throats while singiing freedom. Historically, we seen that many times before. /images/graemlins/frown.gif it's just too hard for people to see the big picture. /images/graemlins/frown.gif Just look at the history they teach you… Nothing really counted until the "superior race arrived and claim everything for the glory of king and God". There are so many examples in history. Seems everyone has forgotten them. Or the knowledge of empical science or medicines, etc. How do you utilize a particular knowledge and process? How do we transcend this "I'm so advanced! … (I'm about to shoot my toe off) ? The real comedy: Leaders are simply ruthless businessmen who have gotten rich cheating others. But this economic position is indicative of a smart person, a leader among men. "I will do for you what I've done for myself!" Then, even as the walls crumble around them, the fools applaud their leader. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Recent Example: Bags on the head of Iraqi prisonsers… as well as torture. Bush responds with words to placate. And the audience? "Thankyou Sir for that fine history lesson. Americans can do it and they can't." (I thnk all this advancement has made people stupid-as-hell). Hey, I can't stand what goes on. But alot of others do. Tell me… Can devotees tolerate these programs that slowly enslave them? Just chant Hare Krsna? People always want your money and just about all of your social standing depends on your ability to manifest it. The rich who want it the most can't get enough. Ask them for money? Never money for public services or for you. Therefore, they need more. There's never enough money to accomplish all that leadership planned. "We want money for intercontinental defense and to control the space and skies and to have access to everyone at will. But no! We don't have money for a city parking lot right now… or education… or health care… or even a park bathroom… RIGHT NOW." (Look for the tax break at election time). "Hey, I'm just do'in my job!" The REAL HISTORY lesson… Do Unto Others… or "I'll get you before you get me." Most people can't get past this. But I can't surrender either. /images/graemlins/frown.gif Government? Highest authority on earth? What if they just run the government like a business? You know you have a buildiing so you have people to clean the office or fix the phones… security at the door. We have minimal public services that you have to pay to use. That's what we get from our government? Anything else? How 'bout some of you government dogboys out there… Anything else? Do the answers form in terms of pious qualites or demoniac ones? Do you ever think about that much? Or is the power too intoxicatiing? Maybe you're just too stupid to care. I sometimes think devotees are too stupid to care. Just trying to survive under Hitler's mercy? Seems to me a caveman could just hit "Hitler" on the head in demonstration of the same ethics. That's all folks! (The new Hitler is really the old Hitler). Are these presumed leaders really going to let you practice your religion? Are they facilitating that now?

But Panel Can't Decide How to Fix It GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Arizona (AP) -- It's hard to get the sense anything is wrong in the Grand Canyon while floating through it. On a recent spring morning, the Colorado River was cool and calm. Trout leapt, splashing back into the river with a plop. Stands of salt cedar lined the banks, offering shade from the desert heat. But all is not well in this crown jewel of America's national park system. The salt cedar and trout are invaders, part of a wave of alien fish and plants that have moved in and devoured or crowded out the native species. The sandy shorelines are washing away. And once-buried Indian archaeological sites are slipping into the river. The Grand Canyon is in deep trouble, and the government-appointed panel assigned to come up with solutions is torn by competing interests and cannot muster the political will to act decisively. "The best that we can do is keep slapping on as many Band-Aids as we can and hope the patient survives," complained Pam Hyde, one of two environmentalists on the panel. The Colorado is a different river from one explored by the one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell, who in 1869 led the first expedition through the Grand Canyon. The landscape and biology have been transformed by the Glen Canyon Dam, built upstream in 1963 to generate hydroelectric power and store water. Before the dam was erected, the Colorado would fill with snowmelt and flood violently in the early summer, then dwindle to a trickle in the winter. The dam smoothed out the flow. In Powell's day, the Colorado was warm and muddy. Now it runs cold and clear, because sediment gets caught behind the dam in Lake Powell and because the water released through the dam comes from the reservoir's lower, cooler depths. Over the years, nearly $200 million has been spent assessing what the dam has done to Grand Canyon and exploring what can be done to fix it. In an ambitious experiment to see whether Glen Canyon Dam can help solve the very problems it created, the U.S. Geological Survey has unleashed floods, released pulses of water and even simulated a summer drought to see if this would build up the sandbars and restore the river in other respects. Also, lasers and sonar map the canyon's loss of sand. Implanted microchips allow scientists to monitor endangered fish and follow the movements of boulders downstream. But an overall plan for saving the Grand Canyon has yet to emerge, and much of the research merely confirms what scientists already know. The sophisticated tests "measure the ever-fainter pulse of the patient," said John C. Schmidt, a veteran canyon researcher from Utah State University. For example, four of the canyon's eight native fish species have disappeared, and the prospects for a fifth, the endangered humpback chub, are grim. The chub is being hurt by a number of factors, primarily the cold water, which hampers reproduction, and the Asian tapeworm, a non-native parasite that is killing the fish. The job of directing the science and developing a plan for the Grand Canyon rests with a panel of river users and interest groups assembled by the Interior Department in 1996 in what was itself an experiment. The 25-member group involves everyone with a stake in Grand Canyon: a river guide, a trout fisherman, tribes, environmentalists, water managers and power company officials. The group reports to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. But the panel finds itself pulled in different directions as each member looks after his or her own interests. Environmentalists see life or death for the canyon. The states want to ensure access to water for irrigation and 25 million households in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Power officials worry about lost revenue from adjustments to the river flow. In one particular clash, fishermen want to catch trout, while environmentalists want to preserve chub. One problem: Trout eat young chub. "That's where the program has the hardest time: What are you willing to give up in return for improving something else?" said Leslie James of the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association. At some point, scientists say, the group will have to make a choice: Trout or chub. Beach-building floods or healthy plants on the riverbanks. A retreat is scheduled for this month to get the program back on course. The alternative is lawsuits and the possibility that a judge could dictate the balance of interests in the Grand Canyon -- exactly what the Interior Department hoped to avoid by giving everyone a place at the table. "The program is not willing to stand up and announce that the program's a failure," Schmidt said. "They're not willing to say the irreversible price for Glen Canyon Dam and its power and water storage is the deterioration of the Grand Canyon."

SB 2.3.12 TRANSLATION Transcendental knowledge in relation with the Supreme Lord Hari is knowledge resulting in the complete suspension of the waves and whirlpools of the material modes. Such knowledge is self-satisfying due to its being free from material attachment, and being transcendental it is approved by authorities. Who could fail to be attracted? PURPORT According to Bhagavad-gita (10.9) the characteristics of pure devotees are wonderful. The complete functional activities of a pure devotee are always engaged in the service of the Lord, and thus the pure devotees exchange feelings of ecstasy between themselves and relish transcendental bliss. This transcendental bliss is experienced even in the stage of devotional practice (sadhana-avastha), if properly undertaken under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. And in the mature stage the developed transcendental feeling culminates in realization of the particular relationship with the Lord by which a living entity is originally constituted (up to the relationship of conjugal love with the Lord, which is estimated to be the highest transcendental bliss). Thus bhakti-yoga, being the only means of God realization, is called kaivalya. srila Jiva Gosvami quotes the Vedic version (eko narayano devah, paravaranam parama aste kaivalya-samjnitah) in this connection and establishes that Narayana, the Personality of Godhead, is known as kaivalya, and the means which enables one to approach the Lord is called the kaivalya-pantha, or the only means of attainment of Godhead. This kaivalya-pantha begins from sravana, or hearing those topics that relate to the Personality of Godhead, and the natural consequence of hearing such hari-katha is attainment of transcendental knowledge, which causes detachment from all mundane topics, for which a devotee has no taste at all. For a devotee, all mundane activities, social and political, become unattractive, and in the mature state such a devotee becomes uninterested even in his own body, and what to speak of bodily relatives. In such a state of affairs one is not agitated by the waves of the material modes. There are different modes of material nature, and all mundane functions in which a common man is very much interested or in which he takes part become unattractive for the devotee. This state of affairs is described herein as pratinivrtta-gunormi, and it is possible by atma-prasada, or complete self-satisfaction without any material connection. The first-class devotee of the Lord attains this stage by devotional service, but despite his loftiness, for the Lord's satisfaction he may play the voluntary part of a preacher of the Lord's glory and dovetail all into devotional service, even mundane interest, just to give the neophytes a chance to transform mundane interest into transcendental bliss. srila Rupa Gosvami has described this action of a pure devotee as nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate. Even mundane activities dovetailed with service to the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved kaivalya affairs.

I think it takes longer than it takes for the brahmanas to get theirs. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

SB 1.18.7 Maharaja Pariksit was a realist, like the bees who only accept the essence [of a flower]. He knew perfectly well that in this age of Kali, auspicious things produce good effects immediately, whereas inauspicious acts must be actually performed [to render effects]. So he was never envious of the personality of Kali. PURPORT The age of Kali is called the fallen age. In this fallen age, because the living beings are in an awkward position, the Supreme Lord has given some special facilities to them. So by the will of the Lord, a living being does not become a victim of a sinful act until the act is actually performed. In other ages, simply by thinking of performing a sinful act, one used to become a victim of the act. On the contrary, a living being in this age is awarded with the results of pious acts simply by thinking of them. Maharaja Pariksit, being the most learned and experienced king by the grace of the Lord, was not unnecessarily envious of the personality of Kali because he did not intend to give him any chance to perform any sinful act. He protected his subjects from falling prey to the sinful acts of the age of Kali, and at the same time he gave full facility to the age of Kali by allotting him some particular places. At the end of the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that even though all nefarious activities of the personality of Kali are present, there is a great advantage in the age of Kali. One can attain salvation simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Thus Maharaja Pariksit made an organized effort to propagate the chanting of the Lord's holy name, and thus he saved the citizens from the clutches of Kali. It is for this advantage only that great sages sometimes wish all good for the age of Kali. In the Vedas also it is said that by discourse on Lord Krsna's activities, one can get rid of all the disadvantages of the age of Kali. In the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is also said that by the recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Supreme Lord becomes at once arrested within one's heart. These are some of the great advantages of the age of Kali, and Maharaja Pariksit took all the advantages and did not think any ill of the age of Kali, true to his Vaisnavite cult.

SB 1.15.2525-26 O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller. PURPORT In the material world the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest are laws because in the material world there is disparity between conditioned souls due to everyone's desire to lord it over the material resources. This very mentality of lording it over the material nature is the root cause of conditioned life. And to give facility to such imitation lords, the illusory energy of the Lord has created a disparity between conditioned living beings by creating the stronger and the weaker in every species of life. The mentality of lording it over the material nature and the creation has naturally created a disparity and therefore the law of struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no such disparity, nor is there such a struggle for existence. In the spiritual world there is no struggle for existence because everyone there exists eternally. There is no disparity because everyone wants to render service to the Supreme Lord, and no one wants to imitate the Lord in becoming the beneficiary. The Lord, being creator of everything, including the living beings, factually is the proprietor and enjoyer of everything that be, but in the material world, by the spell of maya, or illusion, this eternal relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is forgotten, and so the living being is conditioned under the law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. Why Can't We LIve Together? Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why. Why can't we live together? Tell me why, tell me why. Why can't we live together? Everybody wants to live together. Why can't we be together? No more war, no more war, no more war... Just a little peace. No more war, no more war. All we want is some peace in this world. Everybody wants to live together. Why can't we be together? No matter, no matter what colour. You are still my brother. I said no matter, no matter what colour. You are still my brother. Everybody wants to live together Why can't we be together? Everybody wants to live. Everybody's got to be together. Everybody wants to live. Everybody's going to be together. Everybody's got to be together. Everybody wants to be together. I said no matter, no matter what colour. You're still my brother. I said no matter, no matter what colour. You're still my brother. Everybody wants to live together. Why can't we be together? Gotta live together... Together. – Chade

IMAGINE that a government or governments is/are responsible for the crimes they "pretext" to police. Imagine the settup and sting to get to a citizen they can't get to legally. Imagine the recent past, imagine the future. Dream a nightmare. But just make sure it's a patriotic dream. Us? We're the leaders. "Now suck in that tummy!" IMAGINE the many people and conspiracies against the many who do nothing about it. IMAGINE all the useless people. Hey, why do we have a da_n police department if the government's position is that it doesn't have to protect the citizens? IMAGINE the many things in the news. "Hush now. Go back to sleep. We're checking on it now. There are alot of smart people working on this." (Feel like you're being governed by a bigger hypocrite than you?) (Is that the heart and brain in unison? Could be Paramatma. /images/graemlins/smile.gif) SB 1.13.47 Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another. PURPORT A systematic law of subsistence in the struggle for existence is there by the supreme will, and there is no escape for anyone by any amount of planning. The living beings who have come to the material world against the will of the Supreme Being are under the control of a supreme power called maya-sakti, the deputed agent of the Lord, and this daivi maya is meant to pinch the conditioned souls by threefold miseries, one of which is explained here in this verse: the weak are the subsistence of the strong. No one is strong enough to protect himself from the onslaught of a stronger, and by the will of the Lord there are systematic categories of the weak, the stronger and the strongest. There is nothing to be lamented if a tiger eats a weaker animal, including a man, because that is the law of the Supreme Lord. But although the law states that a human being must subsist on another living being, there is the law of good sense also, for the human being is meant to obey the laws of the scriptures. This is impossible for other animals. The human being is meant for self-realization, and for that purpose he is not to eat anything which is not first offered to the Lord. The Lord accepts from His devotee all kinds of food preparations made of vegetables, fruits, leaves and grains. Fruits, leaves and milk in different varieties can be offered to the Lord, and after the Lord accepts the foodstuff, the devotee can partake of the prasada, by which all suffering in the struggle for existence will be gradually mitigated. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.26). Even those who are accustomed to eat animals can offer foodstuff, not to the Lord directly, but to an agent of the Lord, under certain conditions of religious rites. Injunctions of the scriptures are meant not to encourage the eaters of animals, but to restrict them by regulated principles. The living being is the source of subsistence for other, stronger living beings. No one should be very anxious for his subsistence in any circumstances because there are living beings everywhere, and no living being starves for want of food at any place. Maharaja Yudhisthira is advised by Narada not to worry about his uncles' suffering for want of food, for they could live on vegetables available in the jungles as prasada of the Supreme Lord and thus realize the path of salvation. Exploitation of the weaker living being by the stronger is the natural law of existence; there is always an attempt to devour the weak in different kingdoms of living beings. There is no possibility of checking this tendency by any artificial means under material conditions; it can be checked only by awakening the spiritual sense of the human being by practice of spiritual regulations. The spiritual regulative principles, however, do not allow a man to slaughter weaker animals on one side and teach others peaceful coexistence. If man does not allow the animals peaceful coexistence, how can he expect peaceful existence in human society? The blind leaders must therefore understand the Supreme Being and then try to implement the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, or Rama-rajya, is impossible without the awakening of God consciousness in the mass mind of the people of the world.

SB 1.13.17 Insurmountable, eternal time imperceptibly overcomes those who are too much attached to family affairs and are always engrossed in their thought. PURPORT "I am now happy; I have everything in order; my bank balance is quite enough; I can now give my children enough estate; I am now successful; the poor beggar sannyasis depend on God, but they come to beg from me; therefore I am more than the Supreme God." These are some of the thoughts which engross the insanely attached householder who is blind to the passing of eternal time. Our duration of life is measured, and no one is able to enhance it even by a second against the scheduled time ordained by the supreme will. Such valuable time, especially for the human being, should be cautiously spent because even a second passed away imperceptibly cannot be replaced, even in exchange for thousands of golden coins amassed by hard labor. Every second of human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to the problems of life, i.e. repetition of birth and death and revolving in the cycle of 8,400,000 different species of life. The material body, which is subject to birth and death, diseases and old age, is the cause of all sufferings of the living being, otherwise the living being is eternal; he is never born, nor does he ever die. Foolish persons forget this problem. They do not know at all how to solve the problems of life, but become engrossed in temporary family affairs not knowing that eternal time is passing away imperceptibly and that their measured duration of life is diminishing every second, without any solution to the big problem, namely repetition of birth and death, disease and old age. This is called illusion. But such illusion cannot work on one who is awake in the devotional service of the Lord. Yudhisthira Maharaja and his brothers the Pandavas were all engaged in the service of the Lord sri Krsna, and they had very little attraction for the illusory happiness of this material world. As we have discussed previously, Maharaja Yudhisthira was fixed in the service of the Lord Mukunda (the Lord, who can award salvation), and therefore he had no attraction even for such comforts of life as are available in the kingdom of heaven, because even the happiness obtained on the planet Brahmaloka is also temporary and illusory. Because the living being is eternal, he can be happy only in the eternal abode of the kingdom of God (paravyoma), from which no one returns to this region of repeated birth and death, disease and old age. Therefore, any comfort of life or any material happiness which does not warrant an eternal life is but illusion for the eternal living being. One who understands this factually is learned, and such a learned person can sacrifice any amount of material happiness to achieve the desired goal known as brahma-sukham, or absolute happiness. Real transcendentalists are hungry for this happiness, and as a hungry man cannot be made happy by all comforts of life minus foodstuff, so the man hungry for eternal absolute happiness cannot be satisfied by any amount of material happiness. Therefore, the instruction described in this verse cannot be applied to Maharaja Yudhisthira or his brothers and mother. It was meant for persons like Dhrtarastra, for whom Vidura came especially to impart lessons.

SB 1.12.17 For this reason this child will be well known in the world as one who is protected by the Personality of Godhead. O most fortunate one, there is no doubt that this child will become a first-class devotee and will be qualified with all good qualities. PURPORT The Lord gives protection to all living beings because He is their supreme leader. The Vedic hymns confirm that the Lord is the Supreme Person amongst all personalities. The difference between the two living beings is that the one, the Personality of Godhead, provides for all other living beings, and by knowing Him one can achieve eternal peace (Katha Upanisad). Such protection is given by His different potencies to different grades of living beings. But as far as His unalloyed devotees are concerned, He gives the protection personally. Therefore, Maharaja Pariksit is protected from the very beginning of his appearance in the womb of his mother. And because he is especially given protection by the Lord, the indication must be concluded that the child would be a first-grade devotee of the Lord with all good qualities. There are three grades of devotees, namely the maha-bhagavata, madhyam-adhikari and the kanistha-adhikari. Those who go to the temples of the Lord and offer worshipful respect to the Deity without sufficient knowledge in the theological science and therefore without any respect for the devotees of the Lord are called materialistic devotees, or kanistha-adhikari, the third-grade devotees. Secondly, the devotees who have developed a mentality of genuine service to the Lord and who thus make friendships only with similar devotees, show favor to the neophytes and avoid the atheists are called the second-grade devotees. But those who see everything in the Lord or everything of the Lord and also see in everything an eternal relation of the Lord, so that there is nothing within their purview of sight except the Lord, are called the maha-bhagavatas, or the first-grade devotees of the Lord. Such first-grade devotees of the Lord are perfect in all respects. A devotee who may be in any of these categories is automatically qualified by all good qualities, and thus a maha-bhagavata devotee like Maharaja Pariksit is certainly perfect in all respects. And because Maharaja Pariksit took his birth in the family of Maharaja Yudhisthira, he is addressed herein as the maha-bhagavata, or the greatest of the fortunates. The family in which a maha-bhagavata takes his birth is fortunate because due to the birth of a first-grade devotee the members of the family, past, present and future up to one hundred generations, become liberated by the grace of the Lord, out of respect for His beloved devotee. Therefore, the highest benefit is done to one's family simply by becoming an unalloyed devotee of the Lord.

We have a bunch of traitors running this country.

SB 1.8.36 O Krsna, those who continuously hear, chant and repeat Your transcendental activities, or take pleasure in others' doing so, certainly see Your lotus feet, which alone can stop the repetition of birth and death. PURPORT The Supreme Lord Sri Krsna cannot be seen by our present conditional vision. In order to see Him, one has to change his present vision by developing a different condition of life full of spontaneous love of Godhead. When Sri Krsna was personally present on the face of the globe, not everyone could see Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Materialists like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu, Kamsa, Jarasandha and Sisupala, were highly qualified personalities by acquisition of material assets, but they were unable to appreciate the presence of the Lord. Therefore, even though the Lord may be present before our eyes, it is not possible to see Him unless we have the necessary vision. This necessary qualification is developed by the process of devotional service only, beginning with hearing about the Lord from the right sources. The Bhagavad-gita is one of the popular literatures which are generally heard, chanted, repeated, etc., by the people in general, but in spite of such hearing, etc., sometimes it is experienced that the performer of such devotional service does not see the Lord eye to eye. The reason is that the first item, Sravaëa, is very important. If hearing is from the right sources, it acts very quickly. Generally people hear from unauthorized persons. Such unauthorized persons may be very learned by academic qualifications, but because they do not follow the principles of devotional service, hearing from them becomes a sheer waste of time. Sometimes the texts are interpreted fashionably to suit their own purposes. Therefore, first one should select a competent and bona fide speaker and then hear from him. When the hearing process is perfect and complete, the other processes become automatically perfect in their own way. There are different transcendental activities of the Lord, and each and every one of them is competent to bestow the desired result, provided the hearing process is perfect. In the Bhagavatam the activities of the Lord begin from His dealings with the Pandavas. There are many other pastimes of the Lord in connection with His dealings with the asuras and others. And in the Tenth Canto the sublime dealings with His conjugal associates, the gopis, as well as with His married wives at Dvaraka are mentioned. Since the Lord is absolute, there is no difference in the transcendental nature of each and every dealing of the Lord. But sometimes people, in an unauthorized hearing process, take more interest in hearing about His dealings with the gopis. Such an inclination indicates the lusty feelings of the hearer, so a bona fide speaker of the dealings of the Lord never indulges in such hearings. One must hear about the Lord from the very beginning, as in the Srimad-Bhagavatam or any other scriptures, and that will help the hearer attain perfection by progressive development. One should not, therefore, consider that His dealings with the Pandavas are less important than His dealings with the gopis. We must always remember that the Lord is always transcendental to all mundane attachment. In all the above-mentioned dealings of the Lord, He is the hero in all circumstances, and hearing about Him or about His devotees or combatants is conducive to spiritual life. It is said that the Vedas and Puranas, etc., are all made to revive our lost relation with Him. Hearing of all these scriptures is essential.

SB 1.7.24 And yet, though You are beyond the purview of the material energy, You execute the four principles of liberation characterized by religion and so on for the ultimate good of the conditioned souls. PURPORT The Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, out of His causeless mercy, descends on the manifested world without being influenced by the material modes of nature. He is eternally beyond the material manifestations. He descends out of His causeless mercy only to reclaim the fallen souls who are captivated by the illusory energy. They are attacked by the material energy, and they want to enjoy her under false pretexts, although in essence the living entity is unable to enjoy. One is eternally the servitor of the Lord, and when he forgets this position he thinks of enjoying the material world, but factually he is in illusion. The Lord descends to eradicate this false sense of enjoyment and thus reclaim conditioned souls back to Godhead. That is the all-merciful nature of the Lord for the fallen souls. PS: Editing my titles doesn't help.