jayaisvara

Pankaja_dasa, the following is from Swami B.V. Tripurari's forum/website. It is replies to some questions that are sent by devotees. Please have a look at them, they inspire me in times of emptiness: "WOOSH!" Sanga Question via Website Dear Swami, Let me cut to the chase. I don't want to waste too much of your time. I was not raised to follow Sanatana Dharma. I do now though, a forty-six year old woman with no where to run to that does not lead back to Sanatana Dharma. I am illiterate on the subject though. I read, but I'm probably cross mixing all branches of Hinduism, and ending up back in the same place. I go to Temple quite often. There are three Swami's at my Temple. I love them each dearly, differently, yet the same. They are wonderful. They are so smart, gifted, sincere... One of the Swami's at my Temple...Well, he has this...Effect on me, for lack of a better word. "WOOSH!" He floods my body with heat....and I'm leaving my body again. The problem is 1.)I am a woman. 2.) It happens when I'm not prepared. 3.)Who knows if my body is operating efficiently when I'm gone. I went to the Swami, He said, "Pray to God." Well, I hate to be a pain but I pray all day long. I pray from waking to sleeping. I have done this for a long time. It isn't that I'm not praying hard enough. I'm praying. I'm praying. Swami, Is this "normal"? Am I going to be alright? I'm waiting over here! Dear *****, In our opinion most of what you are experiencing as WOOSH!" is psychological rather than spiritual. Even meditatative states such as astral travel are on the material mental plane. Genuine spiritual experience leaves one satisfied and flooded with an otherworldly sense of well being. In genuine spiritual experience one knows what to do. States that leave one confused and unhappy are at best shadow spiritual experiences. A shadow has some reality but it only a reflection of the real thing. One Swami has already advised you to pray and that advise is very good. Along with prayer chant the name of God both as a meditation and as background to your daily activities. Consider yourself a servant of God and be kind to everyone, and don't consider yourself young or old or a woman or a man. Never think of yourself as a material body and have faith that chanting the name of God and kindness will give you everything. Don't worry you will ultimately be alright because you are an eternal spirit soul. Bhagavad Gita says for the soul their is neither birth, death, old age or disease. Best wishes, sangaeditor ------------------------- a strong desire to be a great Devotee Sanga Question via Website Dear respected Srila Tripurari Maharaj, my most humble obeisances unto your lotus feet. I don't know how to express this properly but I will try. In my mind there is constantly a very strong desire to become a "Guru" or "Acharya" or "great Devotee". I know that this desire is the worst of all, it is desire for name and fame. Most probably I just want to imitate great devotees and thereby gain appretiation from others. I know that this is wrong, but still I cannot give up these thoughts although I am trying hard. I also many times feel strong urge to tell everyone that they are wrong and Krishna conciousness is right, because I can theoreticaly/intelectually understand and have strong belief that this can really solve all problems and bring all good. But to speak frankly I'm miserable myself. I can see that I want to help all others, but at the same time I cannot even help myself. What can or what should I do? My Guru Maharaj adviced me to regularly do sravan-kirtan with a view to please Supreme Lord, not to give "speeches" only to satisfy others. Is it possible that only I'm not patient enough? In that case I pray for your help and blessings to give me neccesary strengh to follow the instructions of my Guru Maharaj in full. Dear das, Swami Tripurari asked me to reply to you. He is pleased with your letter and wants you to know that there is great hope for you in Krsna consciousness. All conditioned souls are under the influence of false ego and material desire, but only a few of them have any understanding of how unfortunate they really are. Those that do have some inkling of this largely feel that others are to blame for their problems. Even amongst devotees, few are willing to fully acknowledge the extent to which they have caused their own unfortunate predicament. It's much easier to point the finger at others then to do what is needed to remedy oneself. The remedy of course is sadhu sanga and Krsna nam, accompanied at every stage by sincere self-analysis. If we take a hard look at ourselves we will be able to stop blaming others for our lack of spiritual progress. Taking that hard look requires a certain amount of humility, which is what attracts Krsna Nam. Krsna Nam will stay with a person who has humility. There is great hope for such persons regardless of their shortcomings. So be patient and serve your gurudev to the best of your ability. Swami begs you to never give up the chanting of Krsna Nam, regardless of your situation or spiritual condition. Have faith that Krsna Nam will save you, even from yourself. Don't try to be a great devotee, just try to be a good devotee. Being a good devotee is not always easy, but know that in your struggle you have the blessings of Swami, his staff, and all sincere Vaisnavas everywhere. Best wishes, sangaeditor ------------------------- worship of Ganapathi Sanga Question via Website In the Bhagavad Gita worship of demigods is discouraged. In the Vishnu purana it is said that higher than the worship of Vishnu is the worship of his devotees ( Demigods - since they are Vaishnavs ). I have also read somewhere that Demigods should not be worshipped on the same alter as Lord Krishna. My wife who is not Krishna Conscious has a separate alter where she worships Demigods and has a picture of Lord Krishna on the same alter but I have a separate alter worshipping in the Gaudiya tradition as in all Iskcon centres. In the Nectar of Devotion Srila Prabhupada states that all devotees should start their day by worship of Ganapathi ( Lord Ganesha ) as he removes obstacles to our devotional service. I have personally not seen this anywhere being done in Iskcon. Could this be the reason why so many devotees fall because they are disrespectful to demigods. I have seen this in many lectures around the world. Please explain these contradictory statements. Dear ******, Regardless of what Srila Prabhupada wrote in Nectar of Devotion, in practical application he never introduced the worship of Ganesa within his movement. Actually he discouraged such worship as evidenced by the following conversation and letters. That statement is in Nectar of Devotion in consideration of ancient norms within Hinduism. Traditionally one worships Ganesa for the removal of obstacles to other types of worship. Thus a devotee may honor or worship Ganesa before he begins his daily worship of Krsna. But in all, it is the worship of Krsna that is important. If one does worship Ganesa it should be done with the understanding that Ganesa is a servant of Krsna. Also the scriptures say that ideally one should not worship Krsna for material gain. Neophyte devotees who are interested in material gain might worship the demigods for such things, but that should be done with the understanding that the demigods bestow material favors by the power of Krsna. So continue to worship Krsna on your alter along with a picture of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Also be sure to chant Hare Krsna and associate with devotees. Your wife may worship Krsna on the same alter as the demigods, but for the best spiritual results she should worship with the understanding that Krsna is supreme. If she is not able to accept this intellectually then she should be encouraged to chant Hare Krsna during her worship and at other times throughout the day. Actually you should do this together at some point every day. Chanting Hare Krsna together will purify your hearts and through purification everything will fall into place. The idea that some devotees fell down because they did not worship Ganesa is incorrect. Devotees fall down because of material desires or Vaisnava aparadha--offences to Vaisnavas. Of the two the latter is more dangerous. Bhaktivinode Thakura says that one should not look for faults in devotees nor should one criticize devotees because of accidental falldowns. Devotional service is eternal....there may be many falldowns along the way...but Bhagavad Gita says that for one who begins the path of devotion, success is assured. Best wishes, sangaeditor ------------------------- Q. How can I develop my love for Krsna? A. Chanting is the best way to develop love for Krsna. Do it attentively and watch to see that its effect plays out in your everyday life in terms of developing 'jiva daya,' kindness to all beings. Start with this and gauge your chanting accordingly. If your heart is not cleansed of selfishness and softened towards others, your chanting is not attentive. Pay better attention and gather knowledge in relation to Krsna. -------------------------- PS: The bolded terms give me inspiration. I hope it will give you inspiration also. Personally, I have found out that I am not developing kindness for anyone, rather I think they are degraded more than myself and I am somehow purer than them. I thought like this about my mother, father, brother, and many others whom I see everyday. I didn't stop to think that how fallen I was. How much I have to struggle to be in KC? I should've been so grateful that God and Vaisnavas are giving me ability to become a good soul. How can I possibly deride those living entities whom are suffering knowingly or unknowingly without KC? Only a demon like myself can possibly do this, because this is similiar to one who uses his power to mistreat others, which I did many times in the past, and that habit is still in my mind. Now when I think about how I thought my mother was impure, or my father was impure, or my brother, or anyone whom I came in contact with, I see how fallen I am. I try to think that they are going through a temporary phase of their existence. This is not them actually, but its temporary. One day, they will be really pious. If I have to struggle this much in KC, just see how more fallen I am compared to them? Maybe this is the reason that I got KC, because its for the most fallen. So nowadays I try to see my superiors as superiors and my brother as not my brother, but as a living entity who has all the right. I am not saying I am good at this, but I think its a start. I think it will be a good start for me if I can come to realize my fallen, miserable condition. Miserable means actually the lowest, ungrateful of mankind. That I hope to realize one day and then maybe I can by the grace of sadhus go somewhere.

His opulence is unimaginable I guess. But, I wonder what Sri Krsna is really like. I was just reading the thread the krsna prabhu posted about "How will you know that there is a spiritual sky?" I think its about spiritual adventure. I guess you just have to wait until that moment of revelation. I think similarly, when He reveals to us His opulence, no picture nor words can ever describe it. I can only speculate about it at the moment.

It is very boggling that once the modern demons were Lord Brahma once: "Both the Lord and the living entity, being qualitatively spirit soul, have the tendency for peaceful enjoyment, but when the part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead unfortunately wants to enjoy independently, without Krsna, he is put into the material world, where he begins his life as Brahma and is gradually degraded to the status of an ant or a worm in stool." (SB 9.24.58p.) I wonder, if we were Lord Brahma himself once, then of course we must've worshipped the Lord back then, long long time(bodies) ago. Then we must have been devotees right? If that is the case, since the Lord Himself says that His devotee will never be lost, then does this mean we will again be fully eligible to reach Him ultimately?

These words are always giving my heart hope to move on instead of the difficulties I face in my pre-sadhana life. I hope it gives inspiration to others also to continue their sadhana. Thanks krsna for posting such nice words. Haribol

Yes theistji, I am aware that I have Caitya Guru and Swami Prabhupada's books. But I think its a one way connection, meaning they can, if they want to, somehow mystically direct my next move (Supersoul) but I can't ask advice from them. Of course, that could be because anything I say is foolish. So I guess until I can ask some real, meaningful questions, I only need Caitya Guru and the books of advanced devotees, and of course, association. The problem with Prabhupada's books, or any book for that matter, is that if you don't understand something, especially if you are a neophyte, you will definitely speculate, like myself. I remember praying once to Lord that to only reveal my guru when I am fully competent to receive such a great personality. So I guess I must first prepare myself. The last thing I want is to committ any aparadha against guru, omg! /images/graemlins/shocked.gif /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I do not have a living guru so I can't possibly pray to him. I guess the mahamantra is the one I should worship. Did Srila Prabhupada say anything on this matter?

Dear devotees, please help me with this question that came to my mind. In the beginning, who do we worship? Do we worship Lord Krsna, Lord Gauranga and Lord Nityananda, or some other great personality? I think as a beginner, although familiar with the philosophy to some tiny extent, I made the mistake of jumping from here and there. I didn't do anything systematically, but rather jumped here and there from Bhagavatam to Gita to Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta etc. Now I feel I need to get serious(I think). Thus the question above came to me.

has already given us the key to it all I think in establishing his farm communities. I doubt the modern day agriculturalists would go any further because of slaughterhouses. If they did find a method to make fertile land with less plot, then that would increase the number of animal killing, mainly cows. So I don't think the Lord would allow that to happen and if He does then that is for His divine purpose. Unless and until animal killing is stopped completely, I doubt that there would be any further advances in agriculture.

Lord saw that 5000 or so years ago that there must be a war to eliminate all the greedy kshatriyas from the planet. I hope he again somehow brings the life of these demons to an end. Thus, as Swami Prabhupada said almost 50 years ago: Source: http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/worldwar.htm

that these demons are not controlling the mass population by the very same thing that is the start of this material world, sound? Vedas gave very much importances to sound I believe. From Stephen Knapp's site - www.stephen-knapp.com - I have read that sound can be used to control mass population, whether we hear it or not as in subfrequency sound. If these demons are doing this then what is the guarantee of advancing in Krsna Consciousness?

So the demons(from what I've heard) like Bush is under gross illusion that he doesn't know when he is going to die by using jyotish? I know that there is some relationship between German translators of sanskrit texts in India in 19th century, the Nazis, then America taking over the Nazis thus all the knowledge that Nazis had. Many of the sastras of vedic knowledge are surely in the hands of demons. I can't believe why they would not just give up because they KNOW they are going to die.

Thanks krsna for posting that. When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says: Does he mean that we should stop our wordly activities and go to a vaisnava devotee?

I don't understand something. Surely the demons must know about the law of karma and about Lord Krsna right? I mean, they can't be that dumb. Like all the superpower demon of the worlds, they surely must know about the vedas and the sastras and such. They also must know from astrology(jyotisha) that when and how they will die. So what is the point of them carrying on their work of trying to control the world? I've heard of many accounts in the puranas where demons are battling the demigods and the demigods needed help from Lord Sri Vishnu. But, can the demons of kali-yuga be like those ancient demons like Hiranyakasipu and Ravana such that they trouble the demigods or are they so under illusion?

Thanks for answering Raghavan, I guess you were brought up very strictly following the brahminical principles because I have read in another post that you are from a orthodox brahmin family. Also, I think when you are making a transition from childhood to teenager, if you still stick with following the vedic principles, then as you grow older I think you will find more and more easy to follow them. As the mind from the young age is always exposed to vedic quality of life, I think you have a firm root in the principles, thus you are not at all prone to maya. Also, I think the environment in which we grow from our childhood to teenager affects us in many ways. As for myself, when growing from late childhood to teenager, I was not exposed to very strict principles to follow, but all I was exposed to was trying to defend my position as being a new kid in school and this made a defensive mentality of me. Also, from my previous births I guess I have developed an overly strong desire for lust for position thus I faced many difficulties. Also I have heard from a site called www.stephen-knapp.com, the sound vibrations to which you are exposed to determines your mentality. Thankfully nowadays I have the association of the devotees and vedic literature but still a neophyte cannot understand fully and survive in the world of maya to which he has to go to 5 days a week (college). Thus is my situation

I've seen some, maybe many, posts regarding the conspiracy to hide the true vedic past and culture. I was into conspiracy things before then moved out of that zone. But in some way it did help me come to spirituality. I would like to ask the devotees here the question, has conspiracy about hiding our true culture brought you any closer to Lord Krsna? Does this conspiracy fuel your spirituality even further? As a Kshatriya, I guess I myself am somewhat interested in politics and the conspiracy of such. But I am also fearing that entering into reasearch into the actual history of our past, the vedic culture, will make me go into the whole conspiracy thing again like before and leave Lord Krsna. So I am wondering, how do you guys find conspiracy and spirituality. Hare Krsna /images/graemlins/smile.gif

...that before I used to preach to my parents and then I found its no use because I myself need to change my heart. Then I found that the main reason for me preaching was to create an argument against the opposing party, then use Krsna Consciousness as a tool to win the argument, thus proving myself to be in a higher position than the other person. Its my subtle desire to lord it over that has made its way into using Krsna Consciousness as a tool. That I found out by Lord's grace.

theistji, you are a senior in this board. Thank you for that sincere reply /images/graemlins/smile.gif Haribol

There are some audiobooks available at www.vaisnava.com that I have seen in the past. Hare Krsna

Thanks for the clarification guestji, Haribol

Guestji and krsna prabhu, thanks for replying. Does the mahamantra chanting prepare us for the moment of surrender to a sad guru so that we wont make any offenses to sad guru and Krsna?

I just read this article about self deception http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1017 and some question came to me which I hope you guys can help me with. When I sing the mahamantra, I feel like I am talking to God, Krsna. Is this deception? Should I pray to Vaisnavas or Krsna about elevating my position from where it is currently at? How can I pray to both of them? I heard that Swami Prabhupada has said that when you say Krsna then you mean Krsna's associates, paraphernalia, friends etc. When I sing the mahamantra, if I try to think of something then that is self deception I believe, is it not? So, knowing that I have a problem with lording over others(being in control), I don't know how I can execute chanting offenselessly, and what to speak of executing bhakti yoga. What can be done in this situation? Should I not even care about the results, but just go on chanting? If so, with what mentality should I do this? Most of the time, if not all the time in my KC life so far, while praying I am in one mood, then as soon as my prayer is finished, then I am totally in another mood. I still don't understand about my position. Are there any quotes from acaryas that say just exactly what is a position of a neophyte in bhakti yoga? If I am at my home for extended period of time, like during holidays, then I think I develop a humble mentality. Then as soon as I go to college environment, the environment just makes me go back to my old mentality, which the mentality and maya that is in the college, which is who is popular, the survival of the fittest. I don't know how to deal with this situation.I've heard about Srila Sridhara Maharaja say something about dying to live, killing the ego to give soul the life. It is painfully hard to do this because when I am at the college environment, my offensive mentality immediately goes up and I can't think more soft hearted about others, even if they say something to me. What can be done in such a situation? If I am being selfish in asking these questions please tell me. Please also tell me how I can see the greatness of others without always deluding myself with my supposed greatness which I know my mind says but I just cant check it.

It is said that Hari nama awards liberation. So with that liberation, if you keep singing, then you will eventually attain His lotus feet right?

When a devotee achieves liberation, what happens to him then? Does the devotee continue service from a liberated platform? I am assuming that the devotee does not have a material body but is liberated.

So all the souls will eventually reach the Lord again? Or will they be just liberated and again fall back? Krsna prabhu and Raghavan prabhu, thanks for that information. That prayer by Prtha (Priitaa) d.d will surely be helpful, thanks again. Hare Krsna

Thanks for the replies Prabhu's. theistji, I think when you say that we are coming into this life with different levels of attainments is really true. I've heard this from other Maharaja's as well. What I do now is read 1 or 2 verse from Gita and I try to listen to the lecture of Srila Prabhupada. This takes about an hour or a bit more. I know I will not understand the Gita by reading it once. As I read a verse a day, I will try to integrate it to how my daily karma plays out and this will make it a nice theoretical and practical lesson I think. What I don't understand about dovetailing our desires is that, suppose we serve Krsna some nice kachoris, sweet laddus and juicy rasogullah's. When we take prasadam, our(rather my) mind is focused on how the prasadam actually tastes. I don't see how this can help us advance. Sometimes I forcibly try to hide the taste by holding my nose while eating something tasty. Does this taking prasadam also require sincerity in that you must actually acknowledge that it's mercy?