jayaisvara

While I was chanting, and actually trying to hear what I am chanting, I had this momentary feeling as if the name Krsna and Rama, but mostly Krsna, was alive. It is almost as if, the mantra was alive in its own. It was strange feeling, and I want to ask if anyone here had anything similiar to such things?

Thanks Pankaja_Dasa for the article, its clear now.

But, I don't have a spiritual master in the bodily form. Acharya His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is by whom I first heard the Hare Krsna mantra. His basic instructions were to chant the holy name of Krsna, so will it be alright for me for now to just chant the Holy Name and worship the deity?

Is there any scriptural statements regarding the mahamantra killing the anarthas within the heart, so that one cannot ever committ vaishnava aparadha?

Is it true that advancement in spiritual life, is realizing my lowest position in relation to God, His devotees, and power? For me, before, and even sometimes now, advancement means that I shall have some position in society, respect. That is definitely due to false ego but can't realize that yet, since its not in my hands. But is it true that advancement means not elevation of respect, fame etc, but degradation of these?

Hare Krsna. Jai Guru Gauranga. This is temporary, since Srila Prabhupada has said this movement will go on, and also Krsna has said so.

I downloaded it and skimmed through it, and it looks really good. Especially the Radha-Kunda picture, thanks Prabhu.

Being inspired by the thread on Spirulina, I wanted to ask the devotees here whether they offer their food everyday to the Lord and does it matter how much advanced you are in devotional service, or what mode is in control of you, in order to offer food?

I would say my experience has been somewhat similiar. I am now asking myself, "Am I doing what God wants me to do, and my spiritual master want me to do, or just speculating and thinking to myself and doing things according to my own way?" I am now trying to study myself, how I act in certain situations. Try it, it might help you.

If only that childish, innocent mindset devoted God can come to me, then that would be really nice.

It is pride only that does this. Also, I don't know how to be fully devoted because I am not even at the neophyte stage. And if I consciously chant, then that would be only to force my pride to kill itself. If somehow or another, I can forcibly sacrifice my pride, in the name of God, hopefully, something good will come out of that.

Thank you very much for the replies

Hare Krsna, Jai Guru-Gauranga Does chanting in public amongst other materialistic persons make a neophyte more faithful, if at first faith is low? Which mindset should the neophyte devotee adopt when chanting in public amongst others who haven't most likely heard of Lord Krsna? Can the neophyte adopt the mindset that, "By chanting, these people are hearing the name of the Lord and thereby the glory and fame of God will spread"? But the very dangerous thing is, the neophyte can easily rob the name and fame to himself. Thus, what can a neophyte do, if told by a senior Vaisnava, that chanting in public would help our spiritual advancement, yet, there are lots of traps for the neophyte to become lusty for name and fame and thus fall victim into illusion.

Thank you

Hare Krsna, Jai Guru-Gauranga I do not know if its my pride, nor do I know if it is attachment, and don't know if its my ignorance, but what shall I do if my parents keep telling me, "you must eat a lot to be healthy, there is a limit for everything including God and chanting Hare Krsna" etc...What does God want me to do? I am very confused

Since you are trusting in Krsna as a guru, then so will I, and thereby I'll place my faith in you and trust Krsna /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dear Pankaja_Dasa, Its unfortunate that I cannot surrender to a living guru because my sorry excuse is that the temple is quite very far and I can't drive there because I don't have license. All I have is the forums by which I can really communicate with the devotees. Its for the best for sure.

Thank you /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Being a conditioned soul without a guru, is it alright to ask for the mercy of Krsna and the acaryas even if there is pride remaining in us?

Hare Krsna, Jaya Guru-Gauranga Dear Guest, Please post the answer to these questions by replying yes/no: Do you or did you in the past have or had doubt about the existence of God? Did you blaspheme against God in your past? Did you committ sinful activities in the past the you now repent? Were you always doubtful about how your physical beauty appeared when you went to public places where there are a lot of people? Did you always criticize others about how they looked in terms of physical beauty? Are you a critic? Even if you don't say your criticism loudly, do you think some criticism when you see something that doesn't agree with you? If you have answered "yes" to most of these questions, then you are having the same illusion as I am, which is pride. Please read on if you answered yes to the above questions, otherwise, the following may not apply to you as it did for me in my case. Pride is very illusory. It is an illusion that makes us think that our judgement is the right judgement. But think about this for a moment. If you criticize someone either by saying words or in your mind, how do you know the other person will actually take your advice seriously? For all we know, that person might have not even cared, and we are being so foolish and under the complete trap of maya thinking that "Oh, that person has listened to me". It is we who suffer, not them. We have to accept superiority. Maya or the illusory energy of God, is constantly making us go into these illusions whereby we are thinking "I am the center of the world, or at least, I am the center of attention, and I must be looking very nice in the society or the people will not respect me" Even as I type this now, its so hard not to resist the temptation of feeling proud that I know this knowledge. But, little do I know, how your reaction would be to this message, whether, you would be benefitted or would call me a foolish rascal. I am already a fool because I thought this message would help you, as if, this message MUST help you. NO. From my perspective, I should never accept any credit to my self, for it is very dangerous as it builds pride. Whatever enlightenment that I have got is from God, and its very hard to always tell the mind that and realize, because just like you, I suffered from negative thoughts and now it seems the reason is pride. The point is, we are so proud and think that just because some negative thought comes to us, or any thought that comes to us, we think it must be true. But I think you are trying to follow Krsna Consciousness, but cannot accept the reality that "How can I think such things and follow God?" Don't worry, just keep chanting, as I've found its the only remedy, and sincerely pray to all the Vaisnavas, Swami Srila Prabhupada and The Supreme Lord for help. For me, it was their mercy that I was fearful of these negative thoughts coming to my mind. But it ended up as a benefit for me because now I somewhat realize my pride, but its very,very deeply rooted in me and very subtle, and only by the mercy of those higher authorities have I realized to my extent the prideness in me. If you want to talk more and have more questions, I will try my best to serve you. My email is: robvdamm@ Remember, we are not here to enjoy, as of now, we are here to pray for the mercy of the Lord because only He can save us from our own illusion cast by the demon of pride whom we have accepted into our hearts. I am very sorry if I have not been of any help to you, but this is just what has happened so far to me. I am happy if you got any tips on how to improve your service for the Lord. Hare Krsna, Jaya Guru-Gauranga

http://society.krishna.org/Articles/2002/02/001.html

I did a search on this forum and PN_Prasad posted this: Also, this post was very inspiring, and teaches the truth: here I thank these two posters. As a undergrad goin to university, I believe I know, at least in my case, wherefrom pride arrives. In the beginning, we first of all want to be "part" of the crowd, not knowing that most of the "crowd" is in ignorance. Then we judge how we are performing for the crowd, and we assume that they actually pay attention to how we are performing. Then its a gradual process up to the point where you are so deeply in the ocean of ignorance, which is full of prideful monsters, that they tie you down deep beneath the ocean, and occasionally, you will get to see a glimpse of light, Who is God, asking you to come back to the surface to be rescued. But, of course, we think that others actually admire our performance, when in fact, according to the above quote, they might not even care, or even envy us to death. But foolishly, we think, "Oh, how great is my position, I am part of the "crowd" now". Then even when Lord Hari invites us back to divine love, we refuse it, thinking that our current position is very favorable. This is the way according to my vision, and from my experience, pride has gotten me. Its in fact true, that out of pride comes lust, which is the next stage. Then from lust, when God comes to save you, envy comes in to your heart, when you think that God actually is trying to steal your illusionary position. Then there is a period of enjoyment of this false prideful position, then there will be a major fall down. You lose your position, whatever you had that made you think you were part of the "crowd". Then there is depression and suffering. Then we go back to God, but we are all stained now with pride, lust and envy. For me, now that I look back at my life, it is exactly in that order it works, at least for me it did so that way. Then now, I am trying to get the stain off me. Of course, the stain might be very strong depending on the duration of your existence in the prideful, lusty, and envious consciousness, but I know if we sincerely realize this, and look back at our own life, then God will help us make advancement towards cleaning these stains. I hope when I go to my first year university, I can totally forget about this judging others, even if they judge me. I hope God gives me sraddha in sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya(what sadhu says, what guru says, and what sastra says). As Gour Govinda Swami says in His articles (http://www.vina.cc/stories/PHILOSOPHICAL/2004/4/simplicityandfaith.html and [http://www.vina.cc/stories/PHILOSOPHICAL/2004/5/simplicityandfaith.2.html)]http://www.vina.cc/stories/PHILOSOPHICAL/2004/5/simplicityandfaith.2.html), simplicity will come to us when we throw out the filth of crookedness. Then from simplicity, faith will blossom like a beautiful lotus with the Sunshine provided by Lord and His devotees. This is what I realized so far in my life thanks to the merciful grace of the devotees and Sri Hari who is known as the merciful Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. [moderator's note: link edited to keep page from going off screen]

This one gives you the date of the ekadashi and what it means: http://www.acbspn.com/ekadashis/ekadashis.htm Its a very nice site

Do you mean discriminating between the two entitles one a mayavadi?

Good point. Therefore, Krsna says that we try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Also, sadhu sastra guru vakya - It is vital to have unflinching faith in the saintly persons, scriptures and guru. Krsna sent Narada Muni as a guru to Dhruva Maharaja. So when He knows that we are sincere, He sends a guru to us.