Murali_Mohan_das

This is one of the best of the many excellent lectures I've heard from Sripad Srutasrava Prabhu over the years. Prabhu begins by recounting the recent passing by violence of a dear friend of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and "confessing" that, while he's often visited Sridham Mayapur, he's never actually "seen" the Dham. <embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=3472360956250890448&hl=en" flashvars="">

Thanks for your feedback. I'm no devotee. Gurudev has complete faith in Sri Krishna. By that qualification alone, it is in my best interest to accept anything and everything he says as if it came directly from the mouth of the Lord (despite the chatterings of my mind). I'm also not interested in a discussion on this point. With all due respect, feel free to carry it on with yourself (or with Raghav--er Beggar (he knows who's a neophyte and who's an advanced Vaishnava)).

Why not just shoot me and put me out of my misery.

In any case, why bother getting out of your warm bed early and elbowing your way into Srila Gurudeva's veranda and sit at his feet if you're not going to leave your speculating, calculating, second-guessing, knowing-better-than-the acharya mind at the door with your shoes??? Huh, dear step-father? Remember, I was content to let you have your "smug" victory on the internet and leave it at that. You just had to come rub my face in it up at the Ashram last night as I was trying to honor a little prasadam, didn't you? Gokara!!!!

I think I figured out what you meant by "locked". On the SCSMath site, the PDF doesn't contain text which can be copied since it was scanned in and not OCR'ed (Optical Character Recognition). If I might point out there is a slightly more "official" HTML source available at Muralidhar Prabhu's web site: http://www.mandala.com.au/prapanna/index.html Considering that Muralidhar Prabhu is an associate of Srila Govinda Maharaja, you might consider quoting (and citing your quotes) from his site. I assume Muralidhar has Gurudeva's blessing to post the text.

Seems like you don't know what "fanatic" means (I didn't either until I looked it up): http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/fanatic There's nothing in there about party spirit or chosing sides.

Sorry to return and be a fly in your ointment. I assure you I pray I can limit myself to this one response. What do you mean by "locked"? While the PDF is 15MB, this file seems to load just fine: http://scsmath.net/math/docs/Prapanna-Jivanamritam.pdf The book has a clearly stated copyright. If the BVML does not have permission to post it on the Internet, they are in violation of the copyright. Why do you not link to the truly official PDF and state from what page your quote is derived?

Giving credit where it is due, that's "Crowd" making a guest appearance on bass guitar on "Is This the End".

Is This the End (Or Just the End of the Beginning)? by MM June 2007 <table bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000" width="328" height="94" src="http://res0.esnips.com/escentral/images/widgets/flash/esnips_player.swf" flashvars="theTheme=silver&autoPlay=no&theFile=http://www.esnips.com//nsdoc/3f8050ed-9777-44f9-9a90-a1b822caba1c&theName=Maitreya - Is This the End (Or Just the End of the Beginning)? &thePlayerURL=http://res0.esnips.com/escentral/images/widgets/flash/mp3WidgetPlayer.swf"></embed></td></tr><tr><td><table cellpadding="2" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-left:2px; color:#FFFFFF; text-decoration:none ; ; font-size:10px; font-weight:bold"><tr><td><a style="color:#FFFFFF; text-decoration:none " href="http://www.esnips.com/CreateWidgetAction.ns?type=0&objectid=3f8050ed-9777-44f9-9a90-a1b822caba1c"> Get this widget </a></td><td style="font-size:7px; font-weight:normal;">|</td><td align="center"><a align="center" style="color:#FFFFFF; text-decoration:none " href="http://www.esnips.com/doc/3f8050ed-9777-44f9-9a90-a1b822caba1c/Maitreya---Is-This-the-End-(Or-Just-the-End-of-the-Beginning)/?widget=flash_player_esnips_silver"> Track details </a></td><td style="font-size:7px; font-weight:normal;">|</td><td><a align="center" style="color:#FF6600; text-decoration:none" href="http://www.esnips.com//adserver/?action=visit&cid=player_dna&url=/socialdna"> eSnips Social DNA </a></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> You're trying to pick a fight When I'd rather be swinging [sinning] Is this the end Or just the end of the beginning? We flew into each other's arms Despite our many misgivings Each seeking a replacement [solace] [Over] For our broken playthings I talked about God 'Til it hurt your head My greatest delusions Tend to be breast-fed You showed me your wedding album Brought a smile to my lips Thoroughly pacified me With your womanly hips Then you pulled a knife out And stuck it in my soul I never wanted to wrestle with you You can have your control Now I'm walking away from you Weeping in the rain Wondering if you'll ever want To see me like this again You called my bluff I called your bluff We both lose Life is rough When we're servants of our minds And not the Lord of our hearts I saw a side of you I had longed to see I prayed so hard that somehow you Would not see right through me Our fears got the best of us With lamentation I do say Perhaps sometime we'll meet again On a fearless day

Thanks to a friend, I found the quote from Chaitanya Charitamrita (Madhya 1:57): (My friend says it wasn't a "pop song", though, but it also wasn't from any of the usual scriptures) Now I'm going away. Really I am.

You don't seem to be a native English "speeker" either. I wasn't quoting Gurudev, anyways, regarding "being a fanatic for guru". Have you ever heard of him saying such a thing? Unlike being a sports fan, being a fanatic of Sri Guru does not need to imply opposition to any other "party". In any case, my points are made, but this doesn't feel like it is good for my soul. I'll go away again now. Perhaps I can stay away longer this time. Dayal Nitai!!!

Besides. It's somehow acceptable to be a sports fanatic, but it's not acceptable to be a guru fanatic? I *wish* I was a guru fanatic. If I truly was, I wouldn't be here now, would I?

Which brings us full circle to the topic of this thread. Most can accept the Gita in theory, but their minds tell them "there is no qualified Guru available to me--I might as well surrender to the books". Sripad Goswami Maharaja advises us to abandon the pretense of objectivity and embrace *super*-subjectivity.

I must say I'm with cbrahma on this one. While I've never been to India, it seems pretty clear that the caste system (not exactly VD, I know) as it has devolved is almost universally condemned. Was it here on Audarya that I was recently reading about a family having their son-in-law killed because he was a Muslim and they were Hindu? Of course, here in the U.S., we have our own de-facto caste system (not exactly based on birth (if your Dad was a movie star, you've got a better than average chance of becoming the same), but often practically so)--you have professionals at the top (with athletes and movie stars as the demi-gods) and the grunts at the bottom. Sriman Mahaprabhu's mercy knows no class distinctions, does it?

Thanks for clarifying. So, then, would you not consider Conservative Jews, say, to be "mainstream Jews"? While it's exciting to learn that Judaism has some conception of reincarnation, it doesn't sound like that belief is as absolute as you initially represented it to be.

Those are public programs. I don't recall having to show any membership card to get in.

I caught it. Sripad Pusta Krishna Prabhu is a dyed-in-the-wool "Prabhupada Man." He's also quite busy. He has some appreciation for Srila Sridhar Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja, so, he does some service as he is able. Yesterday, at the Seva Ashram, *all* of the speakers but two were dedicated disciples of Srila Swami Maharaja Prabhupada. They have been captivated by Srila Gurudeva's devotion, and have dedicated their lives to serving Srila Prabhupada through him. Of course it's absurd to say that nobody can appreciate Srila Sridhar Maharaja without falling at the feet of Srila Gurudev, but certainly, those with the *greatest* appreciation for Srila Sridhar Maharaja do. The rest are honey-bees, dabblers, or spiritual prostitutes (wear the description that fits best).

Don't know if you saw this, Beggar. This is really the heart of the matter, not some typos.

To elaborate: Lots of folks like to quote Srila Sridhar Maharaja. Just yesterday, Sripad Janardan Maharaja was commenting how many persons came to see Srila Sridhar Maharaja with the intention of taking some of his "trade secrets" with them in their pockets to use for their own advantage only to later find their pockets empty. As Maharaja said, unless we get these pure realizations from a pure soul, their full import will escape us. I've heard (I hope not to have direct experience of it except to the extent that I too am guilty) that there are those who like to mine the treasures of Srila Sridhar Maharaja without giving full honor (and what is to humbly honor if it is not to humbly serve?) to his most dear disciple and chosen successor, Srila Gurudev. It is this cheating tendency against which we all must guard. What are all these exalted concepts worth to us if they do not move us to serve? I ask myself that as much as I ask you.

Perhaps. I've found errors in things you've posted as quotes before (not errors in translation, but actual omissions of words and such). I'm not saying alternate sources are bogus, but it's certainly *useful* to consider what the source is when reading a quote. As for nobody posting links, that's ridiculous. Whenever somebody posts from the Vedabase, the link is part of what they copy and paste (by the nature of the Vedabase). Considering that Vedabase quotes make up the bulk of the quotes on the site, most quotes *do* include links back to the source.

That's all very interesting, but why won't you include a link to the source when you quote something?

Was their suffering *not* a product of their karma (assuming it was not the inconceivable mercy of the Lord)? I said something about compassion, didn't I? As for Sulochan, I'd best not go there (suffice it to say, given whose life *he* was threatening shortly before his untimely demise, I have friends who shed no tears over his fate).

Recovering Rastafarian Wanna-be (though I never had the dread-locks, just a similar mode of worship). The whole "I and I" term is something profound, though. I had never much considered it until one day when it struck me that it is a three-word encapsulation of Jiva/Paramatma and achintya-bedabedha.

I questioned what the meaning of "more favorable" was in this context. I read it as: the "sahajiyas" are more favorable to the *LORD* than the impersonalists are, not that the true Vaishnavas are more favorable to the sahajiyas than they are to the impersonalists, or that the sahajiya conception is more useful to the aspiring Vaishnava than the impersonalist conception. Do you see what I'm saying? Does it make sense?

Oh, *this* semantic quibble again? I'm equating "temporary" with "illusory". It's a fair comparison to make. Are you saying the victims of the abuse are suffering the same spiritual agony as the Gopis feeling separation from Sri Krishna? Our mundane suffering *and* "bliss" or happiness are illusory in the sense that they are temporary. Why quibble with that?