indulekhadasi

Quote: 1) Arjuna couldn't kill Karna fair and square

Where did that come from? Did not Arjuna defeat Karna fair and square in teh Virat war?

Why are you people uselessly fighting? By the way Vyasadeva is a saktyavesa avatar of Lord Visnu.

Hare Krishna.

Let me narrate one incident. When Lord Rama worshipped Lord Siva at Rameshwaram, the people there were very happy and said, "All glories to Lord Siva, the lord of Rama." The demigods were not at all happy by this and they appeared in the sky and said, " Why are you distinguishing between Lord Rama and Lord Siva? They are equal." Immediately the siva linga burst and Lord Siva appeared from it and said, "You are all fools and rascals. Don't you know that Lord Rama is my ishwara, my ista deva?" He actually got quite angry that the people were placing him in a position the same level or higher than Lord Rama.

The position of Lord Siva is explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Lord Visnu is like milk. And Lord Siva is like yogurt. Milk and yogurt are basically the same thing, but yogurt is the transformed form of milk. It is not original.

Vaishnavanam yatha sambuh. Lord Siva ki Jaya!

It seems that you seem to be more attracted to the brahmajyoti part of the Supreme Lord. I do not wish to hinder your faith in any way but first let me explain something. Do you know when you see a picture of Lord Krishna or Lord Visnu, there is a circle of light at the back of the head? This is brahmajyoti. If you want to merge in the brahmajyoti, you lose your independence. You are simply merged. It is not a very sweet experience. Besides, you can fall to the material world from the brahmajyoti. The soul's natural propensity is to enjoy. But in the brahmajyoti, what will you really enjoy? To enjoy you need two people and begin a relationship. Only if you have a relationship will you be able to enjoy. But in the brahmajyoti, there is no one to strike up a relationship with. So many times, people desire to enjoy within the brahmajyoti and they fall down to the material world to fulfill their desire. Do you still wish to merge in the Brahmajyoti? Yes, it is a type of liberation but there is no taste in it. If you want to be liberated then it is my humble opinion that you should choose something in which you will have a sweet and interesting relationship with the Lord in the spiritual world. What I mean by the spiritual world should not be very hard to understand. Let me explain. Beyond this world (called Bhu loka, or earth), there are heavenly planets. Bhuva loka, Swarga loka (who's ruler is Indra), Mahar loka (abode of celestial rishis), Jana loka (place for tapasya), Tapa loka (place for vigorous tapasya and Satya loka (abode of Lord Brahma). There is also Rudra loka (the place of residence of Rudra, an expansion of Lord Siva) and Dhruva loka (polestar). Above all this is the Viraja River which separates the material world from the spiritual world. Meaning that below the Viraja river birth, death, old age and disease WILL occur. Above the Viraja starts the spiritual world. First comes Mahesh Dham, the abode of Lord Sadasiva, the purest form, original form of Lord Siva. Above that is Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Narayana and his incarnations such as Vamana, Nrsmha, Kalki, Matsya, Kurma etc. Above even Vaikuntha is Ayodhya, the abode of Lord Rama and his associates. Above Ayodhya is Dwarika, the abode of Krishna in total opulence. Above Dwarika is Mathura, where Krishna is but not in so much opulence. And above all this is Goloka dham where Krishna resides with the gopis, his cowherd boy friends, and his mother and father Yashoda and Nanda Baba. If you take a look at the formation of the spiritual world - Vaikuntha and onwards- you will see that the progression is due to more sweetness in the loving relationships between the Lord and his devotees. In Vaikuntha there is simply awe and reverence. In Ayodhya there is a lot of awe and reverence but there is some sweetness also, like the love of Lakshman, or Mother Kaushalya etc. Dwarika has an even higher degree of sweetness. Krishna has such intimate relationships with friends like Arjuna, Uddhava etc. But Mathura has even a higher level. There is so much opulence in Dwarika. But in Mathura Krishna is not yet very king-like and therefore opulence is no hindrance in the people's love. In Goloka this love reaches it's peak. There is not a tinge of awe and reverence. Krishna's friends will climb Krishna's back and give much pleasure to Krishna, something that would not be even thought of in Dwarika. So this is called the spiritual world. I told you before that is my humble opinion that you choose something like this. Let me explain me statement. It is not that you will be actually able to choose, but you can shape your life so that you pretty much know in which direction you will go. If you wish to go to Ayodhya of the spiritual world, then you can devote this life to Lord Rama so that you will be able to go there. And when it is time to leave the world, you can think of Lord Rama, and you will definitely go there. In this way, you can live in the spiritual world and have a loving relationship with the Lord and be free from the worry of falling down, because falling down from the spiritual world is impossible. I hope I have helped you out.

I don't know if I am helping you out very much. You see, I am a teen. But if you would like to know more you can ask more qualified devotees such as Theist Prabhuji, Suchandra Prabhuji, Guruvani Prabhuji, Mahak Prabhuji, etc.

However, if I am helping you out then I shall continue to do so.

Thank you. What you say really helps. It reminds me of one word, devaasuranamaskrta. God in the form of sun is worshipped by gods and demons. Even demons worship the lord, because the Lord is life, and even demons want to live. So this means that Hindu tradition does believe in many kinds of asuras, and all those kinds of asuras must have a chief asura. Just like in a group of bandits one bandit is the leader. Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews, all say that the leader of asuras is Satan. So Hinduism also must state who is the leader of asuraas, so that people avoid serving the leader of asuraas. "Who has been a killer of people from the beginning, and did not stay in truth, because truth was not in him".

Even during the Kaliyuga we must not work for adharma, so we must not work for the demons or their leader.

You say "our TIME will be engaged in serving the Lord". I have no objection to serve the Lord, it is my pleasure. The question is, will there be TIME after we are liberated? Shall we be WITH Kr,s,na, or shall we be brahmajyoti only? From what i know, there is no time and no space in brahmajyoti. Brahmajyoti is only one moment even if it is eternal, right? When we ARE brahmajyoti, can we KNOW brahmajyoti?

Many people have been liberated, is this true? Can any liberated person give us a message so that we know what is the state of a being after liberation? Is there some evidence for what the state of a liberated being is? In this world there is indeed evidence to prove that all beings are born again and again after they die. But is there evidence of what they become after they are for ever liberated?

There is time in the spiritual world. But we shall be so engaged in Krishna's service it will feel like time is not existent in the spiritual world.

Is it your goal to merge in the Brahmajyoti? Ok, my friend, but first let me warn you, that you can still fall down from the brahmajyoti. However if you wish to go to the spiritual world, you cannot fall down.

Liberation is of four types: salokya- living on the same planet, sarsti- having the same opulence, samipya- to be a personal associate, and sarupya- having the same bodily features.

Liberation is not our goal. We should be ready to follow the process of Krishna consciousness in whatever birth we may be reborn in. Liberation is a side benefit.

If it is as you say, Hinduism is the only true monotheism. Still it is hard for me to understand, as there is so much competition everywhere in the world.

An ancient Greek philosopher has written "War is the father of everythnig and king of everything, War has made mortals and immortals, slaves and free people. Everything is created through conflict, everything is the result of conflict".

This is why i can hardly understand how God has no competition.

It seems the Persian idea that there is Ahriman and Ahuramazda is much more natural. I know some people who openly declare that they worship Satan, some others worship Satan secretly, so how Satan can be non existent? You greet saying Jai. Jai means victory. If there is no opponent, how can God be victorious?

Now, how can everyone be God's servant? Every leader has supporters and opposers. A teacher in a children's class finds children who work for the lesson, and others who try to spoil the lesson. Some people support the government, some oppose it. It is everywhere like that. Then how is that nobody opposes God?

One more thing, Swaami Prabhupada has written that even after liberation a living being serves Kr,s,na. How is it possible to serve after liberation?

I wish that every person could know the answer to these questions.

Haraye Namah!

Jibera swarupa hoy krishnera nitya das. Yes, it is a good question you raise. The answer is that everyone is Krishna's servant, that is everyone's eternal post. But some people take some time for them to manifest their internal identity because it is covered by material desires. Just like a mirror is supposed to show the reflection of someone but it if is covered with a lot of dirt, one's reflection will look entirely different. Some people can show they oppose God but actually in their heart of hearts whether they know it or not, they have an eternal relationship with him. For the last question, when we get liberated, then we would be with Krishna or one of his incarnations, correct? So what would we do there, just sit around? No! Our time will be engaged in serving the Lord. Hope this helps.

Thats always good to hear.

There are many devotees that can't really admit that chanting the Maha-mantra is nectarean and blissfull.

I sometimes wonder why not?

I think it always has something to do with past attainments in previous lifes.

 

You see some devotees that chant 16 rounds a day for years and they still look morose and depressed.

I can chant four rounds and feel like I just bathed in the fountain of youth.

 

I don't chant as much as I should.

I just gave up on half-hearted efforts.

When the time comes and I am ready to commit with full determination then I will renew my vows and maybe take formal diksha again.

 

Prabhuji, you don't need to chant 16 rounds a day to feel a difference. I chant 16 rounds a day but I probably don't feel half the ecstacy that you feel. But I have faith that one day this might change, so I will continue with the 16 rounds. I find that it helps to chant them early in the morning. Of course if you are sleepy that is a different matter.

You're totally correct. What is there to revere in a cheater, drinker and womaniser? At least Shiva adheres to a semblance of asceticism, even though he is clearly very sex-driven too. As for Rama, well, Valmiki makes it clear that he ate venison whilst it the forest. Aside from this, anyone with a half-a-brain can infer that he regularly hunted from the simple fact that he pursued the so-called golden deer. Running after animals was in all evidence not an unfamiliar act to him. I don't have a problem with this, given that humans are naturally omnivorous and can and should consume non-vegetarian food for their wellbeing and health. But those who claim to be his followers probably would take strong exception to this.

What an offense at the lotus feet of Krishna. This person is asking a genuine, sincere question and your answer is neither helpful nor truthful. Krishna is special because of his sweet dealings with everyone. Lord Siva is the greatest Vaishnava- vaishnavanam yatha sambuh. He must be respected but one should not accept him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Ramachandra can eat venison because at that time he was living in the forest. It is also kshatriya dharma to hunt, it is like prepatory for war, and ever kshatriya never knows when he will have to go to war.

Also you must understand there are many different Krishna's. There is one Krishna who is the expansion of Lord Visnu in Vaikunthaloka. Then there is Dwarikanatha Krishna and Mathuranatha Krishna. In all these forms Krishna lives in opulence and people worship him in awe and reverence. But Krishna is not so much in want of awe end reverence. He likes love better. Therefore his form as Krishna of Goloka/Gokula is much sweeter.

Where is it in the sastra that Krishna drinks? How did he cheat? Didn't whatever "cheating" he did, wasn't it just for righteousness to prevail? And womanizing? If you are going to cite the gopis then I might as well get out of here because it is a great offense to hear blasphemy of great Vaishnavis like the gopis. The point is Krishna never had any lusty desires. For heavens sake, when he asked the gopis to come out naked out of the Yamuna to get there clothes, how old was Krishna then? He was only 8 years old. Can an 8 year old kid have lusty desires? The real reason he asked them to come out naked is because he was fulfilling their desires. The gopis had been performing austerities to Godess Katyayani and they were praying that they would get Krishna as their husband. And you should know, a woman can't be naked in front of anyone except her husband. So he was accepting them as his wives.

In this way there are many more pastimes that have tattva that is very deep that one may not be able to understand. Lord Brahma explains that Lord Krishna is the greatest:

isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an

eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no

other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Brahma Samhita)

Hope this helps. Hare Krishna.

(1)

`āmāra’ bolite prabhu! āre kichu nāi

tumi-i āmāra mātra pitā-bandhu-bhāi

(2)

bandhu, dārā, suta, sutā—tava dāsī dās

sei to’ sambandhe sabe āmāra prayās

(3)

dhana, jana, gṛha, dāra `tomāra’ boliyā

rakhā kori āmi mātro sevaka hoiyā

(4)

tomāra kāryera tore uparjibo dhan

tomāra saḿsāre-vyaya koribo vahan

(5)

bhālo-manda nāhi jāni sevā mātro kori

tomāra saḿsāre āmi viṣaya-praharī

(6)

tomāra icchāya mora indriya-cālanā

śravana, darśana, ghrāna, bhojana-vāsanā

(7)

nija-sukha lāgi’ kichu nāhi kori ār

bhakativinoda bole, tava sukha-sār

TRANSLATION

1) Nothing remains “mine”. Father, friend, brother — You are even these to me.

2) Those whom I called friends, wife, sons, and daughters are all Your servants and maidservants. Whatever care I take for them is only as it relates to You.

3) If I continue to maintain my wealth, family members, home, and wife, it is because they are Yours. I am a mere servant.

4) For Your service I will earn money and bear the expense of Your household.

5) I know neither good nor bad. I merely serve. I am but a watchman who guards the properties in Your household.

6) The exercising of my senses — hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching — is done according to Your desire.

7) I no longer do anything for my own pleasure. Bhakativinoda says, “Your happiness is the essence of everything”.

This is my favorite Bhaktivinode Thakura song. I wish I could put up the song with the prabhuji who was singing it from Mayapura so you all could hear it, but that may have to wait for now. This is from Saranagati under the section of Atma Nibedana.

The very best of songwriters. I am affected always by one of Srila Prabhupadas most recorded Narottama das song, "Hare Haraya Namah".

 

Srila Bhaktivinodes "Kabe Habe bol a si din amore" is another that bursts this hard heart.

Oh yes, I love "Kabe Habe bolo sei dina amara". Also "Atma Nibedana tuwa pade kori", "Nibedana kori prabhu tomara charane", "Sri krishna chaitanya prabhu jibe doya kori", and " Amar Bolite Prabhu ara kichu nai." Bhaktivinode Thakura is also such a great composer.

Other songs that I love by Narottam das Thakur are: "Gauranga Bolite Habe", "Vrindavana Ramya Sthana", "Hari Hari Biphale Janame Gonainu", and "Gaura Panhu." My favorite is "Nitai Pada Kamala."

Lochan das Thakura's "Nitai guna moni" is wonderful.

My favorite song is by Vrindavan das Thakur- "Jaya Jaya Nityananda Rohini Kumar". I always cry when I hear it. It may be my sentimental emotions just acting up, because I am far from the stage of crying for Lord Nityananda, but this song takes a special place in my heart.

We shall be eternally indebted to these Vaishnava acharyas for their valuable songs.

This song is so beautiful...even the most hard hearted person (me) will cry.

Narottam das Thakur is unparalleled. Narottam das Thakur ki Jaya!

(1)

hari hari! <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1:place>kobe</st1:place></st1:City> mora hoibe sudina?

bhajibo se rādhā-kṛṣṇa hoiyā premādhīna

(2)

suyantra miśāiyā gābo sumadhura tāna

ānande koribo dońhāra rūpa guṇa gāna

(3)

'rādhikā govinda' boli kāńdibo uccaiḥ svare

bhijibe sakala ańga nayanera nīre

(4)

ei bāra karuṇā koro rūpa sanātana

raghunātha dāsa mora śrī jīva jīvana

(5)

ei bāra karuṇā koro lalitā viśākhā

sakhya bhāve mora prabhu subalādi sakhā

(6)

sabe mili koro doyā pūruk mora āśa

prārthanā koroye sadā narottama dāsa

TRANSLATION

1) When will I directly worship Sri Sri Radha and Krsna? When will I be overwhelmed with love for the Divine Couple? O Lord Hari, when will that auspicious day be mine?

2) When, accompanying myself on a musical instrument, will I happily sing sweet songs describing the beautiful forms and qualities of the Divine Couple.

3) When will I loudly call out "O Radhika, O Govinda," the tears from my eyes wetting my entire body.

4) O Srila Rupa Gosvami, O Srila Sanatana Gosvami, O Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, O Srila Jiva Gosvami, my life and soul, please be merciful to me this one time.

5) O Lalita, O Visakha, O Sridama, O Subala and other friends of Lord Krsna, please be merciful to me this one time.

6) All of You please be merciful to me and fulfill my desire. This is the constant prayer of Narottama dasa.

I see by your response I was correct about putting this character on my ignore list. He is on a mission to stomp on the creepers of devotion that were planted by Srila Prabhupada.

 

Protect your creeper and block this wolve clothed as part of the flock before damage is done. He arrives at AF with demonic intent.

Just as speaking Vaishnava aparadha is sinful, so hearing it is just as sinful or worse. Good idea, Theist Prabhuji.

Looks nice. I wish I could go but I am too busy with schoolwork.

Once some devotee saw a pink light around the prasadam that Srila Prabhupada served out. He asked Srila Prabhupada, "What is this? Why is there a pink light coming out of the food?" Srila Prabhupada said, "Just eat. This is prasadam, it is Krishna's mercy." Krishna's mercy can manifest in many ways, so don't be surprised. Hope this helps.

Dear Devotees,

 

Something amazing happened. While meditating, I silently chanted the mahamantra, and suddenly, I saw some golden lights, all the while feeling some upward pull on top of the head. They were so beautiful, but lasted not more than one minute.

 

I'd love see this again, or at least experience more visions/lights/colors, provided they have some spiritual significance. Can experienced devotees shed some light on this? I am new to all this, and this experience is really exciting.

 

TB

I would suggest not to get too concerned about it. I would suggest to continue with your sadhana and in time everything will be revealed.

Hare Krishna.

The question asks for how many years. If the sacrifice continued for 12 days, please modify your question to replace "years" by "days".

Whoops, I mean years. I wrote it right on the test, I must have been sleeping this time. Or maybe it is the Radhastami fasting.

>> bhaja govindam bhaja govindam

bhaja govindam mudhamate

samprapte sannihite kale

na hi na hi raksati dukrntanaye

 

translation please

 

Is that it is not easy/clear to differentiate impersonalists to personalists sometimes ? crossover ? What are the clues ? Thanks so much

Translation:

Worship Govinda, worship Govinda,

Worship Govinda, foolish one!

Rules of grammar profit nothing

Once the hour of death draws nigh.

Definition: The impersonalists don't accept individuality as real or eternal. They say ultimately everything is one and our individual existence is an illusion... They don't accept any supreme person or God. They say I and the supreme are one...

Since teacher is pleased, perhaps she'll let us leave school early today for Sri Radhastami!!

 

Happy Radhastami everyone! Srimati Radharani ki Jaya!

Hare Krishna. I must say that you are a Mahabharata expert. You did very nicely on this one also. For the agastya question I was expecting you to chose Agastya Muni. When Bhima was in Nahusha's clutches and Yudhisthira asked him about his situation he had explained that Agastya Muni had cursed him. But since you explained your answer, it is ok. The Janamejaya sacrifice was 12 days and it is found in the 37th section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva of Mahabharata. And with the Dronacharya thing, sure, I will be willing to accept that. Nice job, and Hare Krishna!

Post your comments on my answers. After that I will post the answers to test-2.

Hare Krishna. Wow! Wonderful job. For the question about the meaning of Bhishma's name, I could see your predicament. I was looking for the answer D, but I will take your answer. The only other answer that was wrong was #19. Once when the Pandava boys and the Kaurava boys were playing their ball had fallen into a well. That was brought up by Dronacharya with blades of grass. Then Dronacharya threw his ring in the well, to show the young princes he knew how to do other magical things, and he brought it up using an arrow. So that was the only problem. Otherwise all your answers are correct! I await the next set of answers.

It is unfortunate that followers of Sankaracharya, such as this mayavadi do not follow this last instruction of Sankaracharya. If they hold Sankaracharya in such respect they should also hold his instructions with great respect and follow them.

Just another impersonalist.

Yup, that is for sure. First, people were misusing the Vedic literatures and they resorted to violence. So then Krishna's incarnation, the Budha avatar, came to earth to preach sunyavada, the concept that everything is 0. Then to fix that problem, on Lord Krishna's orders, Lord Siva incarnated as Sankaracharya to preach mayavada, that everything is 1. Then Ramanujacharaya came to smash the concept of the mayavadis, and finally Madhavacharya came to preach achintya bheda abheda tattva. It might have took some time to reach the right conclusion but we can derive good principles that were taught even by Sankaracharya. When Sankaracharya was leaving the world, he gave us a good instruction:

bhaja govindam bhaja govindam

bhaja govindam mudhamate

samprapte sannihite kale

na hi na hi raksati dukrntanaye

Should I post answers here? Or send you PM? Or email you? I am confident that I can answer all questions in the Mahabharata tests(both 1 and 2) correctly.

You can post your answers here.

I am with Mahaksadas. What a wonderful idea and I also thank you for offering it on this forum.

 

Just compiling these tests must have been a great way for you to study and now you are sharing it which will solidify that knowledge further.

 

I only got 4 or 5 correct on the Mahabharata test myself which is embarassing because I am sure I could get 90% correct on a Sopranos test.

 

I think i need to adjust my priorities.

Thanks for all the encouragement. But how did you know you only got 4 or 5 correct?