Narayanidd

Thanks for the reply. I am aware of those opportunities. My question was more towards opening new gurukulas all over the world. I know it would be rather difficult for many devotees to afford to send their children to New Raman Reti, especially if they are located outside the US. ISKCON needs more than just Florida and India for it's educational services. Once again, is ISKCON doing anything about education? Thanks Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnava, Hari Bol! I noticed in your list of the disciplic succession Srila Bhaktisiddantha Saraswati was left out. Just thought I'd bring it to your attention. Hare Krsna. Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnava, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!! In the Srimad Bhagavatam, third canto(I think), where the churning of the milk ocean is discussed there are very nice verses desribing Lord Siva's drinking of the poison. In the purport Srila Prabhupada explains the greatness of Lord Siva. Lord Siva is considered the greatest VAISNAVA. He agreed to drink the poison because, as a vaisnava, he felt compassion for the suffering the poison was causing to all living entities. One of a vaisnavas greatest qualities is compassion and Lord Siva demonstrates this quality by drinking the poison. Sorry I don't have the exact verses right now. I'll get them and post them. Hope this helps. Hari Bol!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnava, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!! In the Srimad Bhagavatam, third canto(I think), where the churning of the milk ocean is discussed there are very nice verses desribing Lord Siva's drinking of the poison. In the purport Srila Prabhupada explains the greatness of Lord Siva. Lord Siva is considered the greatest VAISNAVA. He agreed to drink the poison because, as a vaisnava, he felt compassion for the suffering the poison was causing to all living entities. One of a vaisnavas greatest qualities is compassion and Lord Siva demonstrates this quality by drinking the poison. Sorry I don't have the exact verses right now. I'll get them and post them. Hope this helps. Hari Bol!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnava, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Maharaja Yudhisthira was a pure devotee of Lord Krsna. Remember the purpose of the Lord's appearance? To destroy all of the sinful folk who were hurting mother earth. In order for this to happen there had to be a war (the battle of kuruksetra). The gambling match was one of the causes that made this war unpreventable thus fulfilling the Lord's will. Maharaja Yudhisthira was indirectly helping the Lord to fulfill His promise to Bhumi. When one is working in the will of the Lord how can there be a question of sin? Hope this helps. Hari Bol! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnava, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Srila Prabhupada provides an appropriate answer to your question, "Am I an animal or a human being?" "Out of so many human beings who are suffering, there are a few who are actually inquiring about their position, as to what they are, why they are put into this awkward position and so on. Unless one is awakened to this position of questioning his suffering, unless he realizes that he doesn't want suffering but rather wants to make a solution to all suffering then one is not to be considered a perfect human being. Humanity begins when this sort of inquiry is awakened in one's mind." Without Krsna consciousness we are living like animals, eating sleeping mating and, defending. Hari Bol!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! A quick question: people in other faiths i.e. Native Americans, Wiccans, Christians, African tribesmen etc. have been documented to have performed "miracles" really mystic powers. In order to gain these powers one must please the demigods, ghosts, ancestors etc. but, many don't know who the demigods are. So, for example, when a wiccan prays to "the goddess" is he/she actually praying to one of the demigods. We have many nicknames so, when people of other faiths gain these mystical powers are they worshiping the demigods by another name not knowing they are doing so? Like when Native Americans perform the rain dance are they factually worshiping Lord Indra by another name? This is a very interesting topic. Thanks. Hari Bol! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

Hari Bol! What a nice dream. I never met Srila Prabhupada in this world. I was born Almost exactly a year after he left this planet but, I had a great dream of him when I was about 6 and in gurukula. I dreamt that Prabhupada came for a visit to our gurukula (Lake Huntington). During morning prasadam he sat with all the devotees laughing and enjoying prasadam. When we were almost done, Murli Vadaka prabhu (gurukula headmaster) told Srila Prabhupada to "close your eyes and open your mouth." He did so and, Murli Vadaka popped a sweet ball into his mouth. Srila Prabhupada ate the sweet and gave me a wink and said, "Simply wonderful!" Srila Prabhupada and all of the devotees started to laugh! I'll never forget that dream! Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, In my Bhagavatam reading this verse and purport spoke to me. It is a little long but, I don't have the heart to leave anything out. suta uvaca atmaramas ca munayo nirgrantha apy urukrame kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim ittham-bhuta-guno harih "All different varieties of atmaramas [those who take pleasure in atma, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, encluding liberated souls." Purport: "Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained this atmarama sloka very vividly before His chief devotee Srila Sanatana Gosvami. He points out eleven factors in the sloka, namely (1) atmarama, (2) munayah, (3) nirgrantha, (4) api, (5) ca, (6) urukrama, (7) kurvanti, (8) ahaitukim, (9) bhaktim, (10) ittham-bhuta-gunaha and, (11) harih. According to the Visva-prakasa Sanskrit dictionary, there are seven synonyms for the word atmarama, which are as follows: 1)Brahman (the Absolute Truth), 2) body, 3)mind, 4)endeavor, 5)endurance, 6)intelligence and, 7)personal habits. The word munayah refers to 1)those who are thoughtful, 2)those who are grave and silent, 3)ascetics, 4)the persistent, 5)mendicants, 6) sages and, 7)saints. The word nirgrantha conveys these ideas: 1)one who is liberated from nescience, 2)one who has no connection with scriptural injunction, i.e. who is freed from the obligation of the rules and regulations mentioned in the revealed scriptures like ethics, Vedas, philosophy, psychology and metaphysics (in other words the fools, illiterate, urchins,etc., who have no connection with regulative principles), 3) a capitalist, and also 4) one who is penniless. According to the Sabda-kosa dictionary, the affix ni is used in the sense of 1)certainty, 2)counting, 3) building, and 4)forbiddance, and the word grantha is used in the sense of wealth, thesis, vocabulary,etc. The word urukrama means 'the one whose activities are glorious.' Krama means 'step.' This word urukrama specifically indicates the Lord's incarnation as Vamana, who covered the whole universe by immeasurable steps. Lord Visnu is powerful, and His activities are so glorious that He has created the spiritual world by His internal potency and the material world by His external potency. By His all-prevading features He is everywhere present as the Supreme Truth, and in His personal feature He is always present in His transcendental abode of Goloka Vrndavana, where He displays His transcendental pastimes in all variegatedness. His activities cannot be compared to anyone's else's, and therefore the word urukrama is just applicable to Him only. According to Sanskrit verbal arrangement, kurvanti refers to doing things for someone else. Therefore, it means that the atmaramas render devotional service unto the Lord not for personal interest but for the pleasure of the Lord, Urukrama. Hetu means 'causal.' There are many causes for one's sense gratification, and they can be chiefly classified as material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation, which are generally desired by progressive persons. As far as material enjoyments are concerned, they are innumerable, and the materialists are eager to increase them more and more because they are under the illusory energy. There is no end to the list of material enjoyments, nor can anyone in the material universe have all of them. As far as mystic powers are concerned, they are eight in all (such as to become the minutist in form, to become weightless, to have anything one desires, to lord it over the material nature, to control other living beings, to throw earthly globes in outer space, etc.). These mystic powers are mentioned in the Bhagavatam. The forms of liberation are five in number. Therefore, unalloyed devotion means service to the Lord without desire for the above-mentioned personal benifits. And the powerful Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna can be fully satisfied by such unalloyed devotees free from all sorts of desires for personal benifit. Unalloyed devotional service of the Lord progresses in different stages. Practice of devotional service in the material field is of eighty-one different qualities, and above such activities is the transcendental practice of devotional service, which is one and is called sadhana-bhakti. When unalloyed practice of sadhana-bhakti is matured into transcendental love for the Lord, the transcendental loving service of the Lord begins gradually developing into nine progressive stages of loving service under the headings of attachment, love, affection, feelings, affinity, adherance, following, ecstasy, and intense feelings of separation. The attachment of an inactive devotee develops up to the stage of transcendental love of God. Attachment of an active servitor develops up to the stage of adherance, and that for a friendly devotee develops up to the stage of following, and the same is also the case for the paternal devotees. Devotees in conjugal love develop ecstasy up to the stage of intense feelings of separation. These are some of the features of unalloyed devotional service to the Lord. Accoding to the Hair-bhakti-sudhodaya, the import of the word ittham-bhuta is 'complete bliss.' Transcendental bliss in the realization of impersonal Brahman becomes comparable to the scanty contained in the pit made by a cow's hoof. It is nothing compared with the ocean of bliss and all tastes (rasas). These attractions are so strong that no one wants to exchange them for material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation. There is no need of logical arguments in support of this statement, but out of one's own nature one becomes attracted by the qualities of Lord Sri Krsna. We must know for certain that the qualities of the Lord have nothing to do with mundane qualities. All of them are full of bliss, knowledge, and eternity. There are innumerable qualities of the Lord, and one is attracted by one quality while another is attracted by another. Great sages, such as the four bachelor-devotees Sanaka, Sanatana, Sananda, Sanat-kumara, were attracted by the fragrance of flowers and tulasi leaves anointed with the pulp of sandalwood offered at the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, Sukadeva Goswami was attracted by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Sukadeva Goswami was already situated in the liberated stage, yet he was attracted by the pastimes of the Lord. This proves that the quality of His pastimes has nothing to do with material affinity. Similarly, the young cowheard damsels were attracted by the bodily features of the Lord, and Rukmini was attracted by hearing about the glories of the Lord. Lord Krsna attracts even the mind of the goddess of fortune. He attracts, in special cases, the minds of all young girls. He attacts the mind of elderly ladies by paternal affection. He attracts the minds of the male in humors of servitude and friendship. The word hari conveys various meanings, but the chief import of the word is that He (the Lord) vanquishes everything inauspicious and takes away the mind of the devotee by awarding pure transcendental love. By remembering the Lord in acute distress one can be free from all varieties of miseries and anxieties. Gradually the Lord vanquishes all obstacles on the path of devotional service of a pure devotee, and the result of nine devotional activities, such as hearing and chanting becomes manifested. By His personal features and transcendental attributes, the Lord attracts all psychological activities of a pure devotee. Such is the attractive power of Lord Krsna. The attraction is so powerful that a pure devotee never hankers for any one of the four principles of religion. These are the attractive features of the transcendental attributes of the Lord. And adding to this the words api and ca, one can increase the imports unlimitedly. According to the Sanskrit grammer there are seven synonyms for the word api. So by interpreting each and every word of this sloka, one can see unlimited numbers of transcendental qualities of Lord Krsna that attract the mind of a pure devotee." HARI BOL! JAI SRI CAITANYA!! JAI SRILA PRABHUPADA!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, P.A.M.H.O. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I agree with Gauracandra. Originally the left hand was considered dirty because, as you stated, the majority of people are right handed. Other than that I don't know of any reason why the stigma was attached to those who are left handed. If it makes you feel any better Arjuna was famous throughout the world for his ability to use both hands while wielding his Gandiva bow! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, P.A.M.H.O. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Regarding the post refering to the Nectar of Devotion: as an aspiring devotee I find that I'm leary about trying to judge the worth of a guru yet it is a necessary thing. How can I judge who is and who isn't an uttama-adhikari? In this age of Kali there are many pretenders who have the outward appearance of saintliness but are full of pride and envy,and there are also vaisnavas that are very advanced. How to tell the difference? The only way I can think of is to chant Hare Krsna. harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha By chanting Hare Krsna the mind and soul become purified. Krsna knows ones innermost desires. As the saying goes: When the pupil is ready the master appears. Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. In reading the many discussions and arguments about gurukula alumni, the lawsuit, and bankrupcy issues I have become very concerned. I attended gurukula starting at age 5. I know and felt first hand the abusses that occured. I felt sickened by ISKCON's callous and unfeeling way in which it delt with these charges. We were just kids!! You were supposed to take care of us and teach us right and wrong and develope us spiritually! Instead we lived in a nightmare,and believe me kids are more perceptive than they're given credit for; we felt things were wrong. Of course one could ask why didn't anyone say anything sooner? Well, like I stated before, we were just kids. When it comes down to it and adults word will always win out over an eight year olds. Now the lawsuit filled against ISKCON and bankrupcy issues. Forgive me if I offend anyone, but I think it's ridiculous! What happened is in the past, and terrible as it may be, no one can change that fact. No amount of money will ease the memory only time may do that. I'm not saying that there should be no compensation but millions of dollars is a little extreme. So what should be done?? I love Srila Prabhupada and HIS movement and, what happened in the gurukulas was NOT the way Prabhupada wanted things done!! I can't change the past but I can help change the future. ISKCON needs a school system! We must learn from the tragedy of the past and CHANGE, IMPROVE!! Things must be done right! What I want to know is, is ISKCON doing anything about it? Are there any plans to open proper gurukulas? Are any arrangements being made for our future generations? Our children must not be allowed to fall by the wayside! The children are so so important. They are totally dependant on us. Despite some of the bad things that happened to me in gurukula I also have many wonderful memories and I am not willing to deny my children(when and if I have any) the opportunity to grow up in a Krsna conscious environment. Even if it means starting my own gurukula! So once again, is ISKCON doing anything about fixing the gurukula system? Will my children have a safe Krsna conscious school to go to? I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or comments on this matter. Your servant, Narayani d.d.

Hari Bol, When I was staying at the New Orleans temple I got the wonderful opportunity to see the dance troop perform. They did martial arts, kirtana, great mrdanga playing, some folk dances, and most importantly the Rasa lila dance. It was beautiful!! They have such a unique style! The New Orleans temple room isn't very big either so we were up close and personal. They manipuri devotees stayed for a day or so and were wonderful association! They emulated simple living and high thinking! I remember speaking with one of the matajis thinking she was my age. I found out later she was in her mid forties!! She didn't look a day past 24! They were physical proof that a life of Bhakti yoga truely keeps you healthy, wealthy, and wise! I hope to see them dance again someday it is a wonderful experiance! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, Here is a beautiful poem in the spirit of Bhakti: My soul harken unto me! Love thy Lord as the lotus loves water Buffeted by waves its affection does not falter. Creatures that have their being in water, Taken out of water, die. My soul if thou hast not such love How wilt thou obtain release? If the Word of the Guru is within us We shall accumulate a store of devotion. My soul harken unto me! Love thy Lord as a fish loves water. The more the water, the greater its joy, Greater the tranquility of its body and mind. Without water it cannot live one watch of the day Only God knows the anguish of its heart. My soul harken unto me! Love thy Lord as water loves milk. It takes on the heat, boils and evaporates before the milk can suffer. He alone unites, He alone separates He alone bestows true greatness. Without the Guru, love cannot be born The dross of ego cannot be rinsed away. He who recognizes the God within Understands the secret of the Word and is happy. O [Guru]! there is but one gate to the Lord's mansion And there is no other sanctuary. HARE KRSNA!!!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. What a great topic! Our children are our future after all. I think it is wonderful that parents are seeking alternatives to public schooling. But...what about gurukula? Now as an ex gurukula student I know first hand what a disaster many turned out to be but, is that a reason to do away with them? I feel that the Krsna conscious movement NEEDS a school system! Learning from the past what not to do we can move toward a better future. In this regard I am going to school for my teaching license in hopes of teaching in a proper, bonafide gurukula! Even if it's only a few families that get together to educate their children it is a start towards a more organized system. Is the Krsna conscious movement doing anythng in this regard? We can't let the children fall by the wayside! "karmi" society has done that and what do we have? Generations of TV addicts that are apathetic towards the world and others, and an illiteracy rate that increases yearly. Once again, our children are our futures they must have proper schools!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.

My dear vaisnavas, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. What a great topic! Our children are our future after all. I think it is wonderful that parents are seeking alternatives to public schooling. But...what about gurukula? Now as an ex gurukula student I know first hand what a disaster many turned out to be but, is that a reason to do away with them? I feel that the Krsna conscious movement NEEDS a school system! Learning from the past what not to do we can move toward a better future. In this regard I am going to school for my teaching license in hopes of teaching in a proper, bonafide gurukula! Even if it's only a few families that get together to educate their children it is a start towards a more organized system. Is the Krsna conscious movement doing anythng in this regard? We can't let the children fall by the wayside! "karmi" society has done that and what do we have? Generations of TV addicts that are apathetic towards the world and others, and an illiteracy rate that increases yearly. Once again, our children are our futures they must have proper schools!! Your servant, Narayani d.d.