from: The Krishna Consciousness Club Subject: verses from the major eastern scripture called Bhagavad Geeta Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 9, Text 26 patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati tad aham bhakty-upahrtam asnami prayatatmanah Translation: If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. Verse, Chapter 9, Text 25 yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti mad-yajino 'pi mam Translation Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors will go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me. karmany evadikaras te/ ma phalesu kadacana ma karma-phala-hetur bhur/ ma te sango'stv akarmani 2.47 Translation: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activites, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Purport There are 3 considerations here:prescribed duties, capricious work, and inaction. Prescribed duties refer to activites performed while one is in the mode of material nature. Capricious work means actions without the sanction of authority, and inaction means not performing one's prescribed duties. The Lord advised Arjuna not to be inactive, but that he perform his duties woithout being attached to the result. One who is attached to the result of his work is also the cause of the action. Thus he is the enjoyer or sufferer of the result of such actions... Everyone has their propreitory right in regard to prescribed duties, but should act without attachment to the result; such disinterested obligatory duties doubtlessly lead one to the path of liberation... Any attachment positive or negative, is cause for bondage. Inaction is sinful. Therefore, fighting as a matter of duty was the only auspicious path of salvation for Arjuna. Chapter 2; verse 48 yoga-stah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjya siddhy-asiddhyo samo bhutva samatvam yoga ucyate translation: Be steadfaast in Yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga. Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Krsna tells Arjuna that he should act in yoga. and what is that yoga? Yoga means to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme by controlling the ever disturbing senses. And who is the Supreme? the Supreme is the Lord. And because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are Krsna's concern; Arjuna is simply advised to act under the dictation of Krsna. The following of Krsna's dictation is real yoga and this is practised in Krsna consciuosness. Only by Krsna consciuosness one can give up the sense of propreitorship. One has to become the servant of Krsna, or the servant of the servant of Krsna. That is the right way to discharge duty in Krsna consciousness, which alone can help one to act in yoga. Arjuna is a ksatriya (warrior), and as such he is participating in the varnasrama dharma institution. It is said in the Visnu purana, that in the varnasrama dharma, the whole aim is to satisfy Visnu. No one should satisfy himself, as is the rule in the material world, but one should satisfy Krsna. So unless one satisfies Krsna, one cannot correctly observe the principles of varnasrama dharma. Indirectly, Arjuna was advised to act as Krsna told him. _______________________________________________________________________ Subj: Ripened fruit of vedic literature....? Srimad Bhagavat Starts with following : om namo bhagavate vasudevaya...... ........ ........ ........... ............... O my Lord, Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, O all pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto you. I mediate upon Lord Krishna because He is the Absolute truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is only He who imparted the vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmaji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krishna, who is eternally existant in thr transcendental abode, which is forever free from th! e illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth (Srimad Bhagvat 1:1:1) ========================================================================= Gita verse -2.49 - October 9th,92 Bhagvat Gita Verse _--__--__--__--__--__ durena hy avavram karma/ buddhi-yogad dhananjay buddhau saranam anvicca/ krpanah phala-hetavah Translation -------------- O Dhanajay (Arjuna), rid yourself of all fruitive activites by devotional service and surrender fully to that consciuosness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers. Purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ---------------------------------- ------------------------------ One who has eventually come to understand one's constitutional position as the eternal servotor of the Lord gives up all engagements save working in Krsna consciuosness. buddhi yoga means transcendental loving service to the Lord. Such devotional service is the right course of action for the living entity. Only misers desire to enjoy the fruit of their own work just to be further entangled in material bondage. Fruitive activites continually bind the worker to the cycle of birth and death. One should therefore never desire to be the cause of the work. Everything should be done in Krsna consciousness for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. Misers do not know how to utilize the assets of riches which they acquire by good fortune or hard labour. Like the misers, unfortunate persons do not employ their human energies in the service of the Lord. ------------------ Subj: The book dealing in the science of the eternal relationship with the Lord............? nigam kalpa-taror galitam phalam shuka-mukhad amrta drava samyutam pibat bhagavatam rasam alayam muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah: This verse is very important as it gives right idea of the spirit involved in this transcendental literature. Worth remembering with word to word translation. nigama-the vedic literatures, kalpa-taru-the desire tree, galitam-fully matured phalam-fruit shukha-Srila Shukadev Goswami who is the original speaker of Srimad Bhagvat, mukhad-from the lips of , amrata-nector, drava-liquid (semisolid juice) and thus can be swallowed easily, samyutam-perfect in all respects, pibat-do relish it, Bhagvatam, rasam-juice (that which is relishable), alayam- until liberation or even in liberated conditions muhur-always, aho-O, rasika-those who are full in the knowledge of mellow, bhuvi-on the earth, bhavukah-expert and thoughtful O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad Bhagvat, the mature fruit of the desire tree of vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Shukdev Goswami Therefore the fruit have become even more tasteful, although its nectarian juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls (Srimad Bhagvat 1:1:3) ========================================================================= Subject: A Beautiful article from Texas on Sridham Vrindhavan!!! -Oct 10, 1992 subject: VRINDAVAN TIMES VRINDAVAN TIMES ----------------- * VRINDAVAN , THE SPIRIYUAL EMBASSY * I hope every one is well prepared to drown in the ocean of the nectar of the glories of Sri dham Vrindavan. So let's begin. Lord Brahma while glorifying Lord Krishna with the choicest prayers very beautifully describes Goloka dham, the eternal abode of The Supreme Personality of Godhead : cintamani prakhar sadmasu kalpa-vriksha, lakshavriteshu surabhir abhipalayantam, lakshmi sahastra shat sambhram sevyamanam, Govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami. -(Brahma Samhita) "I worship Govinda, The Primeval Lord, the First Progenitor, Who is tending the cows, yielding all desires in Abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by million's of purpose trees, always served with great affection by hundreds and thousands of Lakshmis or Gopis." For the material conditioned souls (especially those like us who have had a heavy overdose of scientific conditioning) all these descriptions of the transcendental abode of Krishna may appear to be like Fairy tales we all used to enjoy in our childhood. However these are not imaginative, fictitious descriptions but are being sung by a highly realized and the most advanced living being in this Universe, Lord Brahma. Let us take another example : Say, you were to go back to India, to a remote village. And let's assume the residents of this village never had any exposure to the outside world. Now if you were to describe to them 'the (so called ) glories of the American civilization, would they ever believe them ? It would be difficult for them even to conceive what a car looks like or how it runs on its own without any animals. They may dismiss all your descriptions as 'cock and bull stories'. But you know you are not wrong as you have seen 'America' with your own two eyes. So our ignorance of another world doesnot negate its existence. Now if you wanted to prove your point to them, the easiest way is to bring them to the American embassy in New Delhi. Seeing this replica of US, the villager would agree of its existence. So to prove to us 'ever doubting' souls, the Supreme Lord has very kindly manifested His transcendental Abode in this material world in India near Delhi and its called "Sri Vrindavan". It is a sample of that 'cintamani dham' and for the pleasure of His devotees the Lord enacted many sweet pastimes on this land. As the US embassy even though in Delhi is not a part of the Indian land (inside its walls the Indian laws don't apply), similarly even though Vrindavan is physically in India in this material world, it is not a part of this material Universe. Its land is transcendental, its trees, the birds, the Jamuna, its residents : everything is spiritual. But to realize that one needs to have a purified vision. As it is anti-material land we cannot see it with our these material eyes. Only when we anoint them with the salve of pure love of Krishna, shall we be able to appreciate the glories of this transcendental land. So next time you visit India make it a point to go to Sri dham Vrindavan and experience 'the difference' for yourself. verse is from Chapter 2 titled "Contents of the Gita summarized". Lord Krsna is explaining to the grief-stricken Arjuna with very logical arguments, the reasons he should engage in the battle of Kurukshetra. In the following verse, the Lord is giving the knowledge of 'karma yoga'. This is more elaborately explained in Chapter 3. buddhi yukto jahatiha ubhe sukrta-duskrte tasmad yogaya yujyasva yogah karmasu kausalam TRANSLATION A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work. PURPORT BY HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA Since time immemorial each living entity has accumulated the various reactions of his good and bad work. As such, he is continually ignorant of his real constituional position. One's ignorance can be removed by the instruction of Bhagvad Gita which teaches one to surrender unto Lord Sri Krsna in all respects and become liberated from the chained victimization of ACTION and REACTION, birth after birth. Arjuna is therefore advised to act in Krsna consciuosness, the purifying process of resultant action. __________________________________________________________________________ Subj: "CHANTING OF THE HOLY NAMES" CHANTING OF THE HOLY NAMES- Meditation for the Modern Age yajnanam japa-yajno 'smi "Of sacrifices I am the the chanting of the Holy names, japa..." Bhagvat Gita (10.25). Over the past two decades, the sight of Hare Krsna devotees chanting and dancinghas become a familiar sight in cities all over the world. As most casual observers can probably sense, the chanting has spiritual significance. Specifically, it is a form of meditation based on the hearing of transcendental sound vibrations. Our entanglement in material affairs begins from material sound. Each day we hear material sounds from radio, television, from friends and relatives, and according to what we hear, we think, desire, feel and act materially. Thus we remain within the material sphere of existence, taking on one material body, after another and undergoing the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. But, as Srila Prabhupada, the founder acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciuosness (ISKCON), points out, "There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach that sound, then our spiritual life begins". The living being in material life is likened to a dreaming man, who accepts the situations of happiness and distress within his dream as absolute reality. He dreams of finding treasure, but in truth he is not a penny richer. He dreams of being attacked by a tiger, but he is not actually in danger. When he is awakened by the sound of his alarm clock, he realizes his actual situation. In the same way, one who chants the transcedental sounds of the name of Krsna gradually awakens from his dreamlike condition in material life to his original spiritual position. Spiritual sound has special qualities. Hearing the sound "water" reminds us of of the taste of water and its qualities. But because of the distinct difference between material sound and its object, the sound "water" cannot quench our thirst. The name Krsna, however is Absolute sound vibrated from the spiritual platform and is thus non different from Krsna, the Supreme personality of Godhead. And because He is omnipotent, His transcendental energies are manifested within the sound of His name. Since every living entity is eternally related with Krsna, the chanting of His names is often compared with the natural call of a child for his mother. This verse from the 'Kalisantarana Upanishad' very effectively makes this clear: HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA, KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE iti sodasakam namnam kali-kalmasa-nasanam natah parataropayah sarva-vedesu drisyate "Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare- these sixteen names composed of thirty two syllables are the only means of to counteract the evil effects of KaliYuga (the demonic age of Kali). In all the VEDAS it is seen that to cross the ocean of nescience there isno alternative to chanting the Holy Name" This "mahamantra" has been prescibed by great spiritual authorities as the easiest and most effective method to attain self realization in this present age. The word "mantra" means that which delivers the mind ('man'-mind,'tra'- that which delivers the mind from material illusions and anxieties') Chanting purifies the mind just as a medicine prescribed for a bodily ailment gradually restores the body to its natural, healthy condition. One who engages in this practice, known as 'mantra' meditation, gradually develops great mental control and attains a heightened sense of awareness as well as joy. In this pure state of spiritual consciuosness, free from inebrieties such as tension, confusion, depression and feelings of envy and hatred, one experiences real peace of mind. Gradually, as the chanting becomes pure, the soul's natural original qualities of eternity, knowledge and bliss, "sat- cid- anand" become fully manifest. Subj: THE STORY OF LORD DAMODAR * THE STORY OF LORD DAMODAR * _________________________ (Based on the 9th Chapter of the 'KRSNA' book written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ) In the last posting I informed you that this is the month of Karttika. This is the last month of Chaturmasa, the monsoon season when the saintly people would stay at one place, perform various austerities and preach Krsna consciousness. This month is also called 'The month of Damodar'. Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead has millions of Names. Some are related to His mystical potencies and opulences like 'Jagdeeshwar', 'Narayan' etc., while others are related to the various sweet pastimes He enacted with His devotees, like 'Giridhar', 'Madhusudan' etc. The Name 'Damodar' is of the second type and is related to a nectarean pastime He enacted during this month. Once mother Yasoda was feeding milk to Baby Krsna Who was lying comfortably on Her lap. Suddenly the milk which was on the oven began to boil over. So to stop it from spilling she quickly put Krishna on one side and ran towards the oven. However, having been left in that state Krsna became very angry and He broke the butter pot kept on the side and then ran away with the butter and hid Himself. When mother Yasoda returned, Baby Krishna was nowhere in sight and the butter pot was lying broken on the ground. She could guess what had happened and started to look for her Dear Boy. After sometime she found Him in a room sitting on an inverted wooden grinding mortar, taking butter from the pot hanging from the ceiling and feeding it to the monkeys ! Krishna , being aware of His miscief was looking all around lest mother Yasoda should catch Him red handed. And He saw her approaching Him quietly with a stick in her hand. Seeing this He ran in fear and mother Yasoda started chasing Him all around the big house of Nanda Maharaj. Mother Yasoda was trying to catch Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead who is never approached even by meditations of great yogis. But just to enact some sweet, loving pastimes with His devotees He, who is feared by fear personified, was running all around in fear of mother Yasoda. And tt finally He was caught. Krsna was almost on the point of crying and mother Yasoda thought that she should just give Him some mild punishment instead of beating Him with the stick. So she started tying Him to the mortar with a rope This way Krsna would have to stand, tied up, for some time and He would not be able to do any more mischief. But when she tried to bind Him, she found that the rope she was using was too short - by two inches. How could she bind someone, who is all pervading, in Whom the entire cosmic manifestation is resting. But she was simply thinking that Krishna is her tiny little child and that it is her duty to correct His naughty behaviour. Now she gathered more ropes and started tying Him up again but the rope was still short by two inches. And this went on and on till all the available ropes at home were used up and mother Yasoda was totally exhausted. She was astonished. Seeing His mother perspiring like this the Lord became compassionate and agreed to be bound by the ropes. A pure devotee surrenders himself unto the lotus feet of the Lord and similarly the Lord also feels transcendental pleasure by submitting Himself to the protection of the devotee. This was exemplified by Krsna's surrender unto His mother Yasoda. 'Dam' in Sanskrit means 'rope' and 'udar' means belly. So Damodar refers to Krishna who got Himself bound by mother Yasoda's ropes. This pastime shows that that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is difficult to realize even after millions of years of austerities and tapasya, who can not be obtained by Jnana or karma yoga, can be easily pleased and achieved by Bhakti Yoga. And in this age He is simply pleased if we chant His Holy Names: HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE So that's the story of Lord Damodar. Kindly refer to the KRSNA book for the details of this pastime. AND NOW THE QUIZ : What happened immediately after this pastime ? ANS. TO LAST QUIZ : Three things still present in Vrindavan from the time of Lord Krishna are : 1. River Yamuna. 2. Govardhan Hill. 3. The dust of Vrindavan ( Braja raj ) No one answered the third thing correctly. So everyone's score is still zero. ( But I rec'd only two replies. Why is everyone else quiet ? ) HARE KRISHNA WISH YOU A HAPPY DIWALI AND GOVARDHAN PUJA. GAUR PREAMANANDE HARI HARI BOL !!!!! Vishnu das. (Vikas Budhiraja) vikbu@owlnet.rice.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 17:23:27 MST Reply-To: The Krishna Consciousness Club Sender: The Krishna Consciousness Club From: "(raja)" Subject: BgGita Verse for the Day - Friday:Oct 30, 1992 (Boston) From: SMTP%"LISTSERV@ARIZVM1.ccit.arizona.edu" 29-OCT-1992 16:17:23.65 To: krsnanet@ARIZVM1.ccit.arizona.edu CC: Bhagvat Gita verse dehino'smin yatha denhe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantra -praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati 2.13 Translation: As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self- realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. Purport: This verse is considered one of the most glorious in the BhagvatGita. After Arjuna presents all kinds of arguments against fighting in the war, and lays down his bow, stricken with grief, surrendering unto Lord Krsna, the mood of the exchange between the two of them changes. From that of two friends to 'guru' (spiritual master) and 'sisya'(disciple). And this verse is the first instruction which the Lord is giving to Arjuna- in the earlier verse (2.11) the Lord chastised the student -"While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead". In other words, indirectly calling him a fool. The Lord is the Supreme preacher, and in that positon He is smashing Arjuna's doubts by the weapon of knowledge. While encouraging him to perform his prescribed duties, the Lord is teaching the Supreme truth. And to understand that truth, the first lesson is to understand that "we are not this body". Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. The individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body. And this cycle of birth and death goes on until he takes to enquiring about the nature of the self and his relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. This is called 'brhama jijnasa". So one who has the perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individual soul, the Supersoul (paramatma) and nature - both material and spiritual - is called a 'dhira' or a most sober man. Such a man can stop the painful cycle of birth, death,old age and disease, in this material world and live an eternal life in bliss and knowledge with the Personality of Godhead. ----------