KRISHNABALARAM

Monday, 2 March 2015

Gaura Purinima festival on mar 5th

Question: Can the Jiva Soul Fall Down Twice?

Question: Can the Jiva Soul Fall Down Twice?

After going Back to Godhead does the soul return back to material world? I have heard and read that we were part of Krishna's paraphernalia in the topmost abode Sri Goloka dhama and that due to our mistaken desire to enjoy separately from Krishna we have fallen down in material world. So the process of going back to Godhead is once, or is it repeated?

Answer: "Once Burned, I Learned."

The goods news is that the living entities who fall down into material existence and return back to Godhead have learned their lesson well. They will not repeat the mistake of being envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Of course, since they have free will, if they wanted to try to enjoy separately from the Lord again, they could fall down again. But, "Once burned, I learned." They will not be so stupid to again declare so-called independence from Lord Sri Krishna.

Be a Bonafide Disciple

The sastras (scriptures) enjoin that we must seek out a bona fide spiritual master, take shelter of him, and be initiated by him. Having accomplished this does not mean that our spiritual life is now complete. To make our spiritual life perfect and complete we must then become the bona fide disciples of the spiritual master by becoming fully obedient to his instructions, accepting them as our very life and soul. If we do not this, we are only so-called disciples and we will not become liberated from the cycle of birth and death. We will oblige our spiritual master to take birth again to deliver us from this quagmire of material existence. So we should not encumber our spiritual master in this way, obliging him to take birth again in this material world. We should be his fully surrendered sold-out servants so we can of the best service to him in his mission of delivering the fallen, conditioned souls of this age.

Srila Prabhupada Mercifully Gives Instructions.

Srila Prabhupada Mercifully Gives Instructions.

Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding the four regulative principles]

So this practice, according to Vedic instruction... Because we have no attachment. So for making attachment, there are some regulative principles by which you can increase the attachment. Just like we say, "No illicit sex." That means... Illicit sex means those who are too much attached to sex; otherwise, there is no question of illicit sex. According to Vedic system one is married, and married means the girl has got a husband, and the boy has got a wife.

So living on religious principles, they can satisfy their sex life for begetting nice children. So there is no prohibition. That is allowed. But illicit sex means your attachment for sex is increased, not for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is forbidden.

No meat-eating. Meat-eating or fish-eating or egg-eating, nonvegetarian diet, it is simply attachment of the tongue. Nobody dies without meat-eating. That's not a fact. When we were children, we were babies, we were depending on milk, either mother's breast milk or cow's milk. Therefore cow is also our mother. Just like we drink breast milk from my mother, similarly, we drink milk from mother cow. Therefore meat-eating is prohibited. You cannot kill your mother. That is a great sin. You cannot. But people have become so sinful that they have no consideration that "I am going to kill my mother. I am so ungrateful that the mother who supplied her blood to feed me, to keep me living, now I am grown-up, I am going to kill my mother." This is my advancement of education, that "I have learned how to kill my mother."

Therefore, in every religion the killing is prohibited or very much restricted. So in your Christian religion, the first item is, "Thou shalt not kill." But everyone is violating this first commandment. Then where is your claim to become a Christian? If you violate the injunction given by Lord Jesus Christ, then where, how you become a Christian? That is our question. Either Christian or this or that, killing is most sinful. This should be avoided.

Therefore in the beginning, to increase attachment for Kṛṣṇa... Because my business is to increase my spontaneous attachment for God. That is the business of human life. This is a chance. Because in the human form of life you can do that. And as soon as you increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful. Successful means that you haven't got to accept any more this material body. You will get a spiritual body and go to Kṛṣṇa, or go to home, go back to Godhead.

[Initiations: San Diego 30 June 1972]

'Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding the four regulative principles]

So this practice, according to Vedic instruction... Because we have no attachment. So for making attachment, there are some regulative principles by which you can increase the attachment. Just like we say, "No illicit sex." That means... Illicit sex means those who are too much attached to sex; otherwise, there is no question of illicit sex. According to Vedic system one is married, and married means the girl has got a husband, and the boy has got a wife.

So living on religious principles, they can satisfy their sex life for begetting nice children. So there is no prohibition. That is allowed. But illicit sex means your attachment for sex is increased, not for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is forbidden.

No meat-eating. Meat-eating or fish-eating or egg-eating, nonvegetarian diet, it is simply attachment of the tongue. Nobody dies without meat-eating. That's not a fact. When we were children, we were babies, we were depending on milk, either mother's breast milk or cow's milk. Therefore cow is also our mother. Just like we drink breast milk from my mother, similarly, we drink milk from mother cow. Therefore meat-eating is prohibited. You cannot kill your mother. That is a great sin. You cannot. But people have become so sinful that they have no consideration that "I am going to kill my mother. I am so ungrateful that the mother who supplied her blood to feed me, to keep me living, now I am grown-up, I am going to kill my mother." This is my advancement of education, that "I have learned how to kill my mother."

Therefore, in every religion the killing is prohibited or very much restricted. So in your Christian religion, the first item is, "Thou shalt not kill." But everyone is violating this first commandment. Then where is your claim to become a Christian? If you violate the injunction given by Lord Jesus Christ, then where, how you become a Christian? That is our question. Either Christian or this or that, killing is most sinful. This should be avoided.

Therefore in the beginning, to increase attachment for Kṛṣṇa... Because my business is to increase my spontaneous attachment for God. That is the business of human life. This is a chance. Because in the human form of life you can do that. And as soon as you increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful. Successful means that you haven't got to accept any more this material body. You will get a spiritual body and go to Kṛṣṇa, or go to home, go back to Godhead.

[Initiations: San Diego 30 June 1972]'

Sunday, 1 March 2015

"Krishna All Attractive"

Krishna is within your heart. If you kindly continue to hear about Him, as you are doing, then Krishna will be very much pleased. “Oh, this person is now interested in me.” Because nobody is interested in Krishna, so Krishna is also silent to them. But as soon as you become interested, oh, Krishna becomes very active. “Oh, he is trying to do something. I shall help him.”
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
In his conversations in Los Angles, May 19, 1972.

THE GREAT HOLI FESTIVAL

Seeing that Krsna was eager to celebrate the great Holi festival, the gopis apprach Radha who is pouting in maan. The gopis said, “Vrajabhusana Syama has come to your forest to celebrate Holi festival. He is beautifully attired and decorated, and holding a pichkari(syringe) in His hand. O Radha! Give up your jealous anger and celebrate the glorious Holi festival. Please stand up quickly and take all your sakhis and go to Krsna.” Radha put aside Her jealous anger and went to celebrate the Holi festival with Her girlfriends. The Vraja gopis carried syringes filled with water mixed with sandal, aguru, musk, turmeric, and kumkuma. Their hands red, thin garments yellow, the sakhis laughed as they sang rowdy songs about Holi. Throwing fistfuls of red powder, the gopis reddened the sky, the earth and all directions. Millions of reddish fists threw fragrant powder millions of times. The Vraja gopis surrounded Syama and held Him tightly. Then they anointed Krsna’s face with fistful of red powder and drenched Him with syringes full of kumkuma water. Thus Radha and Krsna enjoyed the splendid Holi festival.

(Garga Samhita)

Mahanidhi Swami

Is Envy of Krishna the Only Cause of Coming Here?

Question: Is Envy of Krishna the Only Cause of Coming Here?

I would like to humbly ask you: Is envy of Krishna the only reason for coming down to the material world? Is it also that sometimes Krishna sends a person here to perform some special work to raise His glories, Srila Prabhupada being the perfect example?

Answer: Great Acharyas Also Come Here on a Mission

Yes, you are right. Those who are envious of Krishna relegate themselves to be prisoners here in this material world bound by the chains of the three modes of material nature. Sometimes great liberated souls like Srila Prabhupada are sent by Lord Krishna to this material world to deliver us poor rascals who are imprisoned here. Such liberated souls remain liberated even while they here. They are not chained by the three modes of material nature. They are just like chaplains who visit a prison to teach the prisoners how to love God. Although the chaplains may appear to be locked up in the prison just like the prisoners, they are free to come and go from the prison as they like. I have practically experienced this. Many years ago I went as a chaplain every week to give Krishna consciousness to the inmates at the El Reno Federal Penitentiary in El Reno, Oklahoma, USA. The prisoners were locked up tightly in the prison, but I was free to come and go as I liked. So even though I was in the prison apparently just like the prisoners, actually I was not in the prison at all. In this way great personalities like Srila Prabhupada always remain liberated in the constant association of Lord Krishna even while they appear to be in this material world.

Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding Lord Nityānanda]

Now what is important to us is that we have to understand Lord Chaitanya as the same Personality as Krishna whereas Nityānanda Prabhu is the same Personality as Ramachandra. And in the present context of Leela or pastimes Shri Nityānanda is meant for fulfilling all the mission of Lord Chaitanya.

The author says that it is not an easy task to know the glories of Lord Nityānanda but he has just tried to explain it in fragments of such glory by the mercy of the Lord.
He tries to explain another incidence of His (Lord Nityānanda's) causeless mercy in connection with his personal affairs. By this incidence it is experienced as to how Lord Nityānanda can raise a fallen soul to the highest standard of spiritual life. They are not to be expressed because of their confidential nature as the Vedas and yet a sense of conferring personal gratitude(?) they are to be exposed to show how much merciful is Lord Nityānanda towards His devotees. He begs therefore pardon of Lord Nityānanda for this disclosure of confidence but he wants to expose it on account extraordinary ecstatic feeling of the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. The incidence is as follows:—

"Minketan Ramdas is the name of one of His ( Lord Nityānanda's) devotees. He used to visit the residence of the author now and then and was absorbed in the acts of singing and chanting of the holy name of the Lord. One day he was invited at his residence for dinner and the transcendental devotee came and sat on the courtyard of the house. And all the Vaishnavas present there showed their respect for Ramdas. In his jollymood he used to get up on somebody's person and sometimes he used to beat others with his flute rod or by his hand. But he was always full in tears in both the eyes and any one and every one could see Him always in that state. He was so transcendentally situated that one could see him dull at one part of his body while in the other part it was severely palpitating. And the most astonishing effect was seen as soon as he used to roar like a lion in chanting the holy Name of Lord Nityānanda.

"A priest of the name Guṇārṇava Miśra was engaged there for the service of the family deity. And it was peculiar that while other Vaishnavas showed their respective mood of obeisances, this Guṇārṇava Miśra was reluctant to do it for reasons best known to him. This was observed by Śrī Rāma das with reluctance and he compared the priest with the son of Romaharsan Sūta who did not leave his lecture-chair (called Vyāsāsana where scriptures are recited by some speaker) even at the presence of Valadeva the Personality of Godhead. This is a reference from an incidence occured at Naimiṣāraṇya some thousands of years before. Rāmadāsa could understand it that the priest Guṇārṇava Miśra had less respect for Lord Nityānanda and he did not like that attitude of the priest. The priest, however, did not protest the insult offered to him by Rāmadāsa but later the authors elder brother had some discussion with Ramadas.

From that discussion it appeared that the elder brother of Kavirāj Goswami also had more respect for Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhu than that for Lord Nityānanda. By such attitude of the elder brother, Ramdas was not satisfied and the author Kavirāj Goswami also protested this attitude of his elder brother. Kavirāj Goswami said there is no difference between the two brothers (Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityānanda). They are one and the same Person and therefore to show respect to one and minimise the other is something like the logic of begging the question. The conclusion is that if one of them is showed respect excluding the other it becomes an object of hypcrisy and if both of them are not accepted then it becomes an act of infidelity. So in both ways the elder brother stands to be in fault.

And on the point of this remonstrations Meenketan Ramdas became angry and broke his flute resulting in the degradation of Kavirāj Goswami's elder brother. That is the story of the power of His (Śrīla Nityānanda's) devotee. The next incidence is how he (the author) was favored by the Lord. The author chastised his elder brother on account of his rigidity in the dealings of his one sided faith and this was approved by Lord Nityānanda, as He appeared before him (the author), in that very night.

The residence of the author is situated at village Jhamatpur (near Naihāṭī) about four miles off from Katwa in the district of Burdwan W. Bengal The author was fortunate to have an audience of Lord Nityānanda there in dream. And on His appearance the author fell prostrate on His feet and the Lord in return kept His feet on his head. The Lord asked him to stand up again and again and he then stood up to see Him clearly. The author saw an wonderful feature of the Lord. He appeared to be in the lusture of His body as polished blackish with well built tall figure seeming to be as attractive as the cupid in a martial spirit. The hands were beautifully moulded, so also the legs and lotus eyes. He wore a turban of glittering silk on head and he was clothed in silken dhotī. Golden rings were hanging on His ears and golden bangles encircled His wrist. Sounds leg bells rang and were heard from His lotus feet and His neck was garlanded with heaps of flowers. The whole body was smeared with the pulp of sandalwood and the forehead was decorated with marks of devotion. His movements were as grave as that of an elephant. His face was as beautiful as the moon and His teeth were as beautifully set as the seeds of pomegranate. He was waving left and right in a mode of ecstacy and He was uttering the sounds of Krishna and Krishna. There was a red stick in His hand commanding like a lion and His beautiful legs were crowded by dones...

[Essays and Articles: CC - adi līlā Chapter 5 (handwritten)]

'Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding Lord Nityānanda]

Now what is important to us is that we have to understand Lord Chaitanya as the same Personality as Krishna whereas Nityānanda Prabhu is the same Personality as Ramachandra. And in the present context of Leela or pastimes Shri Nityānanda is meant for fulfilling all the mission of Lord Chaitanya.

The author says that it is not an easy task to know the glories of Lord Nityānanda but he has just tried to explain it in fragments of such glory by the mercy of the Lord.
He tries to explain another incidence of His (Lord Nityānanda's) causeless mercy in connection with his personal affairs. By this incidence it is experienced as to how Lord Nityānanda can raise a fallen soul to the highest standard of spiritual life. They are not to be expressed because of their confidential nature as the Vedas and yet a sense of conferring personal gratitude(?) they are to be exposed to show how much merciful is Lord Nityānanda towards His devotees. He begs therefore pardon of Lord Nityānanda for this disclosure of confidence but he wants to expose it on account extraordinary ecstatic feeling of the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. The incidence is as follows:—

"Minketan Ramdas is the name of one of His ( Lord Nityānanda's) devotees. He used to visit the residence of the author now and then and was absorbed in the acts of singing and chanting of the holy name of the Lord. One day he was invited at his residence for dinner and the transcendental devotee came and sat on the courtyard of the house. And all the Vaishnavas present there showed their respect for Ramdas. In his jollymood he used to get up on somebody's person and sometimes he used to beat others with his flute rod or by his hand. But he was always full in tears in both the eyes and any one and every one could see Him always in that state. He was so transcendentally situated that one could see him dull at one part of his body while in the other part it was severely palpitating. And the most astonishing effect was seen as soon as he used to roar like a lion in chanting the holy Name of Lord Nityānanda.

"A priest of the name Guṇārṇava Miśra was engaged there for the service of the family deity. And it was peculiar that while other Vaishnavas showed their respective mood of obeisances, this Guṇārṇava Miśra was reluctant to do it for reasons best known to him. This was observed by Śrī Rāma das with reluctance and he compared the priest with the son of Romaharsan Sūta who did not leave his lecture-chair (called Vyāsāsana where scriptures are recited by some speaker) even at the presence of Valadeva the Personality of Godhead. This is a reference from an incidence occured at Naimiṣāraṇya some thousands of years before. Rāmadāsa could understand it that the priest Guṇārṇava Miśra had less respect for Lord Nityānanda and he did not like that attitude of the priest. The priest, however, did not protest the insult offered to him by Rāmadāsa but later the authors elder brother had some discussion with Ramadas.

From that discussion it appeared that the elder brother of Kavirāj Goswami also had more respect for Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhu than that for Lord Nityānanda. By such attitude of the elder brother, Ramdas was not satisfied and the author Kavirāj Goswami also protested this attitude of his elder brother. Kavirāj Goswami said there is no difference between the two brothers (Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityānanda). They are one and the same Person and therefore to show respect to one and minimise the other is something like the logic of begging the question. The conclusion is that if one of them is showed respect excluding the other it becomes an object of hypcrisy and if both of them are not accepted then it becomes an act of infidelity. So in both ways the elder brother stands to be in fault.

And on the point of this remonstrations Meenketan Ramdas became angry and broke his flute resulting in the degradation of Kavirāj Goswami's elder brother. That is the story of the power of His (Śrīla Nityānanda's) devotee. The next incidence is how he (the author) was favored by the Lord. The author chastised his elder brother on account of his rigidity in the dealings of his one sided faith and this was approved by Lord Nityānanda, as He appeared before him (the author), in that very night.

The residence of the author is situated at village Jhamatpur (near Naihāṭī) about four miles off from Katwa in the district of Burdwan W. Bengal The author was fortunate to have an audience of Lord Nityānanda there in dream. And on His appearance the author fell prostrate on His feet and the Lord in return kept His feet on his head. The Lord asked him to stand up again and again and he then stood up to see Him clearly. The author saw an wonderful feature of the Lord. He appeared to be in the lusture of His body as polished blackish with well built tall figure seeming to be as attractive as the cupid in a martial spirit. The hands were beautifully moulded, so also the legs and lotus eyes. He wore a turban of glittering silk on head and he was clothed in silken dhotī. Golden rings were hanging on His ears and golden bangles encircled His wrist. Sounds leg bells rang and were heard from His lotus feet and His neck was garlanded with heaps of flowers. The whole body was smeared with the pulp of sandalwood and the forehead was decorated with marks of devotion. His movements were as grave as that of an elephant. His face was as beautiful as the moon and His teeth were as beautifully set as the seeds of pomegranate. He was waving left and right in a mode of ecstacy and He was uttering the sounds of Krishna and Krishna. There was a red stick in His hand commanding like a lion and His beautiful legs were crowded by dones...

[Essays and Articles: CC - adi līlā Chapter 5 (handwritten)]'