Saturday, June 9, 2012

What 13.26 of Geeta tells you!!



“Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person Krishna upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death. (13.26)”.



Over the period of time, the so called Pandits of religion have made the impression that those who do not have the kind of knowledge they have, can not reach to Krishna. The so called custodians of religions have threatened masses by saying this is not according scriptures or not written in vedas’.

However, one can attain Krishna by hearing about him from an authorized person. The Truth of the matter is so called pandits in the name of “Etiquettes and rituals” have troubled simple devotees time and again.

In his Mukund mala stotra, Raja Kulashekhar says “One who hears descriptions of Lord Krishna's pastimes and glorious qualities but whose bodily hair fails to bristle in ecstasy and whose eyes fail to flood with tears of pure love — such a person is indeed the most degraded rascal. What a condemned life he leads!”

Unless and until one has these symptoms or have this kind of Mahabhav, one should restrict himself to be called as a devotee of Krishna.

Krishna is very kind to have come out with this shloka in the thirteenth chapter. As we see, there are numerous devotees of Krishna who have attained his abode by offering different kinds of service to him. There are people who derive happiness only by serving a holy cow; they are mostly worried about saving cows and nurturing them. Neither they have time for reading scriptures nor do they perform any kind of sacrifices or charities.

The story of a great devotee Karma bai is another example of a devotee who was not fully conversant in spiritual knowledge. Karma bai used to treat Krishna as her son. She used to wake up early, prepare food for Krishna without having a bath. After offering food and making Krishna sleep she would do her household work.

One day a learned Bramhin came to her house and said “How can you cook food for the supreme lord without having a bath? She said “For a mother her children are first priority and next come her personal interests”.

Bramhin appreciated her devotion but insisted her to cook food for Krishna after having bath. Karma bai had no choice than to listen to the instructions of learned Bramhin. That night Krishna appeared in the dream of Bramhin and said” You have disturbed poor Karma bai by your silly suggestions, now I have to wait too long for my food. She is my beloved devotee, go and tell her that she doesn’t need to follow the rituals”. Awe struck by the devotion of Karma Bai, Bramhin next day ran into Karma bai’s house and delivered the message of Krishna.

A real devotee of Krishna instead of changing or correcting you increases your attachment to Krishna by understanding your core strengths. A service delivered to such a real devotee is considered even higher than the service delivered to Krishna.
In fact, Krishna says “while visiting a temple, an ignorant person may offer his prayers to me with grammatical mistakes whereas a scholar would speak properly. Still, I accept both prayers equally, for mere learning does not impress me. I am only interested to see the inner mood of surrender of a devotee “.


Saturday, April 21, 2012

The stories of Vrindavan















Just back from Vrindavan…what a feeling! It’s a very cool and calm feeling that I am carrying in my heart ever since I came back. Vrindvan is a spiritual wine you would love to drink again and again.It has completely intoxicated me, I feel so satisfied, happy, cheerful, sacred and ecstatic inside. While I was there I did not know what I am going to get out of this tour, I was visiting temples, doing Parikrama’s, chanting and praying everyday but I did not have this feeling there which I am having right now.

Yamuna Devi:
Of the all the evenings of my life, the best evening I ever had, was the one I spent on Keshighat. It is such a great feeling to be at this place. Watching YamunaDevi is like watching goddess, you don’t understand what is happening with you when you look at Yamuna devi - the pap-nashini (Washer of all sins).

You feel like watching Yamuna Devi for a long long time and you remember all the leela’s that Krishna performed near this most pious river. The sister of the god of death Yamuna Devi removes the fear of the death. Yamuna Devi was first to touch the lotus feet of Krishna and bath in Yamuna Devi does help you to understand Vrindavan and Krishna.

Vrinda Kund: Vrinda devi temple is the temple of Tulasi maharani situated nearNandgaon. The atmosphere around this temple is mesmerizing there is absolutely nothing except trees near the temple; it’s a zero crowd place, all you will see around the temple is fields, birds and peace that billions of dollars can’t buy. The only voice you get to hear is the humming of birds 24/7….unbelievably cool and calm place.
The temples of Vrindavan: There are about five thousand temples in Vrindavanamong them all the old temples stand out. There is separate story and importance attached to each temple established by seven Go-swamis who lived in Vrindavan. If you walk into the Govind dev temple you become entitle to enter in heaven, if you take the darshan of Govind dev, Madan mohan and Gopinathtemple in a day you can get the darshan of Krishna in your life time.

Sankirtan and the arti at the Krishna Balram makes you feel, how wonderful life can be at times. Devotees get mad to hear the sankirtan, they dance, they laugh, they cry during sankirtans. Never ever miss the sankirtan of Krishna Balramtemple. How many times I should thank Srila Prabhupada the great, great soul behind this lovely temple.

I was also fortunate to witness “Phool Bangla” festival of Shri Banke Biharitemple. Banke Bihari came out that day and it was quite a magnificent look Banke Bihari had that day…amazing!! Those who go to this temple once, feel like going there again and again..You take a criminal to Banke Bihari temple and he will be a devotee next day...this is not an overstatement( A businessman once went to Mathura to visit his beloved Banke Bihari, as he landed, he hired a taxi to go to Banke Bihari temple. The Businessman asked to Taxi driver" How much I have to pay till Vrindavan"? the taxi driver said" anything you want, I am your servant". The polite taxi driver brought him to the temple. The temple was about to close, the businessman, his wife and his three kids would not have made it to the temple at the rush hour. The taxi driver said" Sir, It will not be possible for you to enter in the temple with your three kids and with this huge luggage, therefore I wait here along with your kids and you come back soon". Businessman was convinced and he ran towards the temple along with his wife, when he came back,he did not find the taxi driver. He was in a state of shock !!. His kids and luggage were missing. He searched them for hours, he was down in the dumps. After while he registered a complaint against the taxi driver. He decided to return to Banke Bihari temple and pray him, as he was climbing steps of the temple, he saw the taxi driver in the temple.The businessman just jumped down at his throat and asked" Where are my kids?
The taxi driver said" I am not a taxi driver, my only job is to kidnap kids and sell them, I went to Yamuna river with your kids and there one boy held my rickshaw and said" I will not allow you to go away from here, return those kids otherwise I will make u blind", "immediately after saying this that he disappeared". "I understood that this boy is nobody else but the supreme godhead Krishna, so I returned to the temple for begging clemency". The businessman thanked thousand times to Krishna and came to know that Krishna takes care of those who enter in Vrindavan. This is a true story happened in the year 1958 ) .
This is the magic of Banke Bihari. You wish anything in Vrindavan, You ask for any help in Vrindavan, the moment anything comes in your mind Krishna will fulfill it and he will save you from all kinds of troubles as long as you stay in Vraj. You have a worry in your mind; you will get a solution immediately in the Vraj as it is not an ordinary land you are walking on, it is the place where krishna lived. Vrindavan is a gift of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to the world. He discovered the places where Krishna performed his acts like killing demons or performing ras lila

The Sadhus I met: Krishna would climb on Kadamb trees and gather all his cows, that place is called “Ter KadambTer means to call. There was this sadhubabaI met, who is staying there from past 15 years. I was amazed to see his enthusiasm and cheerfulness, the way he was speaking about Krishna. He was staying at a place where there is absolutely no medical help, no shopping malls, no daily needs shop, absolutely zero crowd and the only thing accompanied him from past 15 years is peacocks....unbelievable.

Another sadhu baba I met was during Vrindavan parikrama, whatever he told me was shocking.. he said he has no place to stay and he does not know what he is going get to eat next day. He had stayed at places like radha kund,Govardhan, Haridwar and Mayapur for months like this. These sadhus walk bare feet in 48 degree temperature and have bath at 4 am in the morning in 0 degree winter of Vrindavan without demanding anything in return fromKrishna. That throws a series of some serious questions in my mind like " What to do with those who sit in the Ac office and talk about devotion? What to do with those who throw away poor people thinking that they are presidents and trusties of some temple? What to do with those who are just interested in building big ashrams, gathering money, travel in a luxurious vehicle and increase their number of disciples.

Well finally…those who are serious about self realization and seriously want some progress in devotional life must at least go once to Vrindavan after while the truth will be close to them.

The End

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Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Glories of Radha Kunda



If ever, there is any great place than “Vaikuntha” then that is Mathura, as lord Krishna descended himself in Mathura but Vrindavan is better than Mathura as Krishna performed Ras lila in Vrindavan and Govardhan is even better than Vrindavan as Krishna lifted Govardhan with his transcendental hand and even better than Govardhan is the kund which is filled with love of Krishna.

Srila Rupa Goswami tells why Radha kunda is great. It is great because it is made by Radha rani the queen of vrindavan. Radha rani who is Param Alhadini shakti of Krishna rules onKrishna. Radha rani can make Krishna smile and cry; she is the Guru of Krishna. Gopis loved Krishna unconditionally and amongst all gopis Radha Rani was the greatest as she had the Mahabhav to love Krishna.

You never make a friendship with a person who is not better than yourself; you always look up to a person who is by all means better than you. Krishna would request Radha rani to be a part of Ras Lila as it would not have been possible without her. Even the great Laxmi can not be a part of Ras lila because of her opulence.

Krishna himself admitted that he will never be able to pay the debt of Gopis because of what they did for Krishna. Gopi’s left their husbands, brothers, relatives and even sons for Krishnaand then why wouldn’t be that place will be great if it is made by them.

Once Krishna killed the demon named Vrishabh Arishtasur, the demon came in a form of a bull and bull is the husband of holy cow, thus Gopis objected on Krishna that he is killed the bull and he needs to purify himself now. Krishna immediately called all the Tirtha’s and made “Sham kunda”to have bath in it. Well, the obligation came on Gopis as they objected onKrishna the supreme Godhead. It was now necessary for them to purify themselves in a similar kunda and thus Gopis dug Kunda by their bangles and created Radha Kunda.

Srila Rupa Goswami in his Updeshamrit says” even for a once if somebody has a bath in the Radha Kunda, immediately he will be blessed with pure love of Krishna. Moreover the merciful Radha rani gives special attention to the devotees who have bath in Radha kunda.

Krishna has called the whole world a miserable place; he has repeated it in 8th and 9thchapter of Bhagwat Geeta saying that this world is “Dukhalayam” and not good enough for honest people to live in it.
However, this does not apply to devotees who stay near Radha kunda. Vrindavan does not entertain emotions & feelings like agony, anguish, depression. These mental states of mind don’t exist in Vrindavan and in Radha kunda. The moment you enter to Radha kund you will feel secured in the hands of Radha rani and ecstatic like never before.

Purity is the word, even demi-gods would not dare to look in the eyes of people who are staying near Radha kunda and chanting the glories of Radha Krishna. If anybody in the world knows how to please Krishna, she is none but the queen of Vrindavan Radha rani, if you pray her she will help you to please Krishna. And finally about Radha Kunda- one poet has rightly said that “Mehboob ki har chij mehboob hoti hai”.

The End