Patience is trusting Krishna's timing

Hare Krsna,





Once there was a sweeper in a well known temple and he was very sincere and

devoted.



Every time he saw thousands of devotees coming to take darshan of the Lord,

he thought that the Lord is standing all the time and giving darshan and He

must be feeling very tired.



So one day very innocently he asked the Lord whether he can take the place

of the Lord for a day so that the Lord can have some relief and rest.

The Deity of Temple replied, "I do not mind taking a break. I will transform

you like Myself, but you must do one thing. you must just stand here like

Me, smile at everyone and just give benedictions. Do not interfere with

anything and do not say anything. Remember you are the deity and you just

have faith that I have a master plan for everything.



The sweeper agreed to this. The next day the sweeper took the position of

the deity and a rich man came and prayed to the Lord. He offered a nice

donation and prayed that his business should be prosperous. While going, the

rich man inadvertently left his wallet full of money right there. Now the

sweeper in the form of deity could not call him and so he decided to control

himself and keep quiet.



Just then a poor man came and he put one coin in the Hundi and said that it

was all he could afford and he prayed to the Lord that he should continue to

be engaged in the Lord's service. He also said that his family was in dire

need of some basic needs but he left it to the good hands of the Lord to

give some solution. When he opened his eyes, he saw the wallet left by the

rich man. The poor man thanked the Lord for His kindness and took the wallet

very innocently. The sweeper in the form of the Deity could not say anything

and he had to just keep smiling.



At that point a sailor walked in. He prayed for his safe journey as he was

going on a long trip. Just then the rich man came with the police and said

that somebody has stolen his wallet and seeing the sailor there, he asked

the police to arrest him thinking that he might have taken it. Now the

sweeper in the form of Deity wanted to say that the sailor is not the thief

but he could not say so and he became greatly frustrated. The sailor looked

at the Lord and asked why he, an innocent person, is being punished. The

rich man looked at the Lord and thanked Him for finding the thief.



The sweeper in the deity form could no more tolerate and he thought that

even if the real Lord had been here, he would have definitely interfered and

hence he started speaking and said that the sailor is not the thief but it

was the poor man who took away the wallet. The rich man was very thankful as

also the sailor.



In the night, the real Lord came and He asked the sweeper how the day was.

The sweeper said, "I thought it would be easy, but now I know that Your days

are not easy, but I did one good thing." Then he explained the whole episode

to the Lord. The Lord became very upset on hearing this whereas the sweeper

thought the Lord would appreciate him for the good deed done.



The Lord asked, "Why did you not just stick to the plan? You had no faith in

Me. Do you think that I do not understand the hearts of all those who come

here? All the donation which the rich man gave was all stolen money and it

is only a fraction of what he really has and he wants Me to reciprocate

unlimitedly. The single coin offered by the poor man was the last coin he

was having and he gave it to Me out of faith.



The sailor might not have done anything wrong, but if the sailor were to go

in the ship that night he was about to die because of bad weather and

instead if he is arrested he would be in the jail and he would have been

saved form a greater calamity. The wallet should go to the poor man because

he will use it in My service. I was going to reduce the rich man's karma

also by doing this and save the sailor also. But you cancelled everything

because you thought you know My plan and you made your own plans."



Moral:



God has plans and justice for everyone....



We just have to have patience!!!!!



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"Peace is not absence of conflict, but presence of God whatever the conflict be."

Truth and Beauty are Compatible

Hare Krishna,




A nice article

By A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead Magazine #15,1967



It has often been argued whether truth and beauty are terms compatible with one another. One would agree willingly, some say, to express the truth, but since truth is not always beautiful—indeed it is frequently rather startling and unpleasant—how is one to express truth and beauty at the same time?



In reply to this we may inform all concerned that Truth and Beauty are indeed compatible terms. Truth which is Absolute is always beautiful. It is so beautiful that it attracts everyone, including itself. Truth is so beautiful that many sages, saints and devotees have left everything for its sake. Mahatma Gandhi, the idol of the modern world, dedicated his life for experimenting with Truth, and all his activities were targetted towards Truth only.



Why Mahatma Gandhi?—every one of us is drawn by an urge towards Truth, because it is not only beautiful, but possesses all power, all resources, all fame, all renunciation and all knowledge as well.



Unfortunately, people have no information of the actual Truth, and 99.9 per cent of men in all ranks of life are following the principles of Untruth in the name of Truth and its quest. We are actually attracted with the beauty of Truth, but we are, since time immemorial, habituated to love untruth in the name of Truth. And therefore, to the mundane thinker, Truth and Beauty are incompatible terms.

Mundane Truth and beauty are explained as follows:



A man fell in love with a beautiful girl. He was very powerful and strongly built, but his character was doubtful. The girl, meanwhile, was not only beautiful in appearance, but also saintly in character. As such the beautiful girl did not like the proposal of the powerful man. The powerful man, however, insisted upon his lustful desires, whereupon the beautiful girl requested the man to wait for only seven days and after that she fixed up a time when they could meet. The strong man agreed, and with high expectations began to count the hours, waiting for the moment when he was fixed to meet the girl.



The saintly girl, however, in order to manifest the real beauty of relative Truth, adopted a means which is very instructive: She took a very strong dose of purgative medicine, and for seven days continually she passed loose stool and vomitted all that she ate. All the loose stool and the vomit she stored up in suitable reservoirs. As a result of this laxative medicine, the so-called beautiful girl became lean, thin as a skeleton, and turned gloomy of complexion, with her beautiful eyes pushed into the socket of the skull.



At the appointed hour, she was waiting anxiously to receive the man in love.

The man appeared on the scene well-dressed and well-behaved, and asked the waiting girl, who was depressed in appearance, about the beautiful girl who had called him there. The man could not recognize the waiting girl, as the same beauty whom he was asking for. The girl was in a pitiable condition, and the foolish man, in spite of repeated assertions, could not recognise her. All due to the action of the medicine.



At last the girl told the powerful man the story of her beauty, that she had separated the ingredients of beauty, and stored them up in the reservoirs. She told him that he could have and enjoy the juices of beauty stored up in these reservoirs if he wanted them. The man agreed to see the juices of beauty, and thus he was directed to the store of loose stool and liquid vomit, which were emanating unbearable odors. Thus the whole story of the liquid beauty was disclosed to him. The characterless man, by the grace of the saintly girl, was now able to distinguish between the shadow and the substance, and thus he came to his senses.



That is the real position of every one of us who are attracted by false material beauty. The girl above-mentioned developed a beautiful material body as she desired in her mind, but she was actually apart from that temporary material manifestation of body and mind. She is in fact a spiritual spark, and so also is the man in love, who was attracted by the false skin of the girl.



Many great thinkers, poets, artists and people in general, are deluded by the outward beauty and attraction of the relative truth, and are unaware of the spiritual spark which is both Truth and Beauty at one and the same time. The spiritual spark is so beautiful that on its leaving the body no one any longer wishes to touch it, even though the body may be decorated with the most costly jewels.



And because we are all after a false, relative truth, we find it to be incompatible with real beauty. The truth is so permanently beautiful that it maintains the same standard of beauty as it is for millions upon millions of years. Besides that, the spiritual spark is indestructible. The beauty of the outer skin can be destroyed in a few hours time by one small dose of strong purgative, but the beauty of Truth is always the same, and is indestructible just as it is. Unfortunately, mundane writers are ignorant of the beautiful sparks of spirit, as well as of the fiery resources of these spiritual sparks and their interrelations of transcendental pastimes.

When these pastimes are displayed here by the Grace of the Almighty, the foolish persons who cannot see beyond the gross senses mistake such pastimes of Truth and Beauty as being within the same field as the store of loose stools and liquid vomit. Thus they come to despair, and then declare that Truth and beauty cannot be accommodated at one and the same time.



The mundane thinkers do not know that the Whole Spiritual Entity is the beautiful Person attracting everything as the Prime Substance, the Prime Source and the Fountainhead of everything that be. And the infinitesimal spiritual sparks, as parts and parcels of the Whole Spirit, are qualitatively the same—beautiful and eternal entities. The difference is that the Whole is eternally the Whole, and the parts are eternally the parts. Both of them are the Ultimate Truth, Ultimate Beauty, Ultimate Knowledge, Ultimate Energy, Ultimate Renunciation and Ultimate Opulence.



Any literature which does not describe such Ultimate Truth and Beauty is a store of loose stools and liquid vomit of the relative truth. Real literature is that which describes this Ultimate Truth and Beauty

A Systematic Study of Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 : Observing the Armies on the Battle Field of Kurukshetra

Following post gives a synopsis of the lecture of Bhagavad Gita Discourse by His Grace Balaram Das, disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami.
Venue : Schaumburg, IL

Lecture 1 on 02/19/2011 and Lecture 2 on 02/25/2011

Book : Bhagavad Gita As it is , by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Sawmi Prabhupada
Copyright : International Society for Krsna Consciouness ( ISKCON)



Introduction :

Bhagavad Gita is a widely read theistic science. Though this book is by far the most popular book, its true understanding is rare. Due to its intricate philosophy of life, often people tedn to interpret this text and conclude diffferent meanings from this book for their own selfish motives. Bhagavad Gita As it is is an attempt by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to explain the real purport of Bhagavad Gita as it was meant to be, hence the book itself is tiltled as " Bhagavad Gita As it is "

Before embarking on study of this most important book, it is very essential to understand how Bhagavad Gita was understood by Arjuna, who heard it directly from Krsna. Krsna mentions in the Bhagavad Gita itself that why he had chosen Arjuna to be the first diciple to recieve this knowledge,

sa eväyaà mayä te 'dya
yogaù proktaù purätanaù
bhakto 'si me sakhä ceti
rahasyaà hy etad uttamam [ B.g. 4.3]

That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.

So few important points before trying to understand Bhagavad Gita are

1. One must not be envious of The Supreme Personality of Godhead , Krsna , and he should be a friend to him.

2. One must know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, For those who do not believe this or trust this statement , they must atleast believe it thereotically that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavad Gita will scientifically establish this truth.

3. One must try to understand these teachings with a surrendred spirit and not with a challenging spirit.

4. One must not interpret the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to suit one's purpose.

With these four things, when one listens to Bhagavad Gita As it is from a bonafide source who has studied Bhagavad Gita from a bonafide disciplic succession one can relish the message of Bhagavad Gita and make ones life successful.

Each Chapter of Bhagavad Gita has a specific theme and in our study we would be making an attempt to address these themes .

Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita Entitled " Observing the Armies on the Battle Field of Kurushetra is also called as " Arjuna Visahad Yoga" it has different sections as shown in the diagram above.

Section I :

Verse 1.1 - 1.27 provide an introduction to the battlefield of Kuruskhetra.

Subsection A : Preparation for War : Verses 1.1 – 1.11

This section Starts with the enquiry of Dhrtarastra to Sanjaya his secretary regarding the armies on the Battle field of Kurushestra and ends with Duryodhana’s description of the armies of Pandavas and Kuru’s.

Important points to remember from these verses are as follows :

1. Dhrtarastra’s addressing His sons and Kuru’s and separating out sons of Pandu for the family, reveals his mind to usurp the kingdom for himself

2. Significance of the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra referred here as dharma kshetra.

3. Dhrtarastra’s worry of the influence the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra will have on naturally pious Pandavas and the reverse influence on his own son Duryodhana.

4. Sanjaya’s prediciting the mind of Dhrtarastra and assuring him that the war will not be stopped.

5. Duryodana’s diplomatic address to Dronacharya in finding out his fault in training Dryatadhumyna in military art, although knowing that he will be killed by him. Braminical qualification of Dronacharaya of training Draystadhumna even though knowing that he will kill him .

6. Duryodhan’s description of Pandava’s strength and his making his commanders attentive.

7. Duryodhan’s encouragement to his soldiers by describing the strength of his army .

8. Duryodhana’s confidence of victoru based on Bhisma’s strength and his experience in fighting.


Subsection B : Signs of Victory of Pandavas ( verses 1.12 – 1.20 )

This section starts with blowing of conch shell by Bhismadeva and ends with the description of Krsna and Arjuna on a chariot with a flag marked with Hanuman. This section mainly gives description of the various signs of victory for Pandavas.


Points to remember

1. Bhishmadeva’s louldly blowing the conchshell to indicate to Duryodhana that it was impossible for him to win since Lord Krsna was on Pandava’s side, but still it was Bhismadeva’s duty to fight and hence there will not be any slackness in that

2. Duryodhana’s feeling joy on hearing Bhismadeva’s blowing of his conchshell loudly like a lion , thinking he would be victorious because of Bhismadeva.

3. Blowing of transcendental Conchshells by Krsna and Arjuna , indicating that they will be victorious . also word Madhava means husband of Goddess of fortune, wherever there is Krsna , Goddess of fortune resides there hence, victory and fortune were on Arjuna’s side. Also the chariot of Arjuna was donated by Agni deva , which can conquer all directions

4. Addressing Krsna as Hrishekesa means controller of the senses , as supersoul , all the senses of the living entities belong to Krsna and he directs the senses of the living entities from within with respect to the degree of surrender, but for a pure devotee he controls the senses completely. Blowing of different conchshells was encouraging to the soldiers on Pandavas’s side and hence another sign of victory.

5. Different conchshells were blown by different members of the Kuru dynasty , indicating all will be killed in the battlefield due to ill motives of Dhrtarastra.

6. Heart breaking on the side of Duryodhana after hearing the conchshells on Pandava’s side, due to their confidence in Lord Krsna.

7. Lord Krsna, seated on the chariot of Arjuna marked with a flag of Hanuman, indicating that as Hanuman assisted Lord Rama in victory over Ravana, he would do so here for Arjuna, with Lord Rama i.e Krsna himself being present on Arjuna’s side thus showing definite signs of Victory for pandavas

Subsection C : Krsna as Bhakta – Vatsala [ Verse 1.21 – verse 1.27]

This section describes Krsna’s nature as affectionate to his devotees.

Points to remember

1. Krsna addressed as Acyuta or infallible, since Krsna never fails in his affection for his devotee. For the sake of his pure devotee Arjuna , he had taken a role of a chariot driver, but his position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not compromised in any situation. Arjuna was aware of Krsna’s position since his being a pure devotee and hence he addressed Krsna as Acyuta

2. Though Arjuna could not fall into illusion, because of his being a pure devotee and Krna’s friend, by the inspiration from the Krsna as a supersoul, Arjuna, wished to see the armies.

3. Krsna being the supersoul predicted Arjuna’s mind and asked him to look at the Kurus, especially Bhismadeva and Dronacarya so that he might fall into compassion and that illusion will set the ground for Krsna to recite the Bhagavad Gita for benefit of all.


Section II :

Verses 1.28- verse 1.46 in summary explain the five reasons which Arjuna gave for not fighting the battlefield

Verses 1.28 – 1.30 : Compassion

Arjuna felt compassion for the family members and all the soldiers from both sides who were going to fight in the battle of Kurushetra. Arjuna being a pure devotee of the Lord, though of it as unnecessary fight in order to acquire a kingdom , which will be tainted with blood of so many members of the Kuru dynasty. Due to his softheartedness owing to his being a pure devotee of the Lord, he was experiencing standing of hairs on his body. Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport that there are two situations when one experiences standing of hair on this body one is during spiritual ecstasy due to excessive joy and another situation is due to fear. In this case since Slipping of Arjuna’s famous Gandiva bow is mentioned it is understood that he was fearful and hence he was showing these symptoms. Such a situation happens due to material attachment.

Verses 1.31 – Verse 1.35 : Lack of Enjoyment

In these verses, Arjuna tells Krsna that if he were to kill all his relatives, than how is he going to enjoy the kingdom. Generally we want to win or acquire something with a hope of sharing and showing that to our friends and relatives in order to enjoy the victory. Arjuna’s Addressing Lord Krsna as Govinda which means one who gives pleasure to the senses is significant in this connection., by this Arjuna was indicating to Krsna that since he is Govinda, he should know what Arjuna is going through and hence he should not compel him to fight ,thus giving his senses pleasure, Srila Prabhupada explains here that Govinda is not meant for satistying our senses, but we are meant to satisfy Krsna’s senses and in turn our senses will also be satisfied once Krsna is satisfied and that is why Krsna is called Govinda. Genearlly everyone goes to Krsna to ask for facilities in order to satisfy his or her senses and they want Krsna to be their order supplier, but the constitutional position of a living entity is to satisfy Krsna’s senses and inturn the living entities senses will be completely satisfied, since we the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme.


Verses 1.36 – 1.38 : Fear of Sinful Reactions

These three verses describes Arjuna’s saintly nature due to his being a devotee, he was aware of the sinful reaction of killing once family members and hence he argued with Krsna that he should not induce him to fight his family members, his addrerssing him as Madhava signifys that since Krsna was husband of Goddess of fortune, he should not ask Arjuna to act in a way which will bring him misfortune, but Krsna never brings misfortune to anyone, what to speak of his devotees. Prabhupada explains in the purport that as per Vedic wisdom there are 6 kinds of aggressors namely

1. poison giver, 2. one who sets fire to the house, 3. one who attacks with deadly weapons, 4. one who plunders riches, 5. one who occupies another’s land and 6. one who kidnaps a wife.

As a kshatriya Arjuna is supposed to kill such aggressors, it is required for a administrator to be saintly in behaviour but not cowardly, example of Lord Rama is given by Prabhupada, he was a ideal king and every one wanted to live in rama rajya , but he never forgave Ravana for his misconduct of kidnapping Sitadevi. But in Arjuna’s case the aggressors where his own family member hence it was a special case, due to his saintly nature he had thoughs of sins that he might commit by killing his own family members, taking all these pros and cons into consideration he considered not to fight to be a better option

Verses 1.39 – verses 1.43 : Destruction of Family tradition

These are the remaining verses in the Chapter 1, in these verses Arjuna describes the evil consequences of such a war where all the elderly personalities in the Kuru dynasty will be killed. As per Vedic etiquette elders of the family are never to be killed or even offered a verbal fight, since they guide the following generations in proper religions conduct. In absence of elders in the family the family traditions and the religious practices of sraddha will be stopped which will bring ruination to the future genearation, in absence of the elders the women of the family may intermingle freely which will lead to unwanted progency ( varna sankara) population which will create havoc and hellish life for all in the society. Considering the evil effects of killing his own kinsmen he did not think of fighting the war as a good idea and hence he sat on the chariot and kept his bow Gandiva down.

Verse 2.6 : In decision

This verse is explained in the second chapter and it decribes the indecision of Arujna on fighting the war. Since Drona and Bhisma where his spiritual master and grandfather respecitively and were very pious people. Arjuna has great respect and reverence for both of them and he was confused whether he should try to win over them or let them win over him in this condition as the later verses in Bhagvad Gita explain he surrendered to Krsna and accepted him as his spiritual master to instruct him on the right path.

Thus the First chapters sets the stage for Lord Krsna to speak the Bhagavad Gita to everyone through Arjuna. Our Acharyas explaing that since Arjuna was a pure devotee of the Lord, there is no chance that he could fall into any illusion, but only by Lord Krsna’s arrangement he was put into this illusion so that entire world can be benefited with the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and make their lives perfect.