Spring in Melbourne

Spring in Melbourne started few days ago and that's why, we can see all the trees blooming with flowers. The spring in Melbourne is the most changeable season of the year. A full range of weather may be experienced within a few days, from warm, calm and sunny to cold, windy and showery. There are several cloudy to overcast days. September is another windy month. Most strong winds are from the north, these often occur on the warmer days. There also are occasionally strong cold southwest winds with showery weather. The temperature usually reaches the mid-20s for the first time since April. Nights are cool, frost is fairly rare, and the lowest temperature for the month in the city being about 4ºC. Fog though uncommon, sometimes does come. Rainfall is higher in spring than in winter, falling on one day in two. There are days with only a little drizzle or a light shower but heavy rain falls occasionally.

Please enjoy this interesting verse from Srimad Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 10: Verse 35. Translation and purport by Srila Prabhupad.

brhat-sama tatha samnam

gayatri chandasam aham

masanam marga-sirso 'ham

rtunam kusumakarah

Translation: Of hymns I am the Brhat-sama sung to the Lord Indra, and of poetry I am the Gayatri verse, sung daily by Brahmanas. Of months I am November and December, and of seasons I am flower-bearing spring.

PURPORT: It has already been explained by the Lord that amongst all the Vedas, the Sama Veda is rich with beautiful songs played by the various demigods. One of these songs is the Brhat-sama, which has an exquisite melody and is sung at midnight.

In Sanskrit, there are definite rules that regulate poetry; rhyme and meter are not written whimsically, as in much modern poetry. Amongst the regulated poetry, the Gayatri mantra, which is chanted by the duly qualified brahmanas, is the most prominent. The Gayatri mantra is mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Because the Gayatri mantra is especially meant for God realization, it represents the Supreme Lord. This mantra is meant for spiritually advanced people, and when one attains success in chanting it, he can enter into the transcendental position of the Lord. One must first acquire the qualities of the perfectly situated person, the qualities of goodness according to the laws of material nature, in order to chant the Gayatri mantra. The Gayatri mantra is very important in Vedic civilization and is considered to be the sound incarnation of Brahman. Brahma is its initiator, and it is passed down from him in disciplic succession.

My thoughts on Spiritual Life

It’s interesting to see so many misconceptions about Spiritual Life.

Sometimes, spiritual life is considered to be an activity that is to be taken up by people who are retired, old and have nothing else to do. It is perceived as a nice hobby, where people can sit back and speculate; give their own interpretations about life and god - an Armchair philosophy. Some times, people comment on ones taking up spiritual life with sympathy and say things like “Oh, it looks like he had gone through so many hardships and difficulties in life that he got vexed up and took up spirituality."At times, we hear this from elders and parents - "Don’t become so serious about spirituality; this is not the time for you to think about it. This is the time for you to enjoy life, earn - name, fame reputation and money."Sometimes, people who take up spirituality themselves are mistaken about it that, they have nothing to do with this world and they are going to be alone, live in seclusion, give up their responsibilities, job and spend life doing nothing. Some people consider the ones who are spiritually inclined to be individuals with low self esteem or lack self confidence. “They don’t believe in themselves”, they critics say, “They want something to hold on to and that’s how God was created”. Then, there are others who say that, just believe in something and you will be alright… What these people don’t understand is that Spirituality is such a dynamic, adventurous, ever fresh, blissful activity where, the devotee perceives unlimited happiness. Spirituality is not just for people who are failures in life but, they form a part or section of the whole group.As Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita,7.16 - catur-vidha bhajante mam janah sukrtino 'rjuna arto jijnasur artharthi jnani ca bharatarsabha., Four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me--the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute. We have so many examples of highly successful, materially wealthy persons have becomes devotees or surrendered to God because, they are – Sukritinah..have some pious credits by which they took devotional service and surrendered to God. Weather one is rich or poor, failure or successful, young or old have to go through four miserys of life, the Birth, death, old age and disease. Again, Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita 8.16 says,ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāh;punar āvartino ’rjuna;mām upetya tu kaunteya;punar janma na vidyate

So to sum up, one practicing a spiritual life is never lazy, never take things for granted, never gives up his duties and responsibilities in an untimely manner, never looses his drive or passion for doing things in a better way or at work because, he believes in doing his best, truthful, tolerant and so on.. Welcome to the world of spirituality.

Long time ago, I saw a movie where the hero is a lazy fellow and basically wants to escape working hard and getting up early to go to work, be accountable at job etc. He somehow marries a daughter of a wealthy man, hoping to become a successor to the riches the man had. But, to his utter dismay, the girl wants to lead a simple life and does not want to take any help or money from her rich parents. One day the Hero happens to see group of Sanyasis / renunciants in orange dress being invited by a rich man. He notices that they are all being fed sumptuously with all different items and sweets etc.He immediately makes up his mind and decides give up his family life, wife and become a Monk. He goes to that ashram and requests the head Monk for permission to become a Sanyasi / renunciant and takes up orange dress. Just when he was daydreaming about all the sweets and food that he is going to get, he was harshly woken up from his sleep and was asked to work in the vegetable farm of the ashram. After a tiring morning of work, he was served a simple meal of dhal and chapati and was asked to get back to work. And, the life goes on...Slowly, the Hero realises that life in the ashram is after all not so easy. Finally, realises his mistake and gives up the orange dress and goes back to his wife and family life. Thankfully, his wife allows him to comeback and after that he lives happily, content with what ever he has.  

Here is a further excerpt from Srila Prabhupad’s lecture,

“Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu also. He never asked anybody to change his position. He simply recommended that you associate with pure devotees and hear from him. That's all. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never asked anybody that Sometimes this Krishna consciousness is misunderstood to be inertia, and one with such a misunderstanding often withdraws to a secluded place to become fully Krishna conscious by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna Sometimes the so-called devotees of Krishna... In Vṛndāvana you'll find that they are keeping themself in a secluded place and supposed to be chanting Hare Krishna. But practically it has been seen that by such artificial way of becoming Krishna consciousness, it does not make anyone advanced. I have seen practically. They are living in a secluded place,chanting Hare Krishna, but practically, when he comes out, he's smoking. You see. He cannot give up even smoking, and what to speak of this material world? You see? That is artificial. This is not recommended. First of all you become mature, then secluded place. Otherwise there is no secluded place. Maya is everywhere. Maya will dictate, "Oh, you are so tired. Why don't you come out and smoke a cigarette?" Yes. And he thinks he's advancing, the nonsense is advancing. No. Phalena paricīyate. By the result one has to be judged how far he has advanced. Similarly, there are so many persons, they are meditating. What meditating, nonsense?

What is their character? If you challenge their character, nonsense. So these sort of things will not help. Come practically forward. Just like our students, going door to door, chanting Hare Krishna. And people are taking advantage of it, they are hearing. So this process is beneficial to the public. Even a small child who joins here, he also claps, tries to clap. So this Krishna consciousness movement is not to remain in a secluded place to get cheap advertisement, "Oh that man is meditating." No.

Go, practically work. Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he practically worked. So there is practical work. No question of going into a secluded place. We should remain in the congested city and preach this Krishna consciousness movement without being affected by this contamination of city life. That is perfection. They shall not be contaminated, touched by the contamination of the city life, but still, they will go on with Krishna consciousness. That is perfection.”

Please let me know your thoughts about spiritual life and some of the interesting comments you heard.

Sri Radhashtami celebrations in Melbourne, Mathura, Barsana and Vrindavan

Sri Radha Vallabha @ ISKCON Melbourne

Sriji's temple @ Barsana

Guessing this to be Mathura

Guessing this to be Mathura

Sriji's temple @ Barsana

We celebrated Radhashtami (the appearance of Radha Rani) few days ago on 3rd September. Srimati Radharani is the eternal consort of Lord Krishna. Five thousand years ago, when Lord Krishna came to this planet to perform His pastimes, Srimati Radharani also appeared. On this special day the deities of Radha and Krishna are dressed up in a dress made out of flowers. Please, find below some photographs from Melbourne temple and some more from India (Mathura, Barsana and Vrindavan) sent to me by a good friend and well wisher. The news papers in India reported that "Chants of 'Radhey Radhey' echoed in the air early Monday as pilgrims and locals here celebrated Radhastami, the birth of Lord Krishna's consort Radha."

Barsana town is thus a site of pilgrimage for many followers of Vaishnavism, and especially Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Barsana is the village where Radha rani spent her childhood. Today, there is a famous temple called Sriji Ki Mandir.I went to Barsana 3 years ago and the place has a mystic charm and serenity. I am hoping to there again this year.

Fare Evasion Karma - Instant and delayed

Found this interesting poster by Public Transport of Victoria. The poster says, if you commit fare evasion, you get a fine. If you are able to pay on the spot, the fine is $75 and if you want to pay it later i, e once you receive the infringement by post to you, it is $217.00.

Let me take this Analogy and explain the process of Fare Evasion  KARMA.

OK, initially there is the seed or BIJA or the point of origin. Bija refers to desire to do a sinful activity - I don’t want to buy a Myki and travel for free. So this thought enters the mind, and its just a matter of time before the act manifests. The person starts enjoying his sinful activity or Papam and nothing happens. This is called Aprarabdha karma, or the not-yet-manifest consequence of a particular activity. Everything we do carries with it a specific karmic reaction, some of which we are currently enjoying or suffering, and others which will come to full fruition at some future date..After few joy rides and fare evasion, sometimes on the very first time, the ticket inspectors catch the person and they issue a ticket. This is Prarabdha karma, or the manifest consequence. This leads to Duhkha, or suffering and lamentation. Oh, why did I not buy a ticket? I might have saved $10 or $15 but, I am paying so much. Duhkha is the cumulative result of karma, the final consequence. 

Further interesting reference from scriptures below,

aprarabdha-phalam papam kutam bijam phalonmukham

kramenaiva praliyeta visnu-bhakti-ratatmanäm

“There are different stages of dormant reactions to sinful activities to be observed in a sinful life. Sinful reactions may be just waiting to take effect [phalonmukha], reactions may be still further dormant [kutaa], or the reactions may be in a seedlike state [bija]. In any case, all types of sinful reactions are vanquished one after another if a person engages in the devotional service of Lord Visnu.” (From Padma Purana)

These sinful actions are divided into three categories — pātaka, mahā-pātaka and atipātaka — and also into two divisions; prārabdha and aprārabdha. Prārabdha refers to sinful reactions from which one is suffering at the present, and aprārabdha refers to sources of potential suffering. When the seeds (bīja) of sinful reactions have not yet fructified, the reactions are called aprārabdha. These seeds of sinful action are unseen, but they are unlimited, and no one can trace when they were first planted. Because of prārabdha, sinful reactions that have already fructified, one is seen to have taken birth in a low family or to be suffering from other miseries.

When one takes to devotional service, however, all phases of sinful life, including prārabdha, aprārabdha and bīja, are vanquished. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.19) Lord Krishna tells Uddhava:

yathāgnih susamriddhārcih

karoty edhāmsi bhasmasāt

tathā mad-vishayā bhaktir

uddhavaināmsi kritsnaśah

"My dear Uddhava, devotional service in relationship with me is like a blazing fire that can burn to ashes all the fuel of sinful activities supplied to it.

(Excerpted from the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.15, by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada)

By what is one impelled to sinful acts?

Just read this shocking news,

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-murdered-his-two-young-daughters-for-no-good-reason-but-it-made-sense-at-the-time-20140822-1075gt.html

When ever, we hear and read of, all the horror stories involving, death, destruction of other human beings, other living entities and the environment, anyone would wonder about this.

By what is one impelled to sinful acts?

Well, the same question was asked by Arjuna to Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3. Verse 36.

“By what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?”

Although the living entity sometimes does not want to act in sin, he is still forced to act.

The good, bad and the ugly. Some people will even go to the extent of blaming the God saying, if God is all merciful, benevolent why he makes people commit sinful activities.Sinful actions are not, however, impelled by the Supersoul within, but are due to another cause, as the Lord explains in the next verse.

Verse 37: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.

When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love for Krsna is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. Or, in other words, the sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust, as milk in contact with sour tamarind is transformed into yogurt. Then again, when lust is unsatisfied, it turns into wrath; wrath is transformed into illusion, and illusion continues the material existence. Therefore, lust is the greatest enemy of the living entity, and it is lust only which induces the pure living entity to remain entangled in the material world. Wrath is the manifestation of the mode of ignorance; these modes exhibit themselves as wrath and other corollaries. If, therefore, the mode of passion, instead of being degraded into the mode of ignorance, is elevated to the mode of goodness by the prescribed method of living and acting, then one can be saved from the degradation of wrath by spiritual attachment.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead expanded Himself into many for His ever-increasing spiritual bliss, and the living entities are parts and parcels of this spiritual bliss. They also have partial independence, but by misuse of their independence, when the service attitude is transformed into the propensity for sense enjoyment, they come under the sway of lust. This material creation is created by the Lord to give facility to the conditioned souls to fulfil these lustful propensities, and when completely baffled by prolonged lustful activities, the living entities begin to inquire about their real position.

It is said in the Manu-smrti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel.

There is a good dog and a bad dog in everyone. The only way you can kill the bad Dog is by starving it to death by not feeding it.

Have a good weekend, everyone. I don’t regularly read news online, but I somehow happened to open the Age site few minutes ago and it’s really distressing. My deep condolences to the Mother and other family members.

(Excerpted from the Translation and Purports of Bhagavad Gita As-it is by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad)

At 12 Apostles great ocean road

A miracle called Faith and its Importance in the process of Bhakti or Devotional Life

Faith or Sraddha is the most important qualification and requirement for taking up and discharge of devotional service. In fact, one’s spiritual life actually begins with faith. Unless, one has a little faith in the Holy scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatham one cannot begin his journey in spiritual life, how much ever knowledgeable and scholar one may be.

Actually, faith is required in every sphere and function of a human being. A person needs to have or put faith in so many things, even though they might go wrong or things do not work as planned. For example a person when he buys a flight ticket, he put faith in the Captain of the flight and the co-driver that they will actually, know flying the plane and will take him to the desired destination. Similarly, a person needs to be put faith in family members, relationships, friends, in the company that he works for to pay him the salary etc. Thus, even in the mundane material world and relationships faith is required, for devotional life or Bhakti the role of having faith a must.

Sraddha or faith which is favourable to the discharge of devotional service, as explained in Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 22.62, is the conviction that by rendering transcendental loving service to Krishna one automatically performs all subsidiary activities and achieves all perfection. Just like by watering the root of a tree, the whole tree, leaves, branches are nourished and by supplying the food to the stomach all the senses of the body are satisfied, similarly by engaging in devotional service one automatically satisfied all demigods and living entities. The Vedanta Sutra 1.1.12 says, Ananda-mayo bhyasat, by nature every living being is pleasure seeking and our faith is directed to wherever we believe that happiness will be found. The Bhagavad-Gita describes that one develops faith according to the mode of nature one has acquired. The initial faith or Sraddha in Bhakti can come from various ways like, mercy and association of devotees, piety which can act as a catalyst, ajnata sukruti – pious activities beyond one’s knowledge etc.

We also heard from Srila Prabhupad, on a personal level about the importance of faith and his experience of faith. He says that the simple secret of his success is because he believed firmly in the words of his guru which is to preach and spread the message of Krishna in the western, English speaking countries. Else where, Srila Prabhupad repeats the words of Lord Chaintanya and his full faith in those words by saying - The potency of spreading Krishna Consciousness is everywhere the same. That was experimented by me in your country, where I came alone without any support; and Krishna is so kind that He has sent me so many boys and girls like you. Lord Chaitanya said that every village and town on the surface of the world will know the message of the Sankirtana movement. This very statement affirms that in every village and town all over the world there are many candidates who are awaiting this message.

Similarly, we can see the incident of Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad maharaj. Hiranyakashipu once concluded that Supreme Lord does not exist in the world and tried to convince Prahlad in numerous ways. Because, he searched the entire universe and could not find Vishnu, who killed his brother, he thought that Lord was dead. Prahlad Maharaj, who is a Maha Bhagavatha and had supreme faith in the Supreme Lord could see him every where, even in a pillar. Chaitanya Charitamrita (Madhya 22.64) further confirms that, a faithful devotee is a truly eligible candidate for the loving service of the lord and based on his faith, he is classified as a topmost, an intermediate or an inferior devotee. As one is advancing in spiritual life one’s faith is growing.

It is stated in the Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23,

yasya deve para bhaktir

yatha deve tatha gurau

tasyaite kathita hy artha

prakasante mahatmanah

“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.”

This section of Bhagavad Gita, explains that there are three classes of Krishna Conscious persons which is determined by the amount of faith they have or achieved. The first class devotee is well versed in devotional literatures and has firm faith in the devotional service, shastra and Krishna. Second class, devotees does not have a advanced understanding of devotional scripture but, have firm faith in devotional service and Lord Krishna. Third classes, even though engaged in devotional service have no faith and cannot reach the highest stage and cannot continue the devotional service for long time and slip away. Thus, faith or Sraddha is very important in performing devotional service or Bhakti. What determines the stage, level or advancement one making in Bhakti depends on faith and one who is not faithful in devotional service cannot attain the Supreme Lord and return to the cycle of birth and death in the material world.

Random thoughts on Karma, Bad Luck, Destiny

Seagull

Random thought. Suddenly remembered about this guy from long time ago. So, one day he was speeding and got a ticket, then an other and finally, lost all points to drive. His licence is suspended. Then, it was a hot summer day and this guy was standing outside his house. Then, he thought instead of standing, he would sit in his car - of course holding the bottle of Victoria Bitter - a beer that he was drinking. Then, from nowhere the Police came and guess what, a double offence. Trying to drive a car, when the licence is suspended and then at the same time consuming alcohol. This Guy tried his best to convince the Cops that he was not Intending to drive the car and was only sitting in it because, its too warm inside his house. But, to no avail. And, then guess what? He was so annoyed that he wanted the break the laws because, he was fined when he wasn't guilty. So took his car out and within 5 minutes,(I have no idea how it happened) he went and hit a Police car near the traffic signals i, e when he was trying to cross the before the traffic lights turned Red...I never knew what happened to this poor guy. I am not being judgemental and not giving my opinion because, I never knew this guy before and only heard about him from a friend. What do you think is the reason for the mess he was in..Well, it could be due to his bad luck (which is due to his bad karma) or simply being negligent, careless and taking things for granted?

It is said that, two factors influence the outcome of all acts: endeavour and destiny. Without both there is no success. A man who does not work but who depends on destiny alone will be ruined. Rabbits does not line up the tigers mouth - A minimum endeavour has to be there. Sometimes, however, despite one’s best endeavour, destiny delivers only adverse results.     Why ? Because, with your previous actions you have accumulated this karma.

If everything is pre-destined, then why work? Law of Karma is coming perfectly, everything will be accordingly, finished. Then why work? Actually, we have created our own destiny according to what we have sown; accordingly, we are going to get results. Even then, the choice is yours as to what you want to do. Because of your karma, right in front of you, you have got a glass of milk and a glass of liquor. This was your karma and you got, now the choice is up to you. You want to drink this or you want to drink this. But once you put it in your month, then you have to wait for the reaction. But before you do the action, the choice is always there. The Lord never takes away the independence of choice.

In Bhagavad Gita 4.17, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna this - "The intricacies of action are very hard to understand.Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is."

There is an incidence from Shastra, once Dhritrashtra asked Krishna, Krishna why am I suffering? First of all, I was born blind; I did not get my kingdom and right in front of me, all my hundred sons perished. Krishna told Dhritrashtra, my dear Dhritrashtra, fifty life times ago, you were born as a son of a hunter. One day you climbed up a tree and with a pointed stick you blinded the father bird in the eyes and then you set fire to the nest where hundred siblings of the bird were there and they were all roasted alive. Therefore, this lifetime you are born blind and right in front of your eyes, your sons have been killed. Dhritrashtra asked a question, Krishna, but why fifty lifetimes. You could have given me punishment then and there and got finished-off my account. Why did you wait fifty life times to do that? Then Krishna explained, He said, my dear Dhritrashtra, to get one son, you have to do so many good Karmas.

This is the concept of delayed Karma. Therefore, it is very important to know the laws of Karma and live a pure and simple life; otherwise, we are getting ourselves entangled.

There is so much more to write about Karma but, for today I will stop here. If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to post. Regards