Do you have a problem in life?

Do you have a problem in life? Of course, who does not have problems and yes, we worry about them. We are constantly worrying about the past, present and future. But, here is a simple formula. When you have a problem in life, you actually have only two possibilities I,e either there is a solution for the problem or there is no solution problem. If there is a solution to the problem, then why worry about it? And, if there is no solution to the problem, then why worry about it? Because, you can’t do anything about it anyway. Talking about problems, what is a problem? For some people, everything in their life is a problem. Right from possibility of World War three, Global Warming etc. This is where the concept of Circle of concern and circle of influence comes. Stephen Convey defines that the circle of influence is where a person has some control or the things, one can do something about like, Personal health, career, profession, and children and not worry about things like, the weather, National Debt, Politics etc. While it is good to be aware of these things and do your part as Human being like, not using plastic bags or using bio degradable ones and work your way steadily to increase your circle of influence, like become the President of USA of something.

Transport Problem

Remember this, the thinker is always greater than the thought which means, you are more than your problems and you can always rise above them. What does this mean? I remember myself few years ago started to trek/climb this famous Tirumala Tirupathi Balaji or Lord Venkateshwara Swamy hills which is a bit of austerity and involves walking the 11 Kilometres on a bare foot. The walk starting from Alipiri or the foothills, at Tirupati town involves crossing the hills, climbing about 3500 steps and takes about 3 to 4 hrs for a normal healthy person. One of the formidable hill to climb starts roughly from 2800^th step and the hill is really steep. This is called the “mokalaparvatham" referring to some devotees actually climb in their knees. So, I reached this place and I am already exhausted by then and looked at this tall, imposing Mountain Peak and wondered, “ How am I going to make this?. However, I continued and when I made it to the top, it was a rewarding experience. I felt spiritually uplifted and happy.

Two interesting quotes by Albert Einstein on Problem solving.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. What this means is that we need to expand our consciousness and thinking that goes out of the imagined and virtual box that we ourselves have created. Change our way of looking at things that makes them look smaller.

Krishna Farm - A Voyage of Spiritual discovery

Krishna Farm is a thriving Hare Krishna community located in Eungella, NSW. It is actually the border town of NSW and it is closer to Gold coast an Half an hour drive from the Gold Coast Airport. Murwillumbah is the closest town to the Farm is about 15 minutes’ drive. 

I visited the farm recently with my family and stayed for few days during the Easter Holidays.

Tweed River flowing across in the Farm

Situated amongst beautiful hills and valleys, the Krishna Farm is an amazing place to visit, stay and relax.

A Cow at the Farm

Temple on the Farm

A beautiful Pond - View from the Cabin

A Peacock Spotted near the temple premises

Kookaburra - a Friendly local visitor

Misty day

Near the Entrance to the Farm

Below is the review, which I wrote for the Accommodation in the Trip Adviser. I am hoping to write a full length article about the Farm, its activities etc. Stay tuned...

I stayed at this wonderful accommodation in the month of April 2017 with my family and loved every moment of it. The cabin is cute, comfortable and had all the basic amenities. The views from the cottage are beautiful overlooking a small lake. The location of the cottage is perfect, close to the nearby town Murwillumbah. Two minutes’ walk to the cottage was the temple. Anyone can visit the place, attend the temple morning programs like prayers, greeting the deities, a class based on Vedic wisdom, have a sumptuous, tasty breakfast, explore the farm which is filled with beautiful forest, a river that one can walk to and take bath. The place is filled with a wonderful spiritual vibrations and the residents of the farm community are happy, chirpy and helpful. If you are lucky you can have some rare visitors to your cabin, like a Kookaburra. My kids are thrilled to have one visit us in the cabin. We are also lucky to see couple of beautiful peacocks in the temple surrounds. Days passed like minutes and overall it is a spiritually uplifting and serene atmosphere. The cabin reminded me of a book called Walden or Life in the woods written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. My kids and even I wanted to stay there forever but, we had to come back to Melbourne to face the reality. I am looking forward to going there again to stay for one more holiday. By the way, there is no Wi-Fi in the room but, you can get it at the temple office by requesting them.

Benefits of Chanting Hanuman Chalisa

Someone asked me these questions on Quora,and here are my answers. 

1.Is it true that praying to Lord Hanuman or chanting the Hanuman Chalisa every day will not get you the person you love? Till what extent is this true and why? Because it always happens that all that I ask for comes true except my wishes related to love or relationships.

So many people have already given wonderful answers and their experiences that I feel that, I don’t need to answer this. However, I will try to put some of my thoughts about this question i,e without repeating what others already said.There are different ways of looking at this question,

Firstly, Lord Hanuman is the personification of servitor-ship - Dasyam to Lord Rama. Asta Siddhis, the eight super natural powers and Nava Nidhis - nine of the greatest treasures are given to him by Mother Sita Devi and yet, he choose to remain a humble servant of Lord Rama. Thus, he has power to do anything and fulfil any desires of people who worship him. But, it may be inappropriate to ask him for desires like this. For example, once a person went to a Sanyasi / Saint and asked his advice or blessing to make some woman to surrender to him. The saint said, if I had known this - why I would become a Sanyasi. I would have become a family man.

Secondly, the parent knows what is good for their child. If the child goes to their father and asks him for a Cigarette the father immediately slaps or try to discipline the child. Or, if the child asks for something unreasonable, like 1000 rupees for buying chocolates, the father would not give him.

It is said that marriages are made in heaven. May be true or not, but sometimes it looks like that. Sometimes, we don’t understand or can’t see the full picture.

Please, refer to the below blog post,

http://ausram.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/this-is-one-of-my-favorite-from.html

Also, it is said that to get results, firstly the endeavour or effort should be there. From your side, what efforts or actions you are taking to make the other person pleased, happy with you. Mere sentiment or silent adoration will not work. Then, once you do your part, the mercy from Lord Hanuman flows.

So many other things can be said, but in short keep chanting Hanuman Chalisa, worship Lord Rama of whom Hanuman is always serving and worshiping and at a suitable time, your sincere desires will fulfilled. As per my article above, have faith in God’s plan for you.

2. If you chant for Hanuman will it help you get over unrequited love, possibly even helping you get the courage and will to lead a celibate life?

Dear Chan,This an intresting question.There are so many dimensions to this question. Firstly, it is said that in pure or true love, one does not expect anything in return, including someone not reciprocating your feelings. It depends on the individual karma. For example, one of my friend during college days was in love (so called) with at least 5 girls. Each time, he would gather some courage to propose or convey his feelings, he would hear the news that, the girl who he was after was engaged to someone else. Today, my friend is happily married (arranged marriage) and leading a fulfilled life with wife, children etc. It is said that, in this world there is no true love. The closest one can see is that of a Mother and child. A mother goes through so much trouble to conceive a child, after that so many sleepless nights, looking after the baby, feeding him, taking care when the baby is sick etc. She does all this not because of some expectation that the child will grow up and do something for her, but out of pure love.

Coming back to your question of unrequited love - look at the situation from a different perspective. Maybe god has a different plan for you. And, yes Praying Hanuman will give you pure love for Hanuman, Ram and which in turn will give you strength to get over any obstacles in life. This too shall pass… (http://ausram.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/this-too-shall-pass.html)

Now coming to the courage and will to lead a celibate life. Hanumanji is a pure devotee and servant of Lord Ram, he can give you the courage to lead a celibate life. But, you have to be true to yourself and make a wise decision. The world is full of temptations and do you think, you will be and want to lead a celibate life, because someone did not reciprocate your life?

There is a nice pastime from Srimad Bhagavatham, where Gajendra the king of elephants was losing his strength and fight over a crocodile that caught him in the water. Why, because elephant is a land animal and for the crocodile water is the natural habitat and he is naturally stronger in water than the land animal elephant.

"That one has been found to be very weak in one place does not mean that he should stop fighting the crocodile of maya. One should take shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, as we shall see Gajendra do, and at the same time one can be a gṛhastha if he is satisfied with sexual indulgence. There is no need to give up the fight. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore recommended, sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih. One may stay in whichever asrama is suitable for him; it is not essential that one take sannyasa. If one is sexually agitated, he can enter the gṛhastha-asrama. But one must continue fighting. For one who is not in a transcendental position, to take sannyasa artificially is not a very great credit. If sannyasa is not suitable, one may enter the gṛhastha-asrama and fight maya with great strength. But one should not give up the fighting and go away" - Purport by Srila Prabhupada.

Comfortable misery is still misery by Chaitanya Charan Das

We living in our AC homes and offices may pity people of the past who had to work outdoors, sweating profusely under the burning hot sun. Yet we don’t realize that despite our air-conditioners, we too end up sweating, not because of heat but because of stress.

The comforts that our contemporary techno-centered culture has provided us can be so infatuating as to blind us to its cost, especially when the cost is not as visible as the comfort. The comforts are visible because they are largely physical, whereas the costs are invisible because they are mostly psychological – increased anxiety, for example.

As long as people believe that better material things will make them happy, they hardly ever question whether the acquisition of comforts is actually making them happier. Craving and slaving to get comforts, they hardly give any thought to that pursuit’s flip side. That flip side stems from an uncritical adoption of a materialistic worldview, which makes people inordinately dependent on material things for their sense of self-worth and security. When faced with the uncertainties that characterize the ever-changing world of matter, they suffer enormous anxiety. Their physical comforts do little to remove their psychological misery – they end up comfortably miserable.

Gita wisdom explains that we are not physical creatures; we are spiritual beings. So, physical comforts can’t provide the security and satisfaction available in spiritual realization. Seeking material things keeps us dissatisfied (14.12) and sentences us to misery (14.16).

We don’t need to reject comforts, but we do need to realize that comforts can’t make us happy – only realizing our spiritual essence can. For gaining such realization, the most efficacious process is bhakti-yoga, for it connects us with the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna. When we practice bhakti-yoga diligently, we find a sublime inner security and satisfaction that doesn’t depend on external comfort.
Comfortable misery is still misery

Udemy Learn Fest Promotion

Udemy is having a promotion and giving a 12 Days of $10 Sale. Here are the four best courses, handpicked by me. I am in fact looking at enrolling myself into at least two of these ones.You can also explore number of other online courses available and this is a good time to join and buy them for a life time access. Good Luck.

The Web Developer Bootcamp

https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Q9eaTvmpLP8&subid=&offerid=323058.1&type=10&tmpid=14537&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.udemy.com%2Fthe-web-developer-bootcamp%2F%3Fpmtag%3DLEARNFEST

The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0

https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Q9eaTvmpLP8&subid=&offerid=323058.1&type=10&tmpid=14537&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.udemy.com%2Fthe-complete-web-developer-course-2%2F%3Fpmtag%3DLEARNFEST

The Complete Digital Marketing Course 2017 - 12 Courses in 1

https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Q9eaTvmpLP8&subid=&offerid=323058.1&type=10&tmpid=14537&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.udemy.com%2Flearn-digital-marketing-course%2F%3Fpmtag%3DLEARNFEST

The Complete Ethical Hacking Course: Beginner to Advanced

https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Q9eaTvmpLP8&subid=&offerid=323058.1&type=10&tmpid=14537&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.udemy.com%2Fpenetration-testing%2F%3Fpmtag%3DLEARNFEST

Akshaya Tritiya – A Special day of Auspiciousness

Are you doing anything special today? Asked one of my colleague. No, not really but, what is so special about today? I asked. Today is Akshaya Tritiya, which is supposed to be an auspicious time to start any new ventures, businesses, work and even buy gold' Explained my friend.

I became curious about this Akshaya Triti, did a bit of research, and came up with some interesting information and historical incidents. Firstly, a tithi is a lunar day, the time it takes for the longitudinal angle between the Moon and the Sun to increase by 12°. Tithi plays an important role along with nakshatra in Hindus' daily as well as special activities in selecting the muhurta.Nakshatra refers to a Star and muhurta is the time or the auspicious time.

So, people in Vedic culture of Eastern tradition, follow astrology based on lunar calendar to do anything important or significant in life which means, starting a new job, wedding, naming ceremony, new business, buying some property etc.

Thus, Akshaya Triti (Today in India and for Australia - tomorrow), falls on the third Tithi (lunar day) of Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of the pan-Indian month of Vaishakha and one of the four most important days for Hindus. I wondered why?

Some of the reasons or explanations that found are,

Because, it is an auspicious day of the birthday of Lord Parasurama who is the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Took this Photo during my trip few weeks ago at Murwillumbah, NSW

On this same day, about 5000 years ago on this day Veda Vyas began to write Mahabharata, which turned out to be a huge book of 100,000 verses. He wanted a suitable personality - a Scribe to pen this epic volume. He requested Lord Ganesh to take up this task of writing. Ganesh agreed on one condition that, he would write as long as there is no break to the flow of words being spoken. Veda Vyasa agreed to the condition but, himself put a condition that Whatever Ganesh writes, he should do so, only after comprehending the full meaning of the verse. This way, whenever he needed some break, Vyasadev would throw some tricky verse and before Ganesh realise the meaning, he would start his dictation again.

The word "Akshay" in sanskrit means-inexhaustible, and the day is believed to bring good luck and success. On the same day, in Mahabharata it is mentioned that a wonderful vessel called Akshaya Patra was given to Yudhishthira by the Lord surya which held a never-failing supply of food to the Pandavas every day. The Sun God, who gave the vessel advised Pandavas that the vessel will remain with them for next 12 years and will supply continuous supply of food in a day, till Draupadi takes her share of food for the day. What happens after Draupadi takes her share? Of course, there is a wonderful pastime mentioned in Mahabharata where, Duryodhana tricks the ever angry sage Durvasa and his thousands disciples to visit pandavas who are living in the forest with bare necessities. And, when Durvasa reaches Pandavas hermitage and informs them that he is going to take bath in the nearby river and along with will be coming to have lunch at their place. By then, Draupadi already had her share of food for the day and the vessel will not give any more for the day. She desperately calls out and prays to Krishna, who immediately appears but to her dismay asks her for something to eat. Really, are you joking Krishna? Exclaims Draupadi. But, Krishna convinces her to look at the vessel for any piece of food that is remaining. Draupadi goes to see, finds few food grains, and offers it to Krishna with great hesitation. Lord Krishna happily eats the food grains and the moment he eats them, Durvasa and all his disciple who had a bath in the river and just finished their morning rites suddenly felt their stomachs full, as if they had a heavy lunch.Durvasa fearing the wreath of fiery Bheema, hastily left the place because, they became afraid that they will not be able to honor the Prasad or food that will be offered to them and which inturn might make the hosts, especially Bheema angry and displeased.

Thus, it is considered lucky and auspicious to do charity on this day.

Akshaya Tritiya is also considered as the first day of the Start of Satya Yuga. Also, on this day both the planets Sun and Moon are exalted at the same time, providing beneficial effects.

There is also the story of Sudama Brahmana,who visited his childhood friend Lord Krishna on this same day to ask for some help, becasue he was poor and unable to feed his family.Lord Krishna was so happy to see his friend, received him and treated him with utmost respect and fed him nice meals. After all this, Sudama became hesitant and shy to ask his friend for the help. But, Lord Krishna asked Sudama, what he had brought for him. He saw Sudama was trying to hide puffed rice tied in a cloth. He took it forcibly and had few morsels of the puffed rice. Finally, Sudama returned to his place, without asking anything from Krishna. However, Lord Krishna who is the Super Soul of all the living beings became satisfied by the puffed rice and even though Sudama did not ask for anything verbally, Sudama’s home instantly turned into a beautiful palace. There was beautiful furniture inside and treasure chests, filled with gold and jewels. There was food on the tables, delicious sweets, and wonderful drinks. Sudama’s family’s rags turned into robes fit for royalty. 

So friends, that is about the Akshaya Triti.By the way, In India today is this special day, In Australia it is tomorrow and USA probably not finished.

You can check by entering your place, http://www.drikpanchang.com/festivals/akshaya-tritiya/akshaya-tritiya-date-time.html?l=21376&year=2017.

People in India generally buy gold because, the belief is that anything done on this day keeps growing.Akshya. And, also try to do some good things, start any new work, new business, buying etc. By the way, as per Indian lunar calendar Akshaya Triti is one of those 3 days, on which you can do anything (good) and the results will be auspicious, no need to check anything else. Good Luck and have a Good weekend.  

Twenty two Life Lessons from Ramayana by Radhanath Swami

Today (April 5, 2017) is Sri Rama Navami,the auspicious appearance day of Lord Sri Ramachandra. Lord Rama appeared in the month of Chaitra (March – April), on the ninth day of the growing moon (Chaitra Masa, Shukla Paksha, Navami Tithi).

Sri Ramachandra appeared as the son of Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, who hailed from the dynasty of Maharaja Ikshvaku (also known as Raghu vamsha).

 

Sita,Ram,Lakshman, Hanuman at Bhaktivedanta Manor,Hertfordshire UK.

Below lessons are extracted from a talk given by Radhanath Swami.

*Power of Bad Association*: It was a known fact in Ayodhya that Kaikeyi loved Lord Rama more than his own son Bharath, then how could she become so evil. It is by her bad association with Mantara.

*Attachment to service & not to the position*: Lord Ram was willing to become the king as a service to Maharaj Dasarath and He was willing to go to the forest as a service to His father.

*Mission of Life should be to vanquish the demoniac tendencies in our heart:* Lord Ram’s purpose to kill the demons was fulfilled by His banishment to the forest.

*Even extreme reversals if taken in the proper spirit will help us fulfill our mission in life:* For example, Law of gravity is only in effect in the Earth’s sphere and not beyond. So also, Laws of material nature act only in material consciousness not in spiritual consciousness.

*Ram or Aaram(Hindi word for rest), A test for every seeker*: Citizens of Ayodhya wanted to go with Lord Ram to forest and leave behind all the comforts (Aaram) of the City Ayodhya.

*Alertness in Spiritual Life*: Lord Ram leaves Ayodhyavasis when they were asleep. If one is inattentive or lazy, one will loose taste in Bhakti.

Sita, Ram, Lakshman at Bhadrachalam, Telangana, India.

*(Sometimes) Saintly persons might cause pain to others, not to hurt them but benefit them:* Bharat disowns Kaikeyi, or Prahlad disregards Hiranyakashipu, a Doctor may cause pain (operation) to patient to cure him. Goal is to please the Lord: For Bharat, he wanted to stay in the forest that was easier than to return and rule the Kingdom but he did it to please Lord Ram.

*Lord is the Proprietor*: Bhoktaram Yajna tapasam (Bhagavad Gita 5.29). Bharat was ruling the kingdom on Lord Ram’s behalf by keeping the Paduka’s (Footwear of Lord Rama) on the Throne. We are only caretakers, He is the real proprietor, and He can give and take away. The Caretaker acts according to the will of the owner.

*Anybody can make a show of greatness*: The reversals test us who we are. When Lakshmana cuts Surpanaka’s nose, gone was the charming form, gone was the facade and then the real ugly form manifested. One’s greatness is tested by one’s ability to tolerate provoking situations.

*Bhakti (Sita) cannot be achieved by Deception:* Ravana wanted to kidnap Sitadevi by deception, but he gets Maya-Sita at the end. Greed and lust are never satiated, they lead to arrogance and envy.Attachments can creates traps and make us suffer: Marichi takes up a golden dear form to which Sitadevi developed deep attachment to have it and thus trapped Sitadevi. We should see the substance through the eyes of the scripture. Marichi was all about false promises. For example, spider web is most attractive to the fly but actually, it is a trap.

*Maya knows our weaknesses:* She can make our strength into weaknesses and take us away from the circle of instructions of great souls. Ravana uses Sitadevi’s jnana attitude to serve great souls to disobey Lakshmana.

*Always stand by the Right*: Jatayu’s integrity. Real success is to please the Lord. Jatayu lost his life fighting for Lord Ram but achieved the purpose of Life to please the Lord. It is better to lose & win than to win & lose.

*Patience, Determination & Enthusiasm*: Example of Shabari. Long time ago, Guru had asked her to wait for Lord Ram while all other disciples and Guru himself went back to Godhead. She showed her enthusiasm by working hard every day to clean the place, plucking flowers & fruits for the Lord. She had complete faith in the words of Guru and patiently waited with determination.

*The Lord reveals only when He wants. Honesty, we cannot put a facade before the Lord:* Hanumanji disguises when he went to meet Lord Ram. Lord knows within who we are, we have to be honest to receive the mercy of the Lord. Lord Ram did not speak to Hanuman for four months.

*Obstacles on the path of Bhakti*: The demons who came to stop Hanuman during his jumping across the ocean. Mainaka (Gold Mountain) - temptation to seek comfort before achieving our real purpose. Simhika (Shadow catching demoness) - While striving for Bhakti, people will chastise, criticize and misunderstand us, we should have the willingness to tolerate. Surasa (Serpent): Being envious of people in higher position and try to stop their progress. This is jealousy of the mind. By devotional service, we have to devour Simhika who represents Envy.

*Arrogance cannot understand well-wishers: The world is a mirror of our own consciousness. Ravana was thinking Mandodari was envious of Sita, but actually, he was envious of Lord Ram. Ravana was thinking Vibhisana was disloyal and taking the side of Lord Ram, but he was disloyal to Kubera, his cousin brother. When we think we know, we are not willing to listen to good counsel. Spiritual progress means simplicity and humility. If they are lacking, we will not listen thinking that we know better, that was Ravana.

*Big or Small, we can swim the ocean of Samsara by chanting Lord Ram’s holy name*: Big or Small, all the stones floated by writing Lord Ram’s name.Pride or Attachment leads to loss of intelligence: dhyayato visayan pumsah (Bhagavad Gita 2.62). Ravana exhibited every stage of this sloka. Loss of intelligence - Even when all his stalwart warriors including Kumbakarna, Indrajit died but he still did not give up.

*Hearing about the Lord - Revival of dormant love:* Lord Ram being Paramatma in the heart of everyone including Ravana could have killed him just by turning off Ravana’s heart. However, the Lord and His pleasure potency Sitadevi went through this whole ordeal so that we can hear about the Lord and revive our dormant love.

*Righteousness*: Vibhishana comes to take shelter of Lord Ram, all the monkeys were against, except Hanumanji. Vibhishana was willing to be misunderstood or even chastised to surrender to the Lord.

*Counsel and Advise in battle against Illusion*: In battle against Illusion, at every stage association of devotees to put us straight without which we will fall. Lord Ram does not need but takes the counsel of Vibhishana.

*Grace of a Sadhu needed to kill demons within* Agastya muni had given a divine arrow to Lord Ram. That arrow was used by Lord Ram to kill Ravan by piercing his heart.

*Welcoming the Lord in hearts with lamps*: That is Dipavali festival. Lord Ram is welcomed back into Ayodhya with lamps. Dipavali is not just physical fire but lighting the hearts with light of Lord’s grace and process of devotional service. When heart is fully illuminated, then we can experience Lord Ram within ourselves. When our love awakens. Then Ramrajya is awakened within the heart and then without (i.e. out in the world). Jai Shree Ram!