smaranam

The right question would be WHY are we born into this world. The answer is : to fulfill the vAsanA (desires), latent, dormant, active, that a transmigrating jIva holds. To roll out the results of past karma. Unfortunately, in the process, living beings acrue more karma and develop new vAsanA. This cycle has to stop and this happens when one fortunately meets a saint (santa), satpurush, sadguru or svayam bhagvAn, or writings and words of either, with satsanga. om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ~

Thank You Melvin, for your thoughtful kind and guiding words. They are certainly helpful, 4 years later as well om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ~

Hare KRshNa You are right, What about this abhanga : ANu reNuyA thhokadA TukA AkAshA evadhA Smaller than the atom, TukA is as vast as the sky Further he goes: I have left this illusion of form (bhramAchA AkAr). I suppose when the uttam adhikAri reaches that stage , it is unavoidable. He claimed Namdev was his Guru. Namdev, although initially a bhakta of Vitthal in PandharpUr, was influenced by DnyAneshwar Maharaj (of NAth Sampraday = bhakti + yoga + jnana) . On pilgrimage, his associates teased him to be "half-baked" transcendentalist becs he had not realized God everywhere. So he went back to Pandharpur and complained to Vitthal. VithobA said, " but You do not know Me yet" and Namdev failed the test when Lord passed by as an ordinary paThAN on a horse. So he had to take initiation per Lord's request. That Guru was, to his shock, sleeping with feet on the Deity/ShivLinga (not sure). Namdev woke him and shouted. The guru said "Dear, find one spot where there is no God and put my feet there" Wherever Namdev tried, the Shivling / Deity sprang up. So Namdev surrendered to this Guru and is also recorded in Guru Granth Sahib. That being said, saints like Tukaram Namdev and Kabir are not the voidist impersonalists like Advaita followers of today or Shankaracharya school. They want to grab the oneness. Here, the oneness came of its accord. Yet, after becoming "AkAshA evadhA" - vast like the sky, they kept saying "chant the holy names" Of course i do not think they went to Golok VrundAvan to become gopas, gopis, sakhis or manjaris. Jai Shri KrushNa

Mmm i don't feel like sharing them now... may be some day i may be in the mood to do just that In any case, personal heart diary is currently under lock and key Sorry to disappoint you - but read the BhAgvatam, and after that Chaitanya Charitramrut, after that Bruhad BhAgvatAmrut, and other works of VaishNav Acharyas. * Read poems . bhajans by Bhakti Vinod ThAkur --- MhAro ri Giridhar GopAl Govind MAdhav MurliManohar ShyAmSundar KamalNayan Shankha Chakra GadAdhar Hari Mukund MurAri can't and won't live without You Chitta hAri VaMshi dhAri ~ praNAm

Namaste Obviously, Lord NArAyaN blessed you, see how particular and diligent He is. Your prayer was sincere, so he blessed you. Now don't start jumping it will affect ego - although i think you are keeping it in good control. Introversion is a good sign. The idea is to minimize prajalpa / jalpa = unnecessary talk. I say always - HarinAm IS Silence. I personally prefer silent japa to aloud - big difference. It is also said in shastra : Silent manan and jap is the higher form, but beginners are adviced loud jap so as to use the voice as a vehicle to concentrate. Keep going Jai Shri KrushNa ~ praNAm

Thank You. Words ARE enough , to get a 'glimpse' of this Divine Leela, the blessings of Lord Shiva and Ma PArvati. Yes, that's Shiv murti in the jyoti for sure. I love Krshna , but Lord Shiva has touched my heart too, primarily a result of Their connection and relation with each other. Jai Gopeshwar Mahadev Om namah Shivaya Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Sri KRshna Govinda Hare Murare He NAth NArAyana VAsudeva ~

Dvaita and advaita are different aspects and perspectives of the same Absolute Truth acc. to me, who is a Person by the way. You know Who Why not just surrender and hand our "self" over to Him, the most beautiful , generous, kind, and the most natkhat ONE ? Then all these qns will not arise. We are His servants , beloved associates. Story ends. He waits for us to shed our material vices, ego, attachments, and finally return to Him , but stays with us despite all these. Can you please be specific while saying , "Gita keeps talking about the self" ? Or give some example verses , where your doubts lie , then the Gurus here might clear them before the forum closes. BG 10.10: To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me. BG 10.11: To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance. All the best. May Krshna bless you.

Thanks Om namah Shivaya

WOW, Primate and Bhaktajan, you have both put it very well. Thank You. I find most of your analysis and anologies (leave aside "pratishtha", basis for a moment) , very interesting and helpful. You are most certainly not a Primate. What an ironical name !

Thank You, Janhava Nitai Prabhu, for these forums. It is your generosity that gave me valuable association of all these wonderful souls including you, who have been my Gurus. I have learnt a lot and had a wonderful short time here. Hope to read more nectar on your sites and wish you all the best with the Children's Programs, Akshay Patra and any projects. Please bless me so the Lord will stay in my heart always. Smaranam

The 2 things i will regret 20 yrs from now - 1. Not having spent all those moments with the Lord (technically this is nothing to regret about, just look ahead in time, to the infinite kind Lord) 2. Not having performed my duties very well, if i don't that is, due to which others may have suffered - while i deserve it anyway. So , i will add some warning to your good advice - If anyone wants to have all the illusiory temporary fun of this world, please remember to distinguish it from the real bliss of God's company. It surpasses everything , and you will not miss ANY worldly thing you did not do - including visiting beautiful places on earth - if you did not take the Lord with you on that vacation. Thank You , Kaisersose ji , for your valuable association. Smaranam

It was nice knowing you, Melvin. Thanks to all the wonderful souls, my Gurus here. I can see how it must be for those of you who were here for a decade. You must be like a family already. Smaranam

Not sure if that was rhetoric or real qns to stimulate discussion ..... Could the answer be Thought ? The individual stays unique by personal thought. Thought creates experience - given by the Lord. Even after liberation the soul can choose to have thought - on the spiritual plane. So likes and dislikes can continue on a much higher level. Why does Tungavidya wear white and Champaklata red ? Is this in relation to their rasa with Krshna, or Radha, or is it strictly personal preference ? Can the 2 things be seperated ? I do not know. The colors do represent some aspect of the Divine, i believe - like white for vidya . Thought, sometimes followed by belief and choice, is the phenomenon that makes an individual , individual. Krshna (God) reciprocates according to this phenomenon, although He already knows what it will be. Desire to get engrossed in Brahman without any active interaction or service to the Supreme Lord, is also individual choice . Just that all Sayujjas probably look the same - or similar. That's their choice. It only means they are a part of the Supreme, that just wants to "be". Quote : "Do our personal preferences change birth after birth ?"' They should. The kind of actions , attitudes , perspectives, Sadhana, chosen or picked up from surroundings , get embossed on the jiva as 'samskAr'. The 'samskAr' gets carried over into the next life , so samskAras create new preferences as their side effect. As the 3 modes of material nature fluctuate, so will the preferences.

If one goes on a darshan tour of Radha Krishna temples world-wide, Radha in middle east look middle eastern, Radha from Toronto looks French, from Maharashtra , Banglore, Mayapur, Florida, Houston, South Africa - they look like the people from those ethnic places. None of them look exactly like Radha-Shyamsunder in Vrindavan. Why is that ? The first thing that occured to me, is that this is done on purpose, so that people of each location can warm up to the deities as human beings made in the Deities' image. So they feel a sense of belonging. On the other hand , its very important to preserve the roots , and know what historical Buddha looked like although His images may look Chinese, for instance. ------- When its a genuine personal experience of God, however, its totally upto Him whether to make it fit into the jiva's prior ideas about Him, or to completely knock the ideas off.

Sarvetra sukhi na santu sarve santu niramaya sarve bhadrani pashyantu ma kashchit dukha mapnayat Om shanti shanti shantih O Lord, May all be happy May all be free from ailments May we see what is auspicious May no one be subject to miseries May there be a Peace! Peace! Peace! Everywhere.