Sri Prahlada Maharaja prays...

[Guest guest]

"My dear Lord of the Vaikuntha planets, where there is no anxiety,

my mind is extremely sinful and lusty, being sometimes so-called happy and

sometimes so-called distressed. My mind is full of lamentation and fear,

and it always seeks more and more money. Thus it has become most polluted

and is never satisfied in topics concerning You. I am therefore most fallen

and poor. In such a status of life, how shall I be able to discuss Your

activities?

 

"My dear Lord, O infallible one, my position is like that of a

person who has many wives, all trying to attract him in their own way.

For example, the tongue is attracted to palatable dishes, the genitals to

sex with an attractive woman, and the sense of touch to contact with soft

things. The belly, although filled, still wants to eat more, and the ear,

not attempting to hear about You, is generally attracted to cinema songs.

The sense of smell is attracted to yet another side, the restless eyes

are attracted to scenes of sense gratification, and the active senses are

attracted elsewhere. In this way I am certainly embarrassed.

 

"My dear Lord, You are always transcendentally situated on the

other side of the river of death, but because of the reactions of our own

activities, we are suffering on this side. Indeed, we have fallen into

this river and are repeatedly suffering the pains of birth and death and

eating horrible things. Now kindly look upon us--not only upon me but also

upon all others who are suffering--and by Your causeless mercy and

compassion, deliver us and maintain us."

 

Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.9.39-41

[Guest guest]

The belly, although filled, still wants to eat more, and the ear,

> not attempting to hear about You, is generally attracted to cinema songs.

 

so help me here.....Sri Prahlada Maharaja went to cimema ?

[Guest guest]

Hey JDB,

I read what is referred to as Cinema Song to be Mundane

Song. Hope this clarify. Ashok.

[Guest guest]

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, J.D. BREWSTER wrote:

> so help me here.....Sri Prahlada Maharaja went to cimema ?

 

He's speaking on behalf of ourselves, as did Lord Caitanya when

he claimed to have no attachment for chanting Krsna's names (durdaivam

idrsam ihajani nanuragah). Prahlada is a great mahajana; there isn't

any question of him being in maya. But he speaks like this so that we

will recognize the real nature of our own impure condition (nyuna-visaya

vrtti).

 

Since verse 40 says "sravanam kutascit" (i.e., hearing something

else), Srila Prabhupada might just as well have translated it as "rock

music" or any of the other popular genres that people all over the world

get snagged in; in India it's film music. The real point is that we're

all attached to doing what our senses want instead of doing what Krsna

wants. This condition has to be addressed first, because bhakti is a

systematic process.

 

Srila Prabhupada explains as follows in his purport:

 

"Therefore devotional service means purifying the senses. In the

conditioned state our senses are covered by material sense gratification,

and as long as one is not trained in purifying the senses, one cannot

become a devotee. In our Krsna consciousness movement, therefore, we

advise from the very beginning that one restrict the activities of the

senses, especially the tongue, which is described by Srila Bhaktivinoda

Thakura as most greedy and unconquerable. To stop this attraction of the

tongue, one is authoritatively advised not to accept meat or similar

uneatable things nor to allow the tongue to hanker to drink or smoke.

Even the drinking of tea and coffee is not permitted. Similarly, the

genitals must be restricted from illicit sex. Without such restraint of

the senses, one cannot make advancement in Krsna consciousness."

 

This essential principle is further elaborated in the Nectar of

Instruction, (Upadesamrta 1), and is mentioned in Gita, 2.44, Bhagavata,

7.5.30, and so forth. I hope this is helpful.

 

MDd