what kind of devote are u

[pandora]

"I read something that one of the acarayas said that if you go to the lord because you are in distress you are a sudra. If you go to him for money you are a vaisya. I can't remember what the ksaitrya one was. If you go to the Lord for wisdom you are a brahmana"- this was written by ancient mariener in anothe thread. it got me thinking what if i wanted all three of theese things from the lord. what if u were distressed, what if u wanted money, and u wanted infineate wisdom that onlly the lord can give you, what would that make you. or would u just be simply greedy in the lords eye.

[Sonic Yogi]

I am absolutely the best devotee on the planet.

I am guru to the gurus.

I am acharya to the acharyas.

 

I am wonderful beyond words.

 

And, yes, I am also a very humble devotee.

 

If you don't believe me then just ask me, I will tell you.

 

[pandora]

 

I am absolutely the best devotee on the planet.

I am guru to the gurus.

I am acharya to the acharyas.

 

I am wonderful beyond words.

 

And, yes, I am also a very humble devotee.

 

If you don't believe me then just ask me, I will tell you.

 

yes this might be true but it dosent answer my question what if u are all theese things u are distressed, u want wealth and infinete knowledge, what does that make u

[Sonic Yogi]

 

yes this might be true but it dosent answer my question what if u are all theese things u are distressed, u want wealth and infinete knowledge, what does that make u

 

 

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 7.16

 

catur-vidhā bhajante māḿ

 

janāḥ sukṛtino 'rjuna

 

ārto jijñāsur arthārthī

 

jñānī ca bharatarṣabha

 

SYNONYMS

 

catuḥ-vidhāḥ — four kinds of; bhajante — render services; mām — unto Me; janāḥ — persons; su-kṛtinaḥ — those who are pious; arjuna — O Arjuna; ārtaḥ — the distressed; jijñāsuḥ — the inquisitive; artha-arthī — one who desires material gain; jñānī — one who knows things as they are; ca — also; bharata-ṛṣabha — O great one amongst the descendants of Bharata.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me — the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.

 

PURPORT

 

Unlike the miscreants, these are adherents of the regulative principles of the scriptures, and they are called sukṛtinaḥ, or those who obey the rules and regulations of scriptures, the moral and social laws, and are, more or less, devoted to the Supreme Lord. Out of these there are four classes of men — those who are sometimes distressed, those who are in need of money, those who are sometimes inquisitive, and those who are sometimes searching after knowledge of the Absolute Truth. These persons come to the Supreme Lord for devotional service under different conditions. These are not pure devotees, because they have some aspiration to fulfill in exchange for devotional service. Pure devotional service is without aspiration and without desire for material profit. The Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.11) defines pure devotion thus:

 

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaḿ

 

jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

 

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-

 

śīlanaḿ bhaktir uttamā

 

[Madhya 19.167]

 

"One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service."

 

When these four kinds of persons come to the Supreme Lord for devotional service and are completely purified by the association of a pure devotee, they also become pure devotees. As far as the miscreants are concerned, for them devotional service is very difficult because their lives are selfish, irregular and without spiritual goals. But even some of them, by chance, when they come in contact with a pure devotee, also become pure devotees.

 

Those who are always busy with fruitive activities come to the Lord in material distress and at that time associate with pure devotees and become, in their distress, devotees of the Lord. Those who are simply frustrated also come sometimes to associate with the pure devotees and become inquisitive to know about God. Similarly, when the dry philosophers are frustrated in every field of knowledge, they sometimes want to learn of God, and they come to the Supreme Lord to render devotional service and thus transcend knowledge of the impersonal Brahman and the localized Paramātmā and come to the personal conception of Godhead by the grace of the Supreme Lord or His pure devotee. On the whole, when the distressed, the inquisitive, the seekers of knowledge, and those who are in need of money are free from all material desires, and when they fully understand that material remuneration has nothing to do with spiritual improvement, they become pure devotees. As long as such a purified stage is not attained, devotees in transcendental service to the Lord are tainted with fruitive activities, the search for mundane knowledge, etc. So one has to transcend all this before one can come to the stage of pure devotional service.

 

 

I would say that originally I came out of curiosity and some wisdom.

 

I was never to the kind of guy to go to God or pray for anything.

 

I was just reading books on yoga and came across the books of Srila Prabhupada and I took to devotional service out of the wisdom I acquired from the books.

 

I was young and adventuresome.

 

I came to serve Krishna out of wisdom.

 

I didn't come for material rewards.

 

I wanted to become an immortal in the spiritual world.

[Kali_Upasaka]

 

"I read something that one of the acarayas said that if you go to the lord because you are in distress you are a sudra. If you go to him for money you are a vaisya. I can't remember what the ksaitrya one was. If you go to the Lord for wisdom you are a brahmana"- this was written by ancient mariener in anothe thread. it got me thinking what if i wanted all three of theese things from the lord. what if u were distressed, what if u wanted money, and u wanted infineate wisdom that onlly the lord can give you, what would that make you. or would u just be simply greedy in the lords eye.

A true devotee is one who does not ask for anything. Total surrender to the Lord. Saranagatham. The Lord knows what you require and will give it to you. Trust in him and you will get more than what you could have ever asked. He knows what is good for you. Like a mother who knows that a particular food may not be suit the constitution of the child, HE may not give you something which you wish for, as it is not good for you.

 

Surrender and leave everything to him. Do not ask for anything. The Lord is Omniscient and Omnipotent. Does he not know already your situation? He does and he cares.

[Narasingh]

Srimad Bhagavatam 7.10.4:

 

 

 

nānyathā

te 'khila-guro

ghaṭeta karuṇātmanaḥ

yas ta āśiṣa āśāste

na sa bhṛtyaḥ sa vai vaṇik

 

 

Otherwise, O my Lord, O supreme instructor of the entire world, You are so kind to Your devotee that You could not induce him to do something unbeneficial for him. On the other hand, one who desires some material benefit in exchange for devotional service cannot be Your pure devotee. Indeed, he is no better than a merchant who wants profit in exchange for service.

 

Prahlada Maharaja is speaking from an elevated perspective. There are certainly different reasons to approach God, and Krsna asserts that He reciprocates in such ways. Sometimes this is the only way we initiate our relationship with Him. Dhruva Maharaja's story is applicable here. If there was anyone who wanted alot it was him. His prayer and determination to receive wealth, power, fame etc... from Vishnu finally brought Vishnu to him. However, upon seeing Vishnu, he lost all taste for his previous desires.

[gHari]

Somehow or other we must turn to God. Whatever the reason or reasons, eventually they will be purified.

 

From Nectar of Devotion:

 

These four types of devotees have been described in the

Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gItA

, and they have all been accepted as pious. Without becoming pious, no one can come to devotional service. It is explained in Bhagavad-gItA that only one who has continually executed pious activities and whose sinful reactions in life have completely stopped can take to KRSNa consciousness. Others cannot. The neophyte devotees are classified into four groups--the distressed, those in need of money, the inquisitive and the wise--according to their gradations of pious activities. Without pious activities, if a man is in a distressed condition he becomes an agnostic, a communist or something like that. Because he does not firmly believe in God, he thinks that he can adjust his distressed condition by totally disbelieving in Him.

 

 

Lord KRSNa, however, has explained in the GItA that out of these four types of neophytes, the one who is wise is very dear to Him, because a wise man, if he is attached to KRSNa, is not seeking an exchange of material benefits. A wise man who becomes attached to KRSNa does not want any return from Him, either in the form of relieving distress or in gaining money. This means that from the very beginning his basic principle of attachment to KRSNa is, more or less, love. Furthermore, due to his wisdom and study of zAstras (scriptures), he can understand also that KRSNa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

 

It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gItA that after many, many births, when one becomes actually wise, he surrenders unto VAsudeva, knowing perfectly well that KRSNa (VAsudeva) is the origin and cause of all causes. Therefore, he sticks to the lotus feet of KRSNa and gradually develops love for Him. <B>Although such a wise man is very dear to KRSNa, the others are also accepted as very magnanimous, because even though they are distressed or in need of money, they have come to KRSNa for satisfaction</b>. Thus they are accepted as liberal, broad-minded mahAtmAs.

 

 

Without being elevated to the position of a jJAnI, or wise man, one cannot stick to the principle of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The less intelligent or those whose intelligence has been taken away by the spell of mAyA are attached to different demigods on account of the influence of the modes of nature. The wise man is he who has thoroughly understood that he is spirit soul and not simply a body. Because he realizes that he is spirit and KRSNa is the supreme spirit, he knows that his intimate relationship should be with KRSNa, not with this body. The distressed and the man in want of money are in the material concept of life, because distress and need of money are both in relationship with this body. One who is inquisitive may be a little above the distressed and the man in need of money, but still he is on the material platform. But a wise man who seeks KRSNa knows perfectly well that he is spirit soul, or Brahman, and that KRSNa is the supreme spirit soul, or Parabrahman. He knows that the spirit soul, being subordinate and finite, should always dovetail himself with the infinite and supreme soul, KRSNa. That is the relationship of the wise man with KRSNa.

 

 

[Narasingh]

Somehow or other we must turn to God. Whatever the reason or reasons, eventually they will be purified.

[mahak]

Srila Prabhupada takes his commitment to me much more seriously than I do to him. He is not cheap, he accepts me, and he never lets go, even though I throw him away every chance I get. So, it comes down to that, I havent been anywhere near a temple in 20 years, but he never leaves me. He comes to take my mind and make intelligence choose to use the mind to dwell on Krsna, or something else. I do not consciously choose to dwell on Krsna, His Name, or any of that. I dont eat stool, gambling is only for folks with something to risk, my sensual prowess became not an issue when I went numb and lame due to getting long in the tooth (or toothlessness, as the case may be). Drunks make me puke, tweakers are demons, junkies are zombies, but I may be a bit partial to the indigenous ways of Lakota and Rasta, as a medicine, not intoxicant.

 

But if I play a keyboard or guitar, the song is Jaya Jaya Rama Jaya Sita Rama. Now Prabhupada did not emphasize that mantra, but I just kept doing it anyway, and because he must think I have value, he allows the tears to flow. Hes never away, Im the one who is hiding.

 

Before we all die, we only gotta do two things on this realms level, First, hit the deck and beg forgiveness, then forgive everyone else. Then, as Pete Townsend sings in the great classic, Ivan, the Engine Driver, "You're all forgiven." That takes care of this realm, this is Lord Jesus initiation, beg forgiveness from the Father to the extent we have forgiven others.

 

Now, we have bathed, we enter the temple of the heart where Lord Nityananda Prabhu resides. We apologize for being such Jagai and Madais, and he arranges Srila Prabhupada to go retrieve me. I run away. He runs faster.

 

What was the question?

 

hare krsna, jaya jaya rama jaya sita rama, ys, mahaksadasa

[Narasingh]

To follow up on what I posted before:

 

 

akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih

tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param

 

 

"Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Krsna consciousness." (Bhag. 2.3.10)

[Gita Dharma]

 

Dhruva Maharaja's story is applicable here. If there was anyone who wanted alot it was him. His prayer and determination to receive wealth, power, fame etc... from Vishnu finally brought Vishnu to him. However, upon seeing Vishnu, he lost all taste for his previous desires.

Thank you for reminding me of that. Another one of my favorite stories is that of Vishvamitra who actually started serious sadhana in order to gain enough power to get revenge on Vasishta. However he forgot about revenge once he was transformed by the process itself.

[Guest Melvin1]

 

"I read something that one of the acarayas said that if you go to the lord because you are in distress you are a sudra. If you go to him for money you are a vaisya. I can't remember what the ksaitrya one was. If you go to the Lord for wisdom you are a brahmana"- this was written by ancient mariener in anothe thread. it got me thinking what if i wanted all three of theese things from the lord. what if u were distressed, what if u wanted money, and u wanted infineate wisdom that onlly the lord can give you, what would that make you. or would u just be simply greedy in the lords eye.

 

I don`t want to be a devotee whose wish was granted after asking Lord Siva the power to cut-off someone`s head by just placing his hand over it. In the end because of pride his head was also cut-off when he thought ( Lord Siva heard his thoughts),"... what if I place my hand on Lord Siva`s head."

[Ghostface]

it just helps hold me down and keeps me humble

 

peace