FW: ISkcon and the satans ( terrorists)

[Guest guest]

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Bhaktivinoda, Srila Prabhupada, my most beloved Srila Gaurangapada and all Vaisnavas. Please accept my humble obeisances and blessings. I pray that this meets you well and in the service/mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. Most Beloved Devotees of Sri Sri

Radha-Gopinatha; This is indeed a very sad time for our Math, a time when this world is in such great turmoil and the agents of the Demons use the Holy Names of God to wreck havoc upon the Lord's devotees. While we as the Lord's devotees cannot ignore the cowardly actions of demons, we must remember Whose children we are. Where the Lord resides there is no fear. This is the intent of these demons, to cause fear

and suffering in the Lord's Temple so that the community of devotees will not gather. Since Maya Devi is loosing ground and the Lord's devotees are advancing nicely in Krishna consciousness other more extreme measures will be used. This is, and always has been the tactic of demons. To cause fear in the relative safety of the Holy Dham is one of the greatest weapons of demons, and in using methods to cause bodily injury thus instilling fear where the devotees will feel that they and their families are not safe will diminishes our holiness in time. Many advanced devotees do not fear for themselves. We do not care what happens to us bodily, and the greatest death would be to perish before the Deity of the Lord. Sastra tells us that whoever dies in the Lord's presence gains liberation, so for us this is a blessing. But we do fear for our families. We do fear for our friends, and this is our undoing. Our Spiritual Masters tell us that we should never have any attachments in this life, but in a lot of instances this is not reality. We are naturally attached to our wives and children, because without this bond, human society would not

exist. This attachment is felt more strongly when we are young, but as we pass into middle age and into our elderly years these attachments are naturally left behind and more spiritual attachments are attained. Another cause of these attacks is the over-powering emotion of anger. When anger enters into the heart of the devotee many different aspects of devotional service cannot be adhered to. Anger stunts the growth of the devotional creeper and keeps us from having full fellowship with not only the community of devotees, but also darshan with the Lord. Anger

transforms into many other emotions and mental aspects such as guilt, unforgiveness, suspicion, hate, malice, impatience, etc., which lead to the downfall of the devotee because they are complete opposites of the twenty-six qualities of the devotee. At this stage it is very easy for the devotee of the Lord to become disillusioned and their mental outlook distorted. This makes it difficult for the devotee to properly perform their duties, service and seva to Guru and Gauranga because these emotions are always in the background seething like a smoldering spark awaiting to erupt into a roaring fire. These incidents are not unusual. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself fought against this same demon when the Raj demanded that all Vaisnava kirtans be cut off. No one was to chant the Holy Names, no one was to offer kirtan to the Lord, and no one was to offer arati to the Lord. So, what did Sri Gaurahari do? He gathered together the community of devotees and arranged a massive kirtan that shook the very heavens and assembled them in front of the Raj's house. The kirtan was so powerful that the Raj feared for his life. The result was that the Raj became a devotee himself of the Lord and forsook all his wealth and position to follow Sri Gaura for the rest of his earthly life. We are not without our weapons also. Our weapons lie in the power of the Holy Name, and like the wonderful example give to us by the Lord Himself, we are to take to the Holy Names during times of crisis. Does He not promise us protection? Does He not provide revenge Himself upon those that would stand up against the community of devotees? Do we not rest securely at the lotus feet of Sri Nityananda Raya Prabhuji, in whose mercy we find safety? While it is indeed a tragedy that devotees lost their lives in the attack upon ISKCON Mayapur, we must rest assured that they left their bodies in the presence of the Lord. We are taught from the very beginning of our devotional service that there is no difference between the Deity and the Lord Himself. We are taught from the very beginning that there is no difference between the Holy Names and the Lord Himself. When the attack occurred there was a massive kirtan going on, there was a play of the Lord's wonderful pastimes, and there was darshan of the Deity. So, who among us could doubt that the Lord Himself was not present personally during the celebration of Janmastami? While it is natural for us to feel distraught, sadness, anger and hatred over such an occurrence, we are called to a much higher position. We are called to behave and conduct ourselves as the Lord's devotees. The devotees that left their bodies due to the attack had completed their journey just as assuredly as the defeated army of the Kurus finished theirs in accordance to the Lord's provisions and attained liberation at their departures. We know that their minds were fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness because of the celebration during the time of attack, so we know from this aspect also that they most assuredly attained liberation. Whether one is an adult or a child when death approaches does not matter, what matters is the state of the mind at the time of death. In many ways we have to praise Sri Krsna's mercy in the midst of this disaster. While we acknowledge the fact that some of our friends, godbrother/sisters, family are not physically among us, and this give reason to pause and feel grief at their departure, we must also give unlimited thanks to Sri Krsna for His unlimited mercy also. Many more could have been taken by the grenade. The other grenade could have exploded, not only taking

many more devotees, but also destroying the Deities and Their paraphernalia. We could have lost the wisdom of our beloved sannyasis that were present, loosing their guidance and loving service to the Lord and His devotees. There are many more things that could have happened, but in our grief and anger we do not see this as the Lord's mercy also. While it would be illogical to forget the attack, it is advisable for those of us left behind in this material manifestation to be patient, loving, forgiving and release all that binds us from performing our prescribed duties. I humbly request that those who are

angry, fearful and distraught over this to feel free to contact me so that we can talk out these feelings. During times of crisis no one should be left behind in their emotions, because that is detrimental to devotional service. If you are having bad feelings and cannot adjust, if you do not feel comfortable in contacting me, then please contact another senior devotee who can assist you through this distressing time in our devotional service. Your eternal servant; Nitaipada Maharaja

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