Answers to the Questions on Krishna-Bhakti .

September 26, 2006

Hare Krishna ! Dandavat Pranam to Bhagavan Krishna and Vaishnavas, Srimad Bhagavatham Chapter 11 contains ‘Uddhava Gita’ , which is Bhagavan Krishna’s parting discourse to His best disciple Uddhava , just prior to Bhagavan’s return to HIS

eternal abode . ‘Uddava Gita’ contains the essence of Krishna-Bhakti ; and it provides to the devotee step-by-step instructions . I am attaching a Copy of ‘Uddhava Gita’ , for your easy reference and implementation . May I clarify further as follows : Question -1 How does one perform Puja to Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Is there any one or only way to worship Krishna or is there a diverse way of worshiping the Lord? (Rites, Ceremonies, life-cycle events, etc.) Answer -: Bhagavan Krishna says in Gita 9.26-27 “ Whoever offers to Me with bhakti a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, I will delightfully accept that offering

.. Whatever activities you perform, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice or give in charity and whatever penance you perform, offer them all to Me.” As such, a devotee can easily worship Krishna by using commonsense . What matters to the Bhagavan is the devotee’s faith . As to the Deity worship of Sri Krishna in temples , please refer to section 11.27 of ‘Uddava Gita’ . -------- Question - 2 How does one become a brahmachari ?. What are the benefits of being a brahmachari ?. Answer –: Please refer to section 11.17.22 to 11.17.32 of ‘Uddava Gita’ . ----------- Question – 3 Has Krishna healed or has endowed any of His devotees with miraculous signs and wonders in this modern-day era? May you give some examples of this? Answer - : Krishna has repeatedly described Himself as ‘Bhakta-dasa’ ( devotee’ servant) . Bhagavan is infinitely merciful to His devotees and is ever vigilant to protect them . Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 9.22 “ For those who are always absorbed in thoughts of Me, and who worship Me with one-pointed devotion by every means, I Myself attend to their needs (i.e., achieve what they lack and preserve what they have) .” There are innumerable recent instances of Krishna’s divine intervention ( through specific mediums of His choice) which were clearly recognized by the devotee-beneficiaries . In the ‘File’ section of ‘ ‘ , the folder named ‘ True Krishna Miracles’ reveals a few of such divine expereiences in the lives of Krishna-Bhaktas . Whenever one goes to a Krishna temple like Guruvayur , Tirupathi or Jagnnatha Puri , he can see many Krishna-devotees who are thanking the Bhagavan for the divine miracles happened in their lives . Anyone who has taken shelter in Sri Krishna can easily recognize Bhagavan’s decisive role in his/her day-to-day life . The life after becoming a Krishna-Bhakta is entirely different from the one before it . A Krishna-bhakta is nothing but a divine instrument of Sri Krishna . -------------Question – 4 In what ways would I be able to become an advanced devotee of Bhagavan

Sri Krishna? Any wisdom you could share with me on this matter? Answer -: A true Krishna-devotee ( Vaishnava) is an eternal servant of Bhagavan Sri Krishna . ‘Saranaagathi’ ( Surrender to Sri Krishna and taking total refuge in HIM) enables one to become a loyal Servant of the Bhagavan . The Vaishnava considers self to be a humble Servant who is lower than the lowest and his entire activities ( including personal activities and duties towards his family) are nothing but selfless offerings to Krishna . He doesn’t worry about any type of ‘advancement’ or ‘achievement’ other than serving the lotus feet of

Sri Krishna and HIS devotees . In ‘Uddhava Gita’ , Bhagavan Sri Krishna has instructed His devotee to adopt the following approach : · Do your duties to the best of your abilities , for Me without any selfish motive and remember Me at all times – before starting a work, at the completion of a task, and while inactive. · Practice to look upon all creatures as Myself in thought , word and deed ; and mentally bow down to them . · Awaken your dormant spiritual power (by Bhakti-Yoga) and perceive through the activities of mind, senses, breathing , and emotions that My power is within you at all times , and is constantly doing all the works using you as the instrument .

· Although I the Supreme God can never be captured by ordinary sense perception , My devotee may use his intelligence and other faculties of perception to directly search for Me through apparent and indirectly ascertained symptoms . Worshipping Sri Krishna as ‘Ishta Devatha’ OR ‘Personal God’ ( Most worshipped Deity) , by constantly chanting HIS names, purifies the heart by removing all past sins . When the heart becomes clean, Bhagavan Krishna resides there in the form of ‘Paramatma’ or Super Soul) . So

let us take total refuge of Sri Krishna’s lotus feet , chant HIS names (Hare Krishna Mahamantra ) constantly and selflessly perform all our duties as a service to Bhagavan . Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!!! Your eternal servant , SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev Enclosure : ‘Uddhava Gita’ -------------yochanan1983 <yochanan1983 wrote: Hare Krishna Prabhu-jis and Mata-jis:I have some questions. Here they are:1.) How does one perform Puja to Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Is there any one or only way to worship Krishna or is there a diverse way of worshiping the Lord? (Rites, Ceremonies, life-cycle events, etc.)2.) How does one become a brahmachari? What are the benefits of

being a brahmachari? 3.) Has Krishna healed or has endowed any of His devotees with miraculous signs and wonders in this modern-day era? May you give some examples of this?4.) In what ways would I be able to become an advanced devotee of Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Any wisdom you could share with me on this matter?These questions were on my mind this weekend and I felt I would be able to receive some answers for these important questions. Thank you for allowing me to post this message. Hare Krishna.In Krishna's Love and Mercy,Yochanan Dasa

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September 26, 2006

Sri Krishna Rajeev: Thank you for the accurate information regarding Krishna-Bhakti. It has helped gain a deeper understanding of Krishna and His Way. I will try to post questions and ideas on the group whenever I am able to do so. Hare Krishna. Yochanandasa --A Devotee of Krishna-- SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev <srikrishnadasa_rajeev wrote: Hare Krishna ! Dandavat Pranam to Bhagavan Krishna and Vaishnavas, Srimad Bhagavatham Chapter 11 contains ‘Uddhava Gita’ , which is Bhagavan Krishna’s parting discourse to His best disciple Uddhava , just prior to Bhagavan’s return to HIS eternal abode

. ‘Uddava Gita’ contains the essence of Krishna-Bhakti ; and it provides to the devotee step-by-step instructions . I am attaching a Copy of ‘Uddhava Gita’ , for your easy reference and implementation .

May I clarify further as follows : Question -1 How does one perform Puja to Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Is there any one or only way to worship Krishna or is there a diverse way of worshiping the Lord? (Rites,

Ceremonies, life-cycle events, etc.) Answer -: Bhagavan Krishna says in Gita 9.26-27 “ Whoever offers to Me with bhakti a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, I will delightfully accept that offering . Whatever activities you perform, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice or give in charity and whatever penance you perform, offer them all to Me.” As such, a devotee can easily worship Krishna by using commonsense . What matters to the Bhagavan is the devotee’s faith . As to the Deity worship of Sri Krishna in temples , please refer to section 11.27 of ‘Uddava Gita’ . -------- Question - 2 How does one become a brahmachari ?. What are the benefits of being a brahmachari ?. Answer –: Please refer to section 11.17.22 to 11.17.32 of ‘Uddava

Gita’ . ----------- Question – 3 Has Krishna healed or has endowed any of His devotees with miraculous signs and wonders in this modern-day era? May you give some examples of this? Answer - : Krishna has repeatedly described Himself as ‘Bhakta-dasa’ ( devotee’ servant) . Bhagavan is infinitely merciful to His devotees and is ever vigilant to protect them . Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 9.22 “ For those who are always absorbed in thoughts of

Me, and who worship Me with one-pointed devotion by every means, I Myself attend to their needs (i.e., achieve what they lack and preserve what they have) .” There are innumerable recent instances of Krishna’s divine intervention ( through specific mediums of His choice) which were clearly recognized by the devotee-beneficiaries . In the ‘File’ section of ‘ ‘ , the folder named ‘ True Krishna Miracles’ reveals a few of such divine expereiences in the lives of Krishna-Bhaktas . Whenever one goes to a Krishna temple like Guruvayur , Tirupathi or Jagnnatha Puri , he can see many Krishna-devotees who are thanking the Bhagavan for the divine miracles happened in their lives . Anyone who has taken shelter in Sri Krishna can easily recognize Bhagavan’s decisive role in his/her day-to-day life . The life after becoming a Krishna-Bhakta is entirely different from the one before it . A Krishna-bhakta is nothing but a divine instrument of Sri Krishna . -------------Question – 4 In what ways would I be able to become an advanced devotee of Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Any wisdom you could share with me on this matter? Answer -: A true Krishna-devotee ( Vaishnava) is an eternal servant of Bhagavan Sri Krishna . ‘Saranaagathi’ ( Surrender to Sri Krishna and taking total refuge in HIM)

enables one to become a loyal Servant of the Bhagavan . The Vaishnava considers self to be a humble Servant who is lower than the lowest and his entire activities ( including personal activities and duties towards his family) are nothing but selfless offerings to Krishna . He doesn’t worry about any type of ‘advancement’ or ‘achievement’ other than serving the lotus feet of Sri Krishna and HIS devotees . In ‘Uddhava Gita’ , Bhagavan Sri Krishna has instructed His devotee

to adopt the following approach : · Do your duties to the best of your abilities , for Me without any selfish motive and remember Me at all times – before starting a work, at the completion of a task, and while inactive. · Practice to look upon all creatures as Myself in thought , word and deed ; and mentally bow down to them . · Awaken your dormant spiritual power (by Bhakti-Yoga) and perceive through the activities of mind, senses, breathing , and emotions that My power is within you at all times , and is constantly doing all the works using you as the instrument . · Although I the Supreme God can never be captured by ordinary sense perception , My devotee may use his intelligence and other faculties of perception to directly search for Me through apparent and indirectly

ascertained symptoms . Worshipping Sri Krishna as ‘Ishta Devatha’ OR ‘Personal God’ ( Most worshipped Deity) , by constantly chanting HIS names, purifies the heart by removing all past sins . When the heart becomes clean, Bhagavan Krishna resides there in the form of ‘Paramatma’ or Super Soul) . So let us take total refuge of Sri Krishna’s lotus feet , chant HIS names (Hare Krishna Mahamantra ) constantly and

selflessly perform all our duties as a service to Bhagavan . Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!!! Your eternal servant , SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev Enclosure : ‘Uddhava Gita’ -------------yochanan1983 <yochanan1983 > wrote: Hare Krishna Prabhu-jis and Mata-jis:I have some questions. Here they are:1.) How does one perform Puja to Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Is there any one or only way to worship Krishna or is there a diverse way of worshiping the Lord? (Rites, Ceremonies, life-cycle events, etc.)2.) How does one become a brahmachari? What are the benefits of being a brahmachari? 3.) Has Krishna healed or has endowed any of His devotees with miraculous signs and wonders in this modern-day era? May you give some examples of this?4.) In what ways would I be able to become an advanced devotee of

Bhagavan Sri Krishna? Any wisdom you could share with me on this matter?These questions were on my mind this weekend and I felt I would be able to receive some answers for these important questions. Thank you for allowing me to post this message. Hare Krishna.In Krishna's Love and Mercy,Yochanan Dasa Find out what India is talking about on - Answers India Send FREE SMS to your friend's mobile from Messenger Version 8. Get it NOW