krsna Posted November 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2005 Dear friends of AskTheSwami.org, please accept my dandavat pranams Do you know what is a blog? Visit asktheswami.blogspot.com and find out about it. 3 new Questions and Answers from Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti are online on AskTheSwami.org: 1) Get up Arjuna, and fight! 2) Organic Farming vs Exploitation 3) Meditation on the Ganges in Hrsikesh ------------ 1) Question: I would like to know why the enthusiasm gets lost and besides having a lot of service, there is no enthusiasm for doing it, and why, although Gurudeva is there, willing to hear, one cannot speak with him and tell him what one feels about the service, but prefers to keep quiet? 1) Answer: This question comes from the typical case of a devotee who listens too much to the mind. First we should be thankful. Next we should be compassionate. If you have no enthusiasm to help others, it means that you forget the sweet will of Lord Krishna. He said, that dearest of all to Him is the one, who takes His message to others. Just look at the example of our acaryas, they all went on with their service, despite a lot of hardship and difficulty. We should rather follow them than listening to our mind. The mind is great if it comes to cheating yourself and producing excuses for not serving and not surrendering. So the problem is common, and it will continue until you give a good kick to your mind with a lot of maha-mantra, reading the transcendental books, hearing lectures or asking for personal guidance from an advanced devotee. I think you would agree, that there are many people in this world who are much worse off then you. Do you agree? If you say: 'yes', then get out there and do something to help them, rather than to lament like an old women, because her partners for playing bridge did not show up. This life is very serious and it will never get more serious then practising devotional service, because even at the moment of death, only the Holy Name will save you. Please do not take offence of my strong reply, but sometimes only a strong reply awakens us from our sleeping conditions. visit us online!! ---------------- 2) Question: In certain regions agriculture is dominated almost exclusively by big companies. Why is it that people do not see the need of organically grown agricultural products? How do you think about it? 2) Answer: Organic food is grown in a natural way, without chemical fertilizers, without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or any other poison. And, of course, with original, unaltered, unmodified seeds. Nature provides everything to produce healthy, nutritive fruits, vegetables and grains. There are ways to produce organic fertilizers and there are also natural ways to keep unwanted insects or bugs away from the plants. Eg by planting other plants nearby, that varmints do not like. Plants are perfect as they are. They fulfill a purpose in nature. So there is absolutely no need to do speculative experiments with gene-technic on the seeds, in order to modify the plants. Especially nowadays it should be easy to distribute plenty of vegetables, fruits and cereals to all parts of the world, so that a variety of foodstuff, for a healthy nutrition, can be supplied everywhere. There are many books and homepages that offer information and education about these topics. The only thing missing is the concern of people due to the promotion of false values in society. One page we would like you to visit is the homepage of the Spoon Revolution: http://www.spoonrevolution.com/index.php Generally spoken, all ecologic, health and distribution problems arise with the consume of meat. Farmers and corporations produce more and more crops in less time, but only to feed all the livestock. More than 70% of all agricultural products is fed to livestock. A multiple of the amount of water that is needed to produce one kilogram of grains, vegetables or fruits is required to produce one kilogram of meat. So actually there is already more than enough foodstuff harvested from the fields than what is needed to feed all persons on the planet. And besides the fact that killing animals has a lot of negative consequences on people's consciousnesses, their mental welfare and health, it also exploits Mother Nature more than any other source of food. Do not stay blind before these facts! How can we expect to live happily and in harmony with the environment and ourselves, if we ignore the exploitation of animals and Mother Nature? The laws of nature demonstrate that this is simply not possible. Production to make profit at all costs is certainly based on the lack of knowledge about the laws of nature. You cannot trick nature. There is always a balance. You cannot take out more than there is. Not even with the most special tricks of scientists. Every single corn or fruit or vegetable produced needs a certain amount of water, earth and other components. Mother Nature provides quite a big stock of natural resources, but supernatural modern production methods consume huge amounts of resources, and produce a lot of pollution at the same time. So it will only be a question of time before this system will result in serious consequences; consequences like the lack of water and unfertile land. Especially in regions where forests have been cut down, we can already see that new deserts and wastelands emerge. Predictions show that the excessive waste of ground water will soon lead to drastic changes of vegetation and climate. Actually we have to start thinking about the real cost of foodstuff and consumer goods. There are many other important things involved. For example if we buy fruits that were imported from other parts of the world, mostly by big companies, the fruits have already taken up a lot of energy, like oil for transportation and administrative work. So those products are a lot more expensive for Mother Nature than locally produced foodstuff. And small farmers and local suppliers have to close because they can no longer compete with the big companies. So in this way the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. To live in equilibrium with your body and mind, and to satisfy the needs of our soul, we have to appreciate creation, and the gifts we receive from it every day. Blind efforts to make short-sighted profits is not a basis for a peaceful culture, not for now, and not for future generations. Therefore Vrinda started producing naturally grown, organic food with original, unaltered seeds in Yoga Monasteries in various parts of the world. Our Yoga Monasteries have very elevated plans and programms. The goal of Yoga Monasteries is that people can purify themselves, study Vedic scriptures, grow organic food, learn how to cook healthy, vegetarian food, called prasadam, and many more things. The preparation of organic foodstuff, and offering the preparations to the Lord before eating them, positively effects the internal and external well-being of all persons included. And the science of yoga becomes more easily accessible and understandable due to the internal balance. The customer has the power to support the production of organic food, restrict the production of genetically engineered food and the use of chemical substances simply by buying natural, organically grown foodstuff and not accepting altered food. And preferably buying directly from farmers or local stores. We have to educate and inform ourselves about how to support local communities and the consequences of buying from huge concerns. Especially in rural areas it is also possible to form agricultural communities and grow at least a healthy share of your daily food organically. As intelligent human beings we must have a higher concept in our lives than just the hunt for the cheapest products; especially when it comes to our daily alimentation. The famous saying 'you are what you eat' is very true. Noone is happy about the bad things that our parents did, and in the same way our children and future generations will not be happy with our irresponsibility towards our environment. The pleasure of human life comes from following ideals in the mode of goodness. visit us online!! ---------------- 3) Question: The Beatles and many other people went to Hrisikesh, a place at the Ganges in India, for learning the science of yoga and meditation. What is so special in this place? Have you been there? And can everyone go there? 3) Answer: Hrsikesh is the place where the Lord of Rsis, or holy men, is remembered every day. It lies in the Himalayas, in the North of India. Only in recent years I went there with a small group of devotees. We stayed at the Sand-Seva Asram, and every morning we could just go out of our room and jump into the Ganges. As you can imagine it was cold, clean and pure; the thirsty mans delight. And then we would sit there and chant, as incredible amounts of sacred water rushed by. What a joy to see, while the early morning traffic over Laksma-Yulan foot-bridge started moving. And then we had our class of Srimad Bhagavatam, morning meditation, bhajan, accompanied by holy cows and jumping fishes. Hrsikesh is a Temple City; some of the yoga ashrams there look more like five star hotels than sacred places of withdrawal from the world. But here and there and everywhere a yogi in his asana is giving his thoughts to Mother Ganga and Lord Siva, who received the Goddess on his head. And we did the beautiful Harinam-sankirtan, which Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave to the hole world. Winding roads between uncountable asrams, old yogis coming to the door and looking with suprise. Their faces deep and grave. Sometimes somewhat hardened by extensive austerities or prolonged waiting for foreign yoga students. Then all for a sudden, a deep smile flashes from their heart onto their faces. Some lift their arms and wave, 'Come in, lets have a chant together. Let's glorify Lord Hrisikesh in Hrsikesh.' Jay Nitai, jay Gaurahari, jay Prabhupada. What a relief to chant and dance and to produce joy in others. These are precious moments, not to every forget. The lila of the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Where did we go from here? We crossed over the second bridge and met a blind sadhu, a yogi who worships at least ten different Krsna-deities at the same time. Lets read from Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita he said. Obviously overjoyed, the prabhuji does not want to let us go. More chanting, more Hari-katha, but Bhaktiyoga Swami is already waiting for us. In this stronghold of sanskrit scolars, or impersonal meditators, or commercial yogis we feel so lucky to have found some devotional service at the bank of the Ganges. Another class, another kirtan, another day another month, time does not count, so do not count time. As death will simply come do devour you, absorb your life at once in the heart-felt chanting of the Holy Names and time will stop, because Lord Krsna will take you beyond time and space. Then we see a poster: 'Techno party in Hrsikesh' and I feel seperation from Sri Vrindavana dhama, the land of Srimate Radharani. Mother Ganges was jealous, because Lord Krsna bathed in His childhood pastimes in the Yamuna. Then, pleased by her prayers, the Lord appeared again as Caitanya Mahaprabhu and performed His childhood pastimes in Mayapur. Eternally united since the Triveni, Ganga and Yamuna flow tightly ambraced down, into the ocean, giving all of us life and joy and the transcendental enviroment. All these holy places should be spotlessly clean and must be protected against the noise and other Kali-yuga contaminations. If you do not push something up, it will certainly go down. All together we can do it. I hope next time I go there, I can take a big group of kirtaniyas and visit all the asrams with a message of love from the environmental comitee of the WVA (World Vaisnava Association). visit us online!! ----------------- Please do not hesitate to visit the page to read more and ask your questions. Of course we would like to invite you to share the service of the page and this newsletter with your friends and relatives. Haribol, trying to serve you more govardhan das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2005 Report Share Posted November 26, 2005 Dear friends of AskTheSwami.org, please accept my dandavat pranams 3 new Questions and Answers from Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti are online on AskTheSwami.org: 1) Yoga Monasteries - Spiritual Retreats 2) Vrinda Mission in Mayapur 3) Questions to the Spiritual Master ------------ 1) Question: What is the concept or idea of a Yoga Monastery? What is the benefit of visiting a Yoga Monastery? 1) Answer: Yoga Monasteries project a very elevated vision. Our goal is that people have the possibility to purify themselves, they can learn the sacred Vedic scriptures, vegetarian cooking, eat prasadam, and many others of the 64 known arts of Vedic Culture, like flower garlands, the clothes of the deity, flower arrangements, organic agriculture, etc. In other words, one takes care and cultivates everything that the Lord gave us. The Yoga Monasteries are places of peace, where one can redefine once again what the goal of his life is. Why are you here? What do you want to achieve in this stay on Planet Earth? We are all travelling souls, we came here just for a visit. We have to fulfill many things, we have to learn a lot of things, but we are travellers. The visit is temporarily, and later we have to continue our journey, and we have to take our wealth of consciousness, as well as the burden, or committed mistakes, with us. In this way, the Yoga Monastery is a place of purification. It is a place to open your heart. It is a place where you can find yourself, and get to know which are your brothers and sisters in this world. A Yoga Monastery is an embassy of the eternal world. Simple living, high thinking; with relations in harmony, where one learns to serve. Spiritual science is being perfected when one learns to serve. Normally, in this material world, everybody is very expert in serving himself, but in a Yoga Monastery one learns to serve Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord in the heart of everyone, the creator and maintainer of everyone; He, who makes us brothers and sisters, He, who gave us the chance to purify and get to know ourselves. That is what our spiritual master tought us. In practice, these are places where one can participate and follow Vedic ideals. There is no need to be in anxiety. One can live a beautiful life, in a spiritual surrounding. Of course, in this world there are lots of duties to fulfill, to make oneself util in human society. But that is often also the cause of agitation and uncertainty in people. Therefore, in a Yoga Monastery one learns to live and to be happy as you are and with that what you have got. You will discover that happiness is something very important and distinct. It is not something you can buy in a supermarket. This security cannot even be found in material wealth, nor in beauty, nor in the health of our body. But it is an internal, superior wellbeing; unreachable by greediness, envy, lust, frevor and other negative impulses that keep us tied to this material world. In this way, a Yoga Monastery is a school of preparation. Spending a week or a month in a Yoga Monastery, one learns to serve, one learns to give. And that is the most important thing one has to know. And nowadays persons do not know what to do when they have grown old. In that golden age, they can also come to Yoga Monasteries, or they can travel from one Yoga Monastery to another. That too is a very fortunate life. It is called the life of a sannyasi, of a renunciate; who travels and visits persons, knocking on their doors and reminding them of beautiful places, not so far away. The Yoga Monasteries are places that exist so that people can learn the beauty of their being, the development of their individual consciousness. That is what we are trying; to create this kind of atmosphere in our Yoga Monasteries. And that is a model which can be repeated; hopefully infinitely. Because this world, its beauty, the sounds of nature, the sound of rivers and the waves of the ocean, the wind in the flowers and plants, all we see here, are places to be very close to the Supreme Lord in his universal form. Appreciate it, feel Mother Earth giving her benedictions. That is the way how we can find ourselves. Because in reality our life is exactly for this purpose: to learn about spiritual love. visit us online!! ---------------- 2) Question: There were some projects of Vrinda in Mayapur some time ago. What is the mission of Vrinda in Mayapur now? 2) Answer: Mayapur is the place where Lord Chaitanya appeared. I have a great desire to serve the dham-vasis and all the holy Vaisnavas who live there, with an increased presence of the WVA. Actually, since the time of the WVA-festivals at Srivas-angam, we felt great joy to participate in the development of Mayapur-dham. At one point the police was called to stop a meeting of the WVA. Because of some dispute of influence over Srivas-angam, the police was ordered to stop the festival, and they where looking for the foreigner who organized the event. I was hiding inside and thinking: "Mahaprabhu, what to do, what to do". But as the confusion increased outside, I decided to face the matter personally. I Asked: "Who is the police officer in charge?" They brought me to a man who was around 45 years of age, and I asked him: "Are you from a hindu-vaisnava family?" He moved his head in approval. Then I said: "This place is called "khol bhanga danga" - the place where the cand khasi stopped the kirtan and broke the mrdanga, 500 years ago. Today many great devotees of Mahaprabhu are going to come here and deliver hari-katha. Do you really want to stop that? What could be the reason? He said: "I got orders to stop this event." I told him: "Just tell your authorities, that you did not meet anybody here. Tomorrow this festival is over and nobody will be here anymore. I beg you, do not disturb the sankirtan-yajna. He smiled and sat down on a chair. After an hour or so, sitting with his 10 police officers, and watching many pilgrims comming to see the exibits and books on the book fare, he called his man and they disappeared with a smile on their face. Srila BP Puri Maharaja gave me the charge of the samadhi mandir of Bhakti Saudha Asrama Maharaja, right next to the Lion´s Gate at the entry of Mayapur. I was so happy about the trust my siksa guru had put in me, to be able to take care of this place. Unfortunately we lost this place later due to some illegal falsification of documents, done by somebody who was greedy to take money from the foreign devotees. Since I did not receive clear papers, I could not do anything to protect our service there. I saw it was very difficult as a foreigner to deal with the local Bengalis and their ruthlessly defendend interests. Another attempt to safe an old and broken temple in the Hulaghat area failed, because many negative elements in the area preferred to keep this temple for their illicit business. They showed up with many people and threw out the brahmacari I had positioned there, before the restauration had started. Mayapur is a great adventure. Even though there are many pure devotees with their incredible asrams, there are also other people without any sacred motives. I still pray that one day we may be able to establish a beautiful branch or Vrinda there. Between the Ganges and the Saraswati is a very nice area, where the sweet water dolphins jump continuously. I am waiting for a sign from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that it is time for us to do there some service again. In the meantime we stay with our friends when we go there, like Upendra prabhu of Vamana pukur, in the Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha or the Caitanya Gaudiya Matha. One of the reasons we need a temple of our own, is that we need a place to have soft and sweets kirtans and bhajans. In most temples they slam the huge kartalas and gongs and ring the bell so loudly, that one can not even hear what song they are singing. The pain in my ear drums order me to depart immediately. And most of my friends and myself just cannot tolerate the incredible amount of hot chillies in almost any preperation. So we need our own kitchen too. And then we want to hear classes in our respective languages. That is very necessary in order to go deep into the meaning of bhajan, hari-katha and parikrama. What can I do? These are some conditionings we drag around. I shared my feeling about the deafening sounds with some senior vaisnavas, and to my surprise they said to me, that they themselves suffered from it from the beginning. That where Sripa Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Mahraja and Hrsikes Maharaja, who has just started his mission opposite of Caitanya Matha. And how surprised was I to hear, that Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura prohibited the use of Chillis in his temples. Well, I hope indian devotees follow him more seriously in other respects. :-) Anyway, it is good to know that you are not alone. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and the Holy Dham of his appearance ki jay! Also there are other wonderful areas in the dham, such as Godruma. I am not so fond of the site of Navadvip town, because it is too much city atmosphere there. And really the feeling of Mahaprabhu and Nityananda prabhu becomes more intense without any modern distraction. I pray to Lord Gauranga that we will be allowed to serve Him there once again and also that the Holy Land may be kept up in the purest and cleanest way, by all of us. Our work in the WVA is to create new levels of communication to discover and defend common goals amongst all vaisnava missions. And what better place could be there to rejoice in this new form of cooperation than the place where the Lord of love appeared personally. Anyway, it is very delightful to see new vaisnava missions appear and open their branches somewhere on the nine islands of Navadvip. If someone has a good idea, how to make some Vrinda center there, feel free to contact me. visit us online!! ---------------- 3) Question: Could you please say how to treat this kind of situation: my mind presents a big problem to me but after chanting the Holy Names, or hearing one of your classes, the problem disappeared or has become much smaller. But then, once again, the problem may grow very quickly and there is my dilemma: is a disciple supposed to bother his spiritual master with solving his mental problems, or should he try to solve them by himself, by chanting and hearing classes? What about asking questions to the spiritual master? When or which questions should be asked and which questions should not be asked? 3) Answer: Your question is very important. Thank you very much for giving me the chance to speak about this topic. If we have a question and we can not find a solution, neither through chanting nor through hearing classes than we can ask an older devotee or the spiritual master. I started AskTheSwami.org with the help of Govardhana prabhu in order to always remain available for those who connect to my spiritual family, as well as for others who would like to hear my opinion on any given topic. And questions which are interesting for many people, we publish on the web to share them with others who might have the same question. Hearing and chanting is the bonafide process of removing our mental difficulties. If there are no more difficulties you must have achieved self realization. That can only be expected after some incredible effort, or due to some incredible mercy. Once Srila Prabhupada said that all his disciples, who are engaged in selfless service, are actually self-realized. So we should always try to remain well-situated in the service of our spiritual master. Then we live a very elevated life. And if we avoid to offend other Vaisnavas we may actually achieve true "nista", firmly dedicated life. Any conversation for the sake of spiritual progress is blessed. I feel myself very fortunate that I can participate very frequently in this type of conversations. So do not feel worried if questions are bothering you. They give you a good chance to engage in hari-katha. But also be patient. Some things can only be unterstood when mercy descends. For that mercy we should always pray very humbly. And we should be eager to serve, eager to become an instrument of Lord Krishna's love. Then our capacity of hearing will increase incredibly. visit us online!! ----------------- Please do not hesitate to visit the page to read more and ask your questions. Of course we would like to invite you to share the service of the page and this newsletter with your friends and relatives. Haribol, trying to serve you more govardhan das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2005 Report Share Posted November 26, 2005 I always feel so enlivened after hearing from Swami Sriman Paramadvaiti. Clear, concise, completely in accordance with guru-shastra-sadhu, and presented with a great feeling of compassion for those inquiring from him. I feel greatly fortunate to associate with this wonderful preacher of Krsna Consciousness at this late stage of life, via the internet medium. Thanks for your posting on a regulkar basis, Krsna das, you do nice service here, and though Im not inclined to lavish praise on you like this, I am required to thank you for what you present and distribute for my personal spiritual benefit on the net. ys in cooperation, mahaksadasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krsna Posted November 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 Usually praise is poison, but this is different as it is praise for the service which is encouraging as if it came from Supersoul. All glories to Sri Guru and Gouranga, yours in the service of Vaisnavas, krsna das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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