Gaura Purnima

[Guest guest]

The avatar of Sri Krsna is truly glorious! All glories unto Sri Gauranga, krsna in the mood of srimati Radharani! Haribol!

All glories unto the advent of the Golden avatara, who is freely distributing love of godhead without discrimination!

Haribol!

Sri Sri Krsna Caitnaya ki JAYA!

Sri Sri Panca Tattva ki JAYA!

Sri Sri Radha Mahdava ashta sakhi ki JAYA!

Sri Sri Gaura Purnima ki JAYA!!!

Gauranga!

Gauranga!

Gauranga!

just by chanting the names of gauranga, a lame man can walk and a blind man can see...

[Savyasaci]

beautifulll, i thank the heavens sustainer for letting me to know about Him.

 

a lecture by His Hollines Praladhananda Swami After Goura-pournima preparations in Mayapuri.

 

Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

February 19, 2006

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.17

Speaker: HH Prahladananda Swami

__

na yatra kalo 'nimisam parah prabhuh

kuto nu deva jagatam ya isire

na yatra sattvam na rajas tamas ca

na vai vikaro na mahan pradhanam

TRANSLATION: In that transcendental state of labdhopasanti, there is no

supremacy of devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods

who are empowered to rule over mundane creatures. (And what to speak of the

demigods themselves?) Nor is there the mode of material goodness, nor

passion, nor ignorance, nor even the false ego, nor the material Causal

Ocean, nor the material nature.

PURPORT: Devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods by its

manifestations of past, present and future, does not act on the

transcendental plane. The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of

birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material

conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to

the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears

to us to be fabulous. Insurmountable time even brings about the death of

Brahma, so what to speak of other demigods like Indra, Candra, Surya, Vayu

and Varuna? The astronomical influence directed by the different demigods

over mundane creatures is also conspicuous by its absence. In material

existence, the living entities are afraid of Satanic influence, but for a

devotee on the transcendental plane there is no such fear at all. The living

entities change their material bodies in different shapes and forms under

the influence of the different modes of material nature, but in the

transcendental state the devotee is guna-tita, or above the material modes

of goodness, passion and ignorance. Thus the false ego of "I am the lord of

all I survey" does not arise there. In the material world the false ego of

the living being trying to lord it over the material nature is something

like the moth's falling in a blazing fire. The moth is captivated by the

glaring beauty of the fire, and when he comes to enjoy it, the blazing fire

consumes him. In the transcendental state the living being is pure in his

consciousness, and as such he has no false ego to lord it over the material

nature. Rather, his pure consciousness directs him to surrender unto the

Supreme Lord, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (7.19): vasudevah sarvam iti sa

mahatma sudurlabhah. All this indicates that in the transcendental state

there is neither material creation nor the Causal Ocean for material nature.

The above-mentioned state of affairs is factual on the transcendental plane,

but is factually revealed in a transcendentalist's knowledge of the advanced

state of pure consciousness. Such transcendentalists are of two types,

namely the impersonalists and the devotees. For the impersonalist the

ultimate goal or destination is the brahmajyoti of the spiritual sky, but

for the devotees the ultimate goal is the Vaikuntha planets. The devotees

experience the above-mentioned state of affairs by attainment of spiritual

forms for activity in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. But the

impersonalist, because of his neglecting the association of the Lord, does

not develop a spiritual body for spiritual activity, but remains a spiritual

spark only, merged in the effulgent spiritual rays of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. The Lord is the full-fledged form of eternity, bliss

and knowledge, but the formless brahmajyoti is simply eternity and

knowledge. The Vaikuntha planets are also forms of eternity, bliss and

knowledge, and therefore the devotees of the Lord, who are admitted into the

abode of the Lord, also get bodies of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As such

there is no difference between one and another. The Lord's abode, name,

fame, entourage, etc., are of the same transcendental quality, and how this

transcendental quality differs from the material world is explained herewith

in this verse. In the Bhagavad-gita, three principal subjects have been

explained by Lord Sri Krsna, namely karma-yoga, jnana-yoga and bhakti-yoga,

but one can reach the Vaikuntha planets by the practice of bhakti-yoga only.

The other two are incompetent in helping one reach the Vaikunthalokas,

although they can, however, conveniently take one to the effulgent

brahmajyoti, as described above.

 

(namo om, etc.)

Here in Srimad Bhagavatam it explains what's not in the spiritual world. For

one who is going to miss old age, disease, death, the modes of material

nature, devastating time, etc, the spiritual world is not a very good place

to go. Unfortunately, due to our long association with the material nature,

we actually like being in the material world, to some extent because it is

our nature that we are worshipers. We are by nature devotees, dasa. So dasa

is our eternal nature, and now, we have become devoted to so many material

bodies.

Actually in the present time, this body that we are in has become our

worshipable deity. We wake up in the morning and immediately we look in the

mirror and we ask the mirror, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the

greatest of them all?"

The mirror immediately responds by saying, "Isn't it obvious?"[laughter]

With that enthusing comment, we proceed to perform our puja. We do our

abhiseka. Those who are very dedicated, in the mode of goodness, to our

bodies, they take a shower. We make our plan how many offerings a day, what

we will prepare for the deity. We immediately begin to decorate the deity

and put clothes on it, different perfumes. Then we go out to spread the

glories of the deity, see how many bhaktas we can get and how many demons we

have to slay today. This is our nature. And most of us are on the platform

of nistha. We are fixed. Even a thought of deviating for a moment from our

unalloyed love for our body makes us very much disturbed. Even Mother Yasoda

may have to learn a few things from how carefully we protect our bodies,

from how much anxiety we get into from any threat to our body.

Therefore, Krsna consciousness, of course, is meant to convince us that

there is a better alternative to worshiping a dead body. Although the body

is already dead, somehow or another, we are thinking that the body is alive

and we are afraid in the future it might die, although at every moment it is

dying. One has to become convinced that the soul is by nature a worshipper

of Krsna and by worshiping Krsna, whatever one is actually looking for,

which is namely knowledge and how to be eternally happy.

As I once mentioned, when Srila Prabhupada came to Buffalo in 1969 and there

were a few devotees in the temple, in the first class, he asked the devotees

there, he said, "Do you want to become happy?"

Since no one had asked such a profound question before, no one knew the

answer. No one dared to say yes. [laughter]

Then Prabhupada looked very concerned, so he asked the same question again,

"Don't you want to become happy?"

Everyone was very busily trying to figure out what the correct answer could

be, but no one said anything, so Prabhupada looked even more concerned.

He asked for the third time, "Don't you want to become happy?"

Then one devotee took a guess, and he said, "Yes."

Prabhupada gave a big sigh of relief and said, "Oh, that is very good."

[laughter]

People don't know why they're suffering so much. In the material world,

there are four purusarthas, namely, dharma, artha, kama, and moksa, but in

the present age, people don't know what dharma is. They don't know how

material nature is working. They don't know what the goal is, mainly to get

out of the material life. Instead, they are absorbed in so-called economic

development. One time Prabhupada was asked that here in the western world,

where he was speaking, or even in the modern world, India, now it is all

over the world, they don't perform sacrifice, practically everyone is

sinful, so why is it they have so much money, so much economic development?

Prabhupada's response was, "They don't have economic development, they don't

even know what economic development is." Actually, economic development

means good food. Even the billionaires with so much money, they don't eat as

well as the poverty stricken devotees. They can't even conceive of how the

devotees are eating. And annad bhavanti bhutani parjanyad anna-sambhavah,

because the devotees know how to perform sacrifice, therefore Krsna is

providing nice prasad. And economic development means clean air, fresh air.

Not that you go to city like Tokyo and you have to find out where they are

selling air on the street. That is not economic development.

And fresh water; believe it or not, within the realm of history, there used

to be a time when people used to not have to buy bottled water. [laughter]

It seems like it must have been ancient history, but there was actually

historical time that people could actually drink the water from the tap.

Economic development also means nice relationships between people. Not that

there's no more marriage in some places, there's only partnership, because

people don't believe, what to speak of happily-ever-after, they don't even

believe it's going to be for a few years at the most. Even within so-called

marriage life, they can't even relate to each other. They can't even

understand why they have these children.

One devotee who works for the Department for Human Resources in one of the

states in Australia was telling me that his wife, she does investigations.

She actually goes to the different houses and places where there is report

of child abuse. In a country which has around nineteen million people, and

in that state, it has maybe two or three million people, every month there

are eight hundred to a thousand reports of child abuse. And those are the

reported child abuses. So that's progress. That's how we're loving our

children. That's the direction of this economic development, where people

take care of their cars better than they take care of their children. If you

report an abuse of their dog, they'd be immediately arrested and there would

be a big scandal, but if you abuse your children it is normal, practically.

And what to speak of peace, freedom from fear, everyone is in anxiety. They

don't know if they are going to get anything to eat tomorrow if they say the

wrong thing, the government may come and arrest them, call in the terrorists

or they may lose their jobs or someone may become disturbed at that.

Everyone is in constant anxiety or fear. So where is the progress? In a

place where people can't eat, they can't even sleep. The people who have the

most money have the most trouble sleeping. They have to take a pill to go to

sleep, they have to take a pill to wake up, and they have to take a pill to

counteract the effects of the two pills they just took. [laughter] So what

is the progress? Where is the economic development? They consider it

barbaric to live in the country and breathe clean air, to eat fresh food, to

be peaceful, to not be in anxiety to get more and more and more.

"So much wealth do I have and by my schemes I'm going to get more and more

and more. So much is mine and in the future I'll get more." And what does

that lead to? "He is my enemy - I'll kill him and my other enemies will also

be killed. I'm the lord of everything. I'm perfect. This body is the deity -

follow it or you're finished. Surrender:

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah

I am perfect, I am powerful, and I am happy. I'll go to work twenty-four

hours a day and make money and with that money I'll buy paradise. I'll put a

deposit on a Vaikuntha planet. The goddess of fortune will come to live with

me and we'll have so many expansions, plenary and partial. All the ones who

make it to Harvard, they're my plenary expansions and the ones who can't

make it past public school, they're my partial expansions. [laughter] I'll

get my Garuda and go to the fourteen cities and spread my glories

everywhere."

So this is material life, everyone is working hard for the so-called

happiness of material life. So here it is mentioned that there is no

happiness in material life.

ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga duhkha-yonaya eva te

ady-antavantah kaunteya na tesu ramate budhah

"An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which

are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures

have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them."

Just like, say we were going fishing. We're not, it's just an example. And

we take along our rod and our reel and the tackle and the bait and the hook.

We throw the line in the water and at the end of the line there's a big hook

and some bait. Immediately, there are so many fish swimming to get the bait.

The big macho fishes are bumping each other out of the way, "I'm going to

get it first!" Lo and behold, one fish grabs the bait and enjoys and then

gets hooked. Then the fisherman reels up the line, grabs hold of the fish,

cuts him open, throws him on to the frying pan and he gets fried. He thought

he was going to enjoy, but actually, he got fried. So that's material life.

Maya says, "Come and enjoy, come and enjoy," and the result is that people

get fried. There are so many animals, the hunter in the forest blows his

horn, plays on his flute, and all the deer crowd around, "Wow listen to that

concert, that is sweet." And lo and behold - Bang! "Wasn't as good as I

thought."

The elephant, they take a she-elephant and put it one side of the pit, and

the elephant says, "Wow, there she is, true love!" And he runs towards the

elephant and "boom", he's in the hole.

tat sadhu manye 'sura-varya dehinam

sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat

hitvatma-patam grham andha-kupam

vanam gato yad dharim asrayeta

He's in the hole. The animals can show us what is the result of becoming

attached to the senses, but the human being is not only attached to one

sense, he is attached to so many senses, all the senses. I remember one time

I was sitting on an airplane and the man next to me was eating the meal,

which was unmentionable. At the same time, he was smoking a cigarette while

he was eating a meal. [laughter] At the same time, he had his earphones on

and I could hear music: "Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam". [laughter] At the same time,

he was watching the movie. And at the same time, he was talking to me,

telling me how much anxiety he was in. [laughter] So people have a solution,

but

matir na krsne paratah svato va

mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-vratanam

They don't know the aim of life. They're trying to solve their problems, but

they don't do it in a Krsna conscious way because they are fixed in this

idea that somehow or other, if I solve the problems of the body, then I'll

become happy. But there's no end to the problems of the body. The more one

tries to solve the problems of the body, especially if it's not done in a

proper way, then the more problems they get. Because they don't know dharma,

they don't know that the goal is moksa. Therefore, their solutions simply

cause more and more anxiety, more and more problems, less and less

happiness.

na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum

durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah

They don't know that the goal is to reach Krsna. They are being led by blind

leaders.

Therefore the solution is naisam matis tavad urukramanghrim, the solution is

that the devotees who have this knowledge, who actually know how to live

peacefully, happily, sanely on the material platform, or at least know what

to eat, who know the solution to life, they have to inform people by their

example, by their experience, by their preaching, what is the actual goal of

life and how to achieve it. Otherwise, we can see that due to the absence of

knowledge in material society, people and suffering and their suffering is

ever-increasing. Srila Prabhupada said if you light a match in a dark room,

the darkness cannot put out the match. So ti is simply a question of

preaching this philosophy, preaching this knowledge, and those who are

sincere, those who are half sane, they will be able to appreciate it and

there will be true progress in society towards the actual goal of life and

the actual knowledge of how to achieve it.

So thank you very much.

[applause]

Are there any questions? Or a question? OK, thank you very much. Grantharaj

Srimad-Bhagavatam ki jai, Srila Prabhupada ki jai, gaura-premanande!

[Guest guest]

a question please, we fast from even water today, but when we have mangala arati in the morning, do i brake the fast by having acaman?

[Guest guest]

any one that can help me with this?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Acamana can be taken as it is for the Lord's service. Caranamrita can also be taken, three drops to respect the Lord.

[Guest guest]

so if its total fast, even from water its ok to take achaman?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Yes, because you are doing this for Bhagavan's seva, not for satisfying your thirst. By chanting the mantras and touching the water to the toungue you are purifying your body prior to worship.

 

Would you avoid brushing your teeth as well?

[Guest guest]

thanx!

[Guest guest]

exactly. acamana is for service. by doing it we can go on the altar. exactly as jndas prabhu said. its not for the tongue but to be used in krsna's worship.

its especially enjoyable on those fast days hehe;)

 

(just kidding)

 

haribol