a cook

a cook is cooking for the master. The cook tries his best to make the best food and the master comes to the table to eat and he doesn’t even look at what he cooked. He eats something else. How does the cook feel? “Well, I tried my best. I cooked in the best possible way. I thought it was the most delicious food, but it’s up to him whether he will eat it or not. It’s up to him.” So that is the point of being a master and the servant, or the servant of the master. So the devotee’s attitude is just like that. Marobi rakhobi – jo ichha tohara, whatever you do with me it is up to You. [Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Saranagati, song: Manasa Deho Geho] Not that, “Oh Krishna, I have become Your devotee, why You’re killing me?!” No, devotee means, “Whatever You want I will do. You have complete control over me. You have all the rights over me. So You do whatever You want to do with me.” And that is the meaning of surrender. Surrender, surrender means completely dependent upon You, completely given over to You. You do whatever You want to do with me.
So that is the secret of pure devotional service: total surrender. And total surrender means try your best, but depend upon Krishna. Do it, try to execute it to the best of your ability but always remember that you are nothing without Krishna’s mercy. But on the other hand, to think that, “Oh, I am so capable. I have done that, so why You are removing me from this position? I have done everything. It is my creation.” That means false ego. That means maya;  “I am the doer. I have done that.”

the perception of a pure devotee

we can see the Lord in the heart. We can see how the different living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can see how some living entities have rejected the Lord and, as a result of that, they are suffering in this material nature. And we can also see how the Lord is lamenting, how the Lord is inflicted, how the Lord is feeling the pain that these living entities have gone away from Him. And therefore, a devotee wants to bring those living entities back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That’s why he is engaged in preaching.
The point is, this is not just an imaginary perception. That is the difference between a devotee and the impersonalist. The impersonalist will try to say that sarvam khalvidam brahman, everything is Brahman. [Chandogya Upanishad 2.14.1] Yes, everything is the manifestation of the spiritual energy but they do not see the variegatedness or individual’s personality and individual’s individual characteristics. They cannot see that. Similarly, if somebody says, “Oh, you are Krishna”, no, the devotee never says, “You are Krishna.” He sees Krishna but he doesn’t think that everybody is Krishna. Rather, he sees in relation to Krishna. Like, for example, I know that this finger is a part of my body but no one will say that this finger is the body. Just this finger by itself is not the body. It is just a part of the body. Similarly we have to see the difference between the part and the whole. A living entity is a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A living entity is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So a devotee’s perception is not imaginary, not speculative but real. And it is in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead from a real context. Yes, the Lord is present in the heart, therefore a devotee sees the Lord in the heart of all the living entities.
The wise man’s perception has been described in Bhagavad-gita as
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
[Bg 5.18]
A brahmana who is qualified, very qualified, very exalted brahmana, vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmana, gavi hastini, a cow, an elephant, and suni caiva sva-pake ca, a dog and sva-pake is a dog eating chandala, he sees sama-darsinah, he sees them as equal. He sees them equal. That doesn’t mean that he thinks that an elephant is a dog and a dog is a chandala. [laughs] No, he sees a dog as a dog. He sees an elephant as an elephant. He sees a brahmana as a brahmana, in their respective positions, but sama-darsinah. Why sama-darsinah? Is a dog and an elephant equal? Is a brahmana and a chandala equal? No, they are not equal. Qualitatively they are different but his perception is equal because he is not seeing their external material condition, rather they are seeing their spiritual identity. They are seeing them from their spiritual identity, in relation to their spiritual identity. They are all spirit souls. One spirit soul is in a certain situation, he is a brahmana. His activities, his past karma, his background has situated him in this platform, in this particular body. Another personality is a chandala, meaning the lowest of mankind, absorbed in very, very undesirable activities. And he sees the cow, also he sees that the cow she is also a spirit soul. An elephant is also a spirit soul. A dog is also a spirit soul. A snake is also a spirit soul. They are all spirit souls but according to their conditioning, according to their material involvement they are situated in different types of bodies. And then he goes even deeper. Then he sees that how the living entities became separated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They shouldn’t be separated. They should be situated along with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the spiritual sky, but unfortunately they have become separated. Why they became separated? Because of their perverted mentality. And because of becoming separated from the Lord look at their condition: in the material world they are undergoing so many types of sufferings.
So that is the perception of a pure devotee. And then he also sees that the inert objects, not only he is seeing the Lord, or seeing everything in relationship with the Lord, only the living entities, but he is also seeing the inert objects. And he sees how these inert objects can be engaged in the service of the Lord. “Oh, there is a nice mridanga. So let’s just get it and engage it in Krishna’s service.” Or there is a very nice saying, the perception of a devotee, he sees some vultures in the sky and he becomes very happy. Now who becomes happy seeing a vulture? Because vultures are very inauspicious animals, very inauspicious birds. Vultures bring all inauspiciousness, but a pure devotee sees a vulture flying in the sky, hovering – sometimes we see some vultures are hovering in the sky, clustered together – he becomes happy. Why? Because he knows that there is a dead cow. Now, again, a dead cow also is not a very pleasant sight, but he becomes happy. Why? Because now he thinks that, “I’ll take the skin of the cow and I’ll make a mridanga and I’ll sing the glory of the Lord.” So that is the perception of a devotee. Therefore it is very difficult to understand the perception of a devotee, vaishnavera kriya-mudra vijne na bujhaya. Even a very learned person cannot understand the activities and mentality of a Vaishnava, a devotee of the Lord, because he sees everything in relationship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He sees everything in the light of how everything can be engaged in spreading the glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So that is the perception of a pure devotee. To be in a most advanced stage means to be situated in a certain platform by developing a certain outlook, a certain attitude, a certain mentality. That is a pure devotee. And then Prabhupada in the purport is pointing out another very wonderful aspect of this perception, that Brahma, not only he will see from his perspective, but Brahma also will see according to the Lord’s pastimes. During his day the Lord will appear. Once in a day of Brahma Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears on the twenty eighth chaturyuga in the Dvapara yuga, Krishna appears. And in those pastimes Krishna will have some wonderful exchange with Brahma. He will allow Brahma to see so many wonderful things.
Like, for example, one day Brahma will see that this little boy, who is only about seven years old – no not even seven, He was about six years old at that time – this pastime took place even before lifting of Govardhana, when He was about six years old. He is tending the cows. He just started to tend the cows, take the calves to the pasturing ground. So one day Brahma saw that this little boy killed Aghasura. This little boy Krishna killed a terrible demon called Aghasura. So he was very surprised because Aghasura was such a powerful demon that even the demigods were afraid of Aghasura. Not only afraid, they used to tremble just by hearing the name of Aghasura. And Aghasura was not only very powerful but he was practically immortal. Nobody could kill Aghasura.
Brahma was seeing Krishna as a little boy due to the arrangement of Yogamaya. Sometimes Yogamaya bewilders the perception of a devotee so that he can have a very intimate, loving exchange with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yogamaya, maya means forgetfulness, forgetfulness, not seeing things as they actually are. That’s called maya (illusion).

bonafide teacher..........

The first six chapters of Bhagavad-gita are dealing with karma, the second six chapters are dealing with Bhakti and the third six chapters are dealing with jnana. Now, one may say, that means karma and then Bhakti and then ultimately jnana? No, that is not the real understanding. The real understanding is, when you have something very valuable, where do you keep it? Do you keep it outside or keep it in the middle? You protect it. So that is what Krishna did.

although Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He gave the knowledge, but we cannot really converse with Krishna. Like knowledge is based on question and answers. When you don’t understand, what do you do? You have to ask. You have to present :”Well, can you please explain this or what I cannot understand?” Now, we can’t do that with Krishna. Therefore Krishna’s representatives are there who we can ask and who can explain it to us. And that representative of Krishna is the spiritual master. So, we need a spiritual master to ask questions to who can dispel our doubts. But his qualification is that he simply repeats what Krishna has said. He doesn’t concoct something new. And that is why he is a bona fide representative of Krishna. Like for example, you can take a book. But can you master the subject just by reading the book yourself? It is practically impossible. For example if you want to become a doctor. There are so many books on that science. But just by studying those books, can you become a doctor? No. but you go to the faculty university, medical science, and you study under the guidance of the teachers. And, after three, four or five years, you become a qualified doctor. Because you understood the subject. What is present in the books, has been simplified by this people, the teachers. And that is how you have mastered the subject. Similarly the spiritual knowledge also must be received through the guidance of a bona fide teacher. And those bona fide teachers are the spiritual masters. And their qualification is, that they represent Krishna. They present the way, the knowledge has been given by Krishna. And they have received to knowledge as it has been presented by Krishna, because they have received it from a person who had mastered the subject himself.

how come this superior energy is weaker than the inferior energy?

how come this superior energy is weaker than the inferior energy?

The living entities are from the superior energy and material nature is inferior. Then how come the superior energy, the living entities come under the control of the material nature? The living entities are not superior energy as such. They are from the superior energy. But they are minute. Whereas material nature although it is inferior by nature or characteristic, it is Krishnas own potency. Daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya. (7.14) Living entities therefore had been classified as marginal. There are two energies: inferior energy and superior energy. External energy, internal energy. And in between there is the marginal energy, the living entities. The living entities are from the marginal energy. Marginal means, they have the option open to them. Whether they want to go to the inferior energy or whether they want to go to the superior energy. If they surrender to Krishna then they will be in the superior nature. If they reject Krishna, then they will be in the inferior nature. The simple option is open to them.

What is Bhagavad-Gita?

What is Bhagavad-Gita? Bhagavad-Gita is the essence of the Vedas. The Vedas are vast, therefore Vyasadeva considered, or Krishna actually considered, that the essence of the Vedas should be given, presented for the conditioned souls, for the fallen degraded souls of the age of Kali. And that’s why He presented that in the Mahabharata, in the form of advising Arjuna. At a very critical time when the battle of Kurukshetra was about to begin, at that time Arjuna decided not to fight. He dropped his bow and arrows and he told Krishna, ‘Krishna I cannot fight in that way.’ And at that time Krishna started to advise Arjuna. And that advice that Krishna gave is the Bhagavad-Gita.
Why Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight? There are two reasons. One is, this battle was Krishna’s arrangement. You remember that verse, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata? (4.7) Then what does Krishna do? Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam.(4.8) Krishna protects the sadhus, Krishna protects the devotees and he annihilates the demons. Therefore Krishna made that arrangement. During His Vrindavana pastimes He killed all the demons, then He left Vrindavana and went to Mathura and killed Kamsa. And then He killed many, many demons one after another. Then He made many other demons to be killed by His devotees like Bhima and Arjuna. And then finally that battle was arranged where all the demons put in one side and all devotees on the other side. And He caused a mass annihilation in order to re-establish dharma. Now, all this battle was arranged and now Arjuna said that he is not going to fight. That is why Krishna wanted to provoke Arjuna.
Another reason is, that all the endeavours were made by so many devotees to stop the battle. So many learned, wise individuals advised them. Vyasadeva personally came to advise Duryodhana. Bhisma told, Vidura told, Gandhari told – but Duryodhana was adamant. Finally Krishna Himself went as a messenger with a peace proposal. But Duryodhana what to speak of listening to Him, he decided to arrest Krishna. He thought if Krishna is not there with the Pandavas, then the Pandavas will become absolutely week and to win over them will be easy for us. So he thought that he will arrest Krishna. At that time Krishna showed His universal form.
All the efforts had already been made, and Duryodhana was adamant, completely adamant to fight the battle. And now when the battle is all set, after all these efforts of peace proposals, then Arjuna said that he will not fight. So Krishna started to advice Arjuna about Bhagavad-Gita. And the apparent objective of Bhagavad-Gita was to provoke Arjuna into the battle. But the ulterior purpose of Bhagavad-gita is to give it to us, so that we can receive that knowledge. That has been very wonderfully described in the Gita-mahatmya. ‘Sarvopanishado gavo dogdha Gopalanandanaha, vatsaha partho sudhirbhokta dugdham Gitamritam mahat. Sarvopanishado gavo. All the Upanishads are like a cow and Krishna is the cowherd boy who milks the cow, making Arjuna the object of that milking. The cow gives milk for the sake of the calf. Because of the calf the cow gives the milk. But the calf doesn’t drink all the milk. Who drinks the milk? Human beings drink milk.  So here Arjuna is the nimitte. Arjuna is the objective through whom the Gita was presented. But who drinks this Bhagavad-gita? This nectar of Bhagavad-Gita? Su-dhih. Those, who have very advanced intelligence. Those, who have very beautiful intelligence,. This word ‘su’ can indicates ‘sundara’ which is beautiful intelligence; another is advanced intelligence. People with advanced intelligence can relish Bhagavad-Gita. So that is the purpose of Bhagavad-Gita and in this way, Krishna actually derives the essence of the Vedas.
The Vedas have two branches: one branch is Upanishads and the other branch is Puranas. So the essence of Upanishads is Bhagavad-gita and the essence of all the Puranas is the Srimad Bhagavatam. That is why these two scriptures are absolutely essential. If anybody wants to understand the wisdom of the Vedas, the teachings of the Vedas, then these are the two scriptures that are absolutely essential. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu established these teachings through Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. All our Acaryas have done that and finally Srila Prabhupada also established the Krishna Consciousness movement on the basis of these two scriptures. You see the importance of these two scriptures. In the morning we study Srimad Bhagavatam and in the evening we study Bhagavad-Gita. So in this way Srila Prabhupada established the importance of these two scriptures. Bhagavad-Gita is very, very important. Bhagavad-Gita is a preliminary study. You begin your spiritual study with Bhagavad-gita. And then the advanced course is Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Bhagavad gita

Essence of Bhagavad gita - what is the bhagavad gita about- the bhagavad gita as it is- bg as it is

 Bhagavad gita is a part of Mahabharata and Atharvaveda is a holy book of Hindu. Lord Krishna answers  to Arjuna's questions (common man like us). Basically it answers to five common questions which is called Artha panchakam. They are:

1.  Who am I? (Jeevathma Svarupam)

2.  Who created me? (Paramathma Svarupam)

3.  Why I born? (Virodhi Svarupam)

4.  Which is Dharma (good action)? (Upaya Svarupam)

5.  What is the use of this birth? (Prapya Svarupam)

1.  Who am I? (Jeevathma Svarupam)

I am not my name.

I am not a body.

I am not mind .

I am a soul (Jeevathma)

Properties of soul:

1)No birth/No death, 

2)Doesn't undergo any change, 

3)Made of knowledge, 

4)We can't see, 

5)Only if it combined with body it can enjoy the joy and sad, 

6)It lies in your heart, 

7)Every soul is equal, 

8) It is a slave for God.Like your body is slave for your soul, it is doing work for you. Like that you need to work for god.Your brain does not have knowledge, but your soul have knowledge

9) Jeevathma is  slave for Paramathma(God) which lies inside Jeevathma. Jeevathma is  a body for paramathma.

2.  Who created me? (Paramathma Svarupam)

Not your parents. They cant even decide child should be male or female. It is purely the God.

Never think of god's property. Because it is very big. This whole universe which still we cant understand anything is only 25% of his property. It is called Leela viboodhi. 75% is Nithya viboodhi. He can take both of the world in his fingers. So never think about it. We are nowhere to him in terms of property. But be proud that we are the property of God, and never hesitate to think about the God.
 

3.  Why I born? (Virodhi Svarupam)

To destroy the mistakes(sin) we did in the last birth. Already we did so many mistakes. Don't do it again and again.

If you are working for your body's happiness then to get it you may choose wrong way and the sin increases more and more. You may get happiness or sad. But if you work for your soul's happiness you will get only goodness. For this god will also help you. Because he is your father. You and god having very close relation ship. If you move towards him one step ahead, he will come to you 100 steps. So you can easily reach him. Don't search happiness outside, It is inside only.

4.  Which is Dharma (good action)? (Upaya Svarupam)

 You need to control your Mind & Heart(Body & 5senses) and work for soul. You need to drive your mind in a good way.

3 Qualities(Guna's) :1)Sathva[Sathvigam], 2)Rajas[Rajo Gunam], 3)Tamas[Thamo Gunam]. When our Mind and Pancha Indhriyas[Five Senses] are dominated by 'Sathviga  Guna',We will have Fresh and pure mind;If our mind and Pancha Indhryas were dominated by 'Rajo Guna ' we will perform bad actions like Desire, Angry; If our Mind and five senses dominated by 'Thamo Guna',We will get sleep,desire,lust,lazy,bad thoughts.(Consuming Non - veg including onion, garlic increases "Thamo Guna") Consuming Veg Foods[like milk,Fruits,ghee..],reading good books,knowing good ideas,habits,and character of Good persons,Good thoughts,Meditation,Yoga,Devotion,Devotional Music,Doing Good actions,Helping good Peoples,Sharing Good Messages with Good Persons will increase "Sathviga Guna" in us.If Sathviga Guna Increases our thoughts,Words and Actions will be Good.

 Follow 3 Yogas or Surrender yourself to God:

1) Karma Yogam:

* Bath daily in early morning with cold water

* Always tell truth

* Don't hurt anybody in terms of both body and mind

* Don't get desire on other properties

* Do what you told

* Do your prescribed job with 3 thoughts: 1)I am not doing, 2)I'm not doing for any benefit, 3)Never think I'm working to get rid of my sin.

 2) Jnana Yogam:

* Do meditaion

* Know you are a slave to God

3)Bhakti Yogam:

* Always think about god

* Serve the god

* 5senses sensing god

Saranagathi: Saranagathi or surrender is the approach in Srivaishnavism for god.Resolve to do only such acts as are favourable to supreme god.

5.  What is the goal of this birth? (Prapya Svarupam)

 To enter into the Vaikundam, the place where the god lies. Sorgam & Naragam were temporay places where you will stay only few days till the power of your karma. Again you will born in this earth. But if you do saranagathi, then you never come back to earth and you can stay at vaikundam.

Take Home Message: Gita doesn't tell to serve the god physically, but mentally . Do your job with consciousness of God.

a brahmin

In olden days, there were four caste existing.

They are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and shudras. This classification was based on the mind set.

Brahmin is a person who is supposed to have 85% satvik mind, 10% rajasic and 5% tamasic. All human beings will have all 3 states of mind.

A Kshatriya will have more rajasic quality of mind. Shudras will have more tamasic quality of mind.

But in no way a satvik mind person is superior than the tamasic mind person because even a person with tamasic mind can become rajasic and finally satvik.

“janmana jayate sudrah
samskarad bhaved dvijah
veda-pathad bhaved vipro
brahma janatiti brahmanah”
(By birth one is a sudra, by the purificatory process one becomes a dvija, by study of the Vedas one becomes a vipra, and one who knows Brahman is a brahmana (brahmin.)
The classification is done to choose the profession. Say a brahmin will only learn and give the knowledge to others. He has knowledge but will not have the weapons and money. He will take bhiksha (Bhiksha is food obtained by asking for alms) from people for his living and will not accumulate wealth.But a kshariya will have weapons and wealth but he needs an adviser for the actions. Basically, they did not want all the elements (wealth, knowledge and weapon) to be in the hands of one person.
A person who is born in the brahmin family is given the purification bath “uppanayanam” – dvija. All the human beings born is a shudra (tamasic mind predominently) and because of the purification bath he is considered twice born. Uppanayanam is formal ceremony conducted to convey that the person is eligible to read and study the sacred books.
This ceremony can be done even for the other castes like Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
Persons like sage Vyasa, Sage Valmiki, Sage Vidura are all born in a low caste and have become eminent sage.
Another example is Drona born is a brahmin family became a shatriya and fought in the Mahabharatha war.
So, nobody is superior by birth.
It is your actions which make a person superior or inferior.
Unfortunately, this is not understood by many.
The brahmins blindly follow these rituals as they are carried out for ages. Without no respect as to why these are done.
The purification bath (Uppanayanam ) is given to the brahmin boy who has no intensions of reading the scriptures.
Having a kudumi (small hair) at the back symbolices that he has shaven all the vasanas (desires) and he has a little vasana i.e the desire to know the Brahman.
The coconut is broken for all the religious rituals. Why? Look at the coconut – it has a smooth skin and inside is entangled with fibre representing the vasanas. Traditionally all the fibre is removed and a small portion is kept called the kudumi. Before breaking it the pandit removes the kudumi and then the 3 eyes are visible i.e the third eye is opened ( no third eye comes on the forehead it is symbolically mentioned that the person looks at things with a new perspective – new eye) and breaks the coconut (hard shell is the EGO of I – this is broken). Then the pure coconut is seen. Similarly, we need to remove all the vasanas and have the little desire to know the Brahman. Then, if we go to the guru he will remove this small vasana and show us the ultimate Brahman. Whenever we break the coconut – we need to remember this.
Why 3 layers of vibhudi (ashes) is applied on the forehead?
The layers represent the 3 states of mind. These are symbolic representations to remind us; our aim of life is to know the Brahman by conquering the mind.
Only human beings have the capability to understand the ultimate Brahman. This is the purpose of our life.
Let us get any number of Phd degreee – we will not be satisfied with the knowledge gained till we get the knowledge of Brahman. For this we need to develop the intellect. Only with a better intellect we can perceive these things.
So read the scriptures to strengthen the intellect.
Don’t feel superior because of the birth in a Brahmin family. I am not saying that don’t follow the symbols; I am just saying that follow it with understanding. It is not wise to force people to follow these symbols when they are not adhering to any of the purpose.
This is my thought. You use your intellect and analyse it.
It is like this. When I started with yoga and meditation. I wrote an article on the net within one month of starting. I wrote the article around 12 noon and by 5 pm I got 28 responses.
Today, when I read that – I find it so stupid. But there are lots of beginners who liked it at that time. Similarly, my article will be appealing for the beginners and many scholers might find it stupid.
I feel normally people start preaching after they become scholars. None of the people are having the mind set. So they hardly understand and they consider him mad.
So, I feel it is important to convey your understanding and opinions. If it is understood by a person he will take it and think about it.
When I started reading -there was hardly any writing about the scriptures on the net. Now, in few years I see many of them writing and expressing their views. Many consider it dangerous as it might mislead the community. But I feel it is healthy and it is making people think in a different direction.
So may be we can do the “Uppanayanam” ceremony for the Brahmin boy provided the parents are also reading some scriptures and having a better intellect to guide the child.
Atleast the father should start the sandhya vandanam and gayathri mantra (this is only a beathing (pranayam) and mantra meditation). This will lead to better intellect. Then, if we start reading the scriptures we can understand and ask the next generation to follow or we can convince the next generation that we lost this tradition and request them to start it all over again.
But this may not be possible in the child hood. We have lost the tradition. No need to  worry and cry about it. Slowly slowly, we will bring back the tradition.
We can also read the scriptures, do the breathing exercise and mantra meditation even without the purification bath (Uppanayanam). Who is stopping us?
Lets start to think……the solutions will come automatically……………………………….
Don’t be proud of your birth do the actions which will make you proud………………….
Don’t suppress or control the desires thinking that you are removing it. Don’t impose it on others. All these refers to self control. Because we feel reading scriptures is good we cannot switch of the TV of people who are watching it and preaching them about the knowledge. If we like it – let us do it. The others will see the change in us and will slowly slowly follow us.
Normally, it is human nature to advise others to follow the knowledge that we gained. But we need to take conscious effort not to preach and just follow it with ease. I feel these days internet is such a useful media that we can express all the advises and preaching in this and revealed of the human nature. Of course, in this process we will be able to judge how much we know and people interested will visit and read………
Lets make a beginning to change the mind set……………………..