MAY WE BECOME ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE BY PURIFYING OUR HEARTS BY HIS CONSTANT CONTEMPLATION (मनन) #Blog0053

MAY WE BECOME ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE BY PURIFYING OUR HEARTS BY HIS CONSTANT CONTEMPLATION (मनन)

Hope Lord's grace keeps us blessed (or rather MAY WE BECOME ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE by purifying our hearts by His constant मनन (मन भगवान को अर्पित रहे, तन धन संसार में लगा रहे, चलेगा & this will be acting as per His design of this creation - WE DO REVERSE, मन संसार में और तन धन का नाटक भगवान को)

And hope we are able to recognise ourselves who we are & why we came here as human beings because without our knowing ourselves (or unless the curiosity to know answers to these basic questions arises), God's grace (even though present everywhere) cannot be accepted/captured by us as we are not eligible for His grace without the लालसा (desire) to know answers to above fundamental queries.

So we need to grace oursleves first (अपनी स्वयं पर कृपा) before He can turn His attention to us & take His steps towards us.

Otherwise life तो बीत रही है, कट रही है और कट ही जायेगी. Can anyone stop this?

Even though it is said सब प्रभु की इच्छा से होता है, IT IS NOT SO as GOD DOES NOT SUPERIMPOSE HIS WILL on living beings - HE lets every individual's will take precedence before His will.

So, हमारी इच्छा (our desire), if it does not turn towards Him (i.e., springs forth FROM WITHIN US), He lets it be like that & countless births कट जाते हैं & yet our desire does not tilt towards Him. He says "I am REMEMBRANCE, I am KNOWLEDGE, I am FORGETFULNESS".

So He lets/helps persons FORGET Him also for countless births till their discrimination power (विवेक) is arisen & they become mature & become aware of their हित & अहित (what is to their BENEFIT (long term) & what is not ,i.e., they come to know the gist (सार) of the matter - what is short term TEMPORARY & what is ETERNAL)

SERVICE TO LORD IS DIFFICULT BUT MOST REWARDING, "सबते सेवक धर्म कठोरा” #Blog0052

"सबते सेवक धर्म कठोरा”

“Service to Lord is most difficult”

जब प्रभु राम को अपने धाम जाना था तो एक-एक अवध वासी को अपने साथ लेकर गए

मगर हनुमान जी को कहा “तुमको नहीं ले जाएंगे, तुम यहीं रहो”

दूर से देखेंगे तो प्रभु का व्यवहार बड़ा कठोर रहा, हनुमान जी ने पूछा “कब तक रहें ?”

प्रभु बोले “समय के अंत तक रहो”, जब तक यह संसार है जब तक यह सृष्टि है तब तक रहो

हनुमान जी तो सेवक हैं और सेवक की अपनी कोई इच्छा होती नहीं होती, स्वामी की इच्छा ही सेवक की इच्छा होती है, इसीलिए “सबते सेवक धर्म कठोरा”  सेवक होना सबसे कठोर है, अभिमान शून्य हो जाना

हनुमान जी ने कहा “रहूं कैसे, कोई आधार देकर जाइए, यहां तो नित्य आप का दर्शन होता था, आपकी सेवा का आधार था मेरे पास”

तो प्रभु ने मुस्कुरा कर कहा “कथा का आश्रय लेना”, हनुमान जी का जीवन बन गया

“राम कथा सुनीबे को रसिया”

अब राम की कथा तो बदली नहीं होगी, ना पात्र बदले होंगे, ना घटनाएं बदली होंगी, लेकिन हनुमान जी के लिए कथा एक कहानी नहीं है, हनुमान जी के लिए तो कथा अमृत है रसायन है,

हनुमान जी ने उन शब्दों की चेतना का अनुभव कर लिया, अरे “जिस सागर को बिना सेतू लाँघ सके ना राम और लांघ गए हनुमान उसी को लेके राम का नाम”

जो यह कथा के शब्द हैं, जो यह भगवान और भक्तों के बीच में घटा है, यह केवल काल के क्रम में घटित एक घटना नहीं है , ये केवल कहानी के शब्द नहीं हैं, केवल पुण्य के लिए सुनी जाने वाली कथा भी नहीं है, कथा के इन शब्दों में एक चेतना है कथा के इन शब्दों में एक ऊर्जा है , जो एक आंदोलन करती हैं आपके मन में

Listening to katha is like a therapy ; there are divine rays emanating in these words which removes mind's dirt accumulated over ages

जो सीधे-सीधे आपके हृदय में जाकर कलश का निवारण करती है

कुछ बात सुनने से मन में सकारात्मकता आती है, मन प्रसन्न हो जाता है On listening to positive divine katha, we feel elated & happy. और कुछ बात सुनने से मन में नकारात्मकता आती है, मन अपवित्र हो जाता है But on listening to mundane worldly talks, mind gets negative energy. और भगवान की बात सुनो तो मन भगवान का हो जाता है और संसार की बात सुनोगे तो मन संसार का हो जाएगा If you tune your mind to the Divine, it’d fall in love with Lord but if you tune to the worldly stuff, mind would bury itself in world. पूछो किसलिए कथा सुननी है बस मन भगवान का हो जाए इसलिए कथा सुननी है We should listen to divine glories with sole purpose of surrendering our mind to Lord, thereby loving Him

 

Bhagvatam” one should, with love, offer food prepared with ghee to the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then offer the prasada to a suitable person—a Vaishnava or brahmana considering every living being a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord,4th July

Bhagvatam” one should, with love, offer food prepared with ghee to the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then offer the prasada to a suitable person—a Vaishnava or brahmana considering every living being a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord

TRANSLATION

When one gets the opportunity of a suitable auspicious time and place, one should, with love, offer food prepared with ghee to the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then offer the prasada to a suitable person—a Vaishnava or brahmana. This will be the cause of everlasting prosperity.

TRANSLATION

One should offer prasada to the demigods, the saintly persons, one's forefathers, the people in general, one's family members, one's relatives and one's friends, seeing them all as devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

As mentioned above, it is recommended that everyone distribute prasada, considering every living being a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Even in feeding the poor, one should distribute prasada. In Kali-yuga there is a scarcity of food almost every year, and thus philanthropists spend lavishly to feed the poor. 

For this they invent the term daridra-narayana-seva. This is prohibited. One should distribute sumptuous prasada, considering everyone a part of the Supreme Lord, but one should not juggle words to make a poor man Narayana. Everyone is related to the Supreme Lord, but one should not mistakenly think that because one is related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has become the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana. 

Such a Mayavada philosophy is extremely dangerous, especially for a devotee. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore strictly forbidden us to associate with Mayavadi philosophers. 

Mayavadi-bhashya sunile haya sarva-nasa: if one associates with the Mayavada philosophy, his devotional life is doomed.

TRANSLATION

A person fully aware of religious principles should never offer anything like meat, eggs or fish in the sraddha ceremony, and even if one is a kshatriya, he himself should not eat such things. When suitable food prepared with ghee is offered to saintly persons, the function is pleasing to the forefathers and the Supreme Lord, who are never pleased when animals are killed in the name of sacrifice.

Gita shloka 3.29: THE IGNORANT FULLY ENGAGE THEMSELVES IN MATERIAL ACTIVITIES OF SOCIAL WORK, NATIONALISM, AND ALTRUISM AND BECOME ATTACHED, 3RD July

Gita shloka 3.29: THE IGNORANT FULLY ENGAGE THEMSELVES IN MATERIAL ACTIVITIES OF SOCIAL WORK, NATIONALISM, AND ALTRUISM AND BECOME ATTACHED

TRANSLATION

BEWILDERED BY THE MODES OF MATERIAL NATURE, THE IGNORANT FULLY ENGAGE THEMSELVES IN MATERIAL ACTIVITIES AND BECOME ATTACHED. BUT THE WISE SHOULD NOT UNSETTLE THEM, ALTHOUGH THESE DUTIES ARE INFERIOR DUE TO THE PERFORMERS' LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.

PURPORT

PERSONS WHO ARE UNKNOWLEDGEABLE FALSELY IDENTIFY WITH GROSS MATERIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ARE FULL OF MATERIAL DESIGNATIONS.

THIS BODY IS A GIFT OF THE MATERIAL NATURE, AND ONE WHO IS TOO MUCH ATTACHED TO THE BODILY CONSCIOUSNESS IS CALLED MANDAN, OR A LAZY PERSON WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRIT SOUL.

IGNORANT MEN THINK OF THE BODY AS THE SELF; BODILY CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS ARE ACCEPTED AS KINSMANSHIP; THE LAND IN WHICH THE BODY IS OBTAINED IS THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP; AND THE FORMALITIES OF RELIGIOUS RITUALS ARE CONSIDERED ENDS IN THEMSELVES.

SOCIAL WORK, NATIONALISM, AND ALTRUISM ARE SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES FOR SUCH MATERIALLY DESIGNATED PERSONS.

UNDER THE SPELL OF SUCH DESIGNATIONS, THEY ARE ALWAYS BUSY IN THE MATERIAL FIELD; FOR THEM SPIRITUAL REALIZATION IS A MYTH, AND SO THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED.

SUCH BEWILDERED PERSONS MAY EVEN BE ENGAGED IN SUCH PRIMARY MORAL PRINCIPLES OF LIFE AS NONVIOLENCE AND SIMILAR MATERIALLY BENEVOLENT WORK.

THOSE WHO ARE, HOWEVER, ENLIGHTENED IN SPIRITUAL LIFE, SHOULD NOT TRY TO AGITATE SUCH MATERIALLY ENGROSSED PERSONS.

BETTER TO PROSECUTE ONE'S OWN SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES SILENTLY.

MEN WHO ARE IGNORANT CANNOT APPRECIATE ACTIVITIES IN KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THEREFORE LORD KRSNA ADVISES US NOT TO DISTURB THEM AND SIMPLY WASTE VALUABLE TIME.

BUT THE DEVOTEES OF THE LORD ARE MORE KIND THAN THE LORD BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD.

CONSEQUENTLY THEY UNDERTAKE ALL KINDS OF RISKS, EVEN TO THE POINT OF APPROACHING IGNORANT MEN TO TRY TO ENGAGE THEM IN THE ACTS OF KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS, WHICH ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE HUMAN BEING.

Bhagvatam: Indians spend especially lavishly but the shastras prohibit the excessive expenditures involved in inviting many brahmanas and relatives,3rd July

Bhagvatam: Indians spend especially lavishly but the shastras prohibit the excessive expenditures involved in inviting many brahmanas and relatives

TRANSLATION

During the period for offering oblations to the demigods, one should invite only two brahmanas, and while offering oblations to the forefathers, one may invite three brahmanas.

Or, in either case, only one brahmana will suffice.

Even though one is very opulent, he should not endeavor to invite more brahmanas or make various expensive arrangements on those occasions.

PURPORT

As we have already mentioned, Srila Advaita Acharya, during the generally observed ceremony to offer oblations to the forefathers, invited only Haridasa Thakura.

Thus He followed this principle: na me'bhaktas catur-vedi mad-bhaktam sva-pacam priyam.

The Lord says, "It is not necessary that one become very expert in Vedic knowledge before he can become My bhakta, or devotee.

Even if one is born in a family of dog-eaters, he can become My devotee and be very dear to Me, in spite of having taken birth in such a family.

Therefore, offerings should be given to My devotee, and whatever My devotee has offered Me should be accepted.”

Following this principle, one should invite a first-class brahmana or Vaishnava—a realized soul—and feed him while observing the sraddha ceremony to offer oblations to one's forefathers.

TRANSLATION

If one arranges to feed many brahmanas or relatives during the sraddha ceremony, there will be discrepancies in the time, place, respectability and ingredients, the person to be worshiped, and the method of offering worship.

PURPORT

Narada Muni has prohibited unnecessarily gorgeous arrangements to feed relatives or brahmanas during the sraddha ceremony. Those who are materially opulent spend lavishly during this ceremony. Indians spend especially lavishly on three occasions—at the birth of a child, at marriage and while observing the sraddha ceremony—but the sastras prohibit the excessive expenditures involved in inviting many brahmanas and relatives, especially during the sraddha ceremony.