Absolute-Truth Forums » Tag: bhakti yoga

Absolute-Truth Forums » Tag: bhakti yoga - Recent Posts http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ Enquiries into the truth that tends to the Absolute en Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:20:40 +0000 Guest Visitor on "Glories of Karthik month" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/glories-of-karthik-month#post-139 Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:27:22 +0000 Guest Visitor 139@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ <img src="http://www.iskcon-coimbatore.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/damodara_00.jpg"> A wonderful collection of scriptural quotes on glorification of Karthika month and how it should be followed. <a href="http://www.scribd.com/full/40205027?access_key=key-2ihk7kdii1ugin3p47aw">Know the glories of Karthik Month Courtesy:ABTN</a> Lndasa on "Ten offences to holy name from Padma Purana" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/ten-offences-to-holy-name-from-padma-purana#post-134 Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:49:49 +0000 Lndasa 134@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OIEBhJkLZT4/TI06LyUKPnI/AAAAAAAAFtY/r2NCVTaXIJs/s1600/rupa+%26+sanatana.jpg"> From Padma Purana, Brahma Khanda 25.15-18 satam ninda namnah paramam aparadham vitanute yatah khyatim yatam katham u sahate tad-vigarham 1) To blaspheme devotees who have dedicated their lives to chanting the holy name of the Lord. The holy name, who is identical with Krsna, will never tolerate such blasphemous activities. sivasya sri-visnor ya iha guna-namadi-sakalam dhiya bhinnam pasyet sa khalu hari-namahita-karah 2) To consider the names of demigods like Lord Siva or Lord Brahma to be on an equal level with the holy name of Lord Visnu. I was repeatedly asking you about the meaning of this offense, no word like brahma or devatas is used here but still in the translation it is said demigods, how is it?? guror avajna 3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master or to consider him an ordinary person. sruti-sastra-nindanam 4) To blaspheme the Vedic literatures or literatures in pursuance of the Vedic version. artha-vadah 5) To give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. hari-namni kalpanam 6) To consider the glories of the holy name of the Lord as imagination. namno balad yasya hi papa-buddhir na vidyate tasya yamair hi suddhih 7) (While chanting of the holy name of the Lord can counteract all the past sinful reactions but it is greatest offense to commit sinful activities on the strength of chanting the holy name of the Lord.) To think that the Hare Krsna mantra can counteract all sinful reactions and one may therefore go on with his sinful activities and at the same time chant the Hare Krsna mantra to neutralize them is the greatest offense at the lotus feet of Hari-nama. dharma-vrata-tyaga-hutadi-sarva- subha-kriya-samyam api pramadah 8) To consider the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra to be one of the auspicious ritualistic mantras mentioned in the Vedas as fruitive activity. asraddadhane vimukhe ‘py asrnvati yas copadesah siva-namaparadhah 9) It is an offense to preach the glories of the holy name of the Lord to the faithless. srute ‘pi nama-mahatmye yah priti-rahito narah aham-mamadi-paramo namni so ‘py aparadha-krt 10) If one has heard the glories of the transcendental holy name of the Lord but nevertheless continues in a materialistic concept of life, thinking “I am this body and everything belonging to this body is mine [aham mameti],” and does not show respect and love for the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, that is an offense. giridharagopaladas on "Change of Heart" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/change-of-heart#post-123 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:41:19 +0000 giridharagopaladas 123@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ As long as we are in the material world our mind will be showing alternatives for us to enjoy this material world. To engage in un-deviated and un-motivated devotional service, we should be capable of saying no to these material impulses. At the initial stages of devotional service, we may say no to these impulses externally. But to say no these impulses whole heartedly, our desires has to be nullified or changed or in other words change of heart is required. By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact (Naistiki-Bhakti).(SriMad Bhag 1.2.18). The remedy for eliminating all in auspicious things with in the heart is the association of Bhagavatas. There are two types of Bhagavatas, namely the book Bhagavata and the devotee Bhagavata. The devotee Bhagavata is a direct representative of Bhagavan, the Personality of Godhead. So by pleasing the devotee Bhagavata one can receive the benefit of the book Bhagavata. Human reasoning fails to understand how by serving the devotee Bhagavata or the book Bhagavata one gets gradual promotion on the path of devotion. As soon as Naistiki-Bhakti or irrevocable/fixed loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy. According to Vishvanatha Cakravarthi Thakura's Bhagvatam commentary, the goodness wherein the devotee is eastablished due to immovable loving devotional service (Naistiki-Bhakti) is not material sattva Guna, rather it is Suddha-Satva. Hare Krishna. Lndasa on "Is the diety of the Lord different from him?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/is-the-diety-of-the-lord-is-non-different-from-him#post-44 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:44:39 +0000 Lndasa 44@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ Q. Kindly inform me on what basis we identify Krishna/Bhagavan Vigraha, which is sat chit ananda, with deity/archa which is made up of matter. I want to know the Gaudiya logic and appropriate scriptural backing. The Personality of Godhead is the source of all energies, both material and spiritual. Because He is full of inconceivable potencies, God can convert His different potencies according to His own will, much as an expert electrician can employ the same electric energy for both heating as well as cooling purposes. For the Lord there is no difference between material and spiritual energies; that He can transform His energies as He wills is Srila Vyasadeva's sublime teaching of shakti-parinamavada. He is the controller of both energies, and He cannot come under their influence at any time, as we do. A fundamental and axiomatic principle in spiritual science is that unless one accepts this inconceivable nature of God's potencies, there is no way of understanding Him. The conclusion is that Krishna, being omnipotent, can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter as He desires, and He can accept our service through any sort of medium. The Supreme Lord is called 'adhoksaja', which means One Who is beyond the reach of our mundane, imperfect senses. It is also stated that we can approach the Lord only by engaging our senses in His service. How are we to serve and learn to appreciate Him who cannot be perceived? Therefore, out of causeless compassion for the conditioned souls, Krishna appears in a so-called material form, just to become visible to and accept His devotees' service. Just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts various incarnations, similarly He takes on forms made out of clay, wood, metal and jewels, which according to shastra is known as archa-vigraha. By doing so this does not mean that His sac-cid-ananda form has been touched by material influence. The archa-vigraha is not fashioned from an artist's whimsical imagination but is the eternal form of the Lord, confirming in exacting detail to scriptural injunctions. The Lord Himself personally descends in the archa-murti at the request of the acharyas, and invests all His spiritual potencies within the Deity. Thus the devotees get an opportunity to easily approach Him and serve Him even with their present material senses, thereby purifying and spiritualizing their senses. As Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita, He is not visible to all (BG 7.25), but reciprocates according to a devotee's degree of surrender to Him (BG 4.11). Thus, to the degree of one's faith and devotion, one is able to perceive the presence of the Supreme Lord in His Deity form. There are many historical instances wherein the Deities have personal exchanges with the worshiper, talk to them and accept their offerings. But for one who considers Him to be merely stone or wood, He continues to remains so. Therefore scriptures warn us to carefully avoid such mundane perception of the archa-vigraha. (Isopanishad Mantras 5,8 purports, Padma purana, quoted in Cc Madhya 5.95-97, etc) by H.H. Romapada Swami Abhishek on "Are we independent or controlled?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/are-we-independent-or-controlled#post-36 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:46:53 +0000 Abhishek 36@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ Human being is totally free in this Material World, he can do what ever he likes... How it is said that he is in control of some one?? bmadhav on "Are we independent or controlled?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/are-we-independent-or-controlled#post-35 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:31:30 +0000 bmadhav 35@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ As a human being is man independent to live his own life as his own wish or is he under the total control of almighty God? Both - The human being is simultaneously independent and under God's control because God gives him the choice whether he wants to be under the control of the material nature or of the spiritual nature. This is compared to the two ways that a citizen is under the control of the state. He has the independent choice of either being a law-abiding free citizen or a law-breaking inmate of the prison who is forced to obey the laws of the state within the prison. Those who voluntarily abide by the laws of God live a life of full freedom in the spiritual world. And who those who try to defy the laws remain perpetually as prisoners in the miserable cycle of birth, death, old age, and disease. by Chaitanya Charan Das Vishva Mitrah on "Why sexual behaviour needs to be regulated?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/do-we-need-to-restrain-on-our-sexual-behaviour#post-33 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:44:14 +0000 Vishva Mitrah 33@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ Srila Prabhupada warned that no-one can approach Krsna unless he has a background of piety. "Therefore we shall be very, very careful about impious activities. Impious activities, we know the four legs of impious activities: illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling. So therefore we should be very, very careful about these impious activities. You cannot make any spiritual progress by simultaneously acting impiously and at the same time ... Just like if you have got dry wood, then the fire ignites very easily. And if you bring wet fuel, it takes time. Of course, as soon as there is fire, the wetness of the fuel will dry, but it will require extra energy. And if you put dry fuel, then it ignites very easily. So in order to keep us dry without being wetted by the impious activities, then spiritual progress will be very quick. We should remember that." He explained that Lord Caitanya has warned against the attraction of women and money for one who wants to advance in Krsna consciousness. Prabhupada clarified that Lord Caitanya was not referring to a particular gender. "Woman means for man the woman is woman, and for the woman the man is woman; not that woman means a particular class. Woman means 'which are enjoyable.' So in this material world the man is enjoyable by the woman and the woman is enjoyable by the man. For both of them, visayinam sandarsanam atha yositam. Yosit means enjoyable. "This body is superfluous. The bodily structure, it can be changed. Perhaps you know, now in medical science they can change the woman's body into man's body, and the man's body into woman's body. It was formerly being also changed. In Bhagavata you'll find that in a garden where Lord Siva was engaged with Uma, husband and wife, all of a sudden many saintly persons entered to see Lord Siva. At that time Uma, Parvati, became very much ashamed. She was not very properly dressed. So immediately the saintly persons, they left, that 'Lord Siva is now in his private affairs.' So Lord Siva, to please Parvati, he immediately said, 'Hence forward, anyone who will enter this forest, he'll become woman.' So one king, with his party, without the knowledge he entered the forest, and all of them became women. "The idea is that the man's body can be transformed into woman's body, and the woman's body can be transformed into man's body. Because we are not this body. Suppose I have got this dress. This man's dress I can transform into woman's dress with a sari, but that does not mean I am woman. So every one of us living entities, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. The outward dress, man and woman, that is dress. Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya. We are changing this dress. So in this material world, because our mentality is to enjoy, therefore he is called purusa. Purusa means both men and women, because everyone has got the spirit, 'I shall enjoy.'" He told his attentive audience that by coming in contact with the modes of nature in the spirit of enjoyment we have therefore become polluted and subsequently obtained these material bodies. Therefore we have to come to the nirguna platform. "Nirguna means to associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead or be engaged in devotional service. Immediately you can be placed on the transcendental platform as soon as you begin your devotional service. Avyabhicarena, without any deviation. Ananya-bhakti. Bhajate mam ananya-bhak. That is wanted." He went on to say that if we are simply interested in fulfilling the bodily necessities of eating, sleeping, sex and defense then we are called visayi. "So we should be very careful. Visayinam, a devotee, if he thinks, 'Oh, here is a nice woman. If I could enjoy her,' or 'Here is a nice man. If I could enjoy him.' This is visayi. Visayinam sandarsanam. To see one woman is not dangerous, but to think of enjoying, that is dangerous. Similarly, to see one man is not dangerous, you cannot avoid that, you are on the street here. But to see with the spirit of enjoyment, that is dangerous. So we should be very careful. That requires, I mean to say, training, very strong training in Krsna consciousness. Unless one is strongly in Krsna consciousness, that long habit of enjoying spirit cannot be given up." Lndasa on "Is Scripture the Basis of Everything?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/is-scripture-the-basis-of-everything#post-25 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:18:43 +0000 Lndasa 25@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ Prabhupada said that just like a lawyer will go to the court and present before the judge the laws and the legal precedence. They canâ€™t go to the judge and just say â€œWell, my dear lord, your honor, you know I think that this person should be set free regardless of what the law says because he is a nice guy, even though he is a serial killer.â€ Nobody is going to listen to such sentimental statements. Everything has to be backed up by legal references, evidences and so on. So in the same way, even in our spiritual life, whatever we do, we should be able to back it up with the words of the spiritual masters and with the advice or the examples of great devotees and saints lives. Sadhu-sastra-guru. Basis of everything is the scripture. Whatever the Guru or preacher says, everybody always has the rights to question that if; â€˜what your saying is stated in the scripture, could you tell us where?â€™ Because thatâ€™s the way we substantiate everything with our vedic disciplic succession. We canâ€™t do anything which is not supported by the Vedas and Prabhupada has stated it many times that in KC, we always follow the Vedic version. Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam (10.20.16) by Jayapataka Swami Lndasa on "Success formula in spiritual life?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/success-formula-in-spiritual-life#post-23 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:50:45 +0000 Lndasa 23@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ I am successful only because I am following strictly the orders of my Guru Maharaja, and I do not deviate. Therefore people respect what I am saying and they listen because I do not say one thing and do another. So now you are doing my work and you shall be like me and be yourselves the worthy representatives of our disciplic succession. - Srila Prabhupada Letter to Madhudvisa 72-06-16 Lndasa on "Does Krishna always protect his devotees?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/does-krishna-always-protect-his-devotees#post-21 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:40:10 +0000 Lndasa 21@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ In Bhagavad-Gita Lord krishna says, kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhakta pranasyati: "My dear Arjuna, you may declare to the word that my devotee is never vanquished." Now, one may ask, why did krishna advise Arjuna to declare this? Why did he not declare it himself? The answer is that if krishna Himself made this declaration, it might be suspect, because krishna sometimes violate His own promise. But the promise of a devotee will never be violated. This is krishna concern. "Oh, my devotee has declared this. I must see that his words are kept." This is krishna's position because of his affection for His devotees. Therefore lord krishna said, you declare it. If I declare it, people may not believe it, but if you declare it they will believe you because you are my devotee." Even though Krishna may break His own promise, He want to see that the promises of his devotees are fulfilled. Therefore, we must take to Krishna consciousness and adhere to this consciousness under all circumstances, even in the most dangerous position. We must keep our faith in Krishna's lotus feet, and then there will be no danger. Lndasa on "Why women especially need guidance?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/why-women-especially-need-guidance#post-18 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:31:20 +0000 Lndasa 18@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ It seems that the girls have less trouble surrendering. They just throw themselves in, crying, "Krishna! Krishna!" "Women are soft-hearted," Srila Prabhupada says, "but unfortunately they are fickle, too. They are quick to accept and reject. They come to Krishna consciousness quickly, out of sentiment, and then some boy comes along, and they reject everything. Men are not so quick to accept, but once they have accepted, they are more reluctant to reject. So the male is considered a higher birth because a man is more likely to understand Krishna consciousness and therefore remain steady. In Vedic culture, the woman is considered weak. Soft-hearted. She should be protected, not given freedom to roam about, like in this country. Therefore we are marrying our girls to nice Krishna conscious boys." - From the "The Hare Krishna Explosion" by HG Hayagriva dasa Lndasa on "Why no jumping of Krishna bead?" http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/why-no-jumping-of-krishna-bead#post-16 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:00:15 +0000 Lndasa 16@http://absolutetruth.in/forums/ anama madhyam akramya japam kuryat tu manasam madhyama akramya japam kuryad upansukam tarjanim tu samakramya japam naiva tu karayet ekaika manim angusthena akarsan prajapen manum merau tu langhite devi na mantra phala bhag bhavet Keeping the beads on the mid of oneâ€™s ring finger, one should chant in murmuring sound.One should not keep beads on the pointing finger and chant japa. Chanting japa with the pointing finger has been rejected. One by one, putting the beads inwards and chanting japa is recommended. Oh dear wife, one should not jump over the head of japa beads. Otherwise he will not get the results of his chanting. (Gopal Bhatta Goswami in Hari bhakti vilasa 17/114,115 from Siva agama) anguli agresu yajjapta yajjaptam meru langhane asankhyatan ca yajjaptam tat sarvam nisphalam bhavet One who chants japa holding the beads on the tip of the fingers, who jumps over the head bead or who chants japa without counting how much he has chanted, then that japa is said to be fruitless. (Hari bhakti vilasa 17/135 from Vyasa smrti)