My dear Maharaja,
Danadavat pranams. Ram Ram.
I talked with Syamsundara Prabhu 5-6 months ago and he mentioned that he will send the letter of recommendation. I was waiting to hear from you about it. Looks like he forgot about it. Sadhana can surely be improved much more.
Your servant,
GM
HpS - Jaya! AGTSP pamho. Are you getting up for Brahma-muhurta!!?
Hare Krishna Maharaja
please accept my humble obeicenses.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!!
i hope thisone find you in a very good health.
The porpoise of this message is to recomend Sriman Pancha Tattva Prabhu for second inisiation , PT prabhu, was asking Danvantari Maharaja if he thought that he was ready for brahmana inisiation and apparently Maharaja said yes , i also think so, since PTp is very loyal and fixed up devotee at this point and he is completly surrender to his temple authority and devoted to learn and study more and mor Srila Prabhupada´s books.
we hope you can give your mercy ,also, in this way to this sincere devotee.
Yhs Mahajan das
HpS - AGTSP pamho. It sounds very nice. I think his official GBC authority is the Temple in Buenos Aires, no? SO he needs recomdation from them, no? We can talk also when we meet!
Hare Krishna Dear Gurudeva! Please accept my Respectful Obeisances All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
My most deep realization in this last time is that I am very insignificant. I just read impressed by the deepness of the realization of the articles of so many devotees, and I just realize again and again that I am most insignificant, and foolish. Perhaps it’s because I do not get to many opportunities to preach and therefore I keep my self in a more superficial understanding of the philosophy. After giving my excuses about my stupidity, I will try to share some of my insignificant realizations in connection to the Prayers of Prahlada Maharaja in the 18th chapter of the 5th canto of S.B.
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of H.H. Hanumat Preshaka Swami and the lotus feet of our Founder Acarya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
S.B.5.18.7:TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva resides in the tract of land known as Hari-varṣa. In the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I shall describe to you how Prahlāda Mahārāja caused the Lord to assume the form of Nṛsiḿhadeva. Prahlāda Mahārāja, the topmost devotee of the Lord, is a reservoir of all the good qualities of great personalities. His character and activities have delivered all the fallen members of his demoniac family. Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva is very dear to this exalted personality. Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja, along with his servants and all the denizens of Hari-varṣa, worships Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva by chanting the following mantra.
Our humble realization:
We can see that our Founder Acarya, Srila Prabhupada, has made as a first point something very important to understand for the practitioners of Krishna Consciousness. SB.1.3.28:kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam Krishna is the Original Personality of Godhead. Or in words of Srila Prabhupada in this same purport “…His original form is the two-handed form of Lord Kṛṣṇa, standing with a flute in His hands and engaged in tending the cows…” then he adds “…From this verse we learn that Govinda, or Kṛṣṇa, is the ādi-puruṣa (the original person). The Lord has innumerable incarnations, exactly like the innumerable waves of a flowing river, but the original form is Kṛṣṇa, or Keśava…” Therefore our worship of the different incarnations of Krishna are to be seen as different aspects of our Primeval and Original Lord Krishna. And that is the essence of our Gaudiya sampradaya. Finally Srila Prabhupada states “…Although Kṛṣṇa is the original person, one without a second, He assumes different forms just to satisfy His devotees or to execute a specific purpose…”.
HpS - AGTSP paoho. Wow! This nice but too long for us to read now. We just finished the Cantuta program and it was a sacrifice and a half. Now we are headed to Lima. Maybe we can read your comments later, or maybe other devotees will comment!
S.B.5.18.8:TRANSLATION
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva, the source of all power. O my Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demonlike desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive away our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence in this material world.
Our humble realization: Srila Prabhupada explains very simply what are doing the souls in this material world:”…Every living being within this material world has a strong desire to enjoy matter to his fullest satisfaction. For this purpose, the conditioned soul must accept one body after another, and thus his strongly fixed fruitive desires continue. One cannot stop the repetition of birth and death without being completely desireless…” Thus the solution offered here to stop the suffering of repeated birth and dead in this material world is to become desireless, and this means, not to have any material desire, or selfish desire. And how to do that? Srila Rupa Goswami says, B.R.S. 1.1.11: "One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service." Uttama bhakti or devotional service free from all contaminations is the solution for all ills; and our goal as gaudiya vaishnavas is to render it to Krishna, who is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Another point that we could make, is that in this age of Kali, the demons like Hiranyakashipu, do not live in other planets, or continents, or countries, or bodies, but they live inside everyone of us. Therefore we must pray to Lord Nrisimhadeva that “please kill this demonlike mind that is corrupting me, and is an obstacle in my devotional service”.
S.B.5.18.9:TRANSLATION
May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other's welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him.
Ourhumble realization: Srila Prabhupada starts his purport by describing a vaishnava and particularly the aspect of mercy. This is why our Founder Acarya would quote so often the teachings of Prahlada Maharaja because this principle of mercy is found very tangible in his example, and encourages the practitioners in their preaching endeavours.
A stumble block in the path of love of Krishna is envy, and Srila Prabhupada comments “Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and bhāgavata-dharma are meant for persons who are completely free of envy (parama-nirmatsarāṇām)…The material world is full of envious persons, but if one frees himself of envy, he becomes liberal in his social dealings and can think of others' welfare. Anyone who takes up Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engages himself completely in the service of the Lord cleanses his mind of all envy…” So here we can see a sign of a devotee free from envy, and is that he is very liberal in his social dealings. A clear example of this is seen in the life of our Srila Prabhupada, when he was named by his disciples as Prabhupada, some of his Godbrothers who were envious of his success were critical against him, and even went to face him in Mayapur. But in the other hand his godbrother Srila Akincana Krishna dasa Babaji Maharaja did not have any problem in glorifying Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in account of his preaching success.
Srila Prabhupada had great faith in this movement and he states in his purport:”If the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others…”; and real welfare means giving Krishna Consciousness, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to taught us to do that by performing sankirtana, the chanting of the maha mantra in congregation.
S.B.5.18.10 TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends, bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees, whose only dear friend is Kṛṣṇa. A person who is actually self-realized and who has controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.
Our humble realization: Everything is based on desire, by desire we came to this material world, and by desire we will get out of this material world. And desire is cultivated by association. Therefore according to NOI, we must leave the association of non devotees, and we must seek association of devotees. And if the sadhus are highly qualified devotees, that’s better. Of course, there must be an effort from our side, as servants or disciples to purify ourselves as well, otherwise the relation will not be of much gain. A seed needs a fertile soil, this is guru-disciple relation.
In connection with sense gratification Srila Prabhupada states:” B.G.9.26: "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." Why should the menu be unnecessarily increased for the satisfaction of the tongue? Devotees should eat as simply as possible. Otherwise, attachment for material things will gradually increase, and the senses, being very strong, will soon require more and more material enjoyment. Then the real business of life — to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness — will stop.”
S.B.5.18.11TRANSLATION
By associating with persons for whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Mukunda, is the all in all, one can hear of His powerful activities and soon come to understand them. The activities of Mukunda are so potent that simply by hearing of them one immediately associates with the Lord. For a person who constantly and very eagerly hears narrations of the Lord's powerful activities, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead in the form of sound vibrations, enters within his heart and cleanses it of all contamination. On the other hand, although bathing in the Ganges diminishes bodily contaminations and infections, this process and the process of visiting holy places can cleanse the heart only after a long time. Therefore who is the sane man who will not associate with devotees to quickly perfect his life?
Our humble realization: In this purport His Divine Grace offers us a summary of what means the Krishna Consciousness process: cleaning of the mind by hearing the transcendental activities of Krishna “The Supreme Lord within everyone's heart becomes very pleased when a person hears narrations of His activities, and He personally cleanses the dirt from the mind of the listener.” And the result is: “If one can cleanse his mind, he immediately comes to his original position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and thus his life becomes successful.” And then he adds “ Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the congregational chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to give everyone a chance to hear Kṛṣṇa's holy name, for simply by hearing Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, one becomes purified (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]). Therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is chiefly engaged in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra all over the world.” So our movement is doing the biggest welfare in this world by sharing the chanting of the holy names, and at the same time as it is the yuga dharma bestows on the practitioners the highest perfection of any spiritual practice .
Another interesting point Srila Prabhupada makes is that our original position becomes manifest even before being completely purified, in his words “In this way, simply by hearing of the powerful activities of the Lord, the devotee's heart becomes almost completely cleansed of material contamination, and thus his original position as an eternal servant who is part and parcel of the Lord becomes manifest…”, therefore our cultivation of rasa with Krishna should start before anartha nivriti is finished.
S.B.5.18.12 TRANSLATION
All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?
S.B.5.18.13 TRANSLATION
Just as aquatics always desire to remain in the vast mass of water, all conditioned living entities naturally desire to remain in the vast existence of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if someone very great by material calculations fails to take shelter of the Supreme Soul but instead becomes attached to material household life, his greatness is like that of a young, low-class couple. One who is too attached to material life loses all good spiritual qualities.
S.B.5.18.14 TRANSLATION
Therefore, O demons, give up the so-called happiness of family life and simply take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva, which are the actual shelter of fearlessness. Entanglement in family life is the root cause of material attachment, indefatigable desires, moroseness, anger, despair, fear and the desire for false prestige, all of which result in the repetition of birth and death.
I hope I have not commited any offense to you dear GM, by my offering. And if so, please forgive me.
I remain at your lotus feet
sudama sakha dasa
Hare Krishna Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Yesterday I received copy of DTC. Thank you very much, it made my day! <img alt="" src="http://hps-d6.monkeywarrior.com/sites/all/libraries/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/a13.gif" title="" />
I started to realize message you wrote me once in letter: "Slow down and get more work done!".
Seems it was my problem. I din't have enough balance in life, so many times I had to work hard marathons without enough sleep, and that made my intelligence week which caused another deficit of balance, and so on... (vicious circle)
Had little fight few days ago. Got some punches into my head, but Krishna protected me and nothing serious happened. At least it brought attention to managers, that we have to solve problems of increasing violence here and drug usage. It was also interesting to see how my mind and intelligence work at critical situations.
Looking forward for your visit.
Your servant Prahlada Nrsmha Das
HpS - AGTSP! paoho. Wow! Yes, physical violence seems to never be appropriate in ISKCON temple and also not drug use.
I hope that the problems are reduced, but Prabhupada explains that this is the material world and there will be problems everywhere, even in our Temples.
But in our Temples they are under Krsna's control. How much are we surrendered!
Learn the age old art of Run Fu. A Madhyama adhikari is expert at avoiding the demons. Including the demoniac in our godbrothers!
Dear gurudeva,
Pamho, agtSP!!,agt HPS!!,
I keep praying for your well being to Radha Gopinata every Mangala Arati.
This Bhakti Sastri is intense but wonderful.
I am trying to decide the best choise on what to do after,where to study
Bhaktivaibhava.
Forgive my childish devotion, but I would love to know your opinion,
as my goal in life is to be pleasing to you.
The two prominent options are to study through NIOS while staying in
Radhadesh, or to move to Spain and do it through Bhaktivedanta college.
Thank you in advance.
Haribol!! y s, bhaktin Susana
HpS - ASA -- AGTSP paoho. Please forgive little delay in letter answer. Has been very intense program iin Peru with National education University.
It is nice to hear from you! I don't know the details of where to study Bhakti viabhava. I think any advice I can give would have to be when we get to Radhadesa in January. Like 8 weeks from now.
My dear Maharaja,
Dandavat pranams. Ram Ram.
I wanted to see you in August but unfortunately, could not come. I saw your email few days ago at my yahoo account. I have not been using yahoo account but instead my gmail account ([email protected]). I have been reading Kapi Dhvaja and enjoying it. I will try to come in Nov. Are you still coming to Houston in November?
My work is going good. Family is OK. Kids are doing some sadhana everyday. They do 10-15 mins prayers at least once a day. I have been developing more and more faith that I am sat chid ananda i.e. I am eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. I am also part of Krishna and Krishna is always with me as He is in my heart. He loves me. I need to see others in same way. Krishna is in everyone and He loves everyone. So, I should serve others without envy. No one can make me eternal as I am eternal. No one can create bliss for me. I just need to realize my blissful nature which always exists. As I am part of Krishna. I am eternally connected with Krishna. No one can create that connection. That connection always exists.
Right now, I have assumed affinity with inert matter, body and world. Gurus, shastra and sadhu teach me that I am eternally connected with Krishna and help me to realize my true nature. The self is eternal and there is no link between my eternal nature and me. Similarly, I am eternally connected with Krishna and there is no link or broker between me and Krishna. Gurus or teachers helps me to remove my affinity with matter to realize my true nature. I should have gratitude towards the teachers. But teachers don't become the broker or link.
Your servant,
Gaurav Mittal
HpS ' AGTSP seems very nice. No, we did not go to Houston. Had to come direct to Peru. Kapi Dhvaja will have news! So nice to hear from you. You letter reminds us of CC verse cited in NOI, ¨Nitya siddha krsna prema...¨ Even Socrates said this. Philosoppher is midwife of the `psyche. O.K. Go give class.
Your Japa, all sadhana O.K_ Still preparing for initation! Letter of recomendation from Symasundara Prbabhu__