Friday 14 September 2012

Joy to all of us

Very soon the youngsters will get to learn about Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva 

NCERT books to include a chapter on Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva’s contributions

......Jai Guru Srimanta Sankara....

read it out

Saturday 8 September 2012

An introduction to Srimad Bhagavata Gita- The Song of God!

"This knowledge is the King of all wisdom 
The King of all that is confidential. 
It is the purest and the topmost. 
It is the perfection of all religion .
And everlastingly joyful to perform. 
It gives direct perception of the self by realization " 
_Chapter 9, verse 2 (Srimad Bhagavat Gita) 

The Srimad Bhagavat Gita- the Song of God, was spoken by the Supreme Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra in 3102 B.C, just prior to the commencement of the Great Mahabharata war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. It was originally available in the Sanskrit language and was later translated into other languages. It is considered to be one of the oldest and the greatest spiritual book that the world have ever known. Here, the Supreme Almighty Krishna has precisely described the science of self-realization and the process through which a human being could establish their eternal relationship with the Gracious Almighty. It reveals the doctrine bhakti (devotion) and love of God. 

Without the realization of our divine relationship with the God it is impossible to establish our eternal relationship with Him. The Srimad Bhagavat Gita describes three paths that leads to establishing a relationship with the Almighty. These three paths are- (i) yoga of perfect action, (ii) yoga of perfect devotion, and (iii) yoga of prefect knowledge. 

The Srimad Bhagavat Gita is consist of 18 chapters. Each chapter is called a yoga. Yoga is the science of individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness. Thus, we we could say that each chapter is a highly specialized yoga revealing the path of attaining the realization of the Ultimate Truth, that is the Almighty. 

The 18 chapters of the Srimad Bhagavat Gita could be classified in three sections. Each section gives a complete and detailed explanation of the three paths leading to establishing a relationship with God. The first six chapters could be classified as the Karma Yoga section, that is the yoga of perfect action. It mainly deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through our actions. The first six chapters are- 
Chapter 1. Visada Yoga (The Yoga of Dejection)
Chapter 2. Sankhya Yoga (The Yoga of Analytic Knowledge)
Chapter 3. Karma Yoga (The Yoga of Action)
Chapter 4. Gyana Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge)
Chapter 5. Karma Vairagya Yoga (The Yoga of Work in Detachment)
Chapter 6. Abhyasa Yoga (The Yoga of Meditation).

The middle six chapters could be classified as the Bhakti Yoga session, that is the yoga of perfect devotion. This session deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through devotion. These six chapters are- 
Chapter 7. Paramahamsa Vijnana Yoga (The Yoga of Wisdom)
Chapter 8. Aksara-Parabrahman Yoga (The Yoga of the Imperishable Spirit)
Chapter 9. Raja-Vidya-Guhya Yoga ( The Yoga of Confidentiality)
Chapter 10. Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga (The Yoga of His Opulence)
Chapter 11. Visvarupa-Darshana Yoga (The Yoga of the Universal Form)
Chapter 12. Bhakti Yoga (The Yoga of Devotion).

The final six chapters could be classified as the Gyana Yoga, that is the yoga of perfect knowledge. This section deals with the science of the individual consciousness attaining communication with the Ultimate Consciousness through intellect. These sis chapters are- 
Chapter 13. Ksetra-Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of Discrimination)
Chapter 14. Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga  (The Yoga of the Three Modes of nature)
Chapter 15. Purushottama Yoga (The Yoga of the Supreme Person)
Chapter 16. Daivasura-Sampada-Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of discriminating the qualities of the enlightened and the unenlightened)
Chapter 17. Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of the Threefold Division of Faith)
Chapter 18. Moksha Upadesha Yoga (The Yoga of liberation through Renunciation).

Thus, the Srimad Bhagavat Gita is, in fact, the essence of the Mahabharata. It is not just a Holy book but it is a guide for the human beings to sail across the painful world ocean taking refugee in the Lotus Feet of the Gracious Lord Krishna.

Finally, it is to be noted that Lord Krishna spoke the Srimad Bhagavat Gita in 3102 B.C. This date corresponds to 1700 years before Moses, 2500 years before Buddha, 3000 years before Jesus, and 3800 years before Mohammad. Thus, it is clear that the Eternal Knowledge of the Srimad Bhagavat Gita has not been influenced by Buddhism, Christianity, Hebrewism, or Islam; for these religions did not exist at that time. 

..Jai sri Krishna..

Friday 17 August 2012

Have Faith

Nobody is a Vaishnava by birth. In fact, we could never be a true Vaishnava. 
Can we stop our lies?
Can we treat happiness and sorrow equally?
Can we consider a piece of gold and a stone to be the same????

No  its not easy  :)  

When we take refugee in the Lotus Feet of the Gracious Almighty Hari, he test us. And these tests are the most difficult one. Sometimes the Almighty will make us face the hell in life. He'll make us go through the hardest phase of life. Sometimes the light may seems to be fading away from our life. Sometimes we might lose hope too. But no matter what happens and no matter what it takes, we should never lose faith on the Gracious Almighty Hari. We must have to be strong; We must hang on, have faith....
We should never doubt the Almighty. We must keep in mind that our Saviour- the Gracious Hari is there for us. And if we can do so we'll witness the Father Hari very very soon. 

And the Lord Hari is very gracious, he'll keep on supporting, helping and protecting us throughout the test :)
So just have faith ♥

Jai sri Krishna

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Hari Naam

People say that it is just a religion.
For many it is like a wishing-well where they could make a wish for something & get it fulfilled;
For some it is a set of moral values......
BUT for a few of us it is our Soul, our Love, our Faith, our Happiness, our everything...

The Gracious Almighty Hari says-

"My devotee is my heart,
Also of my devotees I am the heart;
Except Me my devotees have nothing to think;
Except my devotees I too have nothing to think."_1829(Kirttana Ghukha)


One could never find a true lover like the Gracious Almighty Hari. He is our mother, our father, our teacher, our only friend. He is the Soul Supreme. He is the creator, the master.. He is the truth supreme. He is the light. And He is inside your heart now and always.
Our only prayer, our only wish, our only desire-

"O Vanamali, Jagannatha, Raam,
Let not my mouth, in pleasure and pain,
Stop singing Raam naam."


Krishna..


Saturday 10 March 2012

Eliminate the causes of sufferings and be happy



“O Hari, relieve me of sufferings;
O Hrisikesha, Thou art Ocean of Grace;
Into Ocean of maya I am diving deep;
O Madhava, lift me up.”



Happiness and sorrows are a part of our life. At some moment in life everybody suffers from pain, agony or heartbreak. Many times we face difficulties. And some times hope seems to fade away. In fact, at every moment of life we have one or more problem or difficulty. Many times being tired of the sufferings a question arises in our mind- “when the sufferings would end and when we would be happy??”. Everybody wants to be happy in life. And to achieve happiness people do everything that they could do. Many people even use immoral means to achieve happiness. However, they fail to find happiness. All they get is a moment of pleasure and life-long sufferings. The main question is why do we suffer? And how could we end all our sufferings? For this, first we need to know the causes of sufferings and then eliminate those causes. Only then we could achieve happiness.

The main cause of all our sufferings is our greediness, the negativity that is inside us. Out of this greediness a person’s desires increases all the time and due to this they are never satisfied with what they have. Even if that person is provided with all the wealth of the world, due to his greediness he could never be satisfied. Greediness forces a person to do wrong things. Greediness leads to hatred and jealousy. And slowly the person ends up loosing everything that he had. Greediness results in self-destruction. Thus, we should give up our greediness. If we don’t destroy greediness, it will destroy us. Suffering also comes from attachment. Thinking about sense objects brings an attachment towards them. Attachment breeds desire, and desire leads to frustration, which in turn leads to delusion. When you are deluded, you lose your memory and with the loss of memory, the power of discrimination is destroyed; with the destruction of discrimination your self itself is lost. Once a person gives up greediness and attachments, most of the sufferings would cease automatically.

All that we need is love and compassion. Love and compassion are the solution to all our problems. With love we could also win the heart of a person who hated us before. We should have love and compassion in our heart for all creatures (not only for human). We should make others more dearer to us. If a person doesn’t have love and compassion for others, nobody will accept him. He may be a very rich person, but if he has no love and compassion in his heart for others, nobody will like him. He would be lonely; he would be depressed and he might even start drinking, smoking or taking drugs. That person could never be happy. So consider others as good as your own self. To see all creatures as good as oneself is the best of all means of one’s worship. We all have some good qualities and some bad qualities. We all have our own weakness and, at the same time, we also possess some strength. Respect people for their good qualities but love them for their weakness. Even more important than the warmth and affection we receive, is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness. More important than being loved, therefore, is to love.

Never engage yourself in caste discrimination. Having no caste discrimination between Brahmin and candela, treat everybody equally. Try to have the same attention to donors and thieves; try to have same regards for the pious and the mean. Many people also differentiate between religions. And it is not good. One should not differentiate between religions because all religions are same. Each religion teaches us the same things. Religions are different roads that lead to the same destination. People worship the same Gracious Almighty, but with different names. So respect every religion. It is the same Almighty who resides inside everybody’s heart. Our soul is nothing but a part of that Gracious Almighty. Lord Hari is prevailing through all creatures; regard them all with Visnu-consciousness. Knowing it well, love all and treat everybody equally with respect.

Thus, the first step towards ending our sufferings is to remove all our negativities like selfishness, greediness, attachment, ego etc. and developing love and compassion in our heart for all creatures. To eliminate these negativity only prayer is not enough, one must have to practice patience, concentration, generosity, love and compassion by body, mind and soul. We must have to train our body and mind. Never be selfish because being selfish you will not be able to achieve much. True achievement could be made only with selflessness. Have consciousness and mindfulness. Always be cautious on what you say and what you do. Try to realize which of your actions are going to have negative effect on you as well as on others. If you find that any of your action is going to have negative effect on you or on others, don’t do it. Consider the welfare of others as well. All suffering comes from the wish for your own happiness. Therefore exchange your own happiness for the suffering of others. Be selfless and dedicate yourself to the welfare of all. Take refugee in the Lotus feet of Almighty Hari and chant hari hari as much as you can. Acting in this way all of the sufferings will cease. And we will attain a state of mind where peace prevails and then happiness will follow.




O Mind, utter Sriraam, Krishna carefully,
Hold on Krishna’s feet whole-heartedly.
O Gopala, Garudaketu, I bow at Thy Feet;
Rescue me, O Hari, as Refuge I have sought.
                                       
                                                                        ...krishna...

Friday 3 February 2012

Description of Meditation

Lord Almighty could not be achieved through sacrifice, penance, rituals and knowledge. The Gracious Lord could be won only through true devotion (bhakti). The great devotee Prahlada had thus said-

“For devotion one need not be God, dvija, sage;
One need not acquire knowledge of many scriptures;
Penances, silent prayers, sacrifices, gifts are mere deceptions,
Narayana remains content only with devotion.” _Prahlada Charitra

However, devotion does not come automatically. To develop devotion one must have to go on practicing it in body, mind and words. 

For practicing devotion at Lord Krishna’s lotus feet the company of Vishnu’s devotee is required first. Vishnu’s devotee should be taken as preceptor and well treated. Krishna’s feet should be meditated in hearts. The Almighty dwells in all creatures. Thus, knowing it well, have affection for all creatures. One should practice sravana and kirttana. The duties other then this are mere deceptions. When one thinks more and more about Lord Krishna, his devotion at Hari’s feet would increase and all the dirt of mind would disappear. Then alone to the Almighty Krishna our mind shall be drawn.


Now listen raptly, how to meditate on Hari; listen to the beauty and virtue of Hari.

There is a place named Vaikuntha. It is the Supreme Abode made only for Lord Narayana. The chariots glitter rows after rows, all inlaid with sapphires, diamond and emerald. There the Sun and the Moon shines in such a way that it is not known whether it is a night or a day. In the transparent water of the beauteous lakes bloom fragrant lotus and shining lilies. Flocks of swans are playing on the water, sportingly uprooting lotus-roots and eating there. On the bank, flower parijats blooms. The sweet fragrance of the flowers blows with the breeze filling the entire region with scent of flowers. The sparrows are singing in a melodious way and the black bees are singing Hari’s songs hearing which the Vaishnavas derive pleasure. At the centre of such highly charming Vaikuntha there is a tall Temple made up of precious gems. The pillars are made up of sapphire and walls of marble. It has pearl panels and diamond doors; thereon are carved out chains of gold, spotted with various gems and emeralds; and the beams are inlaid with charming rubies. The temple is dazzling as crores of suns. Varieties of canopies are hanging over there. Garlands of gems and pearls are hanging everywhere. Inside this divine temple on a throne of gems Lord Narayana is sitting charmingly. He is surrounded by his attendants, holding upon umbrellas inlaid with pearls. They fan Him both sides with white caamaras (a whisk made of the tail hair of the yak) and strew around Him sweet-smelling flowers. At His feet is sitting Lakshmi, Mother Goddess of Universe, offering her prayers in all devotional ways. In Eternal Form of Purity and Consciousness, Lord Hari continues to dwell there in Supreme Bliss. His Capacious Form is dazzling so amazingly that crores of kandarpa (the Indian Cupid) fails to conform. Father of Universe is devotee’s friend, Lord Hari keeps on shining as crores of Moons, whose very recalling burns series of sins.

The divine Form of Madhava is full of Supreme Bliss. It looks like a fresh green cloud. By the yellow robe upon it a glow is made. His capacious Form is so amazingly dazzling that crores of Moons fails to conform. The Lotus Feet of Hari appear as if in full bloom, by seeing which the devotees are highly pleased. The soles are purple in color. Ankusa, padma, dhvaja, vajra and yava are the signs. The fine fingers look like petals in form. They appear as spindles of gems. The nails glitter there as the half-moons. The ujjhanti (a kind of ornament) of gems are shining bright and sounding anklets are adorning the joints of Feet. The thighs appear as the trunk of elephant. A yellow robe glitters on the waist and a girdle inlaid with gems is tied over there. The Lotus-Navel of Lord Hari is shining brightly. On the pleasing chest are glittering locks of srivatsa (the white curl of hair on the chest of Almighty Visnu). There appears Maa Lakshmi shining as golden lines on black touch-stones. The green Body brightens with yellow robes as the lightning in clouds. Necklace of pearls hangs on the broad chest. Pecandaraornament (a kind of gold ornament) is glittering there. Various gems and pearls are glittering brightly. On the beauteous neck hang a beautiful garland of wild flower down to the Feet. The honeybees are getting intoxicated for honey-smelling flowers and they are humming in and round the garland there. The four beautiful arms of Hari are well built. They are blue in color and are highly attractive. Armlets, bangles, bracelets are shining there. The hands glitter like the new grown leaves. The fingers appear as sticks of gems. Various rings glitters there. The red Nails of the figures look like the moon. Lord is holding sankha, cakra, gada and paadma in His four Hands. Necklaces galapata and satasari are hanging in the neck. On the shoulder glitters the sacred uttari (a sacred thread) of nine threads. The conch-shaped throat is adorned by the gem kaustubha. The face of Lord Hari is as pleasing as the view of the full moon. It is as charming as the sun rising in early morn. On ear-lobes glitter the makara-kundala (fish-like earrings). With its radiations the yellow-white cheeks shine. Rows of teeth are so much attractive as if there shine a series of coral and gems. A sweet smile prevails over there in His lips ever. The nose is glittering like sesame flower, reddish Eyes look like petals of rose and Eye-brows resemble beautiful bows. On the forehead is glittering the tilaka (a small round mark on the forehead between the two eye-brow) of gem. Upon the head the Crown of gold is glittering, hair-bands are shining with cudamani diamond and amidst there is the golden Lotus Garland, by the glow of which the Face is being brightened. On such a Divine Form one should meditate. One should meditate on it again and again with firm concentration of mind starting from Head down to Feet inside one’s heart. Observing the signs of the Lotus Feet of the Almighty, namely dhvaja (banner), vajra (thunder-bolt), padma (lotus), ankusa (hook) and java (grain) one should bow down at Feet. Then there would be Suprme Success for you. Hari alone is Invaluable Treasure of the Universe. By meditating at the Divine Form of Hari one would overcome the worldly life at ease. Thus, don’t spoil the human life with fruitless deeds. In the Holy Kirttana Ghosa it is said:

“Keep Lord Hari’s Feet in your firm grips;
This is the only Boat to sail across Ocean of Sins.
Krishna’s kinkara Sankara says:
Ye all chant hari-hari in assemblage.”

Sunday 29 January 2012

When Gracious Almighty Krishna was leaving the earth--

When Gracious Almighty Krishna was leaving the earth--

"Looking at Madhava, the Devas bowed down.
They gazed at the Form attentively;
Showered flowers on Him joyfully.

With folded palms, in separate groups,
They in devotion sang Krishna's deeds.
Some were doing Krishna's kirttana,
Some were dancing on to the tunes.
Instrumental sounds prevailed over sky;
Deva's beating of dundubhi rang high.
'Glory be to Krishna' was pronounced joyously.

Hearing sounds Hari looked above Him;
He met Brahma in front of Him.
Seeing other Devas too in front,
Almighty Krishna shut both eyes.

After performing yoga concentration all,
Placing Himself in Supreme Soul,
Leaving instantly the human nature,
Into Vaikuntha didst Hari enter.

As in clouds a lighting flash,
Is too fast for anyone to trace,
So also Krishna's speed of merger,
Was too difficult for Devas to discover.

The Body that was a meditating object,
Its sight made even Himself amazed.
Such a Body suddenly vanished,
As does the lightening flash.

Virtues like Beauty, Faith, Truth, Patience
With Krishna did all depart hence.
Seeing the happenings of the kinds,
Devas were stupefied in minds.

Wonderful was Krishna's yogic movement;
Seeing it Devas admired and were all content.
To King Parikshita Sage Suka said thus.
O king, won't be amazed at it;
Dead sons from Yama He brought,
As gift to Guru didst He offer;
As human to heaven He sent the hunter.

When by brahma-astra you were burnt,
He with Mace didst you protect.
Deva Hari, being the origin of all creation,
Didst not let survive the Yadu clan.

There is no smooth sailing in man;
Everything is disarrayed at the end.
Lord Hari didst demonstrate it;
Destroying the clan didst he depart.

It is one of the sportive deeds of Krishna,
One who chants about these always,
Surely in Vaikuntha does dwell;
Knowing it, give up idleness all.

Do Hari kirttana always;
Won't die by saying worthless words.
Krishna's kinkara Sankara thus says:
Ye all, chant hari-hari always."

(some verses from the Holy Bhagavata Purana)