Four types of Devotees

Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita that there are four types of devotees who worship him. In Bhagavad Gita 7.16, Sri Krishna utters the following sloka to Arjuna:

catur-vidha bhajante mam
janah sukrtino 'rjuna
arto jijnasur artharthi
jnani ca bharatarsabha

Meaning: "O best among Bharatas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me - the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute." – Sri Krishna

Although the pious men go to Krishna with four different needs, Krishna still recognises all of them as His devotees. This is because somehow or other they have understood about Krishna and come to Him. When these four types of men come in contact with a pure devotee, they will at once become pure as well. Thus we don’t have to worry about the reason for worshipping Krishna. Whatever the reason we may have, if we just worship Krishna even just at the time of distress, then Krishna will protect us and will make us His pure devotee. In this regard the following story is mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam.

In a mountain called Trikutha, there once lived the king of all elephants Gajendra with his friends and relatives. Gajendra was so strong that the mere smell of his body will make even lions, tigers and other fiery beasts flee in fear. Because of his mercy the deers, monkeys, buffaloes and rabbits would roam unafraid. One day he with his family and friends went to a beautiful lake filled with blossoming lotus flowers. He got into the lake and drank the sweet nectarean water to his fill. He then took bath to relieve himself of the fatigue he acquired as he was walking the whole day. Suddenly a very mighty and angry crocodile captured his leg with his sharp teeth and started to chew his leg. Gajendra with his full might tried to free himself from the crocodile but the crocodile was too strong and did not give up. Sensing the imminent danger, all his family members cried in desperation. His friends tried to relieve him and bring him out of the water but in spite of their best efforts, they couldn’t.

The crocodile was trying to pull Gajendra into the water and Gajendra tried to move out of the water. The battle went on for a full thousand years. Because of exhaustion, Gajendra was becoming weaker day by day. On the other hand, the crocodile was becoming stronger and powerful as it was in water. As the battle for survival was going on, Gajendra looked around and said to himself, "I have been trying to save myself for a thousand years and I am still in water. My family members tried their best to help me but they couldn’t succeed. My friends with their might tried to pull me out of the water but they couldn’t succeed either. My end is near. If there is someone who could help me, it can only be that Supreme One called Sri Krishna who even the demigods pray for help. Let me call Him for help". Thinking so, Gajendra with full determination picked up a lotus flower in the lake with its trunk; offered the flower to Krishna and started to sincerely pray to Krishna,"O Supreme Lord! I am in danger. Please protect me!" Hearing his sincere prayers, The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna at once came on His Garuda and with His Sudarshan chakra severed the head of crocodile thereby saving Gajendra from the danger of his life.

It does not matter whether we are born devotees or worshippers of Krishna by birth. If we call Him for help even just at the time of danger, Krishna will definitely help us just like he did for Gajendra. The story of Gajendra is the example for worshipping Krishna at the time of distress. Next week we will see a vedic example for worshipping Krishna asking for wealth.

Jai Sri Radha Gopinath!

Bhagavan contd...

Parashara Muni, the father of Veda Vyasa gave a detailed definition about God and His qualities. According to him, Bhagavan(God) is the supreme person who possesses all the six opulences to the fullest and to an unlimited extent. The six opulences are full beauty, full strength, full wealth, full fame, full knowledge and full renunciation. Last week we understood why Krishna is called as the most beautiful and most powerful person. Now we shall have a recap of them and look at the remaining four opulences.

1) Beauty:
Krishna captivated even Manmadhan(Cupid) by His beauty. Hence He is called as Madhan Mohan.

2) Strength:
Krishna lifted Govardhan hill with his left hand small finger and continuously held it for seven days together. Because of this pastime, He is called as Giridhar.

3) Wealth:
The Goddess of wealth and fortune, Sri Lakshmi always resides in the heart of Krishna. As Lakshmi Devi is with Krishna all the time, only Krishna possesses unlimited wealth.

4) Fame:
Krishna is the most famous person. Eventhough He appeared on earth 5000 years ago, He still continues to mesmerize millions of devotees all around the globe. Hence Krishna's fame is unlimited.

5) Knowledge:
Krishna is the source of all Vedas. In Bhagavad Gita, He says "I am the compiler of all Vedas. Indeed I am to be known through the vedas". Sage Vyasa who compiled vedas is the literary potency of Krishna. In other words, the personification of Krishna's knowledge is Veda Vyasa. The best example of Krishna's unlimited knowledge is Bhagavad Gita itself. There is no field of knowledge which is not covered in Gita. The contents of Gita is very much relevant to modern days and will continue to be relevant forever. As Bhagavad Gita is the divine dialogue of Krishna Himself, it was, is and will be relevant for all ages. Hence it takes more than a life time to fully understand It. Thus Bhagavad Gita alone stands as the biggest proof that Krishna is the most knowledgeable person.

6) Renunciation:
If someone possesses all the above five opulences, he will automatically become puffed up and would start to flaunt his possessions. But Krishna won't:) Even though Krishna possesses all the opulences in full and to an unlimited extent, He is completely detached from them. He is the perfect example of renunciation. Thus renunciation is His sixth opulence. One of Krishna's name is Rana Chod(meaning: a person who has fled from the battle field).
Once the demon king Jarasandh waged a war against Krishna's kingdom, Dwaraka. As a perfect king, Krishna fought bravely against Jarasandh's army to defend His kingdom. While doing so, He gets a message from princess Rukmini(who was yet to be married to Krishna) that Krishna has to go immediately to save her from getting married to Sisupala(another demon). In the letter to Krishna, Rukmini also states that if Krishna doesn't turn up on time She would give up Her life immediately as She wants to marry only Krishna. Krishna is always very merciful to His devotees. Hence He asked Balaram to continue the war and He left at once left the battle field to save His devotee Rukmini. Being the most knowledgeable person, Krishna knew very well that if He flees the battle field, Jarasandh and the whole world would mock at Him. Yet Krishna was completely detached to His fame. For Him devotees are the first priority. Hence He gladly accepted the name Rana Chod without any hesitance and He went on time to save Rukmini and later married her.

Thus Krishna possesses all the opulences and hence only He can be called as the Supreme Bhagavan.

Krishna is always merciful to His devotees. One of Krishna's name is Bhakta-vatsala. 'Bhakta' means devotees and 'vatsala' means one who is very much affectionate. Since Krishna is very much affectionate to His devotees, He is called as Bhaktavatsala.

Jai Sri Radha Shyamsundar!

Bhagavan

'Bhagavan' is a term we use very commonly these days to address any revered person. But actually a person has to be sufficiently qualified to be addressed as 'Bhagavan'. Only The Almighty can be called using the term.
'Bhaga' means opulences and 'van' means 'he who possesses'. Hence Bhagavan is he who possesses the six prime opulences to the fullest and to an infinite extent. The six opulences are beauty, strength, wealth, fame, knowledge and renunciation. Since Lord Krishna possesses all these opulences to the fullest, only He can be called as the supreme Bhagavan.
The following are the references given in Srimad Bhagavatam about each of Krishna's opulences.

1) Beauty: Krishna has got lot of names. One of his name is called Madhan Mohan(meaning: He who captivated Mamadhan or cupid). The job of Manmadhan is to strike flower arrows on men and women to bring an attraction between each other. He happened to learn about Krishna's beauty from other demigods. Fully puffed up with his power, he decided to bring Krishna under control. To conquer Krishna with his arrow of love, Madhan expanded himself into 10 crore different Madhans(with each carrying bow and arrow made of flowers) and surrounded Krishna. All the differents madhans took aim at the heart of Krishna and were ready to hit him.

As Krishna was meditating then, he had his eyes closed. Upon finishing his meditation, Krishna opened his eyes and looked at all the madhans around him. Krishna's eyes were soooo beautiful that all the madhans started to faint due to the ecstasy they felt upon seeing Krishna. Thus Krishna conquered 10 crore madhans by just glancing at Them:) Krishna is very beautiful and ever youthful. He is always at sweet 16 and His most beloved gopi Srimati Radharani is eternally at 14. When Krishna preached Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, He was 110 years old. Since He is always youthful(like a 16 yr old boy), He never looked like an old man. In other words he is beauty personified eternally. Thus only Krishna possesses the first opulence of beauty to the unlimited extent.

2) Strength: Krishna is very powerful and possesses strength to an infinite extent. When he was barely seven years old, he lifted the big Govardhan hill with his left hand small finger. Not only that, He kept on holding it for seven days and seven nights continuously.

Once Lord Indra became very proud that the whole world is under his control. Owing to his puffed up nature, he totally forgot that he is a subordinate of Sri Krishna who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krishna in order to teach Indra a lesson, convinced the residents of Vrindavan(Vrajabhumi) that its only due to Govardhan hill that the land gets fertile and not due to Indra. Saying so he even stopped the people from performing a thanks giving puja for Indra and asked them to hold a festival for Govardhan. As his puja was stopped, Indra became very furious with the people of Vrajabhumi and hence flooded Vrindavan with heavy rains continuously. To teach Indra a lesson, Krishna lifted the Govardhan giri with his left hand and gave shelter to all the people and cows of Vrajamandal for the entire period. Thus everyone were saved. Indra slowly started to realize that an ordinary boy could defeat him with such an ease. He slowly regained his senses and realised that Krishna cannot be an ordinary boy. Hence he fell at the feet of Krishna and payed obeisances to Him. As Krishna is always kind hearted and merciful he readily forgave Indra for his misdeed.
As Krishna lifted Govardhan giri with his hand, He is called as Giridhara.

Thats it for this week. We'll continue with the remaining opulences next week. See you!

Jai Sri Radha Gopinath!

What does Hare Krishna mean?

According to vedic scriptures, the time cycle or the period of earth can be divided into 4 yugas. They are Satya yuga, Tretha yuga, Dvapara yuga and Kali yuga. We are currently in the age of Kali yuga. Lord Vishnu incarnates 10 times across all these yugas. All these incarnations are collectively called as Dashavathar. ‘Dasha’ means ten and ‘avatar’ means incarnation.

The Bhagavata Purana prescribes a separate yuga dharma or religious code for each of the four yugas. One can elevate himself to reach Goloka Vrindavan or The Supreme abode of God by just following the yuga dharma for that particular age he is in. The yuga dharma for satya yuga is medidation and yoga. In other words, one has to do meditation for years together in order to get connected with God. The dharma for Treta yuga is yajna or fire sacrifice. Hence the different yajnas were performed during this age. For Dvapara yuga, the yuga dharma is upasana or deity worship. During that age everyone used to visit all holy places of pilgrimage. For the present age or Kali yuga, the prescribed yuga dharma is to just chant the holy name of the Lord. This process of chanting the holy name of God is mentioned in many upanishads and puranas.
In Kali Santarana Upanishad, it is said:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Iti sodasakam namnam
Kali-kalmasa-nasanam
Natah parataropayah
Sarva-vedesu drsyate

Meaning: "After searching through all the vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krishna"

The Hare Krishna mantra is very powerful and can make one feel always happy. It can deliver one from any danger in this life and the ones after this as well. This mantra is very powerful and is superior to all the mantras. It is for this reason, Hare Krishna mantra is called as ‘Maha mantra’.

The word ‘Hare’ represents Srimati Radharani, the most closest consort of Sri Krishna.
The word ‘Krishna’ represents Lord Krishna:-)
The word ‘Rama’ represents both Lord Rama and Lord Balarama.

Thus the whole mantra is fully potent with these three holy names. The words Krishna and Rama directly address The Supreme Lord. ‘Hare’ or Radha helps us to achieve the mercy and protection of Krishna. Thus by chanting the maha mantra, we ask Radha and Krishna to give protection and show mercy on us. When we chant, Srimati Radharani directly helps us to get the mercy of Krishna.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Please chant this maha mantra whenever you can and get the mercy of Radha and Krishna. No qualification is needed to chant this mantra. No faith is required. Anyone and everyone can chant this mantra. There is no rule to chant this mantra. Hence we can even chant this while we are walking; when at home or even during free time at work.
Chant this mantra and always be happy.

Jai Sri Radha Krishna!

Lord Rama

Ram Navami marks the birth of Lord Rama and falls on coming Tuesday the 27th of March. This festival is being celebrated all over the world for thousands and thousands of years. Lord Rama is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. The name ‘Rama’ means ‘one who gives pleasure to everyone’.

Once upon a time, the great king Dasaratha was ruling the country of Kosala, which was situated on the banks of river Sharayu. Ayodhya was its capital city. During his reign, the entire country was prosperous in every means. Dasaratha was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was a very pious and noble king. Since he had no children, he performed the sacrifice of “Ashwamedha” praying to the gods to bless him with a child. The demigods seeing the unflinched devotion of Dasaratha started to pray to Brahma to bless him.

During the same period, the demon Ravana was ruling the kingdom of Lanka(now Sri Lanka). He was terrorizing people with all his demoniac powers. People started to pray to God asking for liberation from his clutches of tyranny. Ravana once acquired a special boon from Brahma that he would never die at the hands of gods, gandharvas, yakshas, demigods or demons. When acquiring the boon from Brahma, he did not include men in the list as he felt that humans are not potential slayers. He felt that the humans are too weak to harm him:)

Hence Lord Vishnu, the Supreme genius, descended down on this earth as an ordinary human to protect His devotees. To bless king Dasaratha for his devotion, He appeared as his first son in the capital city of Ayodhya. He was named Rama in a grand naming ceremony. Lord Rama had three younger brothers namely Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shatrugana.

Lord Rama was very virtuous right from his childhood days. He was perfect in every way he behaved and every action he performed. As a young prince, he along with his devoted brother Lakshmana defeated many demons that were menacing the innocent people and holy sadhus. In a swayamvara ceremony, he displayed his heroic act by breaking the famous bow of Lord Shiva and subsequently won the hand of Sri Sita Devi, the Goddess of fortune.

In order to fulfill the word of His father, He along with Sita and Lakshmana went in exile to forest for fourteen years. During the period Ravana abducted Sita devi inviting his own dismal fate. In the war that ensued Lord Rama defeated Ravana and his entourage of other demons thereby protecting virtue and goodness in this world.

Lord Rama is very merciful and blesses his devotees readily. Lord Hanuman is the most famous devotee of Lord Rama. He acquired devotion towards Rama just by ‘chanting’ and 'glorifying' the name of Rama as 'Jai Sri Ram!'. Another great devotee of Rama was Sabari. She once offered fruits to the Lord. To ensure about the ripened nature of the fruits, she first tasted the fruits herself before offering it to Rama. Deeply satisfied with her unflinched devotion, Lord Rama accepted her ‘tasted’ fruits and rewarded her by making her reach Vaikuntha, His Supreme abode in the eternal kingdom.

Lord Rama is the model of reason, right action and godly virtues. He was very loyal to his duties and is always worshipped with awe and reverence. Hence Lord Rama is called as Maryaada Purshottam. He always lived a life of righteousness. His life exemplifies the ideal son, ideal husband and an ideal ruler.

To get the special blessings of Lord Ram, Sita Devi and Lord Hanuman, please visit a Ram temple or an ISKCON temple on Ram Navami, this Tuesday, the 27th of March.

Jai Sri RadhaKrishna!

Actions

It was really overwhelming to see soo many email responses and questions from you regarding vegetarianism. It indeed strengthened my belief that everyone is seriously searching for answers. God willing, we will definitely see the light. I would like to dedicate this mail to all those people who are keen to bring in a change in both their lives as well as that of those around us - innocent animals including:-)

I will try to answer all your questions in different areas in this mail. If you need more clarification on any of these, please feel free to mail me.

Now thats said, lets talk some serious stuff:) What is the difference between a human and an animal? Well, Srila Prabhupada says that there are four activities which are common to both humans and animals.

1) Eating
2) Sleeping
3) Mating
4) Defending

Each and every work that a human or animal does, is always related to the above four activities either directly or indirectly. In addition to these four activities, there is one more work which only humans can do. And that is 'thinking'. Yes. Intelligence is a power which only humans know how to use. Animals on the other hand always work based on their instinct. Owing to this defect(blessing in disguise!), animals never incur any sin. In other words, whatever that an animal does, is considered to be an act of ignorance and hence they are always forgiven. When they die, they don't take with them any kind of sin.

Humans have intelligence. They know how to discern the right from the wrong. Hence whatever action they do, it is truly based on the choice(as against 'instinct' in the case of animals) they make in life. Due to the presence of the element of intelligence, man is always bound by the actions he does in life. In other words, every action he does brings to him the fruits of the action as well as sin(if any mistake done!). As they say, nothing comes without a price:) The resultant of all the actions(and sins) one has performed in ones life, decides how he is going to be in his next. Now that answers the most intriguing question, "Why is not everyone born rich and same?:)".

Lord Krishna says, "Just do your duty and give everything to me". Here 'everything' means both "the fruits or the results of action" and the "sins". Since Krishna takes everything(both the results and sins) from us, we can always remain unaffected by the sins. Thus whatever action or work one does, he should always "mentally" offer everything to Krishna. In that way, one can get rid of all the reactions of the sins he commits in life.

Lord Krishna makes His ultimate promise to the entire humanity in the final chapter of The Bhagavad Gita. The following verse(18:66) is considered as the most important teaching and the essence of the entire Bhagvad Gita.
"sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah"

Meaning: Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.

He says "varieties of religion". Those include all the different religious processes and also the sinful activities(including animal slaughtering) one does in the name of religion. Hence if one sincerely wants to get rid of all his sinful reactions of all his past actions, he just has to worship Krishna and act according to what He says. In that way, one can not only become immune to his past sins but can also enjoy transcendental bliss in his life.

How can one mentally offer everything to Krishna? Well, do stay tuned for my future mails. We will learn that art of working for Krishna soon.

Jai Sri RadhaKrishna!

Natural Instinct

“You are what you eat” – A famous advertising campaign in western countries that encourages people to join in weight loss programmes. Years and years of eating non-vegetarian foods have really started to take its toll. Hey hang on! Did we ever ask ourselves, since when in our lives, did we start to eat meat and other non-vegetarian foods? By the way, do we really love eating meat items? That’s a question which most of us don’t dare answer to. A casual look around would reveal many an astonishing truth and open our eyes to reality.

Here we go. Why did we start meat eating? Short answer-“We don’t know”:) We have been fed fish and eggs right from our childhood and like everything we just started to accept and follow it till date. Agreed. If we ask the same question to our parents, I bet we will get the same answer from them as well. The truth is no one really knows when and why we actually started eating meat.

Let us keep this question aside and move our attention to an interesting analysis. Imagine taking a good walk in a park on a wonderful evening. If we are to look at a tree full of ripened reddish apples, how would we feel? Needless to say that we would at once feel like plucking one of them and having a mouthful bite. Yummy! Won’t it be? At the same time, if we happen to look at a beautiful parrot or a peacock sitting on the same tree, how would we naturally respond? We would at once have felt enchanted by the beauty of the parrot and started to scale its pristine beauty meticulously.

Same is the case if we are to look at a cute rabbit, a calf, a cow, a colourful fish or a newly hatched chicken or any other bird or animal for that matter. We take great pleasure in observing the innocent activities of those cute little ones. Don’t we? There we go. Our natural instinct is always towards eating vegetarian foods and showing friendliness to other living creatures like birds and animals. We love only to watch and take good care of birds and animals. Eating them is not in our blood. On the other hand, animals that are genuine predators do not enjoy the beauty of birds or other animals. Their instinct is to always pounce on them and devour them. We are all knowledgeable humans. Aren’t we? Why then are we trying to imitate what animals do?

Why on earth did we start to eat meat? Well, just because in our childhood we were told to. Why did our parents say that to us? Well, because they were told to eat meat by their parents:) What a disciplic succession! We are in an era where we call ourselves as trendsetters of the future. We are no longer of the trait to accept anything without reason. We claim that India is the intellectual capital of the world. My dear friend, now is the time to do justice to that claim and prove our intelligence. Are we going to continue eating meat just because long long ago some Tom, Dick and Harry asked us to? Or are we intelligent enough to open our eyes and look at the truth that’s staring at us. Give it a thought dear:)

There are some popular myths and misinterpretation about eating meat and smoking intoxicants. Some people put the blame on their religion stating that it allows them to eat meat. Well, no God asked anyone to kill any animal. Lord Krishna never did and neither did Jesus Christ.

One of Lord Krishna’s name is Govinda. Govinda means the master of all ‘cows’ and ‘senses’. In Bhagavad Gita, He clearly states the type and nature of food that can be offered to God and that which can be consumed by humans. Most vegetarian foods(baring a few varieties) and dairy products only can be offered to Gods and can be eaten by humans.

Jesus Christ said, “Thou shalt not kill”. Some people argue that by the word 'kill', He only meant not to kill any fellow humans and hence animals can be killed. Come on dear. I agree that was how it was meant in The Old Testament. Jesus Christ extended that commandment further and preached people not to hurt even other man’s feelings. Initially humans were of barbaric nature. Their intelligence was very limited. That was why the Commandments were made to be very simple for them to follow. But later on as man became more civilized, those instructions were refined and made to be more detailed. Would we prefer to work in Windows 95 now? We won’t because we always prefer to work with the latest version. Good. No questions asked. But why do we still stick to the instructions given to men of lesser intelligence? We should be following the instructions given to men of our civilized nature. Shouldn’t we? Also ‘don’t kill human’ does not mean that we can kill animals. ‘Don’t kill humans’ only means ‘don’t kill humans’:) Everything ends there.

The Holy Bible also states the following famous description about the kingdom of God:

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.” --Isaiah 11:6-9

Thus we can understand that meat eating is not at all encouraged in Christianity as well.

And now the moment of truth:) Ancient holy scriptures (sastras) say that before being born as humans in our current lives, we in our previous births would have been born either as a monkey or a cow. So if you cannot give up eating meat altogether, at least consider not eating beef.

Now that the reality is unveiled, it is up to you to make a decision. Do you want to be smart and give up eating meat or are you going to just blindfoldedly follow something that is alien to human nature? It’s your call dear.

Jai Sri RadhaKrishna!