Krishna Is a person…he is also God….and your best friend…. Gadidas June 2016
And He performs superhuman pastimes so to attract the hearts of the conditioned souls. He is especially keen in the ways of amour…. And gives us a glimpse of what the future holds for those who develop pure love for Him. Hence, the congruent instructions from all of our gurus to hear about, glorify, and sing about the incomparable love of He has for the gopis….and the overpowering love that they have for Him… who would not be attracted to move to that place?
He displays His amorous ways with the direct intent of capturing our attention, that is why Prabhupada writes in the introduction to Krishna book….
There are three classes of men in this world. One class consists of liberated souls, another consists of those who are trying to be liberated, and the third consists of materialistic men. Whether one is liberated or is trying to be liberated, or is even grossly materialistic, the pastimes of Lord Krsna are worth studying.
This krsna-katha will also be very much appealing to the most materialistic persons because Krsna’s pastimes with the gopis (cowherd girls) are exactly like the loving affairs between young girls and boys within this material world. Actually, the sex feeling found in human society is not unnatural because this same sex feeling is there in the original Personality of Godhead. The pleasure potency is called Srimati Radharani. The attraction of loving affairs on the basis of sex feeling is the original feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we, the conditioned souls, being part and parcel of the Supreme, have such feelings also, but they are experienced within a perverted, minute condition. Therefore, when those who are after sex life in this material world hear about Krsna’s pastimes with the gopis, they will relish transcendental pleasure, although it appears to be materialistic. The advantage will be that they will gradually be elevated to the spiritual platform. In the Bhagavatam it is stated that if one hears the pastimes of Lord Krsna with the gopis, from authorities with submission, then he will be promoted to the platform of transcendental loving service to the Lord, and the material disease of lust within his heart will be completely vanquished. In other words, such hearing will counteract material sex life.
( How can we justify not knowing this about ourselves…not reading this information is keeping us in the material world….we must know why we have these urges in us, and where they come from, and how to free ourselves from them…the ropes and knots that bind us to birth and death…..this is the reality we must confront.)
As you can see, there is no mention here about the delayed process of reading the first 9 cantos first… Now we know that Prabhupada has said that…but what were the circumstances, the context, and who was he speaking to, or writing a letter to?… Because we have 2 very different instructions… which one to follow? Well, if you are content with the mundane world, and the “fun” you can have here… and you are liking the mundane sex options…well then you may very well feel like taking the GRRRAAADDDUUUAAALL choice. If however you are finished chewing that chewy thing, and becoming aware of the insanity of it..…then you may very well take great refuge in the instructions above and finish off your attachment to mundane sex desire…after all , let’s get real… it is so binding and so consuming, that there will be no room in the heart for Krishna if you do not get free from it. It must be removed by silmultaneously filling the heart with pastimes to purify the heart to make room for spiritual attachment to Krishna. Both things cannot live there in harmony. Either you want Krishna, and His perfect exchanges of love… or you want the illusory representation of Krishna, mundane love and sex. And this is the center of the vortex that will separate the boys from the girls…so to speak….… If the heart is full of sexual fantacies, there will be no happiness on the spiritual path. That path is pure and reserved for the serious sadhaka… who has made the commitment to become attached to the enchanting Lord of Vrindavan…only!.
Why is there 2 opposing options one may ask…? The answer is simple, they are not opposing, but they are designed to test the eagerness of the greed of the disciple…if one is possessed of strong levels of greed, or desire for Krishna, he will not be able to resist reading the pastimes of Krishna and His beloveds… if one is not processed of such greed, then one will be drawn to the gradual climb to finally reach that which is actually available immediately, just depends on ones greed for the object(Krishna). So neither are wrong, they are just meant for 2 different sadhakas.
So now you can make your choice… you have the 2 options… and both are right.
We take this very seriously here at Murari… we take Murari very seriously…and RadhaMurari even more seriously…. We have dedicated 7hrs a day to hearing and chanting… it works. You must have in your life,( if you do take door #1), a homogeneous mix of vaidhi and raganuga… it is simply having a disciplined structure of life, and mixing in the sweet, incomparably attractive pastimes of Sri Vrindavan… this must be done on a regulated daily routine….with all devotional service performed in an atmosphere of mercy and understanding…love and trust… as Prabhupada has written, “our devotional activities must me impressive…not oppressive.” Too rigid a practice leads to niamagraha ….fanaticism, and too loose a practice leads to gobletigook…. (better check the spelling on that one)…..
If you go back..you will find this very homogenous system is how Prabhapada started…. And it works just fine today… He was a little cautious in the beginning of course, but he loved giving Krishna Katha… so he gave a “summary study” of Krishna’s pastimes…but look close…as here in Krishna book…
Udhava visits Vrindavan…Since Krsna had departed from Vrndavana and gone to Mathura, the inhabitants of Vrndavana, especially Mother Yasoda, Nanda Maharaja, Srimati Radharani, the gopis and the cowherd boys, were simply thinking of Krsna at every step. They were thinking, “Here Krsna was playing in this way. Here Krsna was blowing His flute. Krsna was joking with us in this way, and Krsna was embracing us like this.” This is called lila-smarana, and it is the process of association with Krsna most recommended by great devotees; even Lord Caitanya, when He was at Puri, enjoyed lila-smarana association with Krsna. Those in the most exalted position of devotional service and ecstasy can live with Krsna always by remembering His pastimes. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has given us a transcendental literary work entitled Krsna-bhavanamrta, which is full with Krsna’s pastimes. Exalted devotees can remain absorbed in Krsna-thought by reading such books.
(don’t be thrown off by the word “exalted”…it is just an English word, many of which give westerners the wrong feeling because of conditioning… It can also mean serious, or it could mean eager, and it can mean…why not find out what the exalted devotees of the Lord are reading!!! )
This work, Krsna-bhavanamrta, by Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur is nothing less than explicit intimacy of Krishna and his beloved gopis, in the revolving asta kaliya day of Krishna.… and Prabhupada advises reading it.
The freedom from this material world, and all of its binding forces can be severed most easily by Harinam Sankirtan and Krishna Katha… the process recommended for this age of Kali…But, you have to apply yourself to the process according to the instructions given by all the physicians in our perfect sampradayic line of authority…
These words are true….and you know it… because they are backed by guru, sadhu and shastra….
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Covered in grease or covered in cow dung…that is the question!
The topic animal vs. machine is raging…. How to analyze this most perplexing question… well I have had a lot of time to not only think about it, and to get both grease and cow dung all over me… and I have to say… the cow dung was by far superior… I would do that all over again…and I think I just might…today…to celebrate the 4th of July… declaring independence from the machine… but unfortunately that will not happen… simply talking about using the oxen, and other animals for power will remain a theory…until someone out there has the determination to dedicate their life for the animals side…
We can propound up and down the green valley how much superior is the cow than the machine…but until we do it, and do it with conviction, like our lives depended on them, it will not happen. It cannot be a hobby, or a sideline, while maintaining a job at the bank…etc… It has to be full dependence on the animals to exist…( Krishna of course too)… but on the ground, the animals must become part of your family circle.. goodnight Gabe, goodnight Kirtan, goodnight Samantha, goodnight Alyssa, etc..goodnight humans…and now the cows…goodnight Kurma, goodnight Vrinda, Goodnight Yasoda, goodnight Radha….etc…may you all be healthy and strong and eat sumptuous grasses, and produce gallons of milk…
We have to depend on the animals….like family members,…then all this greasy, oily mess will go to the metal yard… and that’s it folks, without full dependence on the cows and the land…we will continue to go to the store in the noisy grease box, continue to buy gas, and continue to maintain these machines until they are taken away. Only when they are taken away will we suddenly fall in love and dependence on the animals.
Don’t get me wrong, we love all our cows, and we call them by name as above, but we are not in full dependency on them or the oxen. As long as the machine is working, we will use them, because when they work…. (And they don’t always work), but when they do, they can accomplish so much with only one person and bucket of oil…
So lack of human bodies is one problem…but even if we had hundreds of human bodies here, we still lack the skills and the determination to overcome the learning curve to really and effectively become the cow centered, self –sufficient humans… but with all that working against us, we have accomplished many skills and arts of the land and animals that….if…. the whole thing falls apart out there…we have the self-sufficient skills to survive easily… and finally we will have to come to the point of living with our cows, as they will be our only true means of survival… and so it goes…
But all of this is completely useless if our spiritual priorities are not in line…. Harinam sankirtana and Krishna Katha… and the whole thing…whether animal or machine… is useless…. Just another wasted life….
Yes, this is the way of perfection… come and chant with us…come and visit our cows, and you may also glance over the greasy tractors…
So much coming from the Valley of Kirtan… “The Essence Drinker”
Your servant because of his mercy…Gadidas… on call or write… gadi@pamho.net. Or murarisevaka.com