Vrindavan Lila Devi Dasi:
Mumbai attacks: Taj Mahal siege ends as total death toll rises to 195
The siege at the Taj Mahal Hotel in the centre of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, has ended, bringing a halt to more than three days of terror in the city.
By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 12:41PM GMT 29 Nov 2008
At least two more terrorists were killed in the final stages of a battle with Indian commandos, following attacks throughout Mumbai.
The official death toll rose significantly today to 195, from 155 yesterday. At least 295 others have been injured in the assault on India’s economic capital.
The hotel siege was brought to a close today…
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Kaliyuga- the age marked by people bereft of spiritual intellect, gets well illustrated as the reality unfolds itself through the well nurtured mass-illusion.
The people in their frenzy for watching movies (a simulation of reality-illusion) deify the matinee idols. The screen heroes and heroines are accorded bigger than life status and worshipped devotedly by Bollywood bhaktas. Confusion of values is so pronounced that movie stars have come to occupy places next to spiritually evolved souls in the Indian pantheon.
Mistaking reel image as the real one, people have erected temples to demonstrate their love to their matinee idols. We have temples constructed for MGR who assayed bold roles depicting his social commitment and physical invincibility. The temple with him as the presiding deity stands in the precincts of Madras High Court campus.
Similarly, NT Rama Rao whose majority of roles were religious, mostly depicting Lord Krishna, was soon viewed as the Lord Himself. His fans conferred him the divine status and have a temple for him. Film actress Khushboo’s ‘bhaktas’ had a temple built for her at Trichy. There are many more to name, including Nagma and Namitha.
The tallest figure among these is Amitabh Bachchan.
Their ‘bhaktas’ pay them regular obeisances, chanting related “mantras”. The widely accepted protocol for worship includes, rendering dialog verbatim or singing one of their idols’ songs.
Lord Krishna has so much mercy and love for His devotees, that he accepts the humble position of a charioteer for His devotee Arjuna, He lifts Govardhan Hill to protect them from the rain, punishes several hooded Kaliya to purify the water of Yamuna for the people of Braja, He leaves the battlefield, staking his honour to honour the words of His devotee and marry her. I can go endlessly citing examples of His infinite love and grace. But what were these ‘Gods’ doing when Mumbai was burning? Mumbai is the tinsel town of dreams, home to India’s famous reel heroes, superheroes, and heroines. The city was hit by a series of well planned and executed blasts, high tension hostage drama, which took the toll of several innocent people including men, women, children who had done absolutely nothing to provoke their ire. Where were the superheroes when such a gory act was enacted in city’s nerve-centers? When the city was grappling with the audacious attack, what were the people’s ‘demi-gods’ doing? Why did not any of them come to heroically save the denizens from the calamity? Why did we have to call the commandoes when the town is full of ‘heroes’?
A lowdown. Our acclaimed action hero Ajay Devgan and his wife decided to cancel the shooting of films, which ironically includes a film named “Toonpur ka Superhero”.
Actors from abroad, have bigger halos. A Melbourne actress hid herself in a bathroom cupboard for an hour to save herself from the deadly rampage.
Another star, Joey Jeetun, who had played the role of 7/7 bomber and was caught in Leopold Café could save his life just because the killers mistook him to be dead.
The ‘Big Boss’ participants who had earlier planned to attend a bash thrown by actor Zulfi Syed, which would have included other stars like Shilpa Shetty and Aditya Pancholi, chose to eat a humble pie. Fear, insecurity, and panic were so deep-seated that our iconic Amitabh Bachchan slept with a loaded revolver under his pillow.
What does it indicate? – The yawning chasm between illusion and reality. The heroes cannot be blamed for our mistaken perceptions. Stars are ordinary mortals in real life, they did exactly what you and I would do in such a situation. Their larger than life roles, the intriguing canvas of Bollywood with its concoction of music, songs, dance, and lavish costumes have had the masses believe illusion as reality.
One of the bollywood-bhaktas shares the experience of meeting with his idol, “I touched his feet, and gave him a cola. The Thalaivar drank half of it and handed over the cup to me; I drank what was left of the drink. He smiled at me, and I fell unconscious.”
What a misguided love? Does it hold water in front of Lord Chaitanya’s love to Lord Jagannath? What is true love? Who is the right object of our love? This is another instance of illusion and reality- the difference in reel and real life. While I celebrate their being alive, I want to take the opportunity to bust the myth- illusion and reality.
Our original position is not very ego-pampering – we are bound to serve. If we choose not to serve Krishna (the ultimate reality), we end up serving Maya devi (illusion) – Choose your master!
The present age, Kaliyuga, has been described as the age of vicious propensities- quarrel, hypocrisy, and lack of spiritual intelligence. To compound the woes, we as a mortal suffer from four manufacturing defects – defective senses, propensity to cheat, vulnerability to make mistakes, and illusion. We have defective senses- for instance, we cannot see objects that are too big or are too small like microbes; we cannot hear certain sounds (which a dog can). So, since our senses are defective, we perceive illusion as reality. Propensity to cheat. Even a simple innocent gesture of a woman putting make-up while going out is an example of this. She wants to project a beauty, what she does not possess. She wants to cheat and we want to be cheated- the blurring line between illusion and reality. Since we have a propensity to cheat, we also cheat our ownselves and opt for cheap realization of God and get cheated. Tendency to make mistake- a man may be very great, but he errs. This is conditioned life. There is no man who has not made any mistake. Since we have the tendency to make mistakes, we erroneously believe the reel life to be the reality. Finally, the defect of illusion. As Srila Prabhupada says, we are not aware of what soul is or our status as ‘spirit souls’ is. When we lose a family member, we wail and mourn. We identify our self with this body. This is illusion. Going by the same logic, since we are subject to illusion, we mistake the illusion to be reality. It appears we are caught in a vicious circle, one defect leads to the other and thus wrong conclusions. Does it mean that we are condemned to this state? What is the way out?
We cannot accept knowledge from a person who is subject to those four defects. A guiding spirit, who is above these four defects, can only lead us out of this. Who is he? – God. Let us surrender to Him, and He promises to save us. In Bhagwad Gita 18.66, Lord Krishna declares:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also declares authoritatively:
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.”
Further, the chanting of His holy name (which is non-different from Him) also delivers us from the four perennial problems of material condition- janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi (the cycle of birth and death, old age and disease). So, what is that chanting? What is that mantra, which will help us so much, breaking the shackles of four defects of man, of Kaliyuga, and of perennial material conditions?
Shastras recommend the chanting of:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So simple is the process!
You are a soul full of bliss, why be illusioned when there is a way out? Follow the regulative principles, chant His name with the feeling of complete surrender to Him. You are rescued and are one of the most fortunate souls on the path of realizing the ultimate reality. Chant,
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
And experience the supreme reality.
Dr. Vrinda Baxi (Vrindavan Lila Devi Dasi)
vrindavanlila.brs@gmail.com
Hare Krsna!
Once again we have witnessed what happens in a civilisation bereft of God Conciousness. The illusion is too strong. As so called surrendered devotees of the lord, even many among us cant deride this illusion or maya, so what to speak of the poor souls who wander about without anyone to guide them or nurture and support them.
Let all of us pray for not only these misdirected souls, but also for all of us devotees to find the shelter of the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga every step of the way!
Servant,
Manasaganga dd