dipika.org
"To show them special mercy, I,
dwelling in their hearts, destroy
with
the shining lamp of knowledge the
darkness born of ignorance."
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The Most Exciting Period
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We are now in the most exciting period in world history. There is a tidal wave of love of Godhead that burst forth from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago in India. In the 60s and 70s that tidal wave was distributed all over the world by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Now, at the present moment, Prabhupada's followers are expanding that wave more and more.
The April issue of the respected science magazine Nature has a feature article on the Intelligent Design movement. The magazine also devotes its entire front page to the topic, and there is an editorial stating that although Intelligent Design is wholly unscientific and fundamentally wrong, it is making big inroads in the scientific world and amongst students and therefore must be dealt with.
(completed on 2/21/05, Nityananda-trayodasi, at Chowpatty, Mumbai, India.)
["devotees" is pronounced DEV a TEES]
Beside the splendor of His
golden form
and smiling face,
The splendor of the autumn moon
appears
most commonplace.
Because He's mad with love of God,
though
He's God in disguise,
He walks just like a drunken elephant
and
rolls His eyes.
Srila Prabhupada: Foretelling Practical Experience
VNN has posted an article By Brahma Das basically saying that Srila Prabhupada's statements on women are old 1970's stuff to be discarded today. I sent the following comment to VNN, but they did not post it.
Srila Prabhupada's explanation of the Vedic view on male-female relationships is not, as Brahma Das implies, based on the time and circumstance of the1970's; rather, it is to give a hint to future generations on how society should be organized for peaceful living. Srila Prabhupada is revealing the cure for the many social ills that have been created in this dark age of Kali. Let us not make the mistake of trivializing these teachings, as they are for the betterment of human society as a whole.
Dear Dravida Prabhu,
Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to your grace.
We were very happy to read your poem "The King Of Sweet." We have posted this wonderful poem to some friends over e-mail. Thank you very much for this sweet poem, which brings everyone closer to the Supreme Sweet, Lord Krishna.
Oct 3, 2004, Divnomorsk–
His lips are sweet, His smile is
sweet,
His eyes
are sweet, His face is sweet,
His heart is sweet, His gait is sweet—
The King
of Sweet is sweet complete.
Dearest Dasas(is), Prabhus, Gosais, Goswamis, Swamis, Maharajas, and Acharyas,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Having recently witnessed on DVD the most auspicious installation ceremony of the heroic-sized Deities of Sri-Sri Pancha-tattva at Sridhama Mayapura, we have become quite convinced that this event has marked the visible, manifest beginning of the foretold 10,000 year Satya-yuga within this simultaneously auspicious and terrible Kali-yuga.
Please accept my humble obeisances All glories to ISKCON Founder Acharya Srila Prabhupada
I pray this letter finds all of you blissfully engaged in preparing for Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja celebrations. In this spirit I am submitting this short update about my health, but more important a reflection from my Beggar 1 book. " Meditations and Prayers on the Supreme Lord Meditation#33."
This prayer and my Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada, which all of you will soon read or perhaps have already read, are self explanatory.
My oldest brother, Ramanuja, made my other brother and his wife devotees in 1985, and they took me to the temple in 1986, in Adelaide. It was then, after they gave me beads and Srila Prabhupada's books, that I began to chant and read, albeit spasmodically. It wasn't exactly a euphoric introduction to Krishna consciousness. That came a few years later, when I finally moved into the temple.
I resisted that move for a long time because of circumstances that I couldn't get out of and also no doubt because of simply not being ready. It took me that length of time to extricate myself from my situation and to come to the realization that it was really the only thing left for me to do.
[The following is a response to an article on Chakra.org entitled "Only the Unattainable Guru Makes No Mistakes," by Ananda dasa. I have not posted a link to the article because it is insulting to Srila Prabhupada and I don't want to encourage people to read it, but it is there if anyone wants to look for it.]
Here's a good riposte to Ananda dasa by Srila Prabhupada himself. Ananda repeatedly refers to sections of our teachings that he either doesn't like or understands as ancient, as if this is now left behind and modern times require something different. Not according to Prabhupada:
From a Lecture on SB 5.6.8, Nov. 30, 1976 Vrndavana:
Jai Sri Nrsimhadeva!
First of all, I would like to introduce myself. I am Anand Karia a devotee of Sri Nrsimhadeva living in Karachi, Pakistan. I would like to ask for some advice.
During construction work in the Sri Nrsimhadeva Temple, the Deity of Sri Nrsimhadeva was broken. The face was damaged and the Deity fell down because of being hit by a heavy hammer. So we have inquired about some kind of puja, havan, etc. from different pujaris, but every pujari has his own opinion. Some say we have to arrange a puja; some say there is no need of it, that we should just put the Deity into the ocean and that's all.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupad! All glories to all of the Vaishnavas, especially the preachers who are saving the world from hell! All glories to your service!
Have you ever heard of terminal restlessness? Probably not, unless you are a doctor or a nurse. But although the name is new, the condition is described in Srimad Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada says:
"And similarly, miserable condition of death. When one is lying in coma, so many sufferings is going on, so many dreaming, the Yamaduta is coming. Sometimes the man on the deathbed cries, he's so much suffering but there is no remedy. Everyone is helpless. So that is the miserable condition of death...." — Srila Prabhupada, Gorakhpur Feb 18, 1971
I will tell you how I found out about it, and this story is a classic example of the dreadful reality faced by all the suffering souls of this material world. It also shows clearly what Srila Prabhupad has saved us from and why we should feel eternally indebted to him.
It all started when I received a phone call from my parents saying that Dad was sick with cancer.
Holy
Salagram Silas
By Ravi Sihra
Posted
February 16, 2004
I wish to thank Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami for answering my question about the vast amount of holy Salagram Silas.
When I visited the Karuna Bhavana temple in Scotland I was amazed to see over 12,000 Salagram Silas. I sat looking at the Salagram Silas and went into a sort of trance for about an hour, just gazing at them because I felt that they were special. Then I thought that if They were to be treated as you would treat Deities, They should be kept separate. I felt that each one has a kind of spiritual aura so They might be better kept separate than in one large container.
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I have seen many Deities made from silas glued together, like Padmanabha in Trivandrum. I don't think that Krishna is uncomfortable. Rather, I see that He likes to be embraced in all his forms. One devotee told he dreamed his silas had some meeting and were discussing things. I am grateful to Krishna that He at all came to the material world, which is a horrible place where there is a lack of purity, spiritual energy, etc.
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I visited the Karuna Bhavana temple in Scotland recently and was pleased to see that it is a very nice temple with beautiful Deities. The Srimati Vrinda Devi deity is very special. The view outside of the Scottish highlands is wonderful, as it is nature at its best. The highlight is the vast amount of Salagram Silas. The Salagram Silas are very, very special. It is amazing to see over 12,000 Salagram Silas.
I sat looking at the Salagram Silas for about an hour, and I felt that They should not be placed in one big steel container all piled up one on top of the other, as the ones underneath seemed to me to need more air and space. They seemed to be trapped underneath, and all Their respective powers seemed to be compressed. I feel that They should be placed on a soft material separately in cup-shape containers on steel tables in a large room.
Dear Maharaj,
Hare Krsna. Jai Sri Sri Krsna Balaram. Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and the Vaisnavas.
In response to your e-mail which was forwarded to me on the worship of Salagram.
Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaj has been here in Scotland on two occasions since the worship of numerous Silas began and has not made any comments, adverse or other, and our relationship is quite open, so I would hope that if we were doing anything untoward, he would be kind enough to say so.
The ISKCON GBC has given us Pancaratna Pradipa, and I thought of the following section:
A devotee with two salagrama-silas should worship Them separately to avoid becoming distracted:
Worshiping two dvaraka-silas or two salagrama-silas at once will cause disturbance in the mind. [Mantra-tantra-prakasa, quoted in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa]
However, if a devotee has three or more salagrama-silas, he may worship them simultaneously. In such a case he should offer full worship to only one sila, known as the pradhana-sila; all the others he should simply bathe together with the pradhana-sila and offer Them tulasi, candana, and flowers.
Fulfillment: A Call for Cow Protection and the Establishment of Brahminical Culture
A funny thing occurred recently when the "Last Call for Global Excellence Award 2004 Nominations" notice appeared in the Cow Conference. We all discovered that there was no mention of cow protection as one of the categories.
Before I go on, I would like to point out that it was eventually found to be a simple oversight resulting from no one yet nominating anyone in that field.
But it got us thinking: Why is there so little support for cow protection in ISKCON these days? There is talk of simple living and high thinking, there is plenty of talk of warm milk and prasad swimming in ghee, but there is little talk of fulfilling the final leg of Srila Prabhupada’s mission, and if there is, it is for the most part only talk.
Mayapur:
Quotations
from Srila Prabhupada
The Krsna consciousness movement has established its center in Mayapur, the birth site of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to give men the great opportunity to go there and perform a constant festival of sankirtana-yajna. [Srimad Bhagavatam 5.19.24 purport]
I want that we shall hold a grand festival in Mayapur from middle of February to first March. [Letter to Jayapataka (now Swami), Bombay 22nd December, 1971]
In February we shall go with full party to Mayapur for holding festival for Lord Caitanya's Appearance Day. [Letter to Amogha, Bombay 25th December, 1971]
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New
E-Mail for Color of Deities' Eyes
Thank you for posting my request about the colors of Radha and Krsna's eyes. We have since changed our email address, so I am sure I am not getting the replies to my enquiry.
Our email address is no longer: bhaktabhakti@bigpond.com. It is now byogafellowship@optusnet.com.au
I would be grateful if those details could be changed.
Thank you so much.
Your servant
Bhakti devi dasi
[See "Deities: What Color Eyes?" dipika.org, September 22, 2003.The article has been amended.]
[Article complete on this page]
About 500 years ago, Lord Krishna personally appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the place of the avatar for the age of Kali. Lord Chaitanya had two purposes for coming: to experience first-hand the bliss of serving Krishna and to spread pure love for Krishna, which is very rare. Writing about Lord Chaitanya’s plan for making His mercy widely available, Srila Krishna das Kaviraja Gosvami says, "sri-krishna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara, vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara: If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful."
Corrections
to "How to
Get Free from Sex Desire"
I need to make two adjustments. Can you change the word "counseling" towards the end of the article to "intuitive advice," and can you add somewhere in there that this is Garuda dasa second generation from Srila Prabhupada, the rainbow preacher, to distinguish me from His Grace Garuda dasa, a senior devotee.
Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Garuda dasa
(Second generation, rainbow
preacher).
[The article has been amended. See "How to Get Free from Sex Desire," dipika.org, November 28, 2003]
[Article complete on this page]
How to Get Free from Sex Desire
[Note: The author of this article, Garuda dasa, is a second-generation devotee, a rainbow preacher. He is not the senior Garuda dasa, who offers spiritual counseling.]
Dear assembled devotees,
I would like to share a practical way to help any sincere person become free from sex desire. I've been developing and sharing this method with great success for over 17 years. All you have to do is really want to. The rest is easy. This method is full of grace as well as personal mental/intellectual strengthening from wherever your starting point is. Please read on.
There are four aspects of sexual bad habits that we can all do without: personal/physical, mental (thinking about it), looking at others (or illicit material), and speaking about it (flirting). These habits have frightening implications to our devotional lives as well as our personal mental and physical health when they are harbored in our being as an acceptable form of enjoyment. Please try listening to this seriously. If people can rise above their sexual desires, they will feel their luster, confidence, and inner bliss increasing within themselves.
Dear Premananda Gaur Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you very much for this article touching on a sore point. When talking with devotees I often hear that all religions are equally good. If their rules are truly followed the followers attain Vaikuntha, not Goloka Vrndavan, but another planet in the spiritual world.
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The
Deity's Eyes:
An Epistemological View
By Yugala Kishor
dasa
Posted
October 28, 2003
First of all, what is somewhat disturbing in both articles is that neither of the authors bothered to quote Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He probably made statements (whether implicit or explicit) in his writings, or even verbally, about this issue. Yet the authors are silent about it. The crux of the problem in not quoting — or approaching — Srila Prabhupada is an epistemological issue that may have, or already has, detrimental effects on Srila Prabhupada's movement in other areas of concern such as guru/disciple issues, the so-called female-guru issues, the women issues, the family issues, our managerial policies, etc., etc.
No
Vraja-bhakti in Bhagavad-gita?
In "Battlefield Fancy," Danavir Goswami asserts that Swami B.V. Tripurari’s commentary, Bhagavad-gita: Its Feeling and Philosophy, should be avoided because it has eight flaws: Gita Opportunism, Impertinent Over-Stepping, Sahajiya, Tenth Canto Opportunism, Infidelity, Misinterpretation, Rasabhasa, and Mayavada. His main point is that it is wrong to describe Bhagavad-gita in terms of Vraja-bhakti. In this response, I will address some preliminary objections, establish the precedent for drawing Vraja-bhakti from certain verses of the Bhagavad-gita, document quotations from Srila Prabhupada that explain Vraja-bhakti in terms of Gita verses, address Tripurari Maharaja’s mood in writing his Gita commentary and the propriety of writing another commentary on Bhagavad-gita, and give a brief refutation of each of Danavir Goswami’s eight main points.
Dear Vaisnavas,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
In regards to the discussion about the color of the eyes of Srimati Radharani and Lord Krishna, I have found the following quote from the book Krsnahnika Kaumudi by Srila Kavikarnapura (translated by Bhanu Swami and edited by Mahanidhi Swami), page 5:
A
Storm Brewing
over the Battlefield
Some e-mail has come in objecting to Danavir Maharaja's article "Battlefield Fancy," so I may have to print some articles in defense of the book that Maharaja criticized. I would like to post the ground rules as to what can and cannot be printed on dipika.org in this regard.
First, some background. I did not know the book was written by Tripurari Maharaja. Maharaja is not a member of ISKCON. He has his own institution, and he is free to write as he sees fit for his followers. He does not interfere in the affairs of ISKCON, and the ISKCON policy has been to offer him the same courtesy. Danavir Maharaja did not mention the name of the author in his review because he was only interested in defeating a philosophical point of view that he fears may be creeping into ISKCON.
Dear devotees,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
It is amazing to see and hear all the prajalpa that is going on in and around ISKCON today. What a waste of time! The bottom line is that deviations are going to exist, always. Even when Srila Prabhupada was present, there were people going against him.
Our future generations need to learn all this mumbo jumbo like rivtik, poison theory, poor unfortunate followers, and the new wave of confused disciples and granddisciples of Srila Prabhupada going to get rasika bhakti and open a new gopi-bhava club near Srila Prabhupada's temples, trying to steal the precious congregations that after so many years of hard work by the sincere and strict followers of Srila Prabhupada have grown to millions worldwide.
I am concerned about a new translation and commentary of the Bhagavad-gita advertised via email and the internet. Note this version is not produced in ISKCON or by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. The promotional materials tell of the new Gita's "charming" attempt to interpret Krsna and Arjuna's dialogue prior to the battle of Kuruksetra in terms of "Vraja bhakti." Please pardon me for not explicitly identifying the author and the title of this new book, as I prefer to address the philosophy that they espouse.
Hare Krishna.
This is in response to your question on Dipika, about the color of the Deity's eyes. Both Radha and Krishna have dark blue eyes.
Texts 26 and 45 of Bilvamangala's Krishna Karnamrta state:
"When will Krishna cast upon me His sidelong glances, which are as dark blue as the blue lotuses growing in the Yamuna and tremulous with waves of mercy? And when will my heart find ineffable joy in the playful notes of His flute, which are more cooling than the moon held on the head of Siva, Cupid's enemy?"
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I am sending a true copy from Vedabase of part of the famous letter of April 28, 1974, to Rupanuga Prabhu (then Maharaja).
The last section of this paragraph specifically instructs him (and all of ISKCON because Srila Prabhupada writes, "This is my instruction to you all") not to associate with Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers:
Why
Propagate One's
Weaknesses as Philosophy?
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I find it sad that instead of discussing Krishna katha there is a tendency coming up to make a philosophy out of our weaknesses. Everyone has some karmic weakness may this be homosexuality, addiction to some other sense gratification, a tendency to criticize, weak sadhana, lack of taste for spiritual life.
Some devotees may feel that in the past ISKCON neglected to hear the personal psychological needs of its members and that now this has to be adjusted and rectified. I feel that it is one thing to understand the weaknesses and support the person in his personal life as a devotee with all his struggles, but it is quite another to make a philosophy out of this matter.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I have been wondering about the color of Radha and Krsna's eyes, as we have ordered marble Radha Krsna Deities from Jaipur, and They are going to be installed in our preaching center very soon.
I have been confused as to what color to paint Their eyes, as some ISKCON Deities have brown eyes and others blue, especially Radha.
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Where blooming flowers spread their
sweet perfumes,
Where clear Yamuna flows and songbirds
sing,
here soothing, lovely light the land
illumes,
Sri Radha and Sri Krsna gently swing.
Not Eating in front of the Deities
Posted July 29, 2003
I saw a comment on the "Rathayatra in Mayapur" pictures: that we eat in front of the Deities. The curtain on the altar is closed. Because the light inside the altar was very bright the curtain appeared to be see-through, but it was not.
[See "Eating in front of the Deity?" dipika.org, July 26, 2003]
[Article complete on this page]
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"Generally we should not eat before the Deity." [Room Conversation Tokyo, April 20, 1972]
[See "Rathayatra in Mayapur," dipika.org, July 9, 2003]
[Article complete on this page]
To: The GBC Body and other members of ISKCON
Respected Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am writing to apologize for my involvement in the so-called ritvik theory and the poison issue.
I reject the philosophical conclusions propounded by those who think Srila Prabhupada intended himself to be the diksa guru in ISKCON after his physical departure. Rather, I accept the GBC's understanding that Srila Prabhupada expected his disciples to become gurus and carry on the parampara.
Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Please accept my most humble obeisances.
I am doing some research for a paper and would like to know if anyone can provide more info on the life of Srila Vyasadeva, the compiler of the Mahabharata and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Anything you may know or can lead me to will be of great help:
1. Is anything known about Srila
Vyasadeva's early childhood? young adult
life? marriage, etc? I know his son was
Sukadeva Goswami, reciter of the
Bhagavatam to Maharaja Pariksit, but
anything else?
More: Click here or on title
Regulative
Principles:
The Quest for Clarification
In recent months, I have observed a barrage of commentaries justifying and countering conservative and liberal views on the regulative principles set by Srila Prabhupada as the founding principles for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). I am hardly qualified to make further assertions on this subject. However, since the subject matter is one that impacts core ISKCON values, I can certainly reveal my impressions, impressions that I have conjured based on exposure and introspection.
While sexuality is undoubtedly the
predominating force in architecting
material societal structures and the
primary focus of most of the discussions
I have alluded to in my introduction, I
feel the clarifications may be obtained
by analyzing the spirit behind
regulative principles in general.
More: Click here or on title
Kinds and Degrees of Illicit Sex
Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Certainly we Gaudiya Vaisnavas, members of ISKCON, should know what is sinful and what is not. In the ultimate sense, sin is anything that is not done 1) for Krishna, 2) with a desire to please Him without wanting anything in return, and 3) without any interruption in service. Pure bhakti is the nature of the soul, and anything contrary to that, or less than that, is untruth and sinful.
But sin is of different kinds and
degrees. Just as one cannot say that
because a cat is an animal and a dog is
an animal that a cat is a dog, so one
cannot say that because two things are
both sinful that they are the same kind
of thing, or to the same degree. Murder
is a different kind of sin than is
stealing, and there are degrees of both,
with different types and severity of
consequences. First-degree murder is of
a different degree than manslaughter,
and manslaughter is a different kind of
sin than armed robbery with a deadly
weapon, which is of a different degree
than burglary.
More: Click here or on title
Srila
Prabhupada
on Devotee Appearance
Sometimes we hear that in order to have more impact on modern society devotees should adjust to its ways— for example, by wearing Western clothes. If we look at Srila Prabhupada's example, however, we see the opposite attitude.
In Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, there is an occasion when Srila Prabhupada met Swami Nikhilananda, who urged him to adopt Western clothes and habits. But Srila Prabhupada said he would teach Westerners Vedic ways instead:
"Srila Prabhupada wore a coat Dr. Mishra had given him, but he never gave up wearing his dhoti, despite the cold, windy walks.... "
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