Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Radhanath Swami on Care towards Devotees
Caring for Every Devotees
How to apply these principles today, in our society of devotees, is a great challenge. But it is essential, because without it so many problems will play havoc in our society. For a society to be strong, all members must know their duties, and everyone should care for each other. Care means personal attention in serving each devotee. This is the one of the greatest needs of our society. We are preaching the most personal theology in the world: Krishna is a person and every living being is also a person. Everyone has an eternal relationship with God; every one has an eternal relationship with His part and parcels. As Krishna says: “You cannot show love for Me unless you show love for My devotees, and even show love to those who forgot that they are My devotees.” Sometimes in our society we become so highly philosophical that we forget that we are people.
Devotees need encouragement and basic facilities to be happy and serve
Krishna throughout their life.
A devotee has given his whole life to serve this mission, and then he becomes very sick. He needs help. He lays sick on the floor “I can’t do my service.” And we say, “You are in maya. You are not the body.” “Thank you. Philosophically it’s true: I am not this body and I am in maya, but I need your help to get out of maya and transcend this body. I need the love, support and care of a Vaisnava to take me through this.”
Srila Prabhupada was so caring to his devotees. On the first Gaura Purnima festival the only existing building was not yet finished. The first night that the devotees were there Srila Prabhupada got up in the middle of the night to look in each room to see if each devotee was properly taken care of, to see if everyone had a mosquito net. He would also ensure that there was prasadam for all of them and when they were getting sick he was very concerned about their health.
In Vrindavana, during his last months on the planet, Srila Prabhupada was so sick that he couldn’t even walk. When he had to go upstairs two British devotees would pick him up and would carry him in his chair. One of these devotees had a boil in his foot, and once, while he was carrying Srila Prabhupada, something hit the boil. The devotee said “Oh!” and tried to hide it, but Srila Prabhupada understood. Srila Prabhupada could not eat for months and had lost so much weight. His body was only bones. In these state most people would think about themselves. What was a little boil for a big, strong, young devotee, in comparison with Srila Prabhupada’s condition? Still, Srila Prabhupada asked: “What is your problem?” “No problem, Srila Prabhupada, no problem” said the disciple. But Srila Prabhupada insisted: “No, no, please, tell me”, and then he saw the boil and told him exactly what medicine to put. He told him to take the leaf of a certain tree, put it in mustard oil, boil it, and apply this at least three times a day. The next day, when that devotee was carrying Srila Prabhupada upstairs, Srila Prabhupada asked: “How is your foot? Let me see.” And for the next several days, until the boil was completely cured, Srila Prabhupada would inquire with attention and concern. How much do you think this increased the love of that devotee for Srila Prabhupada? He felt: “Srila Prabhupada is so concerned with such an insignificant disciple like myself. I am not a big preacher or anything like that.” This is bhakti. When devotees have physical or mental difficulties it’s an opportunity for us to express our love for them. It’s an opportunity to express our love for Krishna through serving a Vaisnava.
source: link
Hare Krishna
How to apply these principles today, in our society of devotees, is a great challenge. But it is essential, because without it so many problems will play havoc in our society. For a society to be strong, all members must know their duties, and everyone should care for each other. Care means personal attention in serving each devotee. This is the one of the greatest needs of our society. We are preaching the most personal theology in the world: Krishna is a person and every living being is also a person. Everyone has an eternal relationship with God; every one has an eternal relationship with His part and parcels. As Krishna says: “You cannot show love for Me unless you show love for My devotees, and even show love to those who forgot that they are My devotees.” Sometimes in our society we become so highly philosophical that we forget that we are people.
Devotees need encouragement and basic facilities to be happy and serve
Krishna throughout their life.
A devotee has given his whole life to serve this mission, and then he becomes very sick. He needs help. He lays sick on the floor “I can’t do my service.” And we say, “You are in maya. You are not the body.” “Thank you. Philosophically it’s true: I am not this body and I am in maya, but I need your help to get out of maya and transcend this body. I need the love, support and care of a Vaisnava to take me through this.”
Srila Prabhupada was so caring to his devotees. On the first Gaura Purnima festival the only existing building was not yet finished. The first night that the devotees were there Srila Prabhupada got up in the middle of the night to look in each room to see if each devotee was properly taken care of, to see if everyone had a mosquito net. He would also ensure that there was prasadam for all of them and when they were getting sick he was very concerned about their health.
In Vrindavana, during his last months on the planet, Srila Prabhupada was so sick that he couldn’t even walk. When he had to go upstairs two British devotees would pick him up and would carry him in his chair. One of these devotees had a boil in his foot, and once, while he was carrying Srila Prabhupada, something hit the boil. The devotee said “Oh!” and tried to hide it, but Srila Prabhupada understood. Srila Prabhupada could not eat for months and had lost so much weight. His body was only bones. In these state most people would think about themselves. What was a little boil for a big, strong, young devotee, in comparison with Srila Prabhupada’s condition? Still, Srila Prabhupada asked: “What is your problem?” “No problem, Srila Prabhupada, no problem” said the disciple. But Srila Prabhupada insisted: “No, no, please, tell me”, and then he saw the boil and told him exactly what medicine to put. He told him to take the leaf of a certain tree, put it in mustard oil, boil it, and apply this at least three times a day. The next day, when that devotee was carrying Srila Prabhupada upstairs, Srila Prabhupada asked: “How is your foot? Let me see.” And for the next several days, until the boil was completely cured, Srila Prabhupada would inquire with attention and concern. How much do you think this increased the love of that devotee for Srila Prabhupada? He felt: “Srila Prabhupada is so concerned with such an insignificant disciple like myself. I am not a big preacher or anything like that.” This is bhakti. When devotees have physical or mental difficulties it’s an opportunity for us to express our love for them. It’s an opportunity to express our love for Krishna through serving a Vaisnava.
source: link
Hare Krishna
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Radhanath Swam on Foundation of Spiritual Life
To the degree we serve our own ego or the ego of others, to the degree we are intolerant to others, to the degree we demand respect or disrespect others, is to the degree we are servants of our false ego. And we are bereft of our understanding of our real Krishna conciousness. So this is what Krishna conciousness really is.
It is an internal revolution of our inner conciousness for the sake of bringing about the awakening of our real humility, devotion and our desire to serve. As devotees, it is our goal of life to present ourselves in a way that Krishna can enjoy. We want to present in our own life, beauty that Krishna can appreciate and take pleasure in. Vaishnava etiquette is a process in which devotee deal with one another, relate with one another and it is based on those relationships that we make real spiritual advancement and really attract Krishna. It should be second to nothing else. However much pressure, however much necessity there is in our practical service, if it is at the expense of proper devotional relationships with our godbrothers and godsisters and other devotees, we should know that we are defeating our own purpose. Sometimes we see that devotees are so busy, they have so many deadlines, so many quotas, which are good to keep us fixed in our devotional service to accomplish many necessary goals. But oftentimes we are so much preoccupied by these things that we neglect the most important part of our spiritual life, which is our sadhana and our relationships with other devotees. Offending Vaishnavas is the greatest impediment to spiritual progress. If we offend devotees, Krishna withdraws his mercy. And all our devotional service is performed only to attract Krishna's mercy. So this is very important. We can learn philosphy of Krishna conciousness in a wonderful way, we can memories thousands of shlokas, we can memorize entire scriptures and can be able to present them so wonderfully to others, but if we do not know how to deal with Vaishnavas, if we do not know how to serve Vaishnavas, scriptural study becomes null and void. Because none of this is pleasing to Krishna. So this is the foundation in which our spiritual lives, individually and collectively can grow and develop. So there is nothing that is more important to put emphasis on than this.
It is an internal revolution of our inner conciousness for the sake of bringing about the awakening of our real humility, devotion and our desire to serve. As devotees, it is our goal of life to present ourselves in a way that Krishna can enjoy. We want to present in our own life, beauty that Krishna can appreciate and take pleasure in. Vaishnava etiquette is a process in which devotee deal with one another, relate with one another and it is based on those relationships that we make real spiritual advancement and really attract Krishna. It should be second to nothing else. However much pressure, however much necessity there is in our practical service, if it is at the expense of proper devotional relationships with our godbrothers and godsisters and other devotees, we should know that we are defeating our own purpose. Sometimes we see that devotees are so busy, they have so many deadlines, so many quotas, which are good to keep us fixed in our devotional service to accomplish many necessary goals. But oftentimes we are so much preoccupied by these things that we neglect the most important part of our spiritual life, which is our sadhana and our relationships with other devotees. Offending Vaishnavas is the greatest impediment to spiritual progress. If we offend devotees, Krishna withdraws his mercy. And all our devotional service is performed only to attract Krishna's mercy. So this is very important. We can learn philosphy of Krishna conciousness in a wonderful way, we can memories thousands of shlokas, we can memorize entire scriptures and can be able to present them so wonderfully to others, but if we do not know how to deal with Vaishnavas, if we do not know how to serve Vaishnavas, scriptural study becomes null and void. Because none of this is pleasing to Krishna. So this is the foundation in which our spiritual lives, individually and collectively can grow and develop. So there is nothing that is more important to put emphasis on than this.
source: link
Hare Krishna
Friday, March 6, 2009
Radhanath Swami on service and false pride
HOW TO RENDER SERVICE ?
Devotional service should not be rendered in a proud way. We should not think that rendering service is to show how nice we are, how good we are, how devoted we are. Rendering service in a proper state of mind means to always take a position of being menial and insignificant. We may not have this consciousness of menial significance frame of mind, but we should aspire for that in our service and we should aspire for that when we hear the glories of the Lord. And we should aspire for that when we chant the holy name of the Lord. Das das das dasanu das. When we aspire in all our devotional practices for this most glorious position of das dasanu das, then Krishna will take our prayers seriously and then by His Grace, He will remove ahankara, the false ego. Until He removes it, we will all be imprisoned by it. You do not have the power to remove it. But by your humble menial service to the Lord you will attract His Divine Mercy. He removes it. And for Him, nothing is impossible.
FALSE PRIDE:
Unless you very diligently strive to free yourself of false pride, that pride , that pride will creep into your spiritual life and cause you to be envious and inimical towards other devotees. This is the greatest danger. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that Maya cannot harm us in any way, by attacking outside. All outside attacks will only make us stonger if we are sincere. They cannot break us. But when she attacks from within, which means, attacking from from within our minds, that creates a sense of pride, a sense of competition, which ultimately results in a breakdown in love and trust and the mission is crippled. It is love and trust amongst the devotees of the Lord that attracts the empowerment of the Lord. It gives potency.
submitted by Gopinath Das
Link to source
Devotional service should not be rendered in a proud way. We should not think that rendering service is to show how nice we are, how good we are, how devoted we are. Rendering service in a proper state of mind means to always take a position of being menial and insignificant. We may not have this consciousness of menial significance frame of mind, but we should aspire for that in our service and we should aspire for that when we hear the glories of the Lord. And we should aspire for that when we chant the holy name of the Lord. Das das das dasanu das. When we aspire in all our devotional practices for this most glorious position of das dasanu das, then Krishna will take our prayers seriously and then by His Grace, He will remove ahankara, the false ego. Until He removes it, we will all be imprisoned by it. You do not have the power to remove it. But by your humble menial service to the Lord you will attract His Divine Mercy. He removes it. And for Him, nothing is impossible.
FALSE PRIDE:
Unless you very diligently strive to free yourself of false pride, that pride , that pride will creep into your spiritual life and cause you to be envious and inimical towards other devotees. This is the greatest danger. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that Maya cannot harm us in any way, by attacking outside. All outside attacks will only make us stonger if we are sincere. They cannot break us. But when she attacks from within, which means, attacking from from within our minds, that creates a sense of pride, a sense of competition, which ultimately results in a breakdown in love and trust and the mission is crippled. It is love and trust amongst the devotees of the Lord that attracts the empowerment of the Lord. It gives potency.
submitted by Gopinath Das
Link to source
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Radhanath Swami words of wisdom
All miseries of material existence follow for those who are attached to sensual life.When you approach with love, Krishna reciprocates with love.
A wealthy man is judged by how much he can give himself to others.
When you consider yourself holy, then you are wholly not holy in the eyes of God
H.H.Radhanath Swami
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