Tendency to lord over someone …………….... People in this world are very, very fond of serving their mind and senses and they are even more fond of having other people serving their mind and senses thinking I am the master and thus becoming intoxicated by this misconception on every stratum of life. Even the beggars in the street have their hierarchies of who is serving, who of who has control, who has what prestige? Even amongst the insects there is this type of false ego and of the birds of the beast and of the fish; in every specie of life ahankar prevails ‘I am the controller, I am the master’. When the shark swims in the sea, he eats whoever he wants and even when he is not hungry when he swims by; the little fish he sees them running with fear thinking ‘Ah! yes I am the shark but then the little fish always find the littler fish to Lord it over and the littler fish finds the littlest fish to Lord it over and the littlest fish finds some plant or some baby fish to Lord it over but everyone lords over something or someone to Lord over because that is our tendency. But our eternal nature is to not to Lord over anyone but to find complete bliss and being totally surrendered to the will of Krishna and working in total harmony in the mood of being the servant of everyone else for the pleasure of Krishna, that is Vaikuntha.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya, är nä koriho mane äsä
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Most essential qualifications in approaching a Guru - H.H.Radhanath Swami
How to take shelter? Krishna says in Gita “tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah”. You see; it's not that you just accept initiation; now I have a Guru, study Vedas, become Sanskrit scholar, become very learned. Never!!! In billions of births, you will be bewildered & you will be so bewildered that you'll think you know the Truth, but there are 3 most essential qualifications in approaching a Guru.
One is pranipat; that means the first thing you have to do is follow in Arjuna's footsteps. Karpanya dosho pahat svabhavat. You must accept that I am a fool. You must accept that I do not know. You must accept that I have imperfect senses, I have a tendency to cheat, I commit mistakes & I am invariably illusioned. That because I am covered by these defects I cannot understand anything as it is. Therefore the first most important qualification is that you must humble yourself before Guru. Whatever you know you have to put it aside & admit that you don't know. That's the beginning. Otherwise you don't need a Guru. If you are not willing to do that it's just a fashion, it's a fad, our Guru Maharaj used to say many people like to keep a Guru like they keep a flower pot on a wall. They just see I have a Guru, Every now & then I water it. They keep a Guru for their own prestige, but that is not correct. Through such a process the transmission of knowledge cannot take place. Pranipat that means you have to humble yourself, seek the shelter of the lotus feet of this personality. That I do not know anything, please instruct me. Krishna, the JagatGuru Himself was not willing to say a single word to Arjuna of transcendental knowledge until Arjuna came to this platform. Karpanya dosho pahat svabhava As long as Arjuna thought I know what's best for me Krishna simply remained silent. There was no use in talking to such a person who thinks he knows. He convinced against his will of the same opinion still what can you tell a person who already knows. In classical music, there was a very famous music teacher & it is described that he would teach the piano & if you never played the piano before in your life he would charge you a certain amount of money for the lesson & if you had already been playing before, he would charge you twice as much; because before he could teach you anything he had to first convince you that you don't know anything, otherwise you are a useless student, you'll always be second guessing or coming up with another idea.
And after pranipat is pariprasnena. Once you seek shelter and humble yourself then you must enquire submissively. What is the real goal of life? What is the Supreme occupation? What is the Real Dharma? What is the duty of a man about to die? Who is God? What is my relationship? Who am I?
Ultimately these enquiries fructify in the third principle sevaya. Where we ask the question "How can I serve you Guru Maharaj". And how do we serve? Not just by giving garlands or washing feet but by following the instructions he gives us in our life day by day & when the disciple has this consciousness & this approach then yasya prasadat bhagvat prasado, yasya aprasadan na gatih kutopi. It is described that when one pleases the Guru in this way the grace of Krishna comes through him in the heart of the disciple. The Guru is not Krishna, but the Guru is the manifestation of Krishna's grace in this world; the delegated representative of Krishna to deliver the Supreme grace, the Divine grace of God, into this world. So when one is favored by Krishna through such humility & devotion then one can understand things, as they are not otherwise.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya,
är nä koriho mane äsä
One is pranipat; that means the first thing you have to do is follow in Arjuna's footsteps. Karpanya dosho pahat svabhavat. You must accept that I am a fool. You must accept that I do not know. You must accept that I have imperfect senses, I have a tendency to cheat, I commit mistakes & I am invariably illusioned. That because I am covered by these defects I cannot understand anything as it is. Therefore the first most important qualification is that you must humble yourself before Guru. Whatever you know you have to put it aside & admit that you don't know. That's the beginning. Otherwise you don't need a Guru. If you are not willing to do that it's just a fashion, it's a fad, our Guru Maharaj used to say many people like to keep a Guru like they keep a flower pot on a wall. They just see I have a Guru, Every now & then I water it. They keep a Guru for their own prestige, but that is not correct. Through such a process the transmission of knowledge cannot take place. Pranipat that means you have to humble yourself, seek the shelter of the lotus feet of this personality. That I do not know anything, please instruct me. Krishna, the JagatGuru Himself was not willing to say a single word to Arjuna of transcendental knowledge until Arjuna came to this platform. Karpanya dosho pahat svabhava As long as Arjuna thought I know what's best for me Krishna simply remained silent. There was no use in talking to such a person who thinks he knows. He convinced against his will of the same opinion still what can you tell a person who already knows. In classical music, there was a very famous music teacher & it is described that he would teach the piano & if you never played the piano before in your life he would charge you a certain amount of money for the lesson & if you had already been playing before, he would charge you twice as much; because before he could teach you anything he had to first convince you that you don't know anything, otherwise you are a useless student, you'll always be second guessing or coming up with another idea.
And after pranipat is pariprasnena. Once you seek shelter and humble yourself then you must enquire submissively. What is the real goal of life? What is the Supreme occupation? What is the Real Dharma? What is the duty of a man about to die? Who is God? What is my relationship? Who am I?
Ultimately these enquiries fructify in the third principle sevaya. Where we ask the question "How can I serve you Guru Maharaj". And how do we serve? Not just by giving garlands or washing feet but by following the instructions he gives us in our life day by day & when the disciple has this consciousness & this approach then yasya prasadat bhagvat prasado, yasya aprasadan na gatih kutopi. It is described that when one pleases the Guru in this way the grace of Krishna comes through him in the heart of the disciple. The Guru is not Krishna, but the Guru is the manifestation of Krishna's grace in this world; the delegated representative of Krishna to deliver the Supreme grace, the Divine grace of God, into this world. So when one is favored by Krishna through such humility & devotion then one can understand things, as they are not otherwise.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya,
är nä koriho mane äsä
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The material world: no assurance, no guarantee - H.H.Radhanath Swami
Gajendra, he, was a devotee but some how or other he made some mistakes and became an elephant. And he was enjoying with his family very nice life, he had so many nice elephant children and elephant wife and they were all just having a wonderful holiday together and then the crocodile bit his foot. This is material life, at any time crocodile bite your feet; we all have been bitten so many times by the crocodile of material adversity and this crocodile has a very strong sharp teeth and once they bite; you cannot get out. In fact everyone is within this crocodile, in this world at any moment however nice things are we have seen, your success, you are victorious everything is very good and then someone dies or all of a sudden you loose everything or some crazy person starts saying bad things and then your life again is in chaos. There is no security in this world; even the greatest persons are assassinated; they are over thrown at any minute. That is the material world no assurance, no guarantee.- H.H.Radhanath Swami
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
What pleases H.H.Radhanath Swami
Q. What pleases you the most, What you want your disciples to do to please you?
A. Make Srila Prabhupada’s mission your life and soul and to do that;
A. Make Srila Prabhupada’s mission your life and soul and to do that;
- Take shelter of the Holy names sincerely,
- Be humble,
- Tolerant,
- Respectful,
- Develop wonderful relationships with each other and
- Have tremendous enthusiasm to serve Prabhupada’s mission to help to create unity and happiness within Prabhupada’s society through this process.
- Question and Answer session with H.H.Radhanath Swami on 25th february 2007
Monday, May 11, 2009
survival of the fittest - H.H.Radhanath Swami
If you ever think there will be a peaceful situation in this world that will last for long that is your illusion. There is no question or possibility of peace in a battlefield, your fighting is constantly going on, from the beginning of creation to destruction, every element of material existence is having fights, gross and subtle and yet we are trying to make some nice arrangements for peace by our material manipulation through politics, through medicine, through social welfare work, through philosophy, through religion, we are trying to create peace in a massive battlefield where the fighting never ends. The only way to achieve peace is to transcend the material existence which is a place of war, survival of the fittest; even in your little body, if there are good cells and the chemicals in your body they will survive. In the jungle, the big animals they survive and the little animals are devoured; in the water, the big fish survive and the little fish are devoured; in the sky the big birds survive and the little bird are devoured or they are at least in fear of being devoured, this is a world of the survival of the fittest, Bhagavatam says one living being is a food for another and however big you are, you are going to be a food for someone.
Complacency - H.H.Radhanath Swami
Excerpt from a lecture by H.H. Radhanath Swami
Question: Maharaj, you mentioned in the lecture about how we take things, which we have been doing for several years, for granted. You gave the example of television. The same thing happens to us even in spiritual life because some things we have been doing for years together. (It's like) You just switch on the 'television' in the morning, and start chanting and get on with it. It becomes very mechanical. We tend to take it for granted after some time. So how do we avoid this?
Radhanath Maharaj: It is very important that we keep our intelligence tuned in to the good fortune that we have received and never take it for granted. That is why it is important to associate with people who truly understand the value of the gift that we have received and hearing from them.
When we read Srila Prabhupada's books, when we come to the classes of the devotees, when we listen to tapes, we should actually have this intent, not just to hear as an entertainment, but to understand that I desperately need to hear, to keep my consciousness aware of the good fortune I am receiving as well as the dangers of maya.
One of the greatest of all maya's arsenals to overcome us is the danger of complacency. Krishna tells us in the Gita, "We must give up egoism and lethargy - two terrible enemies." Lethargy can be both on the gross and subtle platform. On the gross platform, we are just lazy, we just want to sleep. We don't want to do work. We rather just not exert our senses, because it is difficult. This is a physical type of lethargy. But, the more subtle form of lethargy is to take the unlimited value of the fortune of Krishna Consciousness as something ordinary. Or as they say, "You take it for granted."
When we are new devotees, we are struck with wonder at our great fortune to be able to hear Srimad Bhagavatam. 'It is answering all my questions! The holy name is giving me relief from material existence. It is giving me a taste for Krishna', is our initial reaction. When we first come to the temple and eat prasadam and see the Deities, we can feel how it is liberating our soul. And the fact is that it is liberating our soul. But as we become familiar, we we take it to be ordinary. As we take it to be ordinary, we are not really accessing the benefits. So we must maintain great enthusiasm, and gratitude towards all the various subtleties of devotional service. It is very important. Because, if we become complacent in our devotional activities, then it is just a matter of time till maya again attracts us to perform her activities. We have to have determination.
Therefore, when we come to class, when we read the books, we should really be trying to reconfirm the intense awareness of the great mercy we are receiving and reciprocate with that mercy. Every time we chant japa, we should really be praying and struggling to really be grateful and reciprocate with this great mercy we have received through Krishna's holy name.
It is a miracle. It is a wonder. But yes, we just turn on the station, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." Then, when it is time for the next show, we (unfortunately) turn it off. We should be very conscious not to fall into that trap. Because if we do, we lose interest in that station and soon we will just start turning on other stations at that time. Maya will seduce us.
So we have to struggle against this complacency. We have to pray. We have to endeavour and especially, we must very attentively hear those messages that will reconfirm our awareness of the dangers of material life, the beauty and sweetness of Krishna, the glories of devotional service and how fortunate we are that by the causeless mercy of Guru and Krishna we have received this chance.
Question: Maharaj, you mentioned in the lecture about how we take things, which we have been doing for several years, for granted. You gave the example of television. The same thing happens to us even in spiritual life because some things we have been doing for years together. (It's like) You just switch on the 'television' in the morning, and start chanting and get on with it. It becomes very mechanical. We tend to take it for granted after some time. So how do we avoid this?
Radhanath Maharaj: It is very important that we keep our intelligence tuned in to the good fortune that we have received and never take it for granted. That is why it is important to associate with people who truly understand the value of the gift that we have received and hearing from them.
When we read Srila Prabhupada's books, when we come to the classes of the devotees, when we listen to tapes, we should actually have this intent, not just to hear as an entertainment, but to understand that I desperately need to hear, to keep my consciousness aware of the good fortune I am receiving as well as the dangers of maya.
One of the greatest of all maya's arsenals to overcome us is the danger of complacency. Krishna tells us in the Gita, "We must give up egoism and lethargy - two terrible enemies." Lethargy can be both on the gross and subtle platform. On the gross platform, we are just lazy, we just want to sleep. We don't want to do work. We rather just not exert our senses, because it is difficult. This is a physical type of lethargy. But, the more subtle form of lethargy is to take the unlimited value of the fortune of Krishna Consciousness as something ordinary. Or as they say, "You take it for granted."
When we are new devotees, we are struck with wonder at our great fortune to be able to hear Srimad Bhagavatam. 'It is answering all my questions! The holy name is giving me relief from material existence. It is giving me a taste for Krishna', is our initial reaction. When we first come to the temple and eat prasadam and see the Deities, we can feel how it is liberating our soul. And the fact is that it is liberating our soul. But as we become familiar, we we take it to be ordinary. As we take it to be ordinary, we are not really accessing the benefits. So we must maintain great enthusiasm, and gratitude towards all the various subtleties of devotional service. It is very important. Because, if we become complacent in our devotional activities, then it is just a matter of time till maya again attracts us to perform her activities. We have to have determination.
Therefore, when we come to class, when we read the books, we should really be trying to reconfirm the intense awareness of the great mercy we are receiving and reciprocate with that mercy. Every time we chant japa, we should really be praying and struggling to really be grateful and reciprocate with this great mercy we have received through Krishna's holy name.
It is a miracle. It is a wonder. But yes, we just turn on the station, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." Then, when it is time for the next show, we (unfortunately) turn it off. We should be very conscious not to fall into that trap. Because if we do, we lose interest in that station and soon we will just start turning on other stations at that time. Maya will seduce us.
So we have to struggle against this complacency. We have to pray. We have to endeavour and especially, we must very attentively hear those messages that will reconfirm our awareness of the dangers of material life, the beauty and sweetness of Krishna, the glories of devotional service and how fortunate we are that by the causeless mercy of Guru and Krishna we have received this chance.
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