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Karnamrita.das — Tue, 02/22/2011 - 14:59

Passing the Torch of Hope, Inspiration and Renewal

Photobucket

Today is the appearance day of Shrila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Prabhupada, my beloved guru’s spiritual master (my param or grandfather guru). This day corresponds with my desire to speak something about hope, which I have expanded upon to include inspiration and renewal. Some modern thinkers have considered that ordinary hope, is lackluster, or a kind of lazy inaction. Just like we might hope to loose weight, get a promotion, stop smoking, find love, win the lottery, or a host of other things, yet not do anything to increase our changes of obtaining those goals. Most things don’t just drop out of the sky, other than unwelcome meteors, hail, or crashing planes, and we have to make some endeavor or work for them. Although mercy is said to be undeserved, we are still advised to increase our spiritual practice and devotion in order to draw the Lord’s attention to us, and be more likely to attract his mercy. As far as possible we want to do our part, while knowing fully that our ultimate success is totally dependent on the independent mercy of the Supreme Lord and his pure devotees.

Karnamrita.das — Tue, 02/15/2011 - 14:39

Lord Nityananda as more Merciful than Lord Chaitanya

Shri Nitai
Wednesday, February 16th will be the observance of Lord Nityananda’s holy appearance day. I have been blessed to be able to give class to the devotees on that day. I am sharing with you part of what I have prepared for that talk. On the one hand, I appreciate the special mercy that comes to one who is able to speak to the devotees about Krishna and the philosophy of devotion, while on the other, I also find it very humbling to realize that I really don’t know much about the philosophy. It is like an ocean, and I can only share a few drops. However, I do so for my own purification, with the prayer and intention to inspire and inform the devotees. Besides this, Krishna appreciates our taking risks in his service, assuring us in the Gita, that he carries what we lack and preserves what we have.

Karnamrita.das — Thu, 02/10/2011 - 17:28

Meditating on Religion, and on Shri Advaita Acharya, on his Appearance Day

Worshiping Shri Advaita

Shri Advaita Acharya is a very important person to understand in the Krishna consciousness movement. He is in the category of God, yet is also a great devotee of God. He is one of our many superlative family members and spiritual superheroes! Before I briefly speak on this, I thought it would be important to consider what someone from another religion might think of this day, and why: On appearance days, or so-called, “birth” anniversaries of great manifestations or incarnations of God, someone from another religion may criticize the observance. They may say, chidingly, “O, they are celebrating the birth of another one of their many Hare Krishna or Hindu gods”. Many people think that Hinduism (as the Vedic path is called in modern times) is about worship of many gods—and often strange ones at that! Or they may think we are animalist or worship forces in Nature and so on. Actually, the heart of the teaching of the Vedas, or Sanatan Dharma, is that there is one supreme spiritual force or God in the Universe and beyond it.

Karnamrita.das — Wed, 02/09/2011 - 14:02

Are You a “Religious” Devotee, or a Sadhaka (spiritual practitioner)?

Banyan tree

In my question which forms the title of this blog, I am using the word “religious” to indicate a person who is only a "part time devotee", or whose practice of Krishna consciousness is sort of on the back burner—only one of many interests. It is important to think about this for both a new person just beginning their spiritual life in relationship to Krishna and for those who have been involved with bhakti or Krishna consciousness for many years, or even decades.

Karnamrita.das — Sun, 02/06/2011 - 15:31

Being Present in the Moment—Rather than Thinking of the Future Part 2

The mad dash

In this part of our series about being in the present, I wanted to share some thoughts I had over the two days I spoke of in my previous blog—going to the clinic and running errands. Before I do, I wanted to clarify what could be confusing. It might seem that what I spoke of before were two contradictory perspectives. One, of offering our day and its activities to Krishna and being fully present, and two, keeping a detached, observers eye, in order to learn what the day and the people we meet or see might teach us.

Karnamrita.das — Fri, 02/04/2011 - 20:03

Being Present in the Moment—Rather than Thinking of the Future Part 1

maddening crowds

So many themes repeat themselves in my awareness. We have theory (jnana) and realized wisdom (vijnana) and we need to continually revisit philosophical points till they are assimilated and become part of our identity. Since I live in partial seclusion in the country, away from the busy-ness of urban areas, when I do go to the “big city” with its thronging crowds, I notice things that I might otherwise be desensitized by. Human beings tend to become used to their surroundings, and hardly notice them—especially in our harried, overachiever society, in which we often have ten thoughts going on while we walk to our car, or carry out the duties of our household.

Karnamrita.das — Tue, 02/01/2011 - 13:40

Even Bad Road is Capable of Improvement and Conversion into a Good One

Bad Road

Time flies when you are having fun is the saying. Or we could say that times flies when we are happy doing what we love; the hours and days seem to fly by. From another angle just being busy for whatever reason can make the time go faster, as does a variety of activities. I am saying this because I never finished part two from last week’s blog on success. Not that anyone noticed—but I did. My excuse—if I need one—is that I am going through the last touches on a book of my blogs. I have an editor doing the final editing, and a graphics artist designing the front and back covers, who will then do the page layout.

Karnamrita.das — Wed, 01/26/2011 - 20:14

Success—What it is, and How to get it! Part 1

Things and stuff
To make the claim of today’s title, which might be promised by motivational speakers or writers, I would have to give a universal definition of success. Though I honestly don’t think this is possible, I could do my best to say that in general, success means to be happy—though even here at different times, people would disagree for various good and bad reasons. In any case, if we can agree for the sake of this blog, that in general people want to experience happiness and avoid distress, we might still argue over the best way to reach this sometimes illusive state.

Karnamrita.das — Sat, 01/22/2011 - 17:48

SURRENDER!!!! Do I have to? YES! Bummer!

Surrender
Krishna’s final and concluding instruction in the Gita is that we should give up all materially motivated religions and just surrender unto him. Since surrender could be considered a filled out application for the keys to the Kingdom, so to speak, we need to really understand what “surrender” means. Admittedly the word surrender has a lot of baggage for most people. When the average person thinks of surrender, what do they envision? Something like the above picture of prisoners with their hands above their heads, looking none too happy. Surrender in this context means loosing or giving up one’s freedom to someone with more power than you. Most of the definitions of surrender imply forced surrender at the hands of someone else, though the latter ones speak of not giving into to something negative like despair or depression.

Karnamrita.das — Wed, 01/19/2011 - 20:51

The conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita

Arjuna prays to Lord Krishna

In Krishna’s final chapter of the Bhagavad Gita there are a number of places where Vaishnava commentators consider the book could have ended. After the first of his possible endings, Krishna wants to make sure Arjuna—and we readers—have understood his hope for all souls. Thus he summarizes his ultimate instruction, as the powerful conclusion. The idea that his book—it is “his” book after all!—of perennial wisdom has a conclusion is often surprising to the casual reader looking for generic spiritual wisdom to add to their lives or personal agenda. We conditioned souls have a very ego-centric view of the world and any information or knowledge we come into contact with. Sometimes people like the Gita because they think it recommends many paths and one can choose one that appeals to them according to their personal criterion.

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