Generally, Krishna is the first Guru , the guru of the inner heart . In Bhagavad Gita Krishna says He is directing the wonderings of all beings , giving them remembrance and forgetfulness , but He also brings us enlightenment.
He can , if he you so desire , lead you to the many different types of Siksa Gurus , one of which can become your formal Diksa guru , he alone may be capable to guide you fully or for further advancement on the path of spiritual life , other predominant Siksa Gurus may come into one’s life .
After prolonged association in all humility and service and through especially chanting the Names of God , the many litratures of the param para Gurus will attract the heart ,this is called Sastra sanga , so Sadhu sanga and Sastra sanga are essential. The chanting of the holy names of the Lord and the revelations and lila descriptions are synonymous and are of the same absolute spiritual nature , realized by one who is extremely humble and who holds no offences in the heart .
The Gaudia Vaisnava traditions and historical records are important to understand, new fangled methods of self realisation or speculations can hold up our progressive path .
Everything is contained in the works of our asteemed acaryas, there are many of them , Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja has taken the teachings of the different acaryas and presented all their teachings and history.
One may wonder what possible connection can there be between Napoleon , Lord Nityananda, and Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Goswami , Srila BR .Sridhar Swami tells the story.
When Napoleon came to lead the military , he uniquely and unexpectedly used new and surprising tactics , generally, military commanders would first attack the weakest points of the opposing army . However, when Napoleon took charge, he immediately attacked the strongest elements of the enemy, this caught them by surprise, and thus, they retreated from the battle .
Similarly, Nityananda prabhu attacks the strongest elements of maya , and in doing so, those that are afflicted by Kali yuga and who are feeling the strongest influences are given surprising relief , and such rescued persons become the teachers of humanity at large .
Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja mission was to face Kali yuga head on , through science , sociology , religion , politics , the arts. and he issued major challenges to the status quo .
He lived in Calcutta during his preaching efforts facing down the challenges of contemporary industrialised materialism as well as scientific materialism. People would say, “Why don’t you live in the Holy places ,” he responded by saying that he would live where the greatest preaching opportunities were and where he could issue challenges .
We know AC Bhaktivedanta Swami carried that spirit. Calling out Darwinian scientists’ cheaters. Who present hypothesis as fact based science, and he called hypocritical political leaders rascals .
Preaching means no compromise , but everything is explained in a balanced rational way and logically.
So real Gaudia Vaisnava following don’t beat about the bush , but rather challenge those who are rascals and cheaters or who are political hypocrites and who mislead society .
Uncertainty and many possibilities of so-called fact based Darwinian theory
“A group of scientists say they have found new evidence to back up their theory that complex life on Earth may have begun 1.5 billion years earlier than thought.
The team, working in Gabon, say they discovered evidence deep within rocks showing environmental conditions for animal life 2.1 billion years ago.”
The book by Druta Karma and Dr Richard Thompson, called the hidden history of the human race, records many archaeological anomalies. The point is that like Darwinian hypothesis, there is an awful lot of guessing and uncertainty in the world of archaeology.
According to the Vedas, modern anatomical man has been around for millions of years and it suggests we should not at all rely on Darwinian speculations when it comes to the history of the human race or speciation.
The material worlds are constantly fluctuating, and volcanic activity and cyclic movements are recycling materials , replenishing and renewing the goodness that is consumed by all the creatures who live in their enviroments , not by chance, but by design .
The supreme engineer, not only engineering the bodies , but combining nature together so everything depends on something or somebody else .
The Darwinian trying to convince everybody by their speculative meanderings that this all began from a primordial soup and that somehow it self arranged itself to the tree of life , problems occur when no linear records in the fossil records are seen , and so Stephen Gould declares ,” no tree of life more like a bush “, or his further speculations are called punctuated equilibrium , where species magically spring from another and completely change their bodies .
As time goes on, perfect math perfect dna codes and intricate design are seen even in the microbial world , giving rise to Michael Behe’s irreducible complexity theory.
Krishna declares in His Bhagavad Gita that He is the knower of all bodies , and one who knows He knows is in knowledge.
Love is seen everywhere , in every species, we see affection and love , the founder Acarya of ISKCON AC Bhaktivedanta Swami makes this observation to his followers , and thus the Vedas teach humans are not alone in having souls or experiences of love and effection. Who or what are the origins of these feelings, why should they be present in every heart ? The heartless Darwinian claims it’s a mechanism of survival of the fittest , of cooperation and self interest and self preservation, its a strange heartless conclusion.
The Vedas can help us understand the origins of love and playfulness . The ontological truths of love and how it decends and permeates the entire univers are very clearly defined.
The three main personalities responsible for its origins and distribution are Lord Krishna, Srimati Radharani, and Lord Balarama, along with Their many expansions , who are expressing various degrees and different types and variations of love .
Although it’s said that Love is inherent within the soul , love is never a static or fixed , it has an unlimited expanding potential , that’s because the abode of love and the object of love are different . If the object of love is unlimited, this means there are unlimited possibilities within the abode of love . The chief personality who is the abode of love , is Srimati Radharani , and She displays the highest degree of love and is therefore considered the supreme Goddess of fortune . Balarama exhibits a different kind of love , but He also expands as Radharani’s sister to assist in Her love of Her eternal paramour Sri Krishna . So, the highest and most complete abode of love lies within the heart of Radharani . Both Radharani and Balarama are intimately connected to Krishna, and Their love for Him is incomprehensible . If we could acquire one drop of Radharanis’ love for Krishna , the whole of the universe would be inundated . It’s unlimited in nature as much as Krishna is unlimited, so much so that in Radharanis case , Krishna is always trying to understand her supreme and ever expanding love . The object of love Krishna can not understand Radharani’s heart, which is an abode of incompressible and unfathomable love .
Krishna comes to display to the devotees something of this incomprehensible love in His appearance as Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Anyone who comes in touch with one of Radharanis intimate associates can aquire a tiny particle of a drop of the nectar ocean that is an unlimited tumultuous ocean of love which is the heart of Radharani , and as before said , just one drop of that ocean can drown the whole world in love of God .
Because there are arrangements between different personalities for transitioning of love , there are examples in the Vedas of one type of love developing or changing in nature, thus for example, Radharani may give permission for one of Balaramas associates who understand love the way Radharani does , and allow them to enter into Her loving domain.
Or someone from Vaikuntha who has love with awe and reverence may trancend the awe and reverence and experiences spontaneous love , this all happens by association.
Thus, we are not dead stones ,and love is never limited and can be transitional.
Space time continuum , as Albert Einstein coined it , means in Vedic terms , your consciousness of a long distant past , your consciousness at present, and your consciousness far into the future are all inextricably entangled both within matter , which the Vedas define as meaning both the lower , middle, or upper planetary systems , and in an allocated time period of the particular matter you find yourself in . Time interactions differ in all the planetary systems and also within the 8,400,000 species throughout the universe.
The interesting observations by Vedic calculations are , what you have done in the past , effects the happenings of today , what you do today may also affect what previous actions might have been delivered , but according to sacrifices might not be delivered . Further entanglements in a future time are constantly being worked into the ethereal plane , so your next destination is already taking shape by your current actions . So, inconceivably and imperceptibly we can in the here and now change what our past might have delivered , either , something auspiciousness or something inauspicious .
The question might be posed : Is there a way out ?
Do we want a way out ?
How much space is available for consciousness to explore?
How many different types of bodies are available?
Is there a difference across the universes of space in the way time and matter work ?
Are there different planes of existence ie. Gross or subtle or ethereal, and does this constitute multidimensional space time, as spoken about by the Harvard Prof Lisa Randall.?
The Vedas and the Srimad Bhagavatam give answers to all these questions
By the unlimited mercy of the unlimited, the limited can begin to know something of the unlimited, AC BhaktivedantaSwami writes in his Bhagavatam purport.
We can also add the unlimited conditioning imposed on the limited by the unlimited becomes limited and eventually ceases , by the all important principle of mercy above justice.
Mercy above justice is a sign of humanity and is practised by truly civilised countries and cultures and obviously by Divinity Himself . The pastimes of Krishna and Indra are one obvious example amongst many others . Indra lost his composure and became intoxicated with pride , and attempted to destroy Vrndavana with incessant rain .
The unbalanced passionate and judicially naive , who have no real sense of advanced culture and who are not familiar as properly trained lawyers and judges are , have obvious unbalanced and insensitive ways of understanding the purpose of justice or how it’s applications should be carefully considered . There are currently and most unfortunately many such characters on the internet who consider themselves as good as barristers and generally practise judge , jury, and executioner principles . They may greatly encourage themselves giving a public portrayal of themselves as having superior morals and ethics which they like to display . Such persons condemn others with other opinions who may be interested in applying judicial matters the ways this Harvard Prof recommends.
“Nationally recognized as an author and expert on criminal justice, Natapoff said that the law is often about choices. She urged the graduating students to think hard about the choices they make. “You can do justice with law; you can also do injustice. There is nothing inherently moral or good about law or about being a lawyer. Some laws are good, and some are terrible. Some lawyers lift up and save people, and some lawyers crush them. The point is that it’s up to you, and it is your choice.”
“Honest people, mistakenly believing in the justice of their cause, are led to support injustices I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
When we speak of justice, one requires a cool detached and experienced head. Thus, in the great cultures throughout history, the intelligentsia always were given a seat to supervise and administer judicial matters.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravati Thakur gives us an understanding of how a ” switch over ” or a revival is a long forgotten state of consciousness occurs .
To help us understand, he says when you take a meal , you gradually satisfy your hunger, and gradually, nutrition is added to the body, and gradually, a sense of satisfaction comes about .
The more you eat, the more we feel the benefits.
Similarly, Srila Visvanatha Cakravati Thakur says , in the beginnings of our spiritual life , we have two bodies , our old conditioned one , with influences of this life and previous ones , and a new spiritual body in development , or a revival of something given to us , that we discarded by our choice , since time immemorial, means , we cannot trace the historical events that led us to our current situation.
So , the Thakur is informing us that the more we taste and practice our spiritual lives , the more the ” switch over ” takes place , the more we eat the greater the satisfaction.
We will find ourselves oscillating between the two energies , but by proper hearing and chanting in the correct association and by causless mercy of all our acaryas and teachers , our progress is assured.
The importance of practical living and advancing in spiritual life , nothing is outside of Divinity.
The founder of ISKCON in his explanation of the importance of the Srimad Bhagavatam , indicates , bringing all aspects of life in harmony with our spiritual goals , what ever they may be , social, political, artistic economics , the sciences , etc etc , they can be linked with the Bhagavatam. The writing of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami are especially directed at a Western audience , and it addresses modern life and how to harmonize that with the Vedas .
The vedic literature is extremely broad, because logic and rational will bring one to conclude , if everyone is on an independent journey with their free will that’s wired into a material universe , included in that will be various levels of educational goals as well as compliance and an obvious need for governance , to ensure a degree of order , whilst the unlimited consciousness sparks endeavour for independence exhibiting a free will .
Bhagavad Gita itself , clearly defines the modes of material nature , within which the living entitles can operate, three modes , goodness, passion, and ignorance , these are mixes of different types of consciousness that unlimitedly influence the conscious being on a gross and subtle level , if we take math , 3×3 = 9 , 9×9 = 81 , 81×81 = 65610 ad infinitum.
So, like an artists pallet and the three primary colours , consciousness is constantly being churned , influenced, and entangled in the complexity of material nature. Accordingly, Divinity has methods that He sets out in the Vedas , which are the breathing and direction of Visnu, to begin to disentangle all beings from their struggle within material nature , its done either gradually, or in quicker ways . Currently , Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu has offered immediate reliefs and access to the highest of all spiritual realms, which is understanding the inner hearts of the most intimate devotees of God .
Expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.
PURPORT
In the two previous ślokas it has been definitely proved that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the sublime literature which surpasses all other Vedic scriptures due to its transcendental qualities. It is transcendental to all mundane activities and mundane knowledge. In this śloka it is stated that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not only a superior literature but is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literatures. In other words, it is the cream of all Vedic knowledge. Considering all this, patient and submissive hearing is definitely essential. With great respect and attention, one should receive the message and lessons imparted by the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The Vedas are compared to the desire tree because they contain all things knowable by man. They deal with mundane necessities as well as spiritual realization. The Vedas contain regulated principles of knowledge covering social, political, religious, economic, military, medicinal, chemical, physical and metaphysical subject matter and all that may be necessary to keep the body and soul together. Above and beyond all this are specific directions for spiritual realization. Regulated knowledge involves a gradual raising of the living entity to the spiritual platform, and the highest spiritual realization is knowledge that the Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all spiritual tastes, or rasas.
The sum total of all these rasas is called affection or love. Primarily, such signs of love are manifested in adoration, service, friendship, paternal affection, and conjugal love. And when these five are absent, love is present indirectly in anger, wonder, comedy, chivalry, fear, shock and so on. For example, when a man is in love with a woman, the rasa is called conjugal love. But when such love affairs are disturbed there may be wonder, anger, shock, or even horror. Sometimes love affairs between two persons culminate in ghastly murder scenes. Such rasas are displayed between man and man and between animal and animal. There is no possibility of an exchange or rasa between a man and an animal or between a man and any other species of living beings within the material world. The rasas are exchanged between members of the same species. But as far as the spirit souls are concerned, they are one qualitatively with the Supreme Lord. Therefore, the rasas were originally exchanged between the spiritual living being and the spiritual whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual exchange or rasa is fully exhibited in spiritual existence between living beings and the Supreme Lord.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is therefore described in the śruti-mantras, Vedic hymns, as “the fountainhead of all rasas.” When one associates with the Supreme Lord and exchanges one’s constitutional rasa with the Lord, then the living being is actually happy.
These śruti-mantras indicate that every living being has its constitutional position, which is endowed with a particular type of rasa to be exchanged with the Personality of Godhead. In the liberated condition only, this primary rasa is experienced in full. In the material existence, the rasa is experienced in the perverted form, which is temporary. And thus the rasas of the material world are exhibited in the material form of raudra (anger) and so on.
Therefore, one who attains full knowledge of these different rasas, which are the basic principles of activities, can understand the false representations of the original rasas which are reflected in the material world. The learned scholar seeks to relish the real rasa in the spiritual form. In the beginning he desires to become one with the Supreme. Thus, less intelligent transcendentalists cannot go beyond this conception of becoming one with the spirit whole, without knowing of the different rasas.
In this śloka, it is definitely stated that spiritual rasa, which is relished even in the liberated stage, can be experienced in the literature of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam due to its being the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. By submissively hearing this transcendental literature, one can attain the full pleasure of his heart’s desire. But one must be very careful to hear the message from the right source. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is exactly received from the right source. It was brought by NāradaMuni from the spiritual world and given to his disciple Śrī Vyāsadeva. The latter in turn delivered the message to his son Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī delivered the message to MahārājaParīkṣit just seven days before the King’s death. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a liberated soul from his very birth. He was liberated even in the womb of his mother, and he did not undergo any sort of spiritual training after his birth. At birth no one is qualified, neither in the mundane nor in the spiritual sense. But Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, due to his being a perfectly liberated soul, did not have to undergo an evolutionary process for spiritual realization. Yet despite his being a completely liberated person situated in the transcendental position above the three material modes, he was attracted to this transcendental rasa of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is adored by liberated souls who sing Vedic hymns. The Supreme Lord’s pastimes are more attractive to liberated souls than to mundane people. He is of necessity not impersonal because it is only possible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are narrated, and the narration is systematically depicted by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Thus the subject matter is appealing to all classes of persons, including those who seek liberation and those who seek to become one with the supreme whole.
In Sanskrit the parrot is also known as śuka. When a ripened fruit is cut by the red beaks of such birds, its sweet flavor is enhanced. The Vedic fruit which is mature and ripe in knowledge is spoken through the lips of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is compared to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhāgavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.
The subject matter is so presented through the lips of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that any sincere listener that hears submissively can at once relish transcendental tastes which are distinct from the perverted tastes of the material world. The ripened fruit is not dropped all of a sudden from the highest planet of Kṛṣṇaloka. Rather, it has come down carefully through the chain of disciplic succession without change or disturbance. Foolish people who are not in the transcendental disciplic succession commit great blunders by trying to understand the highest transcendental rasa known as the rāsa dance without following in the footsteps of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who presents this fruit very carefully by stages of transcendental realization. One should be intelligent enough to know the position of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by considering personalities like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who deals with the subject so carefully. This process of disciplic succession of the Bhāgavata school suggests that in the future also Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has to be understood from a person who is factually a representative of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. A professional man who makes a business out of reciting the Bhāgavatam illegally is certainly not a representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Such a man’s business is only to earn his livelihood. Therefore one should refrain from hearing the lectures of such professional men. Such men usually go to the most confidential part of the literature without undergoing the gradual process of understanding this grave subject. They usually plunge into the subject matter of the rāsa dance, which is misunderstood by the foolish class of men. Some of them take this to be immoral, while others try to cover it up by their own stupid interpretations. They have no desire to follow in the footsteps of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
One should conclude, therefore, that the serious student of the rasa should receive the message of Bhāgavatam in the chain of disciplic succession from Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who describes the Bhāgavatam from its very beginning and not whimsically to satisfy the mundaner who has very little knowledge in transcendental science. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so carefully presented that a sincere and serious person can at once enjoy the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge simply by drinking the nectarean juice through the mouth of Śukadeva Gosvāmī or his bona fide representative.
A flavour of relationships , a flavour of humour, a flavour of beauty , a flavour enthusiasm , a flavour of appreciation . Flavours of every conceivable kinds are practically unlimited within the material energies , and within the material world with a specific body awarded by higher authorities , every one of us is enjoying and suffering some sweet fruits some bitter . Everyone will have to admit these are temporary experiences, hard fought for in some cases, and that everything we fought and worked for is declining , what a sad state of affairs , as time takes away the permanency of life .
The origins of permanency accompanied by not only full flavours , but ever new and increasing flavours are given in the Vedas . Whilst experiencing the material sences along with various temporary flavours , a certain frustrating situation inevitably comes about , shallow consciousness that explores the peripherals of life hankers after much deeper cor values and experiences , in such a condition the intelligence called Buddhi yoga develops , such intelligence clearly reveals , the true value of consciousness outside of the temporary material body , Bhagavad Gita calls this the feild of activities of the body .
It is the arrangements of Krishna that those who come to this world are able to experience reflections of the super subjective reality , but that such reflections of a permanency , can never substitute for the origins of sensual and emotional experiences where unlimited flavours in the original spiritual form are found . These spiritual feelings and experiences are recorded by Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Rupa Goswami , Srila Ragganatha das Goswami, and Srila Sanatana Goswami , and other trancendental Proffesors within the Gaudia Vaisnava school.
The Vedic literature indicates that those who are caught up in temporary affairs can not give their attention to permanency. This is a great problem for us , we have to extract ourselves from the temporary addictions and strive for the permanent origins and beauty of our consciousness . No one gets something for nothing.
The mind and senses have taken us on a long long journey of deceit , we must know it , we must research these topics . We must understand the pushings of the scientific materialism educator, and those that insist Darwinian hypothesis is fact based science , we must know , they are clueless when it comes to understanding consciousness.
We must know life comes from life , that’s our experience , just as when we see smoke, we know there is fire .
The modern Western societies proposal is that we regulate ourselves we should be given all freedom and all choices , theological cultures should not interfere with the independence of the modern Western citizens.
Today we have unregulated 24 drinking , open prostitution and pornography , the use of many drugs becoming legal , easy divorces , extra marital affairs openly available on line , and broken families common place , the list goes on and is increasing.
Modern Western Darwinians see no benefits in regulating their lives , they have no idea of the meaning of the regulative principles of freedom. They have no idea of the concept of freedom of the misery of the body and mind , freedom from material nature , or freedom from inflicted pain of other living beings .
But traditional theological cultures and the philosophy of science knows it well .
They conclude better our leaders protect us from all kinds of harm . After all would you think it a good idea to have a infant nursery on a cliff edge , and give all the children a chance to express themselves, without knowledge of the danger of getting too close to the edge ?
A C Bhaktivedanta Swami writes
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead has innumerable energies, and all these energies are divine. Although the living entities are part of His energies and are therefore divine, due to contact with material energy, their original superior power is covered. Being thus covered by material energy, one can not possibly overcome its influence.
Another meaning of guna is rope; it is to be understood that the conditioned soul is tightly tied by the ropes of illusion. A man bound by the hands and feet can not free himself-he must be helped by a person who is unbound. Because the bound can not help the bound, the rescuer must be liberated. Therefore, only Lord Krsna, or His bona fide representative, the spiritual master, can release the conditioned soul. Without such superior help, one can not be freed from the bondage of material nature “
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