NITAAI Veda 3.5 Chm eBook Released

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Shri Guru Parampara! Pranams! We are happy to release the 185 MB NITAAI Veda Chm eBook Version 3.5. There are numerous Holy eBooks and Articles which have been added to this version of the NITAAI Veda. So please download it now and dive deep in the unlimited spiritual nectar for a lifetime which is present in the NITAAI Veda 3.5. The download link has changed from the previous one to http://nitaai.net/NITAAI-Veda.zip which will be the final one. The 75 MB zipped exe version with all eBooks with a smaller file-size but lesser navigational and search features can be downloaded here. Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

NITAAI.info NITAAI Veda Released

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! We are pleased to announce the release of the new NITAAI.info website based on the latest version of NITAAI Veda 3.5. It has many new feature upgrades:

1. Search in the book and page section titles without page reload. This search now searches any syllable comnbination in the NITAAI Veda page titles and not just the first one as in the NITAAI Veda Chm eBook index keywords feature.
2. Breadcrumb rollover menu on all pages so that you always know where you are in the NITAAI Veda.
3. All individual NITAAI Veda pages now have a "Click here to load whole tree" link on the top to view the main left tree menu whenever you desire. It will open the same page which you are reading with the tree menu frame.
4. Table of Contents for each NITAAI Veda eBook section, sub-sections etc. so now you can give the link to an eBook main page or even a sub-section or a chapter of any eBook in the NITAAI Veda to anyone.
5. You now have a direct url link to open an eBook or any article with the tree on the left. For example, you can give someone the following link to open the Nityananda Gauranga Naam eBook inside the frame with the full NITAAI Veda tree menu on the left and if you do not want the tree menu on the left, you can give this link.
6. New mouseover NITAAI Veda tree menu where you can mouseover the closed tree items to expand them and mouseover the expanded items to close them. I know it is a new system for some of you to adjust but it actually saves lots of mouse-clicks especially for such a huge tree menu as the NITAAI Veda. It will be a breeze once you get used to it.
7. The NITAAI Veda 3.5 tree now loads much faster.
8. Lots of new Spiritual eBooks and Articles added to NITAAI Veda 3.5. Too numerous to list. Enough pure spiritual nectar for a lifetime!
9. NITAAI.com will now officially replace NITAI.In as NITAAI is the exact name of Lord Nityananda Prabhu stressing the proper pronunciation with "AA" and it also stands for NITyananda Gauranga Hare Krishna NAAm BhaktI Yoga where the AA stands for the AA in NAAM which is the essence of all spiritual practices. Read more about this change here.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

Ancient Vishnu Deity found in Russian town

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! From Times Of India 4 Jan, 2007 l 1109 hrs IST. An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia. The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.



"We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research," Reader of Ulyanovsk State University's archaeology department Dr Alexander Kozhevin told state-run television Vesti .

Dr Kozhevin, who has been conducting excavation in Staraya Maina for last seven years, said that every single square metre of the surroundings of the ancient town situated on the banks of Samara, a tributary of Volga, is studded with antiques.

Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons.

He believes that today's Staraya Maina, a town of eight thousand, was ten times more populated in the ancient times. It is from here that people started moving to the Don and Dneiper rivers around the time ancient Russy built the city of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine.

An international conference is being organised later this year to study the legacy of the ancient village, which can radically change the history of ancient Russia.

============

Some Conclusions by others:

The discovery of an ancient Vishnu idol in an excavation in Russia only confirms certain ideas I have always had about the Vedic ancient and glorious land and culture.

The report says that the area in which the idol was found is called Staraya Maina. In the Rig Veda, there is a passage that goes, Itham ascati pasyat syantham, ekam starayath mainaa-kaalam. This translates into Staraya Maina is the name of the land of the 45 rivers (on whose banks the noble Rishis conducted the famous Horse Sacrifices), where the sun god descends into one fifty two forty seven. While the first line identifies a location, the second line talks about the exact latitude and longitude at which the solar spectrum produces interference lines at one, fifty two, and forty seven.

The extreme precision of the calculations show the advanced science of the Vedic period, and also a thorough knowledge of SI units (it has been conclusively proven that French scientists stole the system from the Indians.

The discovery of the idol confirms the location in Russia, identified in the Rig Veda as rus soviath sapthamahanagaratham (the ancient and holy land of the 722 flying vehicles). The ancient connections between the Russians and the Indians has been unequivocally confirmed. In Russian orthodox Christianity, worship is conducted very much like in Vishnu temples. The Russians refer to the feast of Vizhnyir Ekoratsya Vikhunh, directly corresponding with Vaikhunda Ekhadasi.

The Russian language also owes a lot to Sanskrit, whose origins 50,000 years ago roughly correspond with the language of the people of the Smritzyi archaeological site, along the banks of the now-dried up Vernstokhlin (Varnasatyakhalini) river system.

It is common knowledge in the archaeological community that the Parashurama Sutra, the basis of all government policy in the erstwhile Kerala kingdom of Vaazhappazhaa, contains the lines Sthulyam Kaamyunishancha kalanam brighahaha. The links between the ancient Russians and Indians almost certainly aided by the 60,00 odd scholars of the University of Vexalate (Sk. Vekhshalatha, Ru. Vekholotsla), in modern-day Central Afghanistan, in the 17th Century BCE, is said to have transferred political ideas through the land of the Vanga (Ru. Vangnya) in modern-day West Bengal.

The Vishnu idol is depicted with a hammer in one left hand while the deconglated seventh arm on the right side holds a reticulated sickle. This hammer and sickle imagery is also found in the Parashurama Sutra, conclusively placing the origin of great and popular Russian political ideology in Vedic India.

The Bringdunthaladeena Upanishad also mentions Kaamyunishcham in its list of land sacrifices, where under the directions of the King, all the land in the country was donated to the performance of sacrifices where Brahmins continuously tickled horny silk-rats (Gandharvamooshicam) until they collapsed in orgiastic exhaustion. The text also clearly identifies a group of scholars referred to as the Paalita Buryam, who oversaw the functioning of the King.

For years, western historical study dominated by Greco-Capitalists, has sought to undermine the Vedic Indian contributions to what came to be 19th and 20th Century world politics. The Greco-Capitalists also attributed the ideology of Communism to the work done by Karl Marx, one of their own. It has been well documented that Marx indeed visited Kerala and West Bengal, and had thorough understanding of the Parashurama Sutra, a copy of which he picked up in the old-book-stall near the Cochin airport. Later on, as part of the larger Greco-centric Capitalist conspiracy, Marx took all the credit himself.

In 1952 in Soviet Russia, an archaeologist, Prof. Varely Smirzkoff of Odessa University found artefacts near the ancient Belarussian town of Kozhikodz. He was the first to speculate that the ruling political ideology of his country could well have had its origins in Vedic India rather than Modern Europe. Stalin funded Smirzkoff's research until Smirrzkoff was suddenly found to have stolen over 500,000 paper clips from work over the course of his tenure at Odessa University. He was sent to Siberia, and with him went almost all academic proof that would have certainly brought Russia and India closer together.

This recent discovery should resurrect the pioneering work started by Prof. Varely Smirzkoff, who died of Contracted Poloniumitis of the nose, in 1964.

-- Dr. Acharya Somuchidononanda Pandey
PhD (corres.) M.A.S. University, Darjeeling

Ferris Wheel of Birth and Death

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! The nature of the spirit soul is Sat-Cit-Ananda i.e. the soul is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. In contrast, the body is temporary and full of ignorance and suffering. Because of this incompatibility between the two, the soul, who is meant to be happy in an eternal blissful spiritual atmosphere, is never happy in this temporary miserable body. The soul has to repeatedly experience birth, old age, disease and death in different bodies...

Hence Shri Shankaracharya has sung:

punarapi jananam punarapi maranam,
punarapi janani jathare shayanam
iha sansaare bahu dustaare kripayaa paare paahi muraare

"O Muraari, Lord Gauranga Krishna, I am repeatedly tossed in the waves of birth and death. I am forced to be born again and again and forced to die again and again. In this way I have been occupying the wombs of millions of mothers. Please kindly shower your merciful glance upon me and deliver me from this ocean of nescience and take me to Your spiritual world where there is no birth and death."

In this way, the soul sometimes is damned to occupy a dog's body or blessed to get a human or demigod body, depending on the soul's past de­sires and activities. This cycle of birth and death is like an infinite unfathomable Ferris wheel where sometimes you are at the top and sometimes at the bottom. Similarly the soul keeps on taking one body after another until he becomes completely purified and becomes a surrendered devotee of God by chanting His Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna. (Adapted and commented by Swami Gaurangapada from an article compiled by Radheshyama dasa.)

Identity Crisis: Are we worth 2 USD

The biggest problem is the identity crisis. Who am I? Am I this body, mind, intelligence, or the head, or the nose? If one can find out one's real identity, then he can work to­wards achieving lasting happi­ness. We are not these bodies; we are  pure spiritual souls (Atma). The existence of the soul is not based on the blind faith of a group of religious followers, as some people wrongly think. It can be proved through logic and understanding...

Once some scientists analyzed all the chemicals present in the body and after death the total "Market Value" of the chemical and other components of the body was just around $2 or Rs 110!!! Infact no one is willing to even pay that for the dead body and we have to infact pay get the dead body cremated or burnt. So what was it in the body which was of real value which is not there at the time of death? It is us!!! We are the soul, the spiritual spark living inside the body. We leave our body at the time of death and take on another body just like we give up our old clothes and put on new ones.

Know Who You Are Before You Know Your Mind!!!

Am I This Body?
Am I This Hair?
Am I This Hand?
Am I Thls Nose?
Am I This coat?
Who Am I ?

It Is Easy To Point To Your Eye Or Nose, But Can You Point to the actual Yourself?
Real Knowledge means to identify the actual You so that you can give happiness tto he real you not justto this chemical body.

Anybody who argues that this body is all in all, and that there is noth­ing as a soul of higher dimension within this body, has to ask himself whether his parents would sell him off for $2 or Rs 110?

If your friend travelling on his bicycle falls off it, what will you do? You will forget the bicycle worth $50 on the road and rush the body of your friend worth $2 to the near­est hospital. Even if your friend, riding in a Mercedes Benz, faces a head-on collision with another car, you'll anx­iously rush to the hospital with his $2 body, bothering the least about the $50,000 car lying on the road side. So it is not so difficult for a sane man to appreciate that there has to be something very special and supe­rior in a living body, which everyone values so much, even though one may not be in com­plete knowledge of the eternal soul. The soul is the real eternal personality residing in this temporary body. Yet the entire world, with all its advancement, is only learning to pamper this useless body worth $2, which is nothing more than a bag of chemicals.

The soul can be compared to a driver and the body to a vehicle. The soul is the spark of life that makes the body appear alive and when the soul leaves the body, we say the person is 'dead'. An analogy of a car can be given in this regard. There are headlights in the car to see the road, you also see with your eyes. The car produces sound with the horn, you also speak. The car has four wheels, you also have two hands and two legs. The car moves from place to place and you also do the same. But once the driver gets down from the car, the car cannot budge one inch on its own, even after 100 years. Similarly when a man dies, the body is exactly like a car with­out a driver. The body, which we see, is actually dead. It appears to be alive be­cause of the presence of the soul. When the soul leaves the body, the body be­comes inactive.

The body is also compared to a cage and the soul is compared to a parrot in the cage. So if someone takes very good care of the cage by polishing it very carefully and keeping it clean, but ignores the needs of the resident parrot, then the whole purpose of keeping the parrot in the cage is defeated. In today's society people are making all possible arrangements only for bodily comforts and luxuries, but spiritually ev­eryone is starving their soul (which is actually them), and hence everyone is un­happy and dissatisfied. Since the soul is spiritual, it requires spiritual nourishment in the form of the spiritual divine Mantras from the spiritual world which are the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas, and, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Raama Hare Raama Raama Raama Hare Hare! (Adapted and commented by Swami Gaurangapada from an article compiled by Raadheshyaama daasa.)

Economic Progress but Internal Disturbance

WHY ARE MANKIND'S PROBLEMS INCREASING DESPITE RAPID  GROWTH OF SCIENCE AND  TECHNOLOGY?   

As we move into the 21st Century, we see that Science and Technology have reached heights, which could not have been imagined a few hundred  years ago. There are so many modern amenities today like air-conditioners, vehicles, 5-star hotels, the finest of vehicles, a communication system due to which the en­tire earth has shrunk, etc. The purpose of Sciences is to either eliminate all miseries, or at best to reduce miseries, and thereby bring more and more happiness in the lives of the common people...

So what should we expect to find in the technologically most advanced countries? We should expect the most cherished qualities of love, peace and fraternity amongst the citizens. However, the present day scenario is just the opposite.

The world's leading eco­nomic giants although hundreds of times more scientifically and technologically advanced than developing countries, strangely show the high­est suicide rates amongst the young and rich citizens! People are somehow 'surviving' in these countries. They are always anxiety-rid­den, frustrated and very disturbed. We are not philosophizing — we are just stating facts. The divorce rate in some countries today is more than 75% in the first three years of mar­riage. More and more people (especially of the higher income class in the countries) are forced to take sleeping pills in order to sleep at night, and they also visit psychiatrists regularly. People are so terrified they have to screen their guests through a lens on their door, and for better safety they install several security systems. This 'culture' has now invaded the cities of the developing countries. People move ex­actly like rots or zombies with no emotions, or at best false emotions. In some places in the world, if one moves out of the house after dusk and comes back alive, successfully escaping the drugs and violence, he or she can be consid­ered exceptionally lucky.

WHAT IS MISSING  IN OUR MODERN SOCIETY?   

Shrila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada would often give an example, which illustrates the condition of modern society today. If we take a pack of dogs and put them in a locked room, what do you expect to happen? Would they be smiling at one another? Would they develop loving relationships amongst themselves? One would hardly expect that! In fact they would be bark­ing, screaming, biting, quarreling and killing one another. A very similar situation can be observed in some parts of today's society. If 'Knowledge is power', what are we doing with all our knowl­edge if we are unable to control the world situ­ation today?

One need not blame the government, politicians, bu­reaucrats, police officials, judiciary etc. for the prob­lems that the world faces to­day. We are INTERNALLY DISTURBED, so we create disturbances for others. We have to evaluate the nature of our mind to understand and practice the ART OF MIND CON­TROL by chanting the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas, and, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Raama Hare Raama Raama Raama Hare Hare! (Adapted from an article compiled by Raadheshyaama daasa.)

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Human Genome Project. His most recent book is "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." This article has some extracts from the Mr. Francis Collins article published on CNN.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views. As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan...

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers.

I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" "Why am I here?" "Why does mathematics work, anyway?" "If the universe had a beginning, who created it?" "Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?" "Why do humans have a moral sense?" "What happens after we die?"

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

But reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.

Free FLV to Video Converter today

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! You can download and install the $40 Moyea FLV to Video Cconverter Pro for free today from the Giveaway of the Day site here.  Please remember you have to download and also install it within the next 17 hours to activate it. You can use it to convert the FLV videos in our NITAI.In Video Player and website to whatever format you want including the video formats for iPod, PSP, Zune, your cell phone etc. If you read this post after the free offer expires, you can download and try out the demo version from here. Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

Only Panacea for the Mind

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! So we should give a prominent position in our life for prayers and pilgrimage, fasts and festivals and for satsang and self-realization. These are all very important to free our mind from the sufferings of the world. Right  from a small child to an old man, anyone can practice this chanting on a daily basis. One can chant ten rounds of Nityananda and Gauranga and one round of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra to begin with...


Regularly fixed up devotees chant a minimum of six­teen rounds each of Nityananda, Gauranga, and Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Raama Hare Raama Raama Raama Hare Hare, and they never feel that they are wasting time in sitting and chanting the Lord's name. Why? Because chanting Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna increases their efficiency in all fields and gives them an increased capacity to turn out more work in less time. Great productivity can be achieved when one chants Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna. Therefore the chanting of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna will never interfere in your daily work; rather it will enhance daily work.

Moreover, the practical experience of many, many devotees all over the world shows that when one chants Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna one is, in no time, able to give up all the bad habits like smoking, eating meat, taking intoxicants, illicit sex etc. One can give up all the lower tenden­cies and can become completely pure. And with a pure heart one's mind becomes very light; one can grasp any subject quickly and one can act efficiently. In this way, one can achieve the ultimate success in life through controlling one's mind by mantra meditation. The nature of the mind and the importance of chanting are illustrated in the following story.

Once upon a time, there was a man who pleased a sage. As a benediction, the sage of­fered him a big jinn and told him, "Take this jinn with you. He can fulfill all of your de­sires; he can do any work you give him. " But the sadhu warned him, "If you keep him unengaged, then he will devour you. So be careful to constantly engage him. " This man said. "Oh! Don't worry. I have got thousands of things to do. " So this man took the power­ful jinn with him home and ordered him, "Plough that thousand acre land. " And the jinn ploughed it all in just five minutes. He returned back and he said, "My dear sir, give me the next order." The man was stunned. "Build a big bungalow for me", he said. And the jinn made a big bungalow for him in a matter of minutes. So in this way whatever he asked for, the jinn arranged for immediately. Now the man became alarmed because he had no engagement to give him; he was just too quick in executing his action. So what could he do? He ran back to the sage and screamed to him, "Please save me from this great de­mon! It is about to devour me. I don't have any work to give him. " So the sage told him, "You fool! It is easy. Take that ladder with you. Place it next to your house and tell the jinn to climb up and down. Whenever you need him, call him and give him service. And at all other 74 times tell him to go up the ladder and come down. " The man acted accordingly and was thus saved from the demon.

Our mind is just like the demon. It is very powerful; it can do hundreds of things very quickly. And the moment we leave it unengaged, it starts thinking of unnecessary and undesirable things and fills us with insa­tiable cravings, anxieties and fears. And what is the ladder to deal with the demon of the mind? It is the the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas and the Hare Krishna mahamantra:

Nityananda
Gauranga
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna  Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

If we constantly chant the Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna Mantras and remember the Lord, then the mind can never disturb us. It is said that an idle mind is the  devil's workshop. But if the mind is engaged in chanting the holy name and remembering  God, one can become completely peaceful and the mind can be positively engaged for per­forming good activities for oneself and for the whole world at large. In such a pure mind, pure thoughts naturally arise and then we can propagate the pure spiritual knowledge for the benefit of the whole of humanity. And in this way we can achieve peace of mind our­selves and simultaneously  benefit others also.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

Book the Ticket

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Sometimes people ask why do they have to pay money for buying the NITAI (Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna Naam Bhakti Yoga) spiritual Holy Books of our Acharyas and Shrila Prabhupada. It is simple. When they want to travel a distance of 10 miles, they have to pay for their car's fuel and to travel a distance of thousands of miles, they have to pay for their air or train ticket which is also a piece of paper. So if they want to travel to the eternal spiritual world which light years away for us and permanently put an end to the painful processes of birth, death, disease and old age, why do they feel a pinch is purchasing the Holy Books which will take them to that supreme destination from where there is no return to this perishable word of birth and death. Of course the chanting of Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna and the same Holy Books in eBook Form are always free if they do not want to give anything in return and They will also take their souls to the spiritual world after death.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

Our Eternal Friend

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! God is our only eternal friend. To be frank with you, the harsh reality that no one in this world is interested in you. Don't expect the world to rush to your rescue when you are in trouble; it will just not happen. Far from run­ning to help you, even our best friends may run away from you when you are in trouble...

There are many levels of friends - official friends called bandhu, social friends called mitra and so on. But Lord Gauranga Krishna is our only real friend. He is therefore called suhrt, meaning that He is our heart-to-heart friend. There is no one as close to us as God, although we may not know it. God is such a great friend, that even if we forget Him, even if we neglect Him, even if we become envious of Him, He still loves us. Just as a selfless mother only wants to serve her child always, irrespective of whether he is obe­dient, disobedient or naughty, similarly God is always very keen to help us, whether we re­ciprocate with Him or not. Krishna says, suhridam sarva bhutanam "I am the suhridam, well wisher, of every living entity. I am the heart to heart friend of every living entity." So we should always learn to keep God in the center of our lives.

An ideal example of this is Arjuna. Arjuna never did anything unless it was connected in service to Lord Krishna. Even his act of fighting was for the pleasure of Lord Krishna; before going to the battlefield, he circumambulated Lord Krishna and offered Him obeisances. So for Arjuna, there was no one as close as Lord Krishna. And the same is true for every living entity because Lord Krishna says: sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto "I am residing in the heart of everyone as the Parmatama." So in the hearts of each one of us, besides the soul there is the Supersoul, who is an expansion of Krishna. And the Paramatma is always ready to help us and give us guidance about what to do and what not to do.

Therefore we should work for gaining God's friendship; it is the greatest gain. And when we have that, peace of mind is an automatic byproduct. We cannot achieve peace of mind overnight by taking some pills told by some doctor. Nor can we achieve it by following some godless mechanical methods. Sometimes people teach some mind control techniques in which they say, "Imagine a form." or "imag­ine a picture." But all such methods are futile because they cannot give lasting peace of mind. Actual peace of mind can arise only out of spiritual growth and such spiritual growth is greatly aided by external support and greatly marred by external incompatibilities. The aiding supports are all those things, which en­hance the mode of goodness (sattva guna) in us. For example, by taking spiritually sattvika diet known as prasadam, wearing sattvika dress, living in a sattvika environment, coming to sattvika association of those who are devotees of God and reading spiritual books, we can enhance our understanding about God. And in this way all these sattvika habits can help us to come closer to God and become internally mature On the other hand, if we associate with those things, which increase the lower modes of passion and ignorance in us, our mind will be­come more and more agitated. For example, by watching horror movies, seeing porno­graphic pictures, taking intoxicants etc, we will go further away from achieving peace of mind. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Laws of God

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! We have to understand that unless we agree to abide by the laws of God, we can never achieve peace of mind. This can be understood from an example. Suppose a person wants to break all the laws of the government; he wants to steal, he wants to harm others etc...

And he comes running to you and asks you, "I want to be peaceful. But I also want to break the laws of the state. Please tell me how I can still have peace of mind." What solution can you offer such a person? An intel­ligent person will advice him, "My dear friend, first of all you follow the laws of the country. Then when you are living as an ideal citizen, you can be free from persecution and anxiety and can live peacefully."

In a similar way, the whole world is the state of God; after all, He has created it. And He has also made many laws for those who live in the world. These laws of the divine government are given in the bona fide scriptures of the world. So an intelligent person should hear the scriptures from the saintly people and, based on scriptural  knowledge, he should discrimi­nate between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, and act accordingly. And in this way, when he carefully follow the instructions of God given in the scriptures throughout his life, then he can have peace of mind. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Superior Spiritual Enjoyment

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Many people understand, at an intellectual level, that material enjoyment is always the cause of suffering, but still despite their best efforts to restrain themselves, they are un­able to give up the desire to enjoy. Therefore the million-dollar question is: how can we give up the enjoying mentality?

It is possible only when we engage all our senses in the service of God. Our senses are like venomous serpents with the fangs of the enjoying mentality. But if we engage the senses in the service of the Lord, it is like removing their poison teeth. Without its fangs, a snake can cause no harm. Similarly if our senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, they be­come harmless. Service to the Lord gives us a higher pleasure, which enables us to give up the pleasure derived from sense enjoyment.How can one engage the senses in the ser­vice of the Lord? By using our eyes in behold­ing the beautiful forms of the Deities in the temple, by using our hands in cutting veg­etables for the Lord  and in washing the temple, by using our legs in going to the temple of Lord Gauranga Krishna, by using our whole body for dancing in front of the Lord, by using our tongue for chanting the Holy Names of God, especially the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas and the Hare Krishna Mahamantra and for honouring prasadam. In this way all our senses can be purified of the contamination of the desire to enjoy.

And if our mind starts making too much demand for material enjoyment, still we don't have to experience it to realize its futility. We can see and learn from the experience of the worldly people. Those who are struggling to increase their enjoyment more and more in the world are only becoming more and more frustrated. Thus, using our intelligence, we can control the mind.We can derive further spiritual strength by knowing that life, after all, is flickering and tem­porary; it is just like a dream. Every night, when we sleep, we have an 8-hour dream. But life is an 80-year dream; that is the only differ­ence. Both are temporary and, after they are over, neither has any factual existence. Know­ing that life will pass away like a quick jour­ney, we should cultivate the Hanuman men­tality of serving Lord Rama. Just as Hanuman was trying to make arrangements to bring Sita back to Rama, similarly we should try to bring all the things of the world closer to God by engaging them in His service. Then we can achieve peace of mind.

How can we actually engage all the things of the world in the service of God, especially in the modern times? All of us can use our various talents in the service of God. Some of us who are expert in computers can do com­puter services for publishing ebooks and websites about God and His message. Some of us can make beau­tiful garlands to decorate the Deities of the Lord. Some of us can engage in cooking and offering to the Lord. Thus according to individual abilities and inclinations, we can engage ourselves in service to the Lord. By perform­ing such service, the most dangerous enjoy­ing mentality will subside and we will get the serving mentality, which alone can bring us to the platform of sanity and peace. The enjoy­ing mentality is a deadly disease and the ser­vice of the Lord is the perfect medicine for it. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Enjoying God's Property

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! At this point, a question may come up, "Daily spiritual practice is alright, but how should we go about our various duties? In other words, how should we live in this world?" The first and foremost thing to un­derstand is the most basic truth; that we are not God, but we are the eternal servants of God. We are therefore meant to utilize our whole life and all our possessions, not for our own enjoyment, but for the service of God.

This principle is graphically illustrated in the Ramayana in the way Ravana and Hanuman behaved towards Lord Ramchandra. In the Ramayana, we see that Lord Rama was served by everyone; by mother Sita, by Lakshmana, by Hanuman, by Bharata, by Sugriva, by Guha and by so many other persons. But there was only one person who was opposed to serving Lord Rama - Ravana. He wanted to take away Lord Rama's property, mother Sita and enjoy her for himself. And what was his ultimate destination? He had to meet cruel death at the hands of Lord Rama.

In the same way, nature and all the resources provided by her are the property of Lord Gauranga Krishna. If one tries to take the resources of the world like grains, fruits, minerals, water, air, 58 light, etc., provided by God and tries to enjoy them without acknowledging the proprietor­ship of God, such a person has Ravana-like mentality: he wants to enjoy the property of God for himself without even thanking God and thus he is doomed. Therefore, while liv­ing in this world, we should always humbly bow down before God and thank Him for all that He has offered us for our subsistence.

And one should never ever try to extract enjoyment from this world. If we have this enjoying mentality of dominating others and extracting pleasure from this world by engag­ing in sinful activity, then we will be inevitably frustrated. Why? Because trying to get enjoy­ment through materialistic engagement is like trying to extract nectar from the mouth of a venomous cobra. It is an inherently futile at­tempt; all that one can get from the mouth of a cobra is poison. There will be so many people who will tempt us to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy life, but, if we look into the lives of these very people, we will find that they are the most frustrated people. Apart from the propaganda of these materialistic people, our senses are also so agitated that they are dragging us in all directions to enjoy. Our tongue is pulling us in one direction to taste a variety of delicious food­stuffs. Our eyes are scanning all the directions in the search of beautiful forms. And the same is true for every one of our senses. Just like a man having five wives is dragged in different directions by each one of them for enjoyment, similarly, we are also dragged by our five senses in various directions. And if we close our eye of discrimination and go in the direc­tion dictated by the mind and the senses, then we are on the royal road to hell.

We can see with our own eyes the disas­trous consequences of material enjoyment. One who smokes is afflicted by lung cancer; one who drinks wine is struck by liver dis­eases; one who eats gutka is tortured by oral cancer in the teeth and gums; one who wants to enjoy with many women is terminated by AIDS. Thus nature gives severe slaps and kicks to those who try to extract enjoyment from this world. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Spirituality is not Escapism

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! It is important to note in this connection that when we say that we should remember God and chant His Holy Names, it doesn't mean that we should become lazy and give up all our responsibilities. The ideal approach to work is: be balanced; don't be irresponsible, but don't purchase trouble either. Sometimes, one tends to think, "I am get­ting this much salary, and he is also getting the same amount. But he is doing very little work and is mostly escaping from his work. So why should I work so hard? Let me also escape."

But by escaping from one's respon­sibilities, one gets a feeling of guilt, which in­creases one's anxieties manifold. The safest and the best course of action is to just do your job honestly and responsibly, while at the same time living a God centered life.While doing our duties responsibly, we should be intelligent enough not to add on to our responsibilities by taking additional loads due to our egoistic initiative; otherwise we are simply purchasing trouble. Such an egois­tic person thinks, "He is doing so much work. I must show the world that I am greater than him." And so one takes on so much load on oneself that one has no time for God; no time for one's own family, no time for even the basic activities of life. In this way, one becomes practically crazy working 14 or 16 hours a day. And there is no end to such work. How can such a person who, in order to satisfy his in­flated ego, is caught up in unending material­istic activities and the concomitant immeasur­able anxieties, ever attain peace of mind?

So one should do one's job properly and, at the same time, set aside sufficient time for cultivating one's inward life by chanting, read­ing scriptures and coming together with one's family to worship the Supreme Lord Gauranga Krishna. There is a wise saying: "The family that prays together stays together". So if one comes together every morning with his wife, children and family, and worships God by chanting Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna, offers bhoga to the Lord and accepts the Lord's prasadam, then one's life will be­come peaceful. One can lead a happy life while one is in this world and, at the time of death, one will return to the kingdom of God. On the other hand, one who increases his material responsibilities more and more due to his egoistic initiative, will find himself dis­turbed in the mind by countless anxieties. And such a person   who is disturbed within will natu­rally cause disturbances for everyone around him. He will quarrel with his wife, shout at his children and be harsh and unreasonable with his subordinates. Such  a person cannot do any good, either for himself or for others.

And all this is because he did not give time for his inner spiritual growth. Just as when one keeps writing with a pencil, but does not sharpen it, it eventually becomes blunt and incapable of writing, similarly if one keeps on working, but does not spare time for mantra meditation and prayer, then one's efficiency goes down drastically and one becomes inca­pable of doing any worthwhile work; one's work becomes meaningless Now-a-days, such workaholics are very proud of the saying "Karma hi pooja hai" or "I am a Karma Yogi". But if one tries to live like that, working like a donkey, one will be totally frustrated in life and will never get any peace of mind. On the other hand, if everyday one sets aside some time for God and chants Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna, it is like sharpening the pencil. By such regular spiritual practice, one can manage both one's material duty as well as one's duty to God nicely. This is the way to living with peace of mind, both in this world and the next. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Simple Living & High Thinking

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! The Vedic way of life is based on the principle of 'Simple Living and High Thinking'. We should work only as much as is nec­essary to fulfil the basic necessities of life and utilize our remaining time, energy and money for reviving our eternal life.
 
How? By engaging in devotional service of God, by chanting His Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna and by reading and hearing many wonderful scriptures like Shrimad Bhagvad-gita, Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Shrimad Bhagavatam, Jaiva Dharma, Ramayana, Mahabharata, all of which teach the message of God.

Someone may ask, "What is the need for doing all this?" It is because every one of us is actually a part and parcel of God, an eternal servant of God, in the spiritual sky. We all belong to that original home where there is no misery, no birth, old age, disease or death. Life there is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Therefore an intelligent person should hanker for that life. And that can be achieved only when we live simply and think high, that is, we center our lives around God. And why should one reduce one's necessi­ties to the minimum? Suppose you are travel­ling by train for a few hours. Will you construct a house in the train? Or will you carry a television, fridge and other such luxu­ries with you to enjoy in the train? Certainly not! Why? Because by the time you finish constructing a house within the train, the destination would have arrived and you would have to get down. In the same way, expending all one's energy for accumulating wealth to increase luxuries in the name of necessity, forgetting the prime goal of life, is a mere waste of time, because life is short and temporary.

But wonder of all wonders! People work hard throughout their lives just to purchase a flat in big cities. And by the time they are able to purchase it, they have reached the fag end of their lives and they quit the world like cats and dogs, without any understanding about God or the goal of life or without even being able to enjoy living in the flat.But if we live simply and spend time every­day to chant the names of God and to re­member Him, then we will see that gradually the mind becomes light, like a swab of cotton and can be very easily controlled. In fact, it can be molded just like wax. And one can experience the joy of the eternal realm even while being in this world. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

Advanced Windows Care

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! You have only 5 hours to go to download and install for free, an useful software worth $29.95. Please remember you have to download, activate and install it within the nest 5 hours or it will be only a demo. Advanced WindowsCare v2 Professional provides an Always-On and Automated, All-In-One PC Care Service with anti-spyware, privacy protection, performance tune-ups, and system cleaning features that find errors in your Windows OS that other utilities miss. With their "Install It and Forget It" feature that works automatically and quietly in the background, you will keep your computer safe, error-free, and running at top speed. Sorry, next time we will let you know sooner. The download page for this free version is here. You can subscribe to The Spiritual Science of Life RSS Feed to be informed about these offers instantly from next time onwards so that you don't lose the chance.

Endurance by Mantra Yoga

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! You may be wondering, "How is it possible that with disturbances all around me, I should remain undisturbed?" It is possible when we depend on the power of God by taking His shelter whenever such inconveniences come. When we surrender to Him, He will give us the necessary will power, inner strength and patience to endure such trying circumstances.

This is the reason why godly people are able to stay undisturbed in the face of trials and tribulations, whereas those who are not sur­rendered to God, when faced with a crisis, usually seek refuge in some illusory escape-route such as  drinking or taking drugs. And sometimes, they may even go to the extent of committing suicide like a coward. At this juncture, you may ask, "Taking shel­ter of God is a very vague and abstract con­cept. Is there any practical way of actually doing this?" Certainly! We can very easily take shelter of God by  chanting His Holy Names.

The chanting of the Nityaananda and Gauraanga Mantrarajas and the Hare Krishna Mahamantra i.e. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Raama Hare Raama Raama Raama Hare Hare, when done  everyday, can give us tremen­dous inner strength and iron-like determina­tion to tolerate any situation in any walk of life. So by inner spiritual strength derived from regular chanting, we can learn to endure all the suffering of the world.

And of course it is not that we just have to go on enduring the blows of the world for the rest of eternity and that there will be no respite ever. Though we may be suffering at the present moment, we should know that, as we are performing devotional service to God, we are gradually becoming purified and we will eventually be taken out of this world of misery and be situated in the kingdom of God, an abode of eternity, bliss and knowl­edge, which is our original home. So as long as we are connected to God and are on our way back to God, we can be assured that in the future there will be no suffering for us and, even in the present, as we develop more and more tolerance, our suffering will keep decreasing. On the other hand, if someone has no connection to God, he is, at present, being helplessly tossed about in an ocean of suffering and, due to his present sinful activi­ties, he is going to be cast deeper into that ocean in the future. So as long as he does not connect himself with God, there will be no respite whatsoever in his sufferings. (Adapted from an article compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa, etc.)

How to Counteract Insults

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Generally we can see that our mind be­comes especially agitated whenever we are insulted and the thorn of the desire to take revenge torments the mind for a long time. The only way to control the mind in such cir­cumstances is by shutting our eyes to the in­sults. On reading this, you will probably be thinking, "Why in the wide world should I not take revenge on the person who has insulted me? He has caused me so much pain; he must suffer." But the reality is that he is not the actual cause of our suffering. We must have done some sinful activity in the past as a reac­tion to which we are insulted now as per the law of karma. And the person who has in­sulted us is just acting as an instrument in the hands of nature to deliver us our due suffer­ing. When we understand this, then we will be able to take the insult in a mature way with­out being unnecessarily agitated and without maintaining a vengeful feeling.

This is vividly illustrated in an instructive pastime that took place about 5000 years ago. The emperor of the whole world at that time  was Maharaj Parikshit. Once when he was go­ing through a forest, he was afflicted by se­vere thirst. Though he was the king of the en­tire world, here he was in the midst of the for­est and there was no one to fetch even a glass of water for him. At that time he saw a sage, Shamik rishi, performing penance in a hut. Being desperate to quench his thirst, he re­quested the sage to give him a glass of water. The sage was in deep trance and so he did not even hear the king. Parikshit was angered due to this apparently discourteous behavior of the sage. In his anger he put a dead snake around the neck of the sage and went away. After some time when the son of Shamik rishi Shringi came to know about how his father had been in­sulted, he pronounced a curse on Parikshit, "You will die after seven days due to the bite of a poisonous snake-bird."

When King Parikshit was informed about the curse, his response was highly exemplary. He was the emperor of the entire world and he was also a pure devotee of Lord Krishna. And for a minor mistake on his part, a young im­pudent boy had sounded his death-knell. If King Parikshit had wanted he could easily have counter-cursed Shringi. But far from try­ing to 'get even' with Shringi, Parikshit hum­bly accepted the curse and immediately re­nounced his entire kingdom in order to pre­pare for his imminent departure from this world. He went to the banks of the Ganges, offered his humble obeisances to the great sages assembled there and requested them:

tam mopayatam pratiyantu vipraganga ca devi dhrta-cittam
isedvijopasrstah kuhakas taksako va dasatv alam gayata visnu-gathah

"O brahmanas, just accept me as a com­pletely surrendered soul, and let mother Ganges, the representative of the Lord, also accept me in that way, for I have already taken the lotus feet of the Lord into my heart. Let the snakebird—or whatever magical thing the brahmana created—bite me at once. I only desire that you all continue singing the deeds of Lord Vishnu."

In this way Parikshit reacted to the curse in a very composed positive way. And conse­quently he was able to end his life on a very glorious note by returning to the kingdom of God. On the other hand if someone takes an in­sult very seriously then he can never be peace­ful as is seen from the story of Hiranyakashipu.

The king of the demons, Hiranyakashipu, was the master of all the three worlds. He had practically conquered the entire universe. Just by the raising of his eyelashes, all the power­ful demigods would start trembling in fear. His small five-year-old son, Prahlada, however, did not accept him to be supreme and. did not obey him. Though he was the emperor of the whole universe, just one tiny boy not accept­ing his supremacy was intolerable for him. His life became completely miserable; he lost his night sleep. He decided to ruthlessly murder small innocent Prahlada. But when all his at­tempts to do so were foiled, he became totally dejected. And finally Hiranyakashipu himself had to meet a ghastly death.

In the same way, if a hundred people re­spect us but one person insults us, that one insult makes us thoroughly miserable; the re­spect of hundred other people has no value for us. But if we understand that all these in­sults are coming upon us as a result of our past activities then we can learn to shut our eyes to the insults.And when we are insulted in such a way due to some reason, we should learn to for­get and forgive. We should never maintain grudges. If we nurture an ill feeling in our heart towards a man who has insulted us without openly expressing it, that is even worse than openly expressed anger. Suppressed anger is like mental cancer. It leads to sleeplessness, it poisons blood, it increases blood pressure and takes away all peace of mind. An insult is like spilt milk. If milk is spilt on the ground, then what can we do about it? Its finished; it's done. So we should learn to forget such incidents, which have already occured and just go ahead with our regular activities without becoming distracted or diffident. But if we nourish the grievances and brood over the past happen­ings, then not only does it cause immense pain to our heart but it may also lead to disas­trous consequences, as seen in the following incident from the Mahabharata.

When Drona, a brahmana's son, and Drupada, a prince, were studying in the same gurukula, they became close friends. One day, in a moment of intimate friendship, Drupada promised Drona, " When I inherit the kingdom of my father, I will give half of it to you." Later, Drupada went on to become the king of Panchal, whereas Drona became a poor brahmana. Once in a moment of acute pov­erty, when his son was crying piteously for milk and Drona  had no money to get any milk, he remembered the promise of his boy friend, Drupada. He therefore went to meet Drupada and reminded him of their old friendship. Sit­ting on his majestic royal throne, in the midst of the court, Drupada looked at the poor brahmana standing in front of him and said to him, "0 unfortunate brahmana, how do you consider me as your friend now? Past friend­ships are meaningless. Only equals can be friends. Now I am a great king and you are a poor brahmana. Do not try to invoke a long dead relationship." Saying this, Drupada laughed at Drona, gave him a little chanty and sent him off. Deeply insulted, Drona left Panchal, but his mind was fixed on revenge. He did not forget and forgive; instead he kept the memory of the incident burning in his heart and resolved to take revenge when the right moment came.

Later on Drona became the military teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. When they completed their training and asked him what guru-dakshina they could give him, Drona re­quested them to capture Drupada and bring him as a prisoner before him. On hearing the desire of their guru, first the Kauravas, headed by Duryodhana, attacked Drupada, who eas­ily defeated them. When the Kauravas returned defeated, the Pandavas, headed by Arjuna, in­vaded Panchal. They defeated Drupada, ar­rested him, brought him as a captive to their gurukula and threw him. at the feel of Drona. On seeing how Drupada had been thor-oughly humiliated, Drona smiled at him and asked him,  "Oh my dear king, do you now desire to revive our old friendship? It seems that your kingdom and wealth have all become mine." Humiliated and ashamed, Drupada couldn 't speak a word. Adding insult to injury, Drona further said, "After all, I am a liberal brahmana, I am not going to take away your life. Moreover I have always cherished affec­tion for you as a friend. So 1 still desire your friendship, but, my dear Drupada, friendship can only be among equals. Now you have lost your whole kingdom and have become a beg­gar. And your entire kingdom and wealth have now become mine. So how can friendship ex­ist between a king like me and a beggar like you9 Having pity on a beggar like you, I give half of my kingdom to you. " And Drona gave half of the kingdom of Panchal to Drupada.Although he felt severely insulted, Drupada kept silent, knowing that he was in no position to retaliate. He understood that the mar­tial power of Drona was much greater than his. And moreover Drona now also had the mighty Pandavas as his disciples. So Drupada quietly took half of the kingdom and went away, but in his mind, he resolved, "One day I will take revenge for this great insult. " Later Drupada performed a massive fire sacrifice (yajna) to beget a son Dhrishtadyumna, who would kill Drona.

Thus we can see that, when one is insulted by another, but is not ready to forget and for­give, then one insults the other, the other counter-insults the first and the fight goes on and on. So, when we meditate on insults, there is no end to such fights. Therefore instead of wasting our precious human form of life in brooding over such past events, it is better to turn to God and seek refuge in Him. And, even if our heart is very much pained by the insult, we should go to God for shelter just like Dhruva did. When he was insulted by his stepmother, Dhruva took the right shelter. He went to the forest and approached the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. By taking shelter of Lord Vishnu, in­stead of being left in the cold tofutilely mourn and grieve, all of the pains of Dhruva were wiped out and he achieved a kingdom greater than that of his great grandfather, Lord Brahma. In the same way, we can also become free from all suffering if we turn to God when we are insulted. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Doctor of the Mind

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! We all know that, somehow or other, if we can learn to control our mind, then we can accomplish many things in our life. So naturally, an of us are interested in controlling our mind. At the same time we are all well aware of the disastrous consequences of an uncontrolled mind. If the mind of a person is uncontrolled, it will make him miserable throughout his life and may harass him so much that he may even go to the extent of committing suicide.

Every intelligent person should learn to con­trol his mind and lead a peaceful life. There are many institutions offering courses on Mind Control, but most of them don't go to the root of the problem. They are based on only a superficial knowledge of the mind and the way in which it works. Mind control without proper understanding of oneself, God and the purpose of life is just an eyewash; it can yield no tangible benefit.

The mind frequently causes us a variety of problems. And amateur attempts to tackle these problems are bound to fail since the body-mind mechanism is extremely complex. Therefore the first step in mind control is to understand the answers to the following ba­sic questions: What is this body? Who am I? What is the purpose of this creation? In order to get authentic answers to these questions, the best course of action is to ap­proach the super-intelligent Designer of this body, the Mastermind behind the creation, namely, the Supreme Lord, and ask Him, "Why did You create all these problems?" This approach involves tackling the problems of life by going to their root cause and so it can pro­vide a permanent solution. Just as when we get a disease, we go to a doctor, an expert in that field, to diagnose the root cause of the disease and get it cured, similarly we need the help of a guru or a spiritual master, an expert in the knowledge of the essence of life, who can teach us why our mind and body give us so much suffering in this world and the way to permanently get rid of all suffering.

Krishna, the Supreme Lord, is universally acclaimed as the jagat guru or the spiritual master of the whole universe. And He is teach­ing Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita how to control one's mind and how to lead a pure life. Right at the outset of the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna that we are not these material bodies; we are actually spirit souls. This body is simply like a dress; it is just an external covering. The atma, the eternal being, who is the eternal servant of God, is now trapped in this body exactly like a parrot trapped in a cage. Being trapped in the body we are constantly suffering due to the miser­ies caused by the body and the mind. It is not  that we are suffering only now; our history of suffering dates back to many, many lifetimes. Therefore according to all the scriptures the ultimate goal of life, the only way to lasting happiness, is to liberate oneself from the cycle of birth and death and to achieve the king­dom of God. That is our original home and it is from there that we have come to this for­eign place, the material world.

Due to our stay in the material world, our mind has become the storehouse of varieties of thoughts, impressions and unfulfilled de­sires. These material impressions on the mind drag the atma from one body to another, birth after birth. Until all these material impressions are wiped out from the mind and pure spiri­tual consciousness is established, there is no possibility of returning back to the kingdom of God. But as long as we are in this material world, we are inescapably stuck up with the body  and the mind. And the mind gives us a variety of sufferings.

Herein we will try to learn a few tips, which can help us to control the mind. But these tips have to be applied while a person simul­taneously engages in cultivating knowledge about God, the ultimate goal of life and about himself. There is no overnight, short cut to control the mind; if it were so easy, modern man would not talk so much about mind con­trol. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Greed and Technology

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! People ask for peace of mind but they want to very carefully preserve their material greed. But the truth is peace of mind and material greed are incompatibles. You have to make your choice. It is wisely said, 'God has provided for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed.'  An angry man can be pacified when he gives vent to his anger by chastising some­one; a thirsty man can be satisfied by having some water; a hungry man can be satisfied by having some food. But a greedy man can never be satisfied by anything, no matter how much he accumulates. So the only way to deal with greed is to give up the greedy mentality.

People go on increasing their facilities more and more, thinking that they are becoming bigger and bigger controllers. But, by increas­ing their facilities, they end up becoming slaves of those facilities. Just imagine a modern man surrounded on all sides by modern gadgets. He has a grinder; so he has no need to use his hand. He has a mobile phone; so he doesn't have to move from his bed to attend to phone calls. He has a remote control; so he doesn't have to get up from his bed for switching on the television. Nowadays there are remote switches even for fans and lights and one can switch them on from one's bed. In this way man has increased his luxuries and facilities and he thinks, "The control for the whole world is at my finger tips. Just by a slight move­ment of my fingers, I can control everything around me."

But, in the process, he becomes utterly dependent on these gadgets. If even one of them doesn't work properly, he becomes miserable. And what is the ultimate consequence of such needless indulgence? Those who use such gad­gets throughout their lives get a variety of bodily maladies in their old age. And when they go to a doctor, he tells them, "You have not done any exercise throughout your life. So now you have to move your hand up and down as if you were drawing water from a well." Or You have to rotate your hand working on a grinder " Or "You have every  ' morning for walking or jogging."

What an irony! By the arrangement of na­ture, man has to do all these things and, if he does them, he will never get rheumatic pain or any such sickness. But considering such basic bodily activities to be troublesome, he works hard to earn money to get gadgets to avoid doing these things. But on getting such gad­gets, he suffers because he becomes utterly dependent on them. And, in the end, he gets health problems and is forced to do the very things, which he originally wanted to avoid! But despite the foolishness of it all, unfor­tunately people today increase their needs more and more and work hard like donkeys to accumulate more wealth for procuring these facilities. But it only entraps them fur­ther. For example, in the modern times, there is the credit card system. A person can take any gadget he wants just by showing his credit card. Tempted by the desire to have the best facilities in his house, he takes many expen­sive gadgets. But later he finds out that he has to work like a donkey for another ten or twenty years just to pay the installments for what he purchased using his credit card.

So in this way people think that they are getting more and more facilities and that they are enjoying but actually they are only increas­ing their suffering. The material nature cre­ated by the Lord, Maya, is so powerful that she thoroughly cheats those who try to ex­ploit her resources without using them in the service of God, as is illustrated by the follow­ing story.

Once upon a time a sadhu was climbing a mountain. Finding the climb laborious, he thought how nice it would be if he could climb the mountain on horseback. He therefore started singing, "Hey Rama ghodi dila de, hey Rama, ghodi dila de". "O Lord Rama please give me a horse. " And lo and behold! While he was praying like this, a passerby came and, seeing a sadhu struggling to climb the moun­tain, donated a horse. The sadhu was very happy that the Lord had fulfilled his desire immediately. He promptly mounted the horse and contin­ued climbing up the mountain. After some time, all of a sudden, the horse stopped and, despite repeated proddings, would not budge even an inch. When he got down to see what was wrong, he noticed that the horse was actually a mare. She had been pregnant and had just given birth to a baby horse. And due to her natural mater­nal affection for her offspring, she was not ready to leave it.

Perplexed, the sadhu wondered how he could make the horse move. Suddenly an idea struck him and he picked up the baby horse and started walking. Being attached to her off­spring, the mare quietly followed him. The sadhu was very pleased with himself, "Just see how clever I am! I have tricked the horse into walking." But after just a few steps he started panting due to the weight of the foal. He then started thinking, "Hey! Wait a minute! I wanted a horse to carry me, but I have ended up carry­ing a horse! I was much better off earlier; at least I did not have any burden to carry."

In this way we sometimes increase our fa­cilities in order to enjoy life but later we see that those very facilities become sources of trouble; we become slaves of those facilities. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Recognition by Godly People

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Instead of aspiring for such ephemeral and temporary worldly recognition we should be aspiring to be recognized by God and His Devotees. Why? Because God is a person who loves you for what you are and not for what you have. And He loves you so much that He remains your greatest well wisher and heart-to-heart friend, even if you are not in the least interested in Him.

There­fore, instead of directing our craving for recognition towards the people of this world, we should redirect it towards the Lord and His representatives, the saintly persons who are our real well-wishers and friends.

A person can do this only when he has un­derstood what is the greatest achievement in life. In modern times, people generally think that earning fabulous sums of money or going abroad and returning with a lot of wealth or leading a very happy family life or having hun­dreds and thousands of possessions is the greatest achievement in life. But history shows that anybody who thought like this had to suffer terribly in the end. The inevitable time factor defeats all such hedonistic plans for en­joyment and reduces to nothing all one's ac­complishments exactly like the roaring waves of a ocean devastating a sand castle built by a child. This is the harsh reality of the material world. That is why Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu says, "I don't aspire for wealth, opposite sex or followers", but rather He prays to the Lord, "Please give me pure love for you." As the scriptures proclaim, prema pumartho mahan "The greatest achievement in all of creation is to achieve pure love of God." Why? Because the only true need of each one of us is happiness. And happiness comes only when we truly love and are truly loved. And the only person worthy of reposing love in is God, because He alone can be the eternal object of our love; all other so-called loving relationships are inevitably severed by the sharp sword of time.

We can achieve happiness and peace of mind auto­matically if we re-awaken our dormant love of God. And this love can be awakened sim­ply by serving and remembering God in what­ever we do and by chanting His Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna. But instead of trying to re-establish our re­lationship with God, if we get entangled in the rat race for recognition, we will be doomed to disappointment and frustration. While we are alive, we will never get any peace of mind and, at the time of death, we will re­alize that we have been cheated because all the things, which we gave our entire lives to obtain, will be forcibly taken away. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Craving for Fame

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Craving for worldly glory and recognition is the surest way to physical and mental rest­lessness. The whole world is running madly after name, fame and recognition. But why do we want recognition? Have we ever asked ourselves this question? We want name, fame and recognition so that people may under­stand our greatness. Many people in this world consider themselves to be very great persons and so want all people to greatly respect themselves.

Even some of those, who don't have any extraordinary abil­ity or talent by which they can become famous, try to obtain fame by connecting themselves with those who are famous. That is why people want to have their photograph taken with a popular film star or cricketer; so that they can show it to others and make an un­spoken statement, "Just see! I am putting my hands on the shoulder of this famous crick­eter. Just see it! And understand my great­ness!" Thus most people want to achieve rec­ognition in some way or the other.

But in complete contrast, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prays:

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisha kamaye
mama janmani janmani isvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

"O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accu­mulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of follow­ers. I only want your causeless devotional ser­vice birth after birth." (Shikshashtakam 4) The first reaction of most people on hearing this prayer is shock and utter disbelief. Wealth, women and followers are what people hanker and toil tirelessly for throughout their lives. But to the degree a person is hankering for recognition from worldly people, to that degree his mind will be torn to pieces. Why? Because the harsh unpalatable truth is that no one in the world respects you, has any con­cern for you or is even  interested in you; their respect, concern and interest are all for what you possess. Countless examples can be given to substantiate this truth:

A prostitute will smile at a man, speak sweetly with him and provide him with all enjoyment; due to her behavior, the man may naturally start thinking, "O she's attracted to me. I am so handsome!" But she is not the least interested in him; the moment his pocket is empty, she will disappear.

When a tree is full of fruits, multitudes of birds flock to the tree. The tree may think, "All these birds are coming to me. I am such an important entity." But the moment the fruits get over, not a single bird even glances at the tree.

When many charming deer are grazing in a forest, the forest may think, "I must be so wonderful that even these beautiful deer are coming to me." But when there is no green grass in the forest, the deer will not stay there even for a moment.

Similarly, it appears that all the people, who surround you, are interested in you and that they are all impressed by your greatness. But when you grow old and are no longer beautiful or when you lose the opulence that you have today, none of these people will come near you; they will simply disappear. Films stars and cricketers have thousands of fans in their youth and they feel on top of the world, re­ceiving the adulation of their fans. But when they grow old, none of their fans pays even the slightest attention  to them, leave alone respecting or adulating them. And for one who has been famous, obscurity is worse than death. For example, there was a cel­ebrated football player and, due to his excep­tional talent in maneuvering the ball with his foot, he had millions of fans all over the world literally mad after him (or so he thought). But one day he somehow broke his leg and he could no longer play football. And that was the end of all his fame; not even a single soul would come to meet him thereafter. Even if nothing like this happens to a famous person, still all his accumulated wealth, possessions,recognition etc., are going to be lost in the sands of time at the time of death. In this way we can easily understand that being mad for recognition from the people of the world is foolishness. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Envy and the Hand of God

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Resentment and envy for the success of others are actually a sign of cowardice, a sign of the ab­sence of the courage to accept the reality that we cannot control the world around us. We are disturbing the peace of mind for no gains whatsoever, because nobody has the power to change the will of God. Wisdom lies in understanding that the happiness and distress destined for us at the time of our birth, as fixed according to our past karma, are inevitably going to come, no matter what we do. just as distress comes in our life unin­vited, by higher arrangement, happiness will  also come of its own accord.

Therefore real wisdom lies in seeing the loving and well-wish­ing hand of God behind everything that hap­pens in our lives. Only with such a vision can we live in peace. But if a person is jealous of others and is trying to pull them down or destroy them, then he can never be at peace. Why? Because such a person is concerned not so much with how well he has fared, but with how badly others have fared. His success lies in the fail­ure of others. His mentality is like that of a crab, who having been trapped in a fisherman's basket along with many other crabs, is wor­ried, not about saving his own life by jumping out of the basket, but about pulling other crabs down so that he may stay at a higher level than them within the basket. What an utterly foolish mentality!

Therefore an intelligent person, a devotee of God, does not measure his success by such a meaningless standard - the failure of oth­ers. He understands that real success in life is in pleasing God because only by the mercy of God can all problems be solved, once and for all. And  knowing that everything happens by the will of God, he lives by the wise saying: what cannot be cured has to be endured.

This same truth is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (2.14)
matra sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna sukba duhkha dah
agamapayino 'nityas tarns titikisasva bharata

Krishna says, "O son of Kunti, the nonper-manent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being dis­turbed."

For example, the duty of a housewife is to cook. In the summer season, though the kitchen may be very hot, she cannot say, "I will cook only in the winter. In summer, the kitchen is very hot. So I cannot cook." Even though the kitchen may be hot, she has to just tolerate the heat and go on with her duty of cooking.

In the same way, we have to know that there are many things in life, which are beyond our control. If a person thinks, "I can control ev­erything in every situation throughout my life", the mind of such a person will be literally torn to pieces. An intelligent person knows that God is the Supreme Controller and that He is controlling everything that is happening throughout the world as well as in his own life. Such a person, who sees with the eyes of knowledge, can understand that he is bound from head to toe by the laws of nature. When we ourselves are so completely controlled, how then can we expect to control every situ­ation, or for that matter, any situation? Therefore though there may be hundreds of incon­veniences, annoyances and irritations from the moment we wake up every morning to the moment we sleep at night (and even when we are asleep), we have to understand that they are not within our power to change. So we should learn to tolerate them without be­ing disturbed. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa, Jaigopala Dasa, Chaitanya Charana Dasa, Sundara Vara Dasa.)

Career, Karma, No Peace

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! We should also know that no one can make or mar our career. Sometimes we imagine, "A has blocked my promotion." or  "B has ruined my business by competing in the same field." and so on. And due to such imaginary conceptions, we feel envy and animosity to­wards others. But actually our career and life is shaped by our previous karma; others can­not influence it.

A typical example of one nourishing such needless envy and enmity is Duryodhana. Right from the time the Pandavas came to Hastinapura as small children, Duryodhana was envious of them. He was afraid that they might take over the kingdom. So. to destroy them, he hatched various demoniac schemes such as feeding Bhima a poisonous cake, gift­ing the Pandavas a palace made of inflammable shellac and then arranging to have it set on fire so that they would burn to death and so on. But by none of these tricks could he succeed in killing them. Later during the svayamvara of Draupadi, he became mad with lust on seeing her exquisite beauty, but he was crestfallen when he could not win her hand. And when the Pandavas won the hand of Draupadi, his envy increased manifold.

When he realized that the Pandavas had be­come very powerful and wealthy due to their alliance with Drupada, the father of Draupadi and the king of Panchal, he feared that they might attack and defeat him. So he decided to give them half of the kingdom, but once again, due to his envious nature, he tried to cheat them by offering them the barren part of the Kuru kingdom called Khandavaprastha.But, by the mercy of Lord Krishna, that deso­late land was miraculously transformed, in no time, into the great city Indraprastha. Indraprastha was a magnificent and opulent city filled with learned brahmanas, chivalrous kshatriyas, well-to-do vaishyas and faithful shudras. All the subjects were living a very happy God-centered life in accordance with the Vedic scriptures. All the cows, women, old men, children and brahmanas were properly protected. The mellifluous chanting of auspi­cious Vedic mantras could be heard every­where in the city. And Mayadanava con­structed the Mayasabha, a gorgeous mansion akin to a heavenly abode, for the Pandavas. When Duryodhana heard about the opulence of the Pandavas, he just could not stand it. In fact the very thought that was now the em­peror of the world caused him indescribable agony. He felt that that position was his ex­clusive birthright and that the Pandavas had unlawfully usurped his position.

At that time, Maharaj decided to conduct the Rajasuya yajna to establish the supremacy of Lord Krishna. He invited all the kings and sages from all over the universe for the yajna. At the time of the yajna, he allocated various services to his relatives and close friends. He requested Bhishma and Drona to oversee the organization of the sacrifice, Dushasana to take care of distribution of food to all the guests, Ashvatthama to attend to the brahmanas and Duryodhana to receive all the gifts. Lord Krishna took the humble role of washing the feet of all the sages and brahmanas arriving for the Rajasuya yajna. Seeing the hundreds and thousands of price­less gifts that came for Yudhishtir, Duryodhana's heart burnt with envy. And when he saw the incomparable opulence of the famed palace of the Pandavas, the Mayasabha, he could no longer control his jealousy. He sniffed and huffed and frowned harshly at the innocent servants who were cheerfully passing by within the place. He was in a state of total misery and despondency. On his way back to Hastinapura, Duryodhana told his uncle, Shakuni, "It is impossible for me to see the prosperity of the  Pandavas. What man who possesses any self-respect can bear to see his enemies prosper more than him? How can I ever equal the power and the opulence of the Pandavas? All my efforts to do so have been frustrated. And my attempts to destroy the Pandavas have also met with total failure. On the contrary, they are flourishing like lotuses in a pond. Therefore I cannot live any longer. 1 will enter into fire or I will swallow poison and thus end my life. Please inform my father Dhritarashtra about the terrible anguish I am in. " And while he was speaking, the fire of envy in his heart started burning more and more and he became even more fearful that the Pandavas would vanquish him.

When Dhritarashtra came to know about the devilish mentality of Duryodhana, he tried to pacify him, "My dear son, whatever you may want for your enjoyment is already at your dis­posal. Our opulence is no less than that of the gods in heaven. We have immense wealth, magnificent mansions, the best of clothes, the finest food and beautiful women. All these are just waiting to give you pleasure. What rea­son is  therefor you to become depressed?"  Duryodhana sullenly muttered, "Don't you know that got thousands of invaluable gifts in the Rajsuya yajna?"

Dhritarashtra suggested, " You can also perform a similar sacrifice and you will also get those gifts." But Duryodhana knew that he would not get even one tenth of the gifts that Yudhishthira got.

Therefore the evil-minded Duryodhana, along with the diabolical Shakuni, decided to devise some devious way, by which the Pandavas could be destroyed. Duryodhana knew that he could not challenge the Pandavas in a battle; they would easily defeat him. So he decided to invite the Pandavas to a gambling match so that they could be cheated of  their kingdom and be exiled into the forest. Even during the exile of the Pandavas, Duryodhana, though the emperor of the en­tire world, was constantly in anxiety about the possibility of the return of the Pandavas in the future; he was never at peace. On the other hand, the Pandavas, who were great devotees of Krishna, being nonenvious, lived peacefully though they were in utter poverty in the forest.

In a similar way, in the present times of cutthroat competition, most people live totally insecure lives, being torn apart by im­measurable anxieties, "This person is trying to pull me down", "It is only because of that person that I cannot progress in my life", "That person is growing bigger than me, how can I cut him down?" Such people grit their teeth, bite their lips, frown, grumble, brood and, riding on the chariot of their mind, make elaborate plans to destroy all their so-called enemies and become supreme. But all their endeavors are repeatedly frustrated and they have no peace of mind whatsoever. (Compiled by Radheshyam Dasa)

Mind Control Game

 Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! The search for happiness is the eternal quest for every living entity. In the modern times, the propaganda throughout the world is to work very hard to earn ones livelihood to accumulate more and more wealth to increase one's name and fame and thus become happy.

Consequently, everyone is caught up in an environment of cut-throat competition In such a situation, every avenue to stay alive to get ahead in life is thoroughly exploited. Mind control plays a decisive role in determine the performance and shaping the future of a person and it has therefore become a buzzword in professional circles nowadays. Unfortunately no one knows how to control the mind and for what. This is due to a lack of spiritual Vedic knowledge. The rare and valuable human life is wasted in playing unsuccessful mind control games.

Posts to come

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Shri Guru Parampara! This is a post to just announce that the posts in this Category Label will be coming soon. Thank you.