Secret kept secret

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Vrajanatha: Where to obtain the mantras to worship Lord Gauranga who has come as a covered incarnation?

Babaji: The scriptures that openly give mantras for worshipping the openly manifested incarnations of the Lord, secretly reveal the mantras for worshipping the secret and hidden incarnation of Lord Gauranga. People whose intelligence is not crooked can understand the presence of these mantras.

Bhaktivinod Thakur could have simply answered this question by saying that the mantra is Gauranga. But he did not do this. Rather he said that since it is a SECRET mantra it is revealed secretly in scriptures and only a person whose intelligence is not crooked can understand it. Actually only a pure devotees intelligence is not crooked as he has transcended the 3 modes so only he can understand it but it makes no difference for a pure devotee whether he chants Hare Krishna or Gauranga as it has an equal effect on him. Infact a person whose intelligence is crooked should be given this mantra so  that it can help him to come out of his conditioned state faster. Inspite of this fact Bhaktivinod Thakur did not reveal the mantra directly. I think this means that he knew the time had yet not come to reveal this mantra and the Lord by His will would soon reveal it to the world. May be this is also another reason why Srila Prabhupada did not reveal the mantra directly ( though he secretly revealed in his book) to the world and taught the whole world about Radha Krishna so that later on when the Gauranga mantra would be revealed the whole world would be able to understand it much better.

I am sorry if I made a mistake in my above statements but this is atleast how I understand it.

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Sincerly,
Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Secret of Swamiji revealed

Nityananda ! Gauranga Hare Krishna !

Following is from Jaiva Dharma-

The eternally perfect and eternally liberated souls who have sweetness first and mercy second reside in Lord Krsna's abode. They are Lord Krsna's associates. The eternally perfect and eternally liberated souls who have mercy first and sweetness second reside in Lord Gauranga's abode. They are Lord Gauranga's associates. Some souls manifest two forms and reside in both abodes simultaneously. Other souls manifest only one form and are present in one of the abodes and not in the other.

This means that since Swamiji is presently living in Puri and not Vrindavan his quality of mercy dominates his quality of sweetness. However I would say his sweetness is also equal as he also worships Radha and Krishna and is thus also going to enter Vraja Dham

Sincerely,
Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Ratnamukhi Das Kirtans

Dear Nava Prabhu,

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Thank you so much. I feel good to see that the Lord has sent so many wonderful people like Swamiji, you and other devotees here and everywhere to help me progress otherwise only God knows what kind of activities I would be involved in today. Also thanks to my material distress which is FORCING me to progress at the speed of light.

Thanks for this file. Since I am addicted to reading Swamiji's book Nityananda Gauranga Naam I am sure I will enjoy seeing this video also.

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Sincerly,
Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Sankirtan Time!!!

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

y.s. Nava

Comment on this Post

Re: Search NITAAI Veda via floating Google Desktop Search bar

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Dear Swami Gaurangapada and assembled devotees,

please accept my humble obiesances

The chm add-on does not seem to work...has anyone else had this problem? thx.

Nava.

Comment on this Post

Re: Ratnamukhi Das Kirtans

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Thank you Mihir.

Gurudeva explains what Gauranga Dharma is on this CD. This discourse is the first time I ever heard him speak, back in 2004. Instantly what he was saying was truth for me (confirmation appeared internally). 'That the Mantrarajas would be the solution to all these unlimited offences'.

At that time no one had taught me so dierctly that shelter of Lord Gauranga and Lord Nitaai was the key. I did not really understand the tattva. When I heard Gurudeva explain it that first time, it was like WOW! That's it! That is my dilemma!

I used to listen to this track at a friends place on his computer (I did not have a pc then). All my friends thought I had lost the plot listening to Gurudeva speak on this CD, they used to laugh. Little did they know what was going on in the heart, hearing these truths.

Two months before hearing this discourse I asked Lord Nitaai to please reveal my master, so that I could grow. I realized the need to ask that prayer, the importance of finding a master, after reading it somewhere in Caitanya Caritamrta. When I heard this CD I knew my prayer was answered!

Listening to the discourse yesterday again, with new vision and new light was a joy. Thank you.

Here is the discourse.

Thank you so much Mihir, for bringing all this back to my mind. Jaya Gurudeva! Jaya Nityananda-Gauranga Naam!

y.s. Nava.

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Dear Srinath,

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

Thank you for letting me know details about your chanting. I asked you this as I am very new to chanting the mantrajas and I am always very keen to ask different devotees about their experience with chanting so that I can predict my experience with it in the near future. I am chanting the mantrajas only from a few days. 

I am sure you have realized that I am very new to chanting and since you are senior to me in chanting please keep your blessings on me.

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Ratnamukhi Das Kirtans

Dear Prabhuji,

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

I love Ratnamukhi Das kirtans so much that I can hear it almost full day. I am very grateful to you and surely own a lot to you. Thank you very much my dearest friend.

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

Sincerely,

Mihir.

 

Comment on this Post

Re: Ratnamukhi Das Kirtans

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Here they are Prabhu.

y.s. Nava

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Dear Mihir,

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

       I personally do not chant that many rounds as even what you are doing. At the moment I am chanting 16+16 (mantrarajas Nityananda + Gauranga) and I only occasionally chant the maha mantra. Previously it was less than that.

      I personally felt that my maha mantra chanting was so offensive that it was returning negative results. So I am just waiting to advance some distance by chanting the mantrarajas. But very soon I will add 4 rounds of the maha mantra and make it 16+16+4. Perhaps in a few days.

     My chanting has been very irregular till I started chanting the mantrajas. Since the beginning of this year, I don't think that I have missed a single day chanting and I am planning to focus more on quality rather than quanitity. You see, in my holidays I too had big plans to chant 64+64+16 daily. But eventually I realised it was harder than it appeared and day by day it was really an effort so sit for almost 3-4 hours and chant. At that point I realised that the quality of chanting had not improved and I was still highly offensive and things weren't working as they should have.

      Most people taking up the chanting in the first place (including me) initally feel that quanitity is directly related to the results. No.of rounds and time factor are quantitative estimates. But its actually QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY which is the important factor. When you can chant just one name with full surrender and humility with reverence to the naama prabhu, without any inattention and offensive behaviour, it is so much, so much better than having chanted all day fighting all kinds of intrusive thoughts and having committed so many offenses like illicit sex for example.

      I realised that I was not ready to take on a higher quantity of names, so I just reduced my chanting rounds to 16+16 and plan to approach 16+16+4 and let it stay like that. Its better to take up a small doses of chanting and work on chanting properly with full surrender in the beginning. When one becomes spiritually advanced enough, one can take up a higher quantity of names to be chanted.

      Many people including myself try to increase quanitity and fly high, but if there is no qualitiative improvement we'll crash down and hard. The higher you jump, the harder you can hit ground. One of my friends is only doing 10+10 and he is getting incredible improvements and realisations daily and he has totally changed.

       When the quality is really top level, then one will automatically feel like chanting more and more and that's when one should increase the quantity. Chanting large amount of names all of a sudden doesn't make progress rapid, it could make it troublesome if we are not ready for it. Rather we start in small steps and focus on quality before quantity, then it is indeed extremely rapid.

       Although this may sound counter-intuitive to you or other readers, this is the fact. I have seen it myself. When I asked Hadai prabhu the same question, he told me that I could advance right now and taste bliss if I just surrendered. He said that just one name will be enough to reach the Lord when its full surrender. Otherwise it will take more time. See its not just a matter of offenses. An amateur like me chanting Nityananda and an acarya like Swamiji chanting Nityananda -- there is a huge difference.

       I am not being offensive or being discouraging in any way. This question is what I asked the great devotees, this is what they have personally told me and that's exactly the same thing I am trying to tell you. Please forgive me if I sounded rude.

In your best interest,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

     Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

     Even things which we only do in the mind actually affect other souls and in this way we commit offenses against other souls in our own sense gratificatory pursuits. From personal talks with devotees like Hadai dasa prabhu, I see that when one is on the platform of realisation one really starts seeing every soul as a devotee. We look beyond the sleeping situation and recognise souls for what they really are. For a first class devotee every body including the ants in the house are devotees. On the relative level there may be various gradations of living entities, but on the absolute platform everybody is seen as a devotee. So there can be no way we can even think of committing offenses to other souls by our acts.

      The more advanced one gets, the more humble one becomes. A devotee never thinks himself to be a devotee, he thinks everybody else as a devotee! So on the absolute point of view we feel lower than everyone and that is what is real humility. On the relative point of view our offenses against other jivas appears to be on the same level as swatting a mosquito. But when a devotee of the Lord tells us what is the absolute viewpoint, then the effect is totally different.  When we start seeing other souls as devotees by constitution and forgive them for their limitations, we go beyond all these designations and see that their real position is actually in the Lord's party in the spiritual world.

      At that time if we remember our offenses to those souls, we are truly horrified and ashamed because when we see their devotional every single offence that we did mentally, physically, etc.etc, every one of those offenses to jivas appears to us as offenses to other Vaisnavas, and truly heinious sins. Everyone is more qualified and better and we are lower than all of them. That is why I reacted so strongly because when Hadai dasa prabhu told me what the jivas really are, I considered every jiva aparadha to be a Vaisnava aparadha of the worst kind. That thought was like really being blasted with a shotgun at point blank range.

       So our mental fantasies are really offences towards other souls. And from the Absolute point of view, we see that every soul is and deserves to be a devotee. So when we put two and two together, the shotgun becomes a gigantic cannon. When we really consider that, "Oh everyone is also a devotee spiritually...", we simply cannot commit an offence to them. It really makes the attack against the illicit sex mentality extremely piercing and hits squarely with devastating effect.

       I appeal to all sadhakas that please look beyond all those material designations and surrender to the Lord and start seeing the jiva within every type of body and recognise it for what it really is -- a devotee. When you see that insect you will never feel like squashing it, but you will certainly feel like going and whispering Nityananda to it so that it becomes purified by hearing and becomes a devotee in its next birth. When you see that woman/man as a devotee, you will never dream of committing an offense to her/him, but you will treat them with respect in a mood of humility.

       When you see that the Lord is with every soul and add in the third factor that he is watching it, you will certainly spit at that sex urge and only surrender to His lotus feet. You recognise the jiva to be a devotee and the Lord right beside watching all we do. We cannot think of committing such an offence before the Lord and rather we become very eager to take that jiva standing before us to the lotus feet of the Lord standing beside that soul.

        Merely knowing that we are offending souls is only 25% of the attack. But when we see souls as devotees, the mentality of illicit sex is blasted 100% to the ground. And when we know the Lord watches, that mentality will disintegrate as though hit with a million times more force and we only feel that we are serving the other jivas and that we must take them to the feet of the Supreme Lord. I did that to a moth which was sitting on the window and chanted Nityananda to it and it died just as I thought myself surrendering to the Lord. It was delivered from that insects body and eventually it will become a devotee.

       So I end my essay by addressing all youngsters and students and all others facing the problem of illicit sex that its certainly Not Right in any manner. It is not natural and these acts of masturbation just show that society has become so hyper-desperate for getting some happiness in this horrible and miserable material world. Its a cry for help really. Our nature is to be eternally blissful and illicit sex is Completely and totally opposed to this nature. It is only right that we seek pleasure, but that pleasure that we seek without knowing what it is can never be found in the material world. That happiness is spiritual and that  will only come when we surrender to the Supreme Lord more and more. And that surrender is achieved by chanting his Holy names,

       Nityananda! Gauranga!

       Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

In your service,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Ratnamukhi Das Kirtans

Dear Swamiji and devotees,

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

I am very addicted to Ratnamukhi Das's Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna kirtans. Unforunately I just have two of them. Can some one be kind enough to give me links for all Ratnamukhi Das's kirtans on Nityananda Gauranga and Hare Krishna mahamantra. I am looking for kirtans which consists of only these three mantras and nothing else.

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Dear Srinath,

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Thank you for sharing with us how the mantrajas helped you from the attack of maya. It will be very nice of you if you could also tell us in how many rounds of mantrajas were you chanting and in how much time did it save you from the attack of maya ?

Nityananda ! Gauranga ! Hare Krishna !

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Soma the Deity of the Mind

Hadai Nityananda Das wrote : While in the purification process itself when we climb from neophyte to advanced devotee we are pending between both; karma and being under the direct influence of the Lord. The more we surrender to the Lord the more we are under His direct influence and the more we transcend His indirect influence that causes our temporary destination.   Your servant, Hadai Nityananda dasa  Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Dandavats Pranaams to Swamiji and all devotees,

Very nicely written. Shrila Prabhupada said that devotional service is like switching off a fan. When we switch of the fan it slowly decreses its speed and finally comes to a complete stop. Here the law of karma can be compared to the fan. However if we chant the mantrajas then the fan comes to a hault even faster.

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Brahma and Vairaja Brahma

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!
Dear Guruji and devotees, please accept my humble obeisances.

In his Sarartha Darsini on SB Canto 10, Chapter 1, Text 17, Srila Visvanatha Carkravarti Thakura talks about a second Brahma within our universe. He says that when mother earth approached Brahma it was not the Brahma who resides on Satyaloka but ‘Vairaja Brahma’ living on mount Meru.

My question is: What is the difference between these Brahmas besides their different locations of residence?

Your servant,
Hadai Nityananda Dasa
Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Comment on this Post

Re: Soma the Deity of the Mind

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Dear Swamiji, Jagannatha Gauranga dasa and devotees, please accept my humble obeisances.

Interesting questions. Pure devotees have gone 100% away from these planetary influences because they have surrendered themselves fully to the Lord Who in turn takes full personal care of His pure devotees. Since He is the Source of all sources everything else is overruled because of His personal involvement.

We also have to understand that the astrological charts do not refer to the soul itself since the soul is transcendental to time and place. So the astrological charts can only refer to the frame and characteristics of the temporary existence of our bodies and subtle bodies.

Yes the Lord can make your body be around longer. King Pariksit was attacked when still in the womb by a weapon that couldn�t be countered by any ordinary being however Lord Sri Krishna saved him. That same king Pariksit was cursed and bitten by a snake and died because of that. Both events were couldn�t be in the charts because they are part of the Lord�s and His pure devotee�s pastimes which are above all temporary designations.

One�s birth reading can say anything and as soon as someone takes up devotional service to the Lord one starts to function on another plain where the guidance of one�s progression is under the direct influence of Lord Gauranga Krishna, Guru and Shastra. Actually the pure chanting of the holy Name instantly destroys our karma altogether and nothing can be predicted anymore according to the laws that govern karma.

While in the purification process itself when we climb from neophyte to advanced devotee we are pending between both; karma and being under the direct influence of the Lord. The more we surrender to the Lord the more we are under His direct influence and the more we transcend His indirect influence that causes our temporary destination.

Your servant,
Hadai Nityananda dasa

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obesiances!

      I apologise if my last posts have been too graphic as though they've burst from a horror novel. But its really the fact. For those who have experienced spiritual bliss all this pain is not necessary. But for those who haven't, I say this approach will work because pain is something we can all experience readily.

     For those who have problems with agitated and restless mind I ask you to go to this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCD and see if you have any of these symptoms.

      In my case this problem was causing me to think of lusty thoughts again and again which would slowly fuel the lust fire to ignition. Other than that this speculation problem has troubled my life in various other ways by ruining my schedules and making things miserable. Really the thoughts are the fuel to our problems. And if we can just divert the thought to the Lord, the problem is solved before it happened.

     It is not a mental diease or stigma to say that one's mind has a few problems. In my case, chanting the mantrarajas and discussing the thought process in detail helped me realise that I had this problem.

     My best solution is just to go on chanting Nityananda, Gauranga and the Hare Krishna maha mantra. My case came to a happy ending after all that trouble as the mantrarajas not only made me aware of my problem and how to prevent it, but they are also speedily getting rid of those symptoms and eventually they would have cured me of it too!

     So I pray that never in my life I must commit a Vaisnava aparadha even in dreams as that is the only real danger to our devotion at this stage. I now know the power of the names of the Lord. They are the best doctor. They diagnosed my problem and eventually cured it.

      For one who chants Nityaananda or Gauranga just once, the mantrarajas will immeditately descend and make arrangements that will eventually bring that person on to the path of devotion. No wonder it was said, "Chant just once!" Time will eventually give proof of that statement.

      Thank you very much for your mercy and patience in reading my own case. Hope this benefits the reader as well.

Daaso'smi,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

     Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

     This is the final and most heart stopping post regarding my problems with sex and masturbation.

     By this time, things had reached a point where I had grown weary and tired of mastrubation and I was seriously planning to quit. Yet one misconception had not left and that is, "Its not wrong. Even if it is, its just minor. Not so harmful." So I was taking it lightly till then and occasionally on a few days I would masturbate simply because I was letting it continue by leftover influence of old habits without forcibly applying the brakes because of this misconception. By now the mantrarajas had got rid of the lusty urge and it was simply running like a fan would run for a while when the electricity was disconnected.

     Then last week I called up Hadai dasa prabhu and told him that I was feeling stuck because I was not feeling anything strong enough like ecstasy to hit the brakes. My friends joined and then it went somewhere.....as Hadai dasa prabhu himself put it in his own words.

Hadai dasa prabhu : "What do you think of when you masturbate? Of some woman you have seen somewhere in life, real or in the movies or books right?"

me : "Well yes"

Hadai dasa prabhu : "Then what do you do? You mentally abuse that woman forcibly don't you? In real life can you just walk up to that woman and ask her to satisfy your lust?"

me : "No!!! I can't!  You are right....That is what I do."

Hadai prabhu : "That means you commit the sin of actually molesting that woman! You receive those stringent reactions!"

me : "Oh my! Nitaai! I never thought....."

Hadai dasa prabhu : "Whatever you do affects those people at a subtle level because you mentally torture them like that! That is why those celebrities in the magazines and TV suffer so many problems. Your actions affect the person you are thinking of with. It actually creates a mental vibration that harms them and prevents them from normally functioning!"

me : "Then...what I have done....there is no difference between me and a real woman hunter!! That means I am a...."

Hadai dasa prabhu : "If suppose you were told that if you masturbated just once now and for that you would die immediately! When you would know that you would die right after this act, would you do it?"

me : "Never!!! Not on my life!!" (and be taken to hell, where they'll pour molten metal on me.....)

Hadai dasa prabhu : "From the spiritual point of view, every one is spirit soul. The soul is a devotee in his real nature. And the Lord is with the soul and seeing everything from within the heart! Isn't that right?"

me : "But then if that is so.."

Hadai dasa prabhu : "So you are molesting a part and parcel of God and right before the Lord when He is watching everything!! That woman is a part and parcel of God and you are doing something like that right before the Lord.

me : "A jiva aparadha.." (At this point, I was sweating and my heart was racing. My stomach was lurching and I started feeling giddy and sick as though I would faint)

Hadai prabhu : "Just see the Lord standing before you. When you know He's there, you can't do it, can you. You see him right before you....."

At this point I was just thinking of the form of Lords Gaura Nitai before me. The form of the opposite sex, the lust, all vanished. Now I was so scared and horrified I could not raise my head to even look at them. I could not imagine what the Lord's expression would be if this offense was done to His part and parcel. His anger would be indescribable. Simply that thought was making me feel as though my heart would stop. I was so shocked and when I thought of what the Lord's expression would be I thought my heart would stop. I was panting and I thought that simply seeing his feet and the shock of knowing he is there would give me cardiac arrest.

I couldn't look at His feet! All those feelings of guilt, horror, being caught in the act, the monstrosity of the sin I have done.....I stopped thinking of the Lord because I thought I would go mad or deranged if I saw those feet anymore. Like how the murder feels when everyone stares at him dead in the eye when he is exposed. He cannot tolerate a piercing gaze like that. He will scream, "Stop it! Don't look at me like that! No! Stop! Don't stare!!! STOP!!! AAARRGHH!!!!!!!  and he covers his eyes in horror.

Jiva aparadha....and an offence like THAT, I had done it! All before the Lord!! He saw everything! Still, I was spared!! I was not burnt to ashes immediately! So many times I committed such a heinious crime!! Oh Nitaai! I told myself it was not wrong!!! I abused your part and parcles and said it was not wrong!!! How could I have even thought of such a crime?? All these years, that was my 'pleasure'. What kind of a person was I if I was committing offenses to other souls? I am the most fallen, so many bad qualities. All are better and fit to sit on my head! And I was desiring to do something so sinful to them!!! 

A disciples sins can affect his my spiritual master too!! He was giving me so much love and mercy and I was repaying him by giving him the sin of abusing another soul! Another devotee!! SHAME ON ME! WHAT HAVE I DONE!! CURSE ME!...................

I do not think any words will be enough to properly convey the storm of emotions and the horrible feeling throughout every atom in my body. My friends were so shocked! Venkat took an oath right there never to masturbate again, EVER! Vignesh was so disgusted that he could not speak!! I on the other hand had to come to grips with the reality. Who knows what they felt. Only they will be able to describe it properly. It just goes to show the whole world what this masturbation and illicit sex really is. Not the pleasure, but really the horror.

At that point Hadai dasa prabhu consoled us and said, "You are all forgiven before it was ever even done. The Lord has forgiven. Now you know. When you think of the Lord knowing that He is there you cannot do it. You simply cannot masturbate because you know very well that the Lord's pleasure potency is so much greater. So when you meditate on him and chant NItyananda and Gauranga, the lust vanishes and you will no longer masturbate. When you dive into the ocean of pleasure while chanting, all this will just vanish"

I could not eat that day. I have seen so many scenes of grief both in the fictitious stories and in real life. I have seen how it is when someone you love so much dies away so suddenly. But that could not compare to this. I was paralysed for a whole night. The next day I remembered everything I had done, everything that I have mentioned in my earlier posts and I cried bitterly banging my fists on the desk and my head on the wall. I have never wept and cried like that for a very long time. That was the first time I repented. Finally I got up and told myself to let the past go and look to the future and atleast not repay the Lord like that for all his mercy from now on.

I got up, feeling like a different person. A new fire had awoken inside me and I was feeling incredible. This time I had more than enough to stamp the brakes forever. The last misconception had fallen by the force of Hadai dasa prabhu's words. I now felt a fire of determination that I should reach the Lord and his devotees at any cost. It was like making a very brave decision like walking into a battlefield with the confidence that I will survive all that is thrown at me. The feeling lasted for a few seconds, and then it went. At last I felt as though a crushing weight of a million tonnes had been lifted of me. I was peaceful. The mantrarajas Nityananda and Gauranga had done it! Just as they promised, whoever chants once will eventually be delivered! I understood their power and could only fall before the Naama prabhu's feet.

The Lord insipired Hadai dasa prabhu and told him what to say. And he told us. So it was the Lord who spoke to me, to the three of us. The Lord actually spoke to us through his devotee. Hadai dasa prabhu himself had never used such strong language with us ever. It was Lord Nityananda and Gauranga and I can see them behind this whole orchestration. To think that the Lord spoke those words to us sends a shiver down my spine. Really I don't know what to say.

When I think of how merciful the devotees of the Lord like Swamiji and Hadai dasa prabhu must be in order to forgive us for sins like this even before it was done, I am overwhelmed and I understand their greatness. How small and insignificant we are compared to those great devotees! It was very humbling and I felt very fortunate to have been able to meet such devotees despite my sinful and condemned position.

Then the next day I spoke to Hadai dasa prabhu again and before him I took a vow, that I will NEVER indulge in this vile act of masturbation again, even at the cost of my life, even if it maintaining that vow becomes the very last thing I do!! I know that it is very daring to make such a strong decision, but I have faith in the mercy of the Lord, His names and his devotees and that gives me the confidence to try to keep up such a vow. I have no qualification, but if I can just grab their feet firmly without letting go I know I am safe.

So with this I come to the end of narrating my experiences with illicit sex in the form of masturbation and how the names of the Lord and his devotees saved me and gave me one more chance to come out of it. For all the drama and trauma involved, the story had a happy ending and I pray to all of you that it stays that way.Our acaryas never compromised with illicit sex. For them it was 0 and only ZERO! They set the standard and we cannot aim for any lower standard than that.

The Lord and his devotees have done so much, so much for us. They saved my life from heading straight to hell and gave me the Nityananda and Gauranga mantrarajas and the Hare Krishna mahamantra. They opened my eyes to the truth and gave me a new life. They showed so much mercy to a useless soul like me which cannot be repaid in an infinity of births. My real position is to be their servant, servant of the devotees. They did so much for all of us....and I will not let them down anymore!

Thanking you for your patience and your mercy,

Aspiring to become a humble servant of the Vaisnavas and the Lord,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

       I am continuing from where I stopped earlier. Forgive me for having prolonged the matter so far. But I want to address the real problem that the youth is facing now. It is very involved and each person's case has its own way of treating it. Nevertheless I have described many things common to all of us and I now get straight to the point of how this problem finally found a solution.

       After meeting all of you, I started chanting the mantrarajas. There was a phenomenal difference. Atleast my sanity was still there when I was attacked by lust, so I could stop it. I was a crooked person though, and still I couldn't stop myself just yet. Whenever I was attacked by lust, I suffered from a parallel attack of Compulsion and I would repeat the thoughts over and over and I would agitate myself. At that point all my sanity and knowledge and understanding and all that advice would be forgotten and I would fall down again. But this time I could get up with somewhat stronger resolve.

       Within a very few days, I started noticing masturbation as more of an agitation and violence rather than a pleasure seeking method. After that I could no longer find that agitation any pleasing. I was getting disgusted and thought that it was ruining my peace of mind, which it was. To be frank, I was feeling very bored and fed up while masturbating and I wanted some real happiness. My compulsive problem was making it a lot harder to quit than normal cases. This is the problem when it becomes a habit. The emotional attachement is strong. It required something really big, like a gut wrenching heart attack of a shock. Something that broke the emotional attachment to women. Something extreme which would be so strong that it could override the sexual impulse.

       When I first mentioned the problem to Hadai Nityananda dasa prabhu, I found he was far more open and willing to address it with love and care, more open than I ever was. He would tell me that its all forgiven now that I chanted. He would tell me to read the naam realisations and how the incredible bliss that comes from chanting would make all that lust worth spitting on. I read and listened with astonishment as he was a practical example of what I had seen so far only in paper. I couldn't believe my good fortune, but I was actually seeing the power of devotion right before me and I was convinced.

         I started looking at what I had done? What was I after? Nothing! I was just wasting my time.  Basically this is related to weak decision making. You know, when I was a kid, I had a habit of continuously sucking my thumb whenever I was alone. Some psychologists would say that is because of some kind of subconscious feeling of insecurity. I used to do it till I was around 8. I wanted to let go because it was really a stupid thing to keep up, but I couldn't because I never actually made the decision to quit for a while. Then one day I just told myself, "I'll stop this." And I just stopped and went to sleep. Didn't give it a second thought. So I got rid of that habit permanently.

     In the case of many disgusting unclean habits like masturbation, I see that whenever a lust attack comes, we just accept it saying, "It's ok...." which is tantamount to surrender to it instead of tolerating. The senses are always agitated by various things at a materialistically contaminated stage. But I see that there is really no reason for a mere feeling to get complete control over my senses when I think about it logically when sane. The reason I surrender to lust is because I want to and I think it is ok, it will not affect chanting, etc.... As they say, one who doesn't want to take any initiative has all the excuses, so there are many excuses. But to what use do these things come to?

    When I look at it calmly, I don't even see whether there is any pleasure in this at all. In the beginning when the senses are agitated, I get a very nervous feeling of excitement with that stomach wrenching thrill, (which is not actually happiness, only nervousness) as though some great happiness of unimaginable quality and quantity is on its way and I am being held in suspense for that great pleasure. At that time if I accept this feeling, believing it foolishly, thus causing all kinds of lusty thoughts to come in my mind. All imagination. Even this is not at all happy, its only a strange feeling of tension and suspense. Finally when this thing reaches the end, what happens? I don't even feel slightly happy. As a matter of fact my emotions go from extreme suspense, to fear, to a shocking feeling of being jolted back to reality (like a nervous attack, not at all pleasant), then to boredom after that 'high' feeling subsides, to tiredness, then a feeling of staleness and laziness. After that comes the most disgusting feeling of all.

   Some people say that there is a feeling of great happiness when discharging semen, but in my experience it is just because they are too tense and they only mistake their suspense feeling for happiness happy. Actually looking with a cool head, that feeling is not at all different from that feeling one gets while going to the toilet and passing urine and stool -- that disgusting feeling of uncleaness, perhaps worse because we are not in a bathroom, but passing urine and stool in bed like people do at the time of death. What's worse is that it feels as if I have passed urine in bed and now I'm swimming and lying in it! Yaaaaaaaargh..! Echk!!! This is happiness? There is nothing more disgusting than this!!

   The feeling of unclean is so much that I feel as though I have completely spent all my energy and I am feeling as though my brain has stopped working. I feel like taking a bath and even after that I don't feel ok. It feels like being in a dead body. Chanting falls exponentially, however much we deny it to be -- zero quality. My brain doesn't seem to work. I don't get sleep till late night and so waking up early is difficult. Not only that, materially all our will power, concentration and strength is gone and its as if our nerves have become weak. System crash.

   I am saying this because for a few days I have tolerated the agitation and I can tell the difference between then and now. I have struggled with this habit for more than 4 years and I can tell that I have really made myself into a material and spiritual wreck because of it.

You see, I bought the Brahmacharya in Krishna Consciousness book of Shrila Prabhupada's teachings about Brahmacharya and I wake up only after reading it properly. It sort of woke my brain up to what I had always felt I was doing wrong, but could not make that feeling concrete and real. The mantrarajas mercy is not an excuse for committing offense. Swamiji said in his Bhagavatam that if I think like that do that, I'll soon stop chanting and only be committing only offenses!! That feeling makes it so addictive to only commit offenses -- finished.

   So I tried to stop. It worked for a while, but then a new problem came. Sometimes when the agitation was strong, I would relent by telling myself, "Ok! I'll satisfy the urge for a while....but if they are becoming so agitated that I am in high danger of spilling out semen, I'll stop." Call this withdrawal symptoms or anything else, I call it with my own term, half-lust. This half lust is even more dangerous as we want to stop half-way through, but the moment we give even 1% or 0.5% way for lust, then there is no chance of stopping at 50%. Sometimes I saw that I could wake up in time and stop the agitation, but what would happen is that when I was sleeping, this agitation would start again from where it left off and complete its full course when my rational mind was essentially 'switched off'.

   So half lust, quarter lust, 1% lust, or 0.0001% lust -- lust is lust. Making it habitual is like opening the door to it. But even if we give one atom of space, it will make way soon and force us to occupy the door. Like the camel which sneaked into its owners tent. At first he gave only enough room for its head, but it used that room to barge in with so much force that the owner had to give more and more room. Eventually he had to give so much room that he eventually left the tent and had to stand in the hot sun! So in the lust matter its either zero or 100%, nothing in between. Knowing very well that one can end up in hellish planets where we have to get molten iron poured into our throat while being beaten with whips and being made to embrace molten metal, I'd do well to chose zero. The pain approach.

    I had improved, but still the problem of me not considering masturbation as a sin remained, which caused further setbacks. That was promptly elimated in a very shocking stomach wrenching conversation with Hadai dasa prabhu and my friends.

     (To be continued....)

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas.

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

       In this post I would like to describe to you how I suffered from the problem of masturbation and how I struggled with trying to quit the habit.

       I have to really dredge my memory for this, but I am going back a very long way into my past. My problem with lust is very deep rooted and I have detected it existing since my childhood. The lust was lurking, though it was inactive at that time. I was the only child and both my parents were working. In their absence only the TV or the PC or the books. Naturally I came across so many cartoons, so many movies and many things which slowly agitated my senses over a period of years without anyone noticing anything. Although whatever I watched appeared to be very benign and harmless and not related to sex, still it conditioned my mind and made my will extremely weak. Its true effect was only known by the time I stepped into adolescence.

       By the time I was a teenager, I slowly began to feel the pangs of lust as I described earlier. At around this time many of my peers began to explore the realm of lust. Although I was very cautious to be decent in all ways, I was also being slowly influenced by these things. At this time I read many novels which spoke of mundane love and which slowly approached openly sexual content. This was true with the movies as well. Eventually I started becoming very agitated and started having bad dreams. And following the sequence of events, very soon I had started masturbating. Eventually it became a bad habit that persisted with me like some sort of curse.

        At the time I was not aware of what I was doing. I had no religious interest then. I come from a traditional orthodox and religious brahmin family and so out of fear of being severely chastised I never spoke to anyone about this. That was my undoing. In all my life it is one of the biggest mistakes I made, not telling someone that this was a problem. I let that problem grow to huge proportions. It would appear as though that agitation was going to give me great happiness and I was excitedly waiting for the happiness to come. But it would never come and I would be left physically tired and mentally unclean, having made my problem worse with every attempt.

        Lust is a weird thing. It hangs a lure before you as if its unlimited happiness, but when we try for it, we seem to be advancing towards that, which makes us more agitated. Then suddenly its all gone and we see that happiness is now out of grasp and far away. Yet it seemed as if we missed it only by a whisker, so we try again to get it, thinking, "This time I will get it." Again maya pulls the lure before we can get it and again we notice its gone farther away. The whole cycle repeats.

         Within my conscience I knew that what I was doing was very wrong, yet I would convince myself, "Everyone does it. So what's wrong?" I will share one thing with you that the problem became so bad that I started having intrusive thoughts. Any person of opposite sex I saw seemed to bring lusty thoughts in my head. At this point I had actually started suffering from symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), but I didn't know it. But by now I was really scared that this was going to head for something. I was now living in fear. That led to anxiety. My conscience told me to stop. But I couldn't. It didn't seem to serious. I was now scared I may become addicted to pornography and other things.

         By this point I had already been reading Shrila Prabhupada's books for more than a year and so I was aware of what I was doing. What woke me up was a line. "Wasting semen is also illicit sex." So after seeing how dangerous lust was, I got the tiniest bit of desire to quit. I would try to control myself for a few days, but then I would succumb to the urge simply because I didn't think it was wrong. Basically my problem was that if any thought came to my head it would go into an endless loop. If it was a dialogue, I would repeat it even 25 times in my head trying to make it perfect. Those were OCD symptoms. You may go to wikipedia's article and find out more about this.

          If the thought happened to be a sexual thought, the endless loop would  first slowly then midly, then strongly agitate me and force me to masturbate again. If the thought had just come and gone, it would not have done anything. But I let it repeat and make things worse. All of you who have problems with controlling the mind might have experienced compulsive symptoms like this. 

          At this point I started chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. All went well for a while and I was really making a bit of headway and just when I felt I was going to be peaceful, I became too lax. By becoming too lax, I considered masturbation to be harmless and therefore not wrong. And so I fell down. Again and again I would try, but again and again I would fall. As long as one thinks that there is no wrong in committing sin, one won't feel like giving it up. However, the acaryas instructions were ringing in my head and now I was caught in between, unable to fully say No to lust and being unable to say a full yes to bhakti and chanting.  Offenses in the maha-mantra kept its results far away and it was not working well.

          Then I came to IIT, where the solitary life in the hostel was maya's open ground for all types of wayward behaviour. At home I could restrain myself out of fear of others. But now I ran a huge risk that I could become uncontrollable and go mad. I didn't fall down that far, but I was internally full of anxiety. But there came the saving grace of the Lord in the form of Hadai Nityananda dasa prabhu, to whom I owe my life and all. The help he gave me cannot be described with millions of words.

           The help he gave combined with all the knowledge I had read in the books woke me up to what sex really is. There's no pleasure and so no use in seeking it. However, this didn't prove to be strong enough. But what happened next was really incredible. I will describe that in the next post.

       (To be continued......)

Hoping to conquer lust,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

     Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Swami Gaurangapada!

All glories to our Guru Parampara!

Please accept my respectful obeisances!

        In the following series of threads I will post up all my experiences related with illicit sex and the problem of masturbation faced by the younger generation and its disastrous effects on spiritual progress, how I was finally made aware of the huge magnitude of sin I had committed and how I have vowed to stop these things. I request your grace on this most sinfull and mad soul so that he becomes elegible for proper devotional service.

        Being a person born and living in a country like India, I will first start by saying that talking about one's problems with sex, particularly with adolescents, is something that is still almost like taboo and most people are highly reluctant to talk about it. It is a generally perceived notion that such talks concerning these 'delicate' matters will destroy one's decency and sattvic spirit and make one very vulgar and corrode all morality. Like in my case, my parents simply gave me hints like, "You know such attractive feelings can come at your age....", but basically that's just a lead and the rest is, "Figure it out by yourself." As a matter of fact hearing a word related to these things faced by teenagers is enough to make a person lose their appetite. It seems to have a highly disturbing effect. For this reason, it is expected that people get to know these things from their peers or just by experience.

         What is not realised though is that in the present generation, atleast within my experience, things have gone so bad that I was severely mocked for having told a classmate that I wanted to quit masturbation. But people are not willing to talk openly about this, and so these problems never come out into the open. They lurk in the shadows and grow subtly, eventually what we have is an entire genereation of people obsessed by lustful passions (which have now become accepted as one's birthright). When I first entered high school, lust related problems were something only in colleges. But before I left high school, I saw my juniors falling victim to lust and illicit sex in various forms.

         What is responsible? TV, movies, the media, and a lot of exposure. These days the world is increasingly advocating that seeking pleasure through sex is one's birthright. For this reason, youngsters have begun to revolt agains the idea of abstinence and celibacy. Let me point out that a woman has the right to divorce her husband if he does not satisfy her desire for lust or vice versa -- that is one of the clauses in the divorce laws.

          Even children are exposed to these things in a wrong manner and this influences their growth when they step into adolescence. In the beginning it starts out by experiencing attraction to the opposite sex by sight. Any form of association with the opposite sex in the wrong way creates lustful agitation and excitement. This in turn starts the agitation. Finally when the lusty feelings become very strong, they start showing up in dreams. These wet dreams lead to nocturnal emissions. Eventually the teenager starts accepting these things as normal. As the lust increases, soon teenagers start thinking that it is now a necessity to satisfy the agitation as soon as it arises. Therefore they resort to artificially agitating them and passing out the vital seminal fluid which is so important for the body. This is what is called masturbation and this is how it develops. It starts accidentally and then becomes voluntary, then habitual.

          Lust is something that is never satisfied. Every single act of lust, whether it be thinking or passing semen, causes it to grow tremendously and soon the sexual urges lead teenageers to watch pornography or when there is association with the opposite sex, it can lead to pre-martial sexual affairs and the like. In very bad cases, things go so far as to become incest. Otherwise, these days homosexuality has become very common with people campaigining for it to be legalised. If sex pleasure is accepted as right, why should there be any restriction on how to satisfy the sex desire is what people ask these days.

          When things reach their ultimate climax, one may even become agitated by animals or even worse, even dead bodies! It is known as necrophilia and I have heard of one particular teenager who was put in the mental hospital for this type of tendency.

           Therefore when we talk about giving advice to the youth and the students, we see that we are faced to deal with issues like these which an earlier generation could not have even imagined. I am a college student and I am daily exposed to such things in and out. Everyone is obsessed with sex and looking at this, I think the youth need much more help for their own spiritual benefit than what anyone could have estimated.

           So in my next post, I will describe my own horrible experiences in this matter. I hope you devotees will not view me as being vulgar as I have absolutely no intent to patronise illicit sex in any form by the use of blunt language. Rather I intend to put a stop to this. Things are so serious that these problems have to be faced head on and smashed to the ground. Treating them delicately by hiding them in the shadows and just giving hints alone will not be enough to solve the problem. The problem has to be exposed for a correct diagnosis. And when it is exposed, the issues turn out to be far more serious than what one thinks.

           Thank you very much for being so kind and patient as to read this article,

In the service of the devotees in destroying our mundane lust,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

A friends slideshow of Janmasthami in Melbourne

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Dear Swami Gaurangapada and assembled devotees,

please accept my simple obiesances.

Here is a beautiful slideshow presentation of Janmasthami in Melbourne Australia 2008. Sri Sri Gaura-Nitaai in it were installed by Srila Prabhupada in 1975. They are some of the finest deities of this type in the world.

click here

aspiring service...Nava.

Comment on this Post

Nitaai Gaura's glories are very rare in this material world

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

We are in one of the most fortunate Kaliyugs. Lord Nityananda and Lord Gauraanga descend once in 1000 Kaliyugs. ( i.e 1000*4320000 years). Since Kaliyug is a part of the day of Lord Brahma, considering His equal nights also comes upto 2000*4320000=8,640,000,000 years.

Thus they descend once in 864 crore years. We are very fortunate to take their Holy Names and must try out best to give these merciful names to the entire world.

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Query from Nityananda Gauraanga Naam book

Dear Swamiji and Devotees,

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

I came across two queries while reading the book Nityananda Gauraanga Naam and would be very grateful for someone to help me with the same.

1- It says that the acharyas have directly descended from the spiritual world so we must not imitate them.

Here it says the acharyas descended directly from the spiritual world. Does this mean that Bhaktivinod Thankur, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and Shrila Prabhupada all had descended directly from the spiritual world ?

2- It also says that ' if the sadhaka who is full of offenses, gives up his sense of false pride of thinking himself on the perfected stage, and thus approaches the Names of the two Jagadgurus Lords Nityananda and Gauranga, worships Them and accepts Their instructions, Their Pastimes and Their devotees, They will quickly deliver him from all offenses and reward him with the realization of Their own forms (svarupas) of Svayam-Rupa (Lord Gauranga) and Svayam-Prakasa (Lord Nityananda). Then the soul realizes one own constitutional position in relation with the two Lords and thus achieves the supreme perfection.'

Here it says that They reward us with the realization of their own forms. Can someone please explain this in more detail. I am not being able to understand this.

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Soma the Deity of the Mind

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Dandavats and obeissances.

Dear Swami Gaurangapada,

To me it is amazing how thoroughly people’s bodies and minds are controlled by planetary forces. I was wondering just how much one can get away from these planetary influences if one takes to devotional service? I am assuming that the more one is sincere and receives mercy from pure Vaisnvas, the more the negative aspects of these influences cease to act. Can someone who has a somewhat bleak and overall inauspicious astrological birth chart still override that by devotional service to the degree that he pleases the Lord and the Vaisnavas? Maybe someone isn’t supposed to live long as per his birth chart, with the Lord’s help can he live to be 120, or is there always some inherent truth in the astrological birth chart of a soul?

These planetary effects are extremely strong and implement our karma, God is the only one strong enough to nullify their effects for us if he so chooses, but would he completely alter things and why wouldn’t that be reflected in one’s chart when one is born since the Lord ultimately knows what is going to happen? Let's say per one's birth reading, one is predicted to be reborn as a human being, can he take to devotional service and go to the spiritual world immediately after his death?

Sorry for so many questions.

Sincerely

Jagannatha Gauranga dasa

Comment on this Post

Vedanta and Material Science

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

    Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Swami Gaurangapada!

All glories to our Guru Parampara!

Please accept my respectful obeisances!

        I would personally like to thank the author of this translation for his commendable job in maintaing to the real, purely devotional spirit of the Govinda Bhashya in the translation of its verse and purports and for having taken up a large undertaking so as to translate a commentary on the Vedanta.

       This is the first time that a complete edition of the Govinda Bhashya translation is available online and in paperback. This has fulfilled one of my long term desires, that is to see the Govinda Bhashya completely translated and published so that its glories are spread all over the world.

       Long back I had posted my own realisations on the Govinda Bhashya. I have read the translation and I have realised that Vedanta Sutra is completely not different from Bhagavad Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam. We can say with full confidence that Lord Krishna spoke the Vedanta Sutra to Arjuna personally through the Bhagavad Gita. The commentary is so natural and free flowing that it makes perfect sense of the highest and most esoteric and one of the perhaps least understood portion of the Vedic tree of knowledge -- the Vedanta.

        The Govinda Bhashya is so simple that anyone who can read English and understand it can, at the very least, understand that the Vedanta is actually purely devotional without any trace of Mayavada or any other deviant and duplicitious doctrines. Reading is the surface part of it I know, but that's enough to convince anyone. This is a commentary spoken by the Lord Himself -- so who can stand before it?

        That said, I would also like to express a tinge of dissatisfaction with the introduction to the book. In my opinion if this book has to be read by devotees and added to Nitaai Veda, then the introductory part regarding the comparison of Vedanta to Quantum Mechanics must be completely avoided. I have checked up the book and found the translations of the commentary to be perfectly in accordance with devotional conclusions. But the comparisons of Vedanta to modern science is an issue that really bites and I think devotees would do well to skip those portions in the book.

        So devotees may be satisfied with reading the translations, but not the other portions comparing Vedanta to material science. The Vedanta Sutra was actually compared to the modern day theory of quantum mechanics and the following terminology was used which I personally consider to be tinged with some amount of Mayavada philosophy.The scientific translations of Vedanta terms as given in the introduction fall far short of the actual standard and are actually way off the mark in many cases.     

        And also in the following lines :

The great value of Vedānta philosophy is that it also posits an immanent, unobservable Absolute Reality—Brahman—but also asserts that it is possible to establish a channel of communication with Brahman. Vedānta refers to ancient histories, the Purāṇas, that recount occasions when Brahman chose to appear as a person, the better to communicate with humans. These personifications of Brahman are communication terminals called avatāras that make it possible to communicate with Brahman directly, even today. A vast assortment of mental disciplines, collectively known as yoga (linking) details the practice of transcendental communication with the immanent Brahman, or the Universal Quantum Wave Function.

Someone may object, “Come now. How is it possible to communicate with the Universal Quantum Wave Function? Even if it were possible, certainly some scientists would have noticed by now.” I reply: “We are constantly immersed in, and penetrated by, the Universal Quantum Wave Function. Can a fish communicate with the ocean? A better question might be to ask, ‘How is it possible that anyone could avoid communication with the Universal Quantum Wave Function?’ ”

        Although the modern day scientifically educated people may need to relate Vedanta with their scientific background in order to atleast reach the preliminary stage of developing faith in it, still in a fully devotional literature like the Govinda Bhashya, it wouldn't be proper to include statements like this in the introduction. I will just explain as far as my limited capacity allows. Already this post has reached a large length, I just request the reader for his patience and his forgiveness for having taken him through such an elaborate affair.

         Other than the problem of consciousness which is what the Quantum Wave Function lacks, there are many more problems in that sort of idea that make a comparison of the Ultimate Wavefunction to the Lord very inappropriate.

    * The scientific translation of the word avatara as personification of the Absolute implies that the Absolute truth is an impersonal object in its ultimate sense. Especially when words like "...Universal Quantum Wave Function to facilitate communication with humans." are used. The Govinda Bhashya clearly established the Absolute Truth to be the Personal Godhead. So where is the question of personification?  Actually the word avatara means 'descending' and is used to describe the absolute Truth descending to the material world unchanged and in His orignal nature and personal form (svarupa).
      
    * The word Bhagavan is defined by the scientist as personality of Brahman. "The personal form of Brahman preferred by the practicing Vedantist to communicate with, and influence the decoherence of, the Universal Quantum Wave Function". Excuse me, but no follower of Bhagavan has any such goal as to decode something so abstract and impersonal as a wave function, which is only the subtle form of this material creation.
      
    * Modern day Quantum Mechanics goes into very subtle levels the material creation that are extremely abstract concepts and essentially impersonal. The concept of the original wave function is itself impersonal and inconceivable by any language other than the language of mathematics used in Quantum calculations. The statement implies that just as the subtler material reality transforms to form the gross reality conceivable to the intelligence, the Absolute truth also transforms or accepts some forms or takes up some form and personality in order to communicate with humans. This is really 100% Mayavada. The Supreme Lord doesn't transform for anything. He can communicate as he is.
      
    * The Supreme Lord is sat-chit-ananda and he is eternal, full of knowledge, and infinite bliss and the six types of opulences. The Quantum Wave function is completely inadequate to express this extremely concrete and personal nature of the Absolute truth.
      
    * That which is described as the Universal Quantum Wave Function can only AT BEST, go up to the level of the subtler form of material existence known as the pradhana. I mean the quantum wave function is very subtle, but its just a description of pradhana at best. If one wants to know why, I say that just as Quantum Mechanics describes the material world as a gross manifestation of the Universal wavefunction which progresses from subtle and abstract levels to concrete and gross levels encountered in macroscopic reality is exactly the same thing which is mentioned in scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam as the transformation of the material creation from the subtle and unmanifest state of pradhana to the gross physical universe.
    * One can see the description of pradhana in Srimad Bhagavatam : SB 12.4.20-21: In the unmanifest stage of material nature, called pradhana, there is no expression of words, no mind and no manifestation of the subtle elements beginning from the mahat, nor are there the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. There is no life air or intelligence, nor any senses or demigods. There is no definite arrangement of planetary systems, nor are there present the different stages of consciousness -- sleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. There is no ether, water, earth, air, fire or sun. The situation is just like that of complete sleep, or of voidness. Indeed, it is indescribable. Authorities in spiritual science explain, however, that since pradhana is the original substance, it is the actual basis of material creation.  (Do we see the similarity now?)
      
    * Modern Day Quantum theory does not state that the universe came from a void, but from a fundamental energy state called the vacuum. The vacuum is essentially dynamic energy. Quantum fluctuations within the vacuum disturb its equilibrium state, leading to a transformation of the vacuum into various forms and are responsible for creation of the fabric of space-time. In other words, the quantum theory accepts energy fluctuations within vacuum as the source of the creation of the universe.  Different types of fluctuations produce different universes with different forms of existence. In this way the quantum theory accepts our universe as one originating from an infinity of big bangs in the priemeval vacuum which can lead to an infinite number of outcomes. According to the anthropic Principle, one of these outcomes consists of the right combination of universal factors making life possible.

    * In other words modern science as we know it accepts the orignal unmanifest material energy in the form of pradhana as the original creator, if such a word could be used. Comparing the Absolute Truth to the Wave function is only equating the Lord with this unmanifest and most subtle form of pradhana and identifies the Lord as the material energy. However this is the very same idea that is spoken by the atheist sankhya philosophers, who hold pradhana as the ultimate cause of everything.
      
    * The theories of modern science have become increasingly speculative in nature and the theory of parallel universes generated by events is only one such example. In order for such theories to be viable, there must be no acceptance of the individual soul or the Supreme Lord or else these speculative pieces of imagination will just fall apart.
      
    * Thus modern science is nothing but a classic example of old wine in a new bottle. It is the second manifestation of the sankhya philosophy. In trying to establish Vedanta and modern science as having described the same reality in different ways and thus trying to find parallels between the two, the so-called parallels that can be drawn between Vedanta and Quantum Mechanics, is only trying to find a way to make Vedanta compatible with the theories of sankhya. Bringing down the Absolute Reality to the Level of pradhana has already been extensively refuted in the Govinda Bhashya itself.

      Therefore, from our purely devotional point of view the comparison of Vedanta to Quantum Mechanics is untenable and only culminates in Mayavada impersonalism. The materialistic endeavour can never possibly reach the transcendental Supreme Lord.

       For a student of His Divine Grace Srila A.C.Bhaktivedanta, it would be in accordance if the transcendental literature of the Vedanta is described purely according to the spiritual truth as revealed by the guru parampara. I personally find it unnecessary to make all these scientific arguments and to compare the Vedanta to modern day sankhya philosophy. The original spritual meaning is full of spiritual potency and one has to just surrender to that potency to see it work miracles where other approaches can fail. Other modern translations of Bhagavad Gita by impersonalists, scholars and scientists had not produced a singledevotee of Krishna, but Prabhupada's commentary is continuously making new devotees daily.

        I have endeavoured with whatever little capacity I have to give what I feel is a proper review of the materialistically scientific approach to spiritual science regarding the Vedanta. For us, our approach is through the descending process of the parampara whereas the approach of the modern scientists is the ascending process which is imperfect. The modern scientific theories are fully refuted by Baladeva Vidyabhushana in the Govinda Bhashya and so it wouldn't be fair to compare the Vedanta to something material like Quantum science.

       I hope that this article is of some use to all those who want to read the Govinda Bhashya and understand the purely devotional conclusions in the Vedanta which are elaborated in the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. If anyone has been offended by this, I beg your forgiveness. But I think some light must be shed on this matter as there is a very thin line of difference between the subtlest levels of material philosophy and the extremely compressed, but all-spiritual and transcendental meanings in the Vedic literatures such as the Vedanta Sutra.

          Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Trying to be a humble servant of the Vaisnavas and the Lord,

Srinath

Comment on this Post

Intersting quote from the book Nityananda Gauraanga Naam

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

Very interesting quote I came across while reading the book Nityananda Gauraanga Naam which is as follows-

In the Amrita Pravaha Bhashya to the introduction of Chaitanya-Charitamrita (Cc) Adi-lila Chapter 8, Shrila Bhaktivinoda writes:

ihAte bujhite haibe ye, naamparAdhIra sAttvika vikArAdi kevala chalamAtra | yini akapaTe Chaitanya-nityAnandera naam laIyA Ananda prakAza karena, prabhudvaya tAGhAra hRdayake sAkSAt niraparAdha karena |

"We should factually understand that the ecsatic symptoms manifested by an offensive chanter of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is simply a show or cheating. The Two Lords Nityananda and Gauranga make the heart of only that person pure and free of offenses who chant the Names of Nityananda and Gauranga and manifest great joy in doing it."

Sincerely,

Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Do we actually get liberation immediately after death ?

Dear Swamiji and Devotees,

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

In the purport of Srimad Bhagavatam of Canto 10, chapter 1, text 23 the  following has been stated-

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gita (4.9) the Lord says, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mameti:  after giving up the material body, the devotee of the Lord returns home, back to  Godhead. This means that the devotee is first transferred to the particular  universe where the Lord is at that time staying to exhibit His pastimes. There  are innumerable universes, and the Lord is appearing in one of these universes  at every moment. Therefore His pastimes are called nitya-lila, eternal pastimes.  The Lord's appearance as a child in the house of Devaki takes place continuously  in one universe after another. Therefore, the devotee is first transferred to  that particular universe where the pastimes of the Lord are
current. As  stated in Bhagavad-gita, even if a devotee does not complete the course of  devotional service, he enjoys the happiness of the heavenly planets, where the  most pious people dwell, and then takes birth in the house of a suci or sriman,  a pious brahmana or a wealthy vaisya (sucinam srimatam gehe yogabhrasto  'bhijayate). Thus a pure devotee, even if unable to execute devotional service  completely, is transferred to the upper planetary system, where pious people  reside. From there, if his devotional service is complete, such a devotee
is  transferred to the place where the Lord's pastimes are going on. Herein it is  said, sambhavantu sura-striyah. Sura-stri, the women of the heavenly planets,  were thus ordered to appear in the Yadu dynasty in Vrndavana to enrich the  pastimes of Lord Krsna. These sura-stri, when further trained to live with  Krsna, would be transferred to the original Goloka Vrndavana. During Lord  Krsna's pastimes within this world, the sura-stri were to appear in different  ways in different families to give pleasure to the Lord, just so that they would  be fully trained before going to the eternal Goloka Vrndavana. With the  association of Lord Krsna, either at Dvaraka-puri, Mathura-puri or Vrndavana,  they would certainly return home, back to Godhead. Among the sura-stri, the  women of the heavenly planets, there are many devotees, such as the mother of  the Upendra incarnation of Krsna. It was such devoted women who were called for  in this connection.

Here it has been stated that after death a person is first transfered to another material planet where Lord Krishna's past times are going on before he can go to Goloka Vrindavan. Does this mean that we don't get liberation immediately after death and we first have to go to the material world where Lord Krishna's past times are going on ? Similarly does this also mean that after death we don't immediately goto Goloka Navadvipa as we first might have to go to a material planet where Lord Nitaai and Lord Gaura's pasttimes are going on ? It also been stated that we directly don't go to the spiritual planet because our training for serving the supreme Lord is yet not over and we have to become more perfect in the Lord's association in the material world.

Sincerely,
Mihir.

 

Comment on this Post

Re: Science question

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Dear Gurudeva and assembled devotees please accept my simple obiesances.

Thank you so much for this great video, it clears so many misunderstandings one may have, and replaces that with a much broader appreciation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. I enjoyed this video alot, very nurturing for faith. Jaya Sri Krsna!

Nava.

Comment on this Post

Śrī Vedānta-sūtra Complete in English

Hare Kṛṣṇa Prabhus!It is my pleasure to announce the publication, online and in paperback, of the complete Vedānta-sūtra in English with the theistic commentary of Baladeva Vidyābhūsana. You can find out all about it or read it online here:http://esotericteaching.org/joomla/seminars/vedic-scriptures/theistic-vedanta

Comment on this Post

Re: Descriptions of Ghosts

Dear Swamiji,

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

I feel so good to hear that the mantrarajas alone help to drive away ghosts. I personally also have so much of faith in them that is the reason I have made myself completely dependent on them. Its good to know that Lord Nitaai and Lord Gaura are so kind that they also liberate the ghosts. I am very happy to have made them my worshipable Lords.

Nityananda ! Gauraanga ! Hare Krishna !

Sincerely,
Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Re: Soma the Deity of the Mind

Dear Hadai, This is a good question. The planets travelling in twelve zodiac signs have affect on the following:
The Sun has effect on - Soul (Aatma)
The Moon has effects on - Mind (Mana)
The Mars has effects on - Patience (Dhairya)
The Mercury has effects on - Voice (Vaani)
The Jupiter has effects on - Reasoning (Viveka)
The Venus has effect on - Sperms (Virya)
The Saturn has effect on - Sensitivity (Samvedana)

The motion of the heavenly bodies is through a distinct and well-marked path in the sky which contains the twelve zodiac signs. These twelve zodiac signs of the solar system are established in the twelve parts of our body. They are as follows:

Forehead - Aries (Mesh)
Mouth - Taurus (Vrishabh)
Chest area - Gemini (Mithun)
Heart - Cancer (Karka)
Stomach - Leo (Simha)
Waist - Virgo (Kanya)
Bladder - Libra (Tula)
Sex organ - Scorpio (Vrishchik)
Thighs - Sagittarius (Dhanu)
Knees - Capricorn (Makara)
Calf of leg - Aquarius (Kumbha)
Feet - Pisces (Meena)

This implies that, the position of the seven planets and the twelve Zodiac signs are well established within our body. The above mentioned organs and parts of the body are influenced by the planets of the solar system and their movement. So our body can be said to be a mini solar system of it's own.

Daaso'smi, BRS Swami Gaurangapada.

Comment on this Post

Re: Science question

Dear Jagannatha Gauranga dasa, Here is a video which explains some of these truths nicely. The Mysteries of the Sacred Universe book and cd-rom by Sadaputa dasa are a good source of information about this. It is available of Krishna.com here and on Amazon book here and cd here. The Vedic Cosmography book can be read here. Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna!




Daaso'smi, BRS Swami Gaurangapada.

Comment on this Post

Re: Vaisnava Reminder Calendar - new update available

Thanks Nava. I think they are also working on a new version of GCal (beta is released) which is based on the Gaudiya Math standard of fixed muhurtas which should be quite close to accuracy and has many features. It is available for free download from KrishnaDays.com after registration. If someone can download it, please send it to me.

Daaso'smi, BRS Swami Gaurangapada.

Comment on this Post

Re: Descriptions of Ghosts

Certainly Mihir. Nityaananda Gauraanga Naama will not only drive away the ghosts but They will free the souls who are present in those ghost bodies if Nitaai Gaura Naama are somehow heard by the ghosts when They are sincerely chanted with devotion by a devotee. Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna!

Daaso'smi, BRS Swami Gaurangapada.

Comment on this Post

Advice for the Youth and Students

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!Dear Swamiji and devotees, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.I like to speak a few open-hearted words about the urge for masturbation under brahmacharies. This is a problem not much addressed and talked about under devotees and I spoke with quite a lot of aspiring devotees who have discussed this problem privately with me. Following is the extract of some general realizations of the subject.Sex between a man and a woman in order to create a child to be raised as a devotee of Lord Gauranga Krishna is absolutely sacred and beautiful. As a matter in fact Lord Gauranga Krishna says about such a union between a man and a woman: 'I am that sex'. But sex to gratify our lusty desires has nothing to do with this sacred sex and turns out to be a dangerous blockage on our devotional path. Not only brahmacharies struggle with lusty desires; it is a problem experienced by the devotees in all ashramas.When we give in to our lusty desires and have sex without the above described intention we call it 'illicit sex'. Every single time we satisfy our lusty desires it is like fuel on the fire. Gratification of sex desire awakens more sex desire every single time. It is very addictive and as soon as you give into the addiction it becomes harder to stop. It is like alcoholism and drug addiction; you have to stop it altogether because every sip of liquor or taste of the drug bears the tremendous danger of falling back into the addiction with even more force than before.Many have asked me over time how we can get our lusty desires under control. There is no straight answer to this, at least not in general, since every individual needs a personalized approach. Of course when we bath in the ocean of Love for Lord Gaura Krishna lusty sexual desires would not even arise in the mind. Being absorbed 24 hours in the service of the Lord is the safest place to be. The rise of lusty desires comes when we are not engaged in the Lord and somehow we think we are the enjoyer. Everything, the whole creation, is there for the pleasure of Lord Gauranga Krishna.Now let us have a closer look at what those lusty desires actually are and what we are doing when we are giving in to them. I like to talk in particular about masturbation. You will be shocked and you should be! The following is described from a boy�s point of view but can easily be reversed and read in the she-form as well. First let us discuss what they are thinking when they are masturbating. In most cases it is the opposite sex they think of. What kind of person do they think person they physically know. Then the next question is does the person in question approve that you fantasize about her/him when you masturbate? Did you ask her/him? Most answer 'no' and this is very significant because masturbating while fantasizing about a person who does not willingly comply with your act means that you receive the stringent reactions of forcibly molesting her/him. Think about it. There is even a subtle vibration that transmits to the person in question that disturbs her/his normal functioning. Therefore sex models in magazines and films (many men/women fantasize about them) experience so many problems on so many levels.This goes even further. Our constitutional position is that of a servant of Lord Gauranga Krishna. Every living entity is a devotee of the Lord. Also the Lord is living in the hearts of all living entities. He knows everything we do, every breath we take. On this spiritual level of understanding we can easily conclude that masturbation on the opposite sex in our fantasy is nothing else than "molesting, accosting or abusing another person while the Lord is watching you doing it". When you remember this it is impossible to masturbate and your lusty desires are checked instantly. I know it is a terrible graphic but the truth has to be spoken. Most students at this point say that knowing this makes it impossible to masturbate anymore.There is an extra question. When you would know that you would die right after this act, would you avoid having one? 'Yes' is always the answer. Then the ultimate question: would you rather die or know that you are molesting another person while God is watching you?Sometimes things have to be forcefully brought into perspective to be understood on the core level. I apologize when your stomach turned while reading this. Every time when we have illicit sex is fuel on the fire, a terrible fire that keeps us separated from the Lord. It NEVER brings us closer to the Lord and it ALWAYS brings us further away from Lord Gauranga Krishna. Therefore I call upon all the sincere devotees to follow the highest standards of our sampradaya and abstain from illicit sex to have the mind always free to engage in the unlimited nectar of His Holy Names. And when lusty desires arise, call sincerely upon Lord Nityananda and He with His unlimited ocean of bliss will surely respond and all your lusty desires will melt away as snow for the sun instantly.Your servant,Hadai Nityananda dasaNityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Comment on this Post

Soma the Deity of the Mind

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Dear Swamiji and devotees, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.

In Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Sarartha Darsini on the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10, chapter 1, Text 1, he writes about soma the moon god and why soma is mentioned first before surya because Krishna appeared in the soma vamsa. He also writes there that ‘soma is the deity of the mind’.

My question is: how do we picture soma as ‘the deity of the mind?’

Your servant,

Hadai Nityananda dasa

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Comment on this Post

Re: Descriptions of Ghosts

Dear Swamiji and Devotees,

Instead of following all different methods given in vedas to drive away ghosts can we simply chant Nityananda and Gauraanga Naam to drive away ghosts ?

Sincerely,
Mihir.

Comment on this Post

Science question

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Dandavats and obeissances.

Dear Vaisnavas, could you please tell me which Vedic literatures go into detail about the universe and planets in a scientific manner. I know Srimad Bhagavatam does this, but is there any other Vedic literature that goes in great detail? I want to give some Science minds something to look at. Maybe Srimad Bhagavatam would be the best because it describes everything about the universe, tells us how it is created by God, tells us tthat there are innumerable material universes as well as the much larger spiritual universes, it tells us everything basically. Anyway I am not sure I should suggest to non devotees, intellectual thinkers though they are, to read such a spotless literature as Srimad Bhagavatam for they may thing some things mythology?

Sincerely

Jagannatha Gauranga dasa

Comment on this Post

Vaisnava Reminder Calendar - new update available

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

Dear Swami Gaurangapada and assembled devotees,

please accept my simple obiesances.

There is a new update available for this very nice Vaisnava Reminder Calendar Program. Please check the what's new section under download to see the changes in the new edition. Once nice feature now is that it has two options for calculation - Vcal and Gaudiya calculations.

I contacted the maker of this program last year to thank him. If you like the program please do the same, he is very simple nice devotee and would appreciate the encouragement.

Here is the download page: www.vreminder.tk/

aspiring service...Nava.

Comment on this Post

Nitaai Yoga Silverlight Player and Linux

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!

please accept my simple obiesances.

Unfortunately Microsoft Silverlight is not available on mini-pc's such as eeepcc that are running linux. There is one hack that micrsoft is allowing called 'moonlight' but it is beta stage with no codecs built in, it can be set up but is way to complicated for simple users like myself.

To play the Silverlight videos at Nitaai.com and other media types at other websites using Firefox, simply install the 'Media Connectivity Add On' found here:

addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/446

My eeepc runs an older version of Firefox only so an older version of the add-on was necessary. This addon installs an m-player. I have set it up to be the default player for all my media types such as real player media, quick time, windows media, and this silver light. Everything is working fine.

y.s Nava

Comment on this Post

Shri Janmashtami Blessings

Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Shri Krishna! Jaya Shri Radhe!  Jaya Shri Guru Parampara! Today is Shri Janmashtami, the most Holy Appearance Day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna. I hope all of you along with your families, friends etc. will remember Lord Krishna as much possible during the day and night today and receive His divine blessings. Please try to read the supreme glories of the Janmashtami given in the links below:

Krishna the Supreme Absolute Truth

   
• Who is Lord Krishna
   
• Krishna Tattva by Shrila Sarasvati Prabhupada
   
• Shri Shri Radha Krishna Gannodesha Dipika
   
• 64 Qualities of Lord Krishna

Lord Krishna Advent from Bhagavatam

   
• Shrimad Bhagavatam
   
• Brahma Vaivarta Purana
   
• Ananda Vrindavana Champu

Vows, Worship, and Fasting on Shri Janmashtami

   
• Brahma Vaivarta Purana
   
• Hari Bhakti Vilasa
   
• Shri Krishna Janma Vidhi by Shrila Rupa Goswami

Prayers to be chanted on Janmashtami

   
• Lord Krishna 108 Holy Names

Shri Nandotsava Celebrations

   
• Shrimad Bhagavatam
   
• Brahma Vaivarta Purana
     

Daaso'smi, BRS Swami Gaurangapada

Comment on this Post