How to become eternaly happy?

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krsna

How to become eternaly happy?

      Every person want to find happiness in this world. Why? Answer is simple – because our nature is to be eternally happy. We are supposed to be jubilant and life eternal life full of happiness, bliss and knowledge.We are spiritual souls, part and parcels of Supreme Lord, and our nature is described in vedic literature as eternal.
 
Katha upanishad states:

" nityo nityanam chetanas chetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman“

"The one among the many, the one eternal among all eternals, the one conscious among all the conscious, that one is the fulfiller of desires.“

    We are eternal -nitya, that is our nature. Whole this world is running to create eternal place for residence, to make this present situation eternal, to make this body everlasting. But, in this temporary world this is simply wasting of time and energy. If we want to attain that eternal position we must approach to source of eternity and that is Supreme Lord. That eternal Lord is known as Nityananda. Nitya means eternal and ananda means bliss, happiness.

   We are thirst for happiness. We are desperately crying in this world trying to become happy. We are in agony of this material concesness and suffering at every step.Padam padam yad vipadam na tesam...On every step here is danger! But, who wants to live in such environment. Only lunatic will try to make lion-cage his permanent residence.   Where is solution? Only if we accept cooling moon-rays of Lord Nitaaicandra's Holy Name our fire of suffering may be stopped. For us, conditioned and offensive souls only hope and shelter is Lord Nityananda. Perfect souls and sadhana-siddhas may chant Hari-Naam without offenses and relish pastimes of Radha-Krsna in Vrindavana. But for us, fallen and poor children of this iron age, there is no other mean but to chant Lord Nityananda's Holy Name.

If you carefully study Caitanya Caritamrta and other literature about Lord Gauranga, you must conclude that there is no other possible way for us, but surrender and cry out for mercy of Gaura-Nityananda. We can not approach directly to Sri Sri Radha-Krsna in Vrindavana. Who are we to participate in such activities directly? We need always to remember that we are fully dependable to Lord Nityananda and Lord Gauranga. Without Them, how we may attain Vraj? Heno nitaai bine bhai, radha-krsna paite nai. It is not possible.

     Unfortunately, many persons think that they are advanced and by neglecting chanting of Nityananda and Gauranga Naam, they are trying to directly approach Sri Sri Radha Krsna in Vrindavan. That is not right mood of our lineage. We are advised by our spiritual masters to keep such rasika-topics high above our heads. We are considering ourselves  servants of servants of servants of servants of Lord Nityananda and Gauranga and only by Their mercy we may someday approach Vrindavana. Only by mercy, not by our qualifications. That is important. We can not directly “jump” into “mood” of servants of Vrindavan. If we foolishly try to do it we will commit offenses because we are not capable to do it. Perfect souls and sadhana-siddhaa souls may do it and directly relish pastimes of Radha-Krsna, but if we are realistic about our present stage, we will conclude that we can approach to that realm only via Lord Nityananda and Lord Gauranga.

   To attain real happiness we must connect  ourselves with Lord Nityananda. That is the key. How we may do it? Simply by chanting His Name. That is so simple. Lord Nityananda is not different from Supreme Lord, and Supreme Lord is not different from His Name. To consider that Lord Nityananda's Name is material, or that His Name is different from Him, or that there should be any hindrances and obstacles in chanting His Name is grave ignorance. 
So, our real business is to connect with Supreme Lord and we may fully do it by chanting His Name. What will be result – ramante yogino anante – we will become eternally happy and jubilant and all our desires will be fulfilled.
 
Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krsna
Hoping to become servant of devotees,
Igor

 

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Re: My Realization of the Day

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krsna

 

Thank you so much for writing this. So nice. Lord Sri Krsna, Madhusudhana stated in Bhagavad Gita - ye yatha mam prapadyate tams tataiva bhajamy aham - as person surrenders unto Lord, He respond accordingly. Key for our success in in surrender to Krsna. But for us, conditioned souls it is sometimes hard to do. We are rebels, we want to imitate Krsna. We want to be Enjoyers and Controllers. Our fears are here because we do not have strong faith. At least I know about myself. So question is - how to develop strong faith and how to surrender to Lord. Answer is surrender and following example of spiritual master and scriptures. I can not see any other process but increasing quality and quantity of our chanting. For conditioned soul like myself it is gigantic task, but mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga is unlimited. How iron may be transformed into gold? Only by mercy of spiritual master and touch of miraculous Naam. Only then we may become really fearless.

Igor

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Pure Devotion (?) In India

Nityanaanda Gauraanga Hare Krishna!

Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Swami Gaurangapada!

All glories to the Guru Sampradaya!

 Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

    I have heard about many many devotees, but I have some doubts after looking at their life histories and incidents.

First let me come to Pandharpur. There are many devotees starting from Jnaneswara till just before Tukaram, who have spread sankirtana while at the same time supporting advaita philosophy. They have incorportated some of these statements in their songs.

Then are they really pure devotees? So many miraculous stories are associated with their devotion? Or is it just that the Lord asked them to preach in that way just like Sankaracharya

Is Jnaneswara really an avatara?

 Mirabai is praised to be a devotee in Madhura rasa? What do the Gaudiya acaryas say? Is it proper rasa? Sridhar Maharaja says that she worshipped Krishna, but not his devotees at all. She even argued once with Jiva Gosvami. Gaura Govinda Swami said She worshipped Lord Krishna as if in madhura rasa , but she did not praise any devotees or Radharani and that she got Sayujya mukti by merging into Dwaraknatha. Doesn't Krishna say that my pure devotees find liberation as hell?

That was just one example. So many others are there. Sufficient to say that this is rampant all over the country.

Are the smarta Brahmanas in the south similar to the smartas in the North? They all say that Kabirdas and so many others like him, namely all the modern day philosophers whose names we will not mention, are devotees, etc.

Are so many composers who compose songs in apparently Madhura rasa treating Lord Krishna as their husband or lover authentic?

In the South, the festival of Radha Kalyanam (marriage of Radha and Krishna) is celebrated very often, during a discourse (called harikatha). At that time they sing Jayadeva’s astapathis. Are such things proper? And should confidential scriptures be sung publicly like that?

There seems to be a community within brahmanas in the South who worship Mahaprabhu as an incarnation of Krishna. This community seems to have branched off from a sect of brahmanans who were originally following Sankaracharya’s philosophy. This sect wears the tilaka of the Madhva sampradaya and accept tridandi sannyasa of the Sri Vaisnava school. This sect also accepts the love between Radha and Krishna is the greatest and all the Six Gosvamis. However they also “respect” Ramana Maharashi, Vivekananda, etc. This sect seems to have been influenced by Gaudiya Vaisnava Dharma and the other sampradayas – also say that nama sankirtana is the only way and that Krishna is Supreme? Currently in the South they are the only persons believing in Mahaprabhu and preaching that. Are they devotees or are they smartas or another apasampradaya??

Well these 'doubts' were only to express what is going on in the south. Some are so controversial that there are simply no answers. We are not being troubled by these 'doubts' but we just wanted to know the truth.

  Since some vestiges of the Vedic culture still survives here, it is still easier for Indian people to take to devotion. But the problem is preaching in this country is very complex because it is literally overrun with apasampradayas, and people are rigid and very narrow minded, or simply too dogmatic. The ISKCON is finding a very very difficult time in the South.

Ignorant fools,

Srinath and Venkat

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Doubts on avataras

Nityanaanda Gauraanga Hare Krishna!

Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Swami Gaurangapada!

All glories to the Guru Sampradaya!

Respected Swamiji and all Vaishnavas,

   Please accept my respectful obeisances! I have a few doubts on the avataras of the Lord and their presence in Vaikuntha.

   
1. I have heard that the, Narasimha, Varaha, Matsya, Buddha, etc.etc. are lila avataras for the material world only. In the spiritual world, do they exist in the same form, or do they have the Visnu form?
   
2. Does Kalki, Rsabhadeva etc fall in the same category as above?
   
3. Does Rama appear many times in one day of Brahma? Because there are sages (e.g. Lomasha muni) who claim to have seen 10 or so Rama avataras?
   
4. Does Caitanya Mahaprabhu come to earth immediately after Lord Krishna's descent?
   
5. Do the pastimes like Rama killing Ravana happen only in the material world?
   
6. Also do those pastimes like killing demons change every time Rama and Krishna appear? Or is it that they happen with Variations? Like Krishna killing Kamsa in different ways?
   
7. We have heard different stories of Krishna killing Kamsa, so does this mean that the same Kamsa appears every time or a different jiva becomes Kamsa in every avatara?
   
8. Regarding Sakti-avesha avataras, Srila Prabhupada writes that they are in the jiva category, but still they are addressed with the prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why is that?
   
9. Are these prayers applicable only to those qualities of the Supreme Lord which manifest and not others?
   
10. Strictly speaking how is a saktyavesha avatara considered an incarnation of the Lord?
   
11. Are there some qualities which cannot be found in the Sakti-avesha avataras?
   
12. What is exactly meant by the statement, "The Lord's incarnations are fully complete, but differ in the qualities they manifest." Does this mean that the other avataras are capable of manifesting all the qualities but they don't or does it mean they can manifest only a part of His potency?
   
13. Please clarify the meaning of Complete (purnam) in the context of the above (no.12). As in Isopanishad invocation (om purnamadhah purnamidam.....)
   
14. In Pandharpur, the devotees of the Tukarama varkari sampradaya claim that Jnaneshwara is Lord Visnu and his brothers were Brahma and Siva? But Jnaneswara wrote on the Sankaracharya commentaries to Bhagavad Gita, etc and preached Advaita - vada.
   
15. We know that Mahaprabhu is the incarnation mentioned in the scriptures, but is Jnaneswara an incarnation?

 

Please dispel our ignorance,

Venkat and Srinath

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Prabhupada Videos

Nityanaanda Gauraanga Hare Krishna!

Jai Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Swami Gaurangapada!

All glories to the Guru Sampradaya!

Respected Swamiji and the devotees,

      These are some nice videos on Srila Prabhpada. Some old ones. Hope you like it.

 

Here is another one with children.

 

Dasadaso'ham

Venkat

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The Origin Of Life - Where does the evidence lead? (1)

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Street Notes...

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Re: Reversal of Yugas

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Dear Srinath, following is the most confidential answer of Swamiji:

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Jaya Guru Parampara!  Pranams! and Blessings! Good question. There is a confidential reason behind this. This is the same reason for why the cycle of yugas was changed in this Chatur Yuga with Treta Yuga coming before Dvapara Yuga.

The original Lord Krishna, the source of everything, wanted to enact His highest pastimes of Shri Vrindavana Dhaam and He knew that He would not be able to freely distribute this Vraja's love and give entry to everyone into these confidential pastimes as He would be very busy in performing His pastimes and killing the demons to reduce the burden of the earth. So He knew that He will have to come in the form of Lord Gauranga later to freely distribute the love of the pastimes which He had enacted earlier as Lord Krishna. And His advent as Lord Krishna had to be in Dvapara Yuga and as Lord Gauranga had to be in Kali Yuga.

So even though normally Dvapara comes after Satya Yuga and before Treta, He reversed the order of the Yugas and Dvapara now came after Treta and before Kali Yuga. This is because Lord Krishna wanted to distribute His Vrindavana love to all conditioned souls in the form of Lord Gauranga without a big time difference between these two advents of His so that the Vrindavana pastimes are still fresh in the hearts and minds of the people so that when He distributes them as Lord Gauranga, people will accept this love very easily.

If Lord Krishna would have come in the beginning of Dvapara Yuga or if the cycle of Yugas was not changed, the time difference between Lord Krishna's and Lord Gauranga's advent would have been around 1,296,000 years which is the normal duration of Dvapara Yuga plus another 4500 odd years of Kali Yuga. So if in these more than 1 million years, Vrindavana Dhaam would have disappeared, then He would Himself not be able to go to Vraja Dhaam and fulfill the internal purposes of His advent. And the memories of the people of Lord Krishna's pastimes would be very distant if at all existent which would make it difficult for Him to distribute His love of the Vrajavasis.

This is a very confidential secret which even the big Vedic scholars are not aware of because they have no faith in Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. But without this understanding, no one can explain why the cycle-order of the Yugas is changed only in the 28th Chatur Yuga on the 7th Manvantara, once in every day of Brahma. This is because Lord Krishna and Lord Gauranga come only during this Chatur Yuga, once in a day of Brahma....

Hadai: All the characteristics and the Yuga method of worship were only reversed during this specific Chatur Yuga and not during the other Yugas.

Your servant,

Hadai Nityananda dasa

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

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Re: Reversal of Yugas

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

Dear Swamiji and devotees, please accept my respectful obeisances.

In connection to the calculation of the Yugas I found the following interesting article from Sri Nandanandana das (Stephen Knapp):

When describing the length of the yugas or ages, and which yuga we are in and how far along we are in it, there is sometimes confusion about how to calculate them. Some people think we are already in the next Satya-yuga, known as the Golden Age. The problem is when the yugas are figured only according to the years in earth�s time, in which case any calculations will never be accurate. They are described in the Vedic literature according to the celestial years, or years of the devas, not according to the time we experience here on earth. This is where we have to make adjustments. Nonetheless, there are specific references in the Vedic texts which make it clear how to calculate them. For starters, the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 231.12-20) explains it in detail:

�The rishis, measuring time, have given particular names to particular portions [of time]. Five and ten winks of the eye make what is called a Kastha. Thirty Kasthas make what is called a Kala. Thirty Kalas, with the tenth part of a Kala, make a Muhurta. Thirty Muhurtas make one day and night. Thirty days and nights form a month, and twelve months form a year. Persons well-read in mathematical science say that a year is made up of two solar motions, meaning the northern and southern. The sun makes the day and night for men. The night is for the sleep of all living creatures, and the day is for work. A month of human beings is equal to a day and night of the departed manes [ancestors who have gone on to the subtle worlds]. That division consists in this: the light half of the month is their day which is for work; and the dark fortnight is their night for sleep. A year (of men) is equal to a day and night to the gods [devas or celestials]. This division consists in this: the half year for which the sun travels from the vernal to the autumnal equinox is the day of the gods, and the half year for which the sun moves from the latter to the former is their night. [Thus, an earth year is but a day for the devas.] Calculating by the days and nights of human beings about which I have told you, I shall speak of the day and night of Brahma and his years also. I shall, in their order, tell you the number of years, that are for different purposes calculated differently, in the Krita, the Treta, the Dvapara, and the Kali Yugas. Four thousand celestial years is the duration of the first or Krita age. The morning of that cycle consists of four hundred years and its evening is of four hundred years. [Note: This says celestial years, or years of the demigods on the higher planets. Such years are much longer than those of planet earth. So 4000 celestial years, with the morning or Sandhya of 400 celestial years and the evening or Sandhyansa, or intermediate period, of another 400 years, equals 4800 celestial years or 1,728,000 human years.]

�Regarding the other cycles, the duration of each gradually decreases by a quarter in respect of both the principal period with the minor portion and the conjoining portion itself. These periods always keep up the never-ending and eternal worlds. They who know Brahma, O child, regard this as Immutable Brahma.� (Mb, Shanti Parva, Chap.231, Text 21-22)

This means that as each age appears, from the Krita, Treta, Dvapara to Kali, each yuga decreases by a quarter of the previous yuga, in addition to the conjoining Sandhya and Sandhyansa periods with each yuga. In this way, it is roughly calculated that a whole cycle of the four yugas, namely Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali-yuga together, total about 12,000 celestial years in length.

The Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 231.29-32) continues: �The learned say that these 12,000 celestial years form what is called a cycle. A thousand such cycles form a single day of Brahma. The same is the duration of Brahma�s night. With the beginning of Brahma�s day the universal entities come into being. During the period of universal dissolution the Creator sleeps in Yoga-meditation. When the period of sleep expires, He awakes. What is Brahma�s day covers a thousand such cycles. His night also covers a thousand similar cycles. They who know this are said to know the day and the night. On the expiry of His night, Brahma, waking up, modifies the indestructible intelligence by causing it to be overlaid with ignorance. He then causes Consciousness to spring up, whence it originates Mind which is at one with the Manifest.�

In calculating the duration of the different yugas, there are a few differences between the Puranas. The Brahmanda Purana (1.2.29.31-34) specifically states that Krita or Satya-yuga is 1,440,000 human years in length, Treta-yuga is 1,080,000 years, Dvapara-yuga is 720,000 years, and Kali-yuga is 360,000 years in length. The Linga Purana (4.24-35) also agrees with this except for Treta-yuga, which it says is 1,800,000 years in length.

However, when explaining the various measurements of time, the Vishnu Purana (Book One, Chapter Three) and the Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.11.19), along with the Bhagavad-gita (8.17) and the Vayu Purana (Chapter 57) and others, such as the Mahabharata as quoted above, all agree on the measurements of the durations of the yugas, as explained below.

In the explanations of the measurements of time found therein, one cycle of the four yugas together is 12,000 years of the demigods, called divine years. Each of these years is composed of 360 days, and each of their days is equal to one human year. So Krita-yuga is 4000 divine years in length, Treta-yuga is 3000 divine years in length, Dvapara-yuga is 2000 divine years in length, and Kali-yuga is 1000 divine years long, with the addition of the conjoining portions of the Sandhya and Sandhyansa.

In this way, each yuga is preceded by a period called a Sandhya, which is as many hundred years in length as there are thousands of years in that particular yuga. Each yuga is also followed by a period of time known as a Sandhyansa, which is also as many hundreds of years in length as there are thousands of years in the yuga. In between these periods of time is the actual yuga. Therefore, we have:

Krita-yuga = 4000 divine years, Sandhya = 400 divine years, Sandhyansa = 400 divine years. Total = 4800 divine years x 360 days = 1,728,000 human years.

Treta-yuga = 3000 divine years, Sandhya = 300 divine years, Sandhyansa = 300 divine years. Total = 3600 divine years x 360 days = 1,296,000 human years.

Dvapara-yuga = 2000 divine years, Sandhya = 200 divine years, Sandhyansa = 200 divine years. Total = 2400 divine years x 360 days = 864,000 human years.

Kali-yuga = 1000 divine years, Sandhya = 100 divine years, Sandhyansa = 100 divine years. Total = 1200 divine years x 360 days = 432,000 human years.

This equals 4,320,000 human years in one cycle of the four yugas together, and 1000 cycles of these yugas equals 12,000 divine years and 4,320,000,000 human years in a day of Brahma.

It is also explained that Kali-yuga began with the disappearance of Lord Krishna from the planet. This has been calculated to be 3102 B.C.. Since Kali-yuga is described as being 432,000 earth years in length, with 5,000 years and more already passed, then the age of Kali-yuga has approximately 426,000 more years to go. I hope this has clarified what is sometimes a confusing issue.

Aspiring to be the servant of the devotees,

Hadai Nityananda dasa

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

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Re: My Realization of the Day

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Today i realized that there is no need for fear in the life of a devotee. Lord is taking perfect care for His devotees, for each and every one (yoga-kshemam vahamy aham). We are a bit insecure about it, for we lack full realization, that's why fear appears. We don't know what is awaiting us in the future, only Lord knows. All we have to do is the cultivate our love and commitment for hear and chanting about His Holy Name and Glories, and do that daily without fail. That's only we have to fear, that one day may pass when we don't listen about Him and chant His Holy Name. So our fear has to be applied this side. Lord is maintaining every one, what to speak of His devotees. We really have to primarily fix ourselves on the quality and quantity of daily shravana-kirtana, while doing our daily duties as well. All other things, required for our material and spiritual development will be perfectly arranged by the Lord.

Matus

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