Re: Bliss and The Striving Body - my healing (please read)

Dear Nava prabhu,

   Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! My humble pranams!

   I was very moved by seeing your story of how you came from very miserable circumstances toward the path of bhakti. Still you are a disciple of Swamiji and you are chanting the mantrarajas despite all the troubles of the mind and body, so it is inspiring to small morons like myself who keep giving excuses for not doing despite all the opportunity. You may take inspiration from Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, who manifested the pastimes of battling against all sorts of frequent health problems and other obstacles and still successfully served Lord Gauranga and the holy Dham of Navadvipa.

   The different illnesses in life are all due to the primeval illness that we are not devotees of the Lord. Ultimately the names of the Lord give that ultimate cure to that illness which will resolve everything else that came from it. What suffering souls really need is love and care and lots and lots of it. I have a friend who had to grapple with a flood of negativity and fierce storms along with several material problems. Life has not been very kind to him and he has even forced to endure the worst kind of company possible against his will. I have seen it myself and it is beyond my tolerance. If it had been me I would have turned into some sort of anti social rebel. At one point his self esteem had all but hit rock bottom and he had reached a stage where he would have been lost (if you know what I mean...).

       It was only when a pure devotee stepped into his life and he started chanting that he literally got a new lease of life. He has only now received real love and care that is actually beneficial for him and he can easily tolerate his difficulties knowing fully well that only the Lord and devotion matters. He is advancing very nicely and we are humbled by seeing how much difference a pure devotee has made to his life. So you too need a lot of love and you will get all of it and more from the devotees in the sangha, as I did and as my friend did. The association of pure devotees is vital. From faith comes association. I know what the holy names can do and I have seen it -- it defies anything beyond what one can imagine. Our chanting Hare Krishna may not be so successful because of all the offenses we commit, but Nityananda Gauranga rush in headlong into our hearts despite it all.

        We should follow our bliss -- correct, but how are we going to know what that bliss is? Answer : The Holy names reveal that bliss. Surrender is not just mentally saying, "O God I surrender to you." but surrender is actually chanting "Nityaananda! Gauranga! and the Hare Krishna mahamantra!" In a very short time the most merciful Nitaai Gaura will flood the practioner with so much love and bliss, and it is that bliss that we really follow. The Lord is full of bliss and we follow Him. People sometimes talk about God in vague terms like higher power, higher consciousness or some Supreme intelligence, higher field etc...but in reality they are reluctant to call God as Krishna or Narayana or Gauranga or by any other Personal Name because they think that such things are sectarian and are therefore quite skeptic, feeling that we should talk about God in vague and uncertain language to appeal to a wider audience. This is impersonal mayavada or otherwise one more step in the ascending process. But how will these preachers guide their followers? How will we get that bliss? What is that bliss body? What is devotion? Where do the heart and head align?How do we follow that bliss? By chanting!! That is the descending process. The western philosophers have a vague idea of what is known in fully concrete and absolute terms by the Vaisnavas. The answers to all their questions and ideas is there in Vaisnava Siddhanta. Everything is there -- it is perfect and complete.

         People bound up in stereotype are vitriolic about something new outside their domain of intelligence and if such people oppose to our spiritual chanting, then they must be rejected. The names of Nityananda Gauranga or Hare Krishna are the Lords of the soul. Their names are non-sectarian. The soul is neither man nor woman, nor Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, European, Indian, Chinese, Russian, American or any other designation. The Vaisnava religion includes all the other truths in other faiths in a refined and perfected form. If in the process we find that these sectarian faiths are opposed to our devotion, then we must give them up immediately. The universal rule of devotion is accept that which is favourable to bhakti and reject the unfavourable.

          As for the other thing, many forums on the net are simply breeding places for argument and controversy. It's enough to simply know guru, sadhu and Krishna and chanting the holy names -- nothing else really is needed. Unnecessarily things are made more and more complicated and Bhaktivinode Thakur calls all of them as ass like people. Logic and argument simply make a soft heart into a stone. There was a time when I had my faith slightly in a crisis and it was all because of reading these arguments. Donkeys' braying went into my head and made me into a donkey instead of a devotee and I feel very much ashamed even now that I wasted so much time in going for trouble. In my opinion, these arguments are the second worst enemy of devotion. Such places are now repulsive to me and I say anyone who goes asking for arguments is sure to damage one's faith. That is why in our forum the moderation is so strict. We do not allow anyone to bray here, we only allow real vani. The #1 reason why our sangha is successful is because no upstarts are tolerated and allowed to say anything and everything they like, they must accept the truth.

        You have not let anyone down, neither has anyone else. On the contrary, we are only serving to inspire one another to go up further. Let us all grab on to the feet of Guru and the Lord and we will all be taken up! This sangha is there only to help the fallen souls. Although I have written well outside the limits of my wretched qualifications or authority, still since it's the truth I heard from my guru, I have written it here. I hope you senior Vaisnavas will please forgive me for my audacity, but the point is -- let's stick together forever and we'll be eternally blissful in our real and spiritual association with the Lord and each other.

Very humbly submitted with love,
Daaso'smi,
Srinath

Comment on this Post