Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!
Dear Srinath, Dear devotees!

Ahimsa, same as tolerance may be an inappropriate word towards mind speculations, maya and false ego!
Throw a brick in those speculations, put a feet on the neck of false ego, just like you would put it on the snake. Smash the false ego against the wall. Poison it with the strongest nectar of Bhakti, let it die in ecstasy

Faith just is or it is not there. Throw away all the doubts. Its like a swimming pool - or you are in, or you are out standing afraid and just dipping your feet in water. Throw away all the doubts and just jump inside


Always ys

K.

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Hadai Prabhu's birthday

Dear devotees,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

      Today is the birthday of Sri Hadai Nityananda Dasa prabhu. His wonderful devotion and contribution to the service of the Lord and the devotees is beyond words. I am indebted to Him for first introducing to me the mantrarajas Nityananda and Gauranga along with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and personally guiding me with immense loving affection, patience and tolerance all throughout the way. Words fall flat and impotent to describe the great devotees of the Lord so with this short announcement I conclude by saying, "Happy Birthday Hadai prabhu! I always aspire to become your servant!"

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Dear Devotees,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! My humble pranams!

      My spiritual masters have always said only one thing whenever I have complained, "Just surrender to the Lord with all your heart and pray to Him. Lord Nityananda will immediately rush in." We have no chance against maya by our own efforts as we are puny souls, atomic particles with nanometre size and potency.

      But the Lord, when we give Him the room to enter, oh my, what miracles happen! When we allow ourselves to be carried by the Lord, suddenly the whole material ocean simply reduces to a small hole in the ground. But to do this we have to be really willing to trust the Lord.

      The mind is an evil thing It will come up with all the most challenging questions. We must keep our cool and see this as its attempt to distract us and just carry on. As they say, "Just DO it." See that's how maya works. She wants us to accept the temporary solution over the permanent one. And this theory not going into practice ends up in speculation which really wastes mental energy and leaves one lethargic. 

      Don't look back. The things we leave behind are so dirty that simply thinking about the past is enough to tempt the senses to fall back.

      I have been a theoretician all my life. It did not work beyond a point. It needs to be put into action. Fact is, we all need to recognize the seriousness of spirituality and the absolute necessity to take shelter of the Lord in the form of the Holy names. We manage to find time to eat and sleep, so why not spare some time for the Lord too?

      It needs quite some discipline with D being the first letter of devotion. But we spare so much time and energy for so many things in life, let us atleast spare some for the Lord.  Some seriousness is needed. We must tell ourselves that we are not doing a hobby in our spare time and take it as serious work. It has to be forced in the beginning because a materially dirty heart does not have any taste for spiritual life. But then as the heart gets purer, discipline is not forced anymore and it is done naturally out of love.

     But till that time comes, one needs to force oneself like a soldier. Like an obsession or a fetish. Anyway a devotee is a spiritual soldier, as Prabhupada said, "Vaikuntha men!" . So get tough, tell yourself, "Strength! Strength! Will power! Courage! Tolerance! Love!" and just LOUDLY chant "Nityananda! Gauranga! and Hare Krishna!"

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!
Dear Srinath - first of all thank you so very much for your wonderful articles! They really apply to many people!
In this case i can share my experience too. Out of my tiny 5 years of trying to be at least a bit faithful. Of trying to feel the taste of devotion i came across so many difficulties! Just like you told new and new questions were rising and appearing like worms after the rain. And i can tell, once i have lost my faith. Because i didn't have answers. After some time i was thinking to myself "Do i have weak backbone? Is all my practice just a waste of time? Can i say that these years were just gone for me useless?"... Agreeing to myself in this way would mean that i am just a weak person, with no faith, no strong principles and weak character. World is not made for people like that. Better they would be born like dogs or cats, who live with a moment - eating sleeping and just letting everything go as it is.
I understood, that material life is first of all fight. A tough fight with mind, with false ego, with maya. Good things just don't come too easy. Else it would be cheap. So i started to find answers to all my questions. Reading Vivekananda, S. Prabhupada... Then came first understanding, then realization - we ain't no fallen, or bad, or limited, or stupid. The real us. We - are souls, children of God. What is really limited - is our mind. We all are right now under influence of maya. This life is not a suffering. Its a funny game with maya and mind. Try to concur them, play with mind - confront it, try to separate what your mind wants from you and what is your souls desire. It is always inner dialogue. A debate, where you know, that you have to win. Try to find arguments against your mind speculations. When you feel down - be stubborn, be fighter - do chant, don't give up. Be strong. Its a fight, your inner Kurukshetra. Your goal - is seeing Lord face to face.
We do like to concur others, fight for money, for material pleasures. Then why not to fight for your soul happiness, which is eternal? Faith in God starts with faith in yourself. In your mission in this world and faith in your decisions. And then - in this game you have a GREAT protector and well wisher - Lord himself. He is your biggest argument against maya
That was my realization about faith. 

I hope, this meets you well! Hare Krishna!

K.

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(GERMAN) 9. Gedichte über Gaurangas Name (1)

9. Gedichte �ber Gaurangas Name

1. Das Lied �ber Gaurangas Name

Das Lied �ber die Herrlichkeit von Gaurangas Name

Nach dem Sri Shikshashtaka, den acht Versen, welche vom h�chsten Herrn Gauranga Mahaprabhu selbst verfasst wurden.

Sing laut, sing den Namen von Gauranga laut beim Beten,
das reinigt den Spiegel des Geistes von den zahlreichen S�nden.
Chante laut, chante die s�ssen Namen von Nitai Gauranga laut,
das befreit vom Feuer des Lebens und vom Zorn der Flammen der Lust.

Trink aus der Quelle von Gaurangas machtvollem Namen,
Er ist der h�chste der Gl�ckseligkeit und goldenes Mondlicht verteilt.
Sprich Gauranga, sprich Gauranga, sprich Gaurangas Namen aus,
welche Nadia, Puri und die heiligen Strassen von Vraja beleben.

Vertiefe dich in Gaurangas sch�nem Namen,
Er l�sst die Flut der Ekstase anschwellen und entz�ndet die reine Liebe.
Schrei Nityananda, schrei Gauranga so laut du kannst,
dann wird sicherlich Nektar das Innerste deiner Seele durchtr�nken.

Schreie Nityananda, schreie Gauranga, immerzu laut und mutig,
und gewinne so Gauranga und Er wird dich aufnehmen.
Sing Nityananda, sing Gauranga � die zwei Heiler der Herzschmerzes,
Sie umh�llen deine Seele vollst�ndig mit Ihrer Liebe.

Oh Gauranga, mein Herr! Deine ganze Kraft liegt in Deinem Namen,
Die Zeit, Regeln und der Ort beeinflussen das Chanten Deines Namens nicht.
So machtvoll ist Dein Name und ich bin unheilbar blind!
Missgeschicke setzen mir schlimm zu und Deine Liebe bleibt von meinem Geist unber�hrt...

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Dear devotees,

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

       Everyone, even people who come first time to devotion experience faith issues. What to speak of things like that -- try my situation like the dreaded semester examinations. People putting late nights, making the donkeys and bulls look fortunate in comparision . When under pressure from maya, a weaker will simply breaks up and people start getting desperate. All thoughts come in, "Oh no. How will I pass? My average is low. If I fail what will people think of me?" Out of desperation we resort to skipping our chanting and try to find other ways to get out of trouble. In the process what happens is that our chanting gets thrown off completely.

      This is just one situation. Everyone has their own share of troubles like this.  What happened was that our faith was weak. So when tested, we lost the thread. Then all seemed hopeless. We become eager to seek the temporary solution rather than the real solution which seems far away. This is where I see many give up. Some get back, others get angry. I see people breaking their beads, wiping their foreheads, leaving the devotional path, shouting, "God you did not help me!" I am not blaming you for being weak. We are all weak. We just need to understand a simple truth. See, this is the way maya works. Situations like these are EXACTLY those where more faith is needed more than anything. These are the times when we need to get closer to the Lord rather than just giving up.

       Faith requires very strong will power that has to be cultivated with some effort. First everyone please understand this message, "There is never an ideal time or a better time or a better situation for devotion in the material world." Wherever you are, maya will always throw fireballs at you. You may be working for deadlines, dealing with depression, facing economic issues or you may be a big CEO of a huge company, having $50 billion of assets, but even if you are Indra and king of heaven, still maya will always put you in some situation that distracts you from chanting. Take ANY situation, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. There is always some defect. We cannot say, "Now times are bad. I'll wait for better days." There are no better days.

       We are in maya's abode. There's no way she will give us better days. By postponing our devotion by even a few seconds we ultimately fall into the trap of postponing it all life. And then BOOM! Before you know, life's over! So first ACCEPT the reality, just accept. The first step is ACCEPTANCE. What acceptance? Ans : The world is a bad place. There's always going to be suffering, pressure, problems. Accept the fact that you are where you are and tell the Lord, "Look my Lord. This is me, this is where I am. I have to start somewhere, so why not now?" When you accept your situation, it becomes easy to concentrate on devotion, what we have to do, rather than what's happening around us. Spiritually your situation is not different from anyone else's. So start NOW. Live the spiritual life in the NOW and the HERE. The present is the only time we have. Past gone, future no idea. So only the present we have. And we have to make advancement in that.

     I will continue this in the next thread. Thank you very much.

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Dear devotees,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! My pranams! I am grateful that you have come so far and I thank you for your patience.

      Chaitanya Bhagavata shows us the perfection of real faith. Lord Gauranga once decided to test Srivasa Pandita who was keeping Lord Nityananda in His house and so He one day asked him, "Dear Shrivasa! Why do you keep this avadhuta, this Nitaai in your house? No one knows who He is, who are His parents, what is his caste or where He comes from. Everyday He behaves like a restless child and he is extremely unpredictable. If you keep entertaining Him, people will talk ill of you. There will be so many rumours. This avadhuta will get rid of your name, your caste, your wealth and everything. If you care for those things, you should not keep Nityananda in your house." 

       To this Shrivasa replied, "Oh Lord! It is not proper that you test me lile this. I know that Lord Nityananda is your body. Let my so called caste, name, fame, wealth and qualification be taken away by Him. I am only too glad to offer everything I have to Him. I tell you this. Even if Lord Nityananda drinks wine, associates with a characterless woman or takes away my wealth, fame and even my life, still my faith in Him will never budge an inch. On the contrary it will only increase."

        When Lord Gauranga heard this, He roared loudly and embraced Shrivasa and said, "What did you say Shrivasa? You have that much faith in Nitaai? Now hear this. Even if Goddess Lakshmi my consort has to go begging from door to door someday, still you will never suffer anything and you will never need to go to anyone for your needs. I will personally arrange everything!" A remarkable, remarkable benediction. Here Lord Gauranga is giving His Supreme Word.

        This is the result of trust and faith. The Lord is always willing to guide us, but we should trust Him. We are so fallen that if the Lord does something that is even a slight departure from our ideas of Him or our ideas of right and wrong, we get doubts. We lose trust. We start criticising. But the truth is we have NO idea of what is really good for us. We are nowhere in the league of Shrivasa Thakura. We can never be that great. But we can pray to Him to show us His mercy so that we can attain one particle of His faith in Nityananda-Gauranga, the most merciful Lordships. We are fallen, but we have to improve. That's our job. So we need atleast a little bit of sincere faith and trust. If this is not there then we don't advance spiritually. Faith is the basis. If that is gone then we again fall down.

        So what is true faith. What is Complete faith. The Answer is that Real faith, real devotion is UNCONDITIONAL. As Shrivasa Thakura has most mercifully revealed to us, real faith does not depend on anything. You may all have your worries, and I may have mine. Deadlines to meet, people to satsify, pressures, diseases, depression, hopelessness, etc. But nevertheless realize that it's maya attacking as usual. And that is our opportunity to get closer to the Lord. If we are suffering, then it means that the Lord has got some special purification for us. A bad day and an insult from someone doesn't mean the Lord has let you down. A bad omen is not really bad. When someone speaks badly to you and asks, "You are such an unqualifed person, you are this, you are that........ How will YOU attain devotion? Throw your devotion away. You are just a cheater. YOU are going to become a devotee....."

         When this happens to you, please understand one thing. The Lord is NOT angry. He has NOT abandoned you. He has not rejected you. It doesn't mean that you have to be ashamed and it certainly doesn't mean you are a spiritual failure. NO. Actually I was thinking like that, then guru maharaja told me, "No that means the Lord is calling you to  come. He's just calling you very eagerly." That's where people feel like giving up because they think that God didn't help them. NO. He did. He's just calling us, "Come come. I am waiting for you." And he's calling in really loudly. We did not follow what he meant, but now you know. Now you know that your so called suffering is just the Lord's love bites. He's tightening his side of the leash. And when you understand this and take shelter of His feet, suddenly it's all gone and you know you are closer to the Lord than ever.

        Ultimately a good day or a bad day doesn't decide whether you advanced or not. That is material. Devotion is spiritual. Ultimately for a devotee, everything is only a sign that the Lord wants Him to come nearer and so a bad day is actually a good day in the end because ultimately on the absolute level, it is super-auspicious.

        You may suffer from things I cannot imagine. I know it is easy for me to sit in a chair and write this. But these are the words of Swamiji, Hadai prabhu and all the scriptures and the acharyas and the Lord's words Himself. A bad day, a bad time, a bad omen, a shocking material blow -- these are not since of the Lord's rejection. They are actually signs that He's giving you more attention and that it's a perfect opportunity to advance further.

         Like I said before, "Life's not what happens to you, but the way you see it." And when you see it as a devotional opportunity, even hell becomes a stepping stone so that you can get one step closer to the Lord. And when you see it that way, then suddenly the hell is all gone and replaced only with spiritual bliss and love. This is REAL, COMPLETE FAITH.

         I hope this will help you wherever you are. Please excuse me for all my mistakes. I am a fool. But yet having got this opportunity, I see it as my duty to put up the words of the devotees who are my gurus for not my benefit, but for the benefit of all living entities. Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Dear devotees,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

      Like I said last time, first step to complete faith is to ACCEPT the reality -- the reality that this place is like a death trap. No situation is ideal. Spiritually the beggar in the street and the guy on the throne are both equally fallen and both are certainly in no ideal position for devotion materially. First one has to accept that, "I am where I am now. This is me, this is my path. I have to start / continue from here." Do not and I repeat, DO NOT look at others. When we look at others our vision becomes relative. We are all unique. Not superior or inferior, just unique.

      Someone may ask, "Why the need for all this acceptance thingy?"  Sometimes we see people arguing like this, "Why did God create me? Why did he do all this? Then there would be no suffering. I would not have fallen like this. I didn't ask God to create me. When He created me, did He bother about my choice, etc? Must there be all this? Can't there be another way?" and etc in heated moments when they are really frustrated in life. 

      But a devotee looks at it like this, "God is very very merciful to have created me because He wants me to be part and parcel of His infinite love and bliss. This is an opportunity for me to get closer to Him, so let me surrender to Him."  MORAL : Life's NOT what happens to you, but THE WAY YOU TAKE IT. Very important principle. Nowhere is this more important in devotion and faith than anywhere else.

      Why people lose faith is here. They have to accept their present position as it is. They have either been taught that God is someone who fulfills all our desires (God is our order supplier) OR they keep comparing their position to someone else. It is always one of the two. Both these approaches will be used my maya to frustrate the beginner. It is only meant for us to learn that we must first accept our situation and accept who we are. The Lord always accepts anyone, even the most sinful creatures. So we should also accept our situation.

      Now coming to what we have to do. We have to look at the Lord, talk to Him, be honest and tell Him the truth. We can speak to the deity or meditate on His form. We can pray to His name because He is the naam too. We have to tell, "Look my Lord. I am this. I am fallen. I am in this situation. I feel that wherever I am is the opportunity to grow spiritually, but I have no idea what to do, which way to look, where to turn. In this situation I am praying to you for help. You are the only one whom I can trust. Only You know what's really good for me. Please guide me."

       It is only a little sincere prayer for guidance. But it has to be Honest. Honesty is the best policy. Here we have to be very careful. We have our limitations. We do not know what is spiritually good for us. There is  a HUGE difference between what we THINK is good for us and what is REALLY good for us. But the Lord knows. When we ask Him for help, we must keep an open mind and listen to what HE wants to say and not what we want to hear. He knows what's the right path for each one of us. That is COMPLETE FAITH. Faith means we trust the Lord, trust completely. Not taking anything in our hands we should ask Him. And the answer will come. It has come. I have seen it. It has happened to me. A sincere soul will always receive guidance. No doubt.

    But we must ask for the truth and not what we want. We all have a conscience. And when we do something wrong, there is always that little instinctive feeling in us that we know we are going against. We have to learn to listen to that. That is the Lord, the Supersoul in everyone's heart. He speaks silenty but strongly. We have to pray to Him to give us the ability to listen to Him. Then we will get the idea what we have to do. It doesn't come in words, it is very subtle. We just know where our conscience is and we have to follow Him.  I was under pressure last semester for the exams and I was wondering, "Every time these exams come I forget chanting, what do I do." So following my spiritual master's tip I asked the Lord for guidance. And I knew that I should not give up my chanting, he will guide me. So I chanted and I held NO EXPECTATIONS. I would just know that I have to use my time better and that I should not get desperate. So fight against my mind I did. I chanted, fighting against every brain cell that was screaming at me. Believe it or not, it worked! I was able to do what I needed to do and yet I could chant peacefully as normal.

So the next time you are under material pressure, any kind of pressure, please keep your cool and tell yourself, "Yes. Now I am being attacked by maya. Now I must surrender to the Lord. Otherwise I will fall down. I am being tested and I have to pass it." We all need help. It is our right and duty to ask for help. But we should not expect the Lord to do anything the way we imagine. We should just follow our instinct, praying for guidance all the time. The Lord is always guiding, but we have to listen. The mind will fight, the senses will demand, people will mock or challenge. But we should keep the strong WILL POWER. We should keep listening to that voice within. We should listen to the Holy names. They will give us inspiration. But trust must be there. Trust that the Lord knows what's good for us. And very soon, you will see yourself crossing over the cosmic ocean of material existence like a small puddle of water in a cow's footprint.

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Isn't it also true that by practising brahmacharya one increases his faith in God, and material disturbances are less, one's own personal outer world dream changes.

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