Krishna and maya

 

Krishna and maya, by Haripada dasa

It is said in The Chaitanya Charitamrita that God or Krishna is compared to sunlight, and maya or ignorance is compared to darkness, wherever there is sunlight there can be no darkness. As soon as one embarks on the path of Krishna consciousness, the darkness of illusion, the influence of external energy, will immediately vanish. Also in The Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that this energy of Mine, maya, is very difficult to overcome, but those who surrender to Me can easily overcome it, in other words, maya is controlled by Krishna, and when a soul obeys the laws of God or Krishna, Krishna tells His energy not to influence His devotee, thus the devotee enjoys full and total freedom.

In the process of surrendering to God or Krishna one must: (1) accept everything that is favorable for the performance of devotional service, (2) reject everything that is unfavorable for it, (3) firmly believe in the protection of the Lord , (4) feel that you depend exclusively on the Lord's mercy, (5) have no interest apart from the Lord's interest, and (6) always be meek and humble.

In relation to the subject Srila Prabhupada says in his meaning of the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra that this atmosphere, in which we now live, is called maya, or illusion. Maya means "what is not". And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we try to be the lords of material nature, when the reality is that we are bound by the shackles of its strict laws. When a servant tries to artificially imitate his almighty master, this is called illusion. Contaminated by this concept of life, we all try to exploit the resources of material nature, but the reality is that we become more and more entangled in its complexities. Therefore, despite our arduous struggle to conquer nature, we depend more on it. This illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped immediately if we revive our Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada always said that the problem with people is that they are not afraid of maya.

The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 1, by Haripada dasa

 The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 1, by Haripada dasa I will present this message in three parts: 1- He is always kind to everyone: People suffer from a lack of God or Krishna consciousness; people have forgotten God or Krishna. A devotee of God tries to spread Krishna consciousness to people without discrimination. A devotee of Krishna is even kind to his enemy. When Durvasa Muni offended Maharaja Ambarisa, the king prayed to Krishna for the sage. And when Durvasa Muni prostrated himself at Maharaja Ambarisa's lotus feet, begging forgiveness for his offenses, he said, "Now I have recognized the devotees of God. Even though I offended you, you prayed for my good fortune." 2- He never seeks disputes: Srila Prabhupada bought land in Bombay from Mr. Nair, a very powerful man, president of two newspapers, president of the Supreme Court, etc. Mr. Nair had already defrauded the C. Company, taking their money and land. Now he wanted to do the same to Srila Prabhupada, but his plan backfired. Because of the many offenses he committed against Srila Prabhupada, he soon died. It is said in the Book of Krishna, in relation to Kamsa, that demons, because of their offenses, shorten their lives, lose their luster, etc. Then Mr. Nair's wife threw herself at Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet and begged his forgiveness for all the offenses, and Srila Prabhupada told her, "To me, you are like my daughter; you will never lack anything." 3- His interest lies in the essence of life, which is spiritual: This is what Paramahansa, or the great swan, means. The swan has the quality that, given a mixture of water and milk, it will take the milk and leave the water. Spiritual means in the service of Krishna, or God, and His devotees. Things become spiritualized when used in the service of Krishna. 4- He is equanimous with everyone: This comes from the verse in the Bhagavad gita, "pandita sama darsinaha." The humble sage, by virtue of his true knowledge, sees with the same vision a learned brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater. 5- No one can find fault with him: Srila Prabhupada said many times that materialists criticize devotees out of envy, calling them troublesome people. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada said that one who is always accustomed to criticizing others will never prosper. 6- His mind is magnanimous. Saint Teresa of Ávila of Spain said that the mind is the madwoman of the house. If you are walking down the street and you meet a madman who has escaped from the asylum and starts saying crazy things, what will you do? You will ignore him. In the same way, our mind is always telling us nonsense, and we must ignore it. When our mind is purified, it will tell us devotional things; then we must listen to it. I advise you to read the Mana Siksha or Preaching to the Mind by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura—pure nectar. 7- His mind is always pure. Ceto darpanam marjanam. By chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we purify the mind of all material contamination. 8- His mind is always clear. When we have a pure mind, we will never forget Srila Prabhupada, Krishna, or God, and everything related to Them. 9. His mind is always free from material obsessions: Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in his Mana Siksa, says that the root of all undesirable things in our hearts is the desire for respect from others. Srila Prabhupada always said not to demand respect, but to inspire respect. 10. He is a benefactor to all living entities. It was Srila Rupa Gosvami who glorified Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, saying that he was the greatest benefactor because he was giving Krishna consciousness, or pure love for God, to everyone. And our Srila Prabhupada is the commander-in-chief of the spiritual forces of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Please, let's not see Srila Prabhupada as the guru of a few people; no, that is a great mistake. Let's see Srila Prabhupada as the Jagat-guru, the guru of the universe.

The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 2, by Haripada dasa

 

The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 2, by Haripada dasa

11- He is peaceful: A person can be peaceful when he is free from material desires, I remember a song from a genuine acharya or spiritual master who said that the symptom that I will have gotten the mercy of Sri Nityananda is that I will be free from material desires and When Lord Nrisimhadeva told Prahlada Maharaja to ask for a blessing, he asked that in the bottom of my heart that I have no material desires.

12- He is always surrendered to Krishna or God: In my blog are all the songs of the saranagati or the surrender to the almighty God by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in the Harinama Chintamani chapter 13 it is said that the six principles of surrender to Krishna o God are: 1- the vow to accept everything favorable to the Lord's service, 2- reject anything that is unfavorable, 3- be convinced that Lord Krishna will always give protection, 4- depend completely on Krishna for everything, 5 -always feeling meek and humble and 6- throwing oneself at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna.

13- He has no material desires: I remember a meaning of Srila Prabhupada who said that there was a corner and a devotee wanted there to be a temple and now that temple is visited by millions of people, those are the wishes of the devotees, Srila Prabhupada said that you only have to wish and Krishna will make the arrangements, the only way to subdue material desires is to have spiritual desires and always making plans to please Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.

14- He is very humble: Srila Krishna das kaviraja gosvami says in the Chaitanya Charitamrita that he is lower than the worms in the excrement, he is more sinful than Jagay and Madhay, that the one who says his name will lose all activities pious, that is humility, in the Kartika vrata of the year 1972 Srila Prabhupada said in the Radha Damodara in Vrindavana that we must always be ready to offer respects, not only to the devotees, but to everyone, because each living entity is originally a devotee of Krishna, but circumstantially, being covered by maya, he is acting like a demon, but his original nature is that of a devotee of Krishna, that is humility.

15- He is always fixed in his purpose: From faith to love for God there are 9 states of perfection, nistha or being fixed is the fifth, 1 is faith, 2 is association with devotees, 3 is the spiritual initiation, 4 is cleansing the heart from undesirable things, 5 is being fixed, 6 is feeling a taste in devotional service, 7 is feeling an attachment, 8 is feeling spiritual emotions while rendering devotional service and the 9 is the goal of human life, prema pumarto mahan, pure love for God or Krishna.

16- He has triumphed over the six material qualities: lust, anger, greed, envy, madness and illusion, in Srimad Bhagavatm 7,9,1 it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his devotee know use correctly lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy, lust is spiritualized when we use everything in the service of Krishna, the example of this are the gopis of Vrindavana, anger is spiritualized when we use it to defend Krishna from his enemies, the example of this are Arjuna and Hanuman, greed is spiritualized when we use it to buy the ticket back home back to Godhead, I remember a meaning of Srila Prabhupada that says that the desire to leave with Krishna is not a wish that stirs the mind, the illusion is used a lot by the Sankirtaneros, I told a man that you have the face of a very good person, you look like the Pope, he immediately took out his wallet and gave me a donation of 100 dollars I told one mother who has the face of a saint, she immediately collaborated with me and told me that I collaborate because you have told me holy, pride, Srila Prabhupada said that the words of the spiritual master are the pride of the disciple, also pride is spiritualized when we become proud of Our acharyas or spiritual teachers who form our disciplic succession, what great personalities! They come from the spiritual world, we must not imitate the acharyas, but follow in their footsteps, I remember reading in the Nectar of Devotion that the devotee mahabhagavata is in raganuga , but to set an example to neophytes, act as a neophyte and envy, I remember in the centenary of Srila Prabhupada in the year 1996 the bbt of Spain promised in front of the Deities and 500 devotees that the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita would print, there are countries very young people who have all of Srila Prabhupada's books translated and printed into their languages, that is transcendental envy.

The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 3, by Haripada dasa

 

The 26 Qualities of a Pure Devotee of God or Krishna, Part 3, by Haripada dasa

17- He does not eat more than he needs: Srila Prabhupada said that if one eats more, he will have to sleep more, and if one sleeps more than 6 hours a day he is influenced by ignorance, most of the Hindus are skinny , but they have an inconceivable energy.

18- He is always prudent: In Sriman Bhagavatam, ninth canto, chapter 16 it is said that Parasurama's father, Jamadagni, told his youngest son Parasurama to kill his brothers, for having disobeyed his order and his mother for having been Mentally unfaithful, Lord Parasurama knowing the power of his father, a master in the art of meditation and austerity, immediately killed his mother and brothers, Jamadagni, the son of Satyavati was very pleased with Parasurama and invited him to ask him whatever blessing he wanted, Lord Parasurama asked my mother and my brothers to live again and not remember that I killed them, that is the blessing he asked and Srila Prabhupada in the meaning says that it doesn't matter if we are Kartavyryarjuna, Jamadagni or Parasurama , or whoever, we must act with great prudence and sagacity, otherwise we will have to suffer the results of sinful activities, that is the lesson we get from the Vedic scriptures.

19- He is always respectful of others: Srila Gaura Kisora ​​das babhaji always said that all living entities are worthy of my worship.

20- He does not demand respect for himself: Srila Prabhupada said that we should not demand respect from others, but inspire respect.

21- He is serious: It is said that the devotee of Krishna is so serious that it is very difficult to know his plans and his mentality, even the most intelligent people get confused when they see the words, activities and thoughts of the pure devotees of God.

22- He is merciful .: The symptom of a merciful person is that he is very tolerant.

23- He is friendly: A nickname of Maharaja Yudisthir is that he never created any enemy, the devotee of God or Krishna is so friendly that he even prays to God for his enemies and Srila Visvanatha Cakravatti Thakura says that this is the sign of a paramahansa , who wishes well even to his enemy.

24- He is poetic: Srila Prabhupada says in a class that poetic is not that he writes poetry, but that he writes spiritual literature.

25- He is an expert: I remember that in the Nectar of Devotion it says that the expert person is the one who does the most difficult thing, the most difficult thing to do in this world is to turn people into Krishna devotees, once They asked Srila Prabhupada that the great saints always perform miracles and what is your miracle, Srila Prabhupada answered you see all these people, before they were crows, now they are swans, I turn crows into swans, that is why Srila Prabhupada said that only one Pure devotee can make pure devotees, pseudo devotee cannot, worldly people envy Krishna's pure devotee, seeing him so expert in everything.

26- He is silent: Srila Prabhupada said that the silent person is the one who chants Hare Krishna 24 hours a day and preaches the glories of the Lord.

Humility, deception and tolerance

 

Humility, deception and tolerance, by Haripada dasa

Humility, humility means feeling insignificant, and if we do something positive to help others to awaken their Krishna consciousness, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna.

On deception, on a walk in Mayapur, India on March 14, 1976 Srila Prabhupada says that the whole world is a society of deceivers and deceived, that is my Gurudeva's version, so do not become a deceiver or allow them to fool you, that's intelligence.

All conditioned souls are born with 4 defects, 1, we make mistakes, to err is human, 2, we have imperfect senses, 3, we have the tendency to fall into ignorance and 4, we have the tendency to deceive ourselves and others .

In Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami's book entitled mana-siksa or preaching to the mind, he says that the only medicine to cure deception is humility, humility means feeling insignificant, and if we do something positive to help others to awaken their Krishna consciousness, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna.

On tolerance, Jesus Christ was made many offenses and crucified, but he prayed to God for his offenders. He was merciful and tolerant, it is said that a great personality is measured by his degree of tolerance, of course tolerance and mercy are two qualities that go together, a person is tolerant when he is very merciful, materialists are not even tolerant nor merciful, every day they send millions and millions of innocent animals to the slaughterhouse, and they are not tolerant, I saw how one person whistled at the car in front because the traffic light had turned green and the other got out of the car all annoyed and they finished punching each other.

There are two kinds of gurus

 There are two kinds of gurus, by Haripada dasa

In the book entitled Amrita - vani by Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura says that there are two kinds of gurus, one is sent by God or Krishna from the spiritual world and it is for very serious and sincere people in the spiritual life and as God or Krishna knows that there will be many people who will want to be deceived there is another guru who is false or unauthorized, that guru deceives himself and others.

Only the great personality that has been sent by the Lord from the spiritual world to the material world to save the conditioned souls like us, who frees the afflicted people from the three types of anguish and sends them back to God, who is very dear to the Supreme Lord and that you represent, and who is the herald of the transcendental subject, is able to act as our spiritual master, the first step in obtaining perfection is the refuge in a spiritual master, through the Thanks to the Lord, the person receives a spiritual teacher according to his personal requirements. But if we are lucky and sincerely seek a genuine spiritual master, and if we humbly pray to the Lord, you get the grace of such a guru, then, by the grace of God you will get a guru of good faith in this life, then by taking refuge in Him our life will be a success.

I share that last November I made an account on Facebook, it is called Haripada dasa and I put a very nice picture of Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, now I have almost 3000 friends, almost all of India, in the 5 song of Bhagavatam it is said that He who was born in India, is because he has done many pious activities in his past lives, and also Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu instructed that all who were born in India, must become Krishna conscious and their life will be successful and help others People to do the same. On Facebook I participate in several Hare Krishna groups and I put my spiritual messages, several people who like my messages tell me that you are my guru, so that there are no misunderstandings I tell you that here the only authorized guru is Srila Prabhupada, and if you want you and I can be friends and spiritual brothers, so I don't fool myself or anyone else.

Best friends

 

Best friends, by Haripada dasa

A friend is that person who always wishes us our good, in which one has a relationship based on love and trust, and one knows that there will never be betrayal, our best friends are God or Krishna and His devotees, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we understand that God or Krishna in His Paramatma or Supersoul form is in the hearts of all living entities, and He is our best friend because He never leaves us.

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we understand and accept that we are all in the material world for having misused our free will, it is very interesting what is said in the book of Krishna in the chapter entitled the prayers of the personified Vedas, there it is said that there cannot be any influence of chance on living entities, they have knowledge and, therefore, they are called chaitanya, which means knowingly, their location in different conditions of life, therefore, it is not accidental, it is due to they have chosen like this, since they have knowledge, in other words, that is, it is we who have turned our backs on God or Krishna and have come to this material world, and God or Krishna is so friendly and merciful to us that he believes the material world for the living entities to play God or Krishna.

 The fall of the soul to the material world was illustrated very well by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the son told his father that I want my part of the inheritance to have a life independent of you, the inheritance was spent pleasing his senses with prostitutes, wine, etc., when he had money he had friends, when he ran out of money he ran out of friends and saw himself eating carob beans with the pigs, there he reflected and realized the big mistake he made, he thought with my father he had his love and I never lacked anything, I had everything, what a big mistake I have made, I am going to ask my father for forgiveness, and when he got to his father he threw himself on the ground crying and asking his father for forgiveness, his father was very happy to see his son again and hugged him, and then made a big festival to welcome his son.

Srila Visvanatha Thakura in his book entitled Madhurya Kadambini illustrates very well the entry of the spirit soul into the spirit world, when the spirit soul comes to the spirit world in the form of a cowherd boy and sees Krishna faint, then Krishna goes there and It says that I know all the sufferings that you have had to undergo to be My devotee in the material world, because I have always been with you, all your friends and family despised you, they all thought you were crazy, and you had to tolerate everything for Me, and I have not done anything as a reward for all your sacrifices, therefore I have become your debtor, then the spirit soul tells Krishna that to satisfy my desire to serve at your lotus feet, you deposited the syllables of Your mantra in my ears, You destroyed my sufferings, You purified me with the process of hearing, chanting and constantly remembering Your qualities and Your name and through association with Your devotees You made me understand how to do e service to you, a person as miserably selfish as I deserves to be punished, but on the contrary, you have made me drink nectar by showing me your own personality.

The bottom line is that our best friends are God or Krishna and His devotees.