An ocean of mercy

 An ocean of mercy, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada is an ocean of mercy. The spiritual master receives the blessing of the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire to put it out, the spiritual master releases the afflicted material world by extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my respectful obeisances to the lotus feet of that spiritual master, who is an ocean of auspicious qualities.

I share a very moving story, we were in Vrindavana, India, in the house of some Italian devotees, we were respecting some maha-prasada pizzas, a very old disciple of Srila Prabhupada arrived, I don't remember her name, but I know she was Lohitaksa's wife , she told us that Srila Prabhupada was in the temple in New York and they were doing guru puja, suddenly a person with very long hair and a beard and very dirty entered the temple as if it were a dog on all fours. He headed towards Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada recognized him immediately, and crying at Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet told him several times that forgive me I have failed you, Srila Prabhupada crying was stroking his head, and all the devotees in the guru puja were crying, then that person left and no one ever heard from him.

A few years ago I was talking to an Iskcon guru in Vrindavana, India, he told me that Srila Prabhupada deviated from the guru-parampara by ordering his disciples to initiate in his name or the Ritvik philosophy, as this philosophy does not come in the Sastras or Scriptures, when I heard this I thought that this person has less intelligence than a mosquito, I told him that Srila Prabhupada distributes his mercy to everyone, but if you do not want to obtain it, the fault is yours, Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples who initiated in his name, this is supported by a special document that Srila Prabhupada sent to all Iskcon from Vrindavana, India, on July 9, 1977, anyone can read this document, and if you do not want to obey this order, blame It is not from Srila Prabhupada but from you. I also told him that according to Harinama-chintamani, the result of offending the guru is that one becomes a mayavadi or atheist. Then some years passed and we also saw each other in Vrindavana, and he said sorry for what I told you several years ago, I replied that you should not ask forgiveness from me, but from Srila Prabhupada.

Mercy

 Mercy, by Haripada dasa

By Srila Prabhupada's mercy we understand that justice means the balance, each person has what they deserve, the law of karma, and that mercy is a much higher concept than justice, since mercy means that they are giving you something. that you don't deserve A merciful person suffers when he sees others suffer and is happy when he sees others happy in God or Krishna consciousness.

Mercy and tolerance go hand in hand, a very merciful person is very tolerant, for example, envious people did many offenses to Jesus Christ, they humiliated, beat and crucified him, he had to tolerate the intolerable, however Jesus Christ was at the same time merciful and prayed to God to forgive their offenders because they did not know what they were doing, also the great devotee Srila Haridasa Thakura for chanting Hare Krishna the Muslims beat him in twenty two markets, and the chief of the Muslims told the executioners that If they did not kill him he would kill all their families, and Srila Haridasa Thakura out of compassion for the executioners so that they would not kill their families went into a coma and died, the Muslims threw Srila Haridasa Thakura's body into the Ganges River, and when he touched the The water was resurrected and came out on the other shore singing Hare Krishna, seeing this the Muslims realized that they had committed a great offense to a holy person and they went there and t They went to the lotus feet of Srila Haridasa Thakura to forgive them, here we see a great difference between the Jewish and the Muslim race, to this day the Jews have never asked forgiveness for all the offenses they did to Jesus Christ, without However, the Muslims immediately apologized to Srila Haridasa Thakura for their offenses.

Materialistic people are neither merciful nor tolerant, to satisfy their palate they send millions and millions of innocent animals to the slaughter every day, and when they are at a traffic light and the car behind whistles turns green, the man grabs the fake ego and gets out of the car and fists it fixed.

Once a disciple of Srila Prabhupada told him sentimentally to give him his mercy, Srila Prabhupada told him that I have given you 80 books of 400 pages each, if you read my books and practice what you read, the result of this will be that your latent love for God or Krishna will awaken and your human life will be a success, this seems little mercy. The difference between Srila Prabhupada and other gurus is that God or Krishna sent Srila Prabhupada from the spiritual world to do a mission on Earth, that is why he is called jagat-guru or saktyavesa avatara, the guru of the universe or the Savior of the world. , Srila Prabhupada's mission was to give us his books, he called their meanings his spiritual ecstasies, unfortunately many very demonic people have used the figure of Srila Prabhupada to satisfy their personal and selfish interests, and for doing this God or Krishna is punishing them very severely. The transcendental activities of God or Krishna and Srila Prabhupada bring pleasure to pious devotees, but for the envious, they bring pain.

The Cultured Person

 The Cultured Person, by Haripada dasa

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we understand and accept that the cultured person is identified because he has three basic qualities, these are: 1) he sees all women as mothers, except his own wife. There are seven mothers: the original mother, the priest's wife, the king's wife, the spiritual master's wife, the nurse, the cow, and the Earth. 2) See the properties of others as straw in the street, in other words, be satisfied with what you have and not want or envy the goods of others and 3) Do to others what you would like them to do to you and not to do to others what you would not like them to do to you. Can you imagine a society made up of people with these qualities? It would be a perfect partnership. We see how nowadays people consider all women as their wives and their wife does not pay attention to her. There is an inordinate competition to surpass others, both personally and between nations and no one thinks about the welfare of others. They are all politicians, a politician is one who makes plans to be happy without thinking about the welfare of others. Nowadays a cultured person is considered for his diplomas and degrees and not for his qualities. The spiritual culture of India was killed by people who invented or speculated that one can belong to the high class or be a priest by birth, but in the Holy Scriptures it is said that one belongs to the high class or priest by qualities, not his birth matters.

Srila Prabhupada was authorized and empowered by God or Krishna to revive the spiritual culture of India, by his mercy and his instructions he turned people from all over the world who were like crows into swans. There is a story related to this topic: The Himalayas were going to give birth, to have offspring, and all the most important people in the universe gathered there, and everyone was in great expectation. Timpani and other musical instruments sounded, and what did Himalaya give birth? A mouse. Everyone was very frustrated. Thus, nowadays, so many austerities and sacrifices that people make to get a career, and then when they obtain the diploma, they have to go with their curriculum, wagging their tail like a puppy, looking for a master. This is very unfortunate. And in schools, in the past it was considered something very punishing for a child to throw paper balls at another child in the class, or not to pay attention to the teacher; But nowadays, a young man goes with a machine gun and begins to kill his companions for no reason, my God! how things have changed for the worse.

Today chaos reigns, finding a balanced person is very difficult, what to say to find a pure devotee of God or Krishna, so that all this negativity does not affect you one must be very strong spiritually, it is as if it is very cold , one bundles up and that's it. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati always said that whatever else they do as they want, it doesn't concern me, I already have enough work chanting Hare Krishna and being happy and free.

Wood and Water

 Wood and Water

Hare Krishna, it is very interesting what it says in CC Madhya 15.134, there it says that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “In the age of Kali, Kṛiṣhṇa manifests Himself in two forms: wood and water. Thus, by giving the conditioned souls the possibility to see the wood and to bathe in the water, it helps them to liberate themselves. And in the next verse 135 it is said that “Lord Jagannātha is the Supreme Lord Himself in the form of wood, and the river Ganges is the Supreme Lord Himself in the form of water.

Meaning:

The Vedas order: sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: Everything is the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahman, Parambrahma. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat: Everything is a manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Brahman. Since the energy and the source of the energy are identical, actually everything is Kṛiṣhṇa, Parambrahma. This is confirmed by Lord Kṛiṣhṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.4):

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

«I, in My unmanifested form, am present in the whole universe. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them ».

Kṛiṣhṇa, in His impersonal form, is spread throughout the universe. As everything is a manifestation of the Lord's energy, the Lord can manifest through any energy. In the present age, the Lord manifests Himself through wood in the form of Lord Jagannātha, and through water in the form of the river Ganges. For this reason, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered the two brothers, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and Vidyā-vācaspati, to worship Lord Jagannātha and the Ganges River.

With love and trust I share these beautiful prayers to Mother Ganga:

Sri Ganga Stotram: Prayer to Mother Ganga, By Adi Sankaracharya

1) Oh goddess Ganga! You are the divine river of heaven. You are the one who saves us from the three worlds. You are pure and restless. You adorn the head of Lord Shiva. Oh mother! may my mind always rest on your lotus feet.

2) Mother Bhagirathi! You give happiness to everyone. The meaning of your holy waters is praised in the Vedas. I am ignorant and I am not able to understand its importance. Oh Devi, you are full of mercy. Please protect me.

3) Oh Devi! Your waters are as sacred as Sri Hari's charanamrita. Your waves are white like snow, the moon and pearls. Please wash away all my sins and help me cross the ocean of samsara.

4) Oh, Mother !, those who participate in your pure waters, undoubtedly reach the highest state. O Mother Ganga, Yama, the Lord of death cannot harm your devotees.

5) Oh, Jahnavi! Your waters that flow through the Himalayas make them even more beautiful. You are the mother of Bhishma and the daughter of the sage Jahnu. You are the savior of the one who falls from his path, and that is why you are venerated in the three worlds.

6) Oh, Mother! You fulfill all the wishes of your devotees. Those who bow down to you don't have to suffer. Oh, Ganga! You are anxious to merge with the ocean, like a young man eager to meet his beloved.

7) Oh, Mother! Those who bathe in your waters do not have to be born again. Oh, Jahnavi! You are in the highest esteem. You destroy the sins of your devotees and save them from hell.

8) Oh, Jahnavi! You are full of compassion. You purify your devotees with your holy waters. Your feet are adorned with the crown jewels of Indra. Those who seek refuge in you get the blessing of happiness.

9) O Bhagavati! Take away my illnesses, sadness, difficulties, sins and bad attitudes. You are the essence of the three worlds and you are like a necklace around the Earth. Or Devi! You are the only refuge of mine in Samsara.

10) Oh, Bargain! Those who seek happiness adore you. You are the source of happiness for Alakapuri and the source of eternal bliss. Those who reside on its banks are as privileged as those who live on Vaikuntha.

11) Oh Devi! It is better to live in your waters, like turtles or fish, or on your shores like a poor chandala, than to live far from you like a rich king.

12) Oh, Goddess of the Universe! Purify us! O daughter of Jahnu muni! Whoever recites this Ganga Stotram every day certainly achieves success.

13) People who have devotion to Mother Ganga always achieve happiness and achieve liberation. This beautiful and lyrical Gangastuti is a source of supreme happiness.

14) This prayer, Sri Ganga Stotram, written by Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Lord Siva's devotee, purifies us and fulfills all our wishes.

Hare Krishna, this youtube link is a beautiful Artika or worship of Mother Ganga in Varanasi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An0e4v5Rb3w

Hare Krishna if you put on youtube to look for this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d20NhSifd7A

You will get the Ratha yatra of Puri, filmed by a TV in the USA, very beautiful.