Teachings of Lord Chaitanya – Chapter 14

In the present age there are many persons who accept the renounced order of life but who are not spiritually advanced. Lord Caitanya did not approve of one’s accepting sannyasa without having perfect knowledge of Krishna consciousness. Actually it is found that there are many so-called sannyaasees whose actions are below those of ordinary men but who pass themselves off as being in the renounced order of life. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not accept such hypocrisy. The perfectional stage of spiritual life which one can experience even while being in the material world is described in the Twelfth Chapter of Bhagavad-Geeta as follows:

“One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me—he is very dear to Me. He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me. A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result, is very dear to Me. One who grasps neither pleasure or grief who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me. One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service, is very dear to Me. He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal, is very, very dear to Me.” (Bg. 12.13–20)

Teachings of Lord Chaitanya – Chapter 12 & 13

Chapter 12
Devotional service is the eternal life of the living entity and is lying dormant in everyone’s heart. The practice which invokes that dormant devotional service is called practical devotional service. The purport is that the living entity is constitutionally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord; the Lord can be compared to the sun, and the living entities can be compared to molecules of sunshine. Under the spell of illusory energy, the spiritual spark is almost extinguished, but by practical devotional service one can revive his natural constitutional position. When one practices devotional service, it should be understood that he is returning to his original and normal liberated position. Devotional service can be practiced with one’s senses under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master.

Chapter 13
Out of sheer misunderstanding, some transcendentalists think that knowledge and renunciation are necessary for rising to the platform of devotional service. This is not so. The cultivation of knowledge and the renunciation of fruitive activities may be necessary to understand one’s spiritual existence in relation to the material conception of life, but they are not part and parcel of devotional service. The results of knowledge and fruitive activities are liberation and material sense gratification respectively. Consequently, they cannot be part and parcel of devotional service; rather, they have no intrinsic value in the discharge of devotional service. When one is freed from bondage to the results of knowledge and fruitive activities, he can attain to devotional service. Since a devotee of Lord Krishna is by nature nonviolent, and since his mind and senses are controlled, he does not have to make a special effort to acquire the good qualities which result from cultivating knowledge and performing fruitive activities.

Teachings of Lord Chaitanya – Chapter 11

Generally people come into the association of devotees in order to mitigate some material wants, but the influence of a pure devotee frees a man from all material desires so that he eventually comes to relish the taste of devotional service. Devotional service is so nice and pure that it purifies the devotee, and he forgets all material ambitions as soon as he engages fully in the transcendental loving service of Krishna. A practical example is Dhruva Maharaja, who wanted something material from Krishna and therefore engaged in devotional service. When the Lord appeared as four-handed Vishnu before Dhruva, Dhruva told the Lord: “My dear Lord, because I engaged myself in Your devotional service with great austerity and penances, I am now seeing You. Even great demigods and great sages have difficulty in seeing You. Now I am pleased, and all my desires are satisfied. I do not want anything else. I was searching for some broken glass, but instead I have found a great and valuable gem.” Thus Dhruva Maharaja was fully satisfied, and he refused to ask anything of the Lord.

Firm conviction to execute the order of the Lord is known as faith. If one has faith he is firmly convinced that simply by rendering devotional service to Lord Krishna all other activities are automatically performed—including ritualistic duties, sacrifices, yoga and the speculative pursuit of knowledge. If one is convinced that devotional service to the Lord includes everything, no other activity is required.

Blessings can come in any form... be ready to accept them.

Positive vibrations from spiritual people attract so much that one cant stop tears. By spiritual people one shall not always imagine about any saint or priest. Anyone with clean heart and a pure devotee is a spiritual person. Yesterday I was giving free astrological consultations in Gurgaon while I met an old lady. During discussions with her I felt so much positive thoughts developing and for no reasons my eyes were filled with tears... This didn't happen for any other person who came there to get consultations. Then I asked her that who is her diety and the answer was Lord Vishnu. She uttered slowly - "Om namo bhagwate vasudevaye..." and immediately I asked for her blessings and she blessed us (me as well as one other astrologer giving consultations to other people in the same room). Now I feel may be it was some divine power who came over there in that form to just bless us...!!!

Teachings of Lord Chaitanya (Chapter 1 to 5)

1. It is not necessary for one to abandon his family. What must be renounced is the propensity for material enjoyment.

2. Love of Krishna’s service can only be attained by working for Krishna. In such work, we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, whatever we have, should be used for Krishna. We can use everything: typewriters, automobiles, airplanes, missiles—anything.

3. In material consciousness we are trying to love that which is not at all lovable. We give our love to dogs and cats, running the risk that at the time of death we may think of them and consequently take birth in a family of cats or dogs. Thus love that does not have Krishna as its object leads downward. It is not that Krishna or God is something obscure or something that only a few chosen people can attain. Caitanya Mahäprabhu informs us that in every country and in every scripture there is some hint of love of Godhead.

4. Krishna-bhaktas are free from all material desires. Those who are liberated theoretically by knowing simply that the living entity is not material may still have desires, although they may be technically classified amongst liberated souls. Their main desire is to become one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Generally such persons are very much attached to Vedic rituals and righteous activities, performing them in order to enjoy material prosperity. Even when some of them transcend material enjoyment, they still try to enjoy the spiritual world by merging into the existence of the Supreme Lord. Some of them are also desirous of attaining mystic powers through the execution of yoga. As long as these desires are within one’s heart, he cannot understand the nature of pure devotional service. When one is constantly being agitated by such desires, he is not peaceful. Indeed, as long as there is any desire for material perfection at all, one cannot be at peace. Since the devotees of Lord Krishna do not desire anything material, they are the only peaceful persons within this material world. – Chapter 1.

5. Lord Caitanya said that by the mercy of the spiritual master one can achieve the causeless mercy of the Lord, and by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can attain the mercy of the bona fide spiritual master. – Chapter 1.

6. It is also considered to be disadvantageous to desire liberation. The only desire should be the desire to render service. Neglect of restrictions and prohibitions is also disadvantageous. The prohibitions are mentioned in the authorized scriptures: One should not indulge in illicit sex life, intoxication, meat eating or gambling. These things are forbidden to one who is attempting devotional service. If one does not follow these principles strictly, there may be a severe disturbance in the discharge of devotional service. – Chapter 1.

7. In pure devotional service there can be no desire other than the desire to advance in Krishna consciousness. In Krishna consciousness there is no scope for worshiping any demigod or any other form of Krishna, nor is there room for indulgence in speculative empiric philosophy, nor indulgence in fruitive activities. – Chapter 1.

8. Just as an ordinary materialistic businessman thinks of nothing else when he is absorbed in his business, a pure devotee, when engaged in the service of the Lord, does not think of anything beyond that engagement. – Chapter 1.

9. “Your constitutional position is that you are pure living soul,” the Lord told Sanätana. “This material body cannot be identified with your real self; nor is your mind your real identity, nor your intelligence, nor false ego. Your identity is that of eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Your position is that you’re transcendental. The superior energy of Krishna is spiritual in constitution, and the inferior external energy is material. Since you are between the material energy and the spiritual energy, your position is marginal. Belonging to the marginal potency of Krishna, you are simultaneously one with and different from Krishna. Because you are spirit, you are not different from Krishna, and because you are only a minute particle of Krishna, you are different from Him.” This simultaneous oneness and difference always exists in the relationship between the living entities and the Supreme Lord. From the marginal position of the living entities, this conception of “simultaneously one and different” can be understood. The living entity is just like a molecular particle of sunshine, whereas Krishna may be compared to the blazing, shining sun itself. Lord Caitanya compared the living entities to blazing sparks from a fire and the Supreme Lord to the blazing fire of the sun. – Chapter 3.

10. The execution of duties to attain perfection is known as devotional service, and in maturity such devotional service becomes love of God, the factual goal of life for every living being. Actually the living entity is not intended to achieve success in religious rituals, economic development or sense enjoyment. The living entity should not even desire success in liberation, what to speak of success in religion, economics and sense enjoyment. One’s real desire should only be to achieve the stage of loving transcendental service to the Lord. The all-attractive features of Lord Krishna help one in attaining this transcendental service, and it is by such service in Krishna consciousness that one can realize the relationship between Krishna and himself. – Chapter 4.

11. On the southern side there are Vedic rituals, and on the western side there is mental speculation, and on the northern side there is meditational yoga.” Sarvajïa’s advice should be carefully noted by everyone. If one searches for the ultimate goal by the ritualistic process, he will surely be baffled. Such a process involves the performance of rituals under the guidance of a priest who takes money in exchange for service. A man may think he will be happy by performing such rituals, but actually if he does gain some result from them, it is only temporary. His material distresses will continue. Thus he will never become truly happy by following the ritualistic process. Instead, he will simply increase his material pangs more and more. The same may be said for digging on the northern side, or searching for the treasure by means of the meditational yoga process. By this process a person thinks of becoming one with the Supreme Lord, but this merging into the Supreme is like being swallowed by a large serpent. Sometimes a large serpent swallows a smaller one, and merging into the spiritual existence of the Supreme is analogous. While the small serpent is searching after perfection, he is swallowed. Obviously there is no solution here. On the western side there is also an impediment in the form of a Yaksha, an evil spirit who protects the treasure. The idea is that a hidden treasure can never be found by one who asks the favor of a yaksha in order to attain it. The result is that one will simply be killed. This yaksha is the speculative mind, and in this case the speculative process of self-realization, or the gyaan process, is also suicidal. The only possibility then is to search for the hidden treasure on the eastern side by the process of devotional service in full Krishna consciousness. Indeed, that process of devotional service is the perpetual hidden treasure, and when one attains to it, he becomes perpetually rich. One who is poor in devotional service to Krishna is always in need of material gain. Sometimes he suffers the bites of poisonous creatures, and sometimes he is baffled; sometimes he follows the philosophy of monism and thereby loses his identity, and sometimes he is swallowed by a large serpent. It is only by abandoning all this and becoming fixed in Krishna consciousness, devotional service to the Lord, that one can actually achieve the perfection of life. – Chapter 4.

12. As one advances in devotional service, he attains love of Godhead, and as he advances in this love, he becomes free from all material bondage. – Chapter 5.

13. Caitanya Mahäprabhu pointed out that although (according to Padma Purana) there are different scriptures for worshiping different types of demigods, such instructions only bewilder people into thinking that the demigods are supreme. Yet if one carefully scrutinizes and studies the Puranas, he will find that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the only object of worship. – Chapter 5.

Learnings from Mukunda Mal Stotra

Following are the lessons from Mukunda Mal Stotra which is explained in detail by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ji.

1. There is no one but the Lord who can be a causelessly merciful friend to us. He is therefore also called Dina-bandhu, "the friend of the needy." Unfortunately, at times of need we seek our friends in the mundane world, not knowing that one needy man cannot help another. No mundane man is full in every respect; even a man possessing the greatest riches is himself needy if he is devoid of a relationship with the Lord. Everything is zero without the Lord, who is the digit that transforms zero into ten, two zeros into one hundred, three zeros into one thousand, and so on. Thus a "zero man" cannot become happy without the association of the Lord, the supreme "1."

2. By the mercy of the Lord, a devotee develops all the good qualities of God, for a devotee can never remain in the darkness of ignorance. A father is always anxious to impart knowledge and experience to his son, but the son can choose whether to accept such instructions. A submissive devotee becomes automatically enlightened in all the intricacies of knowledge because the Lord, from within, dissipates his ignorance with the self-illumined lamp of wisdom. If the Lord Himself instructs the devotee, how can he remain foolish like the mundane wranglers?

3. In the material world all relationships are actually mercenary but are covered by an illusory curtain of so-called love and affection. The so-called wives and husbands, parents and children, and masters and servants are all concerned with reciprocal material profit. As soon as the shroud of illusion is removed, the dead body of material so-called love and affection is at once manifest to the naked eye. The Lord expertly removes the shroud of illusion for the neophyte devotee by depriving him of his material assets, and thus the devotee finds himself alone in the midst of his so-called relatives. In this helpless condition he experiences the awkwardness of his so-called relationships with his so-called wife and children. When a man is financially ruined, no one loves him, not even his wife or children. Such a poverty-stricken devotee more perfectly fixes his faith in the Lord, and the Lord then delivers him from the fate of frustration.

4. The living being's constitutional position is to be a servant of the Lord, but in the transcendental relationship the servant and the Lord are in one sense identical, for the Lord also serves the servant.

5. One can attain the perfection of life only by serving the real Lord. The entire material atmosphere is surcharged with the false lordship of the living beings. The illusioned beings are all struggling for false lordship, and thus no one wants to serve. Everyone wants to be the lord, even though such lordship is conditional and temporary. A hardworking man thinks himself the lord of his family and estate, but actually he is a servant of desire and the employee of anger. Such service of the senses is neither pensionable nor terminable, for desire and anger are masters who are never to be satisfied. The more one serves them, the more service they exact, and as such the false overlordship continues until the day of annihilation. As a result, the foolish living being is pushed into degraded life and fails to recognize the Lord as the beneficiary of all activities, the ruler of the universe, and the friend of all entities. One who knows the real Lord is called a brahmana, but one who fails to know Him is called a krpana, or number-one miser.

6. The world in which we live is a miserable place. It is, so to speak, a prison house for the spirit soul. Just as a prisoner cannot move or enjoy life fully, so the living entities who have been conditioned by the laws of material nature cannot experience their actual ever-joyful nature. They cannot have any freedom, because they must suffer four principal miseries--birth, old age, disease, and death. The laws of material nature impose this punishment upon the living entities who have forgotten the Lord and who are busy making plans for lasting happiness in this desert of distress. By the mercy of the Lord, the pure devotee knows all this very well. Indeed, his whole philosophy of life is based on this understanding. Advancement of knowledge means to understand the naked truth of this world and to not be deluded by the temporary beauty of this phantasmagoria.

7. If one finds him-self entangled in worldly connections, one should behave outwardly like a worldly man but remain inwardly faithful for spiritual Realization. That will help one on the progressive march of life. Nobody can cross over the big ocean in a sudden jump. What was possible for Hanuman by the grace of Lord Rama is not possible for an ordinary man. So to cross the ocean of illusion one should patiently cultivate devotion to the Lord, and in this way one can gradually reach the other side.

8. The inner tendency to enjoy is in the core of every living being's heart. But in the diseased state of material existence the living being misuses that tendency. The more he increases this diseased, conditioned state, the longer he extends his period of material existence. The sastras advise, therefore, that a living entity should accept only those sense-enjoyable objects necessary for the upkeep of the material body and reject those that are just for sense gratification. In this way he will reduce the tendency for sense enjoyment. This restraint cannot be imposed by force; it must be voluntary. Such restraint automatically develops in the course of one's executing devotional service. Thus one who is already engaged in devotional service need not restrain his senses artificially. A pure devotee therefore, neither desires sense enjoyment nor exerts himself to restrain his senses; rather, he tries only to engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, without any stop.

9. Human beings advance toward God consciousness when they go beyond the gross materialistic life of eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating and begin to develop moral and ethical principles. These principles develop further into religious consciousness, leading to an imaginary conception of God without any practical realization of the truth. These stages of God consciousness are called religiosity, which promises material prosperity of various degrees.

People who develop this conception of religiosity perform sacrifices, give in charity, and undergo different types of austerity and penance, all with a view toward being rewarded with material prosperity. The ultimate goal of such so-called religious people is sense gratification of various kinds. For sense gratification, material prosperity is necessary, and therefore they perform religious rituals with a view toward the resultant material name, fame, and gain.

But genuine religion is different. In Sanskrit such genuine religion is called dharma, which means "the essential quality of the living being." The sastras say that this essential quality is to render eternal service, and the proper object of this service is the Supreme Truth, Lord Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead. This eternal, transcendental service of the Lord is misdirected under material conditions and takes the shape of (1) the aforementioned religiosity, (2) economic development, (3) sense gratification, and (4) salvation, or the attempt to negate all material variegatedness out of frustration.

Genuine religion, however, does not culminate in either economic development, sense gratification, or salvation. The perfection of religion is to attain complete satisfaction of the spirit soul, and this is accomplished by rendering devotional service to the Lord, who is beyond the perception of the material senses. When the living being directs his eternal service attitude toward the eternal Supreme Being, such service can never be hampered by any sort of material hindrance. Such transcendental service is above even salvation, and therefore it certainly does not aim at any kind of material reward in the shape of name, fame, or gain.

One who engages in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Being automatically attains detachment from material name, fame, and gain, which are aspired for only by those who do not understand that this name, fame, and gain are merely shadows of the real thing. Material name, fame, and gain are only perverted reflections of the substance--the name, fame, and opulences of the Lord. Therefore the pure devotee of Lord Vasudeva, enlightened by the transcendental service attitude, has no attraction for such false things as religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, or salvation, the last snare of Maya.

The purpose of performing real religion is to attain attachment for hearing and chanting the messages of the kingdom of God. Materialistic people are attached to ordinary newspapers on account of their lack of spiritual consciousness. Real religion develops this spiritual consciousness and also attachment for the messages of God, without which all labor in the performance of religious rites is only a waste of energy.

Therefore one should not practice religion with the aim of improving one's economic welfare, nor should one use one's wealth for sense gratification, nor should the frustration of one's plans for sense gratification lead one to aspire for salvation, or liberation from material conditions. Instead of indulging in sense gratification of different grades with the fruits of one's labor, one should work just to maintain the body and soul together, with the aim of inquiring into the ultimate aims and objects of life. In other words, one should inquire into the Absolute Truth.

The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases, namely, the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramatma, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person who attains the highest stage of spiritual realization--realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead--automatically prays as King Kulasekhara does here.

Only one who renders devotional service to the Lord can attain this stage of indifference to the false and temporary assets of material nature. Such devotional service is not a mental concoction of depraved persons but is an actual process of God realization characterized by full cognizance and detachment and based on the Vedic literature. So-called devotional practices that have no reference to the rules and regulations set down in such books of Vedic literature as the sruti, the smrti, the Puranas, and the Pancaratras are not bona fide. The self-realized souls advise us to reject such pseudodevotional practices, which simply create a disturbance on the path of spiritual realization. Only by sincerely engaging in the service of the Lord according to the injunctions of scripture can one gradually become a qualified devotee of the Lord, and it does not matter whether it takes many repetitions of birth and death, life after life.

Learnings from Isa Upanishad

I studied Isa Upanishad on March 30th, 2008. This is an excellent writing with the commentary of Shankaracharya. I have noted down the learnings over here for easy reference and fast review.

Isa Upanishad has three special features.

(a) The Referent described here is fully Theistic.
(b) Reality of the world is expressly mentioned.
(c) An active life with performance of prescribed Karmas is given importance. Escape from one's duty is not accepted.

Verse 1: He who is the supreme Ruler and supreme Self of all is the Lord. For as the indwelling soul of all, He is the Self of all beings and as such rules all. He, who is thus engaged in the thought of the Self as God, has competence only for renouncing the three kinds of desire and not for karma. You who have renounced desires, do not cherish any desire for wealth. Do not long for anybody’s – either your own or somebody else’s wealth. Nobody has any wealth which can be coveted. All this has been renounced through this thought of the “Lord”, “All this is but the Self”, so that all this belongs to the Self, and the Self is all. Therefore, do not have any hankering for things that are unreal.

The self is to be saved through firm devotedness to the knowledge of the Self after the renunciation of the threefold desire.

Verse 2: The ordinary and ignorant persons are called the killers of the Self. Because of this fault of slaying the Self, they are subject to birth and death.

Verse 6: This is a matter of experience that all revulsion comes to one who sees something as bad and different from oneself, but for one who sees only the absolutely pure Self as a continuous entity, there is no object that can be the cause of revulsion.

Verse 7: Sorrow and delusion happen to the ignorant man who does not perceive the seed of desire and actions, but not to the man who realizes the oneness, of the Self which is pure like space.

Verse 8: The first purport of the Vedas is devotedness to knowledge after renouncing all desires. And the second purport of the Vedas is that, in case this devotedness to knowledge is impossible for the man of ignorance, there should be continuance in the path of duty, which fact is stated in the second verse thus: “By doing karmas, indeed, should one wish to live.”

The works are meant for a man who is ignorant and hankers after results. Ignorance and desires are the characteristics of a man devoted to work. So the result of this work is the creation of seven kinds of fruits and continuance in a state of identification with them under the idea that they are the Self. For those who have realized the Self by renouncing the threefold desire, there can only be continuance in the Self Itself, as opposed to the continuance in the path of karma.

Verse 9: Vidya and Karma are very often enjoined to be performed separately by men of different tendencies; and separate results are enjoined for them. This would not have been so, if either formed part of the other.

Verse 10: The world of Gods is (won) through meditation and the world of Manes is (won) through karma.

Verse 11: Following good learning is found during explanation of verse 11:- The impression on (created on the mind) by merit, demerit, etc., acquired in a previous birth, as manifested at the time of death, is called nature – From Sankara’s commentary on the Gita, XVII. 2.

Know “Maya” as Prakrti (material cause) and the great Lord as the possessor of Maya.

There is no possibility of combination between the knowledge of the supreme Self and karma.

The co-existence of knowledge and karma is absurd.

When knowledge arises, karma vanishes.

When to the man of realization all beings become the very Self, then what delusion and what sorrow can there be for that seer of oneness? Since ignorance is impossible (for such a man), karma, which originates from ignorance, is also impossible.

Therefore, the combination (of karma) is with meditation and not with the knowledge of the supreme Self.

HE WHO KNOWS THESE TWO, VIDYA AND AVIDYA, TOGETHER, ATTAINS IMMORTALITY THROUGH VIDYA, BY CROSSING OVER DEATH THROUGH AVIDYA.

Vidya = Worship or meditation
Avidya = Karma = Rites

Vidya and avidya i.e. meditation on deities and rites, he who knows these together, knows them as things to be performed by the same person; for that man alone, who thus combines (the two), there occurs the successive acquisition of the two goals in the same individual. Through avidya i.e. through rites such as Agnihotra, death rites and meditation induced by one’s nature (Nature as explained above); crossing over – over both these which are called death; through vidya, the meditation on the deities; one attains immortality, identification with the deities, that very fact of becoming one with the gods being called immortality.

Lesson in my Dream

On the early morning today I saw a Dream where a saint wearing white colored clothes with white beard was giving me spiritual lessons. When I woke I forgot everything what he told me and could remember only one verse he said:
"Joy and happiness are important, Money will follow..."

Indeed very true. We search for and become mad for money at times and forget about our life which is to enjoy and be happy. It needs just a slight shift and shall focus on various joys of life and remain happy.

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