Does Krishna Likes Hardwork?

Question:  Does Krishna Likes Hardwork?

Is it true that Lord Krishna likes those persons who are hardworking?

Answer:  Not If It's For Sense Gratification

Krishna is very pleased if we work hard in His service.  Such hard working is a symptom of our love for Krishna.   But He is not pleased when we work hard simply for sense gratification. When we work hard for Krishna we become free from the material miseries. But if we work hard only for material sense gratification our material sufferings will increase.

The Doctor helped in time

He spoke at last. And helped.

The election scenario was getting colourless and seeing the image of Dr. Manmohan Singh as a suave, soft-spoken, decent neighbour who doesn't like loud music or bad manners in today's GenX, running home as per the wishes and directions of 10,Janpath, one would have thought twice before blaming him for anything, as he was, factually, not responsible for anything.

Now he has given the much-desired chance.

The first thing of his government's 'brevity' and courage to take on terrorism, that has taken more than sixty thousand lives of Indians in the last two decades was to remove POTA.

It greatly relieved the Jihadis.

The UPA became the first-ever Congress government to give credibility to Muslim League by inviting it to join the central cabinet. Muslim League is the party that had demanded and got India's Partition that led to an unprecedented bloodbath. Then his government introduced reservations in Aligarh Muslim University for Muslims.

The UPA supported the Batla House gang, a name that has come to symbolise neo-secularism that helps terror gangs and insults patriotic martyrs in the wake of the Batla House encounter in New Delhi.

It virtually became beneficial to be a non-Hindu in a Hindu majority nation under the UPA regime.

The steps the UPA took to appease Muslims at the cost of Hindu welfare and using revenues primarily generated by Hindus were as follows:

1. 20,000 special scholarships for minority students for technical/professional courses. For minority students studying in top 50 institutions [like IIMs, IITs etc], full course fee is reimbursable. For those studying in other institutions course fee up to Rs 20,000 per annum is reimbursable. Hostellers will get maintenance allowance of Rs 1,000 per month.

2. The Congress manifesto of 2004 declared all Muslims as educationally backward in Kerala and Karnataka to reserve jobs for them.

3. The National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Misra in May 2007 has recommended sub-quota of 8.4 per cent for minorities within 27 per cent OBC quota, and, reservation to Dalit minorities by including such converts under Scheduled Caste category within the 15 per cent SC quota. It said that in the 27 per cent OBC quota, an 8.4 per cent sub-quota could be earmarked for the minorities with an internal break-up of six per cent for Muslims and 2.4 per cent for other minorities. If Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are clubbed into the 15 per cent quota they will squeeze out SC Hindus, as Christians and Muslims enjoy better literacy than SC Hindus. Misra has been a Congress Member of the Rajya Sabha.

4. On March 13, 2007 Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha that of the total priority sector lending, loans to minorities had increased by 33 per cent to Rs 45,490 crore on March 31, 2006 as against Rs 34,654 crore when the UPA Government took office in May 2004. The Finance Minister said that during the financial year 2005-06, credit to religious minorities was 8.18 per cent of the total priority sector lending. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has committed to raise credit to minorities to 15 per cent of the total priority sector lending.

5. The Ministry of Social Justice had sought Rs 16,100 crore for welfare of SCs and OBCs, out of which Rs 11,185 crore was earmarked for SCs and Rs 2,250 crore for OBCs. But reflecting the step-motherly treatment of Hindus by the Congress party, the Planning Commission reduced allocation for their welfare schemes by Rs 3,000 with the result budgetary allocation for welfare of SCs stands reduced to Rs 9,097 crore and for OBCs stands reduced to a peanut amount of Rs 1,588 crore. This is the price, which SC and OBC Hindus had to pay for voting for the UPA parties.

6. A multi-sectoral development plan for each of the 90 minority concentration districts will be drawn up at a cost of Rs. 3,780 crore. The allocation in 2008-09 will be Rs. 540 crore;

7. A pre-matric scholarship scheme with an allocation of Rs. 80 crore next year;

8.A scheme for modernising madarssa education for which a provision of Rs. 45.45 crore has been made in 2008-09;

9. 256 branches of public sector banks have been opened this year until December 2007 in districts with substantial minority population. 288 more will be opened by March 2008 and many more in 2008-09; and

10. Continuing the exercise started this year, more candidates belonging to the minority communities will be recruited to the central para-military forces.

11. Rs. 60 crore to enhance the corpus fund of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation." (Budget speech, Part-A)

He should also be informed about the legacy that he says he is proud of, i.e., the Congress.

When Indian soldiers were fighting Pakistani marauders in 1947, they didn't have enough jeeps. So orders were placed with its British company and supply demanded immediately. Our High Commissioner Krishna Menon, a blue-eyed boy of Pt. Nehru messed it up. Jeeps reached a year late and with a taint of hot money exchanging hands.

That was the first scandal of Independent India.

We lost Gilgit, Baltistan and Skardu. We lost Aksai Chin, because the government at Delhi didn't know the exact boundaries and no patrolling was taking place.

In total, we have lost one lakh twenty-five thousand square kms to the Pakistanis and Chinese during Congress rule.

And we had a bad dream called 1962.

At that time our ordnance factories were making coffee machines as Pt. Nehru had openly opined against having well-equipped large army for defence. Who is going to attack us, he asked.

Still we say that Pt. Nehru was the 'architect' of modern India.

And people remember the mysterious 'murder' of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Srinagar, who simply wanted Kashmir to be a part of India like Bihar or Bengal and permit system to enter the Valley be abolished. There were two rulers in Kashmir; the Chief Minister was called Sadr-e-Riyasat or 'head of the state'. Two flags and two laws for the Valley. Mookerjee's martyrdom compelled the Nehru government to remove the permit system and two heads for the state. Post-jeep scandal, we saw Mundhra scandal, Nagarwala case, L N Mishra murder. The Jan Sangh's fast emerging leader Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was murdered. All the cases were suspected Congress conspiracies.

When the portrait of Dr. Mookerjee was unveiled in Parliament, with utter disregard to parliamentary propriety and civility, Congress leaders, including Dr. Manmohan Singh boycotted the function, though Vajpayee and Advani had been attending programmes to mark the birth and death anniversaries of Pt. Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi.

The only Prime Minister they had running a government for full five years successfully was insulted even in his death and his body-in-state was not allowed to enter the Congress headquarters in New Delhi and an airport in his home state was opposed to be named after him by Congressmen though the proposal was put forth by an Opposition leader. This is how they treat their party leaders not belonging to the Family.

They amended, abused and twisted the Constitution, put the entire Opposition behind bars for an undisclosed period and revenged harshly on the unyielding masses.

Yet, they are the democrats and secular lighthouses of freedom of expression and liberty.

They kept India backward in such a planned manner that even after sixty-two years of Independence we are yet to have a spacious functional airport in the national capital, seventy thousand farmers committed suicides in one year, brave decorated soldiers returned their medals in protest and a movie on our poverty-stricken 'slumdogs' fetches a British Oscar in 2009. And they love the illegal Muslim infiltrators just for the sake of their votes - and still they say they are the inheritors of a freedom struggle that demanded ouster of the aliens.

More than anything else they tried to wreck the morale of the assertive Hindus who have been facing the onslaught of the invaders for the last twelve centuries with unparalleled brevity showing an invincible spirit to protect their culture and the fragrance of the land. They deserved to be comforted most after a fractured independence and a massacre that was thrust upon them by a weak Congress leadership. Yet a large section of the Hindus today feel cheated and anguished.

They, the assertive nationalist Hindu Right, form governments in twelve states, prove they can run the country beautifully with a coalition of twenty-five parties having diametrically opposed ideologies. And one of their swayamsewaks unfurled teh Tricolour six times from the ramparts of the Red Fort, as the Prime Minister of the nation, impressed the world leaders and international media with a record of infrastructure building, communication revolution and women empowerment, chose a Muslim to be the President of the State and had the Pokhran-2 failing the CIA 'eyes', resisted extraordinary world pressure and sanctions. Yet they are called 'anti-development, their love for development and secularism is so deep that they can send dredgers to destroy a million years of faith and marine life because that was Ram Setu but won't ever dare to touch a 6x6 feet fake dargah built in the middle of the road blocking the highway and causing accidents, for fear of annoying a vote bank.

And then they say, they are good and others are bad.

Meditative Thoughts

One day a Guru entered in a temple and hid its shoes so that they couldn’t steal them.

The disciple us remained badly: “How come? You are speaking about attachments and you hide your shoes? “

The Guru answered: “I do not hide them for fear that they steal them. I do not want to feed to thief the desire to steal. You hide them for the fear of being theft. I , for the fear of giving to the thief the opportunity to make a mistake ".

Meditative Thoughts

A day, going out from the convent, Saint Francisco met friar Ginepro. He was a simple and good friar and saint Francisco liked him very much .
Meeting him he said: “Friar Ginepro,come, we go to preach”. “My Father” answered, “you know that I have little instruction. How I could speak to the people? “.

But since saint Francisco insisted, friar Ginepro consented. They walked for all the city, praying in Silence for all those who they worked into the shops or into the gardens. They smiled to the children, especially to those poor ones. They exchanged some word with oldest. They caress the sick ones.

They helped one woman to carry a heavy full water container. After they have many times over crossed all the city, saint Francisco said: “Friar Ginepro, is hour to return to the convent”. “And our preaching?”.

“We have made It… We have made It" answered smiling the Saint.

If you have into the pocket the scent of moss you don’t need o tell it to all. The scent will speak in yours place.

The better preaching is You.

ला इरका ...मजहब के मामले में जबर्दस्ती नहीं

हजरत मुहम्मद साहब ने कहा है, ला इरका फि़द्दीन यानी मजहब के मामले में कोई जबर्दस्ती नहीं। इस कथन से साफ पता चलता है कि उनको इस्लाम के विस्तार में तलवार की नोक का सहारा लेने में अनुयायियों के जोश और आक्रामकता को उन्होंने बिल्कुल उचित नहीं माना। 

हजरत किसी भी व्यक्ति के दिल को दुखाने को सबसे बड़ा गुनाह मानते थे। हजरत मुहम्मद ने इस्लाम को जब अरब में उतारा तो यह पूरी तरह से एक बेहद शांतिप्रिय व आधुनिक धर्म था, मगर समय गुजरने के साथ कुछ लोगों ने इसे रूढ़िवाद की ओर मोड़ने का यत्न किया। आज भी सभी मुसलमान यदि हजरत की बताई राह पर चलें तो इस संप्रदाय की अनेक समस्याएं यूं ही समाप्त हो जाएं। आज मुसलमान विश्व भर में तीसरी ईद मना रहे हैं, जिसे ईद-ए-मिलाद-उल-नबी के नाम से जाना जाता है।

ऐसा समझा जाता है ईद होती है -ईद-उल-फित्र और ईद-उज़-जुहा। मगर एक तीसरी भी है, जिसको कम लोग जानते हैं, क्योंकि इसे थोड़ी सादगी सेमनाया जाता है।इस तीसरी ईद के दिन हजरत मुहम्मद का जन्म 12 रबी-उल-अव्वल इस्लामी मास 570 ई. को मक्का में हुआ था। संयोगवश इसी रोज हजरत का देहांत भी हुआ था।हजरत मुहम्मद साहब के जन्म के समय अरब संसार जघन्य व घृणित पापों के अंधेरे में डूबा हुआ था। कोई भी अन्याय और दुराचार ऐसा न था जो उस समय प्रचलित न हो। धोखाधड़ी, बेईमानी, क़त्ल, बलात्कार, नारी-अपमान और हिंसा आदि सामान्य जीवन के अंग बन चुके थे। इस दूषित वातावरण में जब हजरत ने आंखें खोली तो पाया कि लोगों को सीधे रास्ते पर लाने का दायित्व उन्हें निभाना ही चाहिए।हजरत मुहम्मद के चेहरे के बारे में किसी ने एक सहाबी, जाबिर बिन सुमरा से प्रश्न किया, क्या हुज़ूर का चेहरा तलवार जैसा चमकता था? नहीं, सहाबी बोले, चांद की तरह! इसका मतलब यही हुआ कि वे अमन और प्रेम के दूत थे। 

25 वर्ष की आयु में हुजूर ने हजरत ख़दीजा से विवाह किया जो एक विधवा थीं। इस्लाम में विधवा का बड़ा विशेष स्थान है। उसे 'यतीम' का दर्जा दिया गया है। यतीम अर्थात अनाथ की सेवा का इमना है स्वर्ग में उच्च स्थान की प्राप्ति। महिलाओं का हजरत मुहम्मद विशेष आदर करते थे। उनका मानना था कि जो भी शख्स तीन बच्चियों की परवरिश करता है और उनका विवाह करा देता है, उसे जन्नतुल फि़रदौस (स्वर्ग)में अच्छा स्थान प्राप्त होगा। 

इस्लाम में एक से अधिक विवाह करने पर कई भ्रांतियां हैं, जिसको यहां समझाना आवश्यक है। एक से अधिक विवाह का प्रचलन उस समय हुआ जब 'उहद' के युद्ध में सैकड़ों मुसलमान मारे गए और उनकी पत्नियां बेसहारा हो गईं व उनकी संतानों को भोजन देने वाले नहीं रहे। तब औरत की सम्मान जनक जिंदगी को बनाए रखने के लिए एक से अधिक विवाह की अनुमति दी गई। 

सूरा-ए- अन-निसा के तीसरे भाग में लिखा है कि एक से अधिक विवाह उसी सूरत में किए जा सकते हैं, जब कि पुरुष हर महिला को मानसिक बराबरी भी प्रदान कर सके। लेकिन वास्तव में ऐसा करना संभव नहीं, क्योंकि एक से अधिक पत्नियों को शारीरिक रूप से तो संतुष्ट किया जा सकता है परंतु मानसिक रूप से नहीं। यह सख्त शर्त इसीकारण रखी गई है। 

दूसरे, इस प्रकार का विवाह उसी स्थिति में किया जा सकता है जब पत्नी बांझ हो या उसे कोई लाइलाज मर्ज हो और वह सहवास योग्य नहीं हो। यदि कोई मुसलमान 'विविधता' के लिए अनेक विवाह करता है तो वह गैर इस्लामी कार्य होगा। यही कारण है कि इंडोनेशिया, पाकिस्तान और तुर्की में दूसरे विवाह के लिए अदालत से इजाजत लेनी पड़ती है। ऐसे लोग बजाय इस्लाम की सेवा करने के, उसको क्षति पहुंचाते हैं। 

महिला के लिए तो हजरत मुहम्मद ने यहां तक कहा है कि मां के पैरों तले जन्नत होती है। वे कहते थे कि महिलाओं को सर्वोच्च शिक्षा देनी चाहिए। उनकी पत्नी हजरत खदीजा जो उनसे आयु में 15 वर्ष बड़ी थीं, एक उच्च शिक्षित महिला थीं।

Transcend the Intellect

Question: Transcend the Intellect

What does it mean to transcend the intellect? I recently ran across this term but could not find an explanation.

Answer: Attain the Plane of Unlimited Bliss

It was George Harrison of the Beatles who when discussing Krishna consciousness said that we have to transcend the intellect. The idea is that intellectual understanding can only take you so high. To get to that higher plane of unlimited love and bliss consciousness beyond the intellect you have to take shelter of Lord Sri Krishna's sweet holy names.

Pseudosecularism

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by netguru

Disappointed with Your Response

Complaint: Disappointed with Your Response

You wrote the following advice to a depressed individual:

"Depression is the result of self-centeredness. You are not meant to consider yourself to be the center of existence. If you embrace this untruth that you are the center, is it sure and certain that you will be depressed. The easy way to both conquer and prevent depression is to always remember that since Krishna is the source of all existence, He is naturally also the center of all existence. Therefore all of your thoughts, words, and deeds should be centered around Him, not around yourself. As soon as you become Krishna-centered your self-centeredness will naturally go away, your depression will be gone, and you will be enjoying life like anything at every moment."

My response to your advice is:

Many people have chemical imbalances in the brain that cause depression, bipolar, and other much more serious conditions.  All of these conditions can lead ultimately to suicide.  If a person has a chemical imbalance, no amount of Krishna consciousness will cure that.  It's irresponsible to tell someone who you might not even know, who might very well be extremely ill, that he/she is self-centered and just needs to become more Krishna conscious.  While Krishna consciousness is certainly a great thing, sometimes it's not the only answer.  If someone wrote to you and told you he was having chest pains and shortness of breath, would you tell him to become more Krishna conscious, or would you tell him to see a qualified doctor?  True mental illness is just as serious and as potentially deadly as physical illness.  Preach Krishna consciousness, but for goodness sake, be responsible!!  I hope this person is not in serious trouble, because you probably just encouraged him to blame himself for his problems and to not seek a mental health professional.  I am very disappointed in your flip response to this issue.

Answer:  Try to Deepen Your Understanding

In regards to your being disappointed with my answer regarding depression, I humbly request you to try to deepen your understand by seriously considering the following points.

I just spoke with my psychiatrist friend who is expert in these matters. He has informed me that 60% of those persons who find relief from anti-depressant medicines after going off of them again become depressed and have to go back on them to again treat their depression. And then out of this group 80% will again before depressed after going off the medicine and will go on it again.  And then of this group 100% will again be depressed after going off of the medicine and then become chemically dependent on this very expensive anti-depressant medicine for their entire lives. So this chemical approach to dealing with depression is itself a rather depressing scenario. He also pointed out that it doesn't really cure their depression. They simply become more emotionally stable depressed persons.

Although these anti-depressant medicines may be necessary for those who are so emotionally unstable that they cannot function as normal individuals or that they may harm themselves or harm others, they are certainly not a cure for depression. It is not that that these people become happy by taking these drugs.

The reason that the anti-depressant medicine approach is so unpromising is that is based on a false conception of the self and a primitive understanding of the cause of depression. While chemical imbalance may be a symptom of depression, it is not the cause of depression. The cause of depression is our being cut off from our original, all-blissful, enlightened state of pure selfless consciousness.

Any practitioner who is trying to rescue clients from depression must focus on reconnecting the individual with his actual all-blissful self within that is in a natural state of perfect harmony with the Supreme Person and all of existence. This process is best facilitated by chanting the holy names of God on a regular daily basis. While in extreme cases a duly authorized practitioner may find it expedient to include prescription medicine in the treatment program, such medicinal treatment must always be understood to be of less importance that an expertly executed process of re-harmonizing the depressed individual with his original, all-blissful enlightened state of consciousness. Otherwise we are simply unnecessarily turning people into anti-depressant junkies and not really solving their problem.

So my answer was not at all a flip answer. My answer is coming from the great enlightened teachers of the past who guided the Vedic civilization for thousands of years.  Theirs was an enlightened civilization in which depression was conspicuous by its absence. The modern day scientists would do well to learn from these great teachers of the past instead of considering the existence of these great sages to be mere mythology.

Why Preach?

Question:  Why Preach?

When Krishna is present in everyone's heart, omnipresent, what is the need to preach?  Cannot we just realize Krishna by chanting?

What should be the disposition and mood of a preacher? What is the purpose/importance of preaching?

Answer:  Mercy

Krishna is everyone's heart but they have forgotten it. Therefore we must remind them. This is the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that we must deliver those who have forgotten Krishna by helping them to revive their dormant Krishna consciousness.

Krishna is realized by chanting. But they are not chanting. Therefore we must teach them how to chant and inspire them to chant so that they can realize Krishna.

The preacher's mood is kindness. He cannot tolerate to see others suffering. Therefore he fully dedicates his life to save the people from their suffering by giving them Krishna consciousness.

Priority of Service

Question:  Priority of Service

My mother-in-law told me like this:

First priority is given to Mother - Mata.

Second priority is given to Father - Pita.

Third priority is given to Guru, who taught the lesson at school.

Fourth priority is given to Supreme Lord - God.

I am unable to respond to this.  I tried saying that our Supreme Father is the Supreme Lord.  He is cause of all causes, so unless and until we surrender unto him we will not happy in this material world. Devotional service to Supreme Lord always take us to His abode in the spiritual world and we get out of the miseries like birth, death, disease, and old age. But she is not convinced.

What can I tell her to convince her?

Answer:  Serve All by Serving Krishna First

Simply explain to her that since Krishna or God is the root of the entire creation, when you serve Him you automatically serve everyone. Everyone else is simply part of the tree of creation, while Krishna is the root. If we try to water the leaves and branches separately from watering the root our watering will not be effective.  When we water the root, we give the best service to every part of the tree. Therefore when we direct all of our service to Krishna, everyone receives the best service, much better than if we try to serve them separately from serving Krishna. If we try to serve others separately from serving Krishna, our service to them will be imperfect.  They will not be satisfied, nor will we be satisfied.  But if serve Krishna or God as the root of all existence we will be fully satisfied and we will be giving the best service to all others.

How to Find a True Guru?

Question:  How to Find a True  Guru?

How can we find a bona fide and true spiritual master who can lead us to perfection? Nowadays there are many self proclaimed masters and the people seeking recourse out number them. So I feel it is cumbersome to seek the blessings of a true guru. How can we verify that a person is a true guru?

Answer:  Be Sincere

If you are sincere to find the highest truth you do not have to go looking a spiritual master. The spiritual master will find you.

Discerning who is a bona fide spiritual master is not difficult. All you have to do is carefully study the Bhagavad-gita as it is directly spoken by Lord Sri Krishna. The bona fide spiritual master simply undistortedly presents whatever Lord Krishna says without any addition or subtraction. So if you will compare the words of Krishna with the words of the spiritual master you can easily understand whether he is a bona fide spiritual master or not.

While it is impossible to be truly blessed by the bogus so-called gurus, it is not cumbersome to get the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. In fact, by Krishna's grace you are getting such blessings right now. Please utilize them well.

CONGRESS PARTY DEFINITIONS: CONGRESS SAYS….

Congress says:

Muslims getting killed in the Gujarat riots is no less than a holocaust;

But poor protesters getting shot in West Bengal under Left Govt is just a plain misunderstanding; 3,000 Sikhs getting slaughtered was only a big mistake; and 400,000 Kashmir Pandits becoming refugees and thousands dead due to Islamic terrorism in Kashmir is a only political problem.

Congress says:

Congress denying Lord Rama’s existence was simply a Clerical Error.

But BJP saying it hurt Hindu sentiments is communal!

Congress says:

Haj subsidies for Muslim pilgrimage worth 3000 crores funded by Hindu tax money is secular; see

ut Hindus questioning how their hard earned money is used are communal;

Congress says:

Banning Da Vinci Code and Jo Bole So Nihaal was Secular

But Modi Banning Parzania in Gujarat was Communal;

Congress says:

Chinese invasion in 1962 was just an ‘unfortunate betrayal’;

Kargil attack during BJP Rule was Government failure;

Congress says:

Reservation in every school and college on caste lines strengthen society;

But Muslims say, same reservations in minority institutions is Communal;

Congress says:

Fake encounters under Cong-NCP in Maharashtra [Khwaja Younus] was only an instance of Police atrocity;

But Fake encounters in Gujarat [Sohrabuddin] was Modi sponsored ‘BJP’Communalism;

Congress says:

Talking about Islam and Muslim appeasement and Sachar is Secular;

But talking about Hindus and Hindu concerns is dangerous and Communal;

Congress says: BJP’ freeing the terrorists (flight 814) to save Indian hostages was Shameful;

But freeing 5 militants to save the life of the daughter of a minister [Rubina Sayeed] was a Natural Political dilemma;

Congress says:

Attack on Parliament was the result of BJP ineptitude;

But Congress Not hanging Afzal Guru,the mastermind despite Supreme Court orders is due to Humanity and Political dilemma;

Congress says:

(Manmohan) Muslims have the first right on India’s resources ;

But BJP questioning it is communal;

Is there any end to Congress’ hypocrisy and double standards?

Why Do I Suffer from Depression?

Question:  Why Do I Suffer from Depression?

Why do I suffer from depression? It is very, very painful and desperate. Am I suffering from previous sinful reactions? And I am not able to meet devotees right now, I feel very, very lonely. Even though I chant Hare Krishna and read spiritual articles or books every day, I still feel very depressed and lonely. What should I do?

Answer:  Self-Centeredness

Depression is the result of self-centeredness. You are not meant to consider yourself to be the center of existence. If you embrace this untruth that you are the center, is it sure and certain that you will be depressed. The easy way to both conquer and prevent depression is to always remember that since Krishna is the source of all existence, He is naturally also the center of all existence. Therefore all of your thoughts, words, and deeds should be centered around Him, not around yourself. As soon as you become Krishna-centered your self-centeredness will naturally go away, your depression will be gone, and you will be enjoying life like anything at every moment.

Which Form During Japa?

Question:  Which Form During Japa?

Kindly enlighten me on which form of Lord Sri Krishna I should picture in my mind while chanting Hare Krishna so that I can concentrate on my chanting.

Answer:  Krishna's Nama Form

You should focus your mind on Krishna's nama form, i.e. the sound of His name. Every one of His unlimited millions and billions of forms is contained within the sound of His name. So, there is no need to divert your mind from the sound of Krishna's name to meditate on a particular form. The sound vibration of Krishna's name is more powerful for delivering you from material existence than meditating on a mental image of a form of Krishna.

If you are not able to concentrate on the Hare Krishna mantra, beg Krishna to help you. He will be glad to help you fix your mind on the sound of His name.

Dal Dal Tesu Khile

हौसले बुलंद कर...

Who Made Sin?

Question:  Who Made Sin?

When every thing is made by God, and God only governs our every action and thought, and we are here to pay for our sins and good things that we have done in our previous births, then at the very beginning He made us do sins, and wrong things, and then He made this process of hell and heaven. If He wanted He could have made every thing good in this world with no hate revenge lust etc.  It was He who created pain.

Answer:  We Did.

You are foolishly thinking that God has created our painful situation in this material existence. This is a completely wrong understanding. I am again and again seeing how many people are trying to blame God for their suffering condition in this material existence.  Instead of owning up to the responsibility for having made the wrong choice, they try to blame God for their predicament. This is not the way to become free from the sufferings of material existence. Such an attitude of blaming God simply prolongs one's suffering situation in this material world.

Everything is made by God. That's fact. But He is not a despotic dictator. He is our loving father. He is not orchestrating the thoughts and actions of His beloved children. Rather He gives them the free will to engage their thoughts and actions in His service or to rebel against Him and engage their thoughts and actions independently for a life of sense gratification.

Those who choose to lovingly offer their thoughts and actions completely in the Lord's service experience an eternity full of love, knowledge, and bliss. And those who choose to rebel against the Lord suffer an eternity of hate, ignorance, and misery.  The good news is that there is no such thing as being eternally damned. All those who rebelled have the free choice to be reinstated in their original position full of bliss, knowledge, and love in the unlimitedly sweet spiritual world.  All they have to do is agree to surrender themselves fully unto Lord Sri Krishna.

टीवी सीरियल में हिंदू देवता बनने पर फतवा

लखनऊः अवध के नवाब अमजद अली शाह के वंशज नवाब सैय्यद बदरुल हसन उर्फ पप्पू पोलिस्टर द्वारा कई धार्मिक सीरियलों में भगवान नंदी का किरदार निभाए जाने से कई कट्टरपंथी मौलाना खफा हो गए हैं। इन मौलानाओं ने हसन के खिलाफ कलमा पढ़कर दोबारा मुसलमान बनाने का फरमान तक जारी कर दिया है।

एक मुसलमान होने के नाते हिन्दू देवी-देवताओं के किरदार निभाने पर मौलानाओं की तल्ख टिप्पणियों से नवाब बदरुल हसन बुरी तरह आहत और परेशान हैं।

नवाब बदरुल हसन उर्फ पप्पू पोलिस्टर ने कई धार्मिक सीरियलों मसलन ' ओम नमः शिवाय ' , ' संतोषी माता ' , ' जय हनुमान ' और ' सत्यनारायण की कथा ' में नंदी का किरदार निभाया है। उनके बेटे अमन पोलिस्टर ने भी एक सीरियल में भगवान गणेश का किरदार निभाया है।

पोलिस्टर ने बताया कि दारुल उलूम ने मेरे किरदार को गैर इस्लामिक काम बताते हुए फतवा जारी किया है। मौलानाओं के व्यवहार से बुरी तरह आहत नवाब ने कहा कि वह कि वह खुदा और उसके रसूल को न सिर्फ मानते हैं बल्कि उनके बताए रास्ते पर भी चलते हैं और सच्चे मुसलमान हैं।

उन्होंने कहा कि मैं एक सच्चे मुसलमान के साथ-साथ एक कलाकार भी हूं और अपने पेशे के रूप में अगर भगवान गणेश और नंदी का रोल करता हूं तो कटटरपंथी मुस्लिम उलेमाओं और धर्मगुरुओं की त्यौरियां चढ़ना गैर वाजिब है।

नवाब हसन ने बताया कि उनके बेटे अमन पोलिस्टर के एक सीरियल में भगवान गणेश का रोल करने से कुछ उलेमा इतने खफा हो गए कि उन्होंने फोन पर धमकियां देना शुरू कर दिया। एक मौलाना ने तो यहां तक कहा कि सीरियल में गणेश के रूप में तुम्हारे बेटे का सिर कटा था, हम घर आकर उसका सिर काटेंगे। एक साल पहले इसकी रिपोर्ट मुंबई के अंधेरी ईस्ट स्थित मेगवाड़ी थाने में दर्ज कराई गई थी।

इतना ही नहीं नवाब हसन के सगे चाचा विलायत हुसैन ने यह कहते हुए पुश्तैनी सम्पति देने से मना कर दिया है कि खुद तो भगवान बन गए, लड़के को भी भगवान बना दिया। यह इस्लाम धर्म विरुद्ध आचरण है।

पप्पू पोलिस्टर बताते हैं कि शिवसेना प्रमुख बाला साहेब ठाकरे बेटे अमन के गणेश के किरदार और बोले गए संस्कृत श्लोकों व संवादों से इतने प्रभावित हुए कि वह हमारे घर आए और कहा कि मुस्लिम होकर तुम्हारा बेटा जितनी शुद्ध संस्कृत बोलता है उतना तो मेरा बेटा भी नहीं बोल सकता।

भगवान के किरदारों से मिली शोहरत पर फख्र करते हुए नवाब हसन कहते हैं कि हिन्दुस्तान में हिन्दुओं ने जितनी बेपनाह मोहब्बत दी, उतनी मुस्लिम समाज से नहीं मिली। इसका मुझे और मेरे परिवार को जीवन भर अफसोस रहेगा।     

If Jesus Allows Meat Eating...

Question:  If Jesus Allows Meat Eating...

I have been having conversations with my colleagues at work about vegetarianism and certain verses from the Bible that promotes this. However, one of my colleagues says that Jesus gave his disciples fish to eat so that's why they do not condemn meat-eating. If Jesus could do it then why would it be wrong for them to eat meat? I could not reply to this and told them that I would find out about this.

Can you please assist me in answering their query?

Answer:  Jesus Does Not Allow It

Jesus may have under circumstance, when he and his followers were in the desert with no other food available, allowed his followers to eat fish. This does not mean that he has given us license to eat our finned, winged, and four-legged little brothers when there is an ample supply of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and grains available in the market place.

The Biblical injunction upheld by Jesus is "Thou shalt not kill." Therefore if they want to eat meat, they should let the animals die naturally and then devour their flesh. In this way they will not be guilty of the sin of killing an innocent creature. Such killing of an innocent creature obliges the killer and those who pay the killer by purchasing the meat, to take birth in the species of the animal that was murdered to themselves be murdered and have their flesh devoured by the very same animal that they killed and/or devoured in a previous lifetime.

Look At The Eyes For Few Seconds

Is Loving Krishna Imitation?

Question: Is Loving Krishna Imitation?

Hare Krishna! You are so merciful and wise. I would love to serve you with all my heart. Now I am in frustrated and have some questions to ask. I really need your shelter. Only by your mercy can I find the way out.

1. A few days ago, there was enough time for me to chant 26 rounds everyday. Right now as my curriculum is becoming more and more, I can't spend so much time chanting. So I had to reduce it to 16 rounds just as before. But I found my mind was a little scattered and I couldn't taste the sweet pleasure I experienced before by the mercy of Lord. I feel confused, what should I choose to do in this condition?

2. Should we give all our heart and soul to Krishna? I tried to love Krishna in this way, and I did taste the nicest and sweetest transcendental pleasure just like a bird freely flying in the sky. But I really don't know whether this love of Krishna is right or it is merely imitation?

3. How should we love Krishna perfectly? Is it right that we should only love Krishna and have mercy on others? If we have the trend to love someone else, should we have to drive the heart to Krishna and begin to chant at once? What is the difference between love and mercy?
Thanks a lot for all your mercy and wisdom! Best wishes!

Answer: Loving Krishna Frees Us from the Imitation Material Existence


1. Since you have had to reduce your chanting to 16 rounds because of increased schoolwork, you should ask Krishna to help you always remember Him and dedicate everything to Him even while you doing your studies.

2. Yes. You should absolutely give your entire heart and soul to Krishna. This is the perfection of our existence. Such an endeavor to fully surrender to Krishna is not never imitation. Loving Krishna is what frees us from the imitation existence of bodily consciousness. Even though the birds fly in the sky in apparent freedom, they are still caught in the chains of birth, death, old age, and disease. When you give your heart fully to Krishna you will be completely free to eternally fly in the spiritual sky of unlimited love, bliss, and knowledge.

3. Real love and mercy are the same. Love of Krishna means that you should fully surrender yourself to follow His instructions as He has given in the Bhagavad-gita. This means that you must chant His names, bow down to Him, offer Him the suitable foods that He will accept, and take shelter of His representative--the bona fide spiritual master. You should give all of your love to Krishna. And because He is the root of all existence, through perfectly loving Him you will be able to perfectly love all living beings because they are His parts and parcels. Whenever you feel love for someone else you can make that love perfect by trying to engage that person in Krishna's service so that they will also become delivered from the cycle of birth and death. Just as I am engaging you in the service of Krishna, you should also engage others in the service of Krishna. This is the perfection of love of our fellow man.

How to Get that Feeling Back?

Questions: How to Get that Feeling Back?

Well, once when I was chanting the holy name (the day before yesterday), I suddenly had the impetus of wanting to dance, because I had the sense of dancing in the heart, feeling Lord Caitanya is so near, and I was very excited in the heart, even the whole day. But after that day, everything's gone, I could not get that sensation back again, nor can I get the love and devotional mood. I chant nearly 20 rounds per day (not once, but at morning and afternoon added together), still I can not find that. I feel a little bit frustrated. You are surely tasting that thrill at every minute, do you know how to get the feeling back in my life?

Answer:  Intensify your Krishna Consciousness

Sometimes Krishna gives us for a short while a special taste of spiritual bliss for the purpose of increasing our desire for Krishna consciousness more and more. When this happens we should not be discouraged. Rather we should take it as a great encouragement and a sign to intensify our endeavor more and more to become fully absorbed in higher and higher levels of Krishna consciousness. In this way by giving us a brief special taste Krishna kindly helps us to advance more quickly on the pathway back to home, back to Godhead.

Regarding Vaisnavas

Questions: Regarding Vaisnavas

I have few questions for which I need clarifications from you. Kindly answer and save me from ignorance.

1) Why do devotees have reservations when they relate with other fellow devotees?

2) What should we do when we hear one devotee blaspheming another devotee, if he/she is a senior devotee?

3) It is told that we should not judge a Vaisnava by his external appearance. But in reality, a Vaisnava is known as such to the world by his activities and appearance. So how should we understand this?

4) What should we do, if the activities of a Vaisnava are such that by his activities our movement's good reputation is spoiled among the public?

5) Is it that if one becomes Krishna conscious he is above the three modes of material nature (even the neophytes)?

Answer:  True Vaisnava is Always Saintly

1) If we have reservations about associating with devotees who are in good standing, we must consider whether we are actually devotees or not because a bona fide devotee is always eager to associate with and serve the bona fide devotees of the Lord.

2) One who is actually a devotee will not blaspheme other devotees.  We should always avoid hearing such things.  If possible we should defeat the blasphemer.  If not possible we should immediately leave the place.

3) One should not judge a devotee, a Vaisnava, by his birth, i.e. what kind of body he has. That's a fact. But the caliber of a Vaisnava can easily be understood by seeing how nicely he is absorbed in lovingly serving Lord Krishna and the Vaisnavas.

4) A Vaisnava's activities will not spoil the reputation of our movement because by nature a Vaisnava always behaves in an exemplary, saintly manner. Someone who purposefully commits sinful acts cannot be counted as one of the Vaisnavas.

5) "Neophyte devotee" means that he is starting to come out of the influence of the three modes of material nature. "Pure devotee" means that he is situated fully on the transcendental platform completely beyond the influence of the three modes of material nature.

Personal Relationship with Krishna?

Question: Personal Relationship with Krishna?

In our lives we have so many relationships with people. Can we imagine having any personal relationship with Krishna?

Answer:  Our Original Relationship

Absolutely! The only reason we have relationships with anyone is because of our original relationship with Krishna. We foolishly abandoned that relationship with Krishna to pursue other relationships, but we have never found any relationship which can fully satisfy us. Therefore to regain our original state of unlimited happiness we need to get back to our original relationship with Krishna.

Origin of the Soul

Question: Origin of the Soul

What is the origin of the soul?  Does it fall down from the brahmajyoti or the spiritual world?

Answer:  Krishna is the Origin of the Soul

Since Krishna declares Himself in the Bhagavad-gita to be the origin of everything, we can therefore understand that Krishna is the origin of the individual souls also. And since Krishna eternally exists in the spiritual world and the souls are emanating from His body, we can also understand that the souls are also originally existing in the spiritual world.

In the Krishna Book, Chapter 87 Srila Prabhupada confirms that the living entities fall into the material world from the spiritual world:

"The innumerable living entities are prone to fall down to the material world from the spiritual world when influenced by the illusory energy, and it is also possible for the living entity to be liberated again when by cultivation of real knowledge he becomes completely freed from the contamination of the material world."

Srila Prabhupada explains that there is no question of falling down from the brahmajyoti because being in the brahmajyoti is a fallen position. Those who situated in the brahmajyoti are already fallen. So there is no question of falling down from a position that is already fallen down.

Sports and Krishna Consciousness

Question: Sports and Krishna Consciousness

This is a comparison between sports and Krishna Consciousness. It seems that they have their own world. In Krishna Consciousness, you want to attain self-realization to become free from suffering. In sports, you want to become the best athlete.

In overview of both these things: How does sports carry less weight than Krishna Consciousness. Both have their own ambitions. In a way, can someone say I would rather be an athlete, the best I can be, then become a self-realized person the best I can be?

Answer: Krishna Consciousness--The Ultimate Sport

A athlete can become excellent in this world for a few years until his body becomes too old to play sports and he dies to take birth again. Lifetime after lifetime he suffers the pangs of birth, death, old age, and disease--sometimes as a human being, sometimes as a plant, or sometimes as an animal according to his karma. So even though he got some temporary short run pleasure from sporting, his future is not very bright.

On the other hand, the devotee of Lord Krishna, the one who is perfect in self-realization, becomes excellent in serving Lord Krishna. He tastes the highest happiness in this lifetime and he enters the spiritual world to enjoy and eternal existence, full of knowledge, and full of bliss.

So you can take you pick. You can decide whether you would like some temporary sporting happiness throwing a ball around and then having to face so much suffering lifetime after lifetime, or whether you would prefer to seriously adopt the ultimate sport of Krishna bhakti for achieving an eternal life, full of bliss, and full of knowledge.

How to Overcome Obstacles?

Question: How to Overcome Obstacles?

Well, how do you overcome obstacles (many, especially in the mind) in spiritual life?

Answer:  Step On Them

Your realizations are very nice. Regarding the conquering of obstacles kindly consider this:

Just like when an airplane encounters a storm the pilot will take the airplane to a higher elevation above the storm, you can overcome all obstacles by absorbing your consciousness more intensely in the sound of the mahamantra.  In this way your consciousness will be elevated to that plane of consciousness where all obstacles are conspicuous by their absence.  What was previously experienced as an obstacle will then be experienced as a stepping stone.

In this connection, when Dhruva Maharaja came to the end of his life the greatest obstacle, i.e. death, came to him.  But instead of being bewildered by death he stepped on the head of death and entered a Vaikuntha Airplane, which then took him back to the spiritual world.

So in this way instead of becoming bewildered by obstacles we should step on them using them as stepping stones to the eternal existence beyond birth and death.

Krishna Consciousness with Non-Devotee Family

I am a 44 years old family man; I have a wife and three teenager kids. I'm trying to live my life according to the principle of the Krishna Consciousness movement, but my wife and kids don't want to know anything about this path.

My question is: How can I live my spiritual life among of a non-devotee family?

Answer: Be Strong, Patient, and Tolerant

Our best is advice is that you should be very tolerant of your non-devotee family members and at the same time very strict with yourself to undeviatingly follow the regulated principles of freedom as listed here:

1. No illicit sex (sex other than for procreation).
2. No meat eating (including fish and eggs). You should eat only vegetarian foods which have first been offered to Lord Sri Krishna with love and devotion.
3. No intoxication (including coffee, tea, and cigarettes).
4. No gambling.
5. Chant at least 16 rounds of Hare Krishna mantra every day on chanting beads.

Even though it is not always easy to practice Krishna consciousness in the association of non-devotees, we encourage to remain in your family life for their benefit. If you are strong in your principles and at the same time are tolerant and patient with them, eventually they will also become attracted to Krishna and will want to become devotees too.

May Lord Krishna bless you in your attempt to be solidly fixed in Krishna consciousness and at the same time make your family Krishna conscious.

This planet needs Hindu ethos

The only place on this planet that the Hindus can rightfully claim they belong to is Hindustan or India. And the only people on this earth who feel hesitant to speak for their dharma or the basic identity too are Hindus. In Indian politics, run and financed by the Hindu majority, taking up Hindu issues means an extra effort to stand and face the charges too acidic. It pays to be a non-Hindu in a Hindu majority Hindustan, frankly.Hence it's time when the followers of the legacy that began with Dr. Hedgewar founding the nationalist school of thought known as the RSS must assert and justify their birth, first in the form of Jana Sangh and later re-incarnated as the Bharatiya Janata Party. I was there when the first-ever convention of the newly-formed BJP took place in Mumbai, in 1980, christened as Samata Nagar. And the star attraction in that meeting was none else other than Mohammad Karim Chagla, the octogenarian scholar and statesman. The BJP could have adopted a pure saffron flag as its new motif, like the old Jana Sangh, but it chose the green and saffron. Jana Sangh too, in early fifties could have been a Hindu Sangh, but the stalwarts in those times chose a name that would represent all --any one who is an Indian, no matter what his faith is, without compromising on the basic characteristics of the nation i.e. Hindu.A nation is defined not by the forex reserves or the military prowess but by the contours of her civilisational traditions and the collective struggles and sufferings. We are, unquestioningly and unapologetically Hindu in our national colours as much as the USA is Latin Christian and the UK works for all communities still adhering as a state to the spiritual umbrella of the Church of England. An Obama taking oath of the presidential office on the Bible doesn't become a communally hateful ruler for the other faiths. So is with us. A Hindu-majority India remains the only guarantee of a pluralistic and democratic nation. The moment we accept the de-Hinduisation process of the nation as a sign of secularism and an acceptable factor in polity, we are not only doomed as an Indian nation but also invite Talibanisation of the society.And then, who says to be a Hindu means looking backward or approving obscurantism? The only people on earth who virtually worship Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and have prosperity as an inseparable part of their life-cycle are Hindus. In fact to be Hindu means to be rich, brilliant and happy. The most important factors, however, as was explained by Prof. Rajendra Singh, the third RSS Chief, (who was Head and Reader, Dept. of Physics, University of Allahabady) remain wisdom and character. We forget that exactly for her power, happiness and wealth, Hindu India was the eye sore of the barbarians when they assaulted us calling this land as 'Sone ki Chidiya - the Golden Bird'. We have shown the world the best of Hindu architecture in our thousand-year-old temples in Ellora, Ajanta to Ang kor Wat, the Vedic poetry, the invention of numerals and zero, life sciences and geometry to trigonometry and the deep knowledge of cosmos and the most scientific grammar and script and language. We are those Hindu people who gave the world the concept of 'world is one family' (vasudhaiva kutumbakam) when the semitic races were launching Crusades and Jihads. And an inborn attitude to respect the different viewpoint so much so that an atheist Rishi, scholar monk, Charvak was given an honoured place in the highest exalted order of six philosophers. To be a Hindu means saying no to Gulags and accepting a Galileo with appreciation. Even today the best of the economic developmental models in the states are indisputably seen in states where BJP is ruling. Still seculars deny that showing a pathological hatred for the Hindu word and world view.Money, riches, industrialisation, military arrogance couldn't save the mighty Soviet empire. You need a little more to live as humans, which the Communists refused to accept. The IT power and the strength of brilliance coupled with loyalty to the adopted land (we do not bomb the land we adopt- a trait Hindus are known and respected for the world over) is making them use force to reckon with- as Thomas Freidman too discussed in his celebrated book The World is Flat. But that alone won't suffice to define the nation that has been known since millenniums world over as the land of the Hindus.It's the so-called secular flabbiness of the neo-rich and subjugated colonised English-speaking elite that has taken up the place left vacant by British sergeants and colonial masters. Hate Hindu- is their new professional slogan. Anything Hindu is despicable and arrogantly dismissible. Destroy Ram Sethu, arrest Kanchi Shankaracharya on Diwali night, ignore the brutal killing of an 80-year-old monk on Krishna Janmashtami night in Kandhamal, simply delete the memory of Godhra and never answer why 59 men, women and little kids were burnt to death in a steel compartment, on February 27 seven years ago, never ever mention the 290 Hindus murdered during what is known as Gujarat riots, never discuss the forced exodus of five lakh Kashmiri Hindus after their women were raped and children killed by 'brave' Nizam-e-Mustafa' Ghazis.That's the new order, which has to be exposed and dismantled if India has to survive.They insult and demand the abolition of a language without which their birth can't be celebrated, marriage can't be solemnised and even in death, the same language is used. That's Sanskrit. Like they can denounce their motherland's fragrance, they also humiliate the language of their birth and death. That's their morality and honesty.Last week Al-Jazeera, a channel more known for putting on air Osama and Al Jawahiri statements took my interview, 'to present the true colours of Indian culture' as its Canadian correspondent requested. When the show was aired, it showed Hindu right activists as simple monsters and barbarians and dishonestly juxtaposed their prejudices to 'justify' their pre-decided views. That's what this small minority of money wielding de-culturised slave class of the dollar world does anywhere it gets a little dominance -a Gulag at every desk.Against such elements of hate, the Saffron is fighting a democratic battle through a new generation of IT-savvy saffronite youths. In the blog world, Facebook, internet battles, the Saffron is reigning high and the way we get their responses from California to Bangalore and Kolkata to Chennai via Santa Fe, it's simply bewildering and a great morale booster.There are hundreds of them. Mostly post-graduates, engineers, MBAs, fresh IITians and doctors of philosophy, who have left the lure of the lucre and chose to work in the remote regions of the Andamans, Changlang, Diphu, Aizawl and the Nilgiri hills. From Wynad to Wakho and Leh to Lalganj, there is not a single block or tehsil or district where various workers and organisations inspired by the RSS are not active. For the first time in the history of this nation, a non-monastic order of the socially dedicated young men and women has taken roots which puts the nation before everything else, work like a sanyaasi without an ochre robe. They run village development projects, water harvesting and production of bio-foods and hospitals and schools and slum-area service projects. One such organisation, Vidya Bharati, has become the largest academic institution without government help having more than one lakh teachers and twenty-four lakh students in literally every nook and corner of the nation. B.M.S has claimed a membership of 84 lakhs, to be the biggest labour organisation of the land. Amongst students, teachers, politicians, religious clergy, doctors, and even visually-challenged people, RSS-inspired organizations are active and moving fast to get the top slot.There is hardly a stream in the national life which is not touched and influenced by the ideology espoused by this Saffron movement which began just a year before almost the year Communist movement took shape in India. Though the Communist movement remained confined to a few corners and split in more than 24 various splinter groups, Sangh-inspired organisations are setting the agenda in their respective fields and one of their Swayam Sewak unfurled the Tricolor at the Red Fort six times in continuation. Can any hateful, divisive organisation get this kind of response from the people year after year? How can ill-feelings towards another community inspire young professionals continuously for the last eight decades to devote their life and forget the attractions of a glamorous career just for the cause of rebuilding the nation? Can any other organisation, specially the secular and the Left variety, show its positive and harmonious contribution for the development of the society in comparison to the RSS work?Against all odds, to oppose political families turning India into their personal fiefdom, to stop India becoming a dharamshala for foreign infiltrators and putting an end to the endless pusillanimity against Jihadi terrorism, a party has to come to power that has the guts to call a spade a spade and strengthen the sinews to provide security and ensure prosperity. Enough is enough.