Wednesday, April 20, 2016

THEY ARE JUST LIKE CHILDREN..

In our ignorance we cause so much pain
and suffering to the other creatures.
I hit a squirrel. He was able to drag himself
off the street and into the bushes.
His life was difficult enough now it will ever more so difficult.
Why did I have to be someone to cause someone else
to suffer like that.
These cars are so dangerous for everyone.
It is the street where I live.
If there were children playing in the area
there would be a sign
SLOW CHILDREN
And people would be reminded to slow down.
There are no children playing here.
The little creatures are just like children.
They live here, play here
and they are not very good at crossing the street.
I see now I was driving too fast. I couldn't stop or swerve
and in his panic he ended up running right under the rear wheel.
I heard the thud.
They are children. It is just like I had hit a child.
I was able to cry. So many visions of suffering
flashed before my mind.
Wars, slaughter houses, seas polluted with plastics and oil...
Because we do not see them.
These children in different bodies.

DRIVING AUTOS AND MINDSET...THE SQUIRREL

(Accidentally hitting a squirrel in the road yesterday)
I'm still not over it. It wasn't just a squirrel. It is the whole way we live.
It was the Appearance Day of Lord Ramachandra.
And I thought... "Oh Krishna, there is the pastime
between Hanuman and the little squirrel." 
Hanuman was so powerful and using so much of his power
to build the bridge and the small insignificant squirrel
(some say spider...some say squirrel) was kicking
little pebbles into the ocean to help.
Hanuman pushed the squirrel aside... get out of the way...
Lord Ramachandra corrected Hanuman,
"His service is just as dear to me as yours."
I was driving thinking what I had to do was "so important"
and so I was going a bit too fast and the squirrel was in the way.
Not that I tried to push him out of the way,
but that is basically what it was. What I was doing was so important
that anything that got in the way was going to get wiped out.
It was an unconscious mind set.
I think these motor cars put us into that mind set.
We have so much power when we are driving. Too much.

Meena Devi Dasi's photo.

LOWER MODES... PASSION AND IGNORANCE

All this machinery is lower modes. Passion and ignorance.
The forests are mode of goodness. There is a clash..
Most of the technological breakthroughs for industry
have come out of military research.
Interestingly enough, the problems with insecticides,
and pesticides and fertilizers contaminating everything
started right after WWII. The US government
turned all their bomb factories into fertilizer factories.
Ammonium nitrate is used in munitions
and they simply altered it a little to make fertilizer.
On every bag of fertilizer there is a warning...
"caution explosive if wet."
The fertilizer caused animals to not be able to reproduce.
So the US government developed artificial hormones...
they didn't stop the fertilizer just added something else artificial on top of it.
This has gone on for almost 80 years and now
there are millions of artificial this and that.
And the granddaddy of them all... Roundup and GMO's

Follow these 10 steps when confronted with an ammonium nitrate fire
FIRERESCUE1.COM

CONCEIVING CHILDREN

Conceiving a child is planting a seed.
Krishna has made the act of conceiving very pleasurable
to make sure prospective parents will engage initially
but then the duties and responsibilities that come after
are considerable... lifelong...
Like caring for the growth and development of a tree
Looking for it to bear fruit.
This is like the Pure Devotee Spiritual Master
Who has given the seed, bija, of devotional service.
He has taken so many children. He has invested in them,
and cares for their growth and development
in Krishna consciousness.
He is not a distant cold figure.
He is a loving parent who actually cares about his disciples.
Just like a parent loves and cares about his children.
The bond is never broken.
When He leaves... his loving and caring remain.
His personal example, His pastimes with His disciples
and His instructions remain.
He is a kind well-wisher of all His followers.

BEAUTIFUL CHILD

Devotees sometimes want Krishna as their child.
Vasudeva and Devaki for example.
They want to protect Krishna.
They want to see Krishna grow and flourish.
They want Krishna to be successful.
They want to see His beauty and talents mature and bear fruit.
They want to see him happy.

Meena Devi Dasi's photo.

INVESTMENT

If I make an investment
I have given some of my energy.
If I have resources and I give them for something
I want to see it successful.
I expect something in return.
Greater than what I invested.
I expect it to grow and flourish.
Otherwise why would I give my energy?
If this is the case for an ordinary conditioned soul
What then to speak of Krishna.
He has given the Maha mantra
which is the seed mantra for devotional life.
Eternal blissful life, beyond the influence
of the three modes of material nature,
beyond the cycle of birth and death.
The seed mantra for pure spiritual existence
in full realization of the Absolute Truth
The Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There is no way this will not grow, not mature
and not produce fruit.
The Supreme Lord is not impotent.
He is all powerful, fully potent, all knowing,
and everywhere present.
If He desires something... It's done.
Now who will taste the fruit?

PISTONS FIRING

Kus Soumie .....you know it's constant explosions these days..
from pistons, bombs, mining, emotional words and actions.....
Krsna please let Your Holy Names replace all the harsh
and injurious explosions of Kali!!
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare 
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Meena Devi Dasi Yes the ether is filled with sounds of firing...
great point... Fire... in the mode of passion...
At other times the ether was filled with
the sounds of Vedic sacrifice... The sacrificial fires.

AGRICULTURAL NOT INDUSTRIAL

Sometimes someone will comment on a post
and I just have to repost the exchange.
Thank you for the sincere comments
especially the ones I can tear into.
This was in response to a post about how Arjuna was offered
the science of machinery and refused it.
The devotee posted the photo of a huge snow plow
(oh wait maybe that's a train... oh well same idea..
pushing snow/lugging goods) to show how machines are good...
and I am wrong and possibly antiquated for my stance.
Devotee comment:
pamho, love(d) mechanics !
Meena Devi Dasi Yeah there's always someone
who will "tout the glories" of machines.
To push snow around do you have any idea
how many people's lives are affected
in order to produce that stupid machine?
(Oh maybe that's a train in the picture... still same thing)
Working in dungeon factories, for a few dollars
so the owners and corporate executives
can live high on the hog and lord it over everyone else?
How that kind of industry affects the environment...
really tracing it to its roots that type of industrial activity
on the large scale that it is today is part of the cause
for the huge snow storms to begin with.
What to speak of the consciousness of conquering nature...
Rather than living in harmony with nature...
that exploitative, conquering consciousness
spilling over into every other human endeavor.
Sure it takes intelligence to make something like that,
it also takes intelligence to rob a bank.
BTW thanks for comment.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy
but the real Krishna conscious society is agricultural
not industrial.
Show more react

Thursday, April 14, 2016

CONTRADICTION?

In the Introduction to the Rasa Dance Chapter 29 Maharaja Pariksit
asks His spiritual master Sukadeva Goswami a very interesting question:
(Where there are parenthesis they are my comments.)

"When he [Maharaja Pariksit] heard that some of the gopis, simply by concentrating on Krishna as their paramour, became freed from all contamination of material birth and death, he said,
"The gopis did not know that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They accepted Him as a beautiful boy and considered Him to be their paramour. So how was it possible for them to get freed from the material condition just by thinking of a paramour?"

(The gopis did not think of Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There were no formalities or rituals or offerings of elaborate praise of His position as controller and maintainer
and source of all creation. There were no obeisances.  There was no pomp and fanfare as we are accustomed to see in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  The gopis only saw Krishna appearing as a charming beautiful youth and were irresistibly drawn to him.)

Srila Prabhupada notes a little later on in this chapter:

"The gopis were not ordinary women. In essence they were on an equal level with Krishna. They are His eternal associates. As it is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, they are expansions of the pleasure potency of Krishna, and as His potency they are non-different from Him."

(But to answer the question... "How was it possible for the gopis to become freed from the material condition just by thinking of Krishna as a paramour?" If the gopis are eternal associates, then they are not in the material condition of life. It is all pastime.

But as we learned earlier when Krishna appeared 5000 years ago there were two different types of devotees appearing with Him. One type is the eternal associates who are never contaminated by the material energy. The other type are those devotees coming from the material world on their way back home and who are appearing for further training and preparation to enter the eternal atmosphere as an eternal associate never to return to the material condition. Maharaja Pariksit's question concerns this second type of devotee.  This was a wonderful question and opened up the dialogue on many levels for discussion.)

Another way to understand the question is as Srila Prabhupada points out:

"One should consider here that Krishna and ordinary living beings are qualitatively one.
The ordinary living beings, being part and parcel of Krishna, are also Brahman, but Krishna is the Supreme-Parabrahman. The question is, if it is possible for the devotee to get free from the material, contaminated stage simply by thinking of Krishna, then why not others who are also thinking of someone? If one is thinking of a husband or son, or if anyone at all is thinking of another living entity, since all living entities are also Brahman, then why are they not all freed from the contaminated stage of material nature?"

(If everyone is part of Krishna and everyone is a spiritual entity then why wouldn't the same result be there by meditating on anyone? Why does it have to be Krishna? Everyone is a spiritual entity. If I have an illicit affair with someone, anyone, why would it be different from an extra marital relationship with the Supreme Being? Everything is spiritual. Do we sense a touch of impersonalism here? It's all one.

Sukadeva goswami first of all chastises King Parksit for asking the question. Did he not understand the subject matter which had been discussed before. Krishna's incarnation as an apparently ordinary yet extra ordinary person? That Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead?  Maharaja Pariksit is asking this question so that his spiritual master will establish authoritatively Krishna's unique position in order to expose any impostors or imitators..

The first answer given is that even someone inimical to Krishna gets liberation. Sukadeva Goswami gives the example of Sisupala. Where is it ever seen that by becoming an enemy of an ordinary conditioned soul someone receives liberation. What they receive is a karmic reaction that drags them lower in their next birth. Yet Sisupala received liberation from the material condition of life.)

Sukadeva Goswami explains:

"Sisupala was always envious of Krishna, and because of his envy Krishna killed him. Since Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sisupala gained salvation simply by seeing Him. If an envious person can get salvation simply by concentrating his mind on Krishna, then what to speak of the gopis who are so dear to Krishna and always thinking of Him in love?"

As further response to the Maharaja Pariksit's question:

"Sukadeva Gosvami also said that Krishna is Hrsikesa, the Supersoul, whereas an ordinary man is a conditioned soul covered by the material body. Krishna and Krishna's body are the same because He is Hrsikesa."

(Krishna and His body are the same. There is no difference as there is for a materially contaminated living entity. To come directly into contact with Krishna when He appears... however He may appear... is always  purifying.

Srila Prabhupada comments:

"Just to show favor to the ordinary living entities, out of His causeless mercy, He appears as He is. Unfortunately, foolish persons mistake Him to be another ordinary person, and so they become eligible to go to hell. Sukadeva Gosvami reconfirmed that Krishna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, imperishable, immeasurable, and free from all material contamination."

(Here Srila Prabhupada is reaffirming Krishna's position. At first glance this seems contradictory. On the one hand we just heard from Sukadeva Goswami that Krishna is absolute and if He appears as an ordinary human being anyone who relates to Him is awarded transcendence...even if they become inimical to Him... but now Srila Prabhupada is saying anyone who thinks of him as an ordinary person as confirmed in Bhagavad gita goes to Hell.)

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be. Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated." BG 9.11,12)

(How can these both be true? See Him as ordinary and get liberation? See Him as ordinary and go to Hell? They are not contradictory when considering that there are two different classes of people being addressed. First there are those who are somehow or other in direct contact with Lord Krishna... even if they see Him as ordinary it doesn't matter. He is what He is. Absolute. They get the mercy. Like on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. All the warriors in that great battle were liberated simply by being there on the Battlefield with Krishna. Even if they were on the other side...against Krishna.

The other class of persons are those who are hearing about Krishna. Those who remain stubbornly attached to trying to enjoy the material energy and disregard messages of Godhead. But then again... Lord Chaitanya is so merciful that even they have been provided for. The Holy Name has all the potencies of Krishna Himself. Just by hearing the Holy Name a direct connection with the Lord has been established, however weak and frail the initial event. And then there is also prasadam distribution. We can hardly even begin to imagine the mercy of the Lord in His appearance as Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.)

Sukadeva Goswami further establishes Krishna's unique position beyond the material modes of nature:

"He appears in this material world out of His causeless mercy, and whenever He appears, He appears as He is without change. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. There the Lord says that He appears in His spiritual potency. He does not appear under the control of this material potency. The material potency is under His control."

Krishna... The All-Attractive... Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Enjoyer.

"The conclusion is that if one somehow or other becomes attached to Krishna or attracted to Him, either because of His beauty, quality, opulence, fame, strength, renunciation or knowledge, or even through lust, anger or fear, or affection or friendship, then one's salvation and freedom from material contamination is assured"



Friday, April 8, 2016

MY FATHER'S POETRY

My father has written poetry.
It was a tremendous release for him
as he was the sole caregiver in their house for my mother
who suffered from Alzheimer for 20 years
until she passed away at 90.
He was alone in the house with her during that long decline.
He did everything. Bathing, feeding, laundry, shopping.
I won't say cleaning, because... well...
the house was pretty bad.
But He was 91 when she passed away. Give him a break.
No one to talk to.
So he wrote poems.
I put them into three little booklets.
Now he is going to be 97 in a few weeks
and will give a poetry reading at the nursing home where he lives.
I realized I would need to illustrate one of the booklets
and make the print larger since he can't see very well.
Doing this service for him has helped me to come closer to him.
The past was very rocky, but it is all simply the past now.
He is a very sweet soul.
He wasn't always so easy to communicate with
but 20 years of taking care of my mother
has more or less made him a saint.
These are two of his poems.



NOT VERY SATISFIED

"When there are ample blooming flowers
in the gardens in the forest, the fresh, aromatic breeze
gives a great relief to the person who has suffered
during the summer and rainy seasons.
Unfortunately, such breezes could not give any relief to the gopis
because of their hearts' dedication to Krishna.
People in general might have taken pleasure
in that nice autumn breeze,
but the gopis, not being embraced by Krishna,
were not very satisfied." KB Vol 1 Ch 20
http://krsnabook.com/ch20.html
Like
Comment