oh Krishna!!

The flowers that adorned Your shoulders mighty:
The unerring messengers of Your fragrance earthy;
This slave now holds in her hands blessed,
Even as my heart leaps in joy at Your behest!

The world may call them unworthy
For they now appear variably withered!
But oh! They were on my sweet Sarathy smothered:
Does the damned world know that few are as fortunate and worthy?

The roses that are now half-dead,
Hide the scent of my Lord so unmistakable!
In the yellow flowers that are now black instead,
i feel the force of Your perspiration so recognizable!

In the white flowers that You once adorned with grace:
Wearing them, i rejoice in the warmth of Your embrace!
And o Lord! By the leaves of tulasi betwixt strung,
i taste the dust of Your Holy Feet in my tongue!!

There aren't words to describe Your love,
Or Dearest Krishna! The benovelant boons You bestow!
O Merciful Lord who enchants with Your smile so serene:
Let me please be a lotus for Your beautiful Feet!!

mistakes

How should we deal with our own mistakes and that of others?

When you go to a doctor, you must take the medicine that he prescribes and follow his advice and instructions. There is no use blaming him if you default. How can the doctor cure you if you do not take medicines or follow the diet restrictions and regulate your intake according to his advice? Similarly, follow My advice and then watch the result. Also remember, it is a sign of foolishness to brood over mishaps and mistakes once committed, and punish oneself by refusing to take food and so on. What good is it to ill-treat the body to correct the mind? Even as you deal with your own faults strictly, you should pardon that of others. Do not misunderstand their motives and scandalise them; perhaps their motives might be as noble as yours or their action might be due to ignorance, rather than wickedness or mischief.

True wisdom

What is true wisdom (Jnana)? Where can we find it?

When the senses are brought under control by the mind, the mind itself ceases to function; it disappears as it were. Then man experiences a profound silence. That stillness resulting from the absence of the mind is true Knowledge (Jnana). This knowledge cannot be acquired by intellectual ability or mental agility, nor by following an example. It is sui generis. Consider the ashes which cover a burning charcoal or the moss which covers a sheet of water. The ashes have come from the charcoal. The moss has originated from the water. The cataract that dims the vision of the eye, wherefrom has it come? From the eye itself! When the screen that blinds the vision is removed, the true Self will be seen in its real form. Atma Jnana is not obtainable through books, preceptors or even Paramatma (the Supreme Self). You are yourself the Paramatma, the Jnana, the Atma.

Atma

How do we know that Atma or Divine Self is present in all beings?

You may wonder, ‘How is it that the Atma is present in all?’ When you meditate in solitude on this question, a permanent, unchanging sound arises from the mind. All objects manifest the power of the atom. Every object is composed of atoms. It is the nature of atoms to combine and to separate. But in all human beings there is one unchanging and indivisible divine entity, the Inner Voice. The body undergoes change from infancy to old age, but the Inner Voice remains unchanged. People experience three different states of consciousness in the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states. But the Inner Voice has no change in the gross or subtle states of the body. What is that Voice? It is the divine Inner Voice issuing from the Atma-thathwa (Atma Principle). It is continually declaring: ‘I, I, I..’ - ‘Aham, Aham, Aham’. This is the Truth that is subtler and more fundamental than the atom.

What is the best way to be happy?

It is believed that every man has a free will. This is a mistake. It is also believed that it is through the individual's ideas and efforts that many things are accomplished. This is based on misconceptions regarding man's doership and egoism. Strength derived from the Divine alone is true strength. All else is weakness. To realise the Atma, physical prowess is of no avail. It is only by developing the sense of spiritual oneness, that the Atmic Consciousness can be realised. Today the world is plunged in chaos and conflict because this feeling of oneness has been lost. Man engages himself in strenuous efforts to achieve worldly comforts. But he does not make even a minute fraction of such efforts to meditate on God. How much greater happiness would he enjoy if he were to devote even a few moments to thoughts of God!

Likes n dislikes

Likes and dislikes that you now feel, are just temporary phenomena. They are not permanent. Consider for a moment that at some time you felt very hungry. Now suppose that you were served some food which you found very tasty. What made this food so delicious? If you examine this question carefully you would conclude that it was your hunger that made everything taste so good. As long as you were hungry you found the meal that had been served to you to be most delectable. But after your hunger was satisfied, even if the most sumptuous delicacies were placed in front of you, they would not have appealed to you. When you are hungry, ordinary food will taste quite good, giving you great joy. But once your hunger is satisfied, even the most delicious food is not at all tasty to you. The only way that you can understand this change is that all these likes and dislikes emanate directly from you, the individual. They do not come from the objects as such. All your feelings of joy and sorrow emanate from the inner being, not from the external objects.

Ordinary people think that the joy or pain which they get from being with people whom they like or dislike comes from those people; but it is not so. It is one's own likes and dislikes which are responsible for one's joys and sorrows. It may be observed that when people have a strong liking for others, holding them very dear, then whatever be the attitude or the actions of that person, they will still like them all the same. What is the reason for this unshakable fidelity, this affectionate regard one may have for another person, despite a number of unsavory things which that person may be saying or doing? The reason is that when you like someone, the things which that person says and does will appear sweet to you. When you consider a person as very dear to you, then you feel that you love that person very much. This quality which you call 'love' is really a feeling of attachment in you that you are directing towards the other individual. In such an attachment both the love and the joy which appear to be present, originate only from you. Whether or not the other person has similar feelings, the feelings which you actually experience come from within you, only. They are not a part of the other person, at all. A similar thing was told by a great sage to his wife, in the ancient scriptures.

The sage said to his wife, "Dear one, you do not love me for my sake but for your own sake. Everything you love and hold dear, you love only for the sake of the atma, your highest self;. The atma is the dearest of all, and it is for its sake that someone is dear to you. These feelings you have for others are all just manifestations of that great love you feel for your own true self."

attachment

In the whole world each person, whoever he may be, will love another only for his own sake, not for the sake of the other. If he loves an object, he loves it for the self alone, and not for the sake of that object. That self is the atma, the true self. But, when the pure love of the atma becomes tainted with body consciousness, and the senses hold sway, attachment and selfishness arise. This inevitably leads to sorrow.

The body is impermanent. Death is certain for all. Even if someone were to live for a hundred years, he would still have to face death one day. Everyone knows that. But, isn't it strange that the would-be dying are crying and feeling sorry for those who have already died? Everyone is sure to meet death and so everyone may be thought of as among the dying. Yet, even though they themselves are dying, people feel sorrow and grief when thinking of someone who has died. It is as if death were a totally unusual and unexpected thing, rather than the natural conclusion that must come to all. This sorrow that comes on, particularly when someone near and dear has died, can only be there because of attachment. After knowing full well that death is certain, if you still worry about somebody, it must be due to the attachment which you have developed for that body. It is this attachment which is responsible for all your grief. Therefore, when someone has died the primary cause for sorrow is attachment, not love.

Basically, every human being, at all times, is a seeker of joy. He thirsts for joy and does not ever want sorrow. Man always aspires for profit, never for loss. That is his very nature. Profit, joy and bliss are inherent in his makeup; they are at the very core of his being. Every man, right from the beginning, would like to have only gain, not pain. For a business man, the first thing he thinks of is his profit. Here in India, when measuring out some staple such as rice, if the number of kg's goes above six, then the shopkeeper will not say '7', but '6 + 1'. This is because the word for seven also means 'weeping'. The shopkeeper will use another word to avoid uttering this unhappy word. In this way, man never wants to face unhappiness and loss. He wants only profit and gain, and the happiness they bring.

Of all the possible profits and gains, the supreme profit of all, which gives the greatest joy, is self-knowledge, the knowledge of the atma. That is the joy you must seek and make your own.

Consider a beautiful rose; the moment you look at a rose joy emanates from your heart. Similarly, when you see a handsome person or any beautiful thing in this world, you instantly feel joy. Many people undertake trips to go sight-seeing. Why do they go? In order to derive joy from it. Therefore, you can see beauty in nature and you can see beauty in people, and you can derive great joy from all the beauty that you see. But how long does this kind of joy and beauty last? The rose that you picked today starts to dry out tomorrow; then its beauty gets lost. The moment the beauty fades away, the joy that you previously derived from it also subsides. It is the same with the different stages of life: childhood, youth, adulthood and old age.

Childhood may be said to reflect divinity. During early childhood the individual does not suffer much from hatred, jealousy, anger and so forth. Lord said that since children do not have any really bad qualities, they could be considered divine. During that period of life, there are no bad thoughts or bad traits, either in the mind or in the body. Little children are beautiful because they do not have impure feelings arising out of impure thoughts. As they grow up they gradually develop tainted qualities. The moment such negative qualities grow, the beauty of the small child fades away. Therefore, it is the coming in of impure thoughts which lead to impure words and impure deeds, which then results in the child losing its beauty.

Do your duty!

Krishna gave Arjuna a strong injection of courage to save him from drowning in sorrow and dejection. His immediate first-aid treatment was to teach Arjuna how to discriminate between the true self and the personal self. He said, "Arjuna, as long as you are overcome with fear and anxiety, you will not be able to accomplish anything. Be courageous! Know that you are the atma, not this body; then you will be fearless. I can help you to achieve great things, but only if you base your actions on true knowledge and remain fearless." At this point Krishna was smiling, but Arjuna was weeping.

The one who is always smiling is the Lord. The one who is weeping is man. Krishna is the true self, Arjuna is the false self. One is the embodiment of wisdom and the other is filled with ignorance. Krishna said, "I would like to explain some things to you which are very important. Right now we are behaving in different ways. I am smiling while you are crying. But we could both be alike; either I could become like you or you could become like me. If I should become like you, then I would become weak-minded. But that is impossible! Weakness can never enter into me! On the other hand, if you were to become like me, then you would have to follow me and do as I say." At this Arjuna replied, "Swami, I will do exactly as you say. I will follow all your commands implicitly!" Having given Arjuna sufficient encouragement and strength of purpose, Krishna enabled Arjuna to recover his strong resolve. From that point on, Arjuna undertook to fight, following the directions given by the Lord.

Krishna started his wisdom teachings with some important truths relating to the body and mind. He said, "Arjuna, you think that these people are your relatives and friends. But, what is meant by a relative or a friend? Does it refer to the body or does it refer to the indweller? Bodies are just water bubbles; they come and go. These relatives and friends which you are so attached to now, have all existed before, in any number of births. But were they your relatives and friends then? No. You too have existed countless times before, and I as well. The body, the mind and the intellect are all just so much apparel. They are like the clothes you wear; you change them now and again. They are mere instruments. Why develop a close relationship with these things, getting infatuated with them and then having to suffer so much sorrow and grief?

"Do your duty! All the honor that is due to you as a prince will be bestowed on you. But on the battlefield there cannot be room for any feeling of weak-mindedness and feeble-heartedness. Fighting boldly to preserve righteousness and shrinking in weakness are completely incompatible with each other. To have this timidity on the battlefield is not becoming of a great hero. Your cause is just and you have come to fight. Therefore, fight!" With words such as these, Krishna cured Arjuna of his despondency and helped him to find his strength and courage. When Krishna finished his teaching on the battlefield, Arjuna regained his noble ideals and faced the upcoming fight with renewed valor.

Two types of people

Krishna said in the Gita that there are two types of people, the noble ones and the ignoble ones. The noble ones are those who follow the right path, the sacred path. They seek the company of great people and practice their teachings. As a result, they experience the great spiritual truths and enjoy the inner life of the spirit. Opposed to them are those who are full of unsacred thoughts and have impure hearts, who are under the spell of ignorance and live an unrighteous life. Their evil behavior can be said to be the direct opposite of the exemplary behavior of the noble ones, just as darkness is the opposite of light. Therefore, we can describe these two categories as that of gods and demons, or beings of light and beings of darkness. Krishna said, "Arjuna, I thought up to now that you were noble, that you were a true knight, but I see that you are entering the wrong path. You are getting steeped in darkness. You are following unsacredness. It would be wrong to call you noble. You are proving yourself to be otherwise."

Krishna gave Arjuna various such admonishments in order to encourage him to make a heroic effort to manifest the qualities of true nobility. He told him, "The primary cause of your present grief is your attachment, and the basis for your attachment is ignorance. It is out of ignorance that you allow your senses to govern your actions. If you want to free yourself from attachment and sorrow then you must control your senses. You have to clearly understand the nature of the senses. In the journey of life these sense organs are important; they are like the horses of your chariot which can take you to your goal. But only when you have full control over these horses will the chariot and the person riding in it be safe. If you leave them uncontrolled it is inevitable that the chariot and its occupant will come to grief. Therefore, if you want to reach the goal safely you must take charge of these horses. In other words, you must assert absolute control over your sense organs."

When Krishna spoke of the sense organs he mentioned that they have the capacity to measure. For example, the tongue determines the taste of foods, deciding whether a thing is sweet or bitter. It does this by measuring the relative sweetness and bitterness of the food. Similarly, the ears determine whether some music is melodious or not and the eyes discern the beauty of objects seen. In this way, all the senses measure different qualities. Krishna also spoke of certain limitations of the sense organs, as ordained by God to insure their right use. For example, you can use the nose for smelling and for breathing. If you use the nose correctly, you are obeying the commands of the Lord and will surely benefit thereby. If, instead of using the nose for breathing and smelling good things, you use the nose to inhale noxious drugs, then you are not using it in the way specified by God.

As for the tongue, you have the Lord's gentle reminder, "Child, use this tongue to talk sweetly and not to hurt others' hearts. Use words which give them joy." The other function of the tongue must also be attended to. Use your tongue to take in fresh, wholesome food which is full of vitamins and proteins. On the other hand, if you use your tongue and sense of taste for smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol you will be misusing the tongue. Then you will be disobeying the commands of the Lord and you will come to harm. In this way, you should use all of the sense organs for the specific tasks which have been assigned to them by God. Then you will be fulfilling the purpose for which each instrument has been given. This kind of regulated behavior will help you to achieve your life's goal.

As a result of the functioning of the senses, you may experience joy or grief. This joy or grief that you feel does not come from the senses themselves. It is only after the senses have come into contact with the sense objects that you will experience these feelings. For instance, suppose you are on a protracted visit to a friend in a neighboring town, and while you are away something happened in your home. No matter what happened, whether good or bad, you would experience neither happiness nor grief, joy nor sorrow, as long as your ears had not heard the news. But once you get a phone call and came to know what happened at home, if the news is good you would feel joy and if the news is bad you would feel sorrow. It is only after the senses became associated with the sense objects that the joy or grief would have come to you.

Saranagati

In those days people lived much longer than they do today. At the time of the great war, Krishna and Arjuna were already quite advanced in years, by today's standards. For over 70 years, Krishna and Arjuna had been inseparably together. Although they were together for so many years, at no time during all those years did Krishna teach the Gita to Arjuna. Why was this so? During all those years Arjuna treated Krishna as his brother-in law and his close friend. Krishna did not teach the Gita to Arjuna as long as Arjuna was living with body-consciousness.

The moment Arjuna surrendered and accepted discipleship, then Krishna became his teacher and Arjuna became Krishna's student. Only after this act of surrender on the part of Arjuna did Krishna teach him the Gita. This means that if you really want to acquire spiritual knowledge from another, you have to relate to that person as disciple to spiritual teacher, before the transfer of knowledge can flow freely.

In the ancient scriptures there is a similar story of a great teacher. At that time there was no greater teacher than he. But he sent his own son to another teacher to attain spiritual knowledge. The father himself would not teach his son. He took this step because he knew that as long as the son considered him the father, the boy would not relate to him fully as the teacher, and therefore, the boy would not have been properly instructed in the highest wisdom. This was also the situation with Krishna and Arjuna. As long as the relationship of brother-in-law existed between them, Arjuna could not receive knowledge from Krishna. But once this feeling of brothers-in-law left his heart and the feeling of being in the presence of the supreme divinity entered Arjuna's heart, then Arjuna was able to learn from Krishna.

After Arjuna had surrendered completely and developed the feeling that Krishna was divine, he said to Krishna:

You are my mother,
You are my father,
You are my nearest kin,
You are my dearest friend,
You are my wisdom,
You are my treasure,
You are my everything,
You are my Lord, my loving Lord.

It was then that Krishna accepted him as a disciple. At that point Krishna said, "You do my work. Do everything for me and I shall take care of you." The most important thing that Krishna did was to free Arjuna from the feeling of body-consciousness. So long as body-consciousness persists, regardless of what path you follow, whether it is the path of selfless service or the path of devotion or the path of inner inquiry, you will not be able to practice the required disciplines that will lead you to the goal. Body-consciousness and the attachments resulting from it will constantly pollute your heart. Without emptying the heart of its dross, it is not possible to fill it up with sacred feelings. If a tumbler is full of water, how can you fill it with milk? You first have to empty the water. Krishna said, "Arjuna, you are full of body-consciousness. First you must completely rid yourself of this. Only then will I be able to fill your heart with sacred thoughts."

Krishna's teachings were aimed at freeing Arjuna of his infatuations, and the grief and sorrow which resulted from them. The two most important steps in this process are surrender and elimination of body-consciousness. Once Arjuna's body-consciousness was gone, Krishna was ready to reveal to Arjuna the highest spiritual teaching, that of self-knowledge. With that, Krishna awakened Arjuna out of his sleep of ignorance. He said, "There are a number of reasons for your sorrow but the most fundamental one is your ignorance. You have been unaware of your true nature and therefore you have become overwhelmed with grief. But now you have cried out for God. You have cried out for righteousness. You have cried out for me. When you cry for me, I will take care of you and give you everything you need."

You all cry for so many different things, but do you cry out for God? Do you shed tears when there is a decline of righteousness? When you do, the Lord will establish himself in your heart, teach you his highest wisdom, and make you an instrument in his mission. For this, you must have courage and inner strength. Krishna told Arjuna, "You should never have any kind of weak-heartedness. It is only after you remove such weakness from your heart that the divine power will enter and reside in your heart. If you do not have courage, even sheep will frighten you, not to speak of evil minded men. You must have the capacity to face all circumstances. If you run away in fear, even monkeys will attack you. But, if you have a stick and stand your ground, the monkeys will not come near you. Whatever the circumstance, face it squarely and do not show your back. Then will you be able to achieve what you set out to do."

The essence of this teaching is, "Be courageous! Be fearless!" Courage is the primary instrument for achieving any kind of success. You need to have more courage and more determination. But you should not have blind and foolish courage. Courage must be accompanied by discrimination; only then will success be assured.

oh krishna!!

My Lord!
Your lotus eyes and their depth endless,
Fill a poor girls imagination with desires relentless!
O my Krishna of charm boundless,
Bind me to You by Your mercy causeless!!
Lost in the luxury of Your kind love,
Have i forgotten the boons You have bestowed?
O my Love! Lord of my dreams!
Keep me forever at Your Lotus Feet!

Accept me at your feet.. krishna!

How cursed must this idiot be

That i must Your disappointed form see?

What did i do wrong, my Lord?

That, with Your indifference, i be so scorched?

Like two bright almonds Your beautiful eyes,

Their radiance that charms and enchants the mind:

How come today even a glance they deny?

Than be scorched by Their anger, i'd rather i die!!

My Lord! Please do forgive a slave,

Who does earnestly for Your smile crave!!

O Dearest Lover! Bestow upon me Your mercy,

And please accept me at Your feet!!

What should we thirst and crave for

What should we thirst and crave for to make our earthly existence worthwhile?

The thirst for worldly goods can never be allayed; trying to satisfy it makes it only more acute. Thirst can never be quenched by drinking salt water, which is the objective world. Human desire is illimitable, without end. It makes you pursue the mirage in the desert, it makes you build castles in the air, it breeds discontent and despair once you succumb to it. But develop thirst (thrishna) for Krishna, and you will discover the cool spring of bliss within you. The name of Krishna makes you strong and steady, it is sweet and sustaining. Whoever has the thirst, Krishna will quench it; whoever calls on Him in the agony of that thirst, Krishna, the rain-cloud, will answer that call and appear.

relationship

What is the relationship between the individual and the Lord?

If you have the ear, you can hear 'Om' in every sound announcing to you the Lord's presence. The bell in temples is intended to convey the ‘Om’ as the symbol of the Omnipresent God. When the bell sounds, the Godhead within you will awaken and you will be aware of His Presence. The jeevi (individual soul) has come in with a dress (body), like a pilgrim on a visit to a holy place. The jeevi must have a guide who will show the sacred spots and help fulfil the pilgrimage. That guide is the Lord Himself and the guide books are the Vedas, Upanishads and other scriptures. The essence of the scriptures lies in this one rule: Repeat the name of the Lord, keeping His Glow always before the mind.

How should we approach Divinity?

The Lord is the Kalpatharu (the divine wish fulfilling tree) who gives whatever is asked for. But you have to go near the tree and wish for the thing you want. The atheist is the person who keeps far away from the tree. The theist is the one who has come near. The tree does not make any distinction – it grants boons to all. The Lord will not punish or take revenge if you do not recognize Him or revere Him. Earn the right to approach the Lord without fear and the right to ask for your heritage. You must become so free that praise will not emanate from you when you approach the Lord. Praise is a sign of distance and fear.

devotion Radha had for Krishna

What can we learn from the devotion Radha had for Krishna?

You can understand Radha only if you can fathom the depth of her thirst for Krishna. Radha believed that Krishna is the Aadhar (basis). She performed Araadh (worship) in a continuous Dhara (stream). In fact she is Prakrithi (nature), another form of the Lord Himself. How can those, who are full of evil tendencies and impulses grasp that relationship? The recitation of the Name of the Lord is the best method for cleansing the mind of all these evil impulses. If you have pure and steady faith in the Lord, He will provide for you, not just food, but the nectar of immortality itself. You have the potential in you to make Him grant you that boon.

inherent Divinity to shine

What is the essential step one has to undergo for the inherent Divinity to shine forth?

The poet Kalidasa once said, “I would get liberation, as soon as I go”, implying, liberation is achieved as soon as the ego disappears. For then one would shine in his native splendour, as the indestructible Atma. The ‘I’ when crossed out becomes the symbol of the cross. So what is crucified is the ego. Once this happens, the Divine nature spontaneously manifests itself unhampered. The ego is most easily destroyed by devotion, by dwelling on the magnificence of the Lord. You can call Him by any name, for all names are His. Select the Name and Form that best appeals to you. That is why Sahasranamas (thousand names of the Lord) are composed for the various forms of God; you have the freedom and the right to select any one of the thousand.

inner significance of the Avataric life

What is the inner significance of the Avataric life of Lord Krishna?

When you say that Lord Krishna was born in Gokul, grew up in Brindavan, ruled over Mathura and later Dwaraka, what does that signify? The mind is the Gokul where He was born. He is born to everyone, even today, whoever has taken to a spiritual path. The heart is the Brindavan where He grows. He grows in every heart, where Divine Love develops and expands. Your Intellect (Chitha) is where He begins His rule, and the Nirvikalpa stage (the state of absolute oneness) is the Dwaraka where He firmly establishes Himself as the reigning monarch. Make your thirst and devotion for the Lord grow through these stages, and you will be saving yourself.

Peace and Joy

What should we do to win Peace and Joy as our inseparable companions in this life?

Just as you attend to the needs of the body regularly, feeding it three times a day to keep it in good running condition, so too spend some time regularly to keep your inner consciousness in good trim. Spend one hour in the morning, another at night and the third in the early hours of the dawn (the Brahma Muhurtha) for japam (contemplation) and meditation on the Lord. You will find great peace descending upon you and new sources of strength welling up within as you progress in this spiritual practice (Sadhana). After sometime, the mind will dwell on the Name, wherever you are and whatever you are engaged in. Peace and Joy will become your inseparable companions.

sadhana an important aspect

The mind must become bhakthimaya (saturated with devotion to God). The intelligence must be transformed into Jnana (divine knowledge). The body must be a willing and efficient instrument for the practice of righteousness. Such a life is indeed the crown and glory of humanity. The rest are merely contaminated, contained and caged lives! So sadhana (spiritual endeavours) alone makes life worth while; the rest are like froth which is fake and momentary. Join the company of the good, the striving, the yearning spiritual aspirants and you will soon reach the stage of peace within and harmony without.