Devotional service is very simple. It can be attained in a moment. It is a matter of changing perspective. We just have to change our idea that we are the controller and enjoyer to the idea that God is the controller and enjoyer. The whole thing is to convince our mind that devotional service is OK. We worry about losing our identity. If I give up my material identity, will I be maintained? Will things go OK?
We are materially attached because we are in illusion thinking that the material world is eternal and full of happiness. Thus the Bhagavatam is always reminding us that this world is temporary and full of misery. It is not required to tell people that material endeavor is useless since by knowing this world is temporary and miserable, people can figure it out.
Vedic principles involve applying transcendental ideas to the material world.
When devotees would criticize other devotees Srila Prabhupada would correct them by telling them to first take up the service of those they were criticizing, and then they could criticize.
An uttama-bhakti (first class devotee) can be in bhava or prema . From bhava one can fall down, as did King Bharata. So a first class devotee can fall down, contrary to what some people think.
Varnasrama is to insure the depth and quality of the relationships between people so they are satisfied physically, mentally, and emotionally, and can thus peacefully execute their spiritual duties. It is not an economic system. Economics is there so that the other can go on.
Fire analogy: Let say you have a big pile of wood. Some is dry. Some is wet. Some has mud on it. Some has lichens growing on it. And you have a little flame. So what do you focus on, the little flame or the big pile of wood with all its little defects? If you focus on the flame, in time the pile of wood will become a lump of ashes. A devotee focuses on the flame.
In varnasrama one is classified according to one's prominent interests, activities, and abilities, as persons may have characteristics of multiple varnas or asramas.
It is not a problem that people have anarthas (unwanted desires) in the heart. It is a problem when they do not identify them and try to purify or remove them.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura advised that periodically we should analyze our situation and try to increase the quality of our service. If we understand where we are actually at, then we can see how to progress.
Our strategy should be to adjust our situation so the anarthas do not bother the spark of devotion we are fanning. While doing this cultivation, we should focus on the spark of devotion not the anarthas.
Being the moderator of this site I get the privilege of promoting my comments to posts. I'd also like to use this as an opportunity to direct your attention to this comments exchange between Krishna-kirti Prabhu [website] and Amara Prabhu [website].
Discussions amongst devotees about how the people in general may be benefited are very auspicious.
Personally I have studied the edition of Manu Samhita pictured here, and also another similar dharma-sastra called the "Yakñavalkya-smrti".
Here's my contribution:
Srila Prabhupada said:
"Manu gave the law known as Manu-samhita, which is full of directions based on varna and asrama concerning how to live as a human being. These are very scientific ways of life, but under the rule of demons like Hiranyakasipu, human society breaks all these systems of law and order and gradually becomes lower and lower. Thus there is no peace in the world. The conclusion is that if we want real peace and order in the human society, we must follow the principles laid down by the Manu-samhita and confirmed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna."
In this quote Srila Prabhupada makes a distinction between the time, place, and circumstance specific rules in Manu Samhita and the principles that these implement. Smrti-sastra is generated by empowered brahmanas for the specific situation that it addresses.
"We do not want all these rituals. Chanting Hare Krishna is our only business. According to the Manu-samhita you are all mlecchas and yavanas. You cannot touch the Manu-samhita, what to speak of translating it. So if you try to follow the Manu-samhita then you become a mleccha and yavana and your career is finished"
- Letter to Madhusudhana, May 19, 1977
We might take the particular point which Srila Prabhupada has broken out from Manu Samhita (about women not being CEOs) and highlighted in this commentary, as being specifically indicated by his Divine Grace as normative and desirable, and I'm happy to do that.
At the same time, as Madhava Ghosh pointed out [in this comment], the healthy implementation of the normative role of women cannot be separated from implementation of the normative qualification of men. Varnasrama is about qualification, not just birth. You're not a man just because you were born with male genitals. You have to man up and step up to the role.
When Men are Men, Women are Women
As His Holiness Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja put it so succinctly: "When men are men, women are women."
That's a simple yet powerful statement with profound implications in terms of both ideal and strategy for implementation.
A lot of problems come when unqualified men demand that roles be respected when qualification is not present. This is the same dynamic that lead the people to reject the varnas at the time of Buddha. Similarly people have rejected traditional gender roles.
Just as both Buddha and Sankara demonstrated at their relative points in the course of social development, we need intelligent readjustment. We have to keep the goal in sight like the pole star ("normative view" in the language of Krishna-kirti prabhu), and work our way back onto the "royal road" of varnasrama (as Srila Prabhupada describes it Bhagavad-gita—the safer path).
There's not much point dogmatically following the same route the road follows when you've stepped off it. We have to negotiate the actual terrain we are on, and make our way simultaneously forward, and back onto the road.
If we want to see traditional gender roles remanifested in a contemporary context, then we need to understand the essence of them, and also understand how their misuse has lead to their abandonment. Then we can create something that is at the one time contemporary, natural, organic, and functional.
First Deserve, then... you don't even have to Demand
From Satsvarupa Goswami's ISKCON in the 70s:
"If we gain political power, will we follow Manu-samhita?
"First gain power, he said. Then yes, Manu-samhita. Actually everything is in the Gita and Bhagavatam in gist. Manu-samhita is based on varnasrama and that is in the Gita, I created the four orders. First we would divide society into orders by quality and work, not birth. Someone made a brahmana would have to act like a brahmana or else he would be punished."
So first gain power. That means become qualified to lead before demanding that others follow.
As the maxim has it: "He who thinks he leads but has no-one following is merely taking a walk".
"Actually the qualified brahmanas are meant to give direction to the kings for proper administration in terms of the scriptures like the Manu-samhita and Dharma-sastras of Parasara. A typical king is the ideal of the people in general, and if the king is pious, religious, chivalrous and munificent, the citizens generally follow him."
Qualification is a pre-requisite, and then implementation follows naturally. As Prabhupada points out here, if you have the qualification, you don't need to spend so much time arguing with people about how they should follow you, you just spend your time actually leading them. In the words of Srila Prabhupada, "first deserve, then desire".
So a lot of our time might be better spent focusing on our own qualification than railing at people for not following. It's a poor workman who blames his tools, and a poor leader who blames their "followers."
Andy Stanley puts it: "As soon as you blame your followers you've stopped leading".
This is not to devalue the valuable work that is done by thinkers who contemplate normative views and discuss implementation pathways. However, especially for new devotees their initial focus is better directed to the essential practices of bhakti, such as sadhana, study of sastra, and cultivating Vaisnava qualities and relationships.
I've found that if people respect you as a person they naturally respect what you say. When you give them relevant advice on their personal situation they are more likely to follow it. Change begins with us and then goes one person at a time. A brahmana is one who thinks globally (in fact universally, and beyond), and acts locally. He becomes an empowered agent of positive change.
Manu Samhita: Principle and Implementation-Powerful points to ponder upon!
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
Recently HG Vaijayanthi mala Mathaji had shared with us very powerful mails on Gurudev's class on "Fiery devotional service." Our heartfelt thanks to mathaji for sharing the nectar.
There were few punching statements which Maharaj had insisted in that class which we need to practice meticulously.
As Gurudev has insisted in that class
a) To remove the seed of sin from our hearts - we need to tightly hold on to Srimad Bhagavatam and b) The most important qualification for that is to give up the two "C's" - Criticism and Cheating.
The taste for Bhagavatam will not come unless we give up the habit of criticising others. Gurudev has told us that in order to increase the fire of devotional service - we need to be in contact with Srila Prabhupada. Do not open your mouth until and unless you have nice fire (of bhakti) in your existence. Maharaj is also telling us that not only should we avoid using tongues for criticising - but should start using it nicely for preaching Krishna's names and glories. Being close to Krishna, Gurudev is omniscient and know that in the name of being guilty for our sins, we might become depressed and so he has also mentioned - "Before we try to purify others, it goes without saying the necessity of our own purification. Apani acari prabhu jivera shikaaya.If you preach you will slowly improve. In the beginning you are not pure. But because we are telling others, we also start practicing. So please preach."
So preaching is primarily for purification of our own selves. Recently when we met Gurudev in Mumbai, he was appreciating the devotees from Chennai for the wonderful Harinam service they were doing weekly and said - "Harinam and preaching are the outward manifestation of internal devotional service we do for the Lord." - Even after hearing how much Gurudev is pleased by this, we did not have full faith in the power of the holy name and devotional service. But still we were doubtful that how is it possible to do Harinam in cities like Bangalore as people are very posh, sophisticated etc. Our godsister HG Sharada mathaji called us last week and said that since it was maargashirsha month - a month very dear to Lord Krishna, we should start doing Harinam. It was as if she was repeating the instruction of our Guru Maharaj to do harinam. Eventhough we were neglecting this instruction Krishna has been mercifully reminding us again through so many ways. Both HG Sharada mathaji and HG Sree Purushottam Prabhuji very enthusiastically organised and invited all the devotees for Harinam program on Jan 7th.
When we started the kirtan and distribution of prasadam on the way, we realised how much pious and devoted are the people around. Those great souls whom we met on the way - received the prasad with so much respect - Some people travelling by car or bike - stopped by, got down and removed their footwear, bowed their heads to the prasadam and then honoured it. In that process they were creating traffic jam but they didn't care about it. As it is in India people do not have any traffic sense and are careless about driving, but in this case it was their genuine respect for prasadam that made them become oblivious to the surroundings. At that moment we realised that simply wearing Vaishnava dress, tilak and honouring prasadam daily - in a mechanical manner is not enough. Unless the internal devotional service is not pure and unless we give up critical attitude towards others - there is no way we can approach or please Guru and Krishna.
We then went to a big mall in Bangalore, we just thought why not give it a try to go inside and continue with our harinam until they ask us to leave. As we went in unexpected, the huge Saturday evening crowd was first perplexed, then shocked, then watched us with amusement. Then automatically some of them started clapping their hands to the tune of the Harinam. After about 10 mins of kirtan, the security guard came over to one of the devotees and said something. We thought he was asking us to leave the place and started moving. Later when I checked with the devotee about what the security guard spoke to him, he said that the security guard told him, "I am also a Hanuman bhakta". So prabhuji encouraged him to chant the mahamantra since it actually contains the name of the Lord of Hanuman. Finally we completed about 3 kms of nagar sankirtan and returned back to the Balaji temple where we began, and then completed the Harinam. All the devotees and people in the mall were very happy to hear the kirtan and watch the dancing of our devotees.
One of the important things we should realize from Srila Prabhupada's mission is that he did all that was supposed to be part of our culture but had vanished over time as people started to adopt western culture. In all the temples, along with the worship of the deities, Bhagavat-gita and Bhagavatam study/class must be going on. Practically this principle is absent in all the temples. And Srila Prabhupada introduced this process very strictly in all the ISKCON temples. Similarly, Harinam and nagar sankirtan has always been part and parcel of the Vedic culture. In due course of time, with the introduction of western culture, people started shying away from chanting in the streets and public, thinking they will be made fun of. But Srila Prabhupada, began this movement practically with Harinam in Tompkins Square Park. Harinam is pleasing to everyone, it not only destroys the greatest of sins (amhasaam mahataam api) of the entire universe but also brings auspiciousness all around (jagan mangalam).
While explaining the glories of sankirtan to Parikshit Maharaj, Sukadev Goswami says in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 6.3.31
Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.
We do not need to be scholars, thinkers, intelligent etc to perform this Harinam service. This is the simplest form of purification of the self as well as the whole world. Let us follow this simple process of purification to the best of our ability and inch closer towards Krishna and Gurudev.
Thank you very much, Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Kalacakra Krsna das and Sudarshana devi dasi.
Yours Servant
Sri Krishna Hari Das (Dr Satish Gosain MBBS DNB i Med)
[granthraj] Preaching for Purification
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
"An intelligent person should reject all bad association and instead take up the association of saintly devotees, whose words cut off the excessive attachment of one's mind."
(Lord Sri Krsna - Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.26.26)
--
VEDIC THOUGHT-Sadhu Sanga
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
This is a humble attempt to collect information on the spiritual subject matter for my own purification and for the benefit of the World! Lot of focus is made here to provide a one-stop solution for all problems of life! The most secret of all secrets is revealed! Vedic wisdom here unveils your real self. The perfect self-realization system(Bhakti Yoga) made so simple like never before!
Srila Prabhupada said:
Posts
