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Bhakti Yoga-Devotional Service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna

Bhakti Yoga-Devotional Service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna
Gopis performing Devotional Service to the Lordships Sri Sri Radha Krishna

The field of activities and its interactions [BG.13.08]

Bhagavad-gita As It Is | Part [BG.13.08] 
 
TEXTS 6-7:
 
maha-bhutany ahankaro
buddhir avyaktam eva ca
indriyani dasaikam ca
panca cendriya-gocarah
 
iccha dveshah sukham duhkham
sanghatas cetana dhritih
etat kshetram samasena
sa-vikaram udahritam
 
 
TRANSLATION:
 
The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions—all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and its interactions.
 
 
 
PURPORT:
 
From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedanta-sutra, the components of this world can be understood as follows. First there are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five great elements (maha-bhuta). Then there are false ego, intelligence and the unmanifested stage of the three modes of nature. Then there are five senses for acquiring knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Then five working senses: voice, legs, hands, anus and genitals. Then, above the senses, there is the mind, which is within and which can be called the sense within. Therefore, including the mind, there are eleven senses altogether. Then there are the five objects of the senses: smell, taste, form, touch and sound. Now the aggregate of these twenty-four elements is called the field of activity. If one makes an analytical study of these twenty-four subjects, then he can very well understand the field of activity. Then there are desire, hatred, happiness and distress, which are interactions, representations of the five great elements in the gross body. The living symptoms, represented by consciousness and conviction, are the manifestation of the subtle body-mind, ego and intelligence. These subtle elements are included within the field of activities.
 
 
 
The five great elements are a gross representation of the false ego, which in turn represents the primal stage of false ego technically called the materialistic conception, or tamasa-buddhi, intelligence in ignorance. This, further, represents the unmanifested stage of the three modes of material nature. The unmanifested modes of material nature are called pradhana.
 
 
 
One who desires to know the twenty-four elements in detail along with their interactions should study the philosophy in more detail. In Bhagavad-gita, a summary only is given.
 
 
The body is the representation of all these factors, and there are changes of the body, which are six in number: the body is born, it grows, it stays, it produces by-products, then it begins to decay, and at the last stage it vanishes. Therefore the field is a nonpermanent material thing. However, the kshetra-jna, the knower of the field, its proprietor, is different. 
 
Translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
 
--
Yours
Dinesh
 

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What’s on your Mind when we say "Astrology" ? - Msut Read!!!

Vedic Astrology






I see many people’s astrological charts; most of them are absolutely fine. They show lives that are just as they should be – decent health, decent wealth, decent family relations, and so on. But the owners of these charts do not see it. They’re worried, depressed, disturbed, and continually hankering for something more than what they’ve been handed in life.

They believe that they’re unfortunate and suffering. And there is one thing about these people

that I’ve seen again and again. All of their plans for more pleasure and happiness always end in more pain and misery. Their wishes for satisfaction only end in frustration.

I often see ways that people can be happier and more peaceful. They could invest time and energy into obtaining lasting results that would truly improve their lives. But people are led by common misunderstandings about astrology or by unscrupulous "astrologers" who are not qualified to give readings, and they end up losing out in many areas of their lives.

For astrology to be effective, we must work on the level of identity. Astrology should be a finger that points you back to your true identity in this life. Circumstances may be pleasant or unpleasant, but they will always exist in whatever situation you find yourself. We all must find our own internal balance that is independent from the forces that surround us – sitosna sukha dukhada: we need to tolerate both pleasure and pain.

The effort to rush into pleasure already causes us pain – a hankering for good feelings. When you are so focused on pleasure, you will be vulnerable to pain. And who ever told us that there shouldn’t be pain in life? Who do you think you are that you should only have joy, pleasure and good things in life? It is essential to understand your position in this universe in order to see why you must tolerate bad circumstances as well as good ones in life.

If you’re in prison, you try to get out. You don’t paint the walls and try to liven up your cell with some plants or colorful curtains. Likewise, when in this life experiencing birth, death, old age, disease, and suffering it is not enough to just think of improving your present circumstances; you must also try to find the ultimate solution.

Astrology is a vedanga, a support to the Vedas; hence, the ultimate solution is also mentioned in the Vedas. It says vedaishcha sarvair aham eva vedyo - "He is to be known by all the Vedas." Bhagavad Gita also gives solutions to all problems if properly studied and understood. These solutions come from authoritative sources through a succession of disciples, or guru-parampara.

When something good happens, like the overcoming of an addition or the break-up of an unwanted relationship, we say, "My astrological chart says so." On the other hand, when it’s a failure in business, sudden bad health, or the break-up of a desired relationship, we can’t accept it. We want to fight, to find comfort and a solution that satisfies our desires.
Astrology should help people understand their lessons in life. It is not meant to focus on the temporary enjoyment you want out of life. Astrology should be used to make every challenge an opportunity to grow and learn, and to move on to a better next life, or to return to the spiritual world completely. For that, one must be ready to work more deeply, to understand the goal, and to know really how to get the most out of astrology – it could be way beyond what you think you need.


Originially Published at mapss.us


Online Astrological Services at http://www.mapss.in


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How Do You Approach Vedic Astrology? - Must Read!!!

How Do You Approach Vedic Astrology?
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 17:27 by ShriRadhe

[ Courtesy : Thanks to Goravani Das, who makes these concepts easier to understand and accessible to all who want to know Vedic astrology in depth. ]








Vedic astrology is a part of Vedic philosophy that highlights the principles of the theory of karma and reincarnation. In short, it means that we reap what we sow. The actions that we perform are recorded and become the basis of our future experiences in this and the following lives. Therefore astrology is not fatalistic; the seeds are sown by our actions, guided by our thoughts, which are backed by our desires, which is our choice.



Vedic Astrology reads this karmic script: what it is that we desired in the past, what thoughts followed, what actions took place, and what is waiting for us as destiny, due to our past actions.



We keep creating desires, allowing thoughts, and performing actions according to this script and in this way get caught up in the cycle of birth and death. Wanting to know the outcome of one's own forgotten choices and actions is what nowadays is called an 'astrological consultation.'



Most of the time, unfortunately, people forget that they themselves created this destiny. When they consult an astrologer they act as if they were not responsible for the past, and they want to know all about future in order to change it as they like -- creating more and more karma -- without taking responsibility for their past actions. This may sound strange, but it's true.



Since our future is based on our past actions, it can be modified by our present actions and this gives rise to very interesting possibilities: by adopting certain measures we can lessen the impact of our negative actions in the past.



These measures work principally by generating vibratory energy through repetitious chanting of a mantra. The energy thus radiated erases the script at the point where past karma is likely to cause trouble. A major accident can be reduced to a small one; a huge financial loss can be limited to the loss of a few hundred dollars. The vibratory structure of the creation is modified by deliberately produced vibrations. The ancient sages have left a treasure trove of mantras to achieve every end that a person can think of.



Here is a story I would like to share, describing karma, the reaction to that karma, and how a person creates even more complex karma in the process.



Ms. Goldie has been visiting me for some six years now; she just does not take responsibility for any of her actions and every time she asks me to fix her problems, without doing what is advised. She makes up her own conclusions and meanings and keeps blaming karma, as if karma were something that fell from the sky one day and got stuck to her life.



Her first consultation was six years ago when she was very eager to marry. She asked me how her marriage would be, and whether she would be happy.



I told her "According to your karma you shall have a loyal and honest person who will be scholarly, but he shall not be rich. There is no opulence indicated for you in this life, but he will love you and your children to the best of his ability and provide all basic needs. If you are patient and kind with him and accept this, then you can be very happy but satisfaction is the key here."



She said, "Oh I have always been poor so I don't mind; I only want a nice man who is famous."



There was something she wasn't telling me. I had noticed how her Venus was causing excess imagination and her Moon in her house of speech. I told her to be careful what she imagined fame as, and to be kind with her husband.



Only at our second appointment she told me that she was calculating that a famous man should surely become rich; so in this way she was scheming to trick karma and have a famous and rich husband after all.



After searching here and there for a special person she became desperate and in want of someone who is famous, very intelligent, etc., she rejected many boys who were suitable for her, who had simple jobs and finally chose a man who was well known in the society to be intelligent and popular.



Soon after the marriage she realized how her imagined theory was not working. He wasn't becoming rich because he was popular, but he was popular because he was unattached to making money.



She lamented and told me how she thought that by knowing astrology she could go another way to get what she wanted, and now she felt cheated by karma.



I consoled, her indicating so many good things in her life with this man -- and advised her to be satisfied with the good natured he had and not become a sharp-tongued wife.



This time her question was: "When will I have a child?" This time I knew well that with this chance of making him father, she wanted to push him to work hard to earn money. I told her that this was also not going to work. I also indicated good times for conceiving, etc.



After they had a child and the idea of her to pressurize him into making money did not work, she started going around to other people in the community, almost begging for help, talking bad about her husband, which naturally her husband did not approve of. They had a simple life with sufficient food and shelter.



Though she did get some better dwellings, she destroyed the peace in the house, creating so much trouble by complaining and being unsatisfied, that now she was thinking of divorce; she was hoping that the next one would be better.



Unfortunately, as I had warned her, her karma was strong. Who ever she married, her destiny was to have only little luxuries. Without getting this point, she went around trying to change her karma instead to learning from it, became more and more desperate and poorer in heart than would have been necessary.



Vedic Astrology reveals a profound truth to us: that our lives are controlled from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Realizing this can be catastrophic to some people who are not yet ready to accept that they are living in the benevolent cupping hands of the Supreme Lord at every moment of their lives.



In modern times, especially in the west, it is vogue to think of ourselves as masters of our lives, as the creators of our destiny. This may be argued in philosophical terms as fact, but Vedic Astrology shows that there is another side; a side where we can see that we are fully controlled.



One of the world's greatest philosophers, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (early 1500's, India), stated that to understand the Absolute Truth is to know that we are simultaneously both fully controlled and independent. In other words, full determinism and free will exist simultaneously for us. What this means is that while our lives are fully controlled by God through the universal demigods, at the same time His power and majesty in creating us is so amazingly great that we experience free will at every moment, even though we are being controlled. We feel as though we are choosing. We feel the emotional results of our choices.



It is true however that even our choice is controlled. Even our choices flow from our mental condition from birth and from the mold with which we were individually created.



The cosmic super-reality is that we are simultaneously free and controlled. Astrology focuses on one side of this equation, while other sciences and perceptions focus on the other.



The changes we can make can have two outcomes: one is to make a positive change by accepting our karma and working to learn our lessons, and another is to try to trick karma, getting into a mess of karmic reactions, as in the case of Ms. Goldie.




Originally published @ mapss.us

Vedic Astrology Services @ http://www.mapss.in/







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~Endless Love~

Love in this world depends on so many material
considerations,therefore it's not satisfying to the heart. The Supreme
Lord is the object of Love&the recipient of our Love. If we develop
Our Love for Him it will never be lost. Between the living entities
the Love is not experienced fully. If there's Love between living
entities,it should be among all regardless of the bodies. But we find
it's not so. We find Love between same species of life but not among a
man&beast or man and frog. We may Love so many different things or
different people in this world but at a certain point of time,we'll
lose the person&the Love which gets lost creates so much pain but
actually it's an illusion or a kind of dream.
Only with Supreme Lord we can feel the Love 100%,not with any other
living entity.

A tinge of real Love that's in Spiritual world between the Lord&His
devotees can be found in mother for her child which is unconditional.
If we can revive our Love for Krishna which was lost,we would really
feel the pain of all living entities and at that time we will not only
feel Love for our family members but also for the living entities in
the whole world.

So this is the way to enjoy endless Love. Everyone wants to be loved
by someone else. Anger is absence of Love or experienced because of
lost Love. By performing loving Devotional Service to the Supreme
Lord,we automatically Love all the living entities&everyone can feel
the Love at heart for one another at that time. But be careful,Enemies
such as pride,envy,lust,greed,madness,anger are always ready to stab
your heart to steal the real Love inside&thereby cause pain at heart.

--
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
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~Endless Love~

Love in this world depends on so many material
considerations,therefore it's not satisfying to the heart. The Supreme
Lord is the object of Love&the recipient of our Love. Our Love for Him
will never be lost. We may Love so many different things or different
people in this world but at a certain point of time,we'll lose the
person&the Love which gets lost creates so much pain but actually it's
an illusion or a kind of dream.

A tinge of real Love that's in Spiritual world between the Lord&His
devotees can be found in mother for her child which is unconditional.
If we can revive our Love for Krishna which was lost,we would really
feel the pain of all living entities and at that time we will not only
feel Love for our family members but also for the living entities in
the whole world.

So this is the way to enjoy endless Love. Everyone wants to be loved
by someone else. Anger is absence of Love or experienced because of
lost Love. By performing loving Devotional Service to the Supreme
Lord,we automatically Love all the living entities&everyone can feel
the Love at heart for one another at that time. But be careful,Enemies
such as pride,envy,lust,greed,madness,anger are always ready to stab
your heart to steal the real Love inside&thereby cause pain at heart.

--
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
Share/Bookmark

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