Gems of wisdom
by Shree Maharajji
Your Shyamsundar is always yours,
so why do you feel sad? Have this firm faith that He will love you as much as
you love Him. That is His promise.
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Even if you chant 'Ram Ram' or 'Shyam Shyam' for endless lives, day and night but have attachment
to worldly objects, then after death you will get the fruit of the object you
are attached to and not the Name you have been chanting.
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It is
Thakurji's (Shree Krishna's) weakness that the moment He hears someone singing Kishoriji's (Radharani's) name,
He runs towards the one singing Her names! To please and make Shree Krishna
happy, just chant the Divine name and glories of Radharani. This is the fastest
method of pleasing your beloved Shree Krishna.
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Everything related to Shyamsundar is Divine and
not material. It is only our eyes that are material and so we are not
able to perceive the Divinity in them.
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Shree Krishna
is the source and all souls emerge from Him. Therefore, the ultimate aim of the
soul is eternal service to Shree Krishna through every sentiment (as Master, Friend, Child, Beloved and
All of them).
***********
The duration for which the mind is attached to
Shree Krishna, for that duration the mind is detached from the material world.
The duration for which a soul stays detached from the world, for that duration consider
it to be the special blessing, grace and mercy from God and Guru.
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Current News
JKP News
Shree
Maharajji celebrated Janmashtami at Rangeeli Mahal, Barasana Dham, India with
great enthusiasm. Hundreds of devotees took part in this grand celebration
on the 14th August.
Shree
Maharajji was in Golok Dham, Delhi for 3 days from 16th to 18th August.
He celebrated Shree Krishna's Chatti (sixth day of Shree Krishna's
birth).
An exclusive Opthalmic wing in Jagadguru Kripalu Chikitsalay was inaugurated by Shree Maharaji in Bhakti Dham, Mangarh.
Shree
Maharajji inaugurated the Naturopathy wing of Jagadguru Kripalu
Chikitsalay on the 14th of Aug '09 in Rangeeli Mahal, Barsana Dham,
India.
Shree
Maharajji was in Golok Dham, Delhi for 3 days from 16th to 18th August.
He celebrated Shree Krishna's Chatti (sixth day of Shree Krishna's
birth).
Swamiji is having a yet another highly successful series on the West Coast, at the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple,
with over 500 people attending on the weekdays.
Channel Island Cruise
Swamiji spent one day full of fun and frolic with devotees on the Channel Island Cruise. Devotees were treated to joyous kirtans and exclusive time with Swamiji.
Jagadguru
Kripalu Yog organised Yog and meditation camps. It was successfully
held in different parts of Gujarat like Patan, Palanpur, Vapi, Baroda
and Ahmedabad.
Yog camps were also organised in different parts of Orissa like Cuttack, Jajpur, Berhampur and other towns.
Tree
plantation program was held in the Cuttack ashram, Orissa on August
15th, 2009. Over 100 saplings were planted in and around the campus.
Janmashtami was celebrated in different satsang centers with great enthusiasm.
Swamiji celebrated Janmashtami with all the devotees in Ventura County, Sunnyvale.
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Welcome to the
Jagadguru Kripalu Yog e-Magazine |
Lecture by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj on the
occasion of Shree Krishna Janmashtami
We are celebrating Krishna Janmashtami. Who is Krishna? What is the meaning of 'the birth' of Krishna? Why should we celebrate it? These are questions
which we are about to get answers for. Let us first understand the meaning of the word 'Krishna'.
kṛiṣhirbhvāchakaḥ śhabdaḥ ṇaṣhch nivṛitti vāchakaḥ tvayoraikya
parabrahm kṛiṣhṇa ityabhidhīyate (gopālatāpaniyopaniṣhat)
In the Vedas, the meaning of
the word "Krishna" is Satchidanand Brahm (the
absolute divinity full of bliss, knowledge and eternity).
'karṣhati
paramhañsānām chetañsi iti kṛiṣhṇaḥ'
The one who attracts and entices everybody's
heart (mind), the Supreme Soul, is Krishna.
Even Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shankar (Shiva), are attracted to
Shree Krishna. He attracts His own Self! Is it not astonishing?
The Supreme God, Shree
Krishna has three main forms - Brahm,
Paramatma and Bhagavan. Just like the
three forms of water - steam, ice and water itself (liquid). If we decrease the
temperature of water it becomes ice, and if we increase the temperature, it becomes
steam. Even though we have three forms, they are fundamentally the same.
Similarly, there is only one God who manifests Himself in three different
forms.
Let us now understand the
meaning and qualities of these three forms of God.
Brahm - This refers to the all-pervading form of God. Two
main powers that are revealed in this form. The first is self protection and the second is Swaroopanand (personal Bliss). The other powers are present but are not manifest. Another
important aspect of Brahm is that He is formless.
Paramatma - This
refers to that form of God that resides in everyone's hearts. The Paramatma also manifests in the personal
form as Vishnu, and various avatars such as Narsingh and Varaha. Many more powers are manifest in the Paramatma
form, than in the Brahm form. Bhagavan - God reveals all his powers in this
form. This is the form of Shree Krishna, in which He manifests. He manifests
His Divine Names, Form, Pastimes, Abodes, and Associates.
Bhagavan - God reveals all his
powers in this form. This is the form of Shree Krishna, in which He manifests His Divine Names, Form, Pastimes, Abodes, and Associates.
yo sau param brahma gopāl
A question has been asked in the Vedas:
kam paramo devaḥ Who is this Supreme power? Who is Brahm? kasmānmṛityurvibheti Who
is the personality that is feared even by death? kasya jñānenākhilam jñātam bhavati What is that, by
knowing which everything is known?
The answers to these three
questions are given in the Vedas - kṛiṣhno havai hariaḥ paramam daivataṁ The Supreme power is Shree Krishna. govindānmṛityurvibheti Even death fears Shree Krishna. And gopījanavallabha jñānenākhilam jñātam
bhavati
- By knowing Shree Krishna
everything becomes known. So, Shree Krishna is the ultimate Supreme
Personality who is the ocean of Divine Love and eternal Bliss. Shree
Krishna is Absolute truth and essence of Divine Love and nectar. We,
being
a part of His Divine personality naturally love Him.
Now comes the question of Shree Krishna's birth.
If we say that He was born, then it means He will die one day. Shree Krishna
himself says:
jātasya hī dhruvo mṛityurdhruvam janma mṛitasya cha
"Arjun! The one who is born dies one day." That implies Shree Krishna also died. Is
the Supreme Lord also caught in this cycle of life and death? No, let us first understand the meaning of the birth of God. For the Supreme Lord, birth
means to manifest and death means disappearance. During Shree
Krishna's descension period, He first appeared in front of mother Devaki in the
form of the four-armed Maha Vishnu, with His Sudarshan chakra, conch, mace, and
lotus.
tamadbhutam bālakamambuje kṣhaṇam chaturbhujam śhankha gadayudayudhaṁ
Having seen this form of God she asked Him to
appear as a normal child. When Devaki closed and opened her eyes
bhaye prakaṭ kṛipalā dīn dayālā God manifested Himself as a sweet smiling child.
So, it was not like a material birth that takes place from the mother's
womb. Shree Krishna had a Divine birth,
and similarly His body was also Divine.
chidānandamaya deha tumhārī
vigata vikār jāna adhikārī
Only people with Divine vision are able to perceive the
Divinity of His form. So His body is chidanandmaya,
full of knowledge and eternal Bliss. We have a body and a soul. The soul
is immortal but the body is destructible. But the body and soul of God are one.
His body is Divine by nature, full of Bliss.
Every sense organ of God's
body can perform the functions of the other senses. For example, God's eyes can
see, think, smell, and take decisions. This is unlike human senses, where our
eyes can only see and ears can only hear, etc. Each
one of the senses of God can perform the functions of all the other senses.
paśhyatyachakṣhu saśhṛiṇotyakarṇaḥ
Not only are God's sense
organs so powerful but He can also hear without ears and see without eyes! This is
unbelievable for us humans!
Now comes a question. What is
the need of the Absolute and Supreme God to descend on earth? Why does He
leave His Divine abode and come to this material world? Does He want something
from us humans? No, He is complete and content in Himself. He does not have the need
to search for anything
from outside to fulfill or satisfy Himself.
There are many reasons for God's descension. But
the main reason of His descension is to shower His causeless grace and mercy on
everyone. Grace and mercy are ian inseperable part of His nature. This is the reason why He comes to
this world repeatedly and does various pastimes.
When God
descends on the world, He reveals the glory of His personal and
all-blissful Form, His Divine Names and His Pastimes. This provides a
basis for the material conditioned souls to
engage in His Devotion. By meditating on
His Form, and listening to His Pastimes, they get a means for enhancing
their
devotion. If God had not taken any
avatars, the souls in the material world would not have had any basis
for
engaging in devotion, because the formless Brahm is exceedingly
difficult to
worship.
So the main motive of
celebrating Janmashtami is to understand the secret behind Shree Krishna's Divine
descension and our eternal relationship with Him. We must aim to build a
firm relationship with Him and constantly realize His presence with us so that we
progress quickly on this path and cleanse our mind. By the grace of our Guru,
we can then receive Divine Love with which we can relish the sweet leelas of
Shree Krishna and enjoy the eternal Bliss of Divine Love.
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Secrets of Spiritual Sadhana
Continued from previous month...
This is the second line of "Sadhana Karu Pyare" series.
sādhanā te hī mile tohi, sādhya hari rati pyāre
"Only by doing spiritual practice one can receive the Divine Love of God."
We all
have a sadhya. Sadhya means the thing
which we want to achieve - our aim. What is our aim? Hari-Rati.
Hari means God, Rati means Love. Our
aim is to attain Divine Love of God. This Divine Love
is our biggest treasure. All
other treasures and possessions become insignificant in front of this treasure. Shri Maharajji says:
as ras mahaṁ mohiṁ sadguru borī
"My Gurudev has completely drenched me in the nectar of
Divine love. So sweet is this nectar that compared to it, the combined fruits
of 'dharm' (virtuous deeds), 'arth' (wealth), 'kaam' (material
pleasure) and 'moksh' (liberation) are
absolutely tasteless."
muktānām api siddānām nārāyaṇa parāyaṇaḥ sudurlabhaḥ praśhāntātmā koṭiṣhvapi
mahāmune Even the highly evolved yogis search for this Divine love of
Radha Krishna. This Divine Love of Radha Krishna is very rare to attain. So, how will we get
this Divine Love? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
explains us that we cannot attain this Divine Love by doing Sadhana or
devotional practice.nitya siddha kṛiṣhṇa
prem sādhya kabhu nāy
śhravaṇādi shuddh
chitt karay udāy This Divine Love is an
eternal entity that cannot be created by any meansnot even by
Sadhana. And Shree Maharajji says Divine
Love can be attained by doing Sadhana. Now here comes a contradiction. Our
scriptures have such apparently contradictory philosophies and knowledge that without a true
Saint or a Guru we cannot understand them. On one hand the scriptures say:-
nānugrahastava bina twayi bhaktiyogam
Without the Grace of God one cannot receive real devotion
(Bhakti). On the other hand, the scriptures also say
nānugraham tava binātvaibhaktiyogaḥ
"Without
doing devotion one will not receive the grace of God". Now these
two precepts seem to be contradictive. How will
one receive devotion? Through Grace. How one will receive Grace?
Through devotion. So
what comes first? The chicken or the egg? Did the tree come first or
the seed? If
you say the seed came first, how could it come into existence without
the tree? And if you say the tree came first, how did
it come into being without the seed?
There is a similar contradiction here. One can
ask, without the grace of God how can we do Bhakti? So first God should shower
His grace and then we will start doing Bhakti. But how can God shower His grace
if we do not do Bhakti? It seems like there is no way out of this puzzle. Does that means we should
not do anything and sit quietly? Well, this circular logic is resolves quite easily.
Shree Maharajji says that there are two forms of Bhakti (Devotion) - one is that which we have to practice and the other is that which we will
receive when our devotional practice is complete. The one which we have to practice and
observe is called Sadhana Bhakti. The one which we will receive is called
Siddha Bhakti (Prema Bhakti). This Siddha Bhakti will be attained by the grace of God. It is possessed by Rasik Saints
who has been graced by Radha Krishna. So
we need to do Sadhana Bhakti and then God gives Siddha Bhakti.Ved Vyas says in Bhagwat -bhaktyāsañjātayā
bhaktyā vibhratyutpulakañtanum
"To receive Bhakti, one must do Bhakti". What does that
mean? How can someone practice and receive the same thing in return? The verse actually means that we have to practice Sadhana Bhakti and once we have
perfected it, we will receive Siddha Bhakti. However,
even for the Sadhana Bhakti that we are supposed to do, we tell our Guru, "Guruji! Please grace me so that I can do Sadhana Bhakti".
This is impossible. If
without our efforts, merely by the Guru's grace everything could be done, then
the world would not have remained. The
Guru would have bestowed Siddha Bhakti on everyone, and released them from the bondage of maya.
God and Guru ask us to first realize and utilize the Grace that
They have already showered on us. God has
showered His grace in many ways - God has given us this human life. On
top of that, we
were born in India
where we got a spiritual environment. We were bestowed with faith in
God. Again by His Grace, we developed a desire to come to Satsang.
And the biggest Grace was that we met a God-realized Saint and got
attached to Him. He
gave us the knowledge of God, showed us the right path of devotion and
taught us how to
practice it.
After so many graces , if we do not utilize them, we have only
ourselves to
blame for it. Inspite of
knowing the importance of devotion we become lazy, careless and
procrastinate in our spritual practice. The more we realize and utilize
the grace that God has
showered on us, the more grace we will receive. If
we do not utilize what we have already received, how can we expect more?
Shree Maharajji says, "I do not expect too much from you all.
I know you cannot enter Golok in one day. But you do not do as much as you are
capable of doing, and that is what makes me feel sad." The reason for this is
our own laziness.
ālasya hi manuśhyāṇām śharīrastu mahān ripuḥ
The
biggest disease of the human body is laziness.
We know what we are supposed to do, but being lazy, we do not do it. Hence, in the preparatory stage, we have to work
hard to overcome carelessness and do proper Sadhana. What is is this
sadhana, and how is it to be done? This
is explained by Shree Maharajji in subsequent lines of this excellent kirtan.
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Jagadguru Kripalu Yog
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