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Post by Nityānanda dāsa on Nov 4, 2020 8:26:28 GMT -6
Can't recall the ref, but if it helps, bhumau skalita paadaanaam bhumirevaavalambanam/ tvayi jaataaparaadhaanaam tvameva saranam hare// Who steps upon the earth and slips away, The earth herself is verily his stay; But whoso, Hari, offends against thee, Finds grace as thy suppliant refugee. Awesome Madanmohan Dada! I believe this is it! And now that you gave the verse, I did a little Googling and it looks like it's from Padma Purana or Skanda Purana, but I didn't see a specific verse reference. Both sources were cited in different places. I also saw mention that it is one of five slokas in a 'Vijnapti-panchaka'. Anyone know what that is or where it might be from? Here's the whole Vijnapti-panchaka, some beautiful verses that I've seen before... Vijnapti-panchakamat-samo nasti papatma
naparadhi ca kascana
parihare 'pi lajja me
kim bruve purusottama
yuvatinam yatha yuni
unam ca yuvatau yatha
mano 'bhiramate tadvan
mano me ramatam tvayi
"O Purusottama, there is no sinful person or offender who is equal to me. How can I describe my shame? Just as the minds of young ladies take pleasure in a young man and the minds of young men take pleasure in a young woman, kindly let my mind take pleasure in You, alone." bhumau skhalita-padanam
bhumir evavalambanam
tvayi jataparadhanam
tvam eva saranam prabho
"Just as the ground is the only support for those whose feet have slipped, so also You alone are the only shelter, even for those who have committed offence to You." govinda-vallabhe radhe
prarthaye tvam aham sada
tvadiyam iti janatu
govindo mam tvaya saha"O Srimati Radharani, the dearest of Lord Govinda, this is always my request to You - please let Lord Govinda, along with Yourself, consider me to be one of Your assistants." radhe vrndavanadhise
karunamrta-vahini
krpaya nija-padabja-
dasyam mahyam pradiyatam
"O Srimati Radharani, O queen of Vrndavana, You are a river flowing with nectar of mercy. Please be kind upon me and give me a little service at Your lotus feet." The above was found on this site: www.salagram.net/sstp-DhyanMed.html Thanks!!!  Jai Sri Radhe! |
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Post by madanmohandas on Nov 4, 2020 13:07:49 GMT -6
Perhaps you came across alternate readings. One has 'Shive' for 'Hare'
I was assuming the verses were in Stavamala, but they are in the Sadhaka Kantha mala of Rama Dasa Babaji.
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jiva
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Post by jiva on Aug 25, 2021 18:57:31 GMT -6
Why are some of babas (Sri Prana Krsna Das Baba Maharaja ji, Sri Vinod Bihari Baba Maharaja ji...) involved in marking the secular holidays such as the 75h anniversary of the Independence of India?
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Post by Nitaidas on Aug 26, 2021 21:49:51 GMT -6
Well, I don't know to answer this without possibly incurring Vaisnava aparadha. One answer, I suppose, is that they must think they are Indian. To confuse one's nationality with one's spiritual identity is hard to avoid if one thinks that one's very country is more sacred than other countries. Of course, India isn't sacred, any more than Africa or Europe or the Americas are. One could even argue that India is a land of greater sin. That is why Krsna and Balarama had to go to India to kill the demons that had gathered there and overwhelmed the place. It wasn't because India was so sacred that the gods had to descend there, but because it was so evil. Even today evil presides there in the form of the current Indian government which is sowing hatred and violence between the Hindus and non-Hindus who reside there. Of course, there is evil everywhere, not the least in the USA. Evil is based on ignorance and ignorance is rampant in the USA as it is in India. The only answer is to take to the Holy Name and try to purify one's heart. make it ready for the descent of bhakti into it. Then one will forget the country one was born in or currently lives in. nAhaM vipro na ca narapatir ,,,
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Post by meeno8 on Aug 27, 2021 7:58:33 GMT -6
How true that all is. Sinister populism has arisen in the US as it did in Germany in the 30s.
My original thought on t his was that those secular holidays are culture-bound. If we had our own CV mandirs here in the USA (and indeed there are some RK ones built by the Sri Sampradaya and the Gujarati Swami Narayan sect), we might have special services for the 4th of July (Independence Day) or Memorial Day (to honor CV Vaishnavas that passed on), or even Christmas day. But that is a mere hypothetical at this juncture.
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jiva
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Post by jiva on Aug 27, 2021 21:53:41 GMT -6
Well, I don't know to answer this without possibly incurring Vaisnava aparadha. One answer, I suppose, is that they must think they are Indian. To confuse one's nationality with one's spiritual identity is hard to avoid if one thinks that one's very country is more sacred than other countries. Of course, India isn't sacred, any more than Africa or Europe or the Americas are. One could even argue that India is a land of greater sin. That is why Krsna and Balarama had to go to India to kill the demons that had gathered there and overwhelmed the place. It wasn't because India was so sacred that the gods had to descend there, but because it was so evil. Even today evil presides there in the form of the current Indian government which is sowing hatred and violence between the Hindus and non-Hindus who reside there. Of course, there is evil everywhere, not the least in the USA. Evil is based on ignorance and ignorance is rampant in the USA as it is in India. The only answer is to take to the Holy Name and try to purify one's heart. make it ready for the descent of bhakti into it. Then one will forget the country one was born in or currently lives in. nAhaM vipro na ca narapatir ,,, Just to hear the current Shankaracharya of Puri Peeth, Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswati- ji Maharaj who says that India is the heart of the planet and that is why demons and avatars appear there, all others are apostates from the true dharma etc... |
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Post by Nitaidas on Aug 28, 2021 11:32:56 GMT -6
Just to hear the current Shankaracharya of Puri Peeth, Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswati- ji Maharaj who says that India is the heart of the planet and that is why demons and avatars appear there, all others are apostates from the true dharma etc... Swami Niscalananda Saraswati wouldn't know true dharma if it bit him on the ass. Dharma for him means killing Muslims and raping outcaste girls. He and others like him are good reasons why sannyasa is forbidden in the Kaliyuga. Sri Sanatana Goswami defines true dharma (sad-dharma) as saddharmo bhagavad-bhakti-lakSaNo dharmaH: true dharma defined as bhakti for Bhagavan (BRhad-BhAgavatAmRta, 1.42, comm.) I suspect that now-a-days India is more like the backside of the planet. I feel sorry for the many good people who live in India. The demon population is on the rise again. Perhaps Kalki will come early. |
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Post by Nitaidas on Aug 28, 2021 14:26:06 GMT -6
From Dr. Radhagovinda Nath's Essay on Sannyasa:
But Mahaprabhu himself has said that in the Age of Kali there is no
prescription for sannyasa citing as evidence the
Brahma-vaivarta Purana (1.17.7):
aśvamedhaṃ gavālambhaṃ sannyāsaṃ palapaitrikam |
devareṇa sutotpattiṃ kalau pañca vivarjayet ||
The asvamedha [horse] sacrifice, cow-killing (in the Madhuparka rite), renunciation (sannyasa), offering meat to the forefathers [?], begetting sons by means of the husband's younger brother; these five are to be rejected in the Age of Kali.
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Post by kirtaniya on Sept 25, 2021 21:58:36 GMT -6
Well, I don't know to answer this without possibly incurring Vaisnava aparadha. One answer, I suppose, is that they must think they are Indian. To confuse one's nationality with one's spiritual identity is hard to avoid if one thinks that one's very country is more sacred than other countries. Of course, India isn't sacred, any more than Africa or Europe or the Americas are. One could even argue that India is a land of greater sin. That is why Krsna and Balarama had to go to India to kill the demons that had gathered there and overwhelmed the place. It wasn't because India was so sacred that the gods had to descend there, but because it was so evil. Even today evil presides there in the form of the current Indian government which is sowing hatred and violence between the Hindus and non-Hindus who reside there. Of course, there is evil everywhere, not the least in the USA. Evil is based on ignorance and ignorance is rampant in the USA as it is in India. The only answer is to take to the Holy Name and try to purify one's heart. make it ready for the descent of bhakti into it. Then one will forget the country one was born in or currently lives in. nAhaM vipro na ca narapatir ,,, Nitai dasji! Jay Sri Radhe! I’d like to share some thoughts on your post. Not certainly it goes this way. Of course, the nationality and the nationalist abhiman is often strong. And in each specific case, it is quite natural to assume that this or that person is enslaved. But in each specific case, it is also possible to assume the use of the preacher principle, which is widely applied. There are sermons in Zen Buddhism in which this principle is presented through some kind of “shock therapy”. Just like that. Avatamsaka Sutra says: “Drinking and sex are not hindrance for Prajna [wisdom]”. And they explain it. When you can control your karma - your desire, anger and ignorance - then any action is not a problem: whatever action you do, it will teach other people. I believe that the six forms of loving exchange in Upadesamrta are one and the same bodhisattva love. It is not so much a matter of relationships with Vaishnavas, but of human relationships. Vishnu can be seen in anyone. Radhika’s mercy can be seen everywhere. Thus all people connected to this principle. When I am confident I can teach them in any way. And that teaching is basically - dadati pratigrhnati - to give and to accept gifts. Some people need material help. Are we surprised by the action of sadhu who donate money and gives away food? Indeed, sometimes ordinary people show more empathy than the ascetic egoist. Therefore, the Bhagavata warns us that personal liberation is illusory. Some people need just friendliness. This is not so big, but this is not insignificant. They can feel themselves to be part of the family. No one is superior, everyone is welcomed to bring along any possible sentiment, speciality. Some people are ready to hear some instruction. But still they have an individual situation and may require some encouragement. It is a gentle approach. If someone need some festival and feast - he gets this. If he wants to drink - why not to drink with him? If she wants some sex - give it. It is not anything sectarian. It is not even just avadhuta action. It is just life as it is. And high class confidence. When I learn how to act with no ego I can make him a friend. Selflessness brings about trust. Ok, some parts of it may sound too much. But in essence the very our nature is beyond any circumstance. And this nature is revealed through experienced action. Without quality, expertise, all of this would be karma and disturbance. One must be trained. Nevertheless all karma can be looked after and klesa can be discovered at the root. I enjoy very much the flexibility of mind presented in these thoughts: As for me, indian or non-indian is not that important. I mean indian in a broad sense. The taste of rasgullah on the tongue is not indian. India has its advantages and disadvantages, and both are not critical. All over the world there are many highly advanced non-Indian sadhus. And what makes Krsna and Balarama do all this in India? This is the bhakti of many bhaktas, which is the essence of Krsna and Balarama. This bhakti is capable to bring Krsna and Balarama to any country. How? In the form of highly dedicated practitioners, Sadhakas. They do not change the world. But they reveal nature beyond birth and death. As Krsna and Balarama do. Personally I do not need someone to be necessary a Gaudiya Vaisnava to inspire Krsna-lila in my heart. Just his purity of heart is enough for such inspiration. The teaching of CC goes: the more he is a Vaisnava the less he thinks himself a Vaisnava. Meaning, no pride out of any severalty, out of any distinction. Realisation of more and more (not personal, not located) freedom from subtle and subtlest delusions. This or that sect happened to be more suitable for learning, and that doesn’t make that place great. And Vraj is not great too. It is loved or not loved. Also I’d like to comment on this: It is very simple not to incur Vaisnava aparadha. People always tend to imagine some aparadha. But everyone can easily know if he having malice at the moment. And even if so, one can say some few Hare Krsna to clearly stay away from malice for some moments. Thus devotion would chase away this aparadha. The same goes for a doubt. We can recognise it, we can stay with no it. And we can learn to turn it around looking for the backside of an assumption. |
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jiva
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Post by jiva on Sept 26, 2021 23:54:00 GMT -6
Does someone could explain the connection between karma and astrology?
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Post by kirtaniya on Sept 28, 2021 5:59:23 GMT -6
Does someone could explain the connection between karma and astrology? For this, it may be useful to take astrology not as an old and esteemed department of knowledge but as a particular process of gaining knowledge. While watching some movie we can be absorbed in drama on the screen and also we can notice some subtle development of drama. But this insight doesn’t have anything to do with the perception of the screen itself, the projector at the back of the cinema hall and the film in that projector. I.e. while dealing with the dramatic patterns of developed passion, we can remain very well unaware of the psychic process wich goes on in the backyard of what we are able to reflect. This process is not in the focus of our attention but we can direct our attention to it just by remembrance - the particular one, satipatthana. And who said that an astrologer is deprived of satipatthana? He can observe conditions beyond jaramarana to make his insight deeper. Now the same analogy again. Put it simple. Life is an illusion. Here is the film in the box. This is jati. Here it is projected onto the screen. This is jaramarana. The entire totality of consciousness has already been born. Jaramarana is life that flies before your eyes toward death. Because of its distinctness, it can be plotted on a chart. Some taster may grasp each particular flavor of the entire chain of dependent origination: avidya - sanskara - vijnana - namarupa - sadayatana - sparsa - vedana - tanha - upadana - bhava - jati - jaramarana but this insight is related only to four noble truths. It is not to mix up the four noble truths with the single jaramarana, or life in kamaloka, to which belong all the scientific descriptions. Time also belongs only to jaramarana. People's ideas can change, but the nature of people is still the same. Among those 12 nidanas avidya, tanha, upadana - belong to the group of klesa, sanskara, bhava - belong to the group of karma, The rest is dukha. People are drowning in delusions, do not know their own psyche, do not understand that the whole world is organized objectively only through the prism of thirst for tangibility, tanha, and attachments, upadana. Everyone pays attention to what he is inclined to, what seems important and necessary to him. And that inclination is bhava, a concrete karma. Sanskara as the second nidana is also karma, but it is a vague thirst for clarity. In general, bhava is existence, that is, beingness - from being, to be. This is all that is associated with the essenciality, significance, importance. Here is a good analogue of the word bhava - highlighting. And to make it clearer, this is essentially the formation of subject attention, its direction. Bhava is a filter that, like the decoherence of a wave function, generates classical objects, from countless possibilities it collapses to one life. But even so, in jati - only a part of the possible potential of aspirations is realized, and in jaramarana - only a small part of the events repeated in fading. Bhava forms endless births and deaths. And events in one birth are reflected in the potential of all other births, making some of them more or less probable. Going beyond this birth means eradicating the nourishment of bhava (karma). This means that there is no more important, more probable, needing implementation. Any ways are open and there is no more desire to wander in the born. There are no obstacles, but there is no more prominent potential. Bodhicitta sets a new vector. |
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jiva
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Post by jiva on Sept 28, 2021 7:36:09 GMT -6
Thanks for the comprehensive answer.
However, I still do not see the need for astrology.
Is it just a visible manifestation of karma on a chart, if I understood correctly?
If the film has already been made, then why would the director reveal its plot to us in advance? Also, is it said that planets affect our lives in one way or another? In what way, if everything is determined by karma, ie the film has already been made? I don’t know how clear my questions are... |
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Post by kirtaniya on Sept 28, 2021 11:16:29 GMT -6
Without a claim to an exhaustive answer. Only a direction that might be helpful. There is no need for astrology. No, karma is bhava, and the chart refers to one birth. Bhava is visible with the help of proper direction of attention, satipatthana. This advance is the problem of taking time for granted. On the flash drive, songs are recorded in their entire duration, and are played sequentially. Individual sounds and their sequences can be recognized. This playing makes more sense than just storing songs on a USB flash drive. But the five aggregates are the aggregates of all situations. Their unfolding is old age and death. I.e. the concrete living of this life, the realization of certain situations from the recorded bhava in jati. This influence of the planets is purely nominal. Born with everything else. Reflects the internal connections of the born. When considering different bases, you can find a lot of similar influences, in the genetics, etc. These are natural questions. |
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Post by meeno8 on Sept 28, 2021 17:07:45 GMT -6
From the standpoint of the concept of karma and the agents of karma (the nava-graha), it is difficult to separate jyotish from karma. You may reject jyotish, as Nitaiji does, yet I believe he puts stock in the idea of karma, but then you are separating the two, perhaps artificially. Perhaps that is the correct approach, but I am not going to render any opinion on that. I really think the important point for us is that our path is supposed to take us beyond the realm of material cause and effect, in other words dissolving karma altogether. So, not only would astrology be irrelevant for us, but also karma. Furthermore, we are not to strive for moksha either to gain liberation from samsara, but rather the goal beyond that: Radha-Krisha prema.
There is one Sanskrit text in my collection on jyotish that states that whenever Surya (the Sun) enters Leo (an annual event), gold prices will rise. You can look at any chart of gold futures and see that is just not true. Some astronomers in recent centuries supposedly found correlations, for example earthquakes, with planetary configurations based solely on astronomy without invoking any astrology at all. A few things to take into consideration on this subject. However, I believe that is really just anecdotal without any way to verify, but I could be wrong about that.
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Post by kirtaniya on Sept 28, 2021 18:59:39 GMT -6
No, I am not arguing against the concept of karma and nava-graha. I just haven't read everything here. Only want to share something about some methodology. Any concept has its limits. Perhaps it will be useful for someone to learn that karma can be not only a concept. And to learn that liberation has the only meaning - liberation from delusions, klesa. Well, or liberation from the three poisons, the meaning is the same. This is not some kind of a dream about a future event of liberation, ascension on a vimana with Vishnudutas, but a daily sadhana of liberation. Seeing karma non-conceptually means seeing freedom from karma as well. Nothing new is ever added to freedom. Everything that comes - goes, practice is to stay with unborn. Queen Kunti knows very well that Krsna is unborn. It is wonderful if someone's teacher concentrates the student's practice on paying attention to these tendencies, called nava-graha. If there are such people here, I apologize if I somehow shaken your faith.
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