Go external Grow Internal

We had a wonderful outing to beautiful farm community-Gokuldham situated near Belgaon. Spreading around 500 acres, it’s lauded for beautiful hills, refreshing water-bodies, grazing cattle and serene atmosphere. What an adventurous experience it was!  2 hours of walking and trekking brought us to a waterfall, very beautiful and highest of that place, from small peak the water was falling in a valley. We decided to trek down and go in the valley to get the refreshing showers of that waterfall.

People go to nature with different motives. We find, some destroy the beauty of places, scribbling on suitable places names of their sweethearts or become intoxicated and go mad. Some click photos to boast to the world of their adventures & to earn "likes" on FB, to receive satisfaction in adoration ,offered for this. Seekers of truth try to reflect on the varieties of the nature and pray for meaningful insights to imbibe in life. For the monk who is partially cut off from the varieties of this world it becomes all the more important to grow internally with maturity, understanding and realization about the external world with variety he sees outside. Such internal growth offers a friendly tool in hours of solitude. It’s a great chance to ponder upon eternal truths taught by the scriptures and try to see the reflection of those truths in the activities of the outside world. Such meaningful contemplation solidifies one’s conviction and offers a practical realization of theoretical things studied in the scriptures. Then whole world becomes like a laboratory.  Off course, paralysis by analysis needs to be avoided. One need not go in so much analysis mode that he loses chance to appreciate booty of splendour planted by Lord in his creation. Like it needs a poetic heart to compose beautiful renditions, it needs a grateful heart tuned with God to get revelations hidden in nature or any situation.

Lord to simplify the philosophy gives examples from the nature, in the revered scripture of Bhagavad Gita.  To quote few examples from it, Lord Gives example of the petals of lotus are unaffected by water to illustrate a point that, how a yogi performing work without getting into any personal attachment is unaffected by sinful reaction. Lord gives example of the tortoise, how a tortoise withdraws his limbs in the face of the danger similarly a yogi trying to control his mind should withdraw his senses from the sense objects. This type of the contemplation, adds to the bliss begotten in seeing beauty of the nature or that situation. Radhanath Swami says that through everything in this world God wants to teach us a lesson, if we have our eyes open then we can learn from each situation. That's how we see in his book too we see. He took lesson of patience from the mongoose; he took lesson of being deeper in life by seeing hock catching a fish swimming superficially in waters etc.

There were lot of rocks around the waterfall. So contemplating on these principles I decided to sit peacefully on the rock meditating on names of the Lord and with a prayer to reveal the message, if any, I am supposed to learn in such a beautiful setting.

Crash of hard disk & that of life!

I was again back in the Medical college at Gulbarga to meet my good friends who are slowly appreciating & applying the principles of the Godly life. I went to meet my friend Dr Pramod in his hostel room. He is a MDS student & very hospitable, genuine & caring in nature.He is pursuing last year of his college studies this year.

 He looked gloomy, when I started talking with him. Looking at his dismal face, I asked him the reason for his dismay. He told me that his hard disk crashed & it contained his work for last 2.5 years. His work included photos of patients, his solutions for the problems of his patients, reports etc. It all vanished in a second when he was working on his laptop. He also told that he won't be able to appear for final exam if he fails to recover the data back. Even the data recovery from hard disk using advanced techniques didn't give guarantee of the percentage of the data which can be recovered & it was really very costly.

 Generally whenever we meet we read few pages from spiritual books. I decided to read a section of Bhagava Gita in which, Arjuna asks about the fate of the unsuccessful spiritualist & Krishna says he continues in next life from wherever he has left. That is advantage of the spiritual life, that little advancement in spiritual life is permanent, And in material life, whatever we do it's made nil at the time of death.

So I told him to remember 2 lessons from his hard disk crash incident
1> Having habit of taking back up for the work he is doing.
2>  And more important lesson, the two & half years work mutilated in just a second & he was very resentful for that, same way whole life's work will be undone at the time of death.
Whatever money one has amassed, whoever friends, relatives one has gathered, whatever fame one has earned, everything will be grounded to zero at the time of death.  With a big  money one may recover the hard disk, but one can not recover anything material of this life to next life for any amount of money. It will be a permanent loss. It's really important to understand what is real progress, And where the priorities of the life should be given. Unfortunately everybody knows this, but very few have courage & guts to really dive deeper into finding solutions for the actual problems of life which Bhagavad Gita enlists viz. Birth, Old age, Disease and Death.
Basic fundamental principle of Spiritual life is to understand that we are anti material spiritual beings & we don't destroy, when the covering- this body is destroyed. Perhaps we change the covering to get new one as soul (our actual self) changes the body. If we purify our existence by reconnecting with Krishna, then we go back to his abode never to come back into in this vicious cycle of birth & death & to be eternally happy & cheerful in his company  :-)

Please hear from the Radhanath Swami about the nature of the Soul & how to uncover it from the dress of the body!

Did Ghanshyam waste his life?

I was avid reader in my college & people would be calling me Novel because I used to read the Novels sitting on the back bench during boring classes.
But one of the most thrilling books read is the 'The Journey Home' book By HH Radhanath Swami. This book is a real life story of the American Boy who in the age of 19 took a historic ride. When the passion for money,honor,sex & worldly things fumes in the heart of most of the youths of this age, this person was searching the deep meaning behind the life, leaving behind the cares and comforts of well to do family in Chicago he was risking his life in search of God.Radhanath Swami in his book 'The Journey Home' writes about his encounter with Ghanshyam Baba in Vrindavan. He came with His Father, Mother all family members on a pilgrimage tour
to Vrindavana. They spent a few days and what the dhama of Vrindavana did to his heart was something wonderful. He became so deeply attached to Vrindavana. Just by being here he became completely detached from everything in life. He saw no other purpose or meaning to existence except surrendering to Sri Radha and Krishna in Vrindavana. So when it was time to go he said I will stay here I will not
leave. Being true to his words he never left Vrindavan for rest o his life. There he lovingly served his deities of their Lordships Radha Gopijanavallabha(The deity form of the supreme lord & his consort) for rest of his life. In 'The Journey Home' book Radhanath Swami narrates his incidents with Ghanshyam Baba, which brings forward his heart melting humility, his devotion & his love.

I was sitting in the hostel room of IIT boy, reading the book, The Journey Home. I read the interaction of Radhanath Swami with Ghanashyam. How Radhanath Swami was moved by the humanity & deep service attitude of Ghanashyam. But this shrude boy could not appreciate the the character of Ghanshyam. He coldly proclaimed I don't appreciate Ghanshyam & I think he wasted his life fanning the deities, fetching water for them & staying in one place for almost all of his life, he should have done something practical for the society. Many people have similar question for the people who choose the path of service to the God as the way of their life. I felt obliged to reply this question & post it here because Ghanshyam represented the age old tradition of devotees who dedicated their Life for the service of the supreme. We will find similar dedicated examples not only in the Vedic tradition but also in all different faiths of the world.

Although Ghanshyam lived his life with natural inclination to serve the Lord without thinking of his personal happiness. I will write how the way of living his life justifies personally for him & socially for others both as per the modern standards of criterion for judging the success of ones life.

Reply:--
1>Personally: Modern philosophy says, if you like to do something & if its fits in the ever changing modern standards of ethical behaviour, don't bother about anything,just do it, keeping in mind underlining principle that every individual has right to become happy, by doing the things he likes.
the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told following words to a graduating class at Stanford : When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
So simple analysis of how many people will like to do things they are doing on the last day of their life will show there are hardly few people who really want to do that, because current rat race for money,fame,things of this world will make very little sense on the last day of the life when one is going to loose everything of this. Infact The report, based on a Fall 2011 survey of U.S. households conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen describes survey results in summary as "Workers Less Miserable, but Hardly Happy". So it can be easily seen that very few people in the world would be doing all time they really love to do. And even in those little number of people there would be hardly few, whose goal set for life while doing the things they like to do matches with goal set by scriptures for human life, to develope the loving attachment for the Supreme Lord, to stop the cycle of the birth & death & to reach the supreme abode of the Lord after this life.
But in this case the Ghanshyam baba proves out champion. His only hobby in the life was to serve his beloved deities Radha Gopijanavallabha. He was full time engaged in their service so much absorbed that he had transcended the bodily limits of eating & sleeping. His only goal in life was to render the selfless service to his deities. Scriptures states that if the occupational duty does not produce the loving attachment to the Lord then its merely a waste of time.So in  case of Ghanshyam, there was no conflict in his hobby,his interest, his occupation, his goal of life & the goal set by shastras for the human form of life, everything matched perfectly. And when somebody has such a surety,confidence & coherence in life he is naturally most happy, which he spreads everywhere whoever comes in touch with him.So althought externally looking Ghanshyam lived a life of indigence internally he was experiencing highest treasure of bliss by serving his deities, his life & soul

2>Socially: By living life of total surrender to the Lord, Ghanshyam developed most divine qualities like humility, forbearance & deep service attitude to humanity seeing everybody in connection with his beloved GopijanaVallabha. Now thousands of people go to his place. hear about him & take deep inspiration in their life to develop these divine qualities. When Radhanath Swami took the pilgrimage to his temple with thousands of devotees, everybody was deepy moved in the heart;hearing his natural quality of making sacrifices for the serivce of others.Any materialist even if makes big empire at the cost working very hard & accepting cheating techniques whenever needed,when people see or hear about that, they may respect his possessions but they will despise that person. They can not learn any good quality from his example. So even when Ghanshyan has left his body, he has left behind the enormous treasure of his good character & his divine qualities which are going to inspire innumerable number of people for all time to come. This service is much greater & imperishable by the effect of time. This was scipturally confirmed when day after in morning I was reading the chapter describing the visit of Sudama Brahmana to Krisha in the Krishna book of Srila prabhupada, When Krishna snatched chipped rice from Sudama & he ate that, Lord told to Sudma “I consider that this quantity of chipped rice will satisfy not only Me but the whole creation.” We can understand from this statement of the Lord that When service is rendered to God, its like watering the root of the tree, the water is distributed to all the twigs, branches & leaves to all parts. When service is rendered to God with pure intentions & when He is satisfied everyone being his part & parcel also get satisfaction. So the easiest way to good to do society is to render to service to Krishna. So actually serving his deities, Ghanshyam was doing highest service for the welfare of the humanity, even for whole life he was sitting in his own little place.

Ghanshyams example is symbolic in this case. It applies to anybody who dedicates his life for the service of Lord with pure heart.

Please find the video below in 2 parts in which Radhanath Swami describes his association with Ghanshyam Baba. Radhanath Swami starts talking about Ghanshyam after some minutes in first video.

http://www.radhanathswamivideo.com/tag/ghanshyam-baba

Hitchhiking & me

In recent past I got to travel a lot, while sharing joys of Krishna consciousness with others & for the sake of job. Many times travel details are not fixed like the means & time of travelling.
Moreover I have not bought the bike & local transport in Pune is very bad. In that situation I have to opt for another good way that is hitchhiking. I really feel this way very exciting, thrilling & close to my heart.
It really makes one feel dependent on God when in dead night you ate waiting on highway waiting for a vehicle. Even I have few more connections & reasons to favor for hitchhike ride, I have tried to note below

1>It all started with Hitchhike
I was first year of my graduation. I was studying in the library till late night.  While coming down hill of my college I saw a biker going down. I asked him for lift. He stopped & I sat behind him quietly. After few minutes he asked me Do I smoke?, I told him proudly No I don't. He told me you are fresher & seem to be from good parentage. If you want to maintain the values you have , Please attend a satsang program which happens near college & many college students participate in it. I was already interested in spirituality , in fact one of the reason I had taken admission to my college giving up a government college was to visit a monastery of RamKrishna Matha near my college. But I was more interested in Philosophy that time than mere few rituals.
He pointed out a location. There was a temple near our college while going down. He pointed towards that.
I thought of visiting it later. Then I got down at my place & he went ahead. I did not take his no. or asked his name. Later many times when I would walk down from my college I would look towards that temple but I never saw anyhting happening there & so did I go to ask them. It was in my third year that I got Discover Your Self book from my friend & in two hours my reading, it changed my purpose of life & gave a solid concrete goal of devotional service to the Lord is only aim of life. After that my friend took me to their center near college. That center was just little behind the temple towards which the biker had pointed. That center was little inside & hence hidden from direct observation. Now understood that boy actually wanted to point out to this place but I didn't get that properly. So that hitchhike ride gave me my first encounter with the devotees.

2>A family of Hitchhikers.

My beloved spiritual master His Holiness Radhanath Swami in his prime of his youth, hitchhiked for 6 months from America to come to India in search of God. he didnt have any  single penny during his travels & he had to undergo many situations when his very life was threatened.

My beloved grand spiritual master His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad, took a hitchhike of a cargo ship in the age of 70. It was order of his spiritual master given to him decades ago to preach the message of God in the western world in English language.  He tried for many months to get a free pass to on a freighter which will carry him to US because he was mendicant & he didnt have money to afford any other means. And finally he got the pass. And the rest is history.

3>My Life as a Hitchhiker

As I told previously, recently I have travelling a lot to share the joys & wisdom of Krishna Consciousness.
I don't have bike & I don't like to make a very rigid plan because it reduces the flexibility & takes away the thrill. Also I am people person. I like to meet & interact with people. Also being born in marwadi family I don't like to spend lot of money(Marwadis are famous for being stingy). So most of time I travel hitchhiking.
Its eco(economical & ecological)friendly. Its really makes pray me very intensely pray to Krishna for his help in urgent times.

4> Life as an Hitchhiker

This life can also be compared to journey. Soul is the passenger. Soul is always searching after destination of happiness. And there are so many vehicles of different philosophies & systems taking people to so  many destinations. Many times soul is cheated by the false promise of the different philosophies of Life. Like many times I took a lift & that person said yes I will drop you there & after sometime I found out that person himself doesn't know where he is going & in certain cases even I didn't knew the path to destination to face the frustration after getting down after some time. So in the life if somebody is fortunate to get the company of the bonafide Spiritual master & authorized method of self realization then he should understand himself as most fortunate person.I feel myself most fortunate to get the lift on the path going towards supreme abode Lord Krishna & the captain for this journey are the acharyas coming in the bonafide line Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampraday.

Offering on the occasion of appearance day of HG Gaurhari Pr.

Dear Gaurhari Prabhuji,
Dandavat Pranam,

I mate some devotees in Pune this Sunday & told them about my wherabouts. When i said that We are fortunate to have association of Gaurhari prabhu immediately they recalled HH Radhanath Swami saying in one of his class  "If we don't glorify HG GaurHari Pr., We will fall down" . So I sincerely thanks devotees for giving me opportunity to glorify HG Gaurhari pr. & saving me from falling down.

 I came in KC 3 years ago in Pune by kindness & mercy of the devotees.

 I came to Vrindavan BACE 5 months back. & On very first time when I heard from prabhuji, I understood that Krishna has blessed me with unlimited grace & opportunity to learn from very pure hearted vaishnava.I came & in few weeks Manoj pr. left & there was no cook. But Gaurhari pr. was ready, early in the morning prji rolled up his sleeves to cook for us, so that our morning program should go on very nicely. I pray I should never forget this incidence which gave me great inspiration to serve devotees selflessly without any personal motives.I simply get amused seeing absorption of prabhuji in Harinam & Harikatha. Devoteees told me prabhji did nightlong kirtan in front of Lord Jagannath in recent Jagannath Puri yatra.It shows the degree of taste prabhuji has for singing holy name. Prabhuji's classes full of his deep realizations, focusing on development of genuine Vaisnava qualities like humility & respect to others  have made deep impact on my spiritual life & have got inscribed on the core of my heart. it has been only because of his purity.Prabhuli has got amazing enthusiasm for engaging himself & others in the service of their Lordships.

Festivals celebrated like Nrsimha chaturdashi, Radha GovardhanDhari Deitie's installation,Zulan Yatra,Mahabhishek of Gaur Nitai at BACE on the occassion of Balaram jayanti ,Janmashtami celebration,Radhashtami 56 Bhoga (Devotees ended up in making 85 Bhogas) offering , 64 rounds chanting on the occasion of disappearance day of Namacharya Srila Harids thakur, and his recent proposal for Harinam Sankirtan in the powai area are few examples of his unlimited zeal & enthusiasm to perform Devotional Service.

I request prabhuji to bless us with more & more of his association as well as take care of health also.I request prabhuji to forgive me of my unlimited offenses.

"Humbly thinking oneself lower than blade of grass, natural gentleness & charm, speaking words as sweet as nectar, spitting at insignificant sense gratification of this world, disinterest in the affairs of this world and overwhelming love for lord Hari are the transcendental virtues of the devotes of Lord GauraHari"

Chapter 4 TEXT 24 Chaitanya Chandramrta