Happy Goverdhan Puja

Shree Krishna enacted the famous Goverdhan leela pastime upon the earth, in which he lifted the Goverdhan Hill on the little finger of his left hand, to protect the residents of the land of Braj from the rain caused by Indra, the king of heaven and the celestial god of rain. However, Krishna’s little cowherd associates were not impressed. In their eyes, Krishna was merely a lovable friend, and so they did not believe he could lift the hill.

When Shree Krishna lifted the Goverdhan Hill, his cowherd friends applied their sticks to the bottom of the hill, thinking that they were the actual lifters of the hill. At the end, Indra accepted defeat and came seated on his white elephant. He apologized for having sent the torrential rain, without realizing Shree Krishna’s supreme position.

Now, when the cowherd boys saw Indra, the King of heaven, coming and offering obeisance to their friend Krishna, they realized that Krishna is God. So, they began looking at him fearfully from a distance. Seeing their devotional sentiment change from friendship to awe and reverence, Shree Krishna lamented, “That loving exchange we were enjoying has vanished. They are now thinking I am God.” So by his Yogmaya power, he made them forget the significance of what they had seen, and they again felt that Shree Krishna was nothing more than their friend.

Why do we need a Guru? Explanation by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

After detaching the mind from the world, and before surrendering to God, there is need of a divine entity, without whom one cannot attain the Supreme goal.  That entity is a God-realized Saint or Guru.  It is the Guru, who decides which path is best for each devotee to surrender to God.  Again, it is he who dispels all doubts faced by the aspirant on the path.  Mere detachment is not enough to attain God.

The Bhagavad Gita states:
                                 tadviddhi praṇipātena paripraśhnena sevayā upadekṣhyanti te jñānaṁ 
                                                                   jñāninastattvadarśhinaḥ
Shree Krishna says to Arjun, "Learn the Truth by approaching a spiritual master.  Inquire from him with reverence and render service unto him.  Such an enlightened Saint can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the Truth.”

The Ramayan also says:
                                        guru binu bhava tarai na koī”; “guru binu hoī ki jñāna”
“Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot cross over the ocean of material existence.”  Again it says, “Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot attain the knowledge of God.”  Thus, the unanimous view of all scriptures is that we must surrender to a Guru in order to know the unknown entity called God.

Watch this video lecture by Shree Maharajji on the topic, "Who is a Guru" with 

English Subtitles:

Happy Radhashtami!

  kīrtī ghara prakaṭīñ kīrtī kumārī
Shree Radha Rani has manifested herself in the palace of queen Keerti.

brahmādika svastyayana paṭha kara, astuti kari śhruti chāri
To celebrate this most auspicious occasion, Lord Brahma and other celestial gods are reciting the Vedic hymns and all the four Vedas in their incarnate forms are singing glories through their sacred texts.

nāradādi viradāvali gāvata, kahi jai bhānudulari
Sage Narad and others are singing her praises and proclaiming loudly, “All glories to the darling daughter of king Vrishbhanu.”

tāṇḍava nṛitya śhivaśhaṅkara, sudhi budhi deha bisāri
Lord Shankar is jubilantly performing his ‘tandav’ dance, completely oblivious of his body.

umā ramā brahmāṇī ādika, ārati kuñvari utāri
Uma (Parvati, wife of Lord Shankar), Rama (Mahalakshmi, wife of Lord Vishnu) and Brahmani (wife of Lord Brahma) are performing the arati of the daughter of Keerti.

lakhata ‘kṛipālu’ gyānijana ikaṭaka, puni puni kahi balihāri
Says Shree ‘Kripalu’, “The gyanis (worshipers of impersonal, formless God) are looking at Radha Rani spellbound. Out of ecstasy, they repeatedly shout, ‘Balihaar’ (We sacrifice ourselves on this personal form of God that is the source of supreme divine bliss).”

Shree Maharajji sings and explains the divine appearance of Radha Rani.  

Watch the video with English Subtitles. 

Book Review - Bhagavad Bhakti (True Devotion)

Bhagavad Bhakti contains the transcripts translated into English of all eight discourses in their entirety and sequential order, complete with all the scriptural quotations given by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj.  As each discourse is complete within itself, Bhagavad Bhakti is compelling reading as a series and also as a collection of individual discourses.

Shree Maharajji delivered a series of discourses elaborating on a devotional couplet:

hari anurāg ho yā govind rādhe,

jaga virāga ho, ho mana se batā de

In the elaborate explanation of this couplet, Shree Maharajji clarifies the nature of attachment and detachment. He discusses the importance of 'desire' in a devotees journey towards God, clarifying that desire for God is in fact devotion, and this can flourish when one firmly decides that there is no true happiness in this world.   He further says, "We have to replace our desires for the world with desires for God.  It is that simple.  This is what is called true devotion or bhakti.  In this practice, desires remain.  You don't have to eliminate desires, and in any case you are incapable of eliminating desires even if you tired for millions of years."

To purchase this book online, Indian customers click here

Satsang - Explanation by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

 

You would be familiar with the word satsang.  Sat means "Saint" or "Divine Personality" and sang means "to associate".  If sat, the Saint, is genuine and our sang, association with him, is also genuine, then we will attain our ultimate goal of God-realization and divine bliss.  The Vedas state:

                                            tadvigyānārthaṁ sa gurumevābhigachchhet
                                   samitpāṇiḥ śhrotriyaṁ brahmaniṣhṭham (Mundakopanishad)

A true Saint is one who has complete knowledge of the scriptures, and also practical realization of God.  He should be able to impart to us the theoretical knowledge of the Vedas.  Furthermore, he should have attained divine vision of God.  He must possess the treasure of divine love bliss.  If someone has a cheque book but nothing in the bank, what can the cheque book achieve?  If one merely talks about God, without having surrendered to him and having attained divine love, then that talk will merely increase ones pride.

What do we mean by sang or association?  It can be of three kinds.  We possess three things: body, mind, and soul.  Amongst these three, what must we associate with God and the Saints?  Scriptures say that we must associate all three.  The surrender must be complete.  God says we must offer all that we have in our possession.  It is true that whatever we have is impure and dirty, but we must offer it anyway.  God does not expect us to offer him divine things from Golok.  He says, "Whatever you possess, offer it all to Me."  Of our three possessions, the mind is the most important.  This mind has two states: mind and intellect.  The advaitis (monists) mention four states, but that is not important.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna has himself mentioned only two states of the mind: 

                                                    mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya

"Arjun!  Offer your mind to me, and offer your intellect also to me."  Arjun thought, "The mind is one, then how is he is asking for two things?"  Shree Krishna said, "Yes!  Yes!  There is only one mind, but it has two states.  When it thinks, it is called the mind, and when it takes decisions, it is called the intellect."

Thus, it is mainly the mind and the intellect that must associate with the Saint.  And of these two, the intellect is more important.  The mind is a mere servant of the intellect.  It simply does what the intellect tells it to do.  You people say time and time again, "Oh!  My mind does not want to think of God.  My mind is telling me to sleep.  My mind is telling me to go away from here."  Granted the mind may be telling you to do all this, but you must learn to control it with the intellect that God has given you.