Mutual Respect

 

 

Today our chanting party went through a Muslim village. While there is some basic disagreements over certain theological issues the "hindus" and the muslims get along very well in this area. There is mutual respect. 500 years ago there was a muslim ruler here who tries to stop the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna. He had his soldiers harass, intimidate, break the instruments of, and ultimately threaten with death those that were openly chanting like this. When Sri Catianya Mahaprabhu heard about this he was transcendentally enraged. As a result He instructed all of the devotees to make torches and prepare for a very large congregational chanting party to go through the streets to the Chand Kazi's (the local ruler) house. An apparently unlimited amount of people showed up and began the beautiful Harinam Sankirtan party with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gracefully and ecstatically dancing along. When they reached the Chand Kazi's house there was some philosophical discussion and ultimately Sri Caitanya convinced the Chand Kazi that they were worshipping the same Lord. At that moment the ruler announced that for all time to come his descendants would never disrupt the sankirtan party.

The Lords pure spiritual form

During this auspicious month which in Sanskrit is called kartika, we sing a song every evening entitled damadorastakam. The whole song is quite sublime and esoteric so I will not go into the details of the song except for the first line. The song starts by saying namamisvarmam sat-chit ananda rupam. Namamisvaram means that I offer my obeisances and respects to the supreme lord. Next is sat-chit ananda rupam meaning that person who has a form of bliss, knowledge and eternity. While our bodies are made of all sorts of temporary material elements the lords beautiful form is sat- eternal; chit-full of sentience; and ananda-full of bliss. These are some basic qualities of the Lord's existence as revealed by great sages and spiritual literatures.

One of the important points in this verse comes from the word rupam which means form. This indicates the lord is not some formless entity but instead has a form that is composed of sat-chit and ananda as opposed to temporary material elements. Later in the song it is described how the Lord's pure devotees are awash in oceans of bliss simply thinking of the lords beautiful form. The best way for that form to be revealed to one is through sincere chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra.

The good new is that our actual self is qualitatively one with the Lord. One of the differences between the Lord and the eternally individual living entities is that the Lord is never conquered by illusory energy while we are conquered by that energy. So when we meditate or contemplate on the pure qualities of the Lord we also wash away the material contamination and even in this body can realize the true nature of ourselves as eternal, fully sentient and full of bliss.

In one sense that is why we are always striving to live forever (or at least longer), always desiring to know and always searching for happiness. Death, ignorance and misery are actually foreign to our real spiritual nature. When we truly realize this fact then we become qualified, by the Lord's mercy, to enter into eternal transcendental activities with the Lord. The great souls can experience this in their heart even in their present body.

HARE KRISHNA!

A friends passing and the start of our yatra

Yesterday, a person that I used to distribute books with in the Smoky Mountains left his body due to cancer. When he found out he had cancer he immediately knew how to prepare his consciousness for this inevitable event. Spiritual life prepares one for life and the death of the body. He immediately moved here to the Holy Land of Mayapura and focused exclusively on his spiritual life. The last few months he was bedridden and not able to take care of himself. There was, however, constant medical care in addition to spiritual care consisting of reading spiritual literatures (mostly the pastimes of the Lord) and melodious chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra. Yesterday at 1:30 he left his body surrounded by 40 or 50 devotees chanting their hearts out to help him with his departure. It is said in the Gita that if one dies a natural death thinking of Krishna his eternal soul will certainly return to the spiritual world.

 

SO after his departure the devotees were both joyous and griefstricken. Grief stricken because we have lost a good friend and joyous because he lived and died in such a way that he was able to be transferred to the spiritual world after his death. After his departure there was a cremation ceremony on the bank of the Ganga. It was again a joyous and difficult situation.

 

Also today about 3000 devotees arrived from Mumbai and the place is buzzing with the transcendental sound of the holy name. We will be visitng many of the Holy placers where the incarnation of Krishna named Lord Caitanya exhibited his activities. The essence of the yatra will be lots of devotionally infused Kirtan (melodious chanting). I will try and post some pictures during the excursion.