The Heavenly and Hellish Planets

 Shukadeva speaks the Bhagavatam circa 3000 B.C.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures, we get information about the heavenly and hellish planets in this material universe. In the heavenly planets there is an extremely high standard of material enjoyment. The denizens of the heavenly planets also enjoy a fabulously long (not eternal) duration of life. In the hellish planets there is extreme suffering. The term of suffering in the hellish planets may be profoundly long, though not eternal, according to ones individual adverse karma. 

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada On Chanting

 
The transcendental vibration established by the chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the sublime method of reviving our Krsna consciousness. As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krsna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter from time immemorial, our consciousness is now polluted by the material atmosphere. The material atmosphere, in which we are now living, is called Maya, or illusion. Maya means "that which is not." And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we are all trying to be lords of material nature, while actually we are under the grip of her stringent laws. When a servant artificially tries to imitate the all-powerful master, this is called illusion. In this polluted concept of life, we are all trying to exploit the resources of material nature, but actually we are becoming more and more entangled in her complexities. Therefore, although we are engaged in a hard struggle to conquer nature, we are ever more dependent on her. This illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped at once by the revival of our Krsna consciousness. Krsna consciousness is not an artificial imposition of the mind; this consciousness is the original energy of the living entity. When we hear the transcendental vibration, this consciousness is revived. And this is the process recommended for this age by authorities. By practical experience also, one can perceive that by chanting this maha-mantra or the Great Chanting for Deliverance, one can at once feel a transcendental ecstasy coming through from the spiritual stratum. And when one is factually on the plane of spiritual understanding-surpassing the stages of the senses, mind, and intelligence-one is situated on the transcendental plane.
This chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is directly enacted from the spiritual platform, and thus this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness-namely sensual, mental, and intellectual. There is no need, therefore, to understand the language of the mantra, nor is there any need for mental speculation or any intellectual adjustment for chanting this maha-mantra. It springs automatically from the spiritual platform, and as such, anyone can take part in the chanting without any previous qualification, and dance in ecstasy.
We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting, or even a dog can take part in it. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even such a materially engrossed man is raised to the spiritual platform very quickly. When the mantra is chanted by a pure devotee of the Lord in love, it has the greatest efficacy on the hearers, and as such, this chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord, so that immediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips of non-devotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.
The word Hara is the form of addressing the energy of the Lord, and the words Krsna and Rama are addressing the Lord Himself. Both Krsna and Rama mean "the supreme pleasure" and Hara is the supreme pleasure energy of the Lord, changed to hare in the vocative. The supreme pleasure energy of the Lord helps us to reach the Lord.
The material energy, called Maya, is also one of the multi energies of the Lord. And we, the living entities, are also the energy-marginal energy-of the Lord. The living entities are described as superior to material energy. When the superior energy is in contact with the inferior energy, an incompatible situation arises; but when the superior marginal energy is in contact with the superior energy, called Hara, the living entity is established in his happy, normal condition.
These three words, namely Hare, Krsna, and Rama, are transcendental seeds of the maha-mantra. The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His internal energy, Hara, to give protection to the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for its mother. Mother Hara helps the devotee achieve the grace of the supreme Father, Hari, or Krsna, and the Lord reveals Himself to the devotee who chants this mantra sincerely.
No other means of spiritual realization, therefore, is as effective in this age as chanting the maha-mantra:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare 
    


trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniya sada hari (Siksastaka 3) "One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw on the street, being more tolerant than a tree and always ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly."

Don't Miss The Chance of The Human Form of Life

On this planet Earth there are a great number of life forms such as plants, insects, aquatics, birds, animals, humans, etc. From the Vedic scriptures we find that a different individual spirit soul inhabits each and every living organism. As of 2014 A.D. there are around 7 billion human beings on this planet earth. That is only a small percentage of the total living beings on Earth. For example, by some estimates, the ants alone number 10 quadrillion on Earth. So the human form of life is very rare, and only the human has the intelligence to understand the science of God. The Vedas say that if a human does not use his/her rational intelligence for this higher purpose in life, then in the next life, he/she falls down to a lower species. Again, according to the Vedas there are 8,400,000 species of life, and the soul has to transmigrate through each one until he/she reaches the human form of life again. The concession is, as per the Vedas, that if one simply begins the process of Bhakti-yoga or devotional service to Krishna, then one is guaranteed at least another human form in the next life. If one completes the course then he/she is transferred to eternal life in Krishna-loka or Vaikuntha.  http://krishnaite.blogspot.com/2014/03/krishna-loka-and-vaikuntha.html

Can't Have The Kingdom of God Without God

According to the law of karma when a nation is very religious then prosperity eventually follows. But after achieving prosperity if the people give up religion then the prosperity will eventually fade. People who try to do good but endorse irreligious principles are not real friends of society because irreligious activities result in suffering.

Self Realization

At present we are imprisoned by the illusion that we are our material bodies which get old, diseased, and die. But we are not a material body. We are individual identities transcendental to matter. We are without beginning or end. But we are under the illusory energy of God, and therefore we are suffering. By Krishna's (God's) mercy we can be freed and realize our spiritual identities. The reality is that we are eternal servants of Krishna. Now we have to realize that, and that is self realization. In the present era the principal process for self realization is mantra-yoga, specifically chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare 

Always Think of Krishna

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail. -Bhagavad-gita 8.6..... Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. -Bhagavad-gita 18.65.....The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life. -Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.6..... Krishna is the origin of Lord Vishnu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the shastras should be the servants of these two principles. - Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 22.113.....First of all, think about Krishna, the rules and regulations can come later. -Srila Rupa Goswami                                          

Krishna-loka and Vaikuntha

Krishna-loka and the Vaikuntha-lokas are the eternal planets beyond the material world. In Krishna-loka, Krishna resides with his devotees; in the Vaikuntha planets, Krishna's various Vishnu (Narayana) expansions reside with their devotees. In these planets there is no birth, death, old age, disease, or any kind of misery. One can be promoted to this region by becoming a pure devotee of Krishna or Vishnu. 

The Archa Avatara

Sri Sri Radha Madhana Mohana at Potomac, Maryland

The Archa Avatara is Krishna in his form as the Deity. The following is from Krishnasmercy.org:                                                                            
 Deity worship is one of the central components of bhakti yoga, or devotional service. A deity is a physical representation of the Supreme Lord in the form of a statue, a figure, or even a picture.
Many people mistaken deity worship to be idol worship and that is not the case. Lord Krishna, God Himself, has authorized the process of worshipping Him in the form of a deity. Many of us hold on to and display pictures and posters of our loved ones or people that we admire. When viewing these pictures, we are immediately reminded of the person or people in them. We are reminded of the circumstances relating to the picture. We remember where we were, what we were doing, what our mindset was at the time, etc.
In a similar fashion, viewing and worshipping the deity of Krishna immediately brings our mind into Krishna consciousness. We see the Lord’s beautiful form and we pay our respects directly to Him. God can take any form He wishes to. Sometimes he incarnates through the body of a fish, a boar, a man, or even simply through the sound vibration of His name, as He does in this age. The deity is another one of the forms He agrees to take for our benefit. When Lord Krishna personally appeared on this earth five thousand years ago, He gave explicit instructions to His dear friend Uddhava just prior to His returning back to the spiritual world. Similar instructions are also found throughout the Vedic texts, and through these instructions, authorized deity worship or archanam, has been followed since time immemorial.
Lord Krishna’s deities can be worshipped in various methods depending on the advancement of the devotee. The most sophisticated form of deity worship occurs in temples. Lord Krishna is treated as the chief resident of the temple and so His deity is cared for day and night. Deities are provided beds to sleep in, awoken in the morning, dressed very elaborately, given baths(abhishek) , offered flowers and foodstuff throughout the day, etc. Krishna doesn’t require any of these things, but He allows us to serve Him in order that we may purify ourselves and advance spiritually.
Devotional service is not meant exclusively for residents of temples. Any devotee can have a deity in their home and take care of it by setting up a home altar. In the simplest method, just regularly offering prayers to the deity and keeping the altar clean is good enough. A special benefit of having a deity at home is the opportunity to offer food directly to the Lord and distribute the remnants as prasadam (please see “How to Offer Food”).
Lord Krishna is kind enough to give us the opportunity to always remember Him through His deity incarnation. Why not take advantage of this opportunity by worshipping Him? Home is where the heart is. Make Krishna the center of your home and your heart will be forever pure.

The Krishna Lifestyle

Accepting the Krishna lifestyle means having a sane, clean, enlightened, happy life and a very bright future in the next life. It is based on the teachings of the Vedic scriptures and spiritual masters. One worships, glorifies, and serves Lord Sri Krishna while avoiding drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, nonvegetarian food, and gambling. According to the Vedas, suffering in this life and the next life is due to ignorance. People do not know that many of their activities are producing adverse reactions according to the laws of nature or karma. Any person who accepts that he or she is an eternal servant of The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, and tries their best to follow the path given by the Lord in the Vedas and taught by the spiritual masters in disciplic succession is liberated from the cycle of birth and death in the material world. It may appear that such a person is of defective character but he/she will quickly advance and attain Krishna very soon. We have been in this material world for an inconceivably long time so even a  few more births is relatively soon.

Bhagavad-gita 7.15

Lord Sri Krishna speaking Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna

(Translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me."  -Bg 7.15

It is said in Bhagavad-gītā that simply by surrendering oneself unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality Kṛṣṇa one can surmount the stringent laws of material nature. At this point a question arises: How is it that educated philosophers, scientists, businessmen, administrators and all the leaders of ordinary men do not surrender to the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the all-powerful Personality of Godhead? Mukti, or liberation from the laws of material nature, is sought by the leaders of mankind in different ways and with great plans and perseverance for a great many years and births. But if that liberation is possible by simply surrendering unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then why don't these intelligent and hard-working leaders adopt this simple method?
The Gītā answers this question very frankly. Those really learned leaders of society like Brahmā, Śiva, Kapila, the Kumāras, Manu, Vyāsa, Devala, Asita, Janaka, Prahlāda, Bali, and later on Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Śrī Caitanya and many others — who are faithful philosophers, politicians, educators, scientists, etc. — surrender to the lotus feet of the Supreme Person, the all-powerful authority. Those who are not actually philosophers, scientists, educators, administrators, etc., but who pose themselves as such for material gain, do not accept the plan or path of the Supreme Lord. They have no idea of God; they simply manufacture their own worldly plans and consequently complicate the problems of material existence in their vain attempts to solve them. Because material energy (nature) is so powerful, it can resist the unauthorized plans of the atheists and baffle the knowledge of "planning commissions."
The atheistic planmakers are described herein by the word duṣkṛtinaḥ, or "miscreants." Kṛtī means one who has performed meritorious work. The atheist planmaker is sometimes very intelligent and meritorious also, because any gigantic plan, good or bad, must take intelligence to execute. But because the atheist's brain is improperly utilized in opposing the plan of the Supreme Lord, the atheistic planmaker is called duṣkṛtī. which indicates that his intelligence and efforts are misdirected.
In the Gītā it is clearly mentioned that material energy works fully under the direction of the Supreme Lord. It has no independent authority. It works as the shadow moves, in accordance with the movements of the object. But still material energy is very powerful, and the atheist, due to his godless temperament, cannot know how it works; nor can he know the plan of the Supreme Lord. Under illusion and the modes of passion and ignorance, all his plans are baffled, as in the case of Hiraṇyakaśipu and Rāvaṇa, whose plans were smashed to dust although they were both materially learned as scientists, philosophers, administrators and educators. These duṣkṛtinas, or miscreants, are of four different patterns, as outlined below.
(1) The mūḍhas are those who are grossly foolish, like hardworking beasts of burden. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor by themselves, and so do not want to part with them for the Supreme. The typical example of the beast of burden is the ass. This humble beast is made to work very hard by his master. The ass does not really know for whom he works so hard day and night. He remains satisfied by filling his stomach with a bundle of grass, sleeping for a while under fear of being beaten by his master, and satisfying his sex appetite at the risk of being repeatedly kicked by the opposite party. The ass sings poetry and philosophy sometimes, but this braying sound only disturbs others. This is the position of the foolish fruitive worker who does not know for whom he should work. He does not know that karma (action) is meant for yajña (sacrifice).
Most often, those who work very hard day and night to clear the burden of self-created duties say that they have no time to hear of the immortality of the living being. To such mūḍhas, material gains, which are destructible, are life's all in all — despite the fact that the mūḍhas enjoy only a very small fraction of the fruit of labor. Sometimes they spend sleepless days and nights for fruitive gain, and although they may have ulcers or indigestion, they are satisfied with practically no food; they are simply absorbed in working hard day and night for the benefit of illusory masters. Ignorant of their real master, the foolish workers waste their valuable time serving mammon. Unfortunately, they never surrender to the supreme master of all masters, nor do they take time to hear of Him from the proper sources. The swine who eat the night soil do not care to accept sweetmeats made of sugar and ghee. Similarly, the foolish worker will untiringly continue to hear of the sense-enjoyable tidings of the flickering mundane world, but will have very little time to hear about the eternal living force that moves the material world.
(2) Another class of duṣkṛtī, or miscreant, is called the narādhama, or the lowest of mankind. Nara means human being, and adhama means the lowest. Out of the 8,400,000 different species of living beings, there are 400,000 human species. Out of these there are numerous lower forms of human life that are mostly uncivilized. The civilized human beings are those who have regulative principles of social, political and religious life. Those who are socially and politically developed but who have no religious principles must be considered narādhamas. Nor is religion without God religion, because the purpose of following religious principles is to know the Supreme Truth and man's relation with Him. In the Gītā the Personality of Godhead clearly states that there is no authority above Him and that He is the Supreme Truth. The civilized form of human life is meant for man's reviving the lost consciousness of his eternal relation with the Supreme Truth, the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is all-powerful. Whoever loses this chance is classified as a narādhama. We get information from revealed scriptures that when the baby is in the mother's womb (an extremely uncomfortable situation) he prays to God for deliverance and promises to worship Him alone as soon as he gets out. To pray to God when he is in difficulty is a natural instinct in every living being because he is eternally related with God. But after his deliverance, the child forgets the difficulties of birth and forgets his deliverer also, being influenced by māyā, the illusory energy.
It is the duty of the guardians of children to revive the divine consciousness dormant in them. The ten processes of reformatory ceremonies, as enjoined in the Manu-smṛti. which is the guide to religious principles, are meant for reviving God consciousness in the system of varṇāśrama. However, no process is strictly followed now in any part of the world, and therefore 99.9 percent of the population is narādhama.
When the whole population becomes narādhama. naturally all their so-called education is made null and void by the all-powerful energy of physical nature. According to the standard of the Gītā, a learned man is he who sees on equal terms the learned brāhmaṇa. the dog. the cow, the elephant and the dog-eater. That is the vision of a true devotee. Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, who is the incarnation of Godhead as divine master, delivered the typical narādhamas. the brothers Jagāi and Mādhāi, and showed how the mercy of a real devotee is bestowed upon the lowest of mankind. So the narādhama who is condemned by the Personality of Godhead can again revive his spiritual consciousness only by the mercy of a devotee.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in propagating the bhāgavata-dharma, or activities of the devotees, has recommended that people submissively hear the message of the Personality of Godhead. The essence of this message is Bhagavad-gītā. The lowest amongst human beings can be delivered by this submissive hearing process only, but unfortunately they even refuse to give an aural reception to these messages, and what to speak of surrendering to the will of the Supreme Lord? Narādhamas, or the lowest of mankind, will fully neglect the prime duty of the human being.
(3) The next class of duṣkṛtī is called māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ, or those persons whose erudite knowledge has been nullified by the influence of illusory material energy. They are mostly very learned fellows — great philosophers, poets, literati, scientists, etc. — but the illusory energy misguides them, and therefore they disobey the Supreme Lord.
There are a great number of māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ at the present moment, even amongst the scholars of the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Gītā, in plain and simple language, it is stated that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is none equal to or greater than Him. He is mentioned as the father of Brahmā, the original father of all human beings. In fact, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is said to be not only the father of Brahmā but also the father of all species of life. He is the root of the impersonal Brahman and Paramātmā; the Supersoul in every entity is His plenary portion. He is the fountainhead of everything, and everyone is advised to surrender unto His lotus feet. Despite all these clear statements, the māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ deride the personality of the Supreme Lord and consider Him merely another human being. They do not know that the blessed form of human life is designed after the eternal and transcendental feature of the Supreme Lord.
All the unauthorized interpretations of the Gītā by the class of māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ, outside the purview of the paramparā system, are so many stumbling blocks on the path of spiritual understanding. The deluded interpreters do not surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, nor do they teach others to follow this principle.
(4) The last class of duṣkṛtī is called āsuraḿ bhāvam āśritāḥ, or those of demonic principles. This class is openly atheistic. Some of them argue that the Supreme Lord can never descend upon this material world, but they are unable to give any tangible reasons as to why not. There are others who make Him subordinate to the impersonal feature, although the opposite is declared in the Gītā. Envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the atheist will present a number of illicit incarnations manufactured in the factory of his brain. Such persons, whose very principle of life is to decry the Personality of Godhead, cannot surrender unto the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Śrī Yāmunācārya Albandaru of South India said, "O my Lord! You are unknowable to persons involved with atheistic principles, despite Your uncommon qualities, features and activities, despite Your personality's being confirmed by all the revealed scriptures in the quality of goodness, and despite Your being acknowledged by the famous authorities renowned for their depth of knowledge in the transcendental science and situated in the godly qualities."
Therefore, (1) grossly foolish persons, (2) the lowest of mankind, (3) the deluded speculators, and (4) the professed atheists, as above mentioned, never surrender unto the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead in spite of all scriptural and authoritative advice.

Gaura-purnima: Appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Date: 

Sun, 2014-03-16

(fast till moonrise)

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Person, Krishna Himself, in the form of His own devotee. He appears in this world to spread love for Krishna through the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. He appeared in Sridhama Mayapur, West Bengal, in 1486. His activities and teachings are described in detail in the book "Teachings of Lord Chaitanya" and the multi-volume "Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita."  -KRISHNA.COM

Japa

Japa is chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare / hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. In ISKCON Srila Prabhupada set the standard that devotees should chant at least 16 rounds of japa per day. Without chanting on the Krishna bead one starts on the first bead next to the Krishna bead chanting the mantra once per bead to the other end then start at the end bead going back in the other direction etc. There are 108 beads on a strand of japa beads, so one chants the full mantra 108 x 16 times a day. One should also chant the Pancha-tattva Maha Mantra once at the beginning of each round: sri-krishna-chaitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda.  Click here for a good resource:   http://krishnastore.com/other-items-tulsi-japa-beads-om-69_72.html

The Three Modes of Material Nature

As per Vedic philosophy, as jivas or spirit souls we are always under the influence of God's energy. The liberated souls are under the influence and protection of the Divine Nature and the prominent symptom is that they love the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This love of Godhead avails happiness trillions of times greater than the love of this material world. The fallen souls are under the influence of the material energy or maya. This is also called the illusory energy. By eternal constitution we are loving servants of God, not independent enjoyers. The illusory energy facilitates the illusion of being an independent enjoyer, but this illusory "enjoyment" is temporary and not fully satisfying to the soul. The illusory energy is actually functioning as three energies called the three modes of material nature. The three modes are 1) goodness  2) passion and 3) ignorance or darkness. In the mode of goodness one can see things as they are. In the mode of passion one is not sure what is right or wrong. In the mode of ignorance one considers  irreligion to be religion and religion to be irreligion. A complete course on this subject matter is found in Bhagavad-gita Chapters 14 and 18. Please click here for the complete Bhagavad-gita As It Is, translation and explanations (purports) by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).  http://vedabase.com/en/bg