Receiving without Questioning and Cultivating appreciation 8/7/16- Sweden

**(Excerpted from a round of questions and answers in Nimaihuset, Sweden, May 2016)Question:

What is the purpose of Kali Yuga?

 Answer: I like this question because it forces us to be self-critical.

  prayenalpayusah sabhya

 kalav asmin yuge janah

mandah sumanda-matayo

 manda-bhagya hy upadrutah

 

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed. (Sb 1.1.10)

That is one of the first verses in Srimad Bhagavatam which explains the effects of Kali Yuga. There it is stated that Kali Yuga in a way has come to wake the laziest, the "unintelligent", the "less sincere," those who have received the invitation of Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga but continue to pursue the idea of "I want this and that" (...) then the atmosphere of Kali Yuga becomes necessary to (hopefully) wake them up.

 Actually this is not exactly a very lovely answer, right? This means that there is another alternative as well. Srila Prabhupada used to say "learn either by listening or suffering; yet there are people, when suffering comes, who will not learn". This means that there is another opportunity. First of all, at the time of destruction of the material world you rest in Mahavishnu and then come back. The cycle begins again. Because God loves us regardless of our own stupidity, but He does not want to take away our free will.

 Another thing I would add is that we should not question the good intentions of the Lord towards us. Do not do that!, Do not let your mind do it! Because the moment you do it is like falling again and say, "God, you can sit in the chair of the accused?" And you feel yourself being in the position of Judge saying, "Be attentive my Lord because now I'll check." That should not do for any reason; the position to question the Creator's intention towards us is not for us. That destroys something inside us and creates a kind of artificial ego. It is that  very artificial ego which otherwise is very popular, among those who deny the existence of God, that makes us not only put God in the chair of the accused but remove Him as if He didn't even exist.
 The question about why Kali Yuga is perfectly answered in the Srimad Bhagavatam, I just wanted to branch out a little more, I only wanted to explain what happens when we allow our minds to question the good intentions of God. What if we ask ourselves whether we have the right to breathe? And if we do, who gave us that right? We have never paid for the air we breathe. How is it that we have the right to drink water? How is it that we have the right to eat a plate of food? After thinking about these questions the only thing left is to be grateful and say "thank you to whoever is responsible for it." You can call "the responsible" as you want, but you must recognize that he exists and be grateful to Him. That's what even the native tribes teach us. This is what we call the "United Nations of the Spirit" human beings united in the spirit of gratitude.

 Without a deep spirituality nothing can happen, nothing will change within us. That's what Krishna said: "Anything that is ingested without being offered to me is nothing but sin." Even the strictest vegan who does not offer their food to God is doing nothing more than eating sin. Even if we take water without having offered to God, we're just drinking sin. That is what the Scriptures teach us.

 Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Because, you know what comes after gratitude? Mirth. Without gratitude you can not have joy. So we plunge into depression, because we are not grateful. In modern society, one way or another, we have managed to put the mind above all things, but that has not produced very good results, rather it has turned our lives into a mundane, materialized and secularized life. So there can be no obedience to any higher authority, because the very principle of authority is questioned. Children often do that sometimes and question the authority of their parents, but as soon they have a problem or are even a little hungry, they are transformed again immediately and accept the authority provided they obtain food. Therefore, it is better to appreciate all that we have received without question and rather  receive it with deep appreciation.

 Jay Srila Prabhupada!

Your always well wisher,
 Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti

Appreciate the treasure that we have received. From Bolivia, 8/30/15

Dear devotees, today I want to share  with you a very important message and that is that the most important thing we have in life is to understand that this human form of life is an adventure to get to a higher place.

This form of human life is not a casual experience. It has nothing to do with chance, on the contrary ... it's rather extreme, intense and dedicated. The nature of this world; do or die ... nothing more.
Life is not boring, it is very interesting. Even breathing is not something boring. If you observe your breathing you realize that it is something wonderful. Every breath in your breathing is something magnificent. What is meant by the statement that there is nothing casual in life...is that whether we can see it or not see it, there are wonders behind everything. Sometimes things take time, even Srila Prabhupada took time to achieve all that he did. This idea that life is not something casual also means there is always something to achieve in life.  It is about defining what we do with our lives and how we do it. Life is a sacred duty and sacred duty as the runs. What to say about going out and giving someone a book about Krishna. To spread the message of love that we have received: That's what life is about. Tell people that Krishna is there and He is the Lord of their heart. Asking them to please not ignore Him. We are communicators of love, the love of Krishna. That's what our life is about.

Chaskis, communicators of love. And if that vibrates into their hearts, people are delighted with it. Art is not measured on the basis of the quality of art in itself, it is measured in relation to the quality of the artist's feelings and how they are transmitted. We are communicators of love, that is what our life is about. And we are very lucky, because the message we communicate is the message that Srila Prabhupada gave us, which is the message of Krishna Himself and His love for us all. Love vibrates in the heart and it is transmitted through actions, through art, through music and if it vibrates, people are delighted with it. Unity in diversity, Krishna loves us all, even though everyone is an individual and distinct entity. And if we want to reciprocate the love of Krishna, we must also give that love to others. Do you have any questions about it?

Do not let your life become something common and ordinary. Do not think your love has no value. Do not think that there is something else that is more important than your love. Neither money nor politics, nor sports. There is nothing more important than the love that you can give to Krishna and to others. That's my message today, appreciate the valuable treasure that we have received and share it with others without distinction. All my affection from Bolivia.

Jay Srila Prabhupada!
Your always well-wisher
B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami.

Only God's Love Can Solve the Problems of Life. 8/9/15. From Argentina.

All glories to Prabhupada!

My message today begins with the following verse: 

vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah janayaty vairagyam jnanam ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7)

By rendering service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world. (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.7).

 Bhakti Yoga should be executed for the satisfaction of the Supreme Person, Vasudeva Krishna. That will gradually make the person who practices to become detached from things that have no connection with Him and the person will also receive the gift of pure knowledge and the desire to offer everything they own to the Lord of Love. That is an incredible quote from Srimad Bhagavatam. Krishna is the one who is speaking in the Bhagavad Gita and who is spoken about in the Srimad Bhagavatam, all glorification are meant for Him.You should not think that Srimad Bhagavatam is a simple esoteric idea. No. Today there is much esoteric, many people talk about things that are not visible, but usually they refer to the impersonal Brahman or cosmic ocean, but not the Supreme Person.

  Many people worship the impersonal aspect of God for some material benefit, mystical powers, etc ... Krishna is infinite and will manifest in the way you want to connect with Him. In the case of Draupadi, for example, the Lord manifested in the form of a sari, to protect her from degradation.On another occasion, Krishna was present to save Prahlad Maharaja from the different assassination attempts by his father.

  Likewise, Krishna has saved us many times. It may be that we have been conscious in the past. But, anyway, Krishna is always aware of all things. He does everything. Therefore minimizing the Srimad Bhagavatam believing that it is just a Hindu interpretation of Truth, it is also a way to ignore a great gift. Only God's love can solve the problems of life. That love is unique. I consider myself a fan of Krishna, because when I think about Him I know that I have to love all others, and I want to, without discriminating between someone more important than others. (As Christians who believe that animals have no soul). Without discriminating, even Mother Nature. Rather we must fight for the rights of nature, the rights of animals, native peoples, fighting for the future of humanity. Because today nobody cares about anyone's rights, only the right to exploit, decapitating others, industrialization, etc ... If one does not recognize that the other living beings must be respected because they have a right to because they deserve it, then whatever you do is incorrect, twisted and wrong. Abuse is considered the methodology to get everything you want unscrupulously.

 For example, Frederick Nietzsche once said that the Manu Samhita was the first book in which he found that women and the poor have rights. Imagine, 5,000 years ago that concept already existed, while in Europe only in the 70s women were given the right to vote, before that there was only a terrible patriarch.The culture of India, however, has a different position in that respect because it always keeps the concept that we are one big family where the concepts of man or woman are temporary, only the soul is eternal.

  Charles Darwin established the misconception of the principle of survival, where the more powerful survive over the weak (survival of the fittest). The so-called "weak" have no chance in the world. No right. After that there were more and more terrible proposals, one of those was that any "defective" individual should be removed, because the inferior races should not reproduce. This movement was responsible for millions of murders of people worldwide. It is completely discouraged. That same mentality gives rise to abortions and many other atrocities. By mercy we have received the right concept of knowledge for these things. Only love can save us. One who does not practice love for all living entities can not talk about God. The Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are classical writings about love, respect towards all. When a human being becomes a vegetarian, 51 percent of your problem is solved. Even environmental problems are solved.

Srila Prabhupada Ki Jay!
With affection, your ever well-wisher.
B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami

Love is always beyond calculation & the message of God's love. 6/28/15. Miami.

Dear Devotees,

A big hug from Miami Mandir,

The divine principle of fault comes into all of our minds on great frequencies of life; sometimes it gets stuck there, continuously. love is a need. Love is a thirst, more intensive than thirst itself. Love is life, and life is air. And if your love for air is much, as high, as your love for love, then you know which way to go. As soon as someone chokes us we pray, “air, air,...give me one breath of air otherwise I will perish.” So if you compare air with love what is more important? Air you get life after life, again and again, but love is what we are looking for. air we hardly even notice we don’t pay attention to it unless we lose it then it becomes worshipable at once, but love is the sum and substance of each jiva and each soul’s search. It is a very intensive inner process and  we don’t know much about it because we are in the world of sensual perceptions, captivated by egotistic sense gratification, which has turned our idea of love into lust. And the scriptures emphasize this again and again ‘lust is the opposite of love’, don’t equate the two or you get the wrong idea. Caitanya Caritamrta. deals with this subject, Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam,

anyabhilasita-sunyam

jnana-karmady-anavrtam

anukulyena krsnanu-

silanam bhaktir uttama

(BRS 1.1.11)

sa vai puḿsāḿ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

(S.B. 1.2.6)

So many slokas deal with the quality of love being something exclusive, something to strive for, something to give everything for. And what do we have to give? We have to give up our ego, our selfish planning, very tough, very tough. there is a story in the mahabharata about one family who was in peril. That peril could be solved by one person sacrificing himself and they all wanted to sacrifice themselves for the family because they loved everybody so much and someone question that and the son answered, “yes to save a family you have to sacrifice one member, to save a village you have to sacrifice an entire family, to save a country you may have to sacrifice one entire village, and to save yourself you have to sacrifice the whole world.” That is the analogy given in the mahabh. so what does it mean to sacrifice the whole world? Sacrifice your desire to enjoy and control the world. you renounce the world by saying yes i want to serve the lord, serve the love that maintains the world, i want to see the world god centered, i want to see the world in connection with its original cause. The original cause of this world is also love. we need to understand that the principle of love is absolute cosmic tattva, prema tattva, cosmic tattva means it's inside the gene of every soul of everybody of everywhere it is omnipotent, it is omnipresent that need for love. and for that love we have to give up the entire world. That is called self realization, it’s really incredible no? Can you in a catalog that you can get, a little love dose? No. Love is always beyond calculation. even the perverted reflections of love is beyond that. You cannot tell another person how much can i pay you that you will love me? People get the wrong idea that ‘I can pay someone to have sex with me that means i can pay someone to love me.’ that is bogus, pure b.s. you cannot even buy the love of a dog. well, they say that when you give them dog food and the dog is wagging the tail and jumping happily, “i love you, i love you”, but he is not saying i love you he is saying i love your food.

Srila Prabhupada tells a story which is not so funny: When people die in the street in some places, then the dog comes first to find the dead body, they bite off the nose tip because it so soft, they lick the skin because it's salty and they bite the nose. So when the dog comes to lick you, oh he loves me so much giving me kisses, but he is just licking the salt of your skin, he is a dog. I don’t know if he will eat your nose when you’re nose when you’re dead. I don’t know i can’t tell that, if there is some sympathy from the dog because you gave him so much food. Interracial feelings, interspecies feeling, they cannot satisfy. even though it sometimes looks like it. For example, we celebrate the dolphin which apparently loves, or the dog, the cat, the horse, there are so many stories but interspecies, to a certain degree, is an invasion in the privacy of others. Does the little dog want to be carried in the arm of the lady? Is the dog really comfortable there? You would have to ask the dog, but the dog sees another dog, and he wants to play with another dog, because that’s what a dog life is all about. imagine they pick you and put you, for your whole life, playing with rhinoceros, how would you feel? So it is a question, that here we see that there’s an incredible drive inside of us, and that drive is looking for love, and if you don’t find divine love, you will try to find it in any area, anything goes.

When you’re mad for love and you don’t know how to go about it..and then we hear from the scriptures that you can only get love if you only give your heart completely, if you surrender to love, otherwise there is no possibility, it’s like you’re asking for a deal, that i give you 5 and you give me 5,000, people look at you, what’s happening to you? how can you expect I give you 5000 and you only give 5? what kind of deal is that? so love means you have to give everything. in marriage you have to give 50/50, by the law. you get married, ok 50% of your stuff, whatever you have, now goes to her. and now a days they try to avoid that by all kinds of law, but that was the tradition. when you want to relate in the highest love, it’s not 50/50 it’s 100, you have to give yourself 100%, fight your ego 100%. That's divine love a relationship with god. no reservation, no need, He already knows what’s best for you, that's why the son never asks the mother, hey mother so how much i owe you? Can you imagine a son asking that to his mother? mother, can you write me a bill for the last 20 years? The mother will feel so insulted with such a question, so insulted. You want to put a price tag on my love? Sorry, i don’t go for that hmm. you agree with me? Its impossible to evaluate a mother’s love, and so many other’s, mundane examples, mundane in a sense because it’s temporary,worldly, because at some point the mother or child dies, and over the years the feeling becomes less intense. Its something you have to give full recognition to and to love itself you have to give the fullest recognition. That’s what the holy scriptures teach us.

Love thy Lord above everything, with all thy mind, intelligence, heart and soul.Love Him with everything. And don't forget your neighbors, love thy neighbor as thyself. That is a very good one. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Isn’t that beautiful? Why not love another person like yourself, if they are your brothers and sisters. How does it work? You can love them like this when you love god above everything then this is easy because then we all become like a fraternity. The deepest and deepest felt fraternity like an eternal brotherhood./sisterhood. We don’t aspire for friendship, for example, take this krsna nanda das there, I know him now for almost 20 years, maybe less, but for quite a while, but do I only what to know him in this lifetime, or do I want to know about his welfare next lifetime? If there is some deep appreciation, you want welfare for everybody not just in this lifetime but for the next. That is why the devotees have transcendental philosophy. They want the best for everyone and that’s why we are trying to connect to the divine.

Only in the divine world is this type of generosity to be found where we all belong to each other and we should always belong to each other. Whatever i have i want to share with you, that's a very high state of consciousness. Now, do i want to share my dress with you? no because it is only a one person dress. its not a question of physical things. sharing is on a higher level. Of course, I may want to share my food with you, that's fine, but really sharing, means the higher things, the loving issues, which concern me forever in the highest level, that I want to share, and I want you to have and that is something that connect us eternally because then we can really rejoice the higher substance if we are ready to share it eternally.if there is no way no way I can let you go. god does that with us, He says, “there is no way I can let you go, I give you free will, but I go with you as Supersoul and I will be with you, and look after you, and I will bring you back home, back to Godhead, only if you are willing to come, I am ready to help you.” This is something which we can observe from the scriptures:

sarvasya cāhaḿ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo

mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaḿ ca

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

(Bhagavad Gita 15.15)

“I am in your heart, i give you knowledge, i give you memory, i let you forget if you wish so, and I give you the knowledge about Myself, and I will give you that knowledge by all the Vedas from which I am to be known, and I am the knower of Vedanta and I am the giver of Vedanta, I am everything. I am everything for you, and you are everything for Me, but I am the Lord of Lord, the origin of everything which exists in every individual. Therefore, I am love personified.”

How can you not love the one who has given life to all of us. What do you mean love? ‘Oh reverence, I believe He is so great, so admirable, i have no words to find for the marvels of His existence. and then He responds, “You know what I don’t want your awe and reverence. I want your feeling, i want your bhava. I have come to this world as baby krsna and that you will fall in love with me, or I am dancing with the gopis, come on join our dance. All full of divine loving feeling, the Lord is inviting us. Awe and reverence is okay, we can have it, yes yes, why not, but it’s not to the liking of the Lover. Father, father, when the little son stands in front of him, “father you are so great, you are so unbelievable.” perhaps the father feels flatter for a moment, but then he says, come on shut up and sit on my lap so I can kiss you. This awe and reverence gets in the way. One time, my guru explained that, the viceroy of India, he was in his office, and the prime minister came, and the prime minister came to say something important. The viceroy is like the representative of the king, and the prime minister came into the office and the secretary said, “sorry he gave strict orders that no one can disturb him.” So the prime minister said, “but i am the prime minister, I need to talk to him.” Sorry he gave me strict orders that no one can disturb him.” So the prime minister is pacing up and down and again asked, and again she said no, and then he loses his patience, and walks by the secretary and opens the door to the viceroy’s office and what does he see? The viceroy is on the carpet on all fours,arms and legs, like a horse, and his grandson is sitting on his back saying, “run horse, run horse!”  The prime minister thought, “that was the secret, that’s why i was not suppose to disturb. Our supreme commander is playing horse, a very intimate issue.” So do you think God has intimate issues? Do you think He has something, that He wants to be close to you, why not? You want to be close to everybody. its not enough to say hi to Giri, no, hi Giri, that’s just a hello.

Nowadays people give each other hugs and hopefully people know what that means, when they go heart to heart. Not just a fashion. We want to hug someone, we want to nurture someone, care for someone, that is the nature of the relationships. That's why the fingers have such an incredible sense of touch because you can just sense someone when you touch them with a finger. and you feel some pleasant response, they have accepted their affection. of course this is just the skin touching. I am not talking about the transcendental level because at that level it is the highest of all and it cannot be conceived by words. Words are very poor unless they are words about god, krsna katha,thats a different story. When you are talking about God, it enters into a different realm, called sabda brahma . And if you’re lucky you can receive sabda brahma and feel a higher energy which emanates from that which is not produced by sound vibrating instrument, but produced by the heart called sphurta vana. Sphurta Vana is beyond the realm of science, its spiritual science. It is the inner vibration, the inner love, the inner care, and that care for the Lord for us is so incredibly high. That’s why He has given His own love into our heart. Man is made under the image of God, so there is a potential in us of love giving up everything for our love, sacrificing everything that is there, and that is required. You want a cheaper version, well, then get a sticker on your car that says, “I love New York.” Okay you love New York, very nice. But the love you are looking for is divine love, face the facts and act upon them. You want a cheaper version, no doubt you can get many cheaper versions. And with those cheaper version we are suffering because we know they are cheaper versions.

Srila Guru Maharaja used to say told us don’t settle for less, you are the son of nectar, you are born by the origin impulse of nectar, you are destined to taste the divine nectar of love, don’t settle for less, but be ready to give everything from yourself and pray, its all prayer, we can only be saved by this divine prayer, repentance for our devious activities and attempts to find another type of love. Selfish love, what is selfish love? A very strange thing, it’s just having fun, enjoying the moment, a peak sensation, taken in intoxication, masturbation, oh now I love myself, it is really cheap, but it is capturing the mind because of the lack of real love. When there is real love and there is real sacrifice there is no time for such silly things. Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu have brought us some understanding of real love by sharing with us, that they are committed to this highest love, by sharing whatever we can with whomever we can regarding that highest love. That is why I have chosen this subject: Real love, sacrifice for it and sharing it, and then you will be busy for the rest of your life. And there is no time to turn back, there is no reason for it, and there is no remorse that it will ever come to you, not possible that when you go into the light that you will end up in darkness. So when you are going for the nectar of love you will not end up being lost somewhere, but watch out tests will come, many type of tests along the way, the more you advance the more tests will come to finally check you out. Are your real? Is that what you want? What did you want before? Oh, you want love, divine love, you want? Wonderful.

Then the Lord will definitely send someone to you to teach you about this divine love. And he will teach you about atma nivedana, atma means the soul, and nivedana means the soul surrendered. You know what soul surrender is? What means surrender? That is a very very heavy term. It means we are in a fight, a big fight, and already so many of our family have died in the fight because we were really fighting, fighting, fighting, he wanted to kill me, and i wanted to kill him and then he decides to surrender. What does he do? He takes a white cloth of his dhoti and hangs it on his roof. Surrender! And that means when he comes out, his hands are up, and now I am surrendered. Hmm..okay he surrendered, so now what are we going to do with the guy? Feed him, because he is almost dead, perhaps he surrendered because there was no more food, who knows, but now he is under my shelter. A moment ago I wanted to kill him and now I have to feed him, educate him, look after his children, see what his health situation is, and even provide him with a house. Something like that. Any questions? I know this is a very intensive subject. And I don’t seem very qualified to speak about it or listen about it, but it is too hot to drink, but too sweet to leave. Something like that. Divine topics of our inner higher identity is very taxing. And the most amazing thing which catches me is that when you understand that loving God is so high, then you come to grip with the idea that the similar love intensity can and should be applied to each other because you show your love to Him by showing love to the people around you. It’s not, “Oh I love God, I love God, He is so great, sorry the rest of the people I don’t care so much for.” Like one of my friends, he says, ‘the more I know about man the more I love my dogs and that is not fair because you should love your dogs and you should love man, you should love everyone. That’s the message of God’s love, it’s not that you have your preferences.

I thank you very much for coming here today, I need all your love to go with me to Cuba. To distribute love to Cuba I don’t have much experience, but I can imagine how much love is required, I can just imagine. It is the same everywhere it just has a Cuban flair, and the Cuban history. In my heart I went there many many times because there are our dearest brothers there, because in Miami we are half Cuban anyways. There are so many Cubans here, so those who live in Miami, must know something. But Cuba is another side of the story and like I said I have been there many times in my mind, in my plans, I have had quite a few Cuban students in Miami, in South America, in Mexico, students who studied in Cuba, so how to give divine love freely to the Cubans is the task which I am praying to find the answer.

Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!

Your always well wisher,
Ba Paramadvaiti Swami