A Letter for you!

My Dear Soul Mate,

Radhe Radhe!

It’s been a long time since we had a chat. How are you?

Are you regular with your Bhagavata parayana, nama japa, pooja, and kirtan? Are you maintaining your health to do bhakti? Don’t be careless about your health. The Lord has explained this beautifully in the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

We have taken this body only to attain God. At the time of departure from this body, we should attain the feet of Lord Krishna in complete peace. Till then, this body has to be kept in good condition. We need to keep ourselves free from headache, knee pain, frequent fever, and other such diseases.

This body doesn’t need too much food. At the same time, unnecessary food is harmful. Healthy food is always good. The disturbances caused during meditation can be overcome with a few asanas. The evil effects produced by mantra, graha (planetary positions) and poisonous reptiles can be removed by mantra japa, fasting, and worship of the deities. But mental vasanas like lust, anger, jealousy and avarice will not go away easily. Don’t get disheartened because they haven’t gone away yet. It takes a long time to be rid of these vices.

The Lord tells Uddhava in Srimad Bhagavatam,

pAdhya mAnOpi madbhakthO vishayair ajithEndriya: |prAya: prakalpyA bhakthyA vishyair nApi bhooyathE ||

(Srimad Bhagavatam 11:14:18)

In the beginning, my devotee will struggle to control his senses. Though he is genuinely devoted, he tends to stumble, lose his balance and fall for lust, anger, gold, sin, etc. Later, he himself will regret.

However, he wouldn’t be involved in these vices like how he used to during the time he wasn’t devoted to God, and its intensity is sharply reduced.

To the extent to which he chants the name of the Lord, listens to His stories and remembers His virtues, to that extent he will be able to win over his senses. Even beyond this, he may be often troubled by a few disgusting qualities, due to the strength of the impressions from the previous births, which will shatter his poise.

To come out of these vices, he has to stay near saints who have had the darshan of the Lord and serve them. The vices would then only leave him.

It is not an easy task to cross this ocean of samsara. Do your sadhanas and be patient.

yan nAmAkrithibhir grAhyam panchavarnam apAdhitham |
vyArtthEna api arthavAdhoyam thvayam panditha mAninAm ||yOginOpakva yOgasya yunchatha kAya utthithai: |upacharkair vihanyEtha thathr Ayam vihithO vidhihil |yOgadhAranayA kAmschith upacharkAn vinirdhahEth ||kAmschin mAmAnudhyAyena nAma sankeerthanAdhibhi: |yOgEshwarAnuvrithyA vA hanyAth ashubhathAn shanaihi ||

(Srimad Bhagavatam 11:28:37-40)

I have only written the essence to you. I have written to you as I somehow felt the need to share all this with you. With who else can I share all this? The world will now call a fool, you who are always thinking about the Lord and living for His sake. But don’t worry. After death, they themselves will realize who has been a fool.

Article by Sri Yaamini Zivan 

(Ref: http://godivinity.org/a-letter-for-you/)

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Radhe Radhe

One reason why Satsang (Association with the Noble souls) is so important.

Ram Ram and Radhe Radhe

Great to be back after a brief hiatus from sharing Spiritual Articles and thoughts.
Satsang (association with holy and noble souls) or as i like to call it the association with the conscious community has many benefits.  

To understand one of the most powerful effects of such association, let us look at something really unique in relation to the Redwood trees

The sequoia redwood trees located in California, are some of the biggest trees in the world. The General Sherman is, in fact, noted as THE largest known living single stem tree on Earth! It is 275 ft tall, 25 feet in diameter, and is approximately 2,500 years old.

Something that huge must have an incredible root system that goes down deep in order to stand that tall. Not the case at all. The sequoia redwood trees have a unique root system that is a marvel, compared to their mammoth size.

Their roots are relatively shallow. There is no tap root to anchor them deep into the earth. The roots actually only go down 6-12 feet, and yet, these trees rarely fall over. They withstand strong winds, earthquakes, fires, storms, and prolonged flooding. How can something up to 500 tons, reaching over 350 feet in height, and live for many centuries remain standing with roots only going down about 10 feet?

The interesting thing about the redwood tree is that their root system is intertwined with the other redwood trees, literally holding each other up. The trees grow very close together and are dependent on each other for nutrients, as well. Only redwoods have the strength and ability to support other redwoods.

So, beneath the surface of these humongous, tall, statuesque trees are roots like a army of men who have their arms interlocked, standing and supporting each other. They are preventing the adversaries of life from knocking each other down. They are also making sure there is plenty of nutrients for growth to continue.

Unlike the redwood tree which is only in certain parts of the world, the satsang can be found any time, anywhere that one desires.

Goswami Tulasidas Ji says - SABAHI SULABH SABH DIN SAB DESA.

True Satsang is that powerful interlocking system where independent yet interdependence of like minding conscious community makes a powerful difference in the lives of the  Individuals' concerned and the community, society, nation and world overall as well.

Hence Srimad Bhagavatam Says - SANGHE SHAKTI KALU-YUGE - In this particular age of Kaliyuga (the iron age), the Real Strength is in Unity.  And this is one of the rationale behind congregational chanting of the Divine Names of the Lord in this era.  In my experience, there is nothing more powerful, nothing more healing, and uplifting then when many many individuals get together and  chant the divine names with all their heart in UNISON.  - PARAM VIJAYATE SRI KRISHNA SANKIRTANAM.  

Alas! the Glories of Satsang cannot be enumerated even by the 1000 hooded Serpent Lord Anantashesa.

Ram Ram
Deepak