What do you prefer Reel life or Real life?

Everyone likes to watch reel life that means movies which are based on attractive stories filled with romance, humour, fights, some struggles, tragedy, emotional drama, 3D effects etc. Usually story starts with hero getting fascinated by heroine then begins struggles of hero to get her hands, then how he overcomes all the hurdles and marries her at last people are also happy and satisfied seeing happy end of movie.

Movies are good mediums to create awareness but hardly any one shows the realities of the world in fact movies distract from harsh realities and put the people in the state of confusion. Reel life ends when hero unites with heroin but real life begins at the union then real responsibilities and struggles of life starts. People generally want to see the movie because many things which they want to do are not practical so they try to fulfil them by mentally fantasising about it in the form movies(they see themselves in the form of hero) for e.g. to have best of the facilities to enjoy unlimitedly like hero but many times it leads to only frustration because expectations and ground realities are different.

Movies don't talk about miseries of life and how to overcome them. No one shows how painful the old age is, how incurable the diseases are, how sudden and shocking the death is(end is not happy at all as shown in movies)! It's just presents romantic and happy moments which makes one forgetful of real life and it's purpose creating mass destruction in society. Our scriptures also filled with amazing love stories, drama, fights and other things but the difference is ultimately they talk about realities of the world and offers solution to get out of this world whereas movies of these world ultimately talks about lust and various ways to fulfil it and shackles us to be in this world life after life by keeping the mind always agitated for sense objects.

Reading of scriptures won't give us only excitement and entertainment but also satisfaction and purification of heart because they describe the glories of all pure God. They are not made by ordinary man of this world but by God himself so carries the extraordinary potency of transformation. No one has become a transformed person after watching reel life, there life continues in same sinful way in fact they become more passionate for enjoyment which is not purpose of human life. Scriptures again and again reminds us about our real life that is our natural position as a soul, part and parcel of God and his purpose that is to serve God lovingly. In conclusion one should not waste his money, time and energy to get more confused and bewildered about life by watching reel life but take proper shelter of scriptures like Gita and learn about realities of this life and about real life!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

Watch the trailer and get a role in the movie!!

Once when I opened my YouTube app to check some info I was amazed to see that one of the trailer of particular movie was viewed by 20 crores people in one day, what a craze! Trailer is overview of movie to attract the people to watch the movie, trailer is for promotion and free of cost. After watching trailer person becomes desirous of watching movie by buying costly tickets and hopes for 2-3 hours of excitement and happiness.

It's practically unheard that someone watched the trailer and what to say of freely watching movie but he gets role into next movie. But it happens. When God appears in the world and performs different pastimes which are like the trailer of His real eternal movies going on in spiritual world. Everyone likes to see movies and follow hero and God fulfils desire of conditioned people in positive way. When he descends to this world he enacts the perfect roles, when he takes role of baby he actually becomes and exactly behaves as baby, when he takes role of lover he perfectly reciprocates with loved ones, when he becomes husband, king and a servant of devotee no one can doubt his credibilities of acting thus he becomes perfect hero whose example can be followed.

His earthly pastimes which are like trailers which reveals glimpse of his activities in eternal world. These trailer of God is the subject matter of scriptures like Gita and Bhagavat Mahapuran, as we discussed earlier that peculiarity of these trailer is that it qualifies one to watch fully movie(understand whole pastimes of Lord) and get chance to enact role in these movies with Lord by becoming his associate(one gets entry to eternal world) without costly tickets. One loses his time, money, energy as well intelligence by watching movies of this world because non of them teaches purpose of life and activities to be performed to achieve it, in fact people get  more bewildered and think sense gratification is only aim of life.

There is no one more merciful and compassionate than God who avail this facility of just reading and listening about him from authentic spiritual teachers and getting entrance into his kingdom filled with eternal bliss also it's a perfect utilisation of time and energy. In conclusion these pastimes of Lord are not something boring or tiring or old(as usually thought) but keeps the potency to fulfil all human emotions and always felt newer and newer by the sincere practitioner, at the same time it makes one qualified to enter the spiritual world by purification of heart.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

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(Spiritual) Health is Wealth- 3 Lessons from pastime of Dhanvantari

Today is the day when Lord Dhanvantari appeared during the churning of milk ocean. During churning demons became very morose and depressed when they saw Goddess of fortune accepted the shelter of Lord Narayan neglecting everyone. They again engaged themselves vigorously in the churning expecting something wonderful to come out of it. Thereafter a beautiful male appeared from ocean, He was strongly built; his arms were long, stout and strong; his neck, which was marked with three lines, resembled a conchshell; his eyes were reddish; and his complexion was blackish. He was very young, he was garlanded with flowers, and his entire body was fully decorated with various ornaments. He was wearing the beautiful robes, he was also carrying a big jug full of nectar.

Nectar was supposed to be the culmination of whole activity of churning. Everyone was happy seeing the nectar. Both the parties were really eager to taste it but some powerful demons without concern for anyone just snatched the jug and ran away to drink. Demigods were helpless, lord appeared to them and told don't worry you will be the enjoyer of nectar. Here demons started fighting amongst themselves deciding who will have it first. 1)One lesson we can learn from here is that Lord Dhanvanatari who is God of health couldn't protect the jug from demons indicating health of material body is flickering and time is snatching it away from us and even best of the doctors can't do anything.

Lord asked demigods to keep some patience, He assumed the form of Mohini to bewilder the demons. Forgetting the nectar they started running after her, they put their full trust on her and handed over jug asking her to distribute it equally amongst everyone. But what Mohini did, she started distributing nectar only to demigods. Demigods are servant of God whereas demons defy the God and His supremacy. 2)Here Mohini is indicating that only the devotees are rightful heirs for nectar which will give healthy body because demigods are using body in service of Lord, where as the demons wanted to have healthy body for their own sense pleasure, Lord provides all necessities for His devotees, they always gets best of both the worlds.

Sukdev Goswami concludes this chapter glorifying the nectarian holy name of Lord. Similarly rather than seeking nectarian bliss anywhere else we also should engage ourselves in churning of our heart with Bhakti process and then result will be the taste for holy names, by experiencing this nectar our spiritual Heath will improve and we can become fit to return our eternal home. 3)It doesn't means  that one should neglect the bodily health but one shouldn't exploit his body for sense pleasures of this world which will only cause moroseness as seen with the example of the demons.

Article By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Significance of Dhanteras

Today evening most of us will be worshipping Goddess Lakshmi seeking her choicest blessings in the form of money and good fortune. Today is the day when Lakshmi Devi appeared from the milk ocean during it's churning. Actually everyone within the world is seeking her slightest glance upon them, they are trying out so many things to attain her mercy. More than money and some fortune she has something really special to offer us.

Once Durvasa muni cursed Indra to become deprive of his heavenly kingdom and all fortunes. Indra with other demigods was also defeated by demons, they lost everything. Lord Vishnu being compassionate upon His devotees asked them to have a truce with the demons. He told them to churn the milk ocean which will result in getting nectar, everyone agreed. Lord helped them in getting Mandara mountain as churning rod and Vasuki snake as rope. Both parties demigods and demons started churning vigorously expecting the nectar but first thing which came out was poison, that was accepted by Lord shiva protecting universe. Then various wonderful things started coming out and everyone according to their positions were accepting them. Surabhi was accepted by Rishis, horses and elephants were taken by demons etc. Soon a lady with exquisite beauty appeared from ocean like a lightening. She was goddess of fortune herself.

Everyone was seeking for her hand. Sages started praising her and had bathing ceremony with Vedic mantras and other paraphernalia. After accepting new garments she started searching for perfect master who can give her protection. She was roaming in the midst of all celestial beings and demons but she found out that no one is complete and everyone is full of faults, someone had good looks but no intelligence, someone was ascetic but influenced by time, someone was powerful but had no position. When she approached Lord Vishnu without a second thought she offered a garland over His shoulder indicating He is the supreme one.

Lord also accepted her as an eternal consort and gave her place on His chest. Being the chaste wife of Lord she always follows the Lord. And whom does the Lord follow? Lord follows the heart of devotees, He stays in the heart of devotees and where there is Narayan there is Lakshmi, it's so simple equation. Only being desirous of Lakshmi is a mentality of Ravana who also wanted Sita without Lord Ram but that only caused for his destruction. On the other hand those who worshipped Them together became prosperous. If someone only worships Lakshmi desiring material benefits she appears to them as Chanchal(flickering) or illusory Lakshmi offering them some temporary benefits but one who becomes devotee of Lord Narayan she offers eternal fortune upon those souls. In conclusion rather than running after grace of Lakshmi run after the grace of her master Lord Narayan whose shelter she also seeks, this is the significance of Dhanteras.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Lessons from 'JIO' is 'MARO'

Jio sim became talk of the town(and whole nation) as soon as Ambani made service available for everyone. Practically everyone was running to grab the Jio sims from stores, there were long queues seen in front of mobile stores, those who received it were so happy and blissful as if they are seeing God face to face. Jio is offering so many benefits, you can make free calls, free SMSs, free roaming everywhere, free wifi data, free 4G services till December 3rd, LTE calls, what else you want in life,amazing isn't it?

I was just thinking how someone can become so benevolent that he is offering everything for free, I studied little deep and found out there is some catch. Until and unless you purchase some data plan you won't be able to make any call or send a single sms, the night defined by Jio is 2am-5am unlike usual service providers from 11pm-7am, one popular misconception is Jio provides 1GB data for only rs 50 but this data is not cellular it's wifi data you need to search places where Jio is providing hotspot and avail this service there only, when you are downloading something big speed drastically goes down. It's 4G is poor than any other service providers. Many times call is unreachable and doesn't get connected to person. In conclusion Jio users are not happy at all.

Then I could make some conclusions with spiritual lessons out of it, hope it will make relevance to you.
M- material nature(Maya) doesn't offer anything for free, you need to pay some hidden costs or some 'conditions apply' just like Jio sim. Material pleasure doesn't come for free one need to struggle and toil hard to get it and to keep it with himself.

A- accept the whole package, just like when you buy Jio sim you can't tell, 'I just want free voice calls and free SMSs, I don't want data plan which is payable', no...you have to accept both. Similarly material world is full of duality there is no complete happiness and whatever happiness is there it comes in packaged form including misery.

R - recreation in this world is simply a dream, people were on 7th sky when they received Jio sim but it only increased their anxiety.

O- only person who is ready to share his wealth, bliss and resources with us is non other than God. Everyone other than Lord and his devotees are simply selfish for their own bliss forgetting oasis for real bliss is Krishna Himself.

By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

*Ae Dil 'Nahi' Hai Mushkil- if You read Gita daily*

Dil means heart (or sometimes mind) which is always filled with the desires which in turn give rise to emotions like happiness, depression, fear, anger, disgust, trust etc. Sometimes this emotional outburst of heart is very difficult to control by any means. Generally when mind gets unsettled people take help of various techniques of  trying to engage mind in different things like counting numbers in reverse order, talking to friends, playing games, exercise etc. yes these various  methods to keep heart and mind calm helps but not permanently, these methods just suppresses the emotions but when again it gets chance it outbursts causing more destruction e.g. when people doesn't get what they want, especially opposite sex they kill themselves or sometimes they kill a lover. Don't suppress the emotions, deal and dovetail them properly.

'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' movie's story revolves about triangular love, their break ups, relationships and in short hero gets confused over a thought that out of two which girl to choose as life partner also he is pained due to heart breaks from loved one. Similarly many times much more serious situations arises in our life thus we get confused not knowing which one to be prioritised e.g. my parents or my wife, my business or family members etc. A expert software engineer knows well how to deal with computer hangs, similarly an expert mind technologist knows how to deal with these feelings and emotions causing pain to heart, how to become a expert software engineer? (Actually Only humans have problem controlling emotions, we never have heard any animal or plant going to psychiatrist or committing suicide.)

5000 years ago Arjuna was also confused on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, which was biggest battle played in history of mankind, he couldn't decide between his duties, responsibilities and relationships. His own near and dear one's were standing against him to kill him. His mighty bow slipped from his hands, senses started trembling and skin started burning, he started giving different logical reasons for not fighting, it was outburst of his emotions and he was unable to control them but Lord help him to recover by speaking the Bhagavad Gita. Knowledge frees us from bondage may that be physical or mental thus after listening to these great teachings his weak mental health became strong thus he agreed to fight.

What did Lord Krishna tell Arjuna? Did He teach him martial arts? No...He taught him how to fight, how to fight battle with our inner enemies lead by lust, anger, greed, Lord gave the perfect description of where these enemies are hiding and how to win over them, Lord taught him desire management and on top of that He taught subjects of self realisation and devotional service, practicing which is aim of human life and this is neither taught in any movie nor university. Lord gave him knowledge best of both the worlds, he won the kingdom and attained heavens at the end of life. So rather than suppressing or fulfilling emotions by some superficial way or running away from them better deal with them with the help of Gita and its knowledge then to control mind and heart won't be a difficult task.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

Let's start Diwali cleaning...

Diwali is around the corner and we can see that people have started preparations to welcome this grand festival of bliss and joy. Preparations includes cleaning the home, making delicious food items, lightening the balcony with lanterns, shopping and so many other things. Cleaning is the important part because it's said, gods and especially Lakshmi(goddess of fortune) resides in the neat and clean home during these days and blesses people living in the home. Cleaning the whole house means a lot of work. It requires lot of energy and active minds. We wonder where to start our cleaning from and how to end this as soon as possible without straining ourselves.

Just like we do house cleaning to invite Lakshmi, we need to clean up our hearts to invoke the mercy of God, husband of Lakshmi, if we want blessing of Lakshmidevi for longer time on us. Our home gets dirty over a period of time if not cleaned regularly similarly our heart and mind have become dirty with the wrong conditionings and nasty thoughts from time immemorial on top of that we haven't done any cleaning from so many years, in fact we were ignorant of its dirtiness. We won't invite guest to our broken and dirty home in similar way we can't invite Lord who is all pure to our polluted heart, we need to clean it.

But how to clean the heart? By drinking more healthy juices or Himalayan water? No...only God has capacity to clean up our hearts. His holy name is best cleansing agent(detergent) and He is best of all cleaners. Although being the lord of everything he cleanses up our heart just like a servant who cleanse a home. Motivational and inspirational talks can help us to suppress pollutants(envy, ego, arrogance etc) of heart for some time but there can be blast of suppressed garbage, it has to be burned completely with the mercy of God which acts like a fire.

Just like while cleaning dirts falls upon head and without discouragement we continue the work and in this way soon whole home becomes cleaned similarly when we chant all nasty and lusty thoughts which were accumulated from many past lives may come up on the surface of mind causing agitation of it but without stopping we need to continue our work of chanting and soon it get relived from pollutants, cleaning will take time according to dirt accumulation, so determination is very important in this process of cleaning. In conclusion Lakshmi is wife of lord, she always follows her husband who always resides in clean and pure heart, so during this Diwali if you want grace of Lakshmi let's engage little heart cleaning too!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

Let's lighten up our hearts in this Diwali

Different people have different perceptions about festivals, someone takes it as mere holiday, for someone it's a break from daily routines and schedules, for someone it's a sleeping day, somebody just enjoys the special feast of festival, some are happy by meeting with relatives after long duration etc. Especially Diwali is everyone's favourite due to its long vacations, delicious food items and lightening of surroundings with fancy lanterns and fire crackers.

This lightening of lamps during Diwali is of course a holy ritual but apart from that it gives a significant message and that is, to introspect our dark heart and lighten it with lamp of transcendental knowledge. Jealousy, hatred, envy, arrogance, lust, greed etc these are some symptoms of dark heart and everyone of us has dark side of heart. Where can one avail this knowledge which can eradicate this darkness? Which school or college teaches about that? This knowledge is not a syllabus of ordinary books but It's given in only our scriptures like Gita and Bhagavatam and can be received by the grace of God and genuine spiritualists. Peculiarity of this knowledge is its revealed into the heart of the student so an illiterate can also avail the benefits.

The glories of our scripture is that they focus more into our heart than out side surrounding, Gita although spoken on battlefield, Lord didn't mentioned anything about martial arts or fighting techniques but it was all about how to fight inner war with our bad conditionings. Bhagavad Gita compare transcendental knowledge to, the Sun, a boat and blazing fire(BG Ch 4). Just like Sun dissipates the darkness, this knowledge dissipates the darkness of ignorance similarly just like a boat helps one to cross over the river this knowledge can help us to cross over the river of birth and death and just like fire turns wood into ashes this knowledge burns all sins.

This transcendental knowledge acquiring process is very easy for devotees, those who are lovingly serving God invokes the compassion of lord sooner. Krishna says in Gita(BG10.11),“To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” In conclusion during festivals we are concerned about cleanliness and lightening of home so that it will look attractive to ourselves and to the guests, similarly we need to work on the cleanliness and lightening of our polluted and dark heart not with the electrical bulbs but with powerful holy names of God, thus it will look attractive to supreme guest, the God!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

What's Your Roaming Plan ?

After seeing effect of Jio's market capture by offering various benefits to its customers all other telecom companies also reduced cost of their teriff plans to maintain loyal customers. They will be offering you the free roaming during this Diwali. Roaming means to use a cell phone network outside of a home service area as defined by a service plan, so if now you are moving to Delhi from Mumbai to enjoy your vacations you need not pay any extra money for calling in roaming zone.

Roaming also means wandering or to move on without purpose or plan. Soul who is individual part and parcel of the God, also roaming in these creation but he has purpose or plan which he has forgotten due to contact with material nature from time immemorial. Soul's eternal nature is to enjoy which he has forgotten and now wants to satisfy himself by fulfilling different desires. God who is sitting as a paramatma in the heart of every living entity senses these desires and makes conditions favourable to fulfill those desires. Due to those desires and karmas of past lives living entity sometimes takes birth amongst the demigods, sometimes amongst the human, aquatics, trees and so many other species.

So living entities roaming plans completely depends upon the activities performed in the human form of life, lower species of life like animals and trees haven't given any choices and thus no roaming plan for them. If someone performs good karmas then he is transferred to Heavens to enjoy where demigods dwell for long time duration however if karmas are sinful then One takes births in animal or tree species where one may get very less chances of enjoyment. Heavenly life also as said in Gita is temporary and after exhaustion of karma one need to come back as a human again to gain good roaming pack again by doing some pious activities.

As we discussed above results of all these roaming plans are only for some time, after expiry to gain facilities we need to recharge it again. Do you want to know one special roaming plan which will stop your roaming into different planets and give you better happiness than existing one? This special plan is recharged without paying high money but by practicing devotional service of Lord which is done by simply hearing and chanting of God's names. Even small recharge of this plan of Bhakti can save one from greatest danger. In conclusion by practicing these Bhakti processes you are stopping yourself from entering into higher and lower species of life(roaming) and recharging yourself to enter into the place of God for eternity!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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*When God becomes a Chauffeur....*

I remember when I showed Gita to one fellow who was totally unaware of Mahabharata( which is generally rare in India), he asked me the question by seeing the cover picture of Gita, "who is God, the person who is sitting on the chariot and ordering or one who is driving chariot or is there someone else other than these 2?", the question was normal because In various religions of world God is depicted as that Supreme Being who exists independent of the universe, who does not change, is absolute, transcends space and time, who is self-aware, who is all-knowing, ever present, and can accomplish whatever he desires to accomplish which means the supreme controller. People get bewildered by seeing God driving a chariot and think no..he can't be God.

Most of the times religions project Him like a superintendent of jail who is always ready with his staff to punish those who commit mistakes and ready to cast them into hell for eternity, as if He is the most cruel and don't have any work other than troubling. This knowledge of God is correct in one way but not complete. That's why we find many people have lost their faith in religious systems and the God. But the eternal and original religion of soul, Sanatan dharma presents God through the Vedic scriptures as most loving father who is ready to forgive his children and give them another chance to make improvements.

Lord's one of the name is 'Achyuta' which means He never fails in affection for His devotees, He is always protecting the devotee and his devotional service. During Mahabharata war Lord became peacemaker but that didn't work because Duryodhana wanted the war. Whole Narayani Sena was given to evil Duryodhana and Krishna remained with Arjuna with the vow of not lifting any weapon. Lord acted as charioteer for him. To become a chauffeur is not at all a prestigious job and no one will want to ever do such thing as to run by someone else's command. But Lord did that to show how much He loves His devotees to give us the hope to practice Bhakti. Arjuna was hitting Krishna with his legs to indicate where to take chariot but Lord didn't say a word, He kept assisting him in whole warfare till end...can you imagine the compassion of God!!

All qualities are found within Him with fullest extent. He is all perfectionist and thus He is perfect servant also towards His devotees, He wants to serve them just like a menial servant without any complaints, that's what He exhibited by becoming peacemaker and a charioteer. He is won only by power of love, He is perfect reciprocator of that love and never ditches a lover(which is generally seen in this world). Who chauffeur of our life? The contaminated intelligence is our driver currently, which make our defeat easy while fighting with conditionings of our nasty mind. In conclusion let's make the Lord as a chauffeur of our life and lead a victorious life as Arjuna.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

Grand Theft Butter

For those who are/were addicted to games know very well that 'Grand Theft Auto' is an open world action-adventure video game series. Game is consisting of action-adventure, driving, third-person shooting, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. Player is given some mission with many obstacles, he has to face troubles and complete the mission, game is still so popular and addictive that developers have introduced 6th edition.

However popular or attractive game may be it just breaks away our connection with real world and we start searching for satisfaction in virtual world by winning matches or completing some imaginary targets. Especially games are so addictive, I remember my one of the classmate who would steal money of his parents to play games in cyber cafe, he would forget about everything and just spent his hours achieving so called 'goals'. Everyone has real mission, purpose of life and that is to develop love for Supreme Person, the God and at the end of this life enter into His real eternal abode but when one forgets real aim he runs after imaginary aims may that be games or something else.

How to develop Love for God? Who has time in modern world to practice Bhakti?...actually Bhakti is very simple, it's explained hearing the glories of God(Sravanam) is one of the easiest way to develop strong love and attachment to Him. We just need to give sincere aural reception to those who are spiritually advanced. When we listen to such nectarine pastimes of lord our hearts get freed from all misgivings of the world. There are unlimited pastimes of Lord and one of them is stealing of butter from houses of vrindavana gopis. Lords pastimes provides lots of fun to the hearers and simultaneously give the valuable lessons too!! These all pastimes are ever fresh and doesn't need any editions like games.

Mother Yashoda would make butter for Lord everyday but still He would go to the other gopis to eat their butter which would be kept many times on raised platform but still Lord Krishna and His friends by tricks would reach these pots, they broke pots and ate fresh butter. Similarly when our hearts gets churned with the process of Bhakti it becomes white and pure like butter there after wherever you hide it Lord will search for it and enter into it thus filling the heart with pure love for Him. This is positive addiction which is most desired by saintly people of all times. In conclusion we always like to hear about most chivalrous, dramatic, romantic stories of beautiful, powerful personalities and we search them in cimenams, movies, sports, games and everywhere except scriptures, but God has performed all kinds of activities, hearing of which can attract the hearts and has the power to fulfil all human emotions and keep us blissful and happy till the end of this life and after life for eternity.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Watch Your Watch

It's sounds so interesting to me when I ask my friends, "what are you doing" and they respond by saying, "nothing just doing T.P." means timepass, interesting about this is that even though you don't engage in timepass time is going to pass anyhow. Timepass way of passing a time in aimless or unproductive way and practically everyone does that. If you observe while travelling in a bus, in train, during breaks in workplace, in schools and colleges people are killing their time in various ways as if they have abundant time.

Once there was a highly elevated sage named 'Lomasha' who had been blessed by the Brahma to have long life. The boon was after every hundred years his one hair will fall off and in this way when all hairs fall off from his body he will die, means such a huge life. He was very austere, he would perform his sadhana under hot blazing sun, his one of disciple thought let me built a small hut for my guru he will be pleased. So he asked Lomasha, can I built hut for you so that you can perform sadhana peacefully, Rishi replied, don't waste time in building hut, life is so short, perform devotional service and go back to godhead.

We have to understand that we have less time to achieve perfection of human form of life, if we just utilise our time for eating, sleeping, mating and defending then hardly there are any chances of achieving goals. Watching the watch means becoming conscious of time, When one becomes conscious of running time then he can think of utilising time. Time passes so subtly and suddenly that we don't realise it has gone. You observe you life, it has passed just like a lightening, came and gone. Time is really very powerful, a filthy rich can become beggar overnight, a healthy can be diseased and powerful can become powerless within no time.

What is perfect utilisation of time? Using time in the service of personification of time that is God. When one engages in hearing and chanting of God's name regularly he becomes eligible to enter in the world where time is conspicuous by its presence. King Khatvanga realised that he was left with very short time he immediately freed himself from all responsibilities and engaged himself in the process of devotional service thus got elevated to planet of eternity and bliss, similarly king Pariksit was cursed to die within 7 days, he surrendered himself at the feet of Sukdev Goswami and engaged in hearing the glories of God. In conclusion remain always conscious of our watch(time) which is always running and rather than wasting it use our some time daily in loving service of God and His devotees so that we will be eligible to enter into His planet of eternity(Vaikunth).

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

Is God egomaniac?

People give different reasons for not surrendering unto God and one of their favourite reason is, God is egocentric, we don't want to worship egoistic God who always thinks of himself. Actually this is a result of not understanding spiritual subject matter perfectly and having wrong preoccupied notions for God's compassion and selflessness. Egomaniac is a person who thinks of himself as an very important man and does only whatever he wants without bothering for anyone else's opinion.

They say God made this universe for His pleasure, He made us for serving Him, He wants us to worship Him, glorify Him, praise Him, love Him? Why? Can't He be happy with Himself? And when they read Bhagavad Gita especially 10th ch. named 'Opulence of Supreme', where Lord declares His glories to Arjuna, Lord says,' I am the cause of everything and everyone including demigods, sages, patriarchs, surrender to me and I will freed you from sins, hear my glories that will give you pleasure. I am the best of everything and best of everyone. I am the controller in the form of time and nothing(living and non living) can exist without me'. At the end Lord says 'But this is just spark of my splendour, I am much more than I have explained', they get more convinced that God is egoistic because Krishna so many times use words like I..I..Me..Me...only Me and no one else etc.

People feel God is egomaniac because they think these are just false propagations by God just like any tom, dick and harry of footpath but no, Lord Krishna is not falsely boasting Himself in fact He proved His words in 11th ch. of Gita showing Universal form to Arjuna, where whatever He stated was visible in front of the eyes of Arjuna. A nice example is given, when a filthy rich, aristocratic person goes to a beggar and tells him that, 'I have 100 billion dollars, I have so many cars, I am owner of 10 bungalows, if you serve me I will give you food', but beggar refuses to surrender saying,'you are too egocentric'. Is rich person egomaniac? No...because he is telling truth. In fact beggar is egoistic of his filthy condition of life thus don't want to change it by surrendering. We are like that of beggar, helpless and hungry for true love but don't want to surrender being attach to our egos.

If you observe Lord Krishna's pastimes from Bhagavat Mahapuran, you will find several evidences of humility, selflessness and compassionate nature of Lord. Lord was learning under sandipani muni serving him menially, He was very respectful towards Brahmanas, He was collecting their left overs of food in Rajsuya sacrifice, He was charioteer of His devotee Arjuna, so many demons He liberated. In conclusion He is always concerned about us, about our happiness, He wants us to be back with Him in spiritual world and that's why so many times He Himself comes in different Avatars to reclaim us from material world. He sends his prophets, sons and saints to remind us of our fallen condition like that of beggar, who is the person other than God who wants to share His riches, His happiness and family with us, so rather than questioning about God's ego let's give up our egos and become member of His happy family.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Ras Lila: not a dance of Passion but act of Compassion

People do believe in God but their faith shakes up when some apparently controversial question arises in their mind. Some of the most controversial questions about Lord's pastimes are, Why He stole the clothes of young ladies? Why He married with so many women? Why He danced with young girls of Vrindavan in dead of night in middle of the forest? These questions only arises when there is no or less knowledge of omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God, actually if they seek a help of proper spiritual authority then there is some hope of not loosing faith and also not having blind faith in whatever they are believing.

Ras Lila is not a dance of passion:
We, born and raised in the modern world where sex and vulgarity is the focus of everyone and everything, it's in films, it's in advertisements, it's there in magazine and everywhere. We are constantly bombarded with passionate acts and thoughts where self enjoyment is given priority. So when we go to temple and see deities of Radha and Krishna or hear about Their pastimes, our mind which is already filled with impure thoughts, projects the image of Their Divine Love as same as love between ordinary boy and girl. Yes Lord Krishna called all the gopis of Vrindavan in the dead of night to have dance but it wasn't as ordinary pub or disco bar dance, it was exchange of love between Lord and His devotees, there was not a tinge of selfishness which is always observed in so called love of this world.

Ras Lila is an act of compassion:
Scriptures explains us these gopis were exalted spiritualists who had asked Lord Rama that they want to serve Him in conjugal relationship, Lord fulfilled their desires compassionately when He appeared as Krishna. He expanded Himself into many forms and exchanged love with them individually expanding one night into thousands of years. Dance is an expression of love and happiness, isn't it? That's why we dance during happy moments of life or dance to become happy. Lord is calling us to have fun and blissful life with Him in His Kingdom Golok Vrindavan, He want to share this bliss with everyone. Ras Lila is an advertisement of the whole product of eternity and bliss.

The highest of all spiritual teachers and saints of world have glorified, relished and worshipped these Lilas with gopis as an epitome of Love for God. In conclusion before entering into such deep topics of love between Lord and gopis we should focus on our incapabilities to understand these thing, these topics are like post graduate studies which can't be offered to 1st std child for whom learning of A, B, C, D will beneficial at this stage. Similarly we are neophytes in spiritual understanding, for us now learning about God's greatness and our minuteness will be beneficial rather than directly jumping on Ras Lila.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Do you have Visa and Passport?

When traveling between different countries, a passport is required to gain access and cross the country’s borders. The purpose of a passport is to show other nations that you are a legal citizen of your particular nation of origin. Visas are another document designed to allow people access into other countries. The difference between a visa and a passport is that a visa specifies certain reasons why that person will be staying in the country.

Someone may ask, I don't want to go to foreign land why do I need passport or visa? But scriptures remind us that we are all tourists here, we all are always travelling from one specie of life to other. Body is temporary covering over soul, sometime we get body of animal, sometime of demigod and sometime human body according to our activities in present life. Soul is always touring from 84 lacs of species. Juts like we need passport and visa to go to some another country similarly if we want to have higher birth we need to have passport and visa to reach and dwell in those places where demigods live happy life.

Where can we get such visa and passport? As we discussed earlier our next birth depends upon our activities(karma) of present birth, it acts like passport and visa, we are creator of our own passport. If we do good pious activities we will be given a chance to elevate to higher planets(heavens) where demigods dwell, and if our life and activities are sinful then we won't get any passport therefore we will be thrown into lower life of animals where facilities are meagre. Till now we have talked about going to higher planets but there also exists time which throws us away at the end of our visa which means we will be back to our country after some period of time(BG 9.21).

Is there any place where we can only enjoy without time restrictions? Yes, there is planet beyond this material creation, called  as Vaikuntha Loka, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. How to go there? Which kind of passport and visa is required to go there? One can go to this planet of God only by doing Devotional service, which includes hearing and chanting about God and serving Him with love. Passport(material activities) of this earthly planet and heaven won't help us to reach Vaikuntha(place where anxiety doesn't exists), entry here will be given on the basis of activities which are done for the pleasure of God. So if we are only engaged in our own things without bothering for our purpose of life which is to develop love for God then we will not get entry to eternal spiritual world. In conclusion we must try our best to obtain this special visa to reach abode Lord by doing loving devotional service unto Him!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Facebook or Faithbook

Recently I visited one very special temple named 'Gita Mandir' where all the verses of Bhagvad Gita were engraved on the walls of temple but I was also amazed to see that hardly anyone was reading it!! Visitors were busy with their cameras to have own photos. I also observed them putting photos immediately on social networking sites to tell others that they are at holy site. People forgot the purpose why they were at that place(to read Gita), they were taking advantage of place in other way.

Facebook has become addiction for many, as soon as they get up in the morning they look for notifications, before sleeping they check how many 'Like' my post, and throughout the day they are thinking which photo of mine should I post to get maximum likes and comments. Facebook is good way to get entertainment and some inspiration here and there but apart from that it only sucks away our energy and time that everyone of us knows very well, still we can't give it up why? Because we don't know that there is more advanced social networking site and that is 'Faithbook'. If we make account on Faithbook, then our taste for Facebook will automatically go down because Faithbook provides extraordinary benefits.

What's this Faithbook? It is Bhagavad Gita. Gita is not just some religious book but it's a book of inspiration, management and transformation. Facebook only shows our face value, how beautiful or handsome we are but Gita reveals our heart value, how much lust, envy, greed we have and how to deal with it. Lord doesn't bother about our face but about our heart and mind. Facebook virtually connects us to friends and hardly anyone one of them can help us in critical stages of life but Faithbook connects us directly to God and His unlimited powers which gives us strength to deal with any problem of life may that be as sever and critical as death.

But our problem is that we have never opened our account on this site of Faithbook in fact we kept it out of our sight fearing it will change our life. Yes it will change our life but positively. What did you receive from Facebook since so many years? Some knowledge but mostly junk, we have wasted our precious time, I don't find anyone who became successful reading Facebook posts apart from Facebook owner 'Mark'. Believe me open your account on Faithbook(open your packed Bhagavad Gita which you have kept as it is from so many years) start reading it carefully and just see how immense emotional, mental, physical benefit you are deriving out of it. There were many in past including Arjuna, Sun God, Manu, Isvaku received benefit of this immortal knowledge and became successful in life, then why should we waste opportunity??

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Have you updated your antivirus?

Antivirus is a computer software used to prevent detect and remove malicious software. Some products also include protection from other computer threats, such as infected and malicious URLs, spam, scam and phishing attacks, online identity (privacy), online banking attacks, social engineering techniques, advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks. Nowadays all comes computers come with installation of antivirus, we just need to update it after some period of time, to overcome updated threats and malware.

Just like computer gets attacked with viruses, our human mind also get succumbed to the viruses in the form of depression, stress, anxiety, anger, frustration, lust, greed, lethargy etc. we also need antivirus to deal with these viruses else our hard disk may get crashed (we call it as psychiatric problems). What's this antivirus for contaminated human mind? It's a Love of Godhead, which purifies our heart and frees us from material conditioning which is strongest malware to deal with and keeps us bound to this miserable world. But the amazing thing is that we have this antivirus already installed within, we just need to update it, off course it is not deactivated but it has stopped working due to our negligence.

It's said in our scriptures, 'nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya', Love of godhead is already within our heart, but due to our contact of material energy since time immemorial we have forgotten to activate and use it and that's why we are getting troubled so much by these viruses. 2 things are necessary to update antivirus, first we need internet connection and other is product key, similarly to awaken our dormant love we need connection and product key to make the installation easy.

In the life of spiritualist this connection and keys are provided by Guru(spiritual guide or teacher) in the form of instructions. Next stanza explains the process of updating antivirus, 'śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya', just by hearing and chanting the glories of God this love naturally awakens in the heart. But after updating once you can't say now I have done it, no...everyday newer and newer viruses maya keeps introducing and if we want to be safe we also need to update this antivirus everyday by taking shelter of Holy name in the association of devotees. So let's update our antivirus before our hard disk get crashed!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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When God declares Diwali sale!!

As Diwali is approaching all the newspapers, websites, magazines are getting filled with advertisement of discount on different products. Top companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, paytm, shopClues etc has announced their sales schemes with cash back or at least 50% discount. It's a great chance for customers to shop for necessary (and mostly unnecessary) things at cheaper prices, but don't think these companies are paying for you from their pockets they trick you and earn profits worth of billions, so it's a one way to allure and hook you to their products.

Actually discount means we want to pay less but get more may that be things, prosperity, blessing or anything else. To announce a discount on special occasions like Diwali, dussehra is not new thing. The God who is very eager to  get us back to His eternal abode also declares discount sale on Bhakti through the scriptures and saints, by which we can purchase devotion unto Him. Devotional service is generally too costly in the sense one need to perform sever austerities, meditations, charity, scriptural studies etc which is very difficult in this age.

Lord has performed unlimited pastimes throughout the universes, but very special and intimate pastimes He performed in Vrindavan where He showed how He is bound by love of His devotees, His pastimes were drowning everyone into pools of ecstasy. These transcendental pastimes are like advertisement by God to show how beneficial is to perform devotional service, he is inviting all of us through these Lilas. God is always merciful but during this particular month He is extra merciful awarding Bhakti at very low price.

Prabhupad writes from Padma Puran,“…the Lord does not award devotional service to ordinary persons who are not serious about it. But even such unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Kārttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathurā in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service.” (N.O.D., Chapter 12). So let's not loose this chance to take benefit of this Diwali mega sale, don't worry you need not to pay single rupee to get this greatest blessing, you just need to perform some simple devotional activities unto Lord Krishna like offering lamps and flowers to Him, reading about Him, chanting His names and glories etc and then priceless Gem of love unto Him is awaiting for you.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 
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Does Ravana exist?

Lord Ram destroyed demon Ravana on this holy day of Dussehra, He rescued the Mother Sita and brought her back to Ayodhya. Although demon Ravana was killed millions of years ago and we may not see him physically present but his mentality still remains to live within our heart in the form of all devouring lust.

Ravana was personification of lust, what not he did to fulfill his sensual propensities, he molested, kidnapped wives of sages, devas, nagas and gandharvas. But the nature of lust is its never satisfied it keeps on increasing and even though he had so many women to enjoy he lusted after property of God Mother Sita, he forgot her real nature, supreme goddess of fortune. Sensuality destroys the intelligence, forgetting real aim of life one only thinks how I can enjoy my senses in better way, this is Ravana tendency. We may not have power or facilities like Ravana to enjoy senses but our desires to enjoy are many times excelling even Ravana.

Ravana was very smart guy, he disguised himself as sadhu, Sita crossed the Lakshman rekha and was kidnaped By Ravana, separating her from Lord. Similarly in our life Ravana won't come in his demoniac form but he will appear as most sober and gentle person and allure us, we will think let's respond to him (various appealing sensual desires for enjoyment). When we responds to such desires (power, name, fame, sex etc), then they show up their ugly and ghastly face, we realize that it was trap and we have got separated from Lord because of not following the orders of Lord and His devotee(Lakshman). That's why it's necessary to follow regulations given by God in scriptures else Ravana is ever ready to capture us.

It's practically very difficult to fight with Ravana with our own strength. Even demigods couldn't do anything, they were menially serving him. Last hope was God, they called out for supreme Lord Ram, who descended to this world to destroy Ravana and rescue Sita. He is the only one who can deal and kill Ravana. We also can't deal with this lust it's so powerful, we are helpless like a Sita in Lanka. Only when Lord Ram descends to our heart in the form of His Holy names then there is hope of destruction of Ravana, all other artificial methods which are like demigods won't help in this age. So let's introspect our heart and search for Ravana who is disguised in the form of enjoyment mentality and destroy him with the Power of Holy Name of Lord Ram.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Are you prepared to receive Uninvited Guest?

When some uninvited guest comes to home we get little disturbed because we haven't been told prior thus we are not prepared for it, we may have to cancel all our other plans, schedules and important meeting,
appointments. I am talking of a special guest who goes to every home what to say of every home he goes to an every individual. He doesn't differentiate between rich and poor, black or white, beautiful or ugly he reaches to everyone may he live in expensive bungalow or on footpath. No body can avoid his arrival he comes without forget and if at all we are not prepared to receive him he becomes very angry and punishes us and takes away everything which we have accumulated with hard work throughout our life, he is the most cruel guest one can ever imagine. Who is he??

He is Mr. D, not some don in fact He terrifies don too...can you guess? He is Death. We often time forget about him, but he never forgets us, he keeps track of everyone. In our daily schedule of job, studies, relationships, social things we get so busy that we don't find time to think about his reception. But his reception has to be in unique way, we can't receive him by giving big money or food or hiding from him or alluring him also we can't postpone his arrival. Everyone has to face him face to face one day, but we don't know when he is coming to us, that's the big problem, that's why we have to be prepared at the each point of our life.

Scriptures explains innumerable examples of devotees who dealt with this unusual guest perfectly. Some of the famous examples are king Parikshita, Dhruva Maharaj and Ajamila. How did they do that? Glories of God and Holy name has power to deliver us from cycle of birth and death and take us to eternal abode of lord, because God is controller of everything including death. When Ajamila chanted  name 'Narayan' at the time of his last breath, he couldn't be touched by death but he was offered next chance to rectify his mistakes and purify his life.

Death is another form of God for those who are envious of Him but for those who are lovers of God they are eager to receive Him. Just like for mouse mouth of cat is death trap but for kitten its a most secured place in the world. When we chant and hear glories of God we are actually preparing to face death, one who doesn't prepare for exams he only fears from exams similar in case of ultimate exam, death. So if we are prepared then death wants to serve us as he did in case of Dhruva, when final moment arrived in Dhruva's life, a beautiful carrier came to take him to Lord's abode that time death personified standing nearby became boarding step of celestial plane for Dhruva. In conclusion my intention is not to make you fearful but enlighten you and offer you the ways to receive this guest, who is on the way!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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The Root cause of all problems: Envy

Envy is desire to posses something which is belonging to someone else may that be big home, wealth, fortune or name and fame, heart of envious person burns by seeing prosperity of others. Envy means to think I am the only enjoyer and important and if someone try to break my ideas then there is negative feeling for that person in heart. Socrates says,"envy is ulcer of soul".

We all have experience of envy for someone, no one except god can say, I envy no one, we envy someone that's why we are here in this world, else we would have been into spiritual world with God and with his loving devotees. What not people do to express their envy, King dhritrashtra and his 100 sons were envious of pandavas, they always felt insecurity that pandavas will take away our throne so they tried all means to kill pandavas but mysteriously pandavas were always saved. Under the influence of envy person becomes blind to the reality and focuses on his own agendas by pulling others down, envy keeps our mind and heart longing for things which others posses and we become dissatisfied in this situation we can not attain peace of mind.

Lord explains to Arjuna in Gita(9.1) that, 'because you are non envious of me(anasuyave) I am revealing this transcendental knowledge which will help you to transcend this miserable world'. Being non envious of God is first qualification to understand Gita or any scripture. A real devotee is never envious of anyone in fact he is well-wisher of everyone, because he knows someone's success or failure is only for temporary period and God has awarded that, he sees power of God in success of others, he understands that God has empowered someone to do big tasks so better I should help him to please God.

Because of envy we came to this world, we were happily serving lord in spiritual world but envy entered our heart we also desired to become enjoyer like a God leaving aside His blissful service and thus He fulfilled our desire by creating separate material world for us and from time immemorial we are rotting here. Envy stops us from serving others wholeheartedly. Spiritual world is all pure and unless we get rid of this disease there is no way by which we can reach there. Only God and his holy name has power to cure this disease, apart from this ultimate medicine try to serve the people who you are envious of. In conclusion when all our envy from heart gets eradicated by chanting resulting into service attitude towards everyone then there are 101% chances of attaining our real and blissful spiritual life in Vaikuntha.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Lord Krishna: The Told story

Everyone wants to know the secret of success of great people, so that they can also derive some inspiration out of it to become successful in their own life. People read biographies, stories about them, watch movies based on their life struggle to learn. Recently movie was released on the life of a famous Indian cricket star Dhoni, named 'MS Dhoni: the untold story', which revealed success mantras of his life.

But apart from inspiration and some entertainment we won't receive anything higher and this inspiration will only last for sometime, it may not help us in next birth. Scriptures says, One should read, hear about that person who is the greatest of all, who is benefactor of all, who is all merciful and benevolent, by hearing about Him we will get rid of our sinful tendencies, we will get inspiration but simultaneously we will go through transformation too and we can attain the success in life. Who is that great person, just by reading about Him we can get so much benefits?...He is God!!

Like others Lord Krishna's biography is also present, which was told by Sukdev goswami to King parikshita, it's available in 10th canto of Bhagavata mahapuran, written by great sage Vyasa. All pastimes of Lord are mentioned in these ancient texts which has power not only to give us tremendous hope and inspiration but also to purify our heart of all material contamination. Lord tells in Gita that,"My birth and activities are transcendental, whoever understands it he will never come back to this miserable world again but will attain my eternal abode". Is there anyone apart from God who can give us this affirmation that, you understand me and I will give you endless happiness? Everything about God is revealed in these sacred texts we just need to go through them to receive spiritual benefits.

In fact the celebrities don't know about most their fans then how can fans expect reciprocation from them, but just see the God, He is exactly opposite, He knows each and every devotee of Him, what to say of devotee he knows each and every living entity in the creation, their each and every thought and not only this He reciprocates with each one of them perfectly. No one but God can help us in most critical situation of life and that is death, He is the one who can deliver us from repeated birth and death. So in conclusion you may become fan of some celebrity or some highly exemplary person and get inspiration from them but that will have temporary effect but reading and listening to Lord's pastimes will purify us of all misgivings in heart and we can proceed towards gaining ultimate success of our life 'Love of Godhead'.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 
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My Dear Deer...you are cause of my fear!!

Our scriptures teaches us in very wonderful ways with practical examples of how to live in this world and how to leave the world for never to come back again and one of such example is of King Bharat. Formerly world was known as Ajanabha Varsha but due to benevolent activities of King Bharat this world later became Bharat Varsha. He was like father and mother for his people. He was faithful servant of God and demigods, ruled his kingdom according to directions of scriptures.

After ruling kingdom for 10000 years he decided to accept renunciation. He divided his wealth amongst his sons and immediately left for forest to perform austerities, he gave up all comforts just like one gives up stool. He started living near holy river Gandaki, ate roots and fruits, worshipped Lord Narayan everyday, he was on advanced level of spirituality. It's so happened one day that he saw that a small baby deer was drowning in river, as a compassionate sage he rescued and protected it, he took nice care of it. But eventually he got so much attached to it that he felt it was his own son, he would lay down with it, sleep with it, bathe with it. He was always concerned about its protection eventually he left performing his spiritual practices and always bothered about deer. One day deer disappeared from his vision Bharat was pained a lot he was constantly thinking about it, even during most important time of leaving this world Bharat rather than thinking of God, thought of deer and he received the body of deer in next life because constant absorption in deer.

Later in life of deer he repented a lot and this time he remained away from worldly things which may hamper his spiritual practices, soon he got another birth of human where he perfected his life and went back to Lord. Just like Bharat Maharaj had one deer to distract him from his goal similarly we also have at least one deer to distract us, it may be our wealth, property, position, relationships etc.

One need to be very very careful of things which may hamper their spiritual life and goal, attraction of this world are really tempting but at the same time entangling just like deer in case of Bharat. Temporary attractions of world are cause of our real fear and that is missing the goal of human form of life which is to attain love of godhead. It's not that we should abandon everything and go to the forest but one shouldn't be overly attached to the temporary things here, perform your duties and fulfil all responsibilities but know in the back of the mind that I will have to leave everything one day else same duties and responsibilities may become cause of fear.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 
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Love the God else you will love dog

Love is a word around which the world rotates, it's there in magazine, in cinemas, in news papers, in heart and practically everywhere. Someone finds that love in human relationships, someone in gadgets, someone is pets because everyone wants to love and to be loved but People are failing to trust their relationship with humans and establishing that love with animals and especially dog, why? Dog is very faithful to its master. Dogs wait at the door when they know you’re coming home. They dance for you with excitement when they see you. And they’re always deliriously ecstatic to see you, they don't desire your attention but they just want to please you.

There are many people in the world who have kept millions of dollars for their dogs. Gail Posner had funded $3 millions for trust founded to take care of her 3 dogs, she also had left mansion worth of $8 for dogs and it's caretakers, every week dogs rides to pet spa in gold escalade, Oprah Winfrey and Leona Helmsley offered $30 and $11 millions respectively for welfare of their dogs, the list is unending, dog is their first inheritor in will papers, this shows their immense love for dogs. But do dog understand anything about money? even if you leave them on street they will maintain themselves, they always did that previously.

Actually everyone is looking for love, but they don't know where to find that, they are in search of perfect reciprocator and when human can't satisfy that desire of heart they seek love of dog but even when one loves dog that love is not permanent because neither we nor dog is permanent but our desire to love is eternal we need someone who will accept and give that love for eternity. Love exchange in material world is frustrating may that be with perfect human present on earth. Loving dog may give us temporary relief from stress but not eternal satisfaction in heart. Only one person can love us perfectly and He is God, not dog.

Also when one develops loving relationship with Krishna we understand spiritual position of all living entity as part and parcel of God, so if we love God we will automatically respect and care for everyone, what to say of dog but even an ant. God is our ultimate benefactor a simple love offered to Him can save us from greatest danger and fear such as repeated births and deaths. In conclusion non of the living entity can live without loving someone but he should know whom should he love for benefit of himself and for benefit of everyone, if we don't use this tendency to love properly in service of God then we will serve dog!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 
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Surfing in the suffering world

Surfing means visiting different places or spending time on Internet websites, it's also a sport of riding on wave on special board. We are very much habituated for surfing and we love these different surfings because it gives us enjoyment.

Similarly soul is also surfing to different planets, sometimes he goes to heaves and becomes demigod, sometimes he becomes tree, animal and sometimes he takes birth on earth as human seeking enjoyment. Lord tells in Gita that this whole world from topmost planet of Lord Brāhma to the lowermost hellish planet is a place of misery, He calls this world as Dukhalayam(miserable) and Asasvatam(temporary). If manufacturer tells you the information of particular product one must accept those things to avoid further disagreements and troubles similarly Lord Krishna is manufacturer of this world which is full of sufferings, so one shouldn't have unnecessary expectations of enjoyment here, because this product of world is meant to give misery. Primarily we get miserable because of our own mind and body, because of others living entities and because of natural catastrophes such as tsunami and flood and feminine etc.

Prabhupad would say that, this material world is like toilet, just like we do our work there and come out of it immediately similarly we should just fulfill our responsibilities and come out of the material world, don't keep surfing in the different species of life. Just like while surfing on Internet we go from one website to another similarly our desires to enjoy this world takes us to different species, for eg if someone is attached to meat eating he will be awarded with body of tiger or carnivorous animal were that facility is available.

Our scriptures says,"All living entities are wandering in different types of bodies throughout different planets, and if, in the course of their wanderings, they come in contact with a devotee by the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, their lives become successful". So if we want to stop this suffering due to surfing we must take shelter of God as told in above verse, real pleasure is available in spiritual world Vaikuntha (place without any anxiety and misery). This human form of life is considered to be a junction from where we can decide our next destination, animals and trees don't have that choice, human can elevate or degrade himself according to his actions and inclinations. So let's not waste this life simply in surfing but seek a help of God in the form of His holy words(Bhagavad Gita) and holyname to get rid of this suffering world!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Unitedly Divided Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. Keeping the various goals such as human rights, child mortality, security and peace making, health and diseases in mind this Union is formed, but many times its observed that UN is failing to achieve its targets.

In the beginning UN had 53 nations as its members, today they are grown to 193...what that means? it simply means nations are getting divided and becoming part of UN. Nations are getting divided because of internal fights amongst their own people due to so many issues for example division of Korea into South Korea and Noth Korea, division of Russia into different countries. Prabhupad gives the example, just like dog starts barking when some another dogs enters it's area similarly we also identify with our country and try to pull down everyone else, one can not unite dogs of different areas, so until and unless we give up our doglike mentality till that time UN will fail.

Just 5000 years ago whole world would be known as Bharatvarsha, although there were different small kingdoms but Yudhistira was the king of whole planet so they were actually united under one flag. If you observe carefully each year there are 2-3 new flags admitted to UN means each year 2-3 new countries are formed which is not at all sign of unity. What was the secret of Yudhistira's success? How he could unite everyone under one flag?

Prabhupad says,"They have invented the United Nations and world health organizations. But all these attempts are exactly the same process as to water the leaves and the twigs. They don’t know the missing point: Krishna". It's so true, UN has everything but still incapable of uniting people because lack of God consciousness. When people will recognize their original identify as part of one single God then only there is possibility of union and that was the secret of success of previous kings like Yudhistira and others. Till the time we focus on our externalities like I am Indian, You are Russian, He is American, we are developed you are under development till that time there is zero probability of union. UN is trying everything except reminding people of their eternal connection with God and with each other, it's like pouring enough water on tree except root, when the root is neglected there is no use of watering to leaves and branches, it's useless. In conclusion UN should also distribute authorized scriptural knowledge to everyone and assist in propagation of God consciousness in nations then there will be true meaning to United Nations else nations will keep on dividing!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Cleaning the dust and Rust of Lust

Lust means desire to enjoy sensual pleasures of this world, not only sex but everything. Lusty person always thinks how this thing or that person can satisfy his senses, enjoyment is his prime goal of life and he can do anything for that. This uncontrolled enjoyment tendency present in heart is cause of practically all the problems that world is facing today, may that be corruption or rapes or terrorism.

Nature of the lust is that it never gets satiated, more you try to satisfy the lust the more it becomes just like fire increases by pouring more fuel. You can observe the example of Ravana, the personification of lust, he had already kidnapped many thousands of queens and princess from different parts of universe including nagas, gandharvas and devas but still he wanted to enjoy Mother Sita, the consort of Lord Ram. Lust only induces living entities entanglement in this world, lust destroys the intelligence which is required for liberation.

Actually living entity as a part and parcel of Lord has always an attraction for His service but tendency to enjoy(lust) cover ups his service attitude towards God, just like magnet always attracts the iron filings to it but if the iron filing are covered with dust or rust then it won't get attracted towards powerful magnet. So if we want to again get engaged in service of lord then we must remove this rust of lust.

To control lust is not easy thing, just like Ravana couldn't be overpowered by earthly kings and even demigods, To kill the Ravana Lord Himself appeared in the Human form. Similarly we can't destroy lust within our heart by ourselves we need to take shelter of Lord, then lord by His powers will destroy the demon of lust from our heart. To access the lord in this age of Kali is very simple, we just need to chant His holynames sincerely which is all powerful and supremely pure as He is, history tells us the example of great Saint Tukaram, once while he was chanting in solitude a prostitute tried to allure him and break his sadhana but he could overcome the desires easily by the strength of God's name and in turn made prostitute great devotee of lord. So in conclusion we can't clean the dust of lust but we need to take shelter of the God in the form of his holyname to get rid of this evil vice of heart.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

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Is there something more poisonous than poison?

In biology, poisons are substances that cause disturbances in organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when an organism absorbs a sufficient quantity, many times it may cause death of person.

scriptures explains that there is thing which is more poisonous than poison and that is sense object. In Sanskrit poison is called as 'Visha', and sense objects are called as ' Vishay'. Swallowing of the poison will kill our present body but contemplation on sense objects(vishayas) will kill our soul life after life.

As Gita explains when mind contemplates on sense objects it's attraction to it increases and desire to enjoy those things gets invoked within heart. Desire to enjoy sense Objects is never satiated in fact it increases like fire. When desire to enjoy remains unfulfilled it causes anger which in turn cause delusion and ultimately fall down from spiritual plane. So one need to understand that contemplation is serious disease.

Poison affects the body whereas sense objects affects the consciousness. Impression of interaction between senses and sense object is very strong on mind and that is fuel for further sense gratification, which continues the cycle just like Ferris wheel. It's said that contemplation on sense objects is more worser than actual enjoyment, because in actual sense gratification one knows his limits of enjoyment and soon one gets frustrated but in contemplation one thinks about rosy and cozy imaginary pleasures which pollutes the mind. Vishayas kills the soul, means it destroys the tendency of soul to serve the supreme lord rather it starts thinking that I am the enjoyer and enjoyment of senses is prime goal of life. In conclusion enjoyment of sense objects on mental platform is dangerous and one should deal with this seriously by taking shelter of holyname and contemplating on real things like pastimes of lord and his devotees then there will be some hope by which one can be delivered from this poison.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Sent by iskcondesiretree.com

The internal terrorists

As much as we have danger from terrorists from beyond the LoC same danger we have from internal terrorists in the form of people and politicians who supporting terrorism, because attack from them is not sudden but gradual also it's very difficult to recognise them because they look like ordinary faithful citizens only. So in one sense they are more dengerous than actual terrorists because of their disguised form.

But the greatest internal terrorist for every individual is his uncontrolled mind which is backed by supporters like lust, anger, envy, pride, illusion and greed. As we discussed earlier it's very easy to recognize external enemy but difficult with internals, similarly because mind is part of our subtle body and we have stayed so long with it we have developed full faith in untrustworthy mind. If any unlawful desires impelled by 6 anarthas enters into our heart we think it's normal and we must fulfill them but trusting them causes our ruination.

These 6 anarthas are 6 commanders in chief of age of Kali. They know when to attack and where to attack knowing the weakness of person. If one commander attacks then all others will soon follow destroying a person. Similarly when one anartha attacks soon others will also attack destroying the consciousness of person fully. With the help of mind these vices always try to pull person down, that's why uncontrolled mind is referred to as a enemy in scriptures.

There is only one way to counterattack these internal supporters to terrorists and that is to change their mentality by giving them proper council and making them faithful to our nation, we can't kill them because they are residents of this nation. Similarly we can't abandon our mind but we can purify it from the influence of 6 anarthas. How to do that? By receiving proper knowledge from scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and chanting the Holyname of God mind can become faithful in service of God, because God has invested all potencies into it anyone who chants His name comes in contact with all pure God and thus person also becomes pure, just like anything which comes in contact with fire becomes like fiery. So in conclusion don't trust the mind but try to control it by giving positive engagements like chanting and reading scriptures else it will remain internal terrorist.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
Sent by iskcondesiretree.com

Intel outside

Intel is world's largest semiconductor chip maker, it's a inventor of microprocessors and supplies processors to top leading computing systems. It also manufactures motherboards, flash memory, embedded processors related to communications. So in short it's a intelligence of computers which is most important part of any computer or communication system. Their logo is 'Intel inside', means if your system is equipped with their product hardly there are chances that it will fail.

Just like computers we are equipped with God given intelligence. Scriptures explains us that senses are like horses, mind is like reins, intelligence is charioteer and passenger is soul. So if we want to have smooth and comfortable journey our charioteer must be experienced and skillful else horses will run everywhere without proper directions then mind in the form of reins won't able to control them in fact it will run with horses(senses) and intelligence won't be able do anything except watching the fall down of passenger(soul, ourself). Now know that our charioteer is untrained and inexperienced to control the mind because it was always trained before to follow the mind.

It's explained in Gita that intelligence is higher than mind and it can control mind in return mind can control roaming senses, but intelligence mentioned here is Spiritual intelligence. Our material intelligence is corrupted by orders of false ego, it's job is only to make plans to satisfy ego so it doesn't have any potency to control the mind, if we want to control our mind we need to import intelligence from outside, this intelligence has to be backed up with something substantial.

If we use our corrupted intelligence to solve problems of our life then rather getting solutions, problems will become worser because it's now influenced by passion and ignorance, so we can not use our intelligence which is already inside but we need to make it sharp and effective by taking assistance of intelligence of Sadhu(saints), Guru(spiritual teachers) and Shastra(scriptures). Daily reading Bhagavadgita, taking shelter of genuine guru and asking questions to them, seeking their advice from spiritual perspectives will make our intelligence strong which can surely control devil mind and its plan to ruin the spiritual journey of passenger.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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Are you ready for surgical strike?

As a revenge for killing our 20 soldiers, Indian army attacked terrorists few days ago and killed 40-45 of them. It was proud moment for every Indian as it showed to the world that we are not weak but we can defend and protect ourselves from such terrorists attacks. Surgical strike is a swift and targeted attack with minimal damage to civilians, it's a kind of minor war which involves air strikes, bombing or sending some special trained troops. It's best method to have control over enemies.

Do you know we have everyday chance for surgical operation on our enemy. But have you ever thought apart from these terrorists who is our worst enemy? Pakistan? Governments? Neighbours? Boss? Or uncontrolled mind? Scriptures compares uncontrolled mind to an enemy, it's worser than terrorist because it's attack affects not only our body but also our pure consciousness(soul) and its impressions continues life after life. Just like terrorists are supported by our neighboring nation mind is supported by age of kali and illusory power(maya) to allure us to false sense pleasures of this world.

Mind makes different plans to trap conditioned souls to this material world. Just like enemy knows nation's weak point, mind also knows our weaknesses and it strikes on them and we fall victim. Mind is supported by its 6 chief executives named lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion, in fact it's said that each one of them is very very strong and powerful and very difficult to resist. Sometimes attack is so sudden that one doesn't realizes what's happening but consequences can be easily observed. Eg when someone becomes angry he doesn't bother about anything and anyone he simply keeps blasting but later he realizes that relationships are spoiled, similarly with lust, greed and envy it destroys us.

Just like terrorist don't want to keep us in peace similarly unless a mind is controlled there is no question of peace. So that's why to control mind is very necessary else it will kill us, that means it will kill our original nature as a servant of God. How to control it? By surgical strike, that means counter attacking with proper plan and practices. To control the devil mind there is only one way and that's to chant holy names of God everyday, God has invested his powers and potencies in His holy names so they act as a powerful guns and bombs for contaminated mind. Just like for successful operation, army man has to be regulative and obedient to his superiors similarly to get the best effect of this surgical strike on mind we need to be very regulative in our actions and habits also we need to be following words of our spiritual authorities and scriptures. So it's very important to perform this surgical strike everyday without fail against the mind by chanting(japa) to control and to purify it else it will control, overpower and contaminate us.

Articles by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 
Sent by iskcondesiretree.com