Read the Shloka and get Rid of Shoka

There is no dearth of miseries in the world. Calamities will always be there and no one can escape from them. Yesterday train accident, today war, tomorrow tsunami or hurricane etc. In broad sense miseries are divided into 3 categories miseries caused by own body and mind e.g. physical illness and mental problems, miseries caused by others e.g. war, miseries from nature e.g. Flood or drought etc. So there is always a situation of hardships, tortures, suffering, unhappiness, grief, dejection, despondency, agony and that's why Gita calls this world as Dukhalayam- place of miseries.

But don't worry, Gita also talks about how to overcome this Dukhalayam, place of miseries, shoka. Gita is like medical study book which describes problems and solutions too. Ignorant will be frustrated and depressed by reading description of sever diseases given in medical books and will close the book immediately but medical student knows same book reveals the perfect  cure. Just like diseases can be there but one can prevent and also cure them with proper and expert help, similarly Gita offers us preventive measure but if we unable to apply preventions then offers us cure too.

Ignorance is the root cause of all problems. The greatest of all illusion which traps us into suffering world, is to think that I am this body and everything in relationship to this body is mine. And whenever things which we are much attached to, due to our ignorance, are taken away from us by power of time, we become miserable. Under the impression of ignorance one forgets about Permanent but considers temporary to be permanent. Knowledge is compared to as an umbrella which can protect us from torrents of rain and scorching heat of miseries.

Don't consider Gita to be like a book filled with esoteric verses which doesn't have anything to do in our life. These are the words of the God, which carries fullest potency like Him(there is no difference between Gita and form of God as revealed by many historical evidences). There may be a heavy traffic on road but person sitting in aeroplane doesn't bother as well as doesn't get affected at all by such traffic. Similarly by regular reading and hearing of Gita(shloka) one becomes aware of his actual position in relation to God which uplifts the consciousness of person due to which he is not bothered as well as doesn't get affected by miseries(shoka) and stays happily and satisfied even in miserable situations!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 

Swachh Bharat...what about swachh Mana(mind)

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national campaign by the Government of India, covering 4,041 statutory cities and towns, to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. It is India's biggest ever cleanliness drive with 3 million government employees and school and college students of India participating in this event.

Swachh Bharat will be successful only if people of country do not litter it again, otherwise it will so happen that on one side group of people cleaning the city or village and others are littering there again. So this littering, spoiling tendencies of the people have to be removed first from their mind. Our surroundings are nothing but projection of our mind. If mind is contaminated we will contaminate the surrounding, if the mind is pure then we will take utmost care to keep environment pure and clean. Just like till the time corruptive proclivities doesn't go away from heart, person will again and again try for corruption although there may be serious laws.

Therefore underground work has to be done first, we can't have 100 storeys building first and then foundation, else however beautiful architect we may make, it will collapse. Similarly cleaning the mind of all the unwanted thing is basis, foundation, in fact it's a goal of human life-to clean the mind and engage it in the service of the God. Gita explains 'mind can be our friend or enemy', friend will help us to rise, enemy will always pull our legs making our move towards again to bad habits (in this case littering) and because we have failed to conquer the enemy(mind) we will have to listen to it, its unhealthy demands, its contaminated desires which will make country ultimately unclean only.

In conclusion swachh Bharat abhiyan can have bright future only if we first carry out 'Swachh Mana abhiyan'. Mind can be cleaned not with chemical soap or water but only when it comes in touch with most pure things, Holyname it slowly gets purified. Purified mind sees everything in relationship with the God, this earth, water, air everything thus it is very careful to protect these. If mind becomes purified then there is no need for special endeavour, propaganda or mission to keep India clean, it will happens automatically!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 

Salute to the heroes

8 years ago on November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists targeted several high-profile locations in Mumbai, including the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway, the Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point, Leopold Café, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - killing up to 166 people, and leaving 300 injured. Up to 26 foreign nationals were among those killed by the terrorists.. There were brace policemen who fought for Mumbai's safety and laid down their own life. 18 security personnel were martyred in the attack. This is the day to remember their sacrifice.

Actually there are 2 kinds of heroes, one who protects, saves our body, society, nation etc from outside attacks and other is one who protects our soul from inside attacks. Both are extremely important, we can't give impotence to body forgetting soul neither only look for soul forgetting necessities of body, both should go together. Spiritual teachers who helps us to protects our mind from contaminations are as much important as soldiers standing on border protecting nation, we can't ignore the contribution of spiritual heroes.

Spiritual teachers, saints are protecting our culture of devotion from invaders, sacrificing their own life they are preaching about devotional service everywhere. Many of them threatened to death by local kings, blind religionists and politicians but they didn't stop, many of them were actually killed(e.g. just go through the life of Sripad Ramanujacharya, Saint of 1100th century, his disciple Kuresh and Guru Mahapurna were tortured for preaching about Lord).

When the emotions, problems, desires haunts us, they attack us on most important location 'mind', which can kill us spiritually, forgetting our relationship with God. We can only deal with these attacks with the help of spiritual heroes, the aacharyas, who have sacrificed their life for the mission of the God. They are protecting and uplifting our consciousness from internal terrorists like lust, anger, greed etc to service of the God. In conclusion we need external as well as internal protectors without minimising the importance of anyone of them.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Slow down before you break down

Investigators are finding out the reasons for Kanpur train accident. Loco pilot said that he had noticed overload on engine at 1 am thus he informed officials but he was asked to get train anyhow at Kanpur. At 3:03 a.m. there was a heavy explosion in the Overhead Electric Cable (OHE), after which the driver had to apply an emergency brake. The train at that time was running at a speed of 110 km/h. As a result, the passengers experienced a series of sudden jerks and deafening noise. And then the coaches began slipping from the track causing death of 150 passengers.

If we analyse whole thing properly we can see that similar tragedy happens with us too. We also sometimes realise that now I am overloaded, overburdened with responsibilities and duties but we ignore them and keep running with one aim in mind I want to reach Kanpur, means I want to achieve something may that be money, position in society etc. But what's the result of that?... health breakdown, mental and emotional breakdown, financial breakdown. It's said in youth people loose their health to gain money and in old age they loose their money to gain health.

So, slow down, analyse which part of the engine overburdened. Find out the reason, ask for the solution, apply solution, don't just keep running. Similarly in our daily life slow down sometimes, Find out reasons why I am born? What is purpose of my life? analyse our life, I am running at high speed with purpose in life but is my mind or heart capable of taking burdens of various problems of life else there will be sudden breakdown for sure causing serious dangers. That's why we should take the shelter of spiritual processes which helps our mind and heart not to get disturbed and continue working well when they are burdened with thoughts or problems. When your engine becomes capable of taking burdens then run with speed.

Scriptures explains us very wonderful example of moth who just rushes to fire thinking it to be some glittering object for enjoyment thus looses the life. In the same way just for the gratification of senses we run with full speed to sense objects thus entangling ourselves more into this world. Slow down...think about consequences, know more about yourself and engine(mind) with help of spirituality. Don't run with high speed without knowing about your engine(mind) and its capabilities else be ready for break down!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Certainly uncertain

Kanpur train accident was India’s worst train tragedy in the last six years. At least 142 people were killed and over 200 suffered injuries when 14 coaches of the train derailed near Pukhrayan. People in the train were sleeping peaceful not knowing something horrific was waiting for them. Various reasons for derailment are being found out to avoid such severe accidents in future.

Actually this is the nature of material world, whatever is most unexpected that only happens and we can't change this law. Does anyone had a single idea about something like this will happen...no, in fact train travel is considered as most safest amongst all means of conveyance. So uncertainty is the quality of material world. Most certain as well as uncertain thing is 'death' it's a certain but uncertain about its timings, we don't know when it's approaching. Thus it's better to be prepared in forehand.

There are many people in the world who understands uncertainties occurring in the world thus they are prepared materially so in case if they die their family should not suffer the loss at least in monetary ways, they are ready with all the policies, accident insurance, term policies etc. But while thinking about future of their families in their absence they forget to think about their own future, after life. LIC or any other insurance company neither prepare you for next life nor assure your next birth, you have to think about it.

It's proved that anything can happen which may take our life too thus it won't be good idea to be prepared only materially but one need to think about spiritually also. Just like to reduce uncertainties we invest a premium regularly into various policies similarly we need to invest into our spiritual account too which can help us at the time of emergencies, serious emergencies. Premium in spiritual life is very simple we just need to chant but the result is extraordinary and that is freedom from 'certainly uncertain material world'!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

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Based on SB 10.14.58
samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
 mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
 padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

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For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.

Body Health check up... what about spiritual health check up?

Just few weeks ago I was extremely sick with coughing, fever, body ache, weakness and so many other health related issues. I neglected it for some time intentionally thinking body will respond to it naturally but didn't work like that and I became more sick thus weak, then I was taken to the doctor who asked me to carry out health check ups to find out where exact problem lies. Check up included blood test, sputum test, x-ray etc. I did all the tests faithfully and received the 'Normal' report at the end. I was told to do these tests regularly to stay fit.

But one thing I could understand from test is that what's actually going in my body, what's the count of RBC, WBC, RCC, MCV, WCC, what's the count of platelets, is haemoglobin level proper in blood? in conclusion I understood is my body functioning properly to live long life or are there some issues inside the body. Suppose if the reports were not normal then I would had to take special treatment to get cured faster. So many tests we need to do to maintain this temporary body made up of flesh and still it can betray us at any moment.

Just like we are so protective and careful about our body, do we that much preservative about ourselves, soul? Are we interested in spiritual health check up? No... most of us are so engrossed in the body that we forget checking the soul, we forget what soul needs, what soul expects, how spiritual life should go on ideally etc. Spiritual health check up reveals us answers to all these questions, it also includes different tests which can be conducted under expert guidance. Some of the tests you yourself can perform by asking these questions..

How much do I feel to chant or engage in spiritual activity ?
Am I happy practicing spirituality ?
Are my material attachments increasing or decreasing ?
Do I like to serve or do I like being served?
Am I expecting respect or offering respects without expecting none in return ?
Am I assertive upon others? Am I demanding or humbly requesting for something ?
Can I deal with negativity of my mind(negative thoughts, negative feeling about someone and other anarthas) ?
There can be many questions but these includes into basic test.

Check the report is normal or not by examining the answers, if not normal then take treatment from good spiritual doctor but don't give up, just like when body is sick we don't give up body similarly when spiritual life is sick or goes on toss don't give up ask the expert doctor you will be cured of sickness!! We need to do these tests to know our progress as well as to stay fit in spiritual life.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Life is much more than goosebumps and heartburns(Based on SB 5.5.1)

Modern culture and especially modern eduction system has made our understanding very shallow about life. We feel life is  just about trying to aquire things for own sense pleasures and becoming happy by obtaining it and if we fail in getting those things then becoming sad and in this way keep life going on in midst of pleasures and miseries cantered around senses. Goosebumps are reaction of body when we become excited for something which can give us sense enjoyment and heartburns means we burn in agony when we lose something or we don't get something which we really want for sense satisfaction.

So in both cases one thing is common and that is 'senses'. We are so much caught up by senses that we, all the time are thinking about senses and their pleasure, which food should I serve to my tongue, which scene will give pleasure for my eyes, which song will give peace to my ears and my mind, which finest touch will give my body a soothing sensation, which smell will please my nose thus we are always concentrating on senses.

But interesting thing is we are trying to satisfy something which we are not, we are not these senses, we are something else, something more than senses. We are soul who has nothing to do with this temporary material creation named 'body'. Life is meant to do something meaningful than just experiencing enjoyment and suffering. Human life is meant for doing austerities and penances which will lead to sense and heart purification thus one can achieve life's chief success, Love of Godhead.

Actually sense gratification is not big deal it's really ordinary and any one including all species of life can indulge into it without special endeavour. Something really extraordinary is to starve the senses and thus purify them, starve the senses doesn't mean you don't eat it or don't fulfil any need of senses but it means you engage yourself in the service of God. Sense enjoyment has very dark future but sense control and purification of mind and senses creates very bright future for practitioner thus devotee gets entrance into eternal transcendental world which is filled with bliss.

Article By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

(Based on SB 5.5.1)
Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one’s heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.

Lost love...!!!

Not so clear but at least little understanding of love, we have learned from watching Bollywood movies. Typical scene is like a hero and heroine falls in love with each other, spend time with each other but due to misfortune they get separated. For sometime in their mind the thoughts of loved ones are there but as time passes both forget about each other and finds out new partner to settle down. And after many many years somehow or other they see each other and remember the whole story of past love and regret about their actions and decisions.

Once we were also in the love with the God not only for the sake of saying but actually we loved Him like anything. As a part and parcel of God it's our eternal nature to love Him and serve Him. There are different mellows in which one can love the God according to own intensity and propensity, so we were also serving Him according to our nature. We were happy, blissful, satisfied in serving the Lord, we spent lot of time together. But somehow or other we came to this world of dualities and forgot about our first love. We got attracted by false love here and got trapped thus continuing our existence in material world.

But in our case we have one advantage and that is our eternal partner has not forgotten about us and past love, although we may have forgotten Him but He is always ready to accept His surrendered devotees neglecting their past activities. Not only this but He keeps us reminding of His love through various means, He sends His devotees with Gita, He shares Prasad and gives darshan for our purification so we can get some remembrance of our past love.

In conclusion human form offers us a great chance to express, experience and cultivate that love towards supreme lord, our First love which has unfortunately become lost love!!

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 

Are we from lunatic asylum?

Once a king went to see the condition of mental asylum of his country. As soon as he entered into it he was asked by one of the patient,"who are you?", King said, "I am so and so, the king of this kingdom", patient started laughing loudly, king asked what happened, patient replied, "I also used to think I am king before coming to here". Although funny joke it teaches us nice message that patient was actually misidentifying king's position as well as his own thus was kept in asylum. But when he realises and accepts his position as servant of king he will be released.

Similar is our case too! We also misidentify ownself, sometimes we think I am Indian, sometimes I am man, sometimes I am engineer, doctor, lawyer, sometimes housewife and so many other designations. But we are non of these, we are eternal soul, everything else is just outside temporary covering over the body. Just like patient who was thinking I am the king thus got admitted to hospital similarly we also thought we are the enjoyer, proprietor and master of the creation, The God, thus got admitted into this world.

We not only misidentified our ownself but God too. We wanted to take his position, thus this world which is like hospital was created for souls who have misidentification problem. Purpose of hospital is to cure the disease and not to trouble the patient, if the patient is sincere in following doctors can fully get cured thus can be freed from hospital as early as possible.

In conclusion when we become free from this misidentification by following doctors and their treatments in the sense spiritual teachers and Bhakti process, when we will understand our eternal position as servant of God we will be immediately released from hospital and given place into eternal blissful world from where we have come to this world.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Heart alone

During our childhood there was famous movie named 'Home Alone', it was the story of 8 yr young boy Kevin who was accidentally left in the home by parents during Christmas vacations. Then, Kevin discovers about two burglars, Harry and Marv, about to rob his house on Christmas Eve. Kevin acts quickly by wiring his own house with makeshift booby traps to stop the burglars and to bring them to justice.

To deal with home alone is not a big problem but if someone is feeling all alone in heart then it can cause bigger problem. One of the major reason why do people kill themselves is because they find themselves all alone, they feel isolated from society, hopeless, they don't have anyone to share their feelings, their thoughts and thus are frustrated with life. Many top successful people have become victim of such things and ended up their lives.

That boy in movie was accidentally kept alone in the home similarly we also accidentally left the Lord in spiritual world But one thing we need to understand is that we are never alone, we are always accompanied by God in the form of super soul staying in the heart. The person who understands this fact he never feel himself to be alone, he can always perceive the presence of Lord in the heart. In fact pure ones can directly contact with Him by taking guidance and all other helps. He is just like a friend, but most of us are unaware of His presence and thus suffer from loneliness.

By regularly chanting and meditating on His holy names Lord reveals Himself to us thus making our faith more stronger. In conclusion never feel you are alone, recognise and experience the presence of Lord within heart by regularly taking shelter of His names which can give us strength to deal with all negative feeling from inside as well as from outside world.

Article By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Not only Sonam Gupta but we all are Bewafaa(ungrateful)

Sonam Gupta became an internet sensation in August earlier this year. She became the face of betrayal, and the internet despised her. On one side 'Sonam Gupta's protested stereotyping, and on the other, mostly men, empathised with the dejected lover. As prime minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, when beloved currency notes ditched the possessors, Sonam Gupta reappeared and is taking the internet by storm again. Her story has moved on from a torn note to freshly released Rs 2,000 notes to coins and has even reached the moon.

This is actually not something new in the material world, lovers always feel dejected or betrayed by loved ones because their incapacity to reciprocate. Also their concept of love is different from that which is given by scriptures thus due to unnecessary expectations from loved one they suffer mental agony. We can not guarantee long lasting love here because sometimes people are so susceptible to allurements given by others that they immediately change their relationships.

Once we were also loving God so much, serving him in spiritual world but to experience little sensual pleasure we ended up coming here in this miserable material world. We forgot his love and pleasures enjoyed in his association. But even after leaving his service he allows us to enjoy pleasures of this world, in fact he accompanies us in all species of life trying to give guidance to return to him in eternal and blissful world again but we never listens to him.

We are actually bewafaa, ungrateful to god, to our real lover, still he is maintaining and sustaining us by providing all necessities of life, he never demanded love from us, never said,"you are such ungrateful fools, I did so much for you and you left me", no, never, this is sign of perfect lover, who just want to serve, happy to see beloved in happiness, that's all. In conclusion from this whole episode we should learn to increase our own gratefulness and faithfulness towards lord by regularly remembering him in the form of chanting his holy names.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa 

Although you are oblivious but result of spiritual life is obvious

Many don't want to come to spiritual life and many leaves it in between because being unaware of immense benefits derived from living a spiritual life. Although some may be knowing the results but they don't have enough patience to wait for results thus they turn to cheap methods of so called self realisations and become falsely self realised. Some don't have enough knowledge about god and his potencies thus are fearful to approach him, many are envious of him thus avoid surrender, many don't have the faith in the words of scriptures and various processes given in scriptures thus think how spiritual life will help them. In conclusion people are confused about necessity and result of spiritual life.

One may not exactly get the feeling of  going through the transformations while practicing spiritual life but transformation is obvious and we may not aware of it. But true practitioner of Bhakti experiences the real joy at each step thus gets strength to continue. Also Bhakti path is not something oblivious path, which we don't know where it's going to take us.

Many times transformation is not physical or gross thus spiritual activist may get disturbed about practicing or continuing it. but we can see that spiritual life was practiced by many in the past and thus became successful in their spiritual journey. Thus without getting disturbed following their footsteps, with patience and remaining sure about our spiritual goal one must continue till one reaches the goal.

In conclusion we may be aware or unaware of spiritual transformations in ourselves by practicing spirituality but we need to be rest assured that there is some obvious(tangible) positive effect happening in the heart as well as in the outside world by spiritual practices although we may oblivious(unaware) to them.

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

The best chatting is chanting

Who doesn't like to make new relationships? Relationships are the way through which we experience pleasure, mental, physical and emotional pleasure. And that's why we see students are excited to go to school after long holidays so that they can meet old and make new friends, a college boy is excited to meet with girl, a man excited to enter into marriage life, a mother eagerly waiting for baby from womb. There is mellow in good relationships.

One of the way to set up and maintain relationship is to talk with each other regularly. Even talking to the loved ones is pleasure giving therefore so many of them are on cell phones chatting continuously sharing their pain and gain and so many other things of life. Chatting can become sometimes so intoxicating that one may forget everything else of the world.

Similarly if we want to set up a forgotten relationship with God we need to start conversing with Him. We can connect with him through his all accessible network of holy names. When we talk or chat with God he is in front of us, unbelievable but true because of his unlimited potencies, chanting takes us in His contact. Relationships of these world are useless and temporary unless they have some connection with God.

There is no problem in setting up relationship with people of these world but simultaneously one must try to set up relationship with God by chanting regularly. If our relationship with God is perfect then our relationship with everyone will be perfect because he is seated in everyone's heart as paramatma thus can inspire person to deal with us in proper way maintaining good relations. But if we are trying to make relationships without considering God such relationships will surely ditch us one day.

Article b​y Rupesh Gauranga Das
Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com
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*Be a childlike not a childish-lessons from child*

Today we are celebrating children's day. Do you remember those past carefree days of playing without any time restrictions. We demanded something and we received it, even our small mistakes and mischief were glorified by everyone. Then we became older and everything changed, responsible nature was expected from us. We can't be child again but we can adopt to our childlike nature full of  innocence and trust simultaneously we can't be childish means immature or silly.
Let's learn some spiritual lessons from child.

*C-confidence in father*, have you seen play between a young child and it's father. Father picks it up and throws high in the air. Does child becomes fearful? No...its just laughing and enjoying because child is confident that father is going to catch me and protect me from falling down. Similarly lord Krishna who is our supreme father tosses us high in air, by giving us some tests, but we need to be confident that He will surely protect us.
*curious to know*, child is always curious and eager to know the things, devotee is also always curious to know more and more about Lord Krishna, His pastimes, His names, His qualities, His beauty etc.

*H-happy because carefree*, child is happy because he has no worries. Child knows I will get my food, my toys and all other things on time. Devotee also knows that Lord will take care of their all needs and necessities thus they are not worried about their maintainance and sustenance.

*I-innocent*, child is so innocent in its heart, it doesn't know any politics or manipulation or troubling others. It fully trust parents. Devotee is also innocent thus offence less and pure at his heart.

*L-looks only for mother*, just look at the child when it's in difficulty. It only searches for mother and doesn't compromise with any other thing. Spiritual aspirants also understand that they are trapped in difficult situations of material world, they don't seek for other solutions but directly approach Lord.

*D-dependent upon parents*, child is not dependent upon anyone other than its parents, it fully believes in them thus parents also love a child. Similarly a devotee too has full faith in God and His mercy, Lord also like to take care of dependent souls.

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

Treat the culprit with the head not with the heart

Criminal who has committed severe crimes can not be forgiven, and judge need to take strict action against him although he seems to be innocent by face. If dealt sentimentally and forgiven he can be more dangerous in future.

Similarly our uncontrolled mind is main culprit who create troubles for us in various ways. It proposes different ideas for sense enjoyment which result only in future problems. It is one which keeps us hankering for different things due to which we always remain discontent and dissatisfied. Mind poses to be our good and innocent friend who always looks for our well wishes also we may feel what's the problem in fulfilling mind's desire.

But no, uncontrolled mind can only create havoc and has to be dealt very strictly not loosely. There were many in past on the path of self realisation who got cheated by mind thus lost from path. Mind is superior to senses due to which senses get easily deluded but intelligence is higher than mind. Thus real yogi always remembers his ultimate purpose and deals with his mind with spiritual intelligence acquired from scriptures and spiritual masters and not with his heart sentimentally.

Based on Gita 3.43

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

10 Spiritual Lessons from Currency Discontinuation

Indian prime minister Mr. Modi has taken a bold step to stop flow of black money and to teach hard lessons to corrupt people who earned money by unlawful meanings and by avoiding taxes. But common people like us who are law abiding can also learn few lessons from this whole scenario.

B- What about the black heart? Yes, Modi's decision is absolutely correct to get black money back, but unless and until something is done to cure black heart, black money again will be created in near future. The best thing is teach principles of Dharma to children from childhood along with other studies.

L-Laws has to be followed, now no one can say I don't follow PM's law, if he says so he is doomed. Similarly Lord has given us the laws in the form of scriptures which has to be followed, if we miss we will be the losers and the criminals too.

A-Acknowledge our nature, understand our nature, don't be so panic, as a soul we have nothing to do with money, at the end we will be leaving everything here only!

C-Change is certain, in material everything is changing constantly, when we focus too much on things of these changing world including our money and body we will be disturbed. One has to become 'Dhira', a sober person.
K-Karma getting nullified, we are facing so much problems on currency exchange, big queues in front of banks and ATMs etc., but understand that troubles and pains in our life are only due to our past karmas, don't blame others.

M-Money can't buy happiness, many those who are middle class or poor think that those who are rich they must be happy and one day I also would like to become rich. But just see situation of rich people from past few days, they are the one who are most miserable and tensed. Although Bangaladesh is one the poor country in the world but it is the most happiest of all other countries according to BBC.

O-Once lost is lost and even once gained is also lost in this world, many have lost crores of rupees which can't be retrieved back. This is nature of material world, but even simple activities done for spiritual cause has the effect for eternity, once gained is ever gained.

E-Excise(tax) has to be paid. We are taking so many facilities from Government we must pay taxes. If we miss the tax we will be penalised. Similarly God has also provided us so many facilities, Sun, moon, rains etc have we ever paid the taxes to Him? Simple way in this age to pay taxes to God is to just chant Mahamantra.

N-Nature of this world is to give sufferings. Whatever we do end result will be sufferings only, so don't get so surprised by seeing miseries of people beacasue of this new rule.

Y-Why to enter into such businesses which will cause us troubles? Do we really need big money to live satisfied? World is like toilet just finish business without entangling yourself and come out!

By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
In the service of www.iskcondesiretree.com

*The only solution for pollution*

A thick smog has enveloped the Delhi since Diwali and people are experiencing worst spell of smog. Cases of respiratory diseases with elders and children are increasing day by day. There are various causes for pollution like cars or fire crackers etc and different measures are taken by the government to reduce but it seems of no use because all solutions are baseless and will create further problems.

The most basic cause of pollution in any city or nation is not something external but our polluted hearts alone and the interesting thing is that everyone is unaware of it. Polluted heart is greedy and lusty for things, it just asks for more and more without bothering for future consequences. Polluted heart doesn't feel satisfied ever, just take the example of demon hiranyaksha, he was so greedy for gold that he kept digging the earth in one side thus earth lost its balance and felt from its path, then lord came as Varaha(Boar form) to restore the earth and to kill the greedy demon who was destroying the life on earth. Similarly, we are also exploiting resources in a rapid way and creating pollutants, which are in turn troubling us.

Till the time one thinks that I am the enjoyer and proprietor of the world one will take things for granted. One will exploit the rare resources thus destroying the nature. Not being aware of the supremacy of God is basic problem of everything. Nature doesn't work independently, God is the instructor and if we interfere into it we will be the suffer. Lord came to kill demon who was creating imbalance in nature, will lord appear again to kill polluters? Lord has already appeared in the form of holy names and stored all the potencies into it, so when one chants he is not killed but his demoniac tendencies are killed.

When heart gets more and more cleansed by chanting the names of God, one realises that we are just servant of God and caretakers of his property not the proprietor so one is very careful while using His resources. When one feels this river is property of God then why will he throw sewage or pollute the water, when one feels this air is God given then he will take utmost careful before discharging poisonous gases of industries and cars into it or at least he will have some protective measures. Thus all other solutions are there but they are simply temporary and can't be as effective as becoming devotee of God. So in conclusion everything depends upon the civilised and fine thinking, feeling and willing of the people, if they become devotees of god they will have respect for everything in creation of god but if they don't they will simply act like a demon creating problems for themselves as well as for others.

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

Who is your favourite actor ?

Hardly anyone is there who don't have any interest in watching dramas or movies. Although one may not be regular movie watcher but he also knows about latest or past actors and actresses through some advertisements or trailers or promos or songs etc. Most of people have their favourite actor/actresses and they won't miss a single movie of them, but all these actors have their own limitations thus not complete or perfect. Then who is perfect hero to be followed or liked?

A- perfect actor is one who can perform all roles perfectly, only God can take this position. He acts as a beautiful lady(Mohini) and bewilders everyone including Lord shiva, not only this but he takes the roles of different animals too like lion, turtle, fish, boar etc. and likewise he has taken to unlimited roles, none of today's actors can do this even in their dreams.
C- captivating, a perfect actor is expert in captivating the heart of watcher. But many times it seems that they are boring and wasting our time. Lord's pastimes are simply amazing, they are still attracting the heart of millions even after thousands of years. When he becomes child and plays with cows and Gopas and gopis, he protects everyone in Vrindavan by killing various demons, then his Mathura, Dwarka Lilas are just mind blowing.
T- talents and skills, mortal actors lacks multi talents and skills, few days ago during shooting 2 actors jumped into dam from helicopter as a part of scene but still they are missing. God is perfectionist, once he jumped with his brother Balaram from big mountain but landed safely, he has multi talents and skills, he is wrestler, lover, dancer etc he has 64 other skills too.
O- open hearted, rather than being open hearted and kind most of the actors are just selfish, hard hearted and they have nothing to do with others. But God is so generous that he is ready to give everything whatever his fan asks for, he is ready to share his wealth and property with his dear devotee, who else other than God can do this?
R- reciprocator, none of the actor knows fully about their fans then what to say of doing welfare to them. But see the example of God he is such a actor that he knows and acknowledges his each and every fan of his each and every role and reciprocate with them fully because he is staying most near to us in the form of super soul. He expands into 16108 forms to reciprocate with each of his queens.

In conclusion movie stars doesn't have to do anything with our life so don't just blindly like or love or follow them, ask yourself is that person helping me, inspiring me, directing me, giving hopes to me in miserable world anyway? Film stars are just for our entertainment, they are not real heros of our life, it doesn't make any sense making them favourite in life. Make the God a favourite actor of your life, follow him and just see how he acts miraculously to make sure that we see happy end of our life movie.

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

What kind of happiness are you looking ?

Everyone of us is looking for happiness, isn't it? But many doesn't know what real happiness is, how to acquire it, how to maintain it and what kind of happiness should be looked for. Happiness doesn't mean only some pleasurable moments or some thrill or filling of being elated, real or true happiness is deep term and have a relation directly with soul.

Gita explains about 3 kinds of happiness(BG 18). The first kind of happiness is spiritual, it is bitter in beginning but gives unlimited enjoyment at the end, and most of us don't want this type of happiness. We want immediate happiness without wanting anything troublesome thus generally no one goes for this kind of happiness. Spiritual life involves regulations and austerities to control mind(mediation) and senses(getting up early in the morning) thus seems bitter in beginning but when one crosses this tough phase of rules and control endless happiness can be acquired.

2nd kind of happiness is born out of interaction between senses and sense objects. For e.g. I want tasty food to satisfy my taste buds and when I eat that I become happy, here the happiness is immediate but it's not long lasting in fact it causes troubles in future e.g. Only eating tasty food will not nourish your body it will make you weak and sick eventually. But because it gives pleasure immediately people tend to look for this kind of pleasures. 3rd kind of happiness is derived from sleep, laziness and illusion. Actually here happiness doesn't exist at all but under influence of illusion one thinks I am enjoying while sleeping or dreaming(imaginary happiness).  Spiritual practices may seem little tough but it's fruits are sweeter and every practitioner can receive it after qualification where as material practices seems very easy and pleasurable but results only into misery and sadness at later stage.

As we discussed earlier happiness is related to soul and not with body but we seek for the happiness in things which doesn't have any connection with soul and thus receives false or momentarily happiness or gets frustrated in attempts to become happy. In conclusion happiness isn't acquired by fulfilling the demands of the senses and mind but it can be achieved only by suitable spiritual practices of connecting soul with super soul.

Article by Rupesh Gauranga Dasa

Sent by www.iskcondesiretree.com

One Indian Man

One Indian girl is a story of 'Radhika' a girl from Delhi born in middle class family but who is ambitious, studious thus gets employed for high paying job. But because she is woman she gets exploited, undermined, cheated and troubled by the men dominated society. Author has tried his best to create the awareness of the problems which women are facing but couldn't give solution, in fact there were so many movies and books written in past on feminism though couldn't make any positive impact on society because matters were dealt superficially without going to the depth of the problems. Solutions to all kinds of various 'ism' including feminism, altruism, nationalism etc are perfectly given by 'one Indian man' through his teachings.

This one Indian man(A.C. Bhaktivedant Swami) born in Calcutta, raised in traditional cultures was follower of Gandhi but later highly influenced by teachings of Saraswati Thakur, a high class saint of 18th century. Thakur ordered him to take the teaching of scriptures to the west and present in English language, Saraswati Thakur was convinced nothing else without God consciousness can make society happy and peaceful. Thus taking his orders seriously one Indian man went to west at the advance age of 70 to create revolution in the world. He translated and wrote commentary of revered scriptures like Gita and Bhagavat Mahapuran. He started lecturing in storefront and began his daily chanting in park which was attended and liked by hippies who later became his disciples. He established the international society to spread God consciousness throughout the world.

As a true representative of God and previous saints he always presented message as it is but with contemporary examples so that essence can be digested easily. Apart from 700 temples all over the world and many projects his contribution to the society is his books. His books are still sold in millions and although he has departed many decades ago from this world he is still influencing the people's lives and transforming them. He is the one who has given the real aim of life and made people actually happy. He is jagadguru leading people on right path.

Books like one Indian girl deals with problems on superficial level and offer some temporary solution which in turn becomes bigger problem, but books of Prabhupad goes to the depth and reveals our constitutional position as a soul and an eternal servant of God. When one understand that everyone is part and parcel of God why he will disrespect or exploit others, all the problems have one root cause and that is forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with God, Prabhupad's books deals with how to revive that lost connection with God and create serenity in the society and the whole world. In conclusion if you still want to experience cheap trills and entertainment then go for one Indian girl but if you are looking for something substantial in life then you must read the books by One Indian Man, Srila Prabhupad who created internal as well As external revolution on planet.

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