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