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Gaudiya Math Chennai
Gaudiya Math Chennai
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THE
GAUDIYA
Spiritual Monthly
Vol. LIV AUGUST 2011 No. 12
MANGALCHARANAM
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Oh ho, what a great Mercy-Embodiment ! Nay, how eloquently may I
panegyrically glorify Him unbounded overflowing Grace goes even unto a most
heinous sinner who never has observed any religious rites (i.e., one void of any
religious virtue) and who indulges in grave sinful acts not only but he has never
associated himself with any saintly persons (devotees of the Lord) not at any time
made any pilgrimage to a holy place hallowed and sanctified by the devotees
even such a person has been given a chance to drink the Nectarine Bliss of the
Transcendental Love of Sri Rdh-Krishna and thereby intoxicated in loving
devotion he maddendly sings aloud the Glories of the God with dancing and
sometimes rolling on the earth.
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Srila Prabhodnanda Saraswati Pda
THE GAUDIYA AUGUST 2011 2
Pithy Precepts of Srila Prabhupd
The unalloyed
rajas quality will lead
us to the progenitor
Brahma, the sattva
quality to the sustainer
Vishnu and the tamas
quality to the
destroyer Shiva. So
we subscribe
ourselves to evolution,
sustenance and
dissolution when we do not require a
combination of the different qualities. The
Henotheists would claim by their particular
taste to approach a temporal godly figure
whom they call the Supreme manifestation
of the Eternal Impersonal Phase and they
would not discourage their friends of
different schools actuated by the same
principle in finding and painting their own
Supreme reverential Object in some other
demonstrative aspect in turn. So different
phases of theism would not disturb one
another when they have a common object
of tending towards Impersonation in the
long run.
The Vedantic idea has been
proselytised to the pantheistic impression
by people who ignore the different faculties
of temporary senses. Whatever is
perceived through the senses is but a
relative impression susceptible to come
under our sensuous activities with no
permanent value in themselves. The
phenomenal subjectivity should be
obliterated by the intrusion of the destructive
energy in the self. The Illusive theory of
maya will then act on them to lose their self
by merging into the Absolute where the
axiomatic view will enforce the common
idea of the Absolute. They can give effect
to these views when the position of the
observer, the observation and the observed
is conglomerated.
But theism has got a different situation
from pantheism. The Personality of
Godhead is the Principle Object to mark and
the personality of the observer is set free
from foreign invading elementsthe soul
proper is eternal and the magnitued of the
soul has been found as an associate
subservient to the Full Personality of the
Fountainhead. The Vedanta wants to
establish this pure theism and no phase
of henotheism or pantheism should
mutilate the position of pure theism.
Theism in some cases is troubled by
Hellenic and Hebraic ideas concocted by
people to suit best the altruistic practices
among them. But we should be cautious
not to welcome anthropomorphic or
apotheotic interpretations. Neither should
philanthrophic attempts commit any offence
against the true Vedantists. The Greek and
Roman mythologies are no doubt good
illustrations of the influence of
anthropomorphic ideas in ascribing various
situations to different gods, and in some cases
the Indo-Aryan mythology is not found to
be free from these faulty associations.
The apotheotic tendency has made
many a hero to pretend as identical with
different gods and the theory of social
amelioration through altruistic activities has
also obstructed us from receiving the
Scriptures in a true light and thereby wrongly
applied Biblical references to philanthrophic
exploitations.
The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna
Chaitanya has endowed the unalloyed
intelligentsia versed in pure Transcendental
Manifestations with an entirely different
eternal relationship of the pure essence
which is not allied with the mundane decrepit
condition.
AUGUST 2011 THE GAUDIYA 3
Thus Spake Srila chryadeva
Srimad Bhaga-
vatam alone gives us
the idea of His perfect
and Purnatama Self.
Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu has
pointed out from the
Srimad Bhagavatam
that His dress and
ornaments and the like,
the Gopis with whom He had dalliance, and
even the cows and trees of Vrindavana,
were physically existent in limited forms and
at the same time unlimited and spiritually
existent in the Transcendental manifestation
of the essence of God. On account of His
supralogical powers, the laws of
contradiction do not apply to Him; even
contradictory qualities and conceptions may
be safely associated in our notion of Him.
So also His Body is not different in nature
from Him. He is thus identical with His
Body. (Deha eva Dehi or Vigraha
evatma, atma-eva Vigraha). The
apparent physical Form of Sri Krishna is
one with Brahman. It cannot be urged that
the Body of Krishna is a product of pure
Sattva; it has no Rajas in it and therefore
there is no creative development in it. The
Body of Krishna is itself one and the same
as pure Sattva or pure consciousness.
Suddha Bhakti is the only means to
know Krishna in His Purnatama-self, His
two other aspects i.e., Purnatara and Purna
can not be rightly known and understood
without the knowledge of the Purnatama
as manifested in Vrindavana through His
Leela-Counterpart Sri Radhika. Sri
Krishna manifests His Nama-Rupa-Guna-
Leela through Her, She is the essence of
the self-manifesting moment, para-shakti,
( to be contd......)
THE GAUDIYA AUGUST 2011 8
MAHBHRATA
Sri M.C.Mahesh
Yudhishthira was now convinced, and
all his misgivings disappeared like a
dissolving mist.
Indra spoke on refreshingly: You
should bathe in the celestial river Ganga and
abandon your mortal body. As long as the
mortal body endures on, the vestiges of
discontent will taint your psyche.
Goddess Ganga flows in all the three
universesCelestial, terrestrial and
subterranean. Yudhishthira plunged in its
translucent waters and abandoned his
body, even as a snake sloughs off its worn-
out skin.
Yudhishthira was escorted to heaven
where he saw the ancient God Krishna
being worshipped by Arjuna. Draupadi,
who had taken birth by the will of the
wielder of the trident, greeted him. She
was wearing a garland of spectacular
lotuses. The intoxicating fragrance of the
ruddy lotuses soothed his senses. The
crimson lotuses juxtaposed aesthetically on
her azure neck. Bheema was seen by the
side of Vayu, the God of the Maruts or the
presiding deities of tempests and hurricanes.
Nakula and Sahadeva were seen flanking
the Ashwini twins. The sons of Draupadi
were seen clustering around the
Gandharvas. The effulgent prince
Dhrishtadyumna sat by the side of God
Agni. The gallant prince Abhimanyu was
enveloped by the soothing rays of the
moon. The poet says that the moon-god
had taken birth as Abhimanyu on earth. The
twelve sun-gods or Adityas, who preside
over the twelve constellations of the zodiac,
clustered around Karna. Bheeshma took
his place among the Vasus, and Drona was
seen by the side of the celestial tutor
Brihaspathi. As Yudhishthira had
successfully performed the Rajasuya
sacrifice, Pandu was allowed to share
Indras throne. Kunti and Madri were seen
flanking him. The old Dhritharashtra now
had his sight restored and he was seated
next to Kubera. Wealth had been his prized
possession on earth and it was even so in
heaven!
Yudhishthira was soothed by this
reunion: Everything ends with death! The
shifting sands of Time change for eternity,
patterning the desert dunes like our illusory
lives. The Spirit, however, is immortal and
changeless. I see only good here, and all
my kinsmen are seen gathering around me.
TRANSCRIBERS EPILOGUE
I have come to the end of my narrative
and I still believe that it has not been too
long! Not given the complexity and chaos
that is the Mahabharata. However, my
transcription is a simple and idyllic narrative.
I have skipped over pages of didactic
sermons and endless repetitions. The
account of the great war is especially a
mishmash in Vyasas original. There are a
variety of hodge-podge warriors and battles
that distract the lay reader from the main
thrust of the epic. I have mercilessly cast
aside these secondary characters, and I
have mercilessly skipped over repetitive
descriptions.
This is not a popular book for a reader
aspiring after entertainment. It is not a dry
pedantic work fit for a pedagogue either. I
have striven to keep away from both these
extremes in my rendition. The work is not
correct to the letter in the sense of a literal
(Contd. from July issue)
AUGUST 2011 THE GAUDIYA 11
(Contd. from July issue)
their numerous active enemies, with the
object of benefitting everyone including
those enemies. They cherish no grudge
against any one but desire the well-being of
all because they want every one to serve
the Truth Whose service is wholly
incompatible with the least desire for self-
aggrandisement.
The Vaishnavas believe unconditionally
in the Absolue. They disbelieve
unreservedly every speculation on the plane
of three dimensions because this latter is by
its nature merely tentative, to be discarded
sooner or later, while the Absolute holds
eternally. They, therefore, condemn the
credulity of those who believe that the
equipments of three dimensions are true and
will hold. They condemn no less the
incredulity of those who do not belileve in
the actual appearance of the Absolute in this
world in the shape of His devotees and their
activities for the purpose of delivering all
fallen souls from the state of ignorance. The
Vaishnavas are credulous as regards the
Absolute Truth, Who is by His nature
unchallengeable by the reason of the material
mind. They are incredulous regarding the
truth of the practices and speculations of this
world concocted by the erring mind that are
intended for the denial of the Absolute. They
are accused as credulous by those who are
themselves credulous in accepting without
challenge the testimony of the senses for
ascertaining the Truth. They appear as
indefensibly credulous specially to those
who deny omnipotence, form, quality,
activity and personality to the Truth and who
therefore think that it is not possible for Him
or His servants to appear in this world at
Vaishnavas are Credulous
Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur
THE GAUDIYA AUGUST 2011 16
allowable only to the worshippers of Vishnu.
Vishnu is not a name concocted by the
imagination of men. The Transcendental
Name of Vishnu is identical with Himself.
Vishnu is the only Godhead, the Absolute
Person. The worshippers of the Name,
Form, Quality, Activity and Servitors of
Vishnu are the only worshippers of
Godhead. The spontaneous service of
Vishnu is eternally open to all souls by the
Grace of the Absolute. Those who do not
wish to worship Vishnu are automatically
expelled from the transcendental plane of
His worship and find their congenial
occupations on this mundane plane. They
are able to practise these occupations by
means of their physical bodies and minds
which are given them for this purpose by
the Deluding Potency of Vishnu. The
worldly occupations consist of the
endeavour for supplying the wants of the
body and mind by the method of open and
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concealed hostility to the similar bodies and
minds of other entities. It is this pre-
occupation with the malicious activities of the
mundane plane that prevents the conditioned
soul from entertaining any effective desire for
attaining to the knowledge of the real state
of things. The Temple of Vishnu is no entity
of the mundane plane and is inaccessible to
the conditioned soul whether touchable or
untouchable. The Archa of Vishnu, the
Temple of Vishnu, the worshipper of
Vishnu, the worship of Vishnu are all
transcendental entities. Vishnu alone can
admit the soul to the presence of these
entities. The method by which the service
of Vishnu is attainable by conditioned
souls is made known to the people of this
world by the transcendental agents of
Vishnu who are the only real teachers of
the eternal function of all souls revealed
by the spiritual Scriptures.
(to be contd......)
AUGUST 2011 THE GAUDIYA 21
(to be contd. )
Yogayukto vishuddhtm
vijittm jitendriyah |
sarvabhuttma bhuttm
kurvannapi na lipyate || 7
4|44= = One who engages himself
in the unalloyed devotional services of the
Supreme Lord, |a|-| = possesses pure
intelligence, ||--|-| = who has conquered
his mind, |-- |+4 = and who has controlled
his senses, =~-|- ~-|-| = becomes the
object of love for all jivas, + + |+ = though
he does actions, + |=-4- = he is not
entangled.
One who engages himself in the
unalloyed devotional services of the Supreme
Lord possesses pure intelligence, who has
conquerred his mind and who has controlled
his senses, becomes the object of love for all
jivas, though he does actions, he is not
entangled.
The order of superiority is from last to
first, having controlled pure intelligence being
the best. All jivas are attracted to them even
if they are grihastas. He does not exploit
others for material purposes. 7
Absolute Truth is bound to be convinced
of the reality of its contentions, viz., that
man can be liberated from the delusions of
his false existence only by attaining to the
exclusive service of Krishna, the Absolute
Person, that such service can be learnt
only by the method of convinced, rational
submission at the feet of the servants and
of the servants servants of the Supreme
Lord, that this is the message of
Vaishnavism taught and practised in the Age
by Sri Chaitanyadeva for the deliverance
of all fallen souls and that there is no other
way of attaining the life eternal except by
the method of samkirtan of the Holy Name
recommended by the Scriptures and made
available to all fallen souls by the mercy of
Sri Gaurasundar and His devotees.
Sri Chaitanya teaches by precept and
example the Full Truth regarding the nature
Y
(Contd. from page 18)
and functions of the individual soul and
nothing that falls short of the Full Truth can
fully satisfy the wants of the little soul. It is
possible to serve Krishna under all
circumstances. That individual or society is
really blessed which uses such opportunities
as are provided by Krishna for serving Him
therewith. There cannot be any discord or
want of Harmony in this world if we make
up our minds to really serve Krishna and
betake ourselves sincerely to the feet of the
good preceptor for obtaining the real
knowledge of such service. It is not possible
for us to understand the nature of the
spiritual service of Godhead by means of
our mental speculations which are by their
nature confined to a limited view of the
objects of three dimensions only. This fact
may not be pleasing to our vanity which is
the cause of our present degradation and
misery.
AUGUST 2011 THE GAUDIYA 23
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THE GAUDIYA AUGUST 2011 24