Kardama Muni practiced meditative penances on the bank of the Sarasvati River for a period of 10,000 years. It is understood that the yoga system, in order to be rightly practiced, must be performed by persons who possess a very long duration of life.
While writing this month’s column, I am confined with an illness that has stopped my normal work. It’s a discouraging, uncomfortable interlude, yet I am seeing how illness can also bring one valuable realizations.
The election year has ended, but the debates continue. And one of the most controversial issues is the role of religion in government. The Hare Krsna movement takes no side in the political battle, but it can offer thoughtful advice to help solve a complex problem.
Service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kirtana and spiritual instructions from the scriptures, can alone save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and the rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios.
Generally people pray, perform rituals, and so on, in hopes of attaining temporary goals: better health, a good marriage, success in business. But in Bhagavad-gita Sri Krsna advises that those who practice religious life by seeking material boons are missing the real point.
Kali-yuga is a fallen age, the age of hypocrisy and quarrel. In Kali-yuga the basic principles of religion are abandoned, the government is ruled by the lowest class of men, and society lives on the basis of animal life.
In the Vedic literature we find the phrase sastra-caksus, which means “to see with the eyes of scripture.” Scriptures like the Bhagavad-gita teach eternal truths, and these truths can be confirmed in our daily experience.
The Sanskrit word maya means that which is not. In other words, it is illusion. For example, if a servant of a king thinks that he is the king, that is illusion. Generally, it is the illusion of all human beings that they are the lords of all they survey.
Many conflicts around the world are being billed as “religious wars.” Fighting between the Sikhs and Hindus in India, Christians and Moslems in Beirut, Moslem sects of Iran and Iraq, and Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland—all seem to have roots in religious conflict.
Vidura was filled with compassion by remembering the continual sufferings caused by Dhrtarastra to the Pandava brothers and their mother, Kunti. But at the same time, he was a great court philosopher and a true friend to Dhrtarastra.
I have strong evidence to support the fact that there is no happiness in the material world and I have equally strong evidence to prove that any human being can achieve total, lasting happiness in this lifetime.
Akrura lost all mental equilibrium at the sight of the actual footprints of Sri Krsna, and he jumped out of his chariot and fell onto the ground, shedding tears and crying, “How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is!”—touching his head onto the footprints of the Supreme Lord.
Narada Muni is eminently distinguished. His pupils include the greatest devotees. Also, he is not restricted to one planet, but has the facility to travel to any part of the universe without the aid of a spaceship.
Learning how to cope with stress in daily life is not a newly discovered gift from modern psychologists. Mental illnesses from anxiety, as well as expert cures for stress, are as old as humanity itself.
Recently I spoke to an acquaintance who is practicing “meditation” and I asked him the goal of his practice. The answer was, “Liberation. To merge with the one.”