November 2011 Bhaktivedanta Youth Services, Manipal

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Panchatatva Mantra

jaya sri-krishna-chaitanyaprabhu nityananda

sri-adwaita gadadharashrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-

vrinda

“I offer my respectfulobeisances unto

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,Lord Nityananda,

Sri Advaita,Gadadhara Pandit,

Srivas Thakur, and all the devotees

of Lord Caitanya”.

Maha Mantra

Hare KrishnaHare Krishna

Krishna KrishnaHare HareHare RamaHare RamaRama RamaHare Hare

“O energy of The Lord [Hare], O all attractive Lord [Kåñëa], O Supreme Enjoyer

[Rama], please engage me in Your service.” God has

kindly made it very easy for us to chant His name, and

He has also invested all His powers in them. Therefore the names of God and God

Himself are identical.

Chant HareKrishna Mantraand be happy...

Spiritual Quote

To the degree we cultivate the spirit of selfless service,to that degree we will actually find bliss in life.

H.H. Radhanath Swami

The Sanskrit word Veda comes from the Sanskrit root vid meaning ‘to know’. Veda simply means

knowledge. However, modern people categorize the vedas, India’s ancient books of knowledge as: writ-ings of a particular type – namely “Scriptures”, rel-evant only to an activity of a particular kind, -name-ly “religion” and specifically to a particular kind – namely “Hinduism”. And religion is opposed to knowledge and science. Thus vedas were relegated to shelves in the libraries catalogued as ‘Indian My-thology’. So, the vedas, the age old repositories of knowledge, a comprehensive encyclopaedia of all ascertained truth, in our modern process of secu-larization have become a “ scripture – a practice of religion.

In the secular culture “religion” kept its place away from the cen-tral societal con-cerns, such as the pursuit of knowledge or wealth. Religion – a thing extra: a free wheel that spins & nothing with it. Science develops in search of knowledge sundered from religion, blind unable to guide hu-man life accordingly to human ultimate ends. The vedas embody the universal truths & knowledge for pragmatic human development. To test its validity & usefulness it needs to be tested by applying in the modern process of knowledge & development. Let’s now see what do the vedas have to say of the days as we experience today. The vedas call these days as a part of kali yuga. And what do they say are the symptoms of kali yuga? Now listen to the voice of OLD INTELLIGENCE and judge for yourself.

Srimad Bhagavatam 1:1:10“O learned one, in this iron ago of kali men have short life’s. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky, and above all, always disturbed.

Srimad Bhagavatam :12:2:2In Kaliyuga wealth alone will be considered as the sign of a man’s birth, proper behaviour and fine qualities. And law justice wil be applied only on the basis of one’s power.

Srimad Bhagavatam :12:2:6A sacred place will be taken to consist no more than

a reservoir of water located at distance and beauty will be thought to depend on one’s hair style. Fill-ing the belly will become the goal of life and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He who can maintain family will be regarded as a ex-pert man, and principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation. The vedas not only speak of the pollutions in the psyche but also of se-vere food shortages, droughts famines etc. So what do you think? Aren’t they making shockingly clear statements of our present days???. But don they only speak of disasters? Not quite so-listen to this:

Srimad Bhagavatam :12:3:51My dear king, al-though the kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is one good quality about this age: simply by chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, one can be-come free from the material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.

This is again confirmed and reaffirmed in several other places as the way to decontaminate oneself from the effect of this age of quarrel and hy-pocrisy (Kali Yuga). One has no other alternative but to chant:

Hare Krishna Hare KrishnaKrishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

You may think, “Impossible! “Just a sound vibration?” and it does what even with all the gadg-etry, politics, science. Man isn’t able to do?”Well you are right in your doubt,: but as the old saying goes- “ The taste of the pudding is in eating it”. Chant and see. It is a way to tap into the reser-voir of unlimited pleasure KRISHNA, plugging into which all temporary pleasures fade. – “THE HIGH-ER TASTE” the sound incarnation of the supreme personality of Godhead, the All Attractive personal-ity- Krishna, is non-different from him, anyone can use it, there are no rules, no regulations. Verbalise it attentively and experience the bliss with the gradual evaporation of the muck that surrounds your heart.

By H. G. Madhava Das

Vedas: India's gift to humanity

Testimonials!!!

"When doubts haunt me, in disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day."

-MAHATMA GANDHI

*****

Pancajanya 2

Hare Krishna Friends,Please accept our respectful obei-sance! In the last newsletter we shared with you about Higher Intelligence and the purpose of this Higher Intelligence is not to just think about our family and friends, about movies, restaurants or our vacation spots but to under-stand and enquire about our life, our sufferings and also the desti-nation of life. The human form of body is an opportunity for solving all the problems of life. Through evolution we gain this human life for solving this problem. The first enquiry is the cause of suffering. Amazingly many don't even know that they are suffering, that's the sign of ignorance! Therefore one should first understand what are the real problems of life are. What do you think are the problems of life???

Most of the people would say poverty, unemployment, illit-eracy, corruption in life etc. But the fact is: "One man's problem is another man's solution It is a relative world. If you go and ask a poor fellow he will say I want to go to America, if you go and ask a rich man he will say I want to live peacefully, want to spend time in Himalayas where peace and pure air will be there. If you ask a per-son living in Himalayas he would say I want to go to Mumbai, want to become crorepathi. This is a relative world; grass on the other side always looks Greener. So it's a fact that these problems are very relative. But there are some real problems of life

What are the criteria for a problem to be REAL PROBLEM? For a Problem to be a real problem, it should satisfy 3 crite-ria: Think about itCommon to allNo one wants it No one can avoid it Real problems are those which are: Real problem should be com-mon to all, irrespective of their colour, gender and status and is also a problem which No one wishes to have but is a problem which cannot be avoided.This is very clearly stated in the Bhagavad Gita. B.G.:13.9 Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkhadosanudarsanamThis sloka clearly indicates what the real problems of life are. The problems which are common to all mankind and the problem which each one of us has to go through and there is no escape from it. The

problem which no one wants and no one welcomes.

This is the truth of life, whether you accept it or not. You may be like the ostrich, closing your eyes and saying it doesn't ex-ist for me, but it's a fact. This is not being pessimistic or optimis-tic, this is being realistic. We may shy away from this subject, but we cannot shy away from reality. To understand the real problems of life, lets understand each of them separately

Death: Death, is a true fact of life. Although we have never faced it we are all still very scared of it be-cause we know that it is the end of everything we have and the end of everything we aspire for. No one on this earth welcomes death.

Everyone is very scared of the very word death and we are all notready to face it. No one wants death. In the Garuda Purana, one of the ancient Vedic scriptures, it is mentioned that death is ex-tremely painful and the person dying, experiences a pain that is equivalent to forty thousand scor-pions stinging simultaneously. The soul is so habituated to liv-ing in the body that he must be forced out by the laws of nature at the time of death. We observe that even the tiniest of the creatures displays amazing abilities and techniques to escape death when its life is threatened. But death isinevitable for all living beings and everyone has to face it one day, though it is fearful and painful at the same time.

Disease: Falling ill or having a dis-ease is a problem common to all.

We can't find anyone who has never fallen sick or ill. Each of us at one point of time in life has fallen sick. Some have a mild pe-riod of sickness, and for some it is a longer period. But, the fact remains that we all undergo a pe-riod of suffering due to sickness. We don't wish to fall ill, we don'twish our near and dear ones to fall sick, infact it is the other way around, we wish everyone a good health. We don't see advertise-ments for tablets to fall sick, in-stead they are for a speedy recov-ery. We don't pray to God for ill health instead it is for Good health and a healthy living. We are see-ing and hearing about a variety of new diseases. We have plenty of medicines available in the market, but these can only subside the disease, they cannot cure it com-pletely or remove it permanentlyto never occur again. Sickness and

disease affects anyone irrespectiveof their age, colour, caste, creed. Rich, poor all are affected by thesediseases without any distinction. Earlier than ever before, people become diseased at such an early age and with so many kinds of diseases, all unknown kinds of diseases. Everyone, sometime or the other has to passes through this. No one is exempted from it.Rockefeller, one of the richest man in the world, had chronic indigestion and consequently all that he could eat lifelong was onlyvegetable soup. Another rich man suffered severe pain while urinat-ing. Once, when a TV reporter asked him what he feared the most in life, he replied, "The next moment of passing urine!”

Old Age: Yes, true, old age is a prob-lem. We see many old people and at some point or the other, see their sufferings and feel, Oh, this

shouldn't happen to me. Wish I don't get old. But, the truth and reality is that, each of us has to grow old. It is inevitable. We can't hide from this real fact. But, the truth is no one is ready to accept it. We all feel that we must look young and try to hide our age. The cosmetic industry is flour-ishing as a result of this. This is only external, the emotional part that is going to come after being treated like a pet dog at home, a useless member of the family, and at that time all your flashback will be going on in your head, that how much you were perfect, howindependent I was. Now I have been ill-treated like an insignifi-cant vegetable. Such an emotional defeat! Thus inevitable, Time does not spare anybody. We were all children some years ago, we grew to become youth and eventually to old age. People capture "sweet memories" because they know that when they are forced to grow old - helplessly, their appearances wont look sweet anymore.

Birth: The very process of birth is a problem. punarapi jananam pu-narapi maranam, punarapi janane jatare shayanam - that's the begin-ning of everything. None of us want to suffer the pain of birth. Birth is an extremely painful ex-perience for the living entity. For nine long months, we lie cramped within the darkness of the womb, suffering severely, scorched by the mother's gastric fire, continu-ally jolted by sudden movements, and feeling constant pressure from being contained in a small sack which surrounds us in the womb. This tight, constricting packet forces the back of the foe-tus to arch constantly like a bow. Furthermore, hungry worms in the abdominal cavity torment the foetus. The foetus passes stool and urine in the same packet. Such is the misery of birth. We are born amidst pain and continue with pain and problems throughout our life. It is a suffering which be-gins in the Womb and continues until the Tomb!

These are the REAL prob-lems in our life which no one can avoid and which no one wants. Thus Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that it is very im-portant for every sane human be-ing to perceive the evils of birth, old age, disease and death and find out the permanent solution for them. ***

Real Problems of Life

Newsletter 3

“Why do bad things happen to good people?”. Now it is extremely rare that two individuals share a com-mon opinion but here is one sen-tence that pilots a universal apho-rism. Yes why do bad things keep happening? We keep reading, again and again about the tsuna-mi, the Katrina effect, the Haiti, the terror attacks and yeah the recessionJ. Surely if at all “God” exists would he ever allow pedo-philes, rapists; murderers, thieves (and Indian politicians) to go on a sin spree? And even if he is ex-ists he might probably be just as helpless or heartless as a sapless log of dead wood. And amongst all the so called “many gods” am sure Krishna would catch the maximum stake of the receiving end. Instead of becoming a brand ambassador of peace he became a harbinger of ill will and pitted the Pandavas against the Kauravas which cost millions their lives, made millions of widows and left ten times more orphans. Why is he so cruel? Yes why? Yet, despite all this, Srimad Bhagavatam the best amongst the Puranas, ad-dresses Krishna as the omniscient, all powerful, all merciful God. Am sure behind this weak logistic fa-cade there must be a strong basis as to why it does so? In Bhagavad Gita, when Arjuna tells Krishna “Oh Krishna is it reasonable on my part to fight with my cousins and cause blood-shed when I can as well as for-sake my kingdom for the sake of dharma”? Krishna answers “Oh Arjuna in the pretext of speaking like a wise man you are none but a fool who doesn’t know what is right or what is wrong” .”Dharma or righteousness as you see, Oh Arjuna, is not surrendering your duty as a military officer to the sea of emotions. Please rise up and perform your duty without taking into account the results.” Krishna further elaborates on the law of karma where he says every soul is bound by a specific reac-tion to every action it performs just like our Newton’s third law. Hence a person is bound to the re-sults of both sins and virtues. Yes karma or destiny, whatever you call it, leaves none. It slowly waits impartially and like a python it seals our fate. In our Puranas many examples have been given to emphasize on its significance. According to Brahma Vaivartya purana , Prakriti khanda, Krishna entrusts the job of bestowing the karmic reactions to demigoddess Durga. So the job of Durga is to

punish the sinners and protect the sages. As per Krishnas bidding Durga takes birth as Parvati and marries Shiva but on one occasion playfully closes his third eye. Im-mediately the beautiful goddess is transformed into a jet black repulsive woman. Shiva tells her it is due to the sin of closing his eye and that as redemption she has to take birth again as a daugh-ter of sage Katyayana. She did so and became renowned as goddess Katyayani the 6th Durga of the Nava Durgas. Isn’t it astonishing that even the supremely powerful goddess Durga who bestows the fruits of reactions to all the living entities has to herself suffer them? The karmic reactions need not necessarily be experienced in this life time itself as both positive and negative reactions have to be suffered and we got only 100years. So the soul car-ries the residual k a r m a with it and ac-cordingly suffers or enjoys in its next b i r t h s . That is why good p e o p l e h a v e their bad days and bad peo-ple the good days and vice versa. And “karma pool” means if a thousand souls are destined to suffer death (due to a particular sin in the pre-sent or the past ) they would be fatefully present in the same loca-tion and say an earthquake comes and ends them. In fact Dhritarash-tra, the father of Kauravas, in the previous birth kills 100 baby birds and blinds the parent birds due to which he was born blind and suf-fers the deaths of his 100 sons. Likewise it is said a person who murders a child or a cow would himself be born as a fetus which gets aborted and dies. These kar-mic reactions further make one perform more actions thereby ac-cruing further reactions and all these sinister ramifications cause a vicious karmic cycle which comes in the form of unexpected and uncalled for incidents.So is there no way out to break out

of this shell? Yes there is and the answer is Krishna. Krishna in BG tells Arjuna that since it is impos-sible for a soul to not do any work it should sincerely approach Him with devotion to break the bonds

Krishna says (BG 9.30,9.31)api cet su-duräcäro bhajate mäm

ananya-bhäksädhur eva sa mantavyaù samy-

ag vyavasito hi saùEven if one commits the most abominable action, if he is en-gaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his de-termination. He further says:kaunteya pratijänéhi na me bhak-taù praëaçyatiO son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.So does it mean I chant Krishna’s

n a m e a n d I be-c o m e f r e e f r o m s i n s ? T h e answer is a yes a n d a no! J u s t l i k e w h e n y o u switch off a f a n a n d the fan s l o w s d o w n b u t

doesn’t stop immediately. It takes time for the fan to stop com-pletely. Likewise a devotee being conditioned to the norms of the society takes time to transform himself. And by “sincere” Krishna doesn’t mean going to a temple of-fering a coconut and expecting a distinction in the exams J By sin-cerity Krishna means you should love Him so much so as to force Him to come to you. You should love Him like Sita who willed to stay in a forest surrounded by de-mons waiting for His arrival, like Radha whose mind, action and deeds were full of Him, Like a Hanuman who willed to take up any odds for Him. Krishna is that loving father who goes to any ex-tent to help His devotees includ-ing forsaking His own promise. Krishna resuscitated the lives of Devaki’s 6 dead sons, revived his teacher Sandipa muni;s son back

to life, gave a beautiful form to the hunchback woman Trivakra, and gave His friend Sudama the mate-rial opulence greater than that of Indra, the king of heaven. All of these acts were against the laws of nature which He Himself had framed. His glories are unlimited and his acts pure and impartial. Krishna sayssarva-dharmän parityajya mäm ekaà çaraëaà vrajaahaà tväà sarva-päpebhyo mokñayiñyämi mä çucaù

TRANSLATION Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.Here Krishna is comforting us saying all you have to do is sur-render to Me and rest assured I will protect you. There are many examples in Puranas to exempli-fy this verse. They all point out to the fact that Krishna is above karma and fate. The best example is when the Kurukshetra war was over, Arjuna and Krishna return to the palace and Krishna gets down the chariot after Arjuna and once He does so the whole chariot gets burnt to ashes. As per destiny the Pandavas were to die much before but because of Krishnas presence the fate got altered and they became victorious. Hence Gandhari the mother of kauravas says in Mahabharata “A devotee of Shiva, I used to believe Yato dharmas tato jayah: where dhar-ma stood, there remained victory. As I sat holding your hands in my palms, my heart whispered: Yato krishnas tato jayah: where Krish-na stood, there remained victory.”There are so many people in In-dia who perform so many homas or fire sacrifices to pacify the bad planets but they forget that, that is all karma. Instead of approaching the all loving supreme Krishna they resort to temporary rituals. These rituals just burn the out-comes of a sin but don’t affect the root of the sin. The importance in chanting the holy name of Krishna is it destroys both the cause and the effect of sins by cleaning our hearts. Infact there is no greater redemption than chanting the holy name of Krishna. In Krish-na’s name lie all the purifying holy rivers, all the opulence and all the sacrifices. Chant sincerely and lovingly the Hare Krishna mahamantra like how a baby cries for its mother and you will find a change in your life yourself which is sublime and comforting.

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THE RESURGENT REACTION- Dr. Aditya Reddy

Pancajanya

Upcoming Events

6th Nov: Utthana Ekadasi, Srila Gaura Kisora Dasa Babji

Disappearance day

10th Nov: Srila Nimbarkacarya Appearance day, End of

Caturmasya and Damodar Masa

21st Nov: Utpanna Ekadasi

Importance of Ekadasi

In the three worlds, there is no kind of fasting which is even

comparable to the Ekadasi fast. Even if one performs this fast without a proper attitude, he

achieves the Supreme Abode. Anyone who fasts on Ekadasi day, with full devotion, what

happens to him by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, I can not say (how much merit gets cannot be

described).

~ Padma Purana, Kriya Yogasara 23.172,173

Love FeastRegular Saturday Program

From 6pm To 8pm.BYS Manipal.Bhaktivedanta Youth Services, Manipal.Bhajan Kutir, House No. 17Opp. Raman Block, Near Syndicate Circle.Manipal 576104.Contact : 8095103316, 9535680054.www.facebook.com/bysmanipalEmail Us At :bysmanipal@gmail.com

Srila Prabhupada uväca

If one renders evan a small amount of sincere devotional service, Krishna

becomes obliged to elevate such person; and what to speak of oen whose entire

life and soul has been dedicated toKrishna's service

***

4

"Higher" than weed!

Why hop from bottle to bottle,

Powder and smoke, in search of joy,

When simply, by the Lord's Holy Name,

You can happily, forever enjoy?

Why go through days and months of misery,

For those few moments of an artificial 'high',

When simply by chanting the names of Hari,

You can stay always in a transcendental high?

~Supraja C. BadriMCODS

ACROSS3. The tortise form of Lord.

4. The fish incarnation of Lord.6. He will descend in Kali Yuga to cut off the

heads of demons.8. The Lord who killed Hiranyakashipu.

9. The dwarf form of the Lord.

10. Means "the enlightened one"DOWN

1. Appeared with axe in Treta Yuga.2. The prince and king of Ayodhya.

5. The elder brother of Lord Krishna.7. The incarnation of Lord who killed

Hiranyaksha

HH Bhakti Raghav Swami Maharaj enlightening the devotees of BYS about Bhagavad Katha - May 2011

Giri Goverdhan decorated with fruits and puris -Goverdhan Puja 2011

Nagar Sankirtan with HG Haripada Das, celebrating the birth of Lord Caitanya - Gaura Purnima 2011

Maha Kirtan Night at Sri Venugopal Temple, MIT - Gandhi Jayanti Kirtan 2011

Jai Jai Jagannath Baladev Subhadra devi ki Jai-Goverdhan Puja 2011

No Janamahtami Festival is complete without Dhahi Matki - Janamashtami Festival 2011

Vitthal Snacks: Exotic dishes with exotic customers, near Udupi Krishna Mutt - Udupi Mandir Yatra Devo-

tees dancing in ecstasy in MIT campus during Jagan-nath Ratha-Yatra - Janamashtami 2011

GoShala Seva, BYS's devotee Madan Pr. feeding the cows - August 2011

Past-times of BYS Manipal