saturn

The breathing exercise of the yoga system that is generally practiced is just the beginning of the system. Meditation on the Supersoul is just a step forward. Achievement of wonderful material success is also only a step forward. But to attain direct contact with the Supersoul and to take dictation from Him is the highest perfectional stage. The breathing exercises and meditational practices of yoga are very difficult in this age. They were difficult even five thousand years ago, or else Arjuna would not have rejected the proposal of Krishna. This age of Kali is called a fallen age. At the present moment, people in general are short-living and very slow in understanding self-realization, or spiritual life. They are mostly unfortunate, and as such, if someone is a little bit interested in self-realization, he is misguided by so many frauds. In the present age, however, if you want success in practical yoga, take to the chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna  Krishna, H...

We are all more or less proud of our past Indian civilization, but we actually do not know the real nature of that civilization. We cannot be proud of our past material civilization, which is now a thousand times greater than in days gone by. It is said that we are passing through the age of darkness, the Kali-yuga. What is this darkness? The darkness cannot be due to backwardness in material knowledge, because we now have more of it than formerly. If not we ourselves, our neighbors, at any rate, have plenty of it. Therefore, we must conclude that the darkness of the present age is not due to a lack of material advancement, but that we have lost the clue to our spiritual advancement, which is the prime necessity of human life and the criterion of the highest type of human civilization. Throwing of bombs from airplanes is no advancement of civilization from the primitive, uncivilized practice of dropping big stones on the heads of enemies from the tops of hills. Improvement of the ar...

If a man is suffering from jaundice and you give him a piece of sugar candy, he will say that it is very bitter. But is sugar candy bitter? No, it is very sweet. And the medicine for jaundice is that sugar. Modern science prescribes this, and it is prescribed in the Vedic literature also. So if we take a great quantity of this sugar candy, then we will be relieved from jaundice. And when there is relief, then one says, "Oh, this is very sweet." So the modern jaundice of a godless civilization can be cured by this chanting of Hare Krishna. In the beginning it may appear bitter, but when one advances, then he will see how pleasing it is. We are so full of miseries because we have identified ourselves with the material world. Therefore we are unhappy. Anxieties and fearfulness are due to our misidentifying with the material world. As soon as one understands his identity, his relationship with God, then immediately he becomes happy. Ref: Chapter 8a, Science of Self Realization a...

The difference between a pious man and a criminal is that one is pure in heart and the other is dirty. This dirt is like a disease in the form of uncontrollable lust and greed in the heart of the criminal. Today people in general are in this diseased condition, and thus crime is very widespread. When the people become purified of these dirty things, crime will disappear. The simplest process of purification is to assemble in congregation and chant the holy names of God. This is called sankirtana and is the basis of our Krishna consciousness movement. So, if you want to stop crime, then you must gather as many people as possible for mass sankirtana. This congregational chanting of the holy name of God will dissipate all the dirty things in everyone's heart. Then there will be no more crime. Ref: Chapter 6a, Science of Self Realization authored by Srila Prabhupada (Founder - Acharya, ISKCON)

When rabbits are being attacked by bigger animals, they close their eyes and think, "I am not going to be killed." But they are killed anyway. Similarly, we may deny the existence of God and the law of God, but still God and His law are there. In the high-court you may say, "I don't care for the law of the government," but you will be forced to accept the government law. If you deny the state law, then you will be put into prison and be caused to suffer. Similarly, you may foolishly decry the existence of God—"There is no God" or "I am God"—but nevertheless you are responsible for all your actions, both good and bad. There are two kinds of activities—good and bad. If you act nicely and perform pious activities, then you get good fortune, and if you act sinfully, then you have to suffer. Ref: Chapter 7c, Science of Self Realization authored by Srila Prabhupada (Founder - Acharya, ISKCON)

When one goes to prison he has to put aside his usual dress and take the prison dress. Similarly, anyone who comes into this material world has to take a material body. This is the law. Unless you have this material body, how can you feel pleasure in material sense enjoyment? It is just like performing on stage: if you are going to play a certain part, you have to dress accordingly. Therefore, this material body is compared to a dress. For example, every lady and gentleman; every one of us; has a different dress. But our dress is superficial. As human beings we are one. Similarly, each one of us has a different bodily dress, but spiritually we are one. And this is true of all living entities: they are in different bodily dresses only. The dresses are calculated to total 8,400,000 different forms. In the water there are 900,000 different dresses, and there are 2,000,000 different types of trees and plants. There are 1,100,000 species of insects, 1,000,000 types of birds, 3,000,000 type...

நேர் கோட்டில் துல்லியமாக கட்டப்பட்ட தஞ்சை பெரிய கோவில் கோபுரம். தமிழர்களின் ஒப்பற்ற கட்டடக் கலைக்கு சான்று!  தஞ்சை பெரிய கோவில் ஆயிரம் ஆயிரம் அதிசயங்களை தனகத்தே கொண்டு 1000 ஆண்டுகளை கடந்து கம்பீரத்துடன் காட்சி அளிக்கிறது. ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் இந்த அளவு துல்லியத்துடன் பெரிய கோவிலை எழுப்பிய சோழர்களுக்கு நிகர் வேறு எவரும் இல்லை.

Suppose I am driving a very nice car, but I am simply absorbed in the machine only. I have forgotten my destination, where I have to go, and I am busy studying the car. What is the use? You may be driving a good car, but you must know how to reach your destination. That is your main business. Knowing how the car works is secondary. Your main business is knowing how to utilize the car so you can reach your destination. That is intelligence. So, we have fallen into this material condition, and we are occupying various forms. As long as we are in the bodily concept—thinking "I am this 'car'"—that is ignorance. What is wanted is to think, "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and I have to utilize this body to go to my destination—the spiritual world—where I can meet the supreme spirit, God, and live in His association." Human life is meant for understanding what the Supreme Lord is, where He lives, what He does, and what our relationship with Him is. To see...

The fact that someone is virtually always going to be mad or at least disappointed with you is inevitable because while you’re busy trying to please one person, you’re often disappointing someone else. Even if your intentions are entirely pure and positive, you simply can’t be in two places at one time. So, if two or more people want, need or expect something from you – and you can’t do it all – someone is going to be left disappointed.  When you have dozens, even hundreds of demands on your time, and requests being fired at you from all different directions, a certain number of balls are going to be dropped. Mistakes are going to be made. Four people asked you to call them before five o’clock. The second call took much longer than anticipated. The two who didn’t receive calls are probably going to be upset. If you hurried the call you were on, you risked upsetting that person. Either way, someone’s left upset. Or you go the extra mile to do an excellent job on one proj...

If you want to be a happier, less-stressed person, there is no better place to start than with becoming aware of “anticipatory thinking,” or an imagined future. Essentially, this type of thinking involves imagining how much better your life will be when certain conditions are met – or how stressful, or difficult something is going to be at some point down the road. Typical anticipatory thinking sounds something like this: “I can’t wait to get that promotion, and then my life will be great.” “Life will be so much simpler when I can afford an assistant.” “These next few years will be really tough, but after that I’ll be having a smooth ride.” You get so carried away by your own thoughts that you remove yourself from the actual present moments of your life, thereby forgetting the act of living effectively and joyfully. There are other, more short-term forms of this type of thinking as well: “The next few days are going to be unbearable,” “I am going to be tired tomorrow,” “I just...

Suppose a man is thrown into the ocean. He may be an expert swimmer, but he cannot be happy in the ocean because he is out of his natural condition of life. The only way he will become happy is if someone picks him up from the ocean and places him on the land. So if we are serious, if we actually want to be happy, we must take to the cultivation of spiritual understanding, an understanding of Krishna consciousness. Of course, in every country of the world there is some religious system, some system for understanding spiritual life. But unfortunately, almost nobody is interested in spiritual life because people have been induced to become addicted to material, or sensual, activities. They are going further and further away from spiritual life and becoming more and more confused. Disappointment is rising all over the world. So to mitigate this disappointment and confusion, one has to take to Krishna consciousness. Try to understand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, and act ac...

Matter changes in six phases: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, dwindling, and death. But the life within matter, the spirit soul, is eternal; it goes through no such changes. Life appears to be developing and decaying, but actually it is simply passing through each of these six phases until the material body can no longer be maintained. Then the old body dies, and the soul enters a new body. When our clothing is old and worn, we change it. Similarly, one day our bodies become old and useless, and we pass on to a new body.  As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. This means that only the material body of the indestructible and eternal entity is subject to destruction. This material body is perishable, but the life within the body is nitya, eternal. Ref: Chapter 6g, Science of Self Realization authored by Srila Prabhupada (Founder - Acharya, ISKCON)

A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present “Seven Wonders of the world.”  Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:  1.Egypt’s Great Pyramids  2.Taj Mahal  3.Grand Canyon  4.Panama Canal  5.Empire State Building  6.St. Peter’s Basilica  7.China’s Great Wall   While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one quiet student hadn’t returned her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.” The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.” The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: To see, to hear, to touch, to feel, to laugh and to love.” The room became so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and which we take for granted are tru...

Watering the Root Actually our position is that we are always rendering service to someone, either to our family, country, or society. If we have no one to serve, sometimes we keep a pet cat or dog and render service to it. All these factors prove that we are constitutionally meant to render service, yet in spite of serving to the best of our ability, we are not satisfied. Nor is the person to whom we are rendering that service satisfied. On the material platform, everyone is frustrated. The reason for this is that the service being rendered is not properly directed. For example, if we want to render service to a tree, we must water the root. If we pour water on the leaves, branches and twigs, there is little benefit. Similarly if the Supreme Personality of Godhead is served, all other parts and parcels will be automatically satisfied. Consequently all welfare activities as well as service to society, family, and nation are realized by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It...