Krishna Takes Good Care of His Devotees
Sept 7th, 2006--Berlin, Germany
By Krishna's grace I have finally been reunited with my luggage after many days of austerity. The fact is that if we always take complete shelter of Krishna that He will always take good care of us. Sometimes Krishna puts His devotees into apparent difficulty to enable them to increase their feelings of dependence upon Him.
In Krishna's Vrindavan lila we see again and again how Krishna plunged the Brijabasis (the inhabitants of Vrindavan) into an intense ocean of anxiety just to increase the intensity of their love for Him and feelings of dependence upon Him.
The pastime of Krishna saving the Brijabasis from an all-devouring forest fire is narrated in brief by Srila Prabhupada as follows:
"Since it was almost night and all the inhabitants of Vrindavan, including the cows and calves, were very tired, they decided to take their rest on the riverbank. In the middle of the night, while they were taking rest, there was suddenly a great forest fire, and it quickly appeared that the fire would soon devour all the inhabitants of Vrindavan. As soon as they felt the warmth of the fire, they immediately took shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He was playing just like their child. They began to say, 'Our dear Krishna! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Our dear Balarama, reservoir of all strength! Please try to save us from this all-devouring and devastating fire. We have no shelter other than You. This devastating fire will swallow us all!' Thus they prayed to Krishna, saying that they could not take any shelter other than His lotus feet. Lord Krishna, being compassionate upon His own townspeople, immediately swallowed up the whole forest fire and saved them. This was not impossible for Krishna, because He is unlimited. He has unlimited power to do anything He desires."
So whenever we are in distress we should capitalize on it fully by taking it as an opportunity to increase our feelings of dependence upon the Lord. In this way we will never be overwhelmed by distress and we will easily and blissfully enter into that wondrous Spiritual Sky.
Apurva
Brahman realization is considered perfect and Paramatma realization is considered more perfect. The Brahman realized soul realizes the eternity aspect of the Supreme. The Paramatma realized soul realizes the eternity and knowledge aspects of the Supreme. Beyond Brahman realization and Paramatma realization is Bhagavan realization, which is said to be most perfect. One who achieves Bhagavan realization realizes all three aspects of the Supreme: eternity, knowledge, and bliss.
There is a very nice story in this connection. Formerly in India there were no trains. The trains were introduced by the British. So one village was included on the new train route. The tracks were laid, the station was built, and the villagers were curiously waiting for the first train to arrive so they could see what is this thing that is called a train.
Finally late one evening the first train arrived. One villager who was waiting on the edge of town saw the train from a distance coming down the tracks approaching the village. He came running into the village declaring he had seen a train. He said that a train is a bright moving light. Another villager who lived near the station saw the train. He declared that the train has many, many cars connected together that are all identical. Another villager was there at the station when the train stopped. He examined the train carefully and said that there was one car with an engineer that pulled the entire train and he described in detail what each of the cars were like.
Each of the villagers had seen the same exact train and had described honestly what they saw. Yet each of them had a different experience according to how closely they were able examine the train. In the same way there is one Absolute Truth, but it is understand differently as Brahman, Paramatma, or Bhagavan according the degree of closeness of the realized yogi.
The nondual but yet variegated nature of the Supreme is confirmed in the Srimad Bhagavatam as follows:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan." Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.11
We train our students how to achieve Bhagavan realization. When one realizes Bhagavan, their realizations of Brahman and Paramatma are automatically included without any extra endeavor.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
By Krishna's grace I have finally been reunited with my luggage after many days of austerity. The fact is that if we always take complete shelter of Krishna that He will always take good care of us. Sometimes Krishna puts His devotees into apparent difficulty to enable them to increase their feelings of dependence upon Him.
In Krishna's Vrindavan lila we see again and again how Krishna plunged the Brijabasis (the inhabitants of Vrindavan) into an intense ocean of anxiety just to increase the intensity of their love for Him and feelings of dependence upon Him.
The pastime of Krishna saving the Brijabasis from an all-devouring forest fire is narrated in brief by Srila Prabhupada as follows:
"Since it was almost night and all the inhabitants of Vrindavan, including the cows and calves, were very tired, they decided to take their rest on the riverbank. In the middle of the night, while they were taking rest, there was suddenly a great forest fire, and it quickly appeared that the fire would soon devour all the inhabitants of Vrindavan. As soon as they felt the warmth of the fire, they immediately took shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He was playing just like their child. They began to say, 'Our dear Krishna! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Our dear Balarama, reservoir of all strength! Please try to save us from this all-devouring and devastating fire. We have no shelter other than You. This devastating fire will swallow us all!' Thus they prayed to Krishna, saying that they could not take any shelter other than His lotus feet. Lord Krishna, being compassionate upon His own townspeople, immediately swallowed up the whole forest fire and saved them. This was not impossible for Krishna, because He is unlimited. He has unlimited power to do anything He desires."
So whenever we are in distress we should capitalize on it fully by taking it as an opportunity to increase our feelings of dependence upon the Lord. In this way we will never be overwhelmed by distress and we will easily and blissfully enter into that wondrous Spiritual Sky.
Answers According to the Vedic Version
Question: Brahma and Paramatma...
How is Brahman different from Paramatma?Apurva
Answer: Perfect and More Perfect...
Brahman is the impersonal aspect of the Supreme. It is the shining effulgence which emanates from the Lord's transcendental body. The Paramatma is the four-armed form of the Supreme Lord Who is dwelling within your heart, within the heart of all living beings, within every atom, and also between the atoms.Brahman realization is considered perfect and Paramatma realization is considered more perfect. The Brahman realized soul realizes the eternity aspect of the Supreme. The Paramatma realized soul realizes the eternity and knowledge aspects of the Supreme. Beyond Brahman realization and Paramatma realization is Bhagavan realization, which is said to be most perfect. One who achieves Bhagavan realization realizes all three aspects of the Supreme: eternity, knowledge, and bliss.
There is a very nice story in this connection. Formerly in India there were no trains. The trains were introduced by the British. So one village was included on the new train route. The tracks were laid, the station was built, and the villagers were curiously waiting for the first train to arrive so they could see what is this thing that is called a train.
Finally late one evening the first train arrived. One villager who was waiting on the edge of town saw the train from a distance coming down the tracks approaching the village. He came running into the village declaring he had seen a train. He said that a train is a bright moving light. Another villager who lived near the station saw the train. He declared that the train has many, many cars connected together that are all identical. Another villager was there at the station when the train stopped. He examined the train carefully and said that there was one car with an engineer that pulled the entire train and he described in detail what each of the cars were like.
Each of the villagers had seen the same exact train and had described honestly what they saw. Yet each of them had a different experience according to how closely they were able examine the train. In the same way there is one Absolute Truth, but it is understand differently as Brahman, Paramatma, or Bhagavan according the degree of closeness of the realized yogi.
The nondual but yet variegated nature of the Supreme is confirmed in the Srimad Bhagavatam as follows:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan." Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.11
We train our students how to achieve Bhagavan realization. When one realizes Bhagavan, their realizations of Brahman and Paramatma are automatically included without any extra endeavor.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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