Take refuge

When a fisherman casts his net, in order to catch fish, all the fish which come within the net, are trapped. But the fish which come closer to his feet, is not trapped. Similarly, beings having been attached to the world, get entangled and follow a cycle of birth and death. But those, who take refuge in Him, get over the deluding potency (Måyå) of the Lord (Gita VII. 14). There is an important difference, between the attitude of the fisherman and the Lord. The fisherman wants to trap the fish, but the Lord wants beings to be liberated from illusion, by taking refuge in Him. So He declares, ‘Take refuge in Me, alone.’ A person gets entangled in illusion, by being attached to worldly pleasure. As in a moving mill, all the grains are ground but those which are near the rivet are not pulverised. Similarly in the grinding-stone of the world, people are crushed i.e., they suffer and follow a cycle of birth and death. But those, who take refuge in Him, escape suffering and the cycle of birth and death. However, there is a difference between, grain and devotees. The grains remain near the rivet, without making any effort, while devotees themselves, by having a disinclination for the world, take refuge at His feet. It means, that if a man (soul), even being a fragment of the Lord, accepts his affinity with the world, and wants his desire to be fulfilled by it, he has to suffer, by following the cycle of birth and death. 

Accept Krishna as the Supreme

We cannot accurately understand reality based the perceptions of our imperfect senses and imperfect minds. We can therefore only accurately understand reality from the authoritative statements of the revealed scriptures and the great self-realized souls.

There are innumerable incarnations of God such as Rama, Mahavishnu, Nrsinghadeva, Narayana, etc. These are different expanded forms of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna and His innumerable expansions are all immortal, all-powerful beings. These Personalities of Godhead are all within the category known as vishnu-tattva .

On the other hand, the demigods are of a different category. They are the ruling deities of different aspects of the material nature such as the sun, the moon, etc. Because they are all within the temporary material nature. which is wound up at the time of universal destruction, even though they are far more powerful than us, they are still mortal beings like us.  These demigods are all within the category known as jiva-tattva. This is same category that we are in.

The Rig Veda confirms that all of the demigods accept that the Supreme Person is of the vishnu-tattva category. So we should follow the example of the demigods and accept Krishna and His innumerable vishnu-tattva expansions as the Supreme.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Material world is full of danger

naitad batadhisa padam tavepsitam

yan mayaya nas tanushe bhuta-sukshmam

anugrahayastv api yarhi mayaya

lasat-tulasya bhagavan vilakshitah

TRANSLATION

My dear Lord, although it is not Your desire, You manifest this creation of gross and subtle elements just for our sensual satisfaction. Let Your causeless mercy be upon us, for You have appeared before us in Your eternal form, adorned with a splendid wreath of tulasi leaves.

PURPORT

It is clearly stated here that the material world is not created by the personal will of the Supreme Lord; it is created by His external energy because the living entities want to enjoy it. This material world is not created for those who do not want to enjoy sense gratification, who constantly remain in transcendental loving service and who are eternally Krishna conscious. For them, the spiritual world is eternally existing, and they enjoy there. Elsewhere in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that for those who have taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this material world is useless; because this material world is full of danger at every step, it is not meant for the devotees but for living entities who want to lord it over the material energy at their own risk. Krishna is so kind that He allows the sense-enjoying living entities a separate world created by Him to enjoy as they like, yet at the same time He appears in His personal form. The Lord unwillingly creates this material world, but He descends in His personal form or sends one of His reliable sons or a servant or a reliable author like Vyasadeva to give instruction. He Himself also instructs in His speeches of Bhagavad-gita. This propaganda work goes on side by side with the creation to convince the misguided living entities who are rotting in this material world to come back to Him and surrender unto Him. Therefore the last instruction of Bhagavad-gita is this: "Give up all your manufactured engagements in the material world and just surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all sinful reactions."

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.21.20 TRANSLATION & PURPORT by Swami Prabhupada,

Krsna maintains

The Supreme Lord, Krsna, He's maintaining everyone: yoga-ksemam vahamy aham [Bg. 9.22]. And He'll not maintain a person who has fully surrendered to Him? No. How it can be? Suppose a gentleman is maintaining so many others' children. And he does not maintain his own children? Surely he does. Therefore our principle should be we should not think about our personal maintenance. We should dedicate our life for Krsna, and Krsna will take care of it. That should be the principle. Don't be harassed, thinking always, "How I shall be maintained?" That is not the problem. Maintenance is not problem. Real problem is, "How we shall be fully surrendered to Krsna?" That is wanted. Upasannan. Upasannan means those who have surrendered. So if we are fully surrendered souls then there is no problem for our economic advancement. That is automatically it will be done. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham...
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham[Bg. 9.22]
He personally takes care, he's taking care of others also. Nobody is dying for want of food this is a misconception. Everyone is getting food according to his capacity. There are 8,400,000 species of life, out of that 8 million are lower grade life, fishes, plants, insects, trees. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati (Padma Purana). Eight million, they have no business, they have no means of other income, by nature they are getting their all supplies. So why not the human being? Even the uncivilised human being they are living in the jungle. They have no business, they have no source of income but still they are getting food. Similarly, why the civilised man should be so much anxious for their maintenance? It is due to lack of Krsna consciousness therefore they are thinking how I shall remain. The maintenance is already there, simply you have to work it. You just till the ground, or the field and sow some seeds and naturally in due course of time one seed will give you thousands. So if you little work there is no question of scarcity of foodstuffs Krsna has given everything. So our main business should be, how to develop our dormant Krsna consciousness. That is our first business, tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido [SB 1.5.18]. Everyone should endeavour, we have lost our Krsna consciousness. Therefore we have got so many problems in life. If you revive your Krsna consciousness all problems will be solved.

भगवान् का धाम

हम भगवान् का धाम छोड़कर इस भौतिक जगत में क्यों अाए?

हमारी इच्छाएँ हमें यहाँ ले अाई हैं । जब जीव भगवान् से विमुख होकर स्वतन्त्र रूप से भोग करने की इच्छा करता है तो वह इस भौतिक जगत् में अा जाता है । अाप एेसा सोच सकते हैं कि भगवान् हमारी इच्छाअों पर नियन्त्रण करके जबरदस्ती हमें अपने धाम में ही क्यों नहीं रोक लेते ।

क्योंकि भगवान् अौर हमारे बीच का सम्बन्ध प्रेम का सम्बन्ध है अौर प्रेम में जोर-जबरदस्ती नहीं होती । यदि हम अपनी इच्छा के विरुद्ध प्रेम करेंगे तो हम तो पत्थर जैसे हो जायेंगे ।

प्रेम में स्वतन्त्र इच्छा का होना बहुत अावश्यक है अौर क्योंकि भगवान् अौर हमारा सम्बन्ध प्रेम का है इसलिए इसमें जीव द्वारा अपनी स्वतन्त्र इच्छा का सही प्रयोग कर भगवान् को प्रेम करना अत्यन्त अावश्यक है ।

यह समझना बहुत कठिन है कि इतने सुखमय अौर अानंदित वातावरण में हमने स्वतन्त्र इच्छा का दुरुपयोग वहाँ से इस दु:खमय भौतिक जगत् में अाने के लिए क्यों किया?

तो क्या यह सत्य नहीं है कि अनेक डॉक्टर भी ध्रूमपान एवं शराब इत्यादि का सेवन करते हैं जबकि वे भलि-भाँति जानते हैं कि इनका सेवन स्वास्थ्य के लिए हानिकारक है । एक छोटा बच्चा जिसके पास खाने के लिए सभी प्रकार के स्वादिष्ट व्यंजन हैं अौर खेलने के लिए बहुत अच्छे-अच्छे खिलौने हैं किन्तु फिर भी वह अपनी स्वतन्त्र इच्छा का दुरुपयोग कर बासी खाना खाना चाहता है अौर तेज धार के चाकू से खेलना चाहता है ।

भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण ने हमें स्वतन्त्रता प्रदान की है अौर उसी स्वतन्त्रता का दुरुपयोग कर हम इस भौतिक जगत् में अाये हैं । अौर उसी स्वतन्त्रता का सदुपयोग हम उनसे अपने प्रेममय सम्बन्ध को पुन: स्थापित करने में कर सकते हैं अौर पुन: अाध्यात्मिक स्तर पर उनसे जुड़ सकते हैं ।

हमारी स्थिति धनी व्यक्ति के उस बेटे के समान है जो अपने पिता से अपना हिस्सा माँगकर बहुत सा धन लेकर शहर चला जाता है, अौर व्यक्ति के पास धन होता है तो अनेक प्रकार के झूठे मित्र भी व्यक्ति के निकट अा जाते हैं अौर यही इसके साथ हुअा अौर इन झूठे मित्रों ने इसका खूब शोषण किया अौर अन्तत: वह अपना सबकुछ गवाँ बैठा । न उसके पास रहने के लिए घर बचा न खाने के लिए भोजन । तब उसने एक धनी व्यक्ति के यहाँ सुअरों को पालने की नौकरी कर ली अौर उसका रहना अौर खाना बहुत ही निम्न कोटि का था । अपने पिता को स्मरण करते हुए वह अनेक दिनों तक रोता रहा । कई हफ्तों तक अत्यधिक कष्टमय एवं दु:खी जीवन बिताने के पश्चात् उसने अपने पिता के पास वापस जाकर माफी मांगने का निर्णय लिया ।

अौर जब वह अपने पिता के घर पहुँचा तो कुछ गाँव वालों ने उसके पिता को इसकी खबर पहुँचा दी, पिताजी दौड़ते हुए अाये अौर उसका प्रेमपूर्वक अालिंगन किया । पिताजी बड़े प्रेम से उसे घर ले गये अौर बहुत ही अच्छे-अच्छे व्यंजन खिलाये अौर उन्होंने घोषणा की कि अाज से तुम ही इस घर के मालिक हो, यहाँ खुशी से रहो ।

पुत्र की अाँखों से अश्रुअों की धारा बह पड़ी वह सोचने लगा, मेरे पिता कितने विशेष हैं, मैंने अपने स्वार्थ के लिए इन्हें छोड़ दिया था अौर ये फिर भी मुझसे कितना प्रेम करते हैं अौर मुझे फिर से अपनाने के लिए कितने अधिक अातुर हैं ।

ठीक इसी प्रकार भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण भी हमें पुन: अपनाने के लिए बहुत ही अातुर हैं हमें केवल उनकी अोर मुड़ने की देर है ।

हरे कृष्ण