Changing The Subject Matter

“No one can check the thinking activities of a living being, nor the feeling, willing or working processes. But if one wants actual happiness, one must change the subject matter only. Instead of talking of the politics of a dying man, one might discuss the politics administered by the Lord Himself.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.6.34 Purport)

This whole world is a product of God’s energy after all, so a blanket rejection of everything within it as being detrimental towards one’s spiritual aspirations is not a very wise policy. Though the human being has so many tendencies towards behavior that proves to be harmful in the end, the inclination to act needn’t be unnaturally checked. Rather, the same interests can be directed towards the inexhaustibly brilliant Vedic literature, which is full of enough variety to satisfy the inquisitive mind for many lifetimes. The hero in these documented accounts, the person who is the central focus of the pious behavior followed and the anger and rage of those who defy the established law codes, is none other than the Supreme Lord, whose spiritual form allows for an attachment that proves to be the most auspicious.

Can attachment be detrimental? What is wrong with having affection for something? Is not the human spirit meant to love? If you have attachment to something that will cause you harm in the end, then obviously the emotional fixation is not warranted. For instance, having a few drinks at home after work may cause a slight relaxed sensation, but should the person indulge in even more adult beverages due to that feeling, in the process developing an attachment so strong that they can’t go a single day without intoxication, will they be benefitted by that behavior?

What about an attachment to a relationship, such as one involving romance or friendship? Fidelity to the relationship is certainly honorable, but basing attachment solely on bodily designations is flawed from the beginning, for the forms identified with must be renounced at some point in the future. Death is guaranteed for whoever takes birth, and whoever dies is guaranteed to take birth. The spirit soul, the essence of identity, is transcendental to these changes, but unless one knows how to identify with the self, the attachments they form will be based on temporary objects that must be parted with eventually. The stronger the attachment, the more painful the emotional fall at the time of separation.

In day-to-day affairs, there is a desire to hear about famous people. The news media profits from this desire. And the sentiments don’t necessarily have to be positive. Should there be a lascivious scandal on the campus of a university famous for its football program, the same figures previously adored and hailed as legends will be dragged down to the point that the newsmakers won’t settle until everyone hates the involved parties. Politics is arguably followed by the most number of people, for what a politician says and how they say it form the subject matter for the endless debates that take place both in print and television news media.

Should we not follow world events? If things are going on around us, why would we want to close our ears to them? The Vedas declare that the human form of body is the most auspicious, but not for its ability to form attachments to bodily relationships or famous figures described in the news. These tendencies indeed exist because of the properties of spirit, which from its constitution has a propensity to love. Love results in service, the kind which operates without motivation and interruption.

“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated [ahaituki] and uninterrupted [apratihata] to completely satisfy the self.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.2.6)

Service to worldly entities always involves motivation, and interruption is guaranteed. The attraction to the dealings of worldly figures carries the motivation for some type of personal enjoyment, either the ability to praise and honor someone or the inverse of harboring hatred and resentment. A famous athlete is praised for being so good at what they do, but should they fall from grace through illicit relations with many women, they will be hated by the same fans.

Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a famous acharya on the Vedic teachings of Lord Chaitanya, remarks that hatred is borne of the same loving spirit found within the soul. Indeed, every emotion is derived from the soul’s desire to love in a transcendental way. This cogent fact uncovers the secret to finding lasting happiness, felicity which continues beyond the current lifetime. As the human being is the only species capable of rationally reaching this conclusion through following instruction and thinking it over before fully accepting it within the mind, it is the most advanced species. A precious human birth thus should not go to waste.

How do we break the tendency for harboring attachment to the temporary, or asat? When reviewing the disciplines of spirituality to potentially take up, it is natural to look at the restrictions first. To follow a discipline means that one currently does not have discipline. This only makes sense after all. We attend school to get educated because we are initially uneducated. We get trained in a particular field if we lack the training. Similarly, we start to follow religious principles because we currently don’t follow them at all.

The more restrictions you impose, the less appealing your system will be to potential followers. In the ultimate system of religion known as bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, the bona fide acharyas, when deciding to accept disciples, will impose a restriction on meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex. It should be noted that these prohibitions are not necessary for practicing bhakti, as the chanting of the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, can be taken up by anyone at any stage in life. The famous brahmana Ajamila inadvertently recited the name of Narayana, which is another word for God, at the time of death and was rescued from punishment for his past sinful behavior. During the latter half of his life Ajamila did not follow the regulative principles, so he would not have been accepted as a disciple of a bona fide spiritual master. Nevertheless, through past accumulated spiritual merits, he was fortunate enough to say the holy name while quitting the body, which thus guaranteed his salvation.

This incident reveals the end-goal of the human birth: to think of God at the time of death. The restrictions are put into place to make that happen. Obviously for someone who grew up eating meat it will be difficult to give up the practice at every meal. The same goes for abandoning intoxication for someone who enjoys it so much, but the focus on the positives in bhakti is more important. With enough immersion in transcendental service, the restrictions will take care of themselves, though they are still explicitly stressed and monitored to show what is required in a spiritual leader. If a preacher speaks on the superiority of being attached to God and no one else, if they have attachments to sinful behavior, how will their message resonate? Example is better than precept, so one who actually follows the principles they preach will be a more effective leader.

Lord Chaitanya, the famous preacher incarnation of Godhead, took to the renounced order of life at a very young age precisely for this purpose. Imagine a twenty-four year old coming up to you and speaking about detachment, the endless existence of the spirit soul, and how one should abandon attachment to anything not directly related to Krishna, or God. Will we take such a youngster seriously? What could they possibly know anyway? But if the same person lives in the renounced order of life, they immediately become superior to others in terms of authority. After all, the person being preached to likely isn’t a sannyasi, and even if they are, they probably didn’t take to the order at such a young age. Thus through following the regulative principles, one earns respect from others and gets their attention when speaking on the glories of bhakti.

If the restrictions are imposed and followed, the tendency towards hearing about famous figures will be there anyway. If we don’t watch the news, we’ll still want to hear about someone else. Luckily for us, the Supreme Lord, the object of sacrifice and penance, comes to earth every so often along with His closest associates. As a respectful guest of the land He owns, Lord Krishna takes part in activities which mimic those of the ordinary living entities. The difference is that Krishna’s tejas, or splendor, is impossible to fully cover up. His activities, which include His instructing others, are the most splendid, so marvelous that they are still talked about to this day.

Pick up a gossip paper that is more than a week old and it likely won’t be useful to you. The twitter feed from a month ago doesn’t have any relevant information because the news reported was meant to only pique the curiosity of someone looking for higher enjoyment, not to satisfy them. With Krishna’s activities, the enjoyment derived from hearing lasts for as long as the Supreme Lord’s stories continue to be told. If you’re interested in hearing about politics, how people lie to get ahead, and how the pious counteract the influence of the sinful, just immerse yourself in the Mahabharata, which describes Krishna’s involvement in the famous feud between the Kauravas and Pandavas. If you like hearing about love stories, men and women getting together, condition yourself to learn about Shri Krishna and His eternal consort Shrimati Radharani. Then hear about their dealings from a bona fide source. These pastimes, though very intimate and thus off limits to the neophyte, are documented in the Shrimad Bhagavatam for a reason. They give tremendous joy to those who have an anxious desire to hear about God and His activities.

If you like hearing about weddings, focus your mind on the famous ceremony held in Janaka’s kingdom, where Krishna in His form of Lord Rama lifted an extremely heavy bow belonging to Lord Shiva to win Janaka’s daughter’s hand in marriage. If you want to hear about the struggle for existence, the successful triumph over both physical and mental obstacles, travel back in time to when Shri Hanuman, Rama’s most faithful servant, infiltrated the enemy territory of Lanka all by himself to find Rama’s missing wife, Sita Devi.

These mental trips will be so worth it that you’ll eventually abandon your attachment to the temporary. The natural yearning towards service and stimulation of the mind doesn’t have to be artificially renounced. Rather, just by changing the subject matter, one can go from living a material existence to enjoying a spiritual life which is full of knowledge, bliss and eternality. The human being’s birthright is to love God, and by following the methods laid down by Krishna Himself, that destiny can become a reality.

In Closing:

Stories of celebrities in papers you’ll find,

Piques the curiosity of your mind.

From hearing about scorn, love and deceit,

Some pleasure in your mind you receive.

These tendencies don’t outwardly reject,

Focus on Krishna instead, change the subject.

With proper training hear of highest love,

Radha and Krishna always think of.

For bravery Hanuman, and Mahabharata politics,

This way guarantee of salvation when body you quit.

I/O

“Whatever we learn of God from authoritative sources can be described, and that will help us make spiritual progress. This description is called kirtana. If we try to repeat what we hear, we become established in knowledge.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Raja-vidya, Ch 4)

One of the more amazing aspects of the traditions that follow the original Vedas, the scriptures instituted at the beginning of creation by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, is the wide breadth and volume of literature that has been produced. While particular spiritual traditions may have their single book that they focus on and study exclusively, the Vedas are not limited in this way. Rather, the truths espoused in the original Vedas – which do nothing more than glorify the Supreme Person, His energies, and the processes aimed at understanding Him – can be described over and over again by new generations of listeners. This further glorification is known as kirtana, and it serves two wonderful purposes. First, it allows the student to further advance in knowledge by making practical use of the information imparted upon them. Secondly, kirtana serves to further enhance the glory of the Person being described. The incomprehensibly large volume of the Vedic literature is another feature that establishes the supremacy of the person whose glories are sung and described.

What are the Vedas? The root word means “knowledge”, but the information contained within these sacred songs, hymns and poems is not meant for acquiring mundane information or learning how to perfect a specific technique. What is mundane information? How can we make subjective judgments on information aimed at achieving a purpose? At their root, the Vedas glorify the Supreme Person, the original divine being. Even within the celebrated songs this person is described by many different names, but each devotee prefers their specific name, be it Krishna, Vishnu or Rama. Regardless of the appellation chosen, to accept the authority of the Vedas is to accept the position of the person glorified within the songs. To say that the Vedas prohibit deity worship or any other process regularly engaged in by followers of the Vedic tradition is to talk utter nonsense. As soon as we hear someone quoting from the Vedas, it is to be understood that they accept Vishnu as the Supreme Lord; otherwise the statements and conclusions uttered by such people have no meaning.

Though there are different branches of knowledge presented, the Vedas are meant primarily for understanding the Supreme Person; otherwise the information presented would be limited and not given much attention. If we want to learn how to become a doctor, we have to study many different books about medicine and science. The books themselves can provide bits and pieces of information about various aspects of life, but the primary objective is to enable one to perform a specific medical task and become familiar with the discipline of healing their fellow man. Similarly, all the songs, truths and postulates put forth by the Vedas are meant for understanding Vishnu, who is beyond the dualities of the material world.

What do we mean by duality? There are examples of this everywhere, but we can take something as simple as the sunshine. In the wintertime, the colder months of the year, the sun’s presence is enjoyed and highly sought after. The sun is the beacon of light, providing the desperately needed heat and warmth to save the earth’s population from freezing to death. But in the summer months, when the temperatures are generally warmer, the sun being out in the sky can be the cause of pain. Whenever there is excessive heat, the blazing sun can only further add to the discomfort already inflicted by the high temperatures.

Is the sun any different from one season to another? Does the winter sun bear different properties from the summer sun? Has the sun somehow become favorable to one group of people and unfavorable to another based on the passage of time? Obviously the sun’s position is fixed, but what has changed is the environment and mindset of the people affected. Therefore there is a duality created, one where something constant is viewed in different ways based on circumstances.

The Supreme Lord can be thought of as the spiritual sun; His presence and mercy are always there. He is beyond the dualities of heat and cold, love and hate, and happiness and distress. Not surprisingly, those who are intimately connected with Him through a mood of love and devotion will similarly rise above the temporary ups and downs associated with material life. The Vedas exist for the very purpose of glorifying the Supreme Lord, which in turn brings about favorable conditions. If the mind is focused on the sweet, transcendental form of Shri Krishna – the most attractive and beautiful of all forms of Godhead, and not surprisingly the original one as well – the contemplative person can transcend the effects of their material body and rise to a higher plane of consciousness, one which brings freedom from the doldrums of everyday life.

Though the original Vedas are sufficient for understanding Krishna and glorifying Him, there are many other texts which descend from them, sort of like subsidiaries or supporting documents. On the surface this may seem like an indication of a deficiency in the original texts. After all, the Christians have their Bible and the Islamists their Koran, so why can’t followers of the Vedic tradition stick to one book and just study that exclusively? The Bible has such a strong following that others who are not interested in spirituality but have dedicated their lives to following a more narrow form of personal maintenance refer to their favorite books as “my Bible”. This actually indicates that the real Bible is not sufficient enough for them to take as their primary guiding force in life. If we have one book that we consider our Bible, it means that we look to it as our instruction manual for survival. If this book doesn’t reference spirituality, the nature of the soul, the workings of matter, and the need for rising above duality, then it proves to be insufficient in governing behavior and providing real happiness.

A particular text written at a particular time may be useful and tailored towards connecting with a specific audience, but as time goes by, the circumstances in society do change. The makeup of the modern world is drastically different than it was say even fifty years ago, so new challenges are presented to the spiritual leaders, those aiming to instruct the masses about the need for worshiping God. The ultimate conclusion should never change, however. This is the key. The followers of the Vedas never deny the authority of the original texts, nor do they downplay the supremacy of the person these works glorify. Rather, through kirtana, the same truths originally passed down can be explained in a multitude of ways. Actually, the total number of ways is infinite, as who could ever fully enumerate the glories of the Supreme Person, the one entity who is not limited by the bounds of time and space?

To see how new compositions can prove useful in expounding on the same eternal truths of life originally passed down by God, we can take arguably the first book written in the world, the lengthy poem called the Ramayana, penned by Maharishi Valmiki. At the time of this work’s composition, the Vedas were well established as the only theistic tradition in the world. The Supreme Person they glorified and the traditions put into place for honoring Him were well known to the people of the world. But Maharishi Valmiki, through deep meditation on the holy name of Rama, wanted to glorify the Lord even further. He decided to craft a poem that detailed the life and pastimes of Lord Rama, an incarnation of the original person.

Since the Ramayana reaches the same conclusion as the original Vedas, there is no contradiction raised. Indeed, the Ramayana is very understandable and appealing to those who are naturally inclined towards loving God. The original Vedas are songs and hymns, but the Ramayana describes specific pastimes enacted by the same God that we are all inclined to know and approach. Moreover, writing the Ramayana was a great way for Valmiki to share his loving emotions that coursed through his body. For Valmiki, there is no other God except Rama, and he made this fact well known through his Ramayana.

Similarly, there are the eighteen major Puranas composed by Vyasadeva, who divided the original Veda into four and wrote an absurd amount of Vedic literature. The Puranas were well established prior to Vyasadeva’s writing them down. Indeed, when Lord Rama was roaming the forests with His wife Sita Devi and younger brother Lakshmana, He would often discuss incidents from the Puranas during periods of rest. The brahmanas, the members of the priestly order, whose task it was to guide society in their steady march towards freedom from the cycle of birth and death, would also recite incidents from the Puranas when speaking in public gatherings.

Vyasadeva simply took the collection of incidents already known to most people and grouped them together into official literary works of art. Arguably his most profound work, the crown-jewel of Vedic literature, is the Shrimad Bhagavatam, or Bhagavata Purana. This wonderful text presents all the truths of the Vedas in a carefully laid out sequence that is easy to understand when studied in the proper order. The major incarnations of Vishnu are also described along with their activities. In the tenth canto of this sacred work is found the activities and pastimes of Lord Krishna, the supreme and original Personality of Godhead. The activities Krishna performed on this earth some five thousand years ago give a glimpse into the eternal pastimes that take place in the spiritual sky, Goloka Vrindavana. One can become liberated by simply hearing this transcendental nectar and relishing the sweetness.

Even with the Puranas, Ramayana and original Vedas present, the writing doesn’t stop. Acharyas, spiritual teachers who lead by example, are always authoring more commentaries, poems and books glorifying Krishna. Around five hundred years ago the followers of Lord Chaitanya, Krishna’s preacher incarnation, wrote so many books that it would take a lifetime to simply peruse through them, let alone understand the deep meanings and purports. The brothers Shrila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami wrote handbooks on devotional service, poems glorifying the qualities of Lord Krishna, and dramas expounding on the lila documented in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, Harivamsha, Mahabharata and other classic Vedic texts.

Becoming familiar with Krishna does not involve only a one-way flow of information. First the knowledge of the soul, its marginal position with respect to the material and spiritual energies, and its inherent link to the Supreme Lord is imparted to the serious student. Simultaneously, the regular chanting of the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, takes place. When this chanting is done congregationally, the practice is known as sankirtana. Kirtana is thus usually associated with singing songs about the Lord, but at its root it means “describing”. Therefore the writing of the acharyas and the poets of the bhakti school is equally considered kirtana.

When there is output of information, the speaker’s faith and confidence in the supreme stature of the person they worship is validated. Moreover, another source is created, a branch if you will, for people to come and take information from. The different branches of a bank allow customers to deposit and withdraw money without having to travel very far. If there were only one branch of a particular bank, the customers would be greatly inconvenienced, and thus the bank wouldn’t have many patrons. But with many branches, the breadth, scope and influence of the banking institution can rapidly expand.

Similarly, the more Krishna is glorified in written and spoken word, the more opportunities there are for others to learn about Him. The Vedas are not the exclusive property of the Hindus or those born to Indian parents. The Supreme Lord is the spiritual sun, so His light of transcendental goodness shines on every single person. The devotee, the bhakta who takes in spiritual information from their guru, or spiritual master, and then subsequently outputs the same knowledge in their own way, is the person who knows how to capture the spiritual energy and properly utilize it.

Is there a way to use God’s mercy improperly? Well, there is evidence of the improper use of heavenly gifts all around us. The sun, sky, earth, water and fire belong to Krishna’s separated energy. Though they are considered matter, or material, they nevertheless exist for a purpose. When utilized for one’s personal sense gratification or for carrying out wicked plots aimed at achieving world domination, obviously the energy is used improperly. But when the same earth is used to construct a deity form depicting the Supreme Lord’s transcendental body and the forms of His celebrated incarnations, the mercy of God is taken full advantage of. When the tongue we have been given by God is used to eat Krishna prasadam, or remnants of foodstuff offered to the deity, purification takes place. When the hands are used to clap along to the sankirtana party chanting “Hare Krishna”, the mercy of Krishna is utilized fully.

Reading about Krishna’s pastimes and glories in the countless books authored by devotees is as good as chanting, because the hearing process is still there. Whatever the beacon of light on earth, the glorified spiritual master, has learned from his studies of Vedic philosophy can be found in his written and verbal instructions. In this way the sacred texts represent not only the glory of Krishna but also the wonderful and effective nature of the processes employed in understanding Him. The teachings of the devotee and their glorifications of the Supreme Lord prove Krishna’s worthiness of worship. If we follow the simple formula of inputting wisdom from the authorized sources into our mind and then outputting the same glorifications in word and song, our progression towards the spiritual sky will rise to the most rapid pace, one that will guarantee liberation at the time of death.

Broken English

“Even if transcendental literature is written in faulty language, it is acceptable if it is written by a devotee, whereas so-called transcendental literature written by a mundane scholar, even if it is a very highly polished literary presentation, cannot be accepted. The secret in a devotee’s writing is that when he writes about the pastimes of the Lord, the Lord helps him; he does not write himself.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 8.39 Purport)

It’s pretty amazing to think that one person can take to writing a single book and have it become immensely popular. While the bookstores are filled with bestsellers covering a wide range of topics, the greatest selling and most popular books of all time have been of the spiritual variety. In the Vedic tradition, the humble sages, the devotees of Shri Krishna and His non-different expansions, have managed to write the most famous and widely read books in the history of human civilization. Yet ironically enough, they never actively sought out such achievements, nor were they expert grammarians or writers. Rather, they simply had a sincere desire to offer some humble service to the Lord, who subsequently took care of the rest.

It is natural for writers to want their finished product to be of the highest quality. The intention is to have the finished work presented in a lucid linguistic style, one which is both readable and appreciated by the masses. There are certainly different writing styles tailored for different audiences, but writers are advised to adhere to the generally accepted standards. When these standards are violated, the writer is deemed a neophyte, or one who is not very educated. If an author is deemed uneducated, the content of their work is taken less seriously, thereby causing the initial intended purpose of the writing to be thwarted.

While adherence to style and grammar are important in the writing business, these rules are of secondary importance in the discipline of devotional service. The sum and substance of Vedic philosophy can be described in the famous aphorism, athato-brahma-jijnasa, which means “Now is the time for inquiring about Brahman, or the Absolute Truth.” The human form of life is considered most auspicious due to the potential for intelligence. An animal may have a certain level of intelligence depending on the particular species, but only the human being is wise enough to realize that it is mortal. Moreover, a human being can use this knowledge to inquire about the origin of life and the reasons for birth, death, old age, and disease.

Human life actually doesn’t begin until an inquiry into the Truth is made. As long as one remains ignorant of the presence of the soul and its attributes, their lifestyle is really no different than that of an animal. Obviously an animal knows how to live the animalistic lifestyle much better than a human being does, so if the human being remains ignorant throughout its lifetime, it squanders a golden opportunity. If a human being wants to enjoy eating, sleeping, intoxication, and unrestricted sex life, it must go to great lengths and suffer through many hardships. Relationships with the opposite sex surely aren’t easy and neither is securing enough wealth to meet the demands of food, clothing, and shelter. The animal, on the other hand, gets food, sex, and intoxicants very easily and without much strain. A monkey enjoys sex life to a much higher degree than a human being ever could.

Thus an intelligent human being aims to inquire about the Absolute Truth and then use the acquired knowledge to take the necessary steps to end the cycle of birth and death. A human being does not take its identity from the body, for this is simply an outer covering which constantly changes. At the time of death, the entire covering is discarded, and a new shell is molded based on the individual’s desires and work. The identity of the individual comes from the spirit soul, whose natural home is an imperishable realm where there are no such things as temporary bodies. In order to enter this eternal realm, the soul must be free of ignorance, delusion, and desires for material association. As long as one retains a desire to lord over material nature, they remain closed off from the spiritual world.

Devotional service is a discipline which allows a conditioned living entity to gradually climb to a liberated status, a position achieved through the purification of consciousness, or altering of the thoughts and desires of the mind. If our consciousness is completely purified at the time of death, we’ll immediately return to the spiritual land where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, resides.

Taking to devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, is quite simple and completely natural. Divine love is a function of the constitutional makeup of the soul. Since the individual soul, or jivatma, is part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, Krishna, it has qualitative attributes which are similar to the Lord’s. This isn’t to say that the individual souls are equal to God, but rather they are complementary to Him. Krishna’s natural disposition is that of the energetic, the one entity who is ever-deserving of service. This service is provided by the subordinate entities, i.e. us. Since we are to provide the service, we are known as God’s energy. The natural condition of the soul is to be in the company of the energetic, a meeting of the original flame with its fragmental sparks.

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.7)

Constitutional activities are those which help maintain association with Krishna. Any other activity is thus deemed conditional. By default, we are prone to conditioned activities when we are in an embodied form. Any living entity who takes birth in the material world and accepts a material body is considered embodied, or dehinam. Therefore the aim of human life is to adopt constitutional activities and shun conditioned ones. The quintessential constitutional activity is the chanting of the holy names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. Krishna and Rama are names of God, and Hare calls out to His energy. Chanting is the most basic form of bhakti-yoga because it involves direct connection with pure spirit. Moreover, any activity that aims to keep one connected with the Lord can also be considered constitutional and thus part and parcel of bhakti-yoga.

Writing for sense gratification belongs in the conditioned category. This designation speaks to the issue of desire. The conditioned state of mind is very difficult to break out of, so in order to be successful in spiritual life, we must play offense by attacking the seeds of desire. The foremost desire – that hankering which is the most formidable impeding force against self-realization – is to satisfy the senses through fruitive activity. People write for different reasons; they are either looking for fame and wealth, or they may simply want to teach others about a particular discipline. For many, writing itself is a therapeutic activity, a way of releasing thoughts and ideas in an uninhibited manner.

In the realm of fruitive activity, good writing requires a style of grammar that will be appealing to a large audience. The underlying intent is to please both the senses of the writer and those of the audience. A writer is wasting their time if nobody reads their books or if even the writer fails to derive pleasure from the end-product. No one can read the books without buying them, so there is a circular condition created right at the outset. Aside from grammar and style, there is the all-important issue of content. Just as the secret to success in real estate is “location, location, location”, the success of a communicator ties directly to “content, content, content”. The subject matter has to be interesting enough to entice others to spend their hard-earned money on the book. For this reason, the bestselling books are usually the ones authored by famous personalities of the political, sports, financial, and pop culture realms.

“An iron rod put into a fire becomes warmer and warmer, and when it is red hot it is no longer an iron rod but fire. Similarly, when a devotee constantly engages in devotional service and thinks of the Lord in his original Krishna consciousness, he no longer has any material activities, for his body is spiritualized.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.7.36 Purport)

Since acts of devotion are considered constitutional, they have nothing in common with conditioned activities, save for maybe outward appearance. This rule applies to the area of writing as well. When writing is undertaken as an act of devotional service, the writers are acting simply out of pure love for the Supreme Loveable Object, Shri Krishna. This means that the writer has no desire for fame, wealth, prestige, honor, or personal therapy. Rather, they are writing simply to make Krishna or one of His devotees happy. In the spiritual world, oneness is shared between Krishna and His pure devotees. It is similar to how an iron rod will eventually turn into fire when placed under the heat of an immense torch. In the spiritual realm, the complete whole consists of Krishna and the devotees, two complementary entities. As such, the aspiring devotees view their spiritual guides and fellow devotees as equally as worshipable as Krishna Himself. If not for the kind work of exalted devotees of the past, we would never find out who Krishna is, what He looks like, or how to please Him.

Since the devotee writer remains unconcerned about grammar, style, and appealing to the general public, it’s understandable to think that the quality of their writing would suffer. If the devotee was able to actually finish writing a book, then surely it wouldn’t be popular with the general public. The only way to make these books popular would be to edit them and present them in a style which was generally acceptable and appealing to the majority of the people of the time. Those attracted by this line of thinking would be severely mistaken. Two notable historical examples, among countless others, prove that pure devotion is all that is required to make a writer’s work both popular and supremely effective at disseminating the essence of spiritual knowledge.

Around four hundred years ago, a Vaishnava saint from Northern India unintentionally firmly established himself as one of the greatest writers in history. This saint was Goswami Tulsidas, and his Ramacharitamanasa, a lengthy Hindu poem which details the life and pastimes of Lord Rama, a warrior prince incarnation of Godhead who appeared on earth many thousands of years ago, became one of the most popular books in history. Prior to Tulsidas’ advent, Lord Rama’s life story was already told in the famous Ramayana poem written in the Sanskrit language by Maharishi Valmiki. Tulsidas particularly wanted to tell the story in Hindi to please Lord Rama and to give the sincere souls of the time a chance to understand the glorious activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

To understand just how remarkable Tulsidas’ work was, we have to consider Lord Rama’s popularity at the time. Lord Vishnu, Krishna, and Rama are non-different forms of the original Lord, so stories relating to their pastimes were well known in India during Tulsidas’ time. In fact, this has always been the case for the inhabitants of India. Yet somehow, through no personal desire or outward intention, Tulsidas managed to write a poem which would go on to become a staple in the homes of every Hindu. Indeed, he even authored a devotional poem praising Lord Hanuman called the Hanuman Chalisa. This is likely the most recited poem/song in the history of human civilization.

So the results of Tulsidas’ writing are visibly known, but what was his motivation? As a sannyasi, he didn’t have any possessions, wealth, or family ties. This means that he didn’t see a dime from the recitation of his great works. He never received any royalties from the singing of the Hanuman Chalisa. He didn’t have any army of distributors, a publishing company, or a printing press mass producing his work. Moreover, he didn’t even write most of his poems in Sanskrit, which is considered the oldest and highest class language. Many non-devotees and dull-headed brahmanas criticized him for allegedly sullying the good name of the Lord by writing about Him in a common language like Hindi.

“O son of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 7.8)

In the face of all these opposing forces, how was Tulsidas able to succeed? The answer is pretty simple. He had no desire for fame, prestige, or respect, nor did he want anyone to buy his book en masse. Rather, he simply wanted to think of Rama and please the Lord through his kind efforts. In the realm of devotional service, there is no such thing as superior and inferior service. In Sanskrit, human effort is referred to as paurusham, and from the Bhagavad-gita, we see that the source of paurusham is Krishna. As a result, we really have no abilities of our own. Whatever talents we do possess are on loan from God. Therefore no one person’s service can be considered superior to another’s. Everyone’s abilities come from God.

While there is no quantitative comparison between the humble services offered by different entities, there is a difference in effort. What pleases the Lord is sincerity and dedication to service, rather than the exact nature of the activity. In Tulsidas’ case, Lord Rama was extremely pleased by the level of devotion and dedication shown. Thus he helped Tulsidas in his writing. Tulsidas’ humility, kindness, and love for Shri Rama permeates the sound vibrations that makeup the pages of his transcendental works. This spiritual potency carries over even to versions of his works which are translated into English; such is the power of the message glorifying the Lord. When a devotee writes sincerely and without personal motive, the Lord personally enters the devotee’s mind and helps him choose just the right words to get points across.

This indeed was also the case with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Shrila Prabhupada is arguably the most prolific author of Vedic philosophy in the English language. What’s ironic is that English certainly wasn’t his first language. Rather, he decided to make a humble effort at translating the great Vedic texts into English at the request of his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Shrila Prabhupada’s original works were authored, edited, produced, and distributed all in a very short period of time, yet they became immensely popular. Not only are his books popular, but so are his speeches and lectures. Since many of these lectures were recorded, one can listen to them today. One will notice that when Prabhupada spoke extemporaneously, he often used broken English. He would miss words here and there, and he would fail to properly conjugate others. In addition, he had a very thick Indian accent, thus making it all the more difficult to understand him. Yet for devotees who listen to these tapes, the sounds are like pure nectar. There is not one thing faulty about them. The reason for this is that Prabhupada’s words were completely genuine and without any tinge of personal motive. The sounds are transcendental and replete with pure love and devotion for Krishna.

The miraculous nature of transcendental writing is visible in the works of countless devotees, past, present, and future. The writings of Lord Chaitanya’s exalted disciples and their followers, including Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, exhibit similar traits, as do the writings of Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of Krishna. This further buttresses the truth that the sincerity of a writer is what matters most. As with any endeavor in devotional service, if the motive is pure, the Lord will take care of the rest. When the writer is connected to the spiritual world, the resulting words can be sourced directly to Krishna Himself.

Yesterday’s News

“Only the Supreme Lord Himself or His empowered representative can possibly free us from confinement in this dark well. Under their guidance we can come to know of the limitless ocean of the spiritual sky.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Renunciation Through Wisdom, Ch 2.7)

With the advancement of technology, newspapers are slowly going out of fashion, at least the print versions anyway. In many circles, reading the newspaper is considered part of the higher culture. The belief is that anyone who wants to know anything must read the newspaper regularly to keep up with current events. Though most news is read on the internet these days, the same belief system applies to news items of any kind. If we are given an old newspaper or sent a story which is more than a day old, we usually don’t have any interest in it. Newspapers essentially have an expiration date; they lose their importance in the matter of hours. The dead-tree editions of expired newspapers end up being used for packing material, toilet paper, or fuel for a fire in a grill. Based on this, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to read something which doesn’t lose value over time. Moreover, wouldn’t it be worth our while to spend our time learning about facts and truths that only increase in importance as time passes? This is precisely why God gave us the Vedas and all the literatures that are derived from them.

It’s the common routine for many people to get their coffee in the morning along with the paper. The newspaper is especially nice for commuters who take public transportation to school or work. Sitting down comfortably in their seat, commuters can skim through the latest headlines, the sports scores, and even the comics on their way to wherever they are going. As soon as the destination is reached, however, the newspaper gets tossed aside. If we do end up saving our old newspapers, it’s only to use them for packing material or any other purpose except reading.

Why do news items lose their importance as time goes by? The answer should be fairly obvious. Let us first examine why we even take an interest in the news. As mentioned before, in many circles, regular news readers are considered to be part of the higher class. “If you read the news, you are up to date on the happenings of society around you. You know what the issues are in relation to elections, you know what the future weather forecast is, and you also know about any recent developments in health and science.” Along the same lines, anyone who doesn’t follow the news must be an ignorant and low class person.

There are others though, who take to reading the news simply out of boredom or the need for entertainment. They may have a particular politician, actor, or athlete that they like, so they’ll take an interest in following their every move. The editorial page also provides insightful opinions on subject matters that we may not be familiar with, so we feel like we are getting an education in addition to being entertained.

These justifications for reading the news seem valid enough. Yet why we do we see newspapers get thrown away one day after they come out? Try giving an old newspaper to someone and they will likely scoff, “This is old. Why are you giving this to me? It has no value.” Newspapers contain written words, so their importance lies in their content. When we say that a newspaper loses its importance after only a single day, we’re saying that the content is what becomes irrelevant. One simply has to examine the contents of an average paper to see why.

Without even reading tomorrow’s news, we can already predict what it will contain. Someone will have been murdered; a politician will have criticized another politician; a sports team will have won and will now think that their chances of capturing the title are good; another team will have lost; fans will be calling for such and such manager to be fired; columnists will be praising another player for performing well; predictions will be made; editorials will be written; the weather forecast will be provided, etc. Now let us go back in time to a newspaper from say a year ago. What we will find is that the nature of the stories is exactly the same. The exact names and circumstances may be different, but the theme of the stories will undoubtedly be the same. We can even go further back in time, five years, ten years, etc., and see the same phenomenon.

“In the material world we are simply chewing the chewed, throwing it away, picking it up and then chewing it again. Spiritual variety is not like this.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Teachings of Lord Kapila, Ch 13.29)

If the news is always the same, why do we keep following it? The great devotee of Lord Vishnu, Prahlada Maharaja, gave us insight into this concept. He referred to the repeated attempts at finding sense gratification in the same areas as “chewing the chewed”. We read one newspaper, take in all the various stories, and get whatever little enjoyment we can out of it. The next day we read the latest newspaper, thinking that the nature of the stories will be different, when in fact they aren’t. Hence the most recent edition of the newspaper is something we’ve already chewed. But since we are illusioned by the forces of maya, we think that we haven’t chewed this information already. This cycle of chewing the chewed repeats itself over and over again.

“Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.20)

What is maya? The Vedas tell us that God created this world to be a flawed replica of the spiritual world. The spiritual world is full of bliss and is unchanging. This material world is just the opposite. Matter is always changing, either through human effort [paurusham] or through the influence of the divine [daivam]. Since matter is always changing, we tend to think the enjoyment that we derive from it will also change. This is the effect of maya. Maya means that which is not; she is the illusory energy which governs this material world. Her powers of illusion manifest through her ability to fool us into thinking that matter, which is constantly changing, will give us new feelings of enjoyment. But as we see with the example of the newspaper, what we take to be change is actually nothing more than the same chewed material presented in a different form.

But what choice do we have in the matter? We live in the material world after all, so aren’t we forced to associate with this changing matter? Though everything in this world can be taken to be matter, there are exceptions. The most easily perceivable exception can be found right inside of our bodies. Though our body is composed of matter, it doesn’t form the basis of our identity. For example, we have hands and legs, but we can’t say that our identity comes from our limbs. If an arm gets cut off, we can still survive, meaning that the loss of our hand doesn’t equate to the loss of our identity. Recently, one of our friends noticed a man riding the train in a major metropolitan area. This man had arms, but no hands. Yet somehow he was reading a newspaper and drinking coffee that was purchased from a local market. Reading the newspaper and holding the drink were certainly extraordinary feats by themselves for a man with no hands, but even more remarkable was that this person must have had to pay for his newspaper and drink. Even with his handicap, he didn’t seem troubled in the least bit; he had everything under control.

So we see that our body parts, which are composed of matter, are part of our identity, but at the same time they are not. In a similar manner, we living entities are also part of the supreme whole known as God, yet we are still different from Him. This simultaneous oneness and difference is known as achintya-bheda-bheda-tattva, and it was the truth expounded by Lord Shri Krishna Chaitanya, an incarnation of God who appeared in India some five hundred years ago.

Our identity comes from the spirit soul residing within. The soul is unchangeable, unbreakable, and immoveable. When we use the terms “I” and “Mine”, we are actually referring to our soul. If we lose a hand or a leg, we can stay alive in our current form, but if we lose our soul, our life ends. The event known as death is the exiting of the soul from the body. The soul is not part of maya, hence it is an exception to the rule that all things are material and changeable. There is another exception as well: the Supersoul, or Paramatma. The Supersoul resides within the heart, but it is an expansion of God. Our soul, or atma, only resides within our body, but the Supersoul resides within the bodies of every living entity, thus illustrating the difference between us and God.

Atma and Paramatma are not products of maya, nor is Brahman, the impersonal effulgence that constitutes all things material and spiritual. Still, both Brahman and Paramatma originate from a supreme person. This personality is known as Lord Krishna, or God. God is the Supreme Absolute Truth, so in this sense He is the opposite of maya. His spiritual world is that which is, meaning a place where what you see is what you get. Though we currently reside in the material world, a perverted reflection of the spiritual world, we can still associate with God in a number of ways.

When we say “we” can associate, we’re referring to the spirit soul within. The soul is currently covered by a material dress which fools us into taking material sense gratification to be the ultimate aim of life. A higher engagement is to associate with something which transcends maya. Paramatma fits the bill. Since it is an expansion of God, the Paramatma can give us supreme bliss, should we choose to associate with it. We just have to know how to achieve this association. This is where yoga comes in. Yoga means linking our consciousness, atma, with the supreme consciousness, Paramatma.

This linking can be achieved through fruitive activities, philosophical speculation, meditation, or through acts of devotion. Acts of devotion are the best way to link ourselves with God because one who devotes their life to God automatically achieves the same benefits as the fruitive workers, mental speculators, and meditators. The Paramatma is within, so it’s not particularly clear as to how we can associate with it. Since Paramatma is God’s representative within our body, it is our duty to take direction from it. Since we’re in the conditioned state, we don’t know how to take this direction. To help the living entities who are genuinely in search of the Absolute Truth, the Lord kindly sends a representative to teach from without. This representative is the spiritual master, and he is a pure devotee of Krishna.

Association with the spiritual master can be of two varieties: vapu and vani. Vapu refers to personal association; offering service to the guru in person. Vani refers to the words and instructions of the spiritual master. Association through vani is achieved by reading the books written by the spiritual master and following the instructions previously given. It is precisely to allow future generations of mankind the association through vani that the great acharyas of the past wrote voluminous Vedic literatures. By reading these great books, we will be engaging in a worthwhile activity. Unlike newspapers, these great Vedic texts don’t lose their significance over time. The spiritual master is a representative of Krishna, who is the original spiritual master. A bona fide guru only teaches those things which Lord Krishna Himself originally taught to great personalities of the past. Seen in this light, the instructions contained within the great Vedic texts can be considered an incarnation of God. Since God is unchangeable, it would make sense that His instructions would inherit the same characteristic. By reading the great Vedic texts, we are directly associating with God.

We may throw away the newspaper or use it for packing material, but we hold onto the Vedic texts. Books like the Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam have been studied for thousands of years. The epic Ramayana is even older, and yet people are still deriving pleasure from reading it. This is something we should really think about. In our mind, let’s just try to go back in time to one thousand or two thousand years ago. Now let’s think about how different life was and how people engaged in different occupations and spoke different languages. Now let’s ponder this: even during such primitive times, the Bhagavad-gita and Ramayana were being recited, studied, and enjoyed. How amazing is that? This one fact alone proves how valuable these great books are.

“That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 8.21)

In today’s advanced technological age, access to information is not a problem. This means that we can read the great Vedic texts at any time and at any place. There really is no excuse not to take advantage of these great works. Many great acharyas have written wonderful commentaries on these books, passing on their wisdom to future generations. Even though these books were written in the past, they are anything but yesterday’s news. The guru carries news from the spiritual world; news which gives pleasure to the soul. By consulting the guru’s vani, we learn how to take instruction from the Supersoul within. The Supersoul will then guide us back to the spiritual world, where we will get to personally witness the latest news and events pertaining to Lord Krishna, His various incarnations, and His devotees.

Moving On

“Enjoyment means variety. God became many for His enjoyment, and thus our position is that of the enjoyed. That is our constitutional position and the purpose for our creation.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Beyond Birth and Death, Ch 1)

The ending of a popular television series is a time of great sadness for both the actors and the fans of the show. There is usually a build up to the final episode, with actors and creators reflecting on the history of the show and what it meant to them. Regardless of how popular a show is, the writers eventually get tired of coming up with new show ideas, or the actors grow weary of playing the same role, or the ratings inevitably falter, causing the network executives to cancel the show in hopes of running a more popular one in the same time slot. What is interesting, however, is that even though actors can become sick of playing the same role on the same show for years, when their shows inevitably end, they immediately go looking for a new show, sometimes even one belonging to the same genre. The cycle then repeats itself. Studying this phenomenon can help us better understand the nature of the soul and how it derives pleasure.

Being on a successful television show in America is like catching lightning in a bottle. In recent times, the television landscape has changed with the advent of cable and satellite television. Now there are hundreds of channels, so creators of new shows have more options for where to shop their particular show. In days past, however, if you wanted a popular television series, you had to get a timeslot on one of the major networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX. The television season runs from September through May, so that’s when new episodes are usually aired. During the summer months, television viewing isn’t as high since people tend to go on vacation and do other things. Every fall, the networks come out with their new lineup of shows, hoping that they will garner attention. A popular show equates to higher ratings, which means that networks can charge more for advertising. Like any other business, it all comes down to dollars and cents; the shows that are profitable will stay on the air, while the shows that aren’t will quickly get the axe.

Most shows don’t make it through their first season. If a new show gets picked up by a network, typically only a single episode, known as the pilot, gets aired. Depending on how the pilot does in the ratings, with critics, and with focus groups, the network will decide to order more episodes or they will decide to pass on the show. Even if a new show gets picked up, it’s usually not for an entire season right away. The networks want to see how the show will fit in different time slots and if it has staying power with audiences. Sometimes a new show will be popular in its first week but then gradually drift off in subsequent weeks.

When a show gets picked up for an entire season, it is like hitting the jackpot. For sitcoms, a full season usually consists of twenty-two episodes. This is enough time to provide continuity in the show’s storyline and to allow for a bond to be formed between the characters on the show and the fans. As an actor, being on a show that lasts an entire season is a big deal. It is even rarer to find a show that is a hit, i.e. one that tops the ratings every week and spans multiple seasons. In the history of television, there have been several immensely popular television series. These include Mash, Cheers, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld, and The Cosby Show. The evolution of these shows makes for an interesting study, for the mindset of the actors and creators changed over the course of time.

Let us take Everybody Loves Raymond for example. The show started off with creator Phil Rosenthal teaming up with comedian Ray Romano. The two had an idea for a family style sitcom with Ray playing the lead character. The show was pitched to various higher ups, with the late night talk show host David Letterman finally coming through and deciding to back the project. The show was picked up by CBS and aired on Friday nights in the beginning. Friday is one of the worst nights for primetime television because the ratings aren’t very high. Friday nights represent the beginning of the weekend, so most people are out with friends and family on this night. Luckily for Phil and Ray, the show, though not very popular, got good reviews from the critics. Moreover, it was the favorite show of the president of CBS, Les Moonves. Long story short, the show was eventually moved to Monday nights where it remained all the way through to the end of the series. The show lasted for nine seasons, but it actually could have gone on longer. The actors on the show, including its creators, felt that the show had run its course and that it was time to move on. The show ended with only 15 episodes airing in the final season. Even that took a little cajoling, for the creators were set on ending the show after eight seasons. They only agreed to come back to the show if they could have a shortened season.

The last episode was full of tearful goodbyes and fond memories. What happened next? Two of the show’s stars, Patricia Heaton and Brad Garrett, immediately signed up with new sitcoms in the following seasons. These shows didn’t do very well. This was by no means a unique situation, for this occurs with many actors who previously starred on popular television shows. Sometimes creators will come up with a spin-off to a show; a new show which has one or more characters from a previous show. This was the case with Frasier, which starred Kelsey Grammer. Grammer had been a mainstay for many seasons on Cheers, and when it ended, he immediately signed up to do Frasier. Ironically enough, Frasier lasted just as long on the air, eleven seasons. Essentially, Grammer played the same character on television for twenty years. There was even a joke made about this in a Frasier episode where Grammer’s character exclaims, “Do you know what it’s like to play the same character for twenty years?”

After playing the part of Frasier Crane for twenty years, what did Grammer do next? Well, he immediately jumped into new projects, appearing in two sitcoms which didn’t stay on the air very long. As previously mentioned, this sort of thing isn’t unique. The supporting cast members of Seinfeld all tried landing new sitcoms after the show ended, and so far only Julia Louis Dreyfus has managed to find any decent success. This whole cycle of jumping from one show to another illustrates an interesting aspect of human behavior. To start with, you have an aspiring actor or creator who just wants to be on television. They want any success they can find, something they can be proud of. Yet when their show becomes successful, they immediately start thinking about its end and what they will do next. Invariably, they jump right back into the same situation on a new show with different characters. But nevertheless, the same cycle of beginning and end repeats itself.

Why do actors and creators go through these cycles? They are human beings after all, and one of our characteristics is that we require stimulation of the mind. Stimulation equates to enjoyment, and to have enjoyment we must have variety. If we do the same things all the time, we start to feel like robots and we lose our taste for things. That’s why it’s very rare to find anyone who eats the exact same things every day. Moreover, it’s even difficult to find someone who will eat at the same restaurant every day.

“Enjoyment means variety. It is not possible to enjoy anything without variety. Why has God created so many colors and so many forms? In order to create enjoyment out of variety, for variety is the mother of enjoyment.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Teachings of Queen Kunti, Ch 25)

This desire for variety is actually an outgrowth of the nature of the soul. The Vedas tell us that the spirit soul serves as the basis for our identity. The soul is pure, uncontaminated, and unchanging. One of its qualities is that it desires activity. Currently, we are in a conditioned state, so our natural inclination is toward activities that please our gross senses. The senses are actually products of material nature, meaning they are inferior to our spiritual senses. Spirit is a direct representation of God’s energy, while matter can be thought of as God’s separated energy. Since matter is created by God, it is both separate from Him and equal to Him. It is equal to God in the sense that anything coming from God must be considered part of God. At the same time, matter is an inferior energy and thus exists separately from the Supreme Lord. Spirit, on the other hand, is of the same quality is God. The Supreme Lord, whose original name and form is Krishna, is described as having an eternal body which is full of knowledge and bliss. Since we are spirit souls, part and parcel of the complete whole, we also inherit these qualities of knowledge and bliss.

If we are just like God, why do we try to satisfy our material senses? Moreover, why do we even have material senses? Material senses come with the material body. For the soul to reside in this world, it must be covered up by a body composed of the three modes of material nature: goodness, passion, and ignorance. By trying to satisfy the gross senses, we act in the mode of passion. The Vedas advise us not to give up our desire for variety, but to simply shift the nature of our activities from the material to the spiritual.

What does this mean? Let’s take acting for example. An actor starts a new show and is completely satisfied with their role. They get to hang out with their fellow actors each week, run through rehearsals, and then do live tapings. After a season is finished, everyone goes on vacation and does their own thing in the summer. Then in the fall, everyone meets up again and has fun taping a new season. In this way, starring on a popular television show is like going away to college. But when the series ends, everyone becomes sad. They realize that they’ll never work together in the same way. Things will never be the same. To get over the sadness of a show ending, an actor will jump right back in the saddle and start the process all over again with a new show.

We can use this same technique in our quest for spiritual enlightenment. The Vedas contain the most comprehensive set of written instructions and recorded historical incidents known to man. The oldest Vedic text that exists in written form is the Ramayana. This is quite possibly the oldest book in existence, for no one can accurately date the events that are described within. Detailing the life and pastimes of Lord Rama, an incarnation of God, the Ramayana is a lengthy work which contains stories of historical incidents and also great teachings relating to the soul, God, and mankind’s relationship with Him. If a person starts reading this book with faith and devotion, they will quickly find themselves engrossed in it. A person will quickly develop an attachment to the main characters, not wanting to ever give up the association of Lord Rama, His wife Sita Devi, His younger brother Lakshmana, and His great devotee Hanuman. Yet all things must come to an end, so there will come a time when we will reach the end of the Ramayana.

Coming to the end of such a great book will naturally bring about sadness. Speaking from experience, we were quite sad and emotionally drained upon completing the Ramayana for the first time. So what did we do to get over this sadness? We immediately picked up the Mahabharata and spent the next few months reading this epic. The Mahabharata is probably the longest book ever written. Though its main plot line focuses on the plight of five brothers trying to regain their kingdom, the book covers all Vedic teachings. Thus it is often referred to as the unofficial fifth Veda. The major events documented in the Mahabharata took place some five thousand years ago when Lord Krishna personally descended to earth. In fact, the famous Bhagavad-gita, the Song of God sung by Lord Krishna Himself, can be found in the Mahabharata.

Eventually one will come to the end of this great work. This is also a sad occasion, for the end of the Mahabharata deals with Krishna’s return to the spiritual world, where He left behind His friends and relatives. Not surprisingly, we were also quite sad when we finished reading this book for the first time. So what did we do to get over our sadness? We immediately jumped to the Shrimad Bhagavatam, also known as the Bhagavata Purana. There are eighteen major Puranas, each of which is quite lengthy. The word “purana” actually means old or ancient, thus the Puranas contain descriptions of ancient historical events relating to Lord Krishna and His various incarnations.

Hopefully by now you can see the pattern. We are all very fortunate that the great Vaishnava saints of the past sacrificed so much time and energy to write down their revelations and experiences. They were kind enough to describe Krishna’s activities in detail. Since God is absolute, there is no difference between His original form and His pastimes. Reading about His pastimes means directly associating with Him. Another great thing about reading Vedic literature is that one will never tire of reading the same things over and over again. Though nothing will beat the experience of reading the Ramayana for the first time, subsequent readings can actually bring out more meanings and revelations.

This is the beauty of God and all things relating to Him. This principle of variety in activity doesn’t have to be limited to reading. Devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, involves actively engaging ourselves in God’s service. This means that we can also spend our time producing things for God such as literature, prayers, poems, and food to be offered to the deity. The quintessential devotional act is the chanting of the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. We are advised to repeat this chanting over and over, each and every day. The more we chant, the closer we come to feeling the ecstasy that comes from hearing the transcendental sound vibrations.

“O Rama, for as long as You shall stand before me, even if it be for one hundred years, I will always remain Your servant…” (Lakshmana speaking to Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 15.7)

Devotional service is an eternal occupation, something we’re not meant to ever give up. With our material activities, we may find something exciting to do for a short period of time, but inevitably we will want to move on. Our need for variety spurs this activity on. With spiritual activities, however, we never have to move on. We can always stay connected with Krishna, and still have all the variety we want. Jumping from one Vedic text to another seems like we are moving onto something else, but in reality our attachment to God is only increasing. Instead of becoming bored of our activities, our enjoyment only increases. This is the beauty of linking our soul with God. The soul plus God equals yoga, which equates to perfection in life.

A Hero At Any Age

"You are the gate-keeper of Shri Rama’s kingdom, where none may enter without your permission." (Goswami Tulsidas praising Hanuman, Hanuman Chalisa)

One of the great things about Vedic literature is that it is not targeted to any particular age group or demographic. Emanating from Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the eternal wisdom of the Vedas applies to all people, from all walks of life. Religion is intended to be an active, intellectual pursuit. Religion, in its purified form, means dharma, or occupational duty. It is very easy to act according to adharma, irreligion, but adhering to a set of standard guidelines is much harder. Going further and trying to understand why those guidelines even exist represents another level of intellectual pursuit. Nevertheless, God is for everyone, and this means that even young children can take to His service.

The most financially successful children’s television cartoons and animated films are the ones that can appeal to people of all ages. Disney and Pixar produce many blockbuster hits that aim to entertain young children. Most of these movies are rated G, meaning they are suitable for all audiences. Children love going to the movies and seeing their heroes in action. Yet the movie producers are smart enough to understand the importance of also entertaining the adults during these movies. For this reason, movies like Shrek, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story have dialogues and plot lines that appeal to people of all ages. Not only are these films popular when they are first released, but they turn into timeless classics. As people grow older, they find new meanings to the stories.

The Jetsons television cartoon show illustrates this principle. Originally airing in the early 1960s, with new episodes produced in the mid 1980s, the show depicted a dream, or hope, of a future space age. Instead of driving cars, everyone drove a spaceship, with robots and advanced machinery taking care of many day-to-day tasks. In one particular episode, George Jetson, the main character of the show, is invited to a football game by his boss, Mr. Spacely. A problem arises however, in that both George and Mr. Spacely had prior engagements scheduled with their wives that night. Spacely and George both agree to lie to their wives so that they can go to the game. During the game, George is chosen as the winner of a free mink coat. While the prize is handed out, the television cameras pan to the box where George and Spacely are sitting. The wives happened to see their husbands on television and immediately became irate over being lied to. After the game, Mr. Spacely and George went to George’s apartment, where they were greeted by the angry wives. George had an idea to split the mink coat into two separate garments. The husbands then gave their wives the mink garments as a gift and said that they knew they were going to win the coat, so that’s why they went to the game and lied about it.

This one episode of a fictional cartoon show has an appeal for people of all ages. Young children enjoy it because it is an animation that is light on the adult content. The characters fly around in fancy spaceships and attend football games, so there’s no reason a child wouldn’t find that appealing. Yet this same episode evokes laughter amongst adults, for all husbands have dealt with wives who came in the way of their watching sports. Many wives have also dealt with husbands who lie to them. The episode also played on the stereotype that women love to receive expensive gifts. All in all, we see that a person who first watched this episode as a child, can watch it twenty years later and derive completely new meanings from it.

The Vedas are similar in this regard, except that they convey the highest possible knowledge. The scriptures tell us that this human form of life is meant for knowing, understanding, and loving God. This knowledge will allow us to break free of the cycle of birth and death. Liberation means we will get to spend eternity with God in the spiritual world after our current life is over. This subject matter seems very serious, so one may wonder how the Vedas can appeal to children. Well, aside from the original Veda which contained multitudes of hymns praising the Lord, Vedic wisdom was also passed down in the form of stories. These stories, which are actually historical accounts, are found in the Puranas and the Ramayana. Maharishi Valmiki authored the Ramayana many thousands of years ago, and in it the life and pastimes of Lord Rama, an incarnation of God, are described in great detail.

For children, the plot line of the Ramayana is very appealing. Lord Rama is a handsome prince with a beautiful wife named Sita. She eventually gets kidnapped by a demon named Ravana, and thus the rest of the story focuses on Sita’s rescue. Rama and His younger brother, Lakshmana, are expert archers, and they enlist the help of monkeys who have supernatural powers. Together, Rama and the monkeys storm the island of Lanka, where an epic battle between Rama and Ravana ensues. It is obvious to see why such a story would appeal to children. There is a hero and a villain along with an all-star supporting cast. In India, the epics of the Vedas are talked about quite often and even depicted in cinema. The spiritual tradition is so strong that even the poorest person living in the most remote village in the country knows about Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, and Hanuman. Children grow up hearing about Rama’s exploits and how He was able to defeat Ravana. Sometimes, young children get so caught up in the Ramayana that they spend their playtime pretending to be Rama. Kids will make their own makeshift bow and arrow set and run around the yard pretending to be just like Rama and Lakshmana.

“Thus both Balarama and Krishna enjoyed Their childhood pastimes, imitating the monkeys of Lord Ramachandra who constructed the bridge over the ocean and Hanuman, who jumped over the water to Ceylon. And They used to imitate such pastimes among Their friends and so happily passed Their childhood life.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 11)

The difference between the Ramayana and ordinary movies and television shows is that the Ramayana depicts actual historical events. Though it may appear to be mythology, the advent of Rama and the killing of Ravana actually occurred in real life. In fact, Rama’s story is not exclusive to Valmiki’s Ramayana. There are eighteen major Puranas, and in many of them are found descriptions of Lord Rama’s pastimes in varying levels of detail. Sita, Rama, Hanuman, and Lakshmana were so famous throughout India that they were regularly discussed even during Lord Krishna’s time some five thousand years ago. Krishna personally advented on earth in His original form, and during His childhood He spent much time playing with His cowherd friends in Vrindavana. Shrimati Radharani and other cowherd girls would often invoke Lord Rama’s name and remember His pastime of building a bridge to Ravana’s city of Lanka. In one funny incident, Lord Krishna tried to convince the gopis that He in fact was the same Lord Rama, but they wouldn’t believe Him. So to prove them wrong, He built a bridge across a pond along with the help of monkeys. Even after that, the gopis still playfully chided Him.

Since Lord Rama is God Himself, He remains a hero at any age. The same person who was attached to the Ramayana as a child, gains an even greater understanding of Valmiki’s epic as an adult. It is a comprehensive text, with verses that are full of meaning and import. Matters of life and death, the eternity of the soul, and the temporary nature of the material world are all covered in the Ramayana. As we grow older, new challenges confront us and new doubts arise in our mind. The teachings of God and His representatives serve as a sword which cuts off all these doubts.

The most important lesson of the Ramayana and other major Vedic texts is that devotional service to God is the highest form of dharma. Besides Lord Rama, the other hero of the Ramayana is Rama’s eternal servant Hanuman. Just as God is glorious, so are His devotees. To this day, Hanuman is revered by millions around the world, for his name is synonymous with love and devotion to God. As long as Lord Rama’s story continues to be told, Hanuman remains on earth where he infuses love for God to all who worship him.

God and His devotees remain heroes throughout our lifetime. It doesn’t matter where we live, how old we are, or what religious sect we belong to, God is for everyone. Lord Krishna gave us the great Vedic texts so that we could always remain connected with Him. This causeless mercy of the Lord should not go to waste. Whether we have five minutes or five hours, we can all be benefitted by spending a little time reading these great books. Lord Rama is the greatest hero and He is waiting to rescue us from this world of nescience.

Unending Bliss

“The pastimes and activities of the Lord are not material; they are beyond the material conception. But the conditioned soul can benefit by hearing such uncommon activities. Hearing is an opportunity to associate with the Lord; to hear His activities is to evolve to the transcendental nature—simply by hearing.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 7)

Vedic literature is especially meant for the devotees. The Mahabharata, Puranas, and Ramayana are especially intended to give people direct contact with the Lord. This is the meaning of life after all, to love God and return to His spiritual abode in the afterlife. However, one can’t relish or understand the true meaning behind the verses found in these great books without first becoming a devotee, or bhakta. Therefore the Vedas, and the great acharyas who follow their teachings, recommend adherence to many rules. By performing austerities, or tapasya, and following the various regulations, we actually get to increase our enjoyment with God.

The Vedas are the original religious system passed down by God Himself. The universe isn’t created just once, but rather goes through cycles of birth and death just like the living entities. In most creations, Krishna Himself first imparts Vedic knowledge to Lord Brahma, the first created living entity. Vedic wisdom is best acquired through the hearing process, hence the Vedas themselves are known as the shrutis, meaning that which is heard. As time goes on however, written word is required in order for people to remember and reference Vedic teachings. The written form of the Vedas is referred to as the smritis. The smritis contain an endless set of rules and regulations to follow. They guide people on how many hours they should sleep, what time they should wake up, how much they should eat during the day, when they should eat, how they should behave towards others, etc. The epic Mahabharata touches on many of these issues in the conversations they reference between various sages and their disciples.

For this age of Kali, Krishna Himself came to earth in the form of a brahmana to propagate God consciousness. As Lord Chaitanya, God simplified all the rules of the Vedas by recommending that people simply engage in the congregational chanting of the holy names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. Along with this chanting routine, people are advised to refrain from the four pillars of sinful life: meat eating, gambling, intoxication, and illicit sex. Yet even these rules were only basic guidelines. At Lord Chaitanya’s direction, Sanatana Goswami wrote a detailed code of conduct for devotees. This book, known as the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, touches on all aspects of devotional service. It mentions the different offenses that one should avoid while chanting, how to perform deity worship, mantras for specific rituals, and so forth. Sanatana Goswami wasn’t the only one to write about devotional service, for Lord Chaitanya single-handedly started a disciplic succession of great writers. Shrila Rupa Goswami, Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are giants of the Vaishnava literary world and they are all disciples in Lord Chaitanya’s line.

All the prescribed Vedic rules and regulations seem to take away from the fun of life. In fact, this is one of the many reasons why people shy away from spirituality and religion. Even those who are religiously inclined can easily get overwhelmed by the mountain of rules and regulations. “I just want to love and serve God. Shouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t religion be fun?” This is a common sentiment. Many of us just want to enjoy spiritual life with God. We understand the inherently flawed nature of material life. Constant hankering and lamenting can get old very quickly. Even if we achieve all our “dreams”, life doesn’t stop there. We still have to get up every day and perform activity. Desires never go away. Success and failure are certain to come, but there has to be a higher purpose to things. For these reasons, we take to religious life.

The Vedas and the great acharyas agree with these conclusions. In fact, the rules and regulations are specifically meant to benefit potential devotees. It is only through adherence to some form of austerity, or tapasya, that we can really begin to enjoy spiritual life. Hearing about Krishna’s pastimes is a great example of this principle. The tenth canto of the Shrimad Bhagavatam goes into great detail about Krishna’s early life and especially His pastimes in Vrindavana. The stories and pastimes contained within this book represent pure bliss. Though only a set of Sanskrit words put together into poetry form, the subject matter is completely spiritual and untainted by the miseries of the material world.

One will notice that there aren’t very many lectures or commentaries written about Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavana. This is because the Lord’s activities are performed for the benefit of the devotees, hence they need no explanation. One of Krishna’s favorite pastimes as a child was stealing butter. He grew up in a cowherd family as the foster son of Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda. Milk, butter, yogurt, and ghee were in full supply in Nanda’s house and also in the homes of the neighbors. Krishna and His brother Balarama would regularly raid the butter supplies of the neighbors, and then feed the butter to the monkeys of the village.

Krishna also enacted many wonderful pastimes with His cowherd girlfriends, the gopis. Shrimati Radharani is Krishna’s eternal pleasure potency expansion, so the Lord is especially fond of her. Radharani also grew up in Vrindavana, and part of her duties as a gopi involved travelling to the nearby town of Mathura to sell yogurt. Krishna would often intercept the path of the gopis and eat their yogurt. Many times, He would sneakily lick the cream off the top of the yogurt pots, thereby making the yogurt unsellable. The gopis tried taking alternative routes to get to the city, but Krishna would always find them and intercept their path.

The Lord enacted these and many other wonderful pastimes such as playing on His flute. This Krishna-lila brings pure bliss to the devotees. These stories don’t require commentary or lectures because the pastimes themselves are enough to grant liberation. Hearing about the pastimes of Krishna or His various incarnations is as good as directly associating with the Lord. This is the magic of God. After all, the meaning of life is to know, understand, and love God, so simply by hearing these wonderful stories, we can fulfill our life’s mission.

So if these stories are so wonderful, why do we need rules and regulations? The answer is that these pastimes can only be relished by devotees. In fact, we see that many non-devotees and miscreants open up the Shrimad Bhagavatam and immediately jump the tenth canto. They read about Krishna’s various pastimes with the gopis and they take the Lord to be an ordinary lusty human being like themselves. This is also another display of the Lord’s illusory powers. The words of the Bhagavatam don’t change. Yet two different classes of people can read the same words and get two completely different meanings out of them. Words are certainly words, but the shlokas relating to Krishna’s pastimes can only truly be understood by devotees.

For this reason, the various rules and regulations were put into place. They are intended to elevate people to platform of devotional service. If we simply jump to Krishna’s pastimes without knowing who He is or why the creation exists, then we will never truly benefit from such historical accounts. The lesson is that we should follow the instructions of the great Vaishnava acharyas. They worked very hard and suffered through many hardships in order to help future generations develop love for God. If we humbly submit ourselves at their lotus feet and follow their instructions, we too can enjoy the unending bliss that comes from direct association with Krishna.

The Pages Come Alive

“When Krishna and Balarama are caught stealing the yogurt and butter, They say, ‘Why do you charge us with stealing? Do you think that butter and yogurt are in scarcity in our house?’” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 8)

For a person to be considered alive, a spirit soul must reside within their body. This soul enables one to perform activity or work. The gross material body is useless in the absence of the soul. When the spiritual spark is present, the body moves, walks, and talks. As long as a person is alive, they can give pleasure to friends and family through personal interactions. When death occurs, the soul leaves the body, thereby causing grief and heartache to loved ones. What people lament most about death is that their interactions with the deceased have come to end. They will never hear that person speak again nor will they be able to observe their activities. While this principle relating to death holds true for living entities, it is not so with God. Since Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has an eternal body which full of bliss and knowledge, His activities never cease.

“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion-at that time I descend Myself.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.7)

Not only does the Lord appear on this earth from time to time, but He also shows His presence on others planets which are part of the innumerable universes in existence. His appearances as a human being are what most people pay attention to. When Krishna incarnates as Lord Rama, people pay close attention to His activities and pastimes. When He personally appears in His Krishna form, great scholars take note of His teachings and His childhood pastimes in Vrindavana. The Vedas tell us that the soul is eternal and that it repeatedly undergoes birth and death in the material world, meaning that our current life is not the first one we’ve had. As far as interacting with Krishna goes, we may or may not have been present on the earth during the time of the Lord’s various appearances. The jivatma is similar to God in quality, but inferior in quantity. This means that we are unable to remember the experiences from our previous lives, whereas God is able to. Not only does He remember all of our previous births, but He remembers every action ever performed by any living entity, past, present, or future. This is the greatness of God.

Whether we actually got to personally associate with Lord Rama or Lord Krishna in the past is irrelevant since we wouldn’t be able to remember anyway. As a result, people sometimes bemoan the fact that they are unable to have personal interaction with God. This frustration is understandable. The material world is essentially a place full of miseries. This is because everything here, including our current body, is temporary. If something is temporary, meaning it is ultimately destroyed, it must be considered fallible and also a source of misery. We may be living the happiest life in a material sense, with a great family, a nice house, and a high paying job, but these things are all temporary.

The relationships we form with friends, family, and spouses are all checked in a sense. This is evidenced by the frequency with which arguments and disagreements occur. It is customary for a husband and wife to argue vehemently with each other. In fact it is often said that people will only argue with the people they love. We love our friends and family so much that it pains us greatly to see them behaving improperly. This pain causes us to attempt to correct the actions of our loved ones, which then leads to arguments.

Sense gratification in the material world has limits, and people that realize this eventually look to God. This is certainly a good thing, for the purpose of human life is to know, understand, and love God. When searching out God, one may be frustrated in the initial stages. This is because God doesn’t appear to be personally present before us. “I want to see You God, but I can’t. I’m suffering in this material world and I want out. I want to be with You. I hear that You’re so great, but why can’t I see You? Why can’t You just come and be with me?” It is quite natural to feel this way, for association with God represents the ultimate achievement in life.

When a person dies, we will never see them again. They are gone from our lives. However, if we think of them and remember the time we spent with them, then they are still alive in a sense. This holds true even more so with God. Just because the Lord is not personally present before us, it doesn’t mean that we can’t interact with Him. Having a life means being able to perform actions. If we read about the wonderful pastimes of the Lord found in the great Vedic texts, we are directly associating with Him, because simply by reading that Krishna did this and Krishna did that, He is essentially performing those actions in front of us. If the Lord were personally present before us and enacting His pastimes, it would really be no different than if we were to read about it. This is the magic of the scriptures. Krishna lives forever through the authoritative texts written by the great saints.

If we watch television shows, movies, or even sporting events, we love to talk about them later on with our friends. Our friends may ask us, “So what did you do last night?” We may reply with, “Oh, I saw Jordan hit a buzzer-beater to win the game.”, or “I saw a hilarious episode of Friends, the one where Chandler and Ross tried to quit the gym.”, or “I saw that new movie that’s out.” Through these activities, we directly associate with the various athletes and movie stars. In essence, these notable figures come to life by entertaining us.

In the same way, God can also come alive right before us on a daily basis. The Tenth Canto of the Shrimad Bhagavatam has detailed descriptions of Lord Krishna’s most famous pastimes. Lord Rama has an entire lengthy poem dedicated to His activities known as the Ramayana. By regularly reading these books, we can directly associate with God. If someone asks us if anything interesting happened over the weekend, we could respond with “Oh, Lord Rama killed Ravana. It was amazing; I was so happy.”, or “Lord Krishna lifted Govardhana Hill and protected all the inhabitants of Vrindavana.”, or “Lord Krishna kept impeding the path of Radharani as she went to sell yogurt in the market. Not only would He stop her from going, but He would eat all the cream off the top of the yogurt pots, thus jeopardizing any potential sales Radha would have made.”

In this way, God remains very much alive right in front of us. This pure and spontaneous mood of devotion is very much approved by Lord Chaitanya, Krishna’s most recent incarnation. During His time on earth, Lord Chaitanya once met a brahmana who was very distraught. The brahmana was fasting due to the fact that Mother Sita, Lord Rama’s wife, had been kidnapped by Ravana. He was waiting for her to come back so that he could eat. The actual events of the Ramayana had taken place thousands of years before, but this devotee of Lord Rama wanted to always remain in the moment. Lord Chaitanya appreciated this level of devotion very much.

The Vedas are unlike any other religious discipline. Lord Krishna is loved and adored so much that His pastimes, and those of His incarnations, are found in many many books. We should all take advantage of these resources available to us. God is always alive; by regularly hearing about Him from the mouths of pure devotees, He can appear right in front of us. If we have a sincere desire to see the Lord and to serve Him, He will most certainly come to our rescue.

Rules For Reading

“This Nrsimha-kavaca has been ornamented and blessed by Prahlada Maharaja. A devotee who reads this becomes freed from all sins.” (Sri Nrsimha-kavaca-stotram)

Many of the great Vedic texts are often recited in public. People gather round to hear the Ramacharitamanasa or Valmiki Ramayana recited continuously over a set period, usually over several days. While these recitations certainly benefit both the reader and the listeners, the great Vedic texts were written so as to allow us to connect with God on a daily basis.

The books themselves give guidelines for recitation. The Ramacharitamanasa was written by Goswami Tulsidas, who himself gave guidelines on how to recite his work in public. His book and many other Vedic stories declare that anyone who hears them with faith and devotion will have various material rewards bestowed on them. Narada Muni declared that anyone who heard the story of Lord Rama, as told in the Valmiki Ramayana, would enjoy felicity in heaven with all of their relatives.

Other stories found in the various Puranas also make similar statements. There are various kavachas, which are prayers dedicated to various forms of God, which act as shields to the reader. For example, the Sri Nrsimha-kavaca-stotram, as told by Prahlada Maharaja, grants many benedictions to one who recites it regularly:

“(For those who read this kavacha)…Whatever one desires in this world he can definitely attain without doubt. One can have wealth, many sons, and a long life. He becomes victorious who desires victory, and he indeed becomes a conqueror. He wards off the evil influences of all planets, earthly, heavenly, and everything in between.” (Sri Nrsimha-kavaca-stotram)

These statements are undoubtedly true. However, one should not think that simply by reading these books, one will automatically receive these benefits. The key lies in the fact that hearing these stories with faith and reverence will serve as a mechanism for reawakening one’s spiritual consciousness. At our core, we are all spirit souls, part and parcel of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Through contact with material nature since time immemorial, we living entities have forgotten our relationship with God. The Vedas, which are the ultimate form of knowledge and truth passed down from God Himself, offer us a way to reconnect with God.

The various material rewards offered at the end of these stories act as an enticement to the karmi. One who works on the platform of karma, fruitive activity, is known as a karmi. Almost every person is a karmi since we are all working towards advancing different forms of sense gratification. Students are studying hard so that they can have a nice career when they grow older. Workers put in long hours at the office so they can support their family. Having a big house, a nice car, and a beautiful family are all symbols of success in material life. These things aren’t bad, but they are temporary. The material rewards of dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), and kama (sense gratification) are not the ultimate aim of life. We may be very pious in our current life and thereby ascend to heaven after death, but residence there is not permanent. The great King Yayati had to fall down back to earth after the merits from his good deeds expired.

“Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.42-43)

Bhagavata-dharma, or devotional service is the ultimate aim of life. In the material world, conjugal love is the highest form of sense pleasure. In a similar manner, pure love for God is the highest rasa, or transcendental mellow. In the body of a human being, we have the best chance to forge ahead and rekindle our love for God. Nevertheless, not everyone will take to Bhagavata-dharma initially. We are so attached to our karmic way of life, that it is hard to break free. For this reason, God has provided a gradual stepping stone process, known as karma kanda. This is the section of the Vedas that deals with various sacrifices and rituals aimed at procuring material benedictions. God is basically saying, “Ok, you want material happiness? Fine, but you should at least remember that all things good and bad come from Me. Worship the various demigods, My deputies, and they will give you whatever you want, though it is sanctioned by me.” That is a fact that often gets overlooked. The various demigods, Lord Shiva, Ganesha, Brahma, Indra, etc., they all bestow various material benedictions to their devotees. However, these boons only come after Lord Krishna sanctions them:

“I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity. Endowed with such a faith, he seeks favors of a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 7.21-22)

There are many of these karma kanda type rituals prescribed for householders. Lord Rama, an incarnation of Krishna, even performed these rituals Himself during His time on earth. While travelling through the forest with His wife Sita Devi and younger brother Lakshmana, the group would always ask for the blessings of various demigods whenever they would set up a new cottage. Sita Devi was so great that she would regularly pray to the Ganges River, who is known as the demigod Ganga Devi, to protect her husband. She asked the demigods to help Rama, who was God. That is the highest form of demigod worship.

Today, probably the most widely performed householder ritual is the Satyanarayana Vrata. Many great Hindu personalities have described in detail how one should perform this Vrata, which includes preparing certain types of food and reading various stories from the Skanda Purana. These rituals are definitely beneficial, and those who perform it certainly shouldn’t give them up. However, we should all remember that if we want to make the most of this human form of life, we have to rise above these rituals.

Bhakti yoga, having a pure love for God, is the topmost Vedic discipline, transcendental to all Vedic rituals. All the great books of Vyasadeva, Valmiki, Tulsidas, and others, were written to allow one to connect with God. The Lord isn’t always physically present before us, but through His holy name, He can come to us very quickly. In this age, chanting is the prescribed method for transcendental realization. There are no rules and regulations applied to chanting. One can chant the holy names of the Lord anywhere and everywhere. Reading is just as good as chanting. Knowing this, we should read the great Vedic texts as often as we can, not just once a year. Anyone can start reading at any time of the year, for God is always waiting for us to come to Him.

Statements That Matter

“O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I take pleasure, being thrilled at every moment.” (Sanjaya speaking to Dhritarashtra, Bhagavad-gita, 18.76)

The world news media pays great attention to the statements made by world leaders and famous celebrities. Their quotes appear as newspaper headlines and also on newswires across the world. The media views the statements of celebrities as being as good as statements made from God Himself.

One need only check the internet during the day or watch a cable news channel to find the latest headlines, which almost always list stories relating to statements made by famous people. “The President said his latest bill will do so and so…Republicans respond to attacks from Democrats…Democrats say Republicans are to blame…so and so called so and so a liar…”, these are the types of headlines we regularly see when following the news. This phenomenon isn’t limited to world news and politics, for the sports and entertainment media display similar behavior. During this year’s Wimbledon, considered the most prestigious professional tennis tournament, former champion and former world number one, Lleytton Hewitt, was asked how fellow player Andy Roddick would fare for the rest of the tournament. Hewitt had just been defeated by Roddick, so the press was interested to know his opinion. Hewitt responded that Roddick had no chance of winning the tournament. This statement turned into front page headlines on all the tennis news websites. One player simply giving his honest opinion all of a sudden became the most important news item.

Every year the President of the United States gives a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress sometime in February. This speech is widely anticipated by the press corps and fellow politicians since the President outlines his goals and agenda for the upcoming year. A copy of the speech is given to the press prior to the address, allowing television networks to prepare their camera angles and cutaways for relevant moments of the speech. For example, if the President mentions someone specifically by name and that person happens to be in the audience, television networks can make sure to show that person on camera at the precise time in the speech when their name is mentioned. In a State of the Union address, presidents typically speak in platitudes, promising to spend money on lofty projects which are aimed at improving the health of the economy. It is very common to see members of both political parties, Republicans and Democrats, stand up and applaud various portions of the speech. After the address, television news channels have roundtable discussions with their panel of “experts” who analyze the content, delivery, and reactions to the speech.

As the famous saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words”, the words of Presidents and world leaders shouldn’t be taken as seriously as their actions. Anyone can say anything they want to, but in the end, it shouldn’t matter. Everyone knows that politicians lie, for lying is required to win votes in popular elections. Promises are made but seldom kept once a politician actually enters office. In the same way, famous athletes and pop culture athletes say controversial things all the time, either out of ignorance or because of disagreements they have with others. They are human beings just like the rest of us after all. All of us get into disagreements with others every now and then. It doesn’t mean that we should take so much stock into what people say. They are just words after all.

The news media and the pop culture would be better served if they followed the quotes made by Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedas, which include the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Upanishads, and eighteen Puranas, contain very detailed conversations and quotations made by the Lord during His times on this planet and others. There are innumerable universes and planets, and God is always appearing on them enacting His pastimes and providing protection to His devotees. The great sages of India have documented many of these pastimes and stories in the Vedas. Since these great books contain direct quotes from God Himself, it is in everyone’s best interest to read and study them. The Bhagavad-gita, probably the most famous Vedic text, contains the conversation between Lord Krishna and His cousin Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra that took place some five thousand years ago. The statements made by the Lord in that book far outweigh the statements made by any of the mundane philosophers and world leaders throughout the course of history. Krishna discusses the constitutional position of the soul, what happens to it after death, and why we living entities are put on this earth.

“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bg. 2.20)

“This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.” (Bg. 2.24)

“In all activities just depend upon Me and work always under My protection. In such devotional service, be fully conscious of Me.” (Bg. 18.57)

In a similar manner, the Ramayana and Shrimad Bhagavatam detail other pastimes and statements of the Lord. The Vedic literatures are so comprehensive and vast, that one can spend a lifetime trying to read them all and still not be able to finish. The Lord’s glories are ananta, or unlimited. We can even read the same books over and over again and never get bored, since we will always find new meanings and lessons to be learned.

We are very fortunate that the great acharyas of the past, like Vyasadeva, Valmiki Muni, and Goswami Tulsidas dedicated their lives to documenting the activities of God. They took no interest in the day to day actions and words of mere mortals, for they were spellbound by the words and teachings of the Supreme Lord. Through their sacrifice and hard work, they provided future generations with the greatest gift of all, the gift of the divine statements and pastimes of Lord Shri Krishna. Let us honor these great sages by reading their books, understanding the teachings and quotations found within them, and then passing on that knowledge to others.