2008 Sharad Poornima
Philosophy
The Most Powerful OneShri Maharaj Ji once presented this riddle. Only somebody with a sound grasp on philosophy can solve it.
Can you? |
Philosophy
Selfless Love of Gopis |
Philosophy
What is Maharas? |
Kid's Story
One Cannot Please Everyone |
Philosophy
A spiritual riddle
Shri Maharaj Ji once presented this riddle to all the satsangis. To get more from this riddle first try solving the riddle.
Then read (re-read) the answers and realize how it applies to yourself.
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Two friends introduce themselves to each other.
First one says
The other friend answers. My friend! Now listen to my introduction -
Now PAUSE. Try to solve it. Then read ahead.
Then read (re-read) the answers and realize how it applies to yourself.
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Two friends introduce themselves to each other.
First one says
- God sends me.
- I came in this world when the world was created or since God, Soul and Maya came in existence.
- I live with all the living beings.
- All the individual beings are under my control.
- I cannot be controlled by rishi, muni, yogi, bhogi or God-realized Gyanis.
- Even the Supreme God cannot take any action against me.
- Some like me very much whereas others are scared of facing me. And some are neutral towards me.
- I am the well-wisher of all the living beings. Yet the ignorant beings do not understand me.
The other friend answers. My friend! Now listen to my introduction -
- I am not sent by God.
- God does not even know me.
- I control everyone; the sages, seers, yogis and material beings are in my control.
- I am also eternal like you.
- I want to tell you one more thing, nobody can live even for a second without me.
- And I am more powerful than you.
- In fact you are my daughter.
Now PAUSE. Try to solve it. Then read ahead.
Answer
The names of the friends are
Now, point by point let us test if their claims are right.
The names of the friends are
- Destiny (तकदीर, भाग्य) and
- (Fruit-yielding) Actions performed in this life (तदबीर, पुरुषार्थ)
Now, point by point let us test if their claims are right.
Destiny justifying her claims
- God sends me.
- I came in this world when the world was created or since God, Soul and Maya came in existence.
- I live with all the living beings
- All the individual beings are under my control.
- I cannot be controlled by rishi, muni, yogi, bhogi or God-realized gyanis.
- Some like me very much whereas others are scared of facing at me. And some are neutral to me.
- I am the well-wisher of all the living beings. Yet the ignorant beings do not understand me.
(Fruit-yielding) Actions justifying her case
Now understand more about the second friend
- I am not sent by God.
- God does not even know me.
कर्मणां संचितादीनां जीवोऽधीनस्तथापि हि ।
स्वतंत्रः क्रियमाणे वै कृतो भगवता विदा ॥ |
karmaṇāṃ saṃcitādīnāṃ jīvo'dhīnastathāpi hi ।
svataṃtraḥ kriyamāṇe vai kṛto bhagavatā vidā ॥ |
After God-realization one does not perform any actions so there is no question of God knowing those actions.
In a nutshell, one has to endure destiny. And regardless of whatever was done in the past lives, in the present human life one can perform fruit yielding actions to get out of the karmic bondage and attain God.
- I control everyone; the sages, seers, yogis and material beings are in my control.
- I am also eternal like you.
- I want to tell you one more thing, nobody can survive even for a second without me.
- And I am more powerful than you.
- In fact you are my daughter.
In a nutshell, one has to endure destiny. And regardless of whatever was done in the past lives, in the present human life one can perform fruit yielding actions to get out of the karmic bondage and attain God.
Bibliography - Learn more
Philosophy
The love of Gopis is absolutely pure and exemplary. The sole goal of their love is to please their beloved and is devoid all desires of self-gratification. The Gopis do not ever think about themselves, their choices, interests or happiness, even for a moment. They are constantly engaged in making arrangements for pastimes of Shri Radha Krishna, so that Their pleasure and love for each other may increase. The ideology of 100% selfless divine love holds three main qualities:
1. The attitude of constantly offering everything to divine couple, with a pure feeling
2. They joyously engage in activities to please the divine couple. Their joy and engagement do not wax and wane based on the attention the Divine Couple gives to them. They don’t have an iota of desire to attain self-happiness.
3. To feel I am not worthy of rendering any service to my beloved Shri Krishna or Swamini Shri Radha Rani. It is their generosity, kindness and grace that they are letting me do something for their pleasure. Thus, they feel extremely fortunate to serve them in any possible way. They are agnostic of whether they are close to the couple or far away from them.
A Gopi, says to Lord Krishna, “O my beloved Shyam Sundar! When you go to the forest to graze the cows, our hearts burn in the fire of separation all day long. Our hearts shudder at the thought of You walking bare feet on the thorns and stones in the forest. When you come back in the evening, we get a chance to bow down to your feet. To soothe our yearning, we earnestly want to embrace soles of your lotus feet. But we do not out of fear of hurting your extremely soft lotus feet.”
As we can see, although the Gopis suffer from pangs of separation, yet they ignore their own pain and are miserable to see the signs of stones and thorns in His Lotus feet. Who can reach the depth of this love? None other than a gopi can understand these sentiments.
1. The attitude of constantly offering everything to divine couple, with a pure feeling
2. They joyously engage in activities to please the divine couple. Their joy and engagement do not wax and wane based on the attention the Divine Couple gives to them. They don’t have an iota of desire to attain self-happiness.
3. To feel I am not worthy of rendering any service to my beloved Shri Krishna or Swamini Shri Radha Rani. It is their generosity, kindness and grace that they are letting me do something for their pleasure. Thus, they feel extremely fortunate to serve them in any possible way. They are agnostic of whether they are close to the couple or far away from them.
A Gopi, says to Lord Krishna, “O my beloved Shyam Sundar! When you go to the forest to graze the cows, our hearts burn in the fire of separation all day long. Our hearts shudder at the thought of You walking bare feet on the thorns and stones in the forest. When you come back in the evening, we get a chance to bow down to your feet. To soothe our yearning, we earnestly want to embrace soles of your lotus feet. But we do not out of fear of hurting your extremely soft lotus feet.”
As we can see, although the Gopis suffer from pangs of separation, yet they ignore their own pain and are miserable to see the signs of stones and thorns in His Lotus feet. Who can reach the depth of this love? None other than a gopi can understand these sentiments.
Philosophy
अङ्गनामङ्गनामन्तरे माधवो माधवं माधवं चान्तरेणाङ्गना ।
इत्थमाकल्पिते मण्डले मध्यगः सञ्जगौ वेणुना देवकीनन्दनः ॥ 2.35 |
aṅganāmaṅganāmantare mādhavo mādhavaṃ mādhavaṃ cāntareṇāṅganā ।
itthamākalpite maṇḍale madhyagaḥ sañjagau veṇunā devakīnandanaḥ ॥ 2.35 |
Q. Maharaj Ji ! What is the meaning of Maharas?
A. The root word for raas (रास) is ras (रस) which means the nectar of Divine love bliss. Bliss itself is infinite. Then who can describe the highest bliss of samartha rati; bliss of those devotees, who love Shri Krishna as their Supreme beloved and Shri Radha as their Supreme Queen without any desire of self-happiness.
A. The root word for raas (रास) is ras (रस) which means the nectar of Divine love bliss. Bliss itself is infinite. Then who can describe the highest bliss of samartha rati; bliss of those devotees, who love Shri Krishna as their Supreme beloved and Shri Radha as their Supreme Queen without any desire of self-happiness.
रसो वै स:
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raso vai saḥ
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is an epithet of Lord Krishna which means “nectar of love.” There are many levels of this nectar. Hence, The Vedas again depict Him as
रसानां रसतमः परमः
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rasānāṃ rasatamaḥ paramaḥ
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"The Supreme Nectar”. Bliss could be attained even by the gyanis, who worship formless God. But the devotees of Samartha Rati attain the highest level of ever-increasing love-bliss of Shri Radha Krishna.
Q. Can a human being attain Maharas?
A. Sure. Any human being, who practices Madhurya Bhav bhakti under the guidance of a Rasik saint of madhurya bhav can attain it. They live by the philosophy
A. Sure. Any human being, who practices Madhurya Bhav bhakti under the guidance of a Rasik saint of madhurya bhav can attain it. They live by the philosophy
तत्सुखसुखित्वम्
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tatsukhasukhitvam
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"Find pleasure in the pleasure of the beloved”. In other words, under the guidance of a saint of Gopi Prem one has to exclusively love Radha Krishna - The Divine Couple. All actions and thoughts ought to be targeted to please Shri Radha Krishna.
So, out of all the God-realized saints ONLY 2 categories can attain Maharaas (see the graphic below for details).
So, out of all the God-realized saints ONLY 2 categories can attain Maharaas (see the graphic below for details).
- Tattatbhavicchhamayi Kamatmika Ragatmika Samartha Rati Bhakti
- Tattatbhavicchhamayi Kamanuga Raganuga Samartha Rati Bhakti
Q. Are ‘Maharaas’ and “Premanand’ synonymous words?
A. No. Maharaas is the highest level of premanand. There are many levels of bliss starting from Brahmanand or the bliss of Impersonal form of God which is attained by those who follow the path of gyan, who realize formless God and attain ineffable, infinite and divine bliss. Then the levels of those devotees start, who love a personal form (SAKAAR) of God. Their bliss is called premanand. These levels, in ascending order, are
A. No. Maharaas is the highest level of premanand. There are many levels of bliss starting from Brahmanand or the bliss of Impersonal form of God which is attained by those who follow the path of gyan, who realize formless God and attain ineffable, infinite and divine bliss. Then the levels of those devotees start, who love a personal form (SAKAAR) of God. Their bliss is called premanand. These levels, in ascending order, are
- Dasya Bhav - to adore God as a master,
- Sakhya Bhav - to adore God as a friend,
- Vatsalya bhav - to adore God as son and
- Madhurya Bhav - to adore God as beloved. Madhurya bhav has three levels:
- Sadharani Rati - to adore God as beloved for self-happiness,
- Samanjasa Rati - to adore God as beloved for His happiness but rarely a slight feeling of self-happiness also occurs in this state,
- Samartha Rati - Completely unselfish adoration of Shri Krishna as beloved and Shri Radha as Swamini or governess. There is not even a trace self-happiness in any situation. They have the singleton desire to serve the divine couple to please Them. There is nothing beyond it. And, only the devotees of this level of love attain the bliss of Maharaas. They are rarest of rare amongst billions. Even Rukmini Ji, the principal queen of Shri Krishna, could not attain Maharaas since sometimes a trivial feeling of self-happiness manifested in Her heart. The Bhagavat also asserts the same in Canto 10, chapter 47, verse 60
Kid's Story
One day a man was going to market with his son and his donkey. They met a couple on the way.
"Why walk when you have a donkey to ride?" called out the husband, "seat the boy on the donkey." "I would like that," said the boy, "help me up father." And the father did that willingly. Soon they met another couple. "How shameful of you!" cried the woman, "let your father ride, won't he be tired?" So, the boy got down and the father rode the donkey. Again, they marched on. "Poor boy", said the next person they met, "why should the lazy father ride while his son is walking?" So, the boy got onto the donkey too. As they went on, they met some travelers. "How cruel of them!" They are up to kill the poor donkey" cried one of the travelers. Hearing this, the father and the son got down. Now they decided to carry the donkey on their shoulders. As they did so, the travelers broke into laughter. The laughter frightened the donkey. It broke free and sped away. MORAL You cannot please everyone. If you do something good, the bad people will mock and criticize you. If you do something bad good people will criticize you. Second, definition of good and bad also varies according to the ideals of a person. Hence, do good by God in order to become good instead of trying to be called good by others. |
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