2009 Holi

Philosophy

Questions by Children Answers by Didi

Philosophy

Happy Holi

Spring is the season of beauty and love. During this season the whole earth looks magnificent with colorful, fragrant flowers and greenery all around. Love is in the air and everyone is happy. Thus galvanized by the entire atmosphere, people play with red powder (Gulal) and red water color. Red color is the symbol of love (the meaning of Sanskrit word ‘Rag’ is love and Rag means red color as well). Shri Krishna and Radha are the embodiment of Divine Love. The main purpose of Shri Krishna’s appearance on earth was to shower love on deserving souls. Hence He eagerly awaits this "season of love". Following is a leela description by Shri Maharaj Ji of a Divine Holi in Vrindavan during the time of Shri Radha Krishna's descension 5000 years back. In the spirit of the season, everyone in Braj is smitten by the love bug. All Gop(friends of Shri Krishn) and Gopis (girlfriends of Shri Radha Rani) of Vrindaban, have assembled together to receive ‘Rag’ (love in the form of red powder and water color) from the Divine Couple and to throw their Rag (Love) on them. The scene of the Divine play of Holi, with thousands of Gop and Gopis standing in a circular formation with Shri Radha Krishna in the center is spectacular and beyond description.

Philosophy

The Real Significance of Holi

यह अर्टिक्ल हिन्दी में पढ़ें

India is famous for the religious characteristic of its festivals. Readers may be inquisitive to know the spiritual significance of Holi? The most prevalent notion, in this regard is that Holi is a festival of playing with water colors and gulal, having loud fun, eating lots of sweets and rich and fried food!! However, relatively fewer people know that this festival relates to Bhakta Prahlad whose life is an exemplary example of the power of devotion, which can effortlessly nullify the mightiest of demonic powers. Thus, the true meaning of Holi, is to understand the philosophy propagated by Bhakt Prahlad and put it into practice to conquer all evils and attain the unfathomable divine grace.

Who was Prahlad?

Prahlad was the youngest and most virtuous son of demon king Hiranyakashyapu. Only one virtue of Prahlad i.e. his natural love towards the lotus feet of Lord Shri Krishna from the time of his birth is sufficient to describe his glory.

वासुदेवे भगवति यस्य नैसर्गिकी रतिः
भागवत

Vāsudēvē bhagavati yasya naisargikī ratiḥ bhāgavata

Since his childhood years, Prahlad had no interest in playing. Instead he used to be lost in deep remembrance of the Lord. Lord Shri Krishna's grace and kindness had so captivated his heart, that he was not conscious of the outside world. He would feel that God Himself had taken him in His lap and was embracing him. Being lost in such intimate feelings about God, Prahlad used to go about performing the worldly chores such as eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting, walking etc., without even realizing that he was doing so. Sometimes he would start crying loudly, thinking that God had left him and gone. Sometimes, experiencing in his mind that the Lord is right in front his eyes he would start laughing in ecstasy. Sometimes experiencing sweet happiness by remembering Him, Prahlad would start singing loudly. Sometimes ignoring the world around him, he would start dancing in gay abandon. Sometimes Prahlad would get so lost in thoughts of Shri Krishna's pastimes that he would forget himself and start imitating Him. Sometimes experiencing the soft divine touch of the Lord, he would become ecstatic and sit down quietly. At those times, each and every pore of his body would rejoice. His partly open eyes would be full of steadfast love and tears of happiness. The demons had appointed Lord Shukracharya to be their priest. Shukracharya had two sons - Shand and Amark. Both his sons, lived next to the Kings palace and taught the virtuous and competent Prahlad and other Asura kids about diplomacy, economics etc. Prahlad would listen to his Guru's teachings and repeat the same back to them. However in his heart he did not find it good. One day, Prahlad's father asked his son Prahlad -"Son! What do you like?". On hearing Prahlad's answer, Hrinyakashyapu felt a pain much deeper than the pain he had felt on hearing about the slaying of his younger brother Hiranyaksh. Prahlad smilingly said

बनं गतो यद्धरिमाश्रयेत

banaṃ gato yaddharimāśrayeta

Father! I like going to the forest and performing uninterrupted devotion to Shri Krishna, the best. Hiranyakashyapu was blinded with anger. He called for Shand and Amark - Shukracharya's sons. And said "Take Prahlad away! Let him not be in front of my eyes. Make him understand, teach him to read and write. Teach him about the 4 diplomatic principles of saam-reasoning, daammonetary allurement, dand-punishment, bhed-creating divisions, educate him on the objective of the kings, their subject etc". What did Prahlad have to learn? He was a descended saint. Despite that, whatever Guruji used to teach him, he would recite the same back to his Gurus unwillingly. In his heart he found that knowledge useless. After a while when his Gurus were convinced that Prahlad was sufficiently educated in the diplomatic affairs of pacifying public leaders, appeasing them by giving them lucrative posts, dividing and ruling over them, and punishing them in cases of disobedience, they took him to his mother. Prahlad's mother very lovingly gave him a bath, dressed him in nice clothes and beautiful ornaments, and presented him before his father. Prahlad paid respects to his father. Hiranyakashyapu again took a happy Prahlad in his lap and tears of love started flowing from his eyes wetting Prahlad. He asked, "Son, Now tell me, what do you like? What have you learnt? What have you understood from your Gurus?

श्रवणं कीर्तनं विष्णो: स्मरणं पादसेवनम् ।
अर्चनं वन्दनं दास्यं सख्यमात्मनिवेदनम् ॥
भा. ७.५.२३

śravaṇaṃ kīrtanaṃ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṃ pādasevanam,
arcanaṃ vandanaṃ dāsyaṃ sakhyamātmanivedanam
Bhāgvatam, 7.5.23

"Father! There are 9 ways of performing devotion to Lord Vishnu - Listening, singing and remembering God's glories, names, pastimes, serving His lotus feet, offering Pujan, bowing to Him, worshipping Him considering oneself to be His servant or His friend, worshipping Him with unconditional surrender. First surrender to God and then perform Navdha Bhakti. This is the knowledge that I have earned". Hearing this, Hiranyakashyapu, pushed Prahlad out of his lap. He called his generals and ordered them to kill Prahlad by any means. The generals tried every possible way to kill Prahlad. They pushed him from a tall mountain, threw him in the sea, got him crushed by an elephant, got him bitten by a venomous snake, made him drink poison. They tried all possible ways of killing him. However, Prahlad remained unscathed. Seeing his own helplessness, Hiranyakashyapu got really worried. He could not think of a way to kill Prahlad. Heeding to the advice of the Guru sons, he again sent Prahlad to study. Guru sons starts teaching Prhalad about Dharma i.e performing duties towards the family and the society, Arth i.e. means to achieve economic, social and political success and Kam i.e all sorts of enjoyments. Prahlad lived in the hermitage like a humble servant. However, he did not like the knowledge being imparted by his Gurus. One day, when his Gurus had gone out for some household related work, Prahlad started giving a sermon to the demon kids in his sweet voice. All kids assembled around Prahlad and started listening to Prahlad's words very attentively, with their eyes lovingly fixed on Prahlad.

Prahlad repostponed

कौमार आचरेत् प्राज्ञो धर्मान् भागवतानिह। दुर्लभं मानुषं जन्म तदस् ध्रवमर्थदम्।
भा. 7.6.1

kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatāniha। durlabhaṃ mānuṣaṃ janma tadas dhravamarthadam।
Bhagavat 7.6.1

i.e. One must take the shelter of the goddess of Shri Krishna Bhakti from early childhood. Leaving devotion to the future is a grave mistake. The Vedas say- Do it now.i.e

न श्वः श्वः उपासीत को हि पुरुषस्य श्वो वेद ।
वेद

na śvaḥ śvaḥ upāsīta ko hi puruṣasya śvo veda ।
veda

i.e. do not procrastinate saying ”I will do it tomorrow. I will do it tomorrow”. It is possible that you may not live to see the light of tomorrow. This human form even though being so precious that it is elusive to the celestial Gods is temporary. Therefore, one must commence Krishna Bhakti right away and not leave it to the future. Taking shelter of the Lord's lotus feet is the only success of this human form. Because God is the master, friend, beloved and soul of all living beings.

यदेष सर्वभूतानां प्रिय आत्मेश्वरः सुहृत् ।

yadeṣa sarvabhūtānāṃ priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt ।

To please God, it is not required to make a lot of effort, because He is the soul of all living beings. Prahlad declared:

प्रीयतेऽमलया भक्त्या हरिरन्यद् विडम्बनम् ॥
भा. 7.7.52

prīyate'malayā bhaktyā hariranyad viḍambanam ॥
bhā. 7.7.52

i.e. Shri Krishna's grace can only be obtained by selfless devotion, rest all other means are an illusion. Their result will be material. Meaning thereby that celestial forms increase ones tendencies towards enjoying sensual pleasures, other forms such as inanimate forms and forms of birds, animals etc do not have the power to grasp the Divine knowledge and philosophy. Therefore, it is only possible to achieve the ultimate objective of life in the human form, by performing devotion to Lord Krishna. Prahlad further said, "Friends! In this world or in the human form the biggest objective is to attain Lord Krishna's unalloyed devotion".

The Asura kids asked him – “Brother Who imparted you this knowledge and When?”

He informed he had obtained this knowledge in the mother’s womb. Hrinyakashyapu had gone to perform penances after Hiranyaksh was slain. It is at that time, that Prahlad was into Hrinyakashyapu’s wife Kayadhu’s womb. Indra thought – “This is a perfect opportunity! Destroy his entire family!” So, he attacked Hrinyakashyapu’s kingdom with an army of all devtas. And he also tied up the pregnant Kayadhu and abducted her. He met Sage Narda on the way. Narad Ji asked “What are you doing?” “What am I doing? I am taking my enemy’s wife to imprison her in a jail in Swarg”. Narad Ji reprimanded him saying “You fool. She is carrying a saint in her womb and if you even think something against her – Your controller- God will take you to task!”. He got her freed from Indra. Nardaji then took Kayadhu to his Ashram and recited philosophies from different scriptures. Prahlad heard all those lectures, memorized them and surrendered himself to Lord Shri Krishna. He became a devotee of Shri Krishna. Lord Krishna appeared to him in His divine form. All this happened inside his mother’s womb. Hearing the story, all Asura kids started admiring Prahlad very lovingly. Prahlad gave them instructions on practicing devotion to Shri Krishna.

Listening to Prahald’s discourses, their minds got affixed to God. Seeing this, their Guru got scared and went and informed Hrinyakashyapu. Hrinyakashyapu started shaking in anger hearing this intolerable and unlikeable action. In the end he decided that he would kill Prahlad with his own hands. He asked Prahlad – “Where is your God? If he is omnipresent, then why can’t He be seen in this pillar? When he could no longer control his anger, he jumped from his throne with a sword in his hand and slammed the pillar with great force. At that precise moment, there was a loud noise from the pillar. It sounded as if the entire universe had exploded. A scared Hrinyakashyapu started looking here and there. Narsingh Bhagwan (half man half lion) stood right in front of him. His form was terrifying. Nobody had the strength to go in front of him. Reaching the gates of the courtroom, Narsingh Bhgwan placed Hrinyakshyapu on his thighs and playfully tore him apart with his nails.

Seeing Narsingh Bhagavan’s bright and angry face, no one could muster enough courage to serve him. Brahma, Shankar etc all demi-god’s could not pacify Narsingh Bhagavan’s anger, nor could they go close to Him. Devta’s requested Mother Lakshmi to go and pacify Him, but seeing his incredible angry state even she could not muster enough courage to go close to Him. Then BrahmaJi sent Prahlad. Lord’s anger was immediately pacified, seeing Prahlad. He picked up Prahlad and made him sit in His lap and placed His hands on his head. Prahlad became ecstatic and divine love started flowing through his heart and tears of love started trickling down his eyes.

Glory be to Prahlad- The Crown Jewel of Devotees

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Bibliography - Learn more

(1) Holi

(2) Selfless Devotion as Taught by Prahlad

(3) Self-Realization vs. God Realization

Philosophy

Mahaprabhu Jayanti

यह अर्टिक्ल हिन्दी में पढ़ें

It is the auspicious day of the advent of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was the combined Incarnation of Shri Radha Krishna. When Shri Krishna decided to descend on earth to deliver ignorant souls being misled due to incredible impact of Kaliyug, He requested Shri Radha to come along with Him. Shri Radha indicated that this is not an appropriate time for Her to descend. However, out of Her causelessly merciful nature and compassion for the ignorant souls, She asked Shri Krishna to descend with all Her attributes, so as to benefit all spiritual aspirants with both Their qualities and attributes.

Shri Krishna equipped with all of Shri Radha’s qualities, descended in the year of 1407 AD as the son of a great scholar of Nadia, Pandit Jagannath Mishra and Mother Shachi. He took birth under a tree of Neem, hence His parents called Him Nimai.

He was extremely beautiful, attractive and loving like Shri Radha. Yet he was extremely naughty and playful like Shri Krishna especially in His childhood. He became a great scholar very soon and at the tender age of 16 He had His own highly acclaimed and prestigious school for teaching scriptures. A little later in life, He pretended to receive initiation from Saint Ishwar Puri, following which He became a great devotee of Shri Krishna. He used to be in ecstasy of divine love bliss most of the time. His pangs of separation from Lord Krishna, His humble plea at the feet of His own devotees to impart Shri Krishna’s love, His indescribable divine love, His luster etc., turned many notorious robbers, tyrant authorities and even ferocious wild animals into great devotees. He propagated devotion through the chanting of the divine names, that is why He is called NAMAVTAR as well. He was enlightened and enlightened many souls, Hence His another name is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His main teaching is to attain selfless divine love for Shri Krishna, which is achievable only by utmost humility and complete surrender. There must not be any room for any kind of pretense.

After spending 45 years on this earth, leading a devout life, drowning everyone-the deserving and the undeserving, in the ocean of unlimited Love-Bliss, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ascended to His Divine abode.

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Philosophy

Jagadguruttam Divas

यह अर्टिक्ल हिन्दी में पढ़ें

In addition to being the harbinger of the New Year, the month of January, is also immensely important due to a historical event of great significance. On the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti, i.e. Jan 14, the current original Jagadguru, Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj had graciously accepted the exclusive title of “Jagadguru”, after a gap of 700 years.

It was for the first time in the History of India, that the title of "Jagadguruttam”, which means ‘Best Of All Jagadgurus’, was awarded, as a recognition of the fact that Swami Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj is not only the Supreme Acharya of Knowledge, but is also the Supreme Acharya of Bhakti. Likewise he is also an expert at reconciling and honoring the views of all the previous Jagadgurus, authentic scriptures and saints and presenting his own view, in line with the ancient Hindu scriptures.

We pay countless obeisance to the lotus feet of the foremost saint and our beloved master Jagadguruttam Swami Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj.

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Bibliography - Learn more

Holi

Selfless Devotion as Taught by Prahlad

Satyuga

Kid's Q&A

Question by Children Answers by Didi

यह अर्टिक्ल हिन्दी में पढ़ें

Anishka - Didi Ji, why does God do Kripa on us, even when we do bad / wrong actions?

Didi Ji - God is ceaselessly merciful (Akaran Karun) by nature. Hence, God grants all the basic necessities such as air, water etc. to all living beings including plants, animals. birds, human beings etc., without any bias. Although, God is Almighty. There are some people who do not believe in Him or abuse and
accuse Him just for nothing. He can punish them by depriving them from pure water, air etc. or making these inevitable things poisonous for them, yet He does not do so. This is because of His causeless-merciful nature.

For example: a loving mother, always gives same food to her obedient and disobedient children, even when they misbehave and she is really angry at them. Likewise God who is our eternal and most loving father and mother, provides for all the basic necessities of life, to all His children,
regardless of their actions. In addition, just like a mother gives special treats to her most obedient and well behaved child, similarly God grants special favors to those who are good and surrender to God without any selfish or personal interest. In other words special favors or blessings are earned only by ones good actions.

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Anishka - Didi Ji, You say that our body is made of soil, then why is it that some people are white, some are black and others are brown. Moreover, different parts of our body have different colors such as the color of our teeth is white, lips are pink , hair is black etc. If we are made or Mitti/Mud, all the body parts should be all brown and all of us should be brown in color, as mud is brown in color.

Didi Ji - When we say that this body is made of Mitti/ Mud, it does not mean that the body is made out the mud found on earth, like you would make a snowman out of snow or you would make a sand castle from the sand. Mitti / Mud is made up of five gross elements - space, air, fire, water and
earth . Human body is also made up of the same five elements. That is why it is said that the body is made of Mitti / Mud. Human body gets formed inside a mother's womb, based on a resolve by the Almighty God. Once the body starts getting formed, God sends soul inside the body. Consequently, the body
attains life from soul and various organs of the body attain the power to perform their respective functions i.e. the eyes to see, ears to hear, nose to smell, tongue to taste and skin to feel. And at the time of death when the soul leaves this body, the body becomes one with the mud. Also, since body and mud are made up of the same 5 gross elements, body grows only when it gets all the nutrients from the food that grows from this mud, like fruits, vegetables, grains etc.

Thus, it is made of 5 earthly elements. It grows when the same 5 elements are given to it and eventually it merges into the same elements of earth. That is why it is said the body is made of earth. The color of body mostly depends on climate of your birth place and then on heredity. The structure and beauty of the body also depends on heredity, which is given to you according to your destiny, which depends on your previous actions. To give different colors to the different part of the body is an art of God as you do with the toys or other drawing work. Think, if the whole body was white, including your hair, how ugly would look and it could become more difficult to distinguish one part from the other.

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संदर्भग्रंथ सूची - और अधिक जानें

Who Builds Our Destiny?

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