RE: Not meant as a put down!
William Benedict
I once spent a few hours with Mother Teresa also and gave her a Gita. That also is a blessing and I felt fortunate to meet a very pure soul.
Ys,
Bhaktadasa
Sent from my Nokia phone
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Jay
Sent: 04/07/2010 8:40:00 AM
Cc: Bhaktatraveler; Pratyatosa; markm...@yahoo.com; lak...@webtv.net; yasod...@yahoo.com; sudhras...@gmail.com; urdh...@aol.com; ange...@yahoo.com; miloni...@yahoo.com; cc...@yahoo.com; das...@streamyx.com; hanto...@hotmail.com; magf...@wowway.com; istag...@googlegroups.com; amey...@gmail.com; mahesh...@yahoo.co.uk; Prabhupada Disciples
Subject: Not meant as a put down!
Dear Ajamila prabhu ji, PAMHO AGTSP
On Jul 3, 2010, at 3:13 PM, Ajamila (das) ACBSP (Goloka Books - UK) wrote:
>> HARI BOL!
>>
>> Those who missed the chance of hearing about KRSNA from Srila B.V. Puri
>> Goswami Maharaja are also unfortunate IMHO.
>
> So if a devotee goes through his whole life ONLY hearing about Krishna from
> Srila Prabhuopada he or she is unfortunate?
>
> I don't think so.
Neither do I. But then, that was not the point being made.
Please do not misunderstand the point. Or turn it into an offense. I am sure
Bhakta das did not mean it that way.
We are all unfortunate that we never lived in Bengal one hundred years back or
even 500 years back, what to speak of 5000 years back, because of the
personalities we could have met.
However that is also not the point being made.
One can have any number of siksha gurus. That is not limited in sastra.
QUOTE
A devotee must have only one initiating spiritual master because in the
scriptures acceptance of more than one is always forbidden. There is no limit,
however, to the number of instructing spiritual masters one may accept. CC Adi
1.35
END QUOTE
When someone feels fortunate by associating with a another Vaisnava (siksha
guru or not) it is only natural that he express such feelings that others are
unfortunate if they did not get a chance to associate with such a Vaisnava.
It is not meant as a put down of others one-pointed devotion to their chosen
guru(s) or Vaisnava associates.
your friend
Gaura Keshava das
PS Sorry this got cross-posted. Just wanted to clear this up.
--------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to:
Prabhupada.Di...@pamho.net
july9th
as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Macedonia in 1910 - had persistently tried
and failed to feel the presence of God during more than 50 years of
her life, and consequently felt "lost and empty". In her darkest
moments, she came perilously close to seeming to doubt his very
existence.
The woman revered around the world as a saint in all but name also
believed she had become "trapped in Hell" during her work among the
destitute of Calcutta, where she founded her first mission in 1948 and
worked tirelessly for the next five decades among lepers, the blind
and the deformed.
In secret letters that Mother Teresa insisted should be burned after
her death, but which the Vatican ordered should be preserved for the
world, she also describes the "darkness, loneliness and torture" she
constantly felt, which made her doubt the existence of Heaven and God.
In one letter to Father Michael van der Peet, a spiritual adviser and
close confidant, Mother Teresa wrote: "Jesus has a very special love
for you.
"But as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look
and do not see - listen and do not hear - the tongue moves [in prayer]
but does not speak.
"I want you to pray for me - that I let Him have a free hand."
Cheerful in public, despite the rigours of working among the poor and
dying, she was in inner turmoil, saying her life was one of almost
constant "torture" and "my smile is a mask - a cloak that covers
everything".
"I spoke as if my heart was in love with God - tender, personal love,"
she wrote to another adviser, wondering if she was involved in "verbal
deception" of the millions who followed her every act as proof of
God's existence.
"If you were there, you'd have said: 'What hypocrisy.'"
More surprising still, the author of Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,
to be published in the U.S. next month, is a Roman Catholic priest who
has campaigned tirelessly for the famous nun to be canonised as a
saint. Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, a member of the nun's Missionaries
Of Charity movement, says that for the last 50 years of her life she
tried to feel the presence of God - but could not, "neither in her
heart or the Eucharist". Father Kolodiejchuk says: "I read one letter
to the Sisters Of Teresa's Missionaries Of Charity and their mouths
just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension to the way
people understand her."
Father James Martin, author of My Life With The Saints, about notable
religious figures, was astonished by the letters. "I've never read a
saint's life where the saint has such an intense spiritual darkness.
No one knew she was so tormented." This startling - and controversial
- new insight into the spiritual turmoil of one of the 20th century's
greatest icons has been seized on by prominent atheists as proof that
all believers, even the most famous, are deluded. They point to
glaring inconsistencies in Mother Teresa's public and private
pronouncements of faith.
[...]
As her new letters reveal, Mother Teresa was all too familiar with
human frailty and doubt. Like the rest of us, she found questions of
God, Heaven and Hell as impenetrable as the mysteries of death."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-477573/Did-Mother-Teresa-believe-God.html
Contrast her bewilderment with Srila Prabhupada's
perceptions..........
"The qualification for seeing God is stated in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38):
premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu
vilokayanti. A devotee who has developed a genuine love for Kṛṣṇa can
always see Him everywhere, whereas a demon, not having a clear
understanding of the Supreme Lord, cannot see Him."
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 7.8.12
"Śrīla Prabhupāda: When we see Him. Then you will understand. Just as,
when you eat, you do not require to ask anyone whether you are feeling
strength or your hunger is satisfied. If you eat, you understand that
you are feeling energy. You don’t need to inquire from anyone.
Similarly. if you actually serve God, then you will understand, “God
is dictating to me. God is there. I am seeing God.”"
>>> Ref. VedaBase => PQPA 3: The Real Goal of life
"Sometimes people ask, “Have you seen God?” To see God is not
difficult. You simply have to qualify yourself to see Him by
developing your love of Godhead. Then you can see God at every moment.
This is the formula. And if you have not developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness
to the degree that you can always see Him in your heart, then you can
see God in the material world, as prescribed in the scriptures. For
example, in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.8) Kṛṣṇa says, raso ’ham apsu
kaunteya: “I am the taste of water.” So, you can see Kṛṣṇa while
drinking water if you remember, “The taste of this water is Kṛṣṇa.” Is
it very difficult? Not at all. Then Kṛṣṇa says, prabhāsmi śaśi-
sūryayoḥ: “I am the light of the sun and the moon.” If while drinking
water you forget that Kṛṣṇa is the taste, you can see Him by
remembering that He is the light of the sun and the moon. So when
people ask, “Have you seen God?” we reply, “Yes, and you have also
seen Him, because Kṛṣṇa says, ’I am the sunshine.’” Who has not seen
the sunshine? So, you have to begin seeing God in this way—by
remembering Him when you taste water, when you see the sunshine, and
so on. Such remembrance of God is also seeing Him. Spiritual seeing is
not done simply with the eyes. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, you can also
see Him by chanting His name or by describing Him. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ
viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]. When you hear of Kṛṣṇa, you
are seeing Kṛṣṇa, when you chant about Kṛṣṇa, you are seeing Kṛṣṇa,
when you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. This is the
process for seeing God."
>>> Ref. VedaBase => DWT 2: Yes to Kṛṣṇa, No to Illusion…
Spirit Soul 108
Prabhu i laugh but it is not funny!
Mother Teresa accepted pious Hindus into her hospital on the condition
that they ate meat, it was the Vatican “famous” chicken mission in
India.
Mother Teresa's Hidden Mission in India:
Conversion to Christianity
http://www.indiastar.com/DhiruShah.htm
Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ0i3nCx60
Bhaktatraveler
From: july9th <july9...@yahoo.com>
To: Prabhupadanuga <istag...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sun, July 4, 2010 6:21:34 AM
Subject: [Prabhupadanuga] Re: Not meant as a put down!
rep
Hare Krsna! Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Just a note:
Ajamila prabhu's statement was in response to Guru krpa prabhu's opinion that
"Those who missed the chance of hearing about KRSNA from Srila B.V. Puri
Goswami Maharaja are also unfortunate".
While I also got the holy & elevated sanga of Srila B.V. Puri
Goswami Maharaja, felt greatly blessed & honored by that physical sanga &
sorely lamented his recent tirobhava to Goloka, I am of the conviction that
those who have not yet received the physical sanga of such great saints as
Srila Prabhupada, Srila B.V. Puri Goswami Maharaja et al, should be considered
unfortunate by others who DID obtain such physical sanga with these saints.
Personally I would never promote the concept that one who has not had the
physical sanga of bygone saints is unfortunate in any way,
1. because the spiritual sanga of such saints can be acquired via hearing from
them or by their personal mercy and
2. because I do not think it is proper for aspirant vaisnavas to express such
ideas.
At the same time, it IS proper that we aspirant (or advanced) vaisnavas feel
themselves greatly unfortunate for losing or not having gotten the physical
sanga of either present or bygone saints. Our acaryas such as Srila Narottama
dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Thakura & Srila Ramanujacarya have lamented in this
way.
ys
ganesadasa
William G. Benedict
From: rep <r...@pamho.net>
Cc: Bhaktatraveler <bhaktat...@yahoo.com>; Pratyatosa <praty...@gmail.com>; markm...@yahoo.com; lak...@webtv.net; yasod...@yahoo.com; sudhras...@gmail.com; urdh...@aol.com; ange...@yahoo.com; miloni...@yahoo.com; cc...@yahoo.com; das...@streamyx.com; hanto...@hotmail.com; magf...@wowway.com; istag...@googlegroups.com; amey...@gmail.com; mahesh...@yahoo.co.uk; Prabhupada Disciples <Prabhupada...@pamho.net>
Sent: Mon, July 5, 2010 7:51:00 PM
Subject: Not meant as a put down!
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to:
rep
previosu post. The sentence SHOULD have read:
"... I am of the conviction that those who have not yet received the physical
sanga of such great saints as Srila Prabhupada, Srila B.V. Puri Goswami
Maharaja et al, should NOT be considered unfortunate by others who DID obtain
such physical sanga with these saints".
I was a little tired when I wrote it & didn't pay close enough attention to the
wording.
ys
ganesadasa
> Srila Prabhupada, Srila B.V. Puri Goswami Maharaja et al, should not be