Nama Mahima!!!

We get to read so much these days about 'nama mahima'.Eveyone stresses that in Kaliyug only repeated chanting of 'nama'can give peace and happiness in the stressful life of the present days.This particular katha I heard was simply superI thought.So wanted to write whatever little I understood from the upanyasam.You can hear the upanyasam if you click here.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was responsible for introducing chanting nama(HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE,HARE KRISHNA HARE HARE) has changed the lives of robbers,dacoits and so on and made them chant 'nama'.The beauty is that Mahaprabhu could do it so effortlessly.Now to the story.
A Baghvatha sapthaham is going on in a house in a city.Everybody is so involved and busy.A thief thinks it a good idea to steal from this house.He is sure nobody will notice him.He makes a quiet entry into the house and sits in corner where he will go un noticed and pretends to listen to the katha.The topic that day is on Sri Krishna Leela.Description of Krishna,his beauty, the jewels HE is wearing is going on.This catches the attention of the thief and starts listening with great concentration and makes anote of all the jeweley HE is weaing, claculates the total worth of all the jewelley.He decides that just this one last act of stealing is enough fo his entie life now.So he listens very carefullyand decides and plans his next act of kidnappping Krishna..The days katha is over and everyone is dispersing.He waits fo all to leave and finally follows the person who narrated the katha.He follows him up to his door and says 'I want to kidnap the kid you were talking about today,tell me his address properly or I will kill you'.
The baghavthar is amused and decides he will have some fun so tells him,'sure you can',the thief asks him for the boys details, name,address &where he can find him.
He tells him the name is Krishna,he is a cowherd and you can find him in Brindavan.Before leaving the thief asks him to describe the jewels Krishna was wearing,the way he did at the katha.Vey patiently baghavathar starts decsribing,the thief listens very attentively and suddenly tells the baghavathar to stop...he says you forgot the addigai,so start all over again.This goes on and on and the thief has now made the baghavathar to repeat atleast a dozen timesto get the sequence and list right.Finally he is satisfied that he has the full list of jewels in order,so decides he will now leave.Before leaving he again asks the name and addressand tells him if he does not find him there he will come back.The baghavthar is amused and simingly tells him Krishna ,Brindavan.
The thief starts his journey,he is constantly repeating Krishna, Krishna,Krishna lest he forget the boy's name.On the way he asks a few people the way to Brindavan and after a long tiring walk he steps in Bindavan.He is very happy that finally he is here and very soon he will catch Krishna and shall soon be rich.Thinking on these lines(all the while chanting Krishna) the thief sits under tree and is thinking how and where he will be able to see Krishna, when he cannot believe his eyes and his luck.He sees Krishna coming with his cows and Balarama too,and he us dessed exactly as mentioned by the baghavathar.He tries to see if all the jewels mentioned are there.Krishna comes with his cows and the thief is mesmerised by his beauty and just keeps staring at him,tears flowing from his eyes.Krishna talks with him,and asks him what he wa nts.The thief tells him he came to take all his jewels but now says he does not want the jewels but if he can be with Krishna always.Krishna however gives him all the jewels,asks him if everything in the list is there,HE wraps everything in his peetambaram and gives it the thief.The thief is now a changed man and the jewels no more interests him.He wants only Krishna now.He however decides that he must thank the baghavathar who told him about Krishna.So he tells Krishna, 'please wait here only,I will go and give all these jewels to the baghavathar as a token of my thanks and come back'. Krishna promises to wait for him.The thief runs to the baghavathar's house,thanks him very much for giving him the address.He tells him Krishna is so beautiful.The baghavathar cannot believe him inspite of seeing the jewels,pitambaram of Krishna.He tells the thief to take him too and show him Krishna.The thief takes him to Brindavan to the place where he met Krishna.Krishna is waiting there for him under the tree,the baghavathar is unable to see him though.The thief pleads with Krishna to show himself to the baghavathar,Krishna tells him he will not because the baghavthar does not have bhakti like the thief.
This is the power of nama.Without his knowledge the thief repeated the Lord's name.He did not know Krishna is GOD.His goal was the jewels that Krishna was wearing.Krishna Blesses him and the thief after this stays with the LORD a changed man.
Hare Rama Hare Rama,Rama Rama, Hare Hare,Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,Krishna Krishna Hare Hare!!!
JAI GURU DEVA!!!!

Bhakti (cont)

As I went about with my morning walk my thoughts were running through the story of Purandara Dasa which I am at present reading.He is said to be an avatar of Narada.
Before he was named Purandara Dasa he was named Raghunath Das by his parents.He was also referred to as Cheenappa Naicker.He was a successful money lender and believed money and his business very important.He never liked to part with his money for anything.His wife smt.Lakshmibai was a great pativrata and worshipped Tulasi mata.She worshipped Tulasi mata with great devotion.
One morning the lord comes in the form of an old Brahmin to Naicker shop asking for alms.Naicker is very rude to him and inspite of the old man trying all he could to get something from Naicker, he is unsucceessful.Naicker is rude,angry and pushes the old man out on the road.The old man gets up and decides to go to Naicker’s house and test his wife this time.It is a Friday morning, and when someones knocks at Lakshmibai’s door asking for alms, she is moved,and decides to give the Brahmin something without her husbands permission.She has her nose ring in her hands and gives it away to the brahmin.The brahmin leaves blessing Lakshmibai,and heads straight to Naicker’s shop and shows him the diamond nose ring and asks him for money in exchange for the nose ring.Naicker is a bit perplexed at the nose ring because he is sure it is his wife’s nose ring.He tells the Brahmin to sit in the shop and rushes home with the nose ring and asks his wife for her nose ring.Lakshmibai is now anxious and being a pativrata, has never ever done anything without his consent,has never lied to her husband .She runs to her tulasi mata and cries to herfor help and lo!! what does she find in her tulasi plant??A shining nose ring is there,she immediately takes it and rushes to her husband and gives it to him.Naicker convinced now goes to the shop only to find that the brahmin has disappeared from his shop.A rather confused Naicker comes home and asks Lakshmibai to tell him the truth.When Lakshmibai narrates what excatly happened, Naicker realises that it was the Lord himself who had come down and he did not recognise HIM.
This changes his whole life and Naicker now realises he is here to sing the Lord’s name and that he had wasted so many years of his life and so the story goes
The important thing here is the Bhakti of Lakshmibai .She has so much faith and bhakti that when she cries to tulasi mata she gets help.
In this context I would also like to add another story of Tulasi whch is very popular and also about tulasi Kalyanam which is very popular in most parts of India.

The Story of Tulsi Klayanam

The Tulsi plant is a variety of the spice we know as basil. The story of Tulsi and the holiday known as Tusli Kalyanam is a wonderfully symbolic story that resonates even today.

Tulsi Kalyanam, is the mythical marriage of the tulsi plant and Krishna, is celebrated on the 11th day of the bright half of the lunar month of Kartika. The festival is popular in all parts of India and particularly in the south.

Sage Narada who is the son of Brahma, the creator, takes the role of cosmic instigator. He is always sneaking in and out of these stories, usually starting things off by making devious suggestions which his unsuspecting target eagerly agrees to. Of course there are all sorts of interesting consequences and they are what make up the core of these stories.

During the time that Krishna was here on earth, the gods in heaven decided that he had been away long enough and that they missed him. They wanted him to come back to heaven. So with Narada, they hatched a plan to get Krishna to return.

While here on earth, Krishna had 2 wives; Satyabhama and Rukmini. Queen Satyabhaama enquired of the Rishi Narada how she could ensure that she would have Krishna as her husband in her next life. Narada told the Queen, and truthfully so, that you receive in the next life that which you give away in this life as charity (Daan in sanskrit). So Satyabhaama immediately gave Krishna away to Narada and they left immediately so that Krishna could go back to heaven.

But Krishna's wives Rukmini and Satyabhama sorely missed their husband, and both requested Narada to bring Krishna back. Narada said that they would have to give the gods something equal to the weight of Krishna if he was to return from heaven. Proud of all the jewels and valuables that Krishna had given her, Satyabhama set up a large weighing balance scale. Krishna came and sat on one side. Satyabhama, who as befits a Queen, was rather arrogant and brought out all her jewels and gold and silver pots to weigh against Krishna. But the more she piled onto the balance scale, the lighter her side became. Krishna just became heavier and heavier. Reduced to angry tears, she finally gave up.

Satyabhama asked Rukmini to do what she could. Rukmini removed all the gold and gems from the scale and plucked a few leaves of the wild tulsi plant growing nearby. She put them on the scale with all her love. The leaves proved to be far heavier than Krishna. With a smile, Krishna returned to earth to be with his wives.

Since that time, a tulsi leaf is added to any auspicious gift. A father also places a tulsi leaf in his daughter's hand during the Kanyadaan - giving away of the daughter during a Hindu marriage ceremony.

On Tulsi Kalyanam the yagya tradition is for the tulsi plant to be dressed up as if it were a murti. The ceremony of Vishnu’s marriage is reenacted in a puja called Kalyana Utsavam. A dainty wedding pavilion (mandap) is made of sugarcane stalks and the tulsi plant is decorated with a yellow bridal sari, miniature jewellery and red kumkum powder. Krishna wears a golden crown and the traditional bridegroom's attire. The wedding is conducted with complete wedding puja and homa rites. The Tulsi plant is offered a feast of seasonal berries, new tamarind, turmeric, amla fruit and rice. Krishna is offered sweets made of milk.

You might ask why it was that Rukmini, who was really Lakshmi, offered the tulsi plant to Krishna in this story. As is frequently the case in Vedic stories, it begins with a demon who has gained too much power and is troubling the gods. Since the strength of the gods can not always equal that of the demons, the gods have to win by some form of trickery. Of course ultimately it backfires and the gods have make amends.

In this case, there was a demon who was a famous warrior by the name of Jalandhar. By constantly annoying, fighting and defeating the gods he made his fellow demons happy and more and more of the universe came under their control. Jalandhar had a wonderful wife by the name of Vrinda who was a pure and spiritually dedicated soul and a powerful yogi in her own right. Because of her purity and spiritual strength, Jalandhar became invincible in all three worlds.

Desperately, the gods tried to find some way to defeat Jalandhar. Vishnu developed a plan and sent messengers to tell Vrinda that her husband had been killed in battle. The severed head and body of two monkeys were put in front of her, and after reciting some mantras, Vishnu, through his magical powers made her believe it was her husband’s dead body and she was plunged into grief.

Then Vishnu snuck away and took the form of a sadhu and seemingly innocent, walked by Vrinda. Faking compassion, Vishnu recited some mantras and joined the head and the body together again. Vishnu quickly took the form of Vrinda’s husband who thought that her husband Jalandhar stood there in front of her. She embraced him with passion and relief. But quickly she realized her mistake and discovered that it was in fact, Vishnu. In that conservative era, she immediately lost her spiritual virtue and power for having touched the body of man who was not her husband. She was distraught at having been tricked, but it was of no use. After Vrinda had lost her holiness and purity, Jalandhar lost the source of his power, and was killed in battle.

When Vrinda came to know the full truth of her husband’s death, she was wild with anger and cursed Vishnu saying, “Your wife will be taken away from you and you will have to ask help from monkeys to recover her.” A rishi’s curse is a powerful thing and not even the gods can escape it. It was after all, the result of Vishnu’s own actions coming back to him.

As we well know, this curse was realized when Vishnu took the form as Rama and Sita was taken from him only to be saved again by Hanuman, the monkey god.

After issuing her curse, Vrinda prepared the funeral pyre for her husband and jumped into the fire. Vishnu, whose job it is to protect everyone in creation, was very sorry because as a result of his deceit the poor widow had committed suicide. He remained sitting at the side of the pyre for many days, deep in depression. Worried about him because he was neglecting his cosmic duties, the gods planted three medicinal trees in the cremation ground; Tulsi, Amala, and Jasmine. Of these three trees the Tulsi was most dear to Vishnu and to this day is used in his worship rituals

Because Vrinda had for a while truly believed Vishnu to be her husband, when Vishnu appeared as Krishna, Vrinda came in the form of Rukmini and on the day which we celebrate as Tulsi Kalyanam, they were married.

JAI GURU DEVA!!!!!

Bhakti

Usually we relate bhakti to our daily poojas, visits,to temples and all the rituals we follow in our life.There are several types of Bhakti,to quote a few Vatslaya Bhakti,Mitra Bhakti,Madurya Bhakti,Nayika Bhakti,Kamyarta Bhakti.
We pray to God always asking for one thing or the other.It is generally never just a prayer because we Love to Pray and Think OF HIM.Not that it is incorrect but just to point that it is always asking for something.

I happened to have the good fortune of listening to a wonderful Srimad Baghavtha Upanyasam by SriSri Premi Anna, where a whole new meaning of Bhakti was explained so wonderfully.
Bhakti is the unconditional Love, PREMAA one has, it is total surrender.This was explained beautifully with a story of Krishna.
Krishna was ruling as King of Dwaraka and he decided that he should have a gathering where all could meet.Krishna wanted all his near and dear ones who had never met to meet each other.Devaki&Vasudeva had never met Nandagopa and Yasoda,Rukmini had never met Draupadi,Radha &the gopis of Brindavan, had only heard about them from Krishna.
So a huge gathering lasting four months(Chathur masya) is organised at Kurukshetra and everyone comes.The arrival of Yasoda, Nanda and the gopis was so beautifully explained,I wonder if I am even fit to write about it here.Anyways I just wanted to put down what ever little I could register from the upanyasam.
He says,all of them (Nanda and his group)come to Kurukshetra as simple villagers and are dazed at the dazzling look of Dwaraka and feel so proud that their Dear Krishna is the KING of this place.They look around and ask people there, where they can find Krishna, and that they have come from Brindavan to see HIM.
They are shown the direction and they walk with so much enthusiasm and Love and thrilled that they are going to see their Krishna after 100 years now.He left Brindavan as a young lad and never went back to Brindavan.Yasoda carries butter and curd for him still visualising him as the child Krishna who left Brindavanam.
Krishna who is in the midst of Kings from various different states hears Nandagopa's voice and comes running out to greet them, and the meeting is so overwhelming and filled only with emotion and Love.One can very easily visualise the scene.Krishna rushes to Mother Yasoda,gives her a huge hug,sits on her lap(remember he is now 100 years)and enjoys all the pampering including eating Vennai&Thair which Yasoda has so affectionately brought for HIM.
Vasudeva& Devaki come out too and they meet Nanda&Yasoda for the first time and are so pleased to see each other.Each considers the other more blessed.
Next, Krishna meets the gopis and Radha Rani.He so very sweetly tells her,"Radhe I told you I will come soon,but I had so much work, that I would always tell myself, I will go after this,after this and so soon 100 years have passed by.He asks Radha, How are you Radhe??Radhe is choked with LOVE and tears simply flow down and Radhe falls on his shoulder. All this is so wonderfully put in the upanyasam,it was like taking us to the scene there at Kurukshetra,a real feast for the mind I must say.Krishna introduces Radhe and all the Gopis to Rukmini and all his 16000+wives and Draupadi.
It is said that though it is 100 years later that Krishna sees them all, they are all as Young as when he left them.
Draupadi who is a great Bhaktai of Krishna asks Rukmini and all the other 16000+wives about their Bhakti and how they got Bhakti for Krishna.They all say that though they are his wives they are all his servants and would like to be a broom in his house, not even a maid.Though all them have plenty of maids all over the house, they always do everything personally for THE LORD.They are waiting to be of service to him in whatever way they can.They say they have learnt only from the Gopis and their love and bhakti for Krishna.Just imagine the Bhakti of the gopis if (Goddess Lakshmi)Rukmini Devi says she has learnt to do Bhakti only from the gopis,from all the stories Krishna told her everyday about Radhai and her Bhakti and pure love for Krishna.
The gopis pray that they may always cry for HIM and that is how he will be in their hearts always.That is the kind of Bhakti they had, total surrender.They never wanted him to come back and be with them, they wanted to remember him and cry.Such was their Bhakti.Bhakti is LOVE(UNCONDITIONAL) is what I have understood from this upanyasam.

Lord Krishna too showered his love and affection on each and every one.When Sudama comes to Dwaraka to meet him Krishna's eyes are filled with tears and he showers him with unbelievable with Love and affection.Just his Kataksham his glance was enough to give Sudama everything in this world.
Another close friend Of Lord Krishna Was Udhava.The lord says Udhava is closer to him than even Rukmini devi.
Oh it was a wonderful discourse yesterday, I am unable to do justice to all that I heard.Our prayers have to be filled with LOVE for the Lord and not a duty bound affair.
I wish everyone has the good fortune of listening to such divine discourses.
JAI GURUDEV!!!

The Door Bell Rings!!!

Haven't written for more than a month now.Have been wanting to write on so many things though.
The other day I was reading an article written by a Sai devotee.It said when you finish Sai Sat Charita parayan, make naivedyam(generally Sheera) and distribute prasad,if there is an old person in the midst to receive prasad then be sure it is Sai Himself.I was just pondering over this,thinking to myself blessed indeed is the person where Sai presents himself to receive prasad.I have read Sai Satcharita a few times now and usually I make food for my servant and his group of friends.Here in this part of the world it is difficult to find people to distribute prasad and hence I thought it will be good to feed these people because for them home food is a luxury and surely they will enjoy.
So yesterday while saying my morning slokas and while reading Sai Sat charita,the thought going in my mind was "where it is possible for me to distribute prasad here since I know no one,leave alone seeing an old man there waiting for prasad?"Atleast back home in Pune there are temples one can visit and distribute prasad.
With this thought at the back of my mind I finished my slokas and was about my routine.Here in this place, the door bell too rings only on appointment, unlike back home in Pune you have the bell ringing at all odd hours,and it is never a surprise.
To come back to the present, yesterday suddenly the door bell rang to my utter surprise and amazement.For a moment I had to think, who it could be at this time of the day,because even my dear friend (the sole friend in this building)never comes without making a call first.With a lot of doubt and hesitation I first peeped through the keyhole to see who it is,I could spot a person standing way far and so decided to open the door and see who it is actually.I see a middle aged man with a beard and a white robe(the local dress) standing and he showed me some photos from that distance and asked for some charity.I told him to wait,closed the door got some coins and then gave him,and then he walked away.I was indeed surprised because I have never in this past year or so here, had any man come asking charity,we have had a lady who comes once in a way though and it has usually been on Fridays.
Much later in the day did I realise and connect this to my thoughts during my morning prayer.I realised it is SAI assuring me that place is no restraint and HE can be present any where and every where.Only we need to sincerely look for HIM and feel his presence and acknowledge HIS presence and be "AWARE".
I could also recollect in Sai Sat Charita HE has mentioned that HE is always watching us wherever we are, be it across seven seas HE will sure reach us.
So for sure I can say that if we are sincere in our prayers they are answered.
JAI GURU DEV!!!!!