Great Expectations

The last week of the year 2011 & all over America there is a huge surge for people to get into buying mode as it is holiday seasons.

At Iskcon Silicon Valley there was harinam scheduled the day after Christmas in San Francisco.

I took the train to SFO. There were some families in the train with their kids , i could see excitement in their eyes to see & experience one of the most famous city in the world --- San Francisco.!!!!

I reached Market & Powel intersection ...... probably the most crowded place in SFO.

As i was climbing the steps from an underground BART station i heard the distinct sound of Kartals (cymbals) & a smile came on my face .

There they were devotees holding flags of mahamantra & kartals & mridangam chanting the Holy name . Devotees were distributing books too.

" Hi .. Have you heard about Bhagavad gita ?? "

"These are books on Yoga & meditation & teach you how to get free from Stress. you have heard of stress before right ??"

Thousands of people were pouring in from all direction like rain water gushes out from all places after a fresh rain.Some were coming out of various shops & huge malls which were advertised with 50% discount billboards & posters. Hundreds were entering into these malls & simultaneously hundreds were coming out of it.

It was like a river of people all around & the lotus of harinam & its devotees were not touching its water.I took part in harinam & then started doing some book distribution.

It was good to do book distribution when harinam was around as people could see the connection of music & the books .

But when the harinam party went for touring around busy corners of SFO  i tried my best to distribute books but people were taking me as any other salesperson, aiming to cheat them 

This made me uncomfortable & i was thinking the harinam should be present so that people can experience higher bliss & take books 

   Then HG Vaisesika Pr decided to go union square, i too joined him & after reaching there he lead a wonderful kirtan with 10 devotees dancing in circles 

The book distribution picked up in the shelter of holy name banyan tree .

I could distribute a chinese book first time & got donation from him. Last time i had tried at chinese mall & people over there laughed at me making me embarrassed.but today i felt nice & victorious.

 Sri Krishna Purushottam pr another book distributor came to me & said " I too got good donation from a chinese "  

Thats a rare thing in book distribution but i could witness by my own eyes that under the shelter of holy name anything is possible 

I simply prayed let me distribute Bhagavad gita today & a young man stopped in front of me with his ray ban goggles hiding his eyes.

I showed him the bhagavad gita & in my talk with him he said " I am from idaho & i am a soldier" .I told him this book was said at the time of battlefield to a soldier 

who was under stress of his duty & this helped him to perform his duty well.

He immediately took the book & gave $10 & i prayed with gratitude to Lord Caitanya to having my wish fulfilled so quickly.

As it started becoming more & more darker we closed our harinam & i started back to the train station. As i reflected back on the day i thought people out there the whole day were moving with GREAT expectations. An expectation for some pleasure somewhere.

There were so many faces with this great Hope & expectations that i felt touched by their endeavors for pleasure & peace.

Had it not been for Srila Prabhupad who brought this package of joy of harinam i would have been one of the same faces in the crowd looking desperately for pleasure & peace. !

The following words of Mahajan Prahalad sums it all.

7.6.4

tat-prayaso na kartavyo

yata ayur-vyayah param

na tatha vindate ksemam

mukunda-caranambujam

TRANSLATION

Endeavors merely for sense gratification or material happiness through economic development are not to be performed, for they result only in a loss of time and energy, with no actual profit. If one's endeavors are directed toward Krsna consciousness, one can surely attain the spiritual platform of self-realization. There is no such benefit from engaging oneself in economic development.

All expectations are fulfilled when turns to the Supreme Lord Krishna & his devotional service.Just like Hiranyakasipu had all , he was a king of 3 universes had full control of all powers of nature but his one expectation of obedience from his own son Prahalad costed him his life & his whole endeavor to rule over the world was lost in a second.Where as Prahalad was completely satisfied in his devotional service to Lord & had no expectation from material  world.

O my mind , my heart & my soul let me pray as follows as Prahalad did to get rid from the desires of expectations from this material world.

 7.10.7

yadi dasyasi me kaman

varams tvam varadarsabha

kamanam hrdy asamroham

bhavatas tu vrne varam

TRANSLATION

O my Lord, best of the givers of benediction, if You at all want to bestow a desirable benediction upon me, then I pray from Your Lordship that within the core of my heart there be no material desires.

Yoga Dogs

The YOGA Dogs in the picture say"""

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We do Yoga to become expert in eating sleeping mating & defending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yoga is not done to remain Dogs but to alleviate oneself from the animal life to spiritual life

life of spirit ......

but in todays world Yogic asanas are used as a medium to improve the eating sleeping mating & defending so then there lies no difference between Animals & human beings

as said in the MahaBharayta below

ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha,

samanyam etad pashubhir naranam

dharmo hi tesham adhiko vishesho,

dharmena hina pashubhih samanah

“The activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending are

common in animals and human beings. The human beings are

considered superior only when they inquire about the Absolute Truth,

otherwise they are considered as good as animals.”

The story of Stuff

īśāvāsyam idam sarvaḿ
yat kiñca jagatyāḿ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā
mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

TRANSLATION

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

http://vedabase.net/iso/1/en

This world can satisfy every bodies need But not a single Persons GREED

LSD effects vs 8 ecstatic symptoms

The above picture shows the effects of LSD ---- like fever,clenching,tremors,increased heart rate, pespirations

dialtions

These symptoms are externally imposed on oneself . They are forced .They having nothing to do with Heart.

They are not triggered by heart but by some matter.

People are always finding how to get the estactic symptoms & LSD is one medium where there try to externally get it & feel it for some time & go HIGH for sometime & then AGain come Down.

Because these estacties are not real but imposed artificially they give no real pleasure or satisfaction.

Instead they become the cause of trouble & invite more miseries & moreover make one much more frustated than before.

Srila Prabhupad explains that when a girl who is desperate to become a mother may sometime become crazy & make noise & cry like one been pregnant but that is simply a disturbance .

Similarly this LSD is simply a disturbance to the society.

Every soul knows about this ecstatic symptoms but because encaged in body & bodily conciousness

it is looking for pleasure outside his self & attempting disgusting LSD experiments.

Srila Prabhupad explains below how one can get the real ecstatic symptoms below:

In the beginning, there may not be the presence of all transcendental ecstasies, which are eight in number. There are:

1) Being stopped as though dumb,

2) perspiration,

3) standing up of hairs on the body,

4) dislocation of voice,

5) trembling,

6) fading of the body,

7)crying in ecstasy, and

8) trance.

But there is no doubt that chanting for a while takes one immediately to the spiritual platform and one shows the first symptom of this in the urge to dance along with the chanting of the mantra. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting and dancing. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even such a materially engrossed man is raised to the spiritual platform very quickly. When it is chanted by a pure devotee of the Lord in love, it has the greatest efficacy on hearers, and as such this chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord, so that immediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips of nondevotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.

- From Krsna Consciousness, The Topmost Yoga System, Chapter 6: The Hare Krsna Mantra, Para 4

Chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

and make your life sublime

Fwd: Satsifaction & Dissatisfaction

santosha trishu kartavyah /
svadaare bhojane dhane
santosha trishu na kartavyah /
svaadhyaaya japa dhaanayoh

"One should be always satisfied with these three things - their spouse, the food, and the amount of wealth they obtained. One should never be satisfied with these three things - the amount of scriptural study, the amount of chanting (japa) and the amount of charity they performed."
Chanakya Pandit

Man's Psychology:
n A man's sense of self is defined through his ability to achieve results.
n To offer a man unsolicited advice is to presume that he doesn't know what to do
or that he can't do it on his own. Generally speaking when a woman offers unsolicited
advice or tries to "help" a man, she has no idea of how critical and unloving she may
sound to him.

n Women's Psychology:
n A woman's sense of self is defined through her feelings and the quality of her
relationships.
n If a man does not understand how a woman is different, he can make things
worse when he is trying to help. Men need to remember that women talk about problems
to get close and not necessarily to get solutions.
So many times a woman just wants to share her feelings about her day, and her husband
thinking that he is helping, interrupts her by offering a steady flow of solutions
to her problems. He has no idea why she isn't pleased.
A general problem is that every wife thinks that her husband is not giving her time
and every husband thinks "I am doing so much for her, what else can I do?" The
situation arises due to high expectations from each other. The general solution is to
accept one's partner as he / she is and carry out duties by mutual consultation rather
than dictatorial attitude. Labeling a woman as less intelligent and trying to lord it over
her is the biggest impediment in the grihastha ashram.
The fabric of grihastha ashram(household life) becomes stressful, gets weakened, jaded and often
times torn apart due to several but totally avoidable reasons.

 Six thumb rules for Good married life:

The following six thumb rules, not necessarily spiritual in their character, are
useful in leading a happy grihastha life
n Do not nag.
n Do not forcefully try to change the nature of your partner. Be exemplary.
n Do not criticize.
n Give honest appreciation.
n Be attentive to small acts of kindness and be a good listener.
n Be courteous, respectful and honour each other.

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Achievement becomes automatic when Goal becomes inner commitment.
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http://vipulsutrave.blogspot.com/
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Transformation of a fat girl

This video was amazing . a grt eye opener.

drastic results of addiction to food.