Monday, 02 September 2019
The spirit of Krishna
The Speaking Tree | India | ET
BY CHAITANYA CHARAN DAS
The name Krishna means ‘the all-attractive One’. ‘Sarva
akarshati iti Krishna’ — this describes the attractive nature of the Lord and
so describes the absolute Truth, the supreme personality of Godhead, in full.
The Lord administers the world through the laws of
material nature — gross such as the law of gravitation and subtle such as the
law of karma. But when predominance of materialism over spirituality disturbs
the universal order, the Lord descends “to deliver the pious, annihilate the
miscreants and re-establish divine principles”, says the Bhagwad Gita.
Krishna descends not just to maintain law but to awaken
love. The love that our heart longs for through relationships with various
persons finds fulfilment only when it is reposed in the Supreme. When we love
Krishna, our love is never interrupted, never betrayed, never let down, never
disappointed.
On Janmashtami, Krishna entered the material world at
midnight. This is significant. Midnight is the time of maximum darkness and
from the moment the Lord appeared, the darkness started diminishing. Similarly,
our heart is dark being afflicted by multiple anxieties and miseries. But in
the darkest hour of our lives, when we turn to Krishna, He appears in our
heart, and all the darkness recedes and the light of eternal hope starts
streaming in. The Lord appeared in a prison cell and freed His parents of their
shackles.
This indicates that all of us who are shackled by our own
self-destructive desires can be freed by the Lord who appears in our heart that
is obscured in darkness.
The harvest field of life
Whenever we see any one
suffering however, our attitude should not be to stand aside and let him reap
what he has sown. Knowledge of the law of just compensation should not make us
indifferent or lacking in sympathy and charity. true understand never robs us
of love or sympathy. It is rather lack of understanding which takes from us
many possibilities of doing good to others, which is also the best way to do
good to ourselves. In Indian philosophy we are told that whenever we are able
to help another, instead of expecting gratitude , we should be grateful;
because we have been given an opportunity to elevate yourself. Do we not
receive a greater spiritual blessing when we reader service without selfish
motive than when we receive service? Does it not always enlarge our heart and
vision?
This law of compensation
should be universally understood. It is not peculiarly and Eastern doctrine, as
many think . it concerns every one, whether he live in the East or the West;
whether he is a Christian or a Mohammedan, a Buddhist, or a Hindu . no one can
get away form it. Every living being must reap
what he sows. And the greatest way to help people is to introduce this
larger idea . Let their mind be filled with it and they will uplift themselves.
The only bondage is ignorance, which separates us like a veil from Godhead; and
when that veil is torn from our mind, we are free. Life is indeed a harvest
field, but is it not a good harvest field for those who are asleep. It promises
a fruitful harvest, however, to those who are awake and who constantly ask Gods
guidance; because without God’s guidance; because without God’s help and
protection we cannot do anything. We must work diligently and prayerfully and
always remember that in this universe there is no such thing as chance or
unjustice; we must be wakeful in everything we do. It is through wakeful,
prayerful efforts that we tear the veil of ignorance. When it drops. His light
shines in the innermost part of our being; and only when the Sun of Divine
Wisdom sheds its radiance upon us as we labour in the field of life, do we reap
a perfect harvest. Courtesy reincarnation and
immortality , The harvest field of life
King, Land and People
The Speaking Tree |India
| ET
By K S RAM
Nepal’s experience of a
change in the role of the king provides occasion to look back on the original
principle of kingship.
Is kingship an unjust
privilege? Kingship began as a spiritual office, and not as a worldly
privilege. The idea evolved from the time societies began to be formed. The
earliest ‘king’ was, of course, the Village Elder.
Initially, material and
spiritual well-being were not seen as two rival ends, with choice for an
individual to pursue this or that. The two constituted a composite end. The
indicator for well-being was fertility.
Spirituality operated at
two levels: personal and social. At the personal level, you were responsible
for your deeds. At the social level, the king was responsible, because he
represented society’s collective spirit.
The fertility of the
land depended on the virility of the king. If the king lost his virility,
whether due to age or misdeeds, the land would turn infertile. The fertility of
the farm, cattle and humans would decline. This again implied not just a
material but more so a spiritual disaster. Hence the rule of abdication, or
sanyasa. The impotent king must ‘die’.
In tribal Bastar,
agriculture to this day is not merely an economic activity but a composite life
ritual. At the annual fertility rite, the Maati Ti’aar, seeds and land are
sanctified with sacrificial blood before a symbol of the Earth Goddess. The
village becomes a ‘kingdom’; the fertility ritual is conducted by the Gaita,
the Earth-priest.
But, if He exists?
I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7
minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his
colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting
ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The
doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten
minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire
lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you
grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.
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