What is a charitable heart?

From a mystic writing in the seventh century, Saint Isaac the Syrian, ponders the thought, "What is a charitable heart?"

Saint Isaac - "It is a heart which is buring with love for the whole creation, for men, for the birds, for the beasts... for all creatures. He who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without his eyes being filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes his heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain being inflicted upon a creature. That is why such a man never ceases to pray for the animals... moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united with God."

Beautiful Krishna

From Srimad Bhagavatam 11.1.6-7

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is the reservoir of all beauty. All beautiful things emanate from Him, and His personal form is so attractive that it steals the eyes away from all other objects, which then seem devoid of beauty in comparison to Him.

"When Krsna was on the earth, He attracted the eyes of all people. When Krsna spoke, His words attracted the minds of all who remembered them. By seeing the footsteps of Krsna, people became attracted to Him, and thus they wanted to offer their bodily activities to the Him as His followers. In this way Krsna very easily spread His glories, which are sung throughout the world by the most sublime and essential Vedic verses. Krsna considered that simply by hearing and chanting those glories, conditioned souls born in the future would cross beyond the darkness of ignorance. Being satisfied with this arrangement, He left for His desired destination."

What is good and evil?

At the end of the 19th chaper of the 11th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna answers the questions from his friend Uddhava about what is good and evil.

SB 11.19.40-45: Krishna speaks - "Actual opulence is My own nature as the Personality of Godhead, through which I exhibit the six unlimited opulences. The supreme gain in life is devotional service to Me, and actual education is nullifying the false perception of duality within the soul. Real modesty is to be disgusted with improper activities, and beauty is to possess good qualities such as detachment. Real happiness is to transcend material happiness and unhappiness, and real misery is to be implicated in searching for sex pleasure.

"A wise man is one who knows the process of freedom from bondage, and a fool is one who identifies with his material body and mind. The real path in life is that which leads to Me, and the wrong path is sense gratification, by which consciousness is bewildered. Actual heaven is the predominance of the mode of goodness, whereas hell is the predominance of ignorance.

"I am everyone's true friend, acting as the spiritual master of the entire universe, and one's home is the human body. My dear friend Uddhava, one who is enriched with good qualities is actually said to be rich, and one who is unsatisfied in life is actually poor. A wretched person is one who cannot control his senses, whereas one who is not attached to sense gratification is a real controller. One who attaches himself to sense gratification is the opposite, a slave.

"Thus, Uddhava, I have elucidated all of the matters about which you inquired. There is no need for a more elaborate description of these good and bad qualities, since to constantly see good and bad is itself a bad quality. The best quality is to transcend material good and evil."

Hear from Krishna directly

From Srimad Bhagavatam 11.19.17

śrutih pratyaksam aitihyam
anumānam catustayam
pramānesv anavasthānād
vikalpāt sa virajyate

"From the four types of evidence — Vedic knowledge, direct experience, traditional wisdom and logical induction — one can understand the temporary, insubstantial situation of the material world, by which one becomes detached from the duality of this world."

Every verse of the Srimad-Bhagavatam has layers of meaning. As declared by Sri Chaytanya Mahaprabhu in CC.Madya.24.318;

"Srimad-Bhagavatam is as great as Krishna, the Supreme Lord and shelter of everything. In each and every verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam and in each and every syllable, there are various meanings.”

So lets look at this verse in a diferent way.

The four types (catustayam) of evidence are;

śrutih — Vedic knowledge;
pratyaksam — direct experience;
aitihyam — traditional wisdom;
anumānam — logical induction;

pramānesv anavasthānād vikalpāt
"but because they (the four types of evidence) are often mutually contradictory in their description of the highest truth,"

sa virajyate
"One should therefore be detached from the duality of mundane evidence and hear from the Lord directly."

"One should accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the actual authority. Both in Bhagavad-gītā and here in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lord Krsna is personally speaking, and thus there is no need to enter into the bewildering network of competing systems of mundane logic. One can directly hear from the Absolute Truth Himself and immediately acquire perfect knowledge. One thereby becomes detached from inferior systems of knowledge, which cause one to hover on the material mental platform."

Bhagavad-Gita 7.2

In the first verse of this chapter, Krishna says samagram mam, "you shall know me completely". In the second verse Krishna says, "having understood (this knowledge) there is nothing in this world left to know". If we combine the two verses together Krishna says, "knowing me completely, there is nothing in this world left to know."

In the previous six chapters of the Gita, Brahman; the unlimited, all pervasive, impersonal aspect of God, and Paramatma; the directing aspect of God situated in your heart, was described. This chapter starts with the understanding of Bhagavan; the aspect of God complete with full features.

To understand these three aspects of God a little deeper, consider the aspect of God as Brahman, the all pervasive impersonal omniscient being. This aspect has all the fundamental qualities of the base understanding of God, but without any connection to the spirit soul. The only part of Brahman that the soul can meditate on is the feeling of amazement and wonder. But God in the heart, Paramatma, expands the qualities of Brahman to those of awe and reverence. As Paramatma, God has all the qualities of Brahman and includes the qualities of a supreme being, who is the ultimate guide and protector. The aspect of God as Paramatma is a stage higher than Brahman, but missing the capability of interaction and sweetness. Bhagavan in turn, is the full understanding of God complete with all the qualities of Brahman and Paramatma, but with the inclusion of joyful interaction and a pleasing spiritual form. Here Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura says that jnanam is the Brahman and Paramatma aspect of God, where vijnanam is the sweetness, the Bhagavan aspect of God. So to add the first and second verses together we get a new combined translation as:

"Arjuna, now I shall give to you the knowledge and understanding of my opulence and my sweetness. With your mind fully absorbed in me (Bhagavan), you will be at the stage of realization of which there is nothing further in this world to understand."

What about due process?

Background: The International Society For Krishna Concious ness (Iskcon) has struggled over the past 20 plus years with the case of Dhanurdhara Maharaj. Dhanurdhara Maharaj was the head master for the Vrindavan boys school during the late 70's. He has admitted to personal child neglect and abuse during his tenure as the schools headmaster. Since then a number of judgments have come against him including an Iskcon Child Protection Office (CPO) case review and judgment. He has, over all, been cooperative to the judgments and has engaged in personal rectification of his actions. Last month a student who was abused by him commited suicide. The backlash from the community has been a rash of emotionally charged letters, a petition for retroactive "zero tolerance" within Iskcon of child abuse which includes all authorities who have had some connection to abuse to step down. The assault on Dhanurdhara Maharaja has encouraged him to leave Iskcon and the position as a guru to his disciples. Below is the reprint of the opinion I wrote to Dandavats.com on the mater.

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Dear readers,

I feel, after a lot of thought and introspection, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the approach and process toward the persecution of Dhanurdhara Swami. I feared writing this opinion, due to the present overwhelming sentiment and the potential backlash I may incur in defending the accused, but still I can not help but feel that the basic rights of due process have been trampled under the feet of the “save Iskcon from the abusers” movement.

The emotional and explicit letters, the petition, and the repeated judgments by Iskcon authorities all point to a system of justice within our society that is flawed. In short, in all honest societies, every human being has the natural right, to a bare minimum of fairness or due process. In criminal cases, it ensures that an accused person will not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

For example, Article One, section 9, of the US constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. An ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed prior to the enactment of the law. It may criminalize actions that were legal when committed; or aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was at the time it was committed; or change or increase the punishment prescribed for a crime, such as adding new penalties or extending terms. This is exactly what the petition prescribes for Dhanurdhara Swami. To strip him of his Iskcon standing after a judgment has been passed down to him. Also we find in the 5th amendment, the prohibition of double jeopardy or prosecuting someone again for a crime on which a final judgment is already passed.

After reading the CPO verdict and judgment on Dhanurdhara Maharaja, and reading the previous judgments handed to him by the GBC, I feel that he has had his fair share of penalty and persecution. Iskcon is not a democratically elected body. We don’t have the luxury of harassing a local congress man for governmental change. If the devotees at large don’t like the way Iskcon handles its criminals then the fair thing to do is change the system. Create a way in which the public can change the governing laws for the future prosecution of criminals. But the continuous retroactive persuasion of GBC and CPO judgments by angry citizens through emotionally charged articles and petitions is tantamount to mob justice.

Again, I don’t want to be labeled as an enemy of children, a supporter of abusers or whatever fiery words that can be brandished to evade the subject. My point is fairness, justice, due process, not only for the victims but for the criminals as well.

If you would like to read more about due process I have included links to wikipedia. Portions of this opinion where copied directly from wikipedia entries.

Due process - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process
Ex post facto law - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto
Double jeopardy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_jeopardy

Thank You.

Your Servant,

Jagai-Nitai Dasa

Sleeping and Waking

"It is possible that a generation or two ago, more people than today, had a better instinctive understanding of how to prepare for the dream and sleep life of the night. The evening was like a pause. It contained possibilities of healing, of making whole, of regeneration, and of mending differences. People tended to gather around the hearth, and we like to think that perhaps there was peace in the house and within the people themselves. Certainly there was more story telling and singing, and families probably talked to each other more than they do now about the day's events. Such activities helped to call up the faculties of imagination.

"Today, probably the greatest enemy of the evening and its qualities is the television. There is the rush to start viewing the T.V. as soon as possible and there is the tempation to continue viewing until the end of the programmes. The day becomes drawn out until midnight; sleep becomes merely a consequence of the day. The evening loses its inherent dignity and its unique character and meaning. As a consequence, there is a tendency only to regard as important the material experiences of the day while the spiritual and cultural life is disregarded.

"In fact, it matters a lot how we stand before these doors or thresholds in the day or night, for, not only do they affect the subsequent quality of our sleep and waking life, but if we are sensitive to their mystery, they can hold keys to hints and questions about ourselves and our lives. Above all, by becoming more aware of these thresholds and their rhythmic quality, we can help both ourselves and our children to pass through them more adequately, and in this way we also help our family's physical and spiritual well-being." - Margret Meyerkort

My achievements

In life, or more specific in my life, a constant struggle continues, from longer than I can remember, between my ideals and my actions.

Ideals vs. Actions.

I meet people who act in devotional life, people whose spirituality is their constant motivation, and I try to find the similarities and differences between us. Generally our ideas are the same. We share the same knowledge base, the same understanding of things, we call on the same sources for inspiration, but the difference is always in our actions. Basically they act and I don't.

Sometimes, motivational speakers will ask their audience to imagine their own funeral. Imagine a little church. In the rows sit friends and family dressed in black and someone standing behind the pulpit begins to read a homage to you. I wonder at my funeral what achievements will be read? Will I, before I breath my last, do anything to help the world progress on the spiritual path? Or will my funeral homage begin and end with a list of qualities, "He was a nice guy with nice ideals. He wanted to act towards spirituality" and under the list of achievements we'll find a sad little zero.

This is my struggle, ideals vs. actions. I have lots of ideals, but unfortunately no actions.

Homeland of the heart

From "The Bhagavad-Gita - Its feeling and philosophy" by B.V. Tripurari Swami

BG 7.1- "Complete (samagram) knowing is the knowledge that is inherent in love. When one loves, one knows what to do. When one loves God, one knows everything one needs to know. This knowing is characterized further as freeing one from doubt (asamsayam). Doubt is a function of the mind. When it is overridden, we are able to move freely. Intellect driven movement suggests surety, yet following its lead amounts to proceeding with caution. It is not the movement of the heart.

Here Krishna speaks of the homeland of the heart, and a life in which mind and intellect are subordinate to one's heart. In this land, one does not doubt the virtue of serving God, but questions how one can serve him best in any given circumstance."

Consider a moment

“We may live for a hundred years, but not one moment of these hundred years can be returned, not even if we are prepared to pay millions of dollars. We cannot add a moment, nor can we get a moment back. If time is money, we should just consider how much money we have lost.”
-Srila Prabhupada

Bhagavad-Gita 7.1

As we enter the 7th chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, the discussion of the self (tvam, you), the unchanging conscious observer of the changing temporary body, turns to the discussion of that (tat) , which being completely absorbed in and what pervades ones purpose in life, will bring one to the level of full understanding (jnasyasi) of God, Krishna.

This is a pivot point, a place where those whose meditation is strictly on the self will stay behind, while those who can look beyond the glare of the ego, will move forward. The Upanisads declare tat tvam asi, "You are that". A statement that directs the focus of meditation on the self, the atma. But here, Krishna, is taking hold of the discussion, and without prompt, is declaring tat tvam asi, "You are His". You are connected to God with love and devotion. Here Krishna steers the discussion to that which is dear to his heart, bhakti, love.

The 7th chapter begins the middle six of 18 chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita or the heart of the book. The heart is where love resides. The heart is sensitive and vulnerable, therefore we protect our heart and only let in those trusted souls who we love and love us in return. We guard our heart like a treasure, behind doors closed to the outside world. Similarly, the heart of the Gita is sandwiched in between the first six and the last six chapters.

Here in center of the book, Krishna reveals his heart to Arjuna and lovingly talks about that person who he loves. Imagine you were to talk to a friend about someone you love. You may start by describing pleasing characteristics and behaviors of that person which are endearing to you. Likewise, Krishna takes six chapters to describe those who he loves, from the first line of the 7th chapter where Krishna says mad-asrayah, "that person is surrendered to me" all the way up to the last line of the last verse of the 12th chapter where he says bhaktas te 'tiva me priyah, "the devotees, bhaktas, are extremely dear to me".

The death bus lives!

When I was a kid all sorts of stupid 70's horror movies came out. I remember one was about an evil car, driven by Satan, that would run people over. There was another about an evil ship that floated around and who ever got on it ghosts would kill them. But fortunately for us, in the year 2006, we have progressed from movies about possessed transportation to the real thing! Check this out http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm. Someone in China thought that these horror flicks where training videos and designed a bus were you can drive around the country and kill bad people. And they say that movies and TV don't affect peoples minds.

Who's kids should we kill?

Today (1/13/2006) is a big abortion protest a few blocks away. Supposedly 100,000 people will march through town (DC) and end up at the convention center for an anti-abortion rally. I personally would never have an abortion. My wife is pregnant and the idea of killing our unborn child sounds horrible. But I do think that there must be a legal procedure for abortions, otherwise the options a desperate girl will turn to are morbid and even fatal.

But the real point of this post is not the legalization of abortion, but the observation that the general class of people who are active protesters of abortion are simultaneous supporters of war. So essentially if you support the war and appose abortion, you want to outlaw the killing of children by women who don’t want them, while you support the killing of children from women who do. Go figure. What do you think about this? Let me know.