Krishna Seva

[jagdish]

Jai Shri Krishna/Jai Jai Shri Gokulesh,

As we continue to learn and develop, we shall be grateful if vaishnavs can elaborate and clarify these further points further. These are in hindi:

1) Shri Mahaprabhuji evam unke vansaj ko mein sakshat Bhagwan ki hi buddhi rakhni chahiye.

2) Jagat shuddha Brahm-swaroop hota hua bhi maya se shuddha-braham-swaroop nahi dikhta.

3) Bhagwan ka samanya anugrah ho to laukik phal milta hai Aur vishesh anugrah ho jaay to laukik-alaukik sabhi phal milte hai, aur bhagwan uske vash me ho jaate hai.

4) Bhagwadiya ke ashraya se tatha nirantar bhagvan-naam lene se heena-ti-heen bhi suddha ho jate hai.

5) Bhagwan se hi anand milta hai parantu manav stree putra-adi mein anand samajta hai. Uska yah karya usi prakarka hai jaise pyaas shaanti karne ki icchha vaala ganga-jal ko chhod kar mrgtrushna ki aur daudta hai

6) Jo paapi hai uska bhagwan me evam bhagvat-katha me vishvas nahi hota

7) Bhagvan ki prasaadi vastu lene se evam sharanaagati se maya ka moha door hota hai

8) Jo apne vachano dvara prabhu me bhaav badhaye unhi ka sang karna chahiye

9) Prabhu ke hraday me na rahne par jeev ki durbuddhi hoti hai.

10) Bhakti-roop amrut peene vaale ka kaal-roop sarp kuch nahi bigaad sakta hai.

11) Dukh aave to yahi vichar kare ki muj se koi dosh ban gaya hai uska yah phal hai prabhu ka isme koi dosh nahi hai

12) Prabhu ke sammukh aprasann hokar kabhi nahi jaana chahiye kyoki anand roop prabhu aprasann ko dekhkar udasin ho jaate hai

13) Laukik vaidik karya lok sangrah-arth kare parantu unme aasakti na rakhe. Aasakti to keval Bhagvan ke charn-kamalo me hi rakhe

14) Pushtimargiya acharya-kul dvara atma-nivedan karne vale se hi pushti seva karave.

15) Prabhu-ke sharan ki bhavna sada kare. Sharan bhavna se sharavan kirtan aadi ka phal milta hai aur nirbhay ho jaata hai

16) Bhagvat-seva ko apna dharm samaj kar deenta se kare prashansa ka vichar na rakhe

17) Shri Thakur-ji ke swaroop me sakshaat Shri Krushna ki hi Bhavna kare

18) Jahan tak ho sake Bhagvat-seva svayam kare. yadi seva me vilambh hota ho to prabhu ko shram na ho iske liye anya ki bhi sahayta le

19) Bhagvan ke praktya evam prasannta ke karan deenta evam SruDrdha-sneha hi hai

20) Deh evam man aadi bhagvat-seva, katha naamsmaran me lage rahe to daivi jeev samajna chaiye

21) Ekagrachit hokar Bhagvatseva kare

22) Ashtakshar ka aharnish jap karta rahe

23) jiska chitt Bhagvat-seva me na lagkar laukik-avesh yukt hi rahe uska sang kabhi bhi nahi karna chahiye

24) unke dukho ko aane-par bhi vikal nahi hona chahiye kintu vaisi stithi me bhagvan ka hi dhrdha ashray rakhna chiye

25) Prabhu sambandhi karya ho to prasann rahe aur bhagvat-seva smaran na bane to dukhanu-bhav kare

26) Mahatmya-Gnan dvara apne me bhakti badhne ke liye bhagvan bhakta ko kadachit dukh bhi dete hai.
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Best Wishes
Jagdish

[Vasant Punjabi]

Jai Shri Krishna,

Enjoyed it and a very good start. Hope others will also join in soon.
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Vasant Punjabi.

"Shri Vallabh Shri Vithal Sukh-kari naa-me nishpap thai nur-nari,
------Nitya Lila nitya nautam shruti na pame par."----

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

Jagdish bhai you had quoted many beautiful panktis for our pushtimargiya terminology. And infact from this, i really admire 2-3 panktis.

1 Jahan tak ho sake Bhagvat-seva svayam kare. yadi seva me vilambh hota ho to prabhu ko shram na ho iske liye anya ki bhi sahayta le

21) Ekagrachit hokar Bhagvatseva kare

23) jiska chitt Bhagvat-seva me na lagkar laukik-avesh yukt hi rahe uska sang kabhi bhi nahi karna chahiye


These are beautiful panktis. Analysing this, we understand that Seva is to be done by an individual, and not in public. So as today we find that we go to haveli's and find ourselves happy that we got darshan, and we are now pavitra, happy with mind, But there lacks Ekagrachitt hokar bhagwat-seva, Swayam seva karni lacks.


Jagdish bhai, please do add more panktis like this.
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[Prashant]

Gopalji says:

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

PrasantBhai, Beautiful question raised by you.

Quote:

Do you mean one should not go to haveli? Temple is an institution whose foundation was laid during vedic period. What could have been the purpose of setting up this institution at that time. Does it still serve the purpose?

You are absolutely right by saying this that Temple's foundation was been laid during the vedic period. I do agree. There is no doubt in it. Even ShriBhagwatkaar in Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran gives such types of aagya that Doing the maarjan in my mandir gets ..... phal, who does the dhwaja kalash gets ...... phal, who builds the mandir gets ...... phal.


But ShriBhagwan by means of ShriBhagwatkaar gives further aagya that above all of this, My Bhakt -- devotee is much more higher, as he does bhakti of mine, and always thinks of me. So he/she gets the highest fruit-phal and i.e. ME.

So now, this is what we pushtimargiya jeevs want. We are not entangaled in the temples and get the small phal. We want the highest phal. And how can we get? By Bhakti. And for doing bhakti, Haveli's are not required. As whatever the quotes Jagdish bhai had written here comes from vaartas, granths of pushtimarg. And where can a pushtimargiya jeev can get the Ekagrachitt ? Where can a pushtimargiya jeev can do bhagwat seva by own? Jahan tak ho sake Bhagvat-seva svayam kare?

In haveli? or at home with family? or in some satsang group?
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[Prashant]

Jai Jai Shree Gokulesh,
Gopalbhai, I don't think that the purpose of going to temple should be to obtain any kind of phal, punya or anything. I rather think that these things must have come in picture much later on to attract more people. I would think of any kind of punya that you obtain as a result of your act is a by product. That cannot be a product in itself or atleast one should not think of it as the main product, yet some times it is advertised as a main product just to attract more people. Let us keep paap and punya aside so that we can see beyond that.

So can we all go back and try to think what could have been the purpose of establishing an institution of temple? Hint - Geeta says some thing about lok sangrah. What is lok sangrah?

On separate note, Gopalbhai, when you say that one should not go to haveli, we see new and new haveli's been developed by vaishnavs with Vallabhkul balak's permission. I do not say that you are right or wrong in saying that but I am just trying to think out that on one hand some vallabhkul balak stress on no haveli while on other hand some give permission to develop more haveli's. How do we decide what to do?
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Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

“Vallabhmat mein Yaha Siddhantaha Galat hai Aur Devasthan ke Chadhave ka Prasad bhi khaya nahi ja sakta hai,Kyon ki vahan Devlakatva hi pradhan hai.Aaj yugon ko dekhte hue jahan Nyas karna avashyak hai vahan uparyukt siddhanton ko dhyan mein rakh kar hi nyas karna avashyak hai jisase devlak vriti se bacha ja sake.Yadi aisi Vyavastha nahi ki jati toh Devravya hota hai,Jiska sevan Karne se Aacharyacharan spashta kahate hai ki Narak paat hoga.

{Nitya Lilastha Goswami Shri Ranchodacharyaji ‘Prathamesh’:Hamari Dharmik Stithi ka Vartaman Swaroop evam Bhavishya ki Vyavastha hetu Prativedan (Dt 25/02/1981)}

We cannot keep anything aside in pushtimarg. If a new haveli is been built by any ShriVallabhkul Balak, we should do vinanti that krupanath! what is the purpose of a new haveli? Also do vinanti that Why in a small cities of india, more number of haveli's prevail? Here u will get the answer as LOK SANGRAH.....

Just Look at this vachans of a ShriVallabhkul Balak of todays age. From Surat.

Ashirwad. "The word devdravya is made up of two words viz. dev and dravya.'Dev' means God and 'dravya' means money.The collected meaning of the word is God's money.Money which is owned by Thakurji is devdravya.In pushtimarga vaishnavs are directed to stay clear of devdravya. Once Shrinathji demanded a cow from ShriVallabhacharyaji.ShriVallabh then did not have the money to buy a cow. So He sold off a golden utensil of Shrinathji and bought a cow. But He did not use a single pie from the money obtained from selling the utensil because ti was devdravya.Similarly if you are going to Nathdwara and some vaishnav gives you Rs.101 to do bhet to Shrinathji.Then that Rs.101 becomes devdravya because that vaishnav has donated it (even mentally)to Shrinathji.And if you use that (or part of)Rs.101 personally then you do something wrong.Whenever we go some vaishnav's home in Padhramni the vaishnav gives us some money saying it is 'Thakurji's bhet'.Then we keep that money aside and donot mix it with our bhet because thakurji's bhet is devdravya.If we use that money in paying our phone bills then we will be doing something wrong.So we take extra care and see that the two bhets donot get mixed. Hope you are understandind something.I will answer the second part of the question in a day or a two.
Ashirwad.

Gos,Aniruddhlalji
(surat)
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,


ShriMahaprabhuji at many places had given agyna of taking samarpit, Means do samarpan in front of own shriprabhu. But at Nathdwara or other pushtimargiya haveli's our samarpan will not take place. ShriMahaprabhuji gives aagyna that Bij dradhyasya prakarastu Gruhe sthitva swadharmata also Sarva vastu samarpan...


ShriSubodhiniji :: -- (3 / 1 / 2 )

"Gruhesthite Utkarstam Na Bhagwadiyatvamatren Kintu BhagwataSaha Sthitya Bhagwatkaryatham va : Anyatha na Sthavyam Iti Stithi "

====>ShriMahaprabhuji here gives the beautiful aagyna, the heart of pushtimargiya jeevs, Seva and how ? How to serve ShriThakurji in Pushtimarg ??

Meaning ::- The aatmanivedi jeev (brahmasambandhi) who follows bhagwatseva at own gruh (house) with full dedication all being with swamitva and swatma to ShriThakurji in seva, is the only right way, only possible at own house ; and by no other means is possible, is the aagyna ......

GRUH Shabd ko VEDA VAKYA se dekhein...to VEDA mein GRUH Shabd ka matlab bataaya..."GRAHINI GRUHAMUCHYATE"...so GRUH means WIFE,CHILDREN & your Loved one's of the House
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

बीजदाढ़र्यप्रकारस्तु गृहे स्थित्वा स्वधर्मत: ..... भजेत कृष्णम् ....
(भक्तिवर्धिनी २)

'तु' शब्देन एतदतिरिक्त प्रकारान्तरव्युदास: उक्त: स्वमार्गीय भगवद भजनं तु गृहस्थित्यभावे न संभवती इति पूर्वं गृहस्थितिमेव आहु: 'गृहे स्थित्वा' इति. भगवद भजन अनुकूले गृहे स्थित्वा ' स्वधर्मतः कृष्णं भजेत'.
(श्री गोकुलनाथजी कृत विवृत्ति २)

अत्र गृहस्थान-विधानेन स्वगृहाधिष्ठित- स्वरुप-भजन- परित्यागेन अन्यत्र तत्करणे भक्ति: न भवति इति सूचितं भवति.
(श्रीवल्लभात्मज- श्री बालकृष्णजी कृत विवृत्ति २)

अर्थ
(क) " पुष्टिभक्ति के बीजभाव को दृढ़ करने का प्रकार तो बस घर में रहकर स्वधर्मत:.... कृष्ण को भजना है. "(भक्तिवर्धिनी २)

यहाँ 'तो' शब्द के प्रोयोग से ध्वनित होता है की इस श्लोक में अभिप्रेत भजन के प्रकार से अतिरिक्त भजन का अन्य कोई भी प्रकार सिद्धांत अभिमत नहीं है. स्वमार्गीय भगवद भजन घर में रहे बिना संभव न होने से सर्वप्रथम गृह स्थिति का ही निरूपण श्री महाप्रभुजी करते हैं "घर में रहकर" विधान द्वारा. भगवद भजन अनुकूल घर में रह कर कृष्ण को भजना चाहिए. (श्री गोकुलनाथजी वि २)

यहाँ सेवोपयोगी स्थान के रूप में घर का विधान किया गया है. अत: यदि अपने घर में बिराजते प्रभु का भजन छोड़ कर और कहीं भजन (भेट - सामग्री, मनोरथ या झांखी के रूप में) किया जाता है तो उसे 'भक्ति' नहीं कहा जा सकता है. (श्रीवल्ल.बाल.वि २)
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

गूढ़लीलापरो भक्तगूढ़भाव रसात्मक: |
सेवनीय: सावधानै: विपरीतगतिक्रिय: ||
श्रीमदाचार्यकृपया तिष्ठति स्वगृहे हरि: |
एवंविध: सदा हस्ते योगिन: पारदो यथा||
(शिक्षापत्रम २/१८-१९)

अर्थ
गूढ़ लीला परायण भक्त के गूढ़ भाव अनुसारी विपरीत-गति-क्रिया वाली लीला करने वाले श्री हरि की सेवा सावधान हो कर करनी चाहिए. श्रीमदाचार्यचरण की कृपा से प्रभु अपने घर में बिराजते हैं. इस तरह की जैसे योगी के हाथ में पारा की गुटिका. (शिक्षा. २/१८-१९)


गृहे स्थित्वा सेवनार्थ स्वधर्मेणैव सर्वथा |
कृष्णं भजेत यतोsधर्मकरणात हीनयोनिता ||
कृष्णमूर्तौ यथालब्धई: द्रव्ये: संपूजयेद हरिम् |
पूर्वं स्थानं मंदिर आदि तथा सिंहासन आदि च ||
(श्रीहरिरायजीकृत- स्व-श.स.से.निरूपणम ४५-४६)

अर्थ
घर में रह कर सेवा जो करनी है वह सर्वथा स्वधर्म अनुसार ही कृष्ण भजन के रूप में करनी है, क्यों की अधर्म करने पर हीन योनी में जन्म मिल सकता है. यथालब्ध द्रव्यों से हरी का पूजन उनकी मूर्ती के रूप में करना चाहिए. हरी पूजन से भी पहले हरिके बिराजने के स्थान-मंदिर आदि और सिंहासन आदि का भी अलंकारण आत्मक पूजन करना कहिये.
(श्री हरि. स्व.श.स.से.नि.४५-४६)

आचार्यकुलाद" इति श्रुति उक्त रीत्या गृह एव स्थित्वा भगवद भजनं कर्तव्यं स्वधर्म रहस्यम च गोपनीयम इति सिद्धं.
(श्री पुरुषोत्तमजी कृत -अणुभाष्य प्रकाश. ३/४/५०)

अर्थ
"आचार्यकुलाद" इस श्रुति में कही गई रीती के अनुसार घर ही में रह कर भगवद भजन करना चाहिए और अपने धर्म के रहस्य को गुप्त रखना चाहिए.
(अणुभाष्य. प्र ३/४/५०)
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[gopal]

Jai Jai ShriGokulesh,

These are few quotes of our margiya Aacharyas, who will definately say that the temples may be from vedic age, but for pushtimarg, no need for havelis..There are plently other quotes from the Mahanubhaav Aacharyas Who do not favour today's havelis.
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Jai Jai ShriGokulesh Parivaar,
Baroda

[Prashant]

Jai Jai Shree Gokulesh,

Thank you Gopalbhai for all your time and effort. If you don't mind I would like to ask you all further questions. But before I do that let me put forward my thought on establishment of temple.

I do not know the exact reason for the establishment of temples in the olden days but if I have to guess I would think of the following things. Please note that the views below is my imagination plus how would I justify the establisment of temple. The views might have some influences of my readings from various books.

Geeta has mentioned the importance of lok sangrah. So what is lok sangrah. Lok means people and Sangrah means collection or in this case gathering. So lok sangrah can be merely said as gathering of people or get together of people. So what is everyone supposed to do in lok sangrah? Why this get together? When written in Geeta is has some specific meaning. Lok Sangrah is meant for upliftment of the society.

We have talked about importance of donation in the topic "Behind the scenes". What happens when a person donates. How does it affect the donor and the receiver. As a matter of fact I have asked this question before but never got a chance to discuss further on that. To answer the question, usually, the person who donates the money will feel proud about it and the person who receives the donation feels inferior. So there was a need of a system such that there is a social, economical as well as spiritual growth of people. Donations would bring about economical balance to some extent but than there is a decline in spiritual growth as the donor becomes egoistic and the receiver feels obliged. This would become a major problem.

So what could be a solution to this. When we need any help whom do we ask first? Should we hesitate to ask for any help from our parents. When in need we might me more comfortable to ask help from our parents than anyone else. We may not feel obliged. Similarly, When we give our parents some money, we don't feel as if we have donated any money. Giving our parents some money would not boost our ego. So this might be a good solution. But we are not talking about a single family, we are talking about group of people with different backgrounds and religions. When we are talking about group of people from different background who could be our father. You guessed it right. God is our father. Establishment of temple would help in social and economy balance and the process would not cause any kind of spiritual hindarance.

In olden days every village used to have a temple that too usually in the center of the village. The purpose of being in the center is so that it is easily accessible to the people. So that everyone can get together. The temple would act as a charity trust. People would donate what ever they can like money, food grains etc and it was distributed to those who needed it the most. When one donates in the temple we say it is our seva towards our God. And when one receives from the temple we say its a prasad from god. Here no individuals deal with each other directly yet there is social and economic balance in the name of god.

So one of the purpose I can think of in establishment of temple is social, economical and spiritual growth. Let us think further and try to think out more benefits of temple. Please feel free to add your thoughts.

To be continued....
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Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant

[zankhana]

Jai Shri Krishna

Prashantji, you have interesting reasoning about the establishment of temple. However, I think to reduce the reason of temple's existence to merely donations and their distribution is not right.

Firstly in vedic times, there must have been barter system. People traded their goods/services to get things they required. This would have led to automatic equitable distribution of resources. The other thing is that people in those times led simple lives and so would not have needed so many things which are a must today. Lesser needs would have led to people being satisfied with what they have. This would have reduced the need of donations.

I think temple is a place where people of all backgrounds irrespective work and gender came together as equals to pray to God. I have read in a book that it was a place outside which social gatherings were also conducted. Another thought that comes to mind is temple is a place where one can find peace. The structure of temple is scientific and it helps to concentrate energy.

Gopalji, I agree that one should do seva at home. But that should not mean that We should not go to Haveli either. If we go to Haveli, we can learn how to do seva by observing sringar and other things. So I think going to haveli at the cost of serving your Thakorji at home should not be done but one can try to do both.
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Sarvada sarva bhaven bhajanio vrajadhipah

Jai Shri Krishna
Zankhana

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
We have tried to seen one possible purpose of the instituion of temple - acting as a trust to bring about economic balance in the society without hindering the spiritual growth. We also talked about lok sangrah which is a collective force of people to bring over all progress of the society.

The main purpose of lok sangrah is upliftment of the society. So how does one achieve that? When we talk about uplifment it involves all the aspects of life viz social, economical and spiritual. All in all we are talking about improving the quality of life. Quality of life cannot be improved without ensuring the basic necessity of life - food and shelter. We have seen how this can be ensured through means of donations. Also we saw that when we try to balance the economical aspect of the society it would imbalance the spiritual growth by boosting ego of a donor and inferior complex of receiver. But this can be further negated when we route it via temple.

Once the basic necessity is taken care of it is very important that one has the right direction and knowledge of life. In my opinion, the quality of life cannot be improved beyond certain limit unless his/her conscious (chetna) is awakened. Consciousness can be awakened through many ways and prime amongst them is knowledge and devotion. Hence the need for satsang and bhakti (devotion).

Satsang would impart the right kind of knowledge a person needs for betterment of his life. It would answer various mysteries of life, thus imparting the knowledge and teaching people the right way of living. Temple being the central place in the village, such satsangs would be held in the premises of temple. Also there would be a feeling of knowledge flowing from god to the people.

Prayers would be held in the temple. This infuses the bhakti or devotional element in the people. Think of our beautiful prayers which is not only full of gratitudness towards god but it also pledges for the betterment of the world. For eg we have prayers like Sarve Api Sukhina Santu Sarve Santu Niramayah, meaning - Let everybody be happy, healthy, and blessed. So the prayers are not for ourself but for everyone, this would bring about peace and harmony in the society. What an arrangement!!!!

Besides this prayers have so many symbolisms involved in it there by imparting the right kind of knowledge that would help people to further progress in the path of spiritualism. I guess we should take a look at various symbolism involved in the act of prayer. Anyone????

Temples would also act for social meetings. Marriages and other social functions would be held in temples. Various festivals would be celebrated in the temple. Thus temple acts as a perfect place for social activities too. In all temple looks like a very good arrangement for overall progress of life.
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Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant