Krishna Seva

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna and Jai Jai Shree Gokulesh,
Ganeshji an elephant headed god is called Vignaharta. We often pray to him before doing any subh karya. May it be job interview, starting a new bussiness or getting married. We do not risk to enter into any venture without his blessings.

Ganesh Chaturthi is on Saturday so let us take this oppurtunity to know more about this god. To start with we can think on some of these questions. Who is Ganesha and why is he called Vignaharta? Why is he elephant headed? I know most of us might know the story behind this but does that fit into our logical mind? Is there any significance behind these stories? What is his significance in Pushtimarg? Let us dig deep into these. Stories are welcome......
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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

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
As we discussed earlier let us try to look into why Ganpati is called as Vigna harta.

We are all well versed with the story of how ganpati got the elephant head. But do we ever question how does an elephant head fit on human body? Does it not sound weird. As a child we all love the stories and accept everything that's being told in a story form. But as a grown up have we started asking any question on how is this possible. Perhaps we simply accept this because god is supposed to be very powerful and is capable of doing anything. Right? And we are told right from our childhood that you should not doubt god's strength. You should not question such stories. What ever is written in our shastra is nothing but true.

But is it not possible that these stories are told to help us understand something important. Could there be any significance behind this? Could there be any hidden message behing this story or is it still the same story for fun? Possibly there has to be some kind of message.

Let us make an attempt to peek into this. First let us see what is the meaning of the word Ganpati. The word Ganpati consists of two words - Gana = people & pati = leader. Ganesha also consists of two words Gana=people and esha=ishwar or lord. One who is leader of people is called Ganpati or Ganesha. Ganpati is a symbol of leader. It tells us how a good leader should be.

The physical attributes of Ganesha are rich in symbolism and it tells us what kind of qualities one should have. Ganpati is elephant headed god with large belly. What does elephant signifies? The elephant symbolises devotion, patience and truth. That means a leader should be devoted towards his goal, should have patience, does not take any step in haste and always favor the truth. There should be transparency in his work.

A large forehead is an indicator of a brilliant mind; it goes without saying that a leader should be brilliant. A leader should listen to everybody, therefore the large ears. The ears appear like winnowing baskets. Winnow is used to separate chaff from grain by fanning. This means a leader should listen to everybody but should filter out any unwanted and unimportant things. This makes people feel their importance but at the same time if the leader cannot filter out any unimportant task or opinion than he would succumb under the volume.

Ganesha has tiny but broad eyes. This indicates the breadth of vision a leader should have. A leader should have nose to scent out the smallest problem; which a large trunk does with sensitivity. It is important for a leader not to let out all that he knows or all that he has been told; that is why Ganpati has a large stomach.

Also, his corpulent body, awkward gait, broken tusk and guffaw tell us that outward beauty has no relation to inner perfection.

Tradionally arugu grass is offered to lord. This is a grass that grows anywhere and is more like a weed. But this is being offered to Ganesha. Which means a leader should not neglect any weak person. He should accept each and every individual without any discrimination.

Gulal is dispersed in air and kumkum is applied to his forehead. Both of these are red in color. Red stands for revolution. So a leader should also be revolutionary.

Modak is offered as prasad. If you ever had modak as prasad you must have noticed that it is hard from outside but soft from inside. A leader may have to be little hard from outside to maintain the discipline but he should be soft within.

Mouse is the vehicle of ganesha. Now this sounds so odd. How can a small mouse can carry the weight of Ganpati? Shouldn't we question this. Well, the mouse is, in every respect, comparable to the intellect. It is able to slip unobserved or without our knowledge into places which we would have not thought it possible to penetrate. In doing this it is hardly concerned whether it is seeking virtue or vice. The mouse thus represents our wandering, wayward mind, lured to undesirable or corrupting grounds. By showing the mouse paying subservience to Lord Ganesha it is implied that the intellect has been tamed through Ganesha's power of discrimination.

Now imagine, if we have all these aspects than can we ever be put into trouble. Before doing any karya we often pray to Ganesha, be it an interview, marriage or buying a property. Darshan of Ganesha should remind us of all the qualities associated with his physical attributes and we should introspect and ask ourself if we have such qualities. This is a checklist for us. If we strive for such qualities than there cannot be any hurdle in whatever we do. Hence Ganesha is called as Vigna harta.

Now every time we do darshan of ganapati let us try to remind ourself of his above mentioned qualitites.
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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

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Prashantji, I have received an email from Veshaliji, She has asked me to put this on the web for your attention.


please publish this article in satsang of krishnaseva.com [actually I wanted to send it to prashantji but unfortunateli I don't have his e-mail id so , can you please send him this article]
prashantji,hello
mujhe aapki story likhne ki style aachi lagti hai. kya aap bata sakte hai "journey within"mein aage kya likhneka socha hai? what about that jeev?ab mai ek real story batati hu. in my life i have also taken naam diksha. mai unhe appna bhagwan manti hoon; mera ek problem hai ki mai kafi bold and open minded hoke sabke sath baat kar sakti hoon magar unke saath nahi kar sakti and thats my weak point, kya sabke sath baat karnewali sirf unkesath baat nahi kar sakti to kya ye baat itni important hai? ab ek baat hui ki unki mere par krupa hui aur unhi mai aapne sab swarup dekhti thi. to ek din aisa kuch huva unki chabi dekhkar mujh par mentally effect hua aur mai us samay se apne par control kho bethi. unhi dino meine aysa kuch hua tha ki uske bare mai jan ne ke liye unko question mark diya isliye unko mere baare mein kaafi misunderstanding ho gaya . mai unhe kaafi sallo se janti hu lakin mujhe yaad hai ke meine kabhi kuch galat kiya hoga aur jabhi krupa huyi tabhi ye problem create hua, isliye maine unhe aisa ek letter likha jisme jo kuch huva tha vo meine detail mein likha tha lekin letter except kyu nahi kiya voh pata nahi chala meine unhe inhi dino mein kaafi pareshan kiya aur unhone aur unke family ne seh bhi liya isliye unki mai shukragujar hua in sab baato se kya unke liye jo aasth hai wo kum nahi honevali .lekin mai aap ko aapki story ke baare mein saval karna chaathi hoon lakin jo bhi dosh lagega mai sehne ko tayar hoon.
main bhi kafi novels paadhi hai, sangeet mera jeevan hain . aap ki story ke common friend ke dil mein us jeev ke liye emotion develop huyein thein kya vo attraction tha, temporary ya permanent love tha? kyun kein hum jisse pyaar karte hai ,to usko usmein positive,negetive jo bhi point hai uske saath aapnate hai "humko malum hai ishq masum hai , dil se ho jaati hai galtiya"abhi story mein common friend ne sirf procedure hui uske baad us jeev unke paas gaya ya na gaya ye soachkar bathein ya jeev ka problem samajhne ki koshish k tabhi jeev suppose kuch samjha nahi hoga lekin common friend ne uski ungli thaami thi aur spoon feeding ki jaroorat to nahi ho lekin usko sahi raasta dikhaya kya pyaar in choti-choti baat dekhta hai . kya aap sab aur aapka common friend bhi mujhe pyaar kya hota hai bata sakte hai ? kya pyaar buri baat hai ?is jamane mein bhi sabki soach pahele ke logoen ke jeisi hai?
now i am in normal condition only because of their krupa and hardwork. his precios blessing on my family , they were able to control me and looked after me as i am small girl. all; the vaisnavs please give me blessings so that i can talk to my guru whicg i think is impossible for me.
my best regards to you
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Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
Thank you Pushtidasji for forwarding this message. And thank you Veshaliji for showing your interest in my postings. I am afraid that I may not have understood all your questions but let me take one question at a time and where ever I do not understand I will request for further clarification. It seems you are not the member of Krishna Seva. I would request you to be one in that way we can communicate with each other and other members can also jump in to answer your questions. Further, you can reach me at my personal email meetprashant@gmail.com.

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Prashantji, thank you for your response to Veshaliji. She has communicated with me since her last posting, she would like to thank you and does not want to discuss the material and the matter any more.

Due to her personal predicament she no longer wants to discuss her initial post anymore. She would like to thank all the vaishnavs and especial Prashantji to take time to help her.

We at Krishnaseva will delete any further discussion on this subject.
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Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Prashant]

Jay Shree Krishna,
We have some nice stories in our Pushti Email section and one of them depicts the saying "What ever happens, happens for the best". We quite often say this and we also say that everything is "God willing (Prabhu Icha)". So how can we co-realte these with the current environment of terrorism and human attrocities which is observed globally?
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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

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Prashantji, once in satsang we discussed that everything belongs to God, we take Brahmasambandh and offer family, wealth and ourselves to Thakorji, if you analyse this concept one will come to the conclusion that it all belonged to Him in the first place. Though there is one element that does not belong to God and that is Karma. Karma is created by the humans themselves, thus is one of the reasons for what is happening within the world.

When the Universe was created scriptures were written to show the right direction, however humans decided to make their own destiny. Breaking rules leads to paying fine’s, which I guess we are guilty off. In this Era of Kalyug one is constantly sinning and building bad karma’s hence suffers the negative effects. Graceful God help us through the karma's and I believe that to be His Icha


JSK
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Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[zankhana]

Jai Shri Krushna

Prashantji, evil has always existed in world since God created it. He created the universe in such a way that evil and good co-exist in this world to keep the cycle of universe moving. This is Hari Icha as we can't question His will. If you look at from other perspective, without existence of the "bad", one cannot understand the value of "good". This also motivates the man to perform good deeds.

You have given example of current day terrorism but if you look at the ancient eras, even then the evil has existed. Our dear Lord has taken avtars to destroy the evil and re-establish the Dharm on the earth.

I agree with Sitalji in saying that everything belongs to God, actually as per Shri Mahaprabhuji there is nothing but Him. Every living/non-living being we perceive is actually Him!

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krushna

Thanks Zankhanaji and welcome to Krishna Seva Tibari. I apologise for my previous posting, the concept was not explained properly.

God is the sole owner of everything in this world; everything we think is owned by us and offered to God has always been His in the first place.

On the hand Karma is created by humans, the consequences of soul’s ability to choose their actions as you nicely explained in the posting above. In the previous posting I meant to write that this accumulated karma did not initially belong to god, He has shown great mercy upon soul by accepting this karma and guiding soul through His/Her deeds.

The rules of Karma’s vanquish when all our actions are diverted to Shree Thakorji. It’s when we do not carry out all our actions for the benefit of God and indulge in the material world karma’s build up again. This karma and anything prior, which has been accumulated, must be spent, He holds our hand through this process. Sometimes situation seems extremely bad and we think god is punishing us, which is not true.

An example from the Gopigeet:

In the gopigeet Shree Krishna vanquished from the maharaas, the gopi’s felt deserted by the one they surrendered life, body and soul and to. Their pain and cries were becoming insufferable. In reality god had never left them, hidden within their heart he heard their cries and gradually all sins were burnt. In the end they were graced with the greatest gift, Krishna himself eternally.

In summary, God is not the instigator of evilness. Wrong choices, bad habits, egoism, jealousy… etc leads to a negative environment. God just helps us through these predicaments and this Icha of His is very sweet

Zankhanaji, I hope that this elaboration helps, if not please do let me know and I will make the necessary corrections

JSK
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Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[zankhana]

Jai Shri Krushna

Thank you for very well explained answer Sitalji. Very nice example to illustrate the concept.
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Sarvada sarva bhaven bhajanio vrajadhipah

Jai Shri Krishna
Zankhana

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

That was well explained Sitalji. I think Karma and the sins acquired by a soul is the soul's own creation. Although everything is created by God but our Karma creates our own sins. We cannot say that all my sins are God's sins, now can we say that?

As explained by Sitalji, our Karma is accumulated and the ones that are not spent are carried forward into our next life. This is Veda and Puran revelation. We as vaishnavs (Pushtimargiya Vallabhi vaishnavs), do we carry forward our karma in the next life? Does vaishnavs fall in the cycles of recarnation?

A food for thoughts or is it samagree fot vichar!
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Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Thank you Sitalji, Zankhanaji and Pushtidasji for your inputs. I am in complete agreement with Pushtidasji when he says "Although everything is created by God but our Karma creates our own sins. We cannot say that all my sins are God's sins" Also what Sitalji wrote makes lot of sense that "Karma is created by the humans themselves, thus is one of the reasons for what is happening within the world."

So now my question is when anything bad happens we account it to our karma. How about when things fall in our favor? We say we are graced. Is that really a grace or our own karma?

Pushtidasji wrote:

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

I would choose Samgree for vichar without offering a justification for my choice

Anyway, Pusthidasji that’s a very interesting question

Agreed Prasantji, I also believe that the law of karma does not differentiates between pushtimargiya and non-pushtimargiya. All souls create their Karma’s especially in this era for kalyug I find it is inevitable to avoid. If these karma’s are somehow not spent, we must carry these over to our next life like everyone else

Then again, there is a concept which I have heard that in this marg all souls who have received Brahmasambandh would be uplifted within three janams If that it true one does wonder how this whole process work

It’s been evident from varta’s and previous writings that some vaishnavs have been uplifted within only janam, others two/three and some have been on earth for many janams (births) even though they had received Brahmasaband just like all the other vaishnavs.

I think there is various reasons behind this. First of all, once we enter Pusthimarg we must follow siddhant which has been set by Jagad Guru Shree Mahaprabuji. He has always stressed on: Krishna Seva Sada Kariya. Loving seva of Shree Thakorji without any expectations in return. If a soul follows these principles and adopt Pusthimarg this way within his/her life and uses his speech, thought, and actions only for the benefit of God He/She will not create any further bad karma’s as that person has reached the stage of living in this world without being attached to material nature (transcendental stage)

Next question is: What happens to all the previous accumulated karma? This is spent in their materialistic life. Sometimes we wonder why the most devout people suffer so much, it is a grace bestowed on them, this way they are burning their sins quickly and are able to return to His abode speedily.

Also another weapon that Thakorji uses is the stages of hilag and Viprayog. This way souls are elevated to his Domain. However, sometimes bhagvad icha is also applied in certain situations, Thakorji at certain times requires for his devotees to stay on a little longer for the benefit of others. Hence other devotees are in the materialistic world for many janams helping other souls.

The above applies to souls who have become transcendental, What happens when a souls does not adopt Pusthimarg Principles within His/Her life after receiving Brahamasambandh and still only indulge in lokik life only? I believe that they will then still keep banking their karma’s and will need to keep re-incarnating until Pusthimarg Path is adopted within their life and all deeds are dealt with.

It would be great if other could comment and write their opinions, please to feel free to correct if I have written anything out of the contrary.

JSK
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Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[zankhana]

Jai Shri Krishna

Very nicely explained Sitalji.

I have a little confusion about the law of Karma applying equally for pushtimargiya and non-pushtimargiya. At the time Guruji initiates us (gives us Brahmsambandh), it is said that we are freed from our previous karmas. I believe Mahaprabhuji has said this in Siddhant Rahasyam granth.

I agree with you Sitalji that leading a devoted life as shown by Mahaprabhuji is essential. Thakorji's seva and satsang can prevent accumulation of any new karmas as well as release us from any previous karmas.

After this life, whether we take another birth or be fortunate enough to be graced by Thakorji depends on His grace and our adhikaar. This is obviously His leela / Icha.

Sorry for deviating from the main topic but I am not clear about the terms Hilag and Viproyag (virah?). It will be great if some one can explain them.
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Sarvada sarva bhaven bhajanio vrajadhipah

Jai Shri Krishna
Zankhana

[Prashant]

Zankhanaji wrote: