Tag Archive for: Krishna

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O Krishna! I Beg for Your Mercy part two

Mahanidhi Swami

O Krishna, You destroy the darkness within devotee’s hearts. I am covered by the darkness of greed, anger, pride and the desire for fame. O Krishna, kindly illuminate my heart and destroy this darkness.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You dissipate the darkness of the world, and manifest the knowledge of great souls. Please manifest pure knowledge of Yourself within my heart, and destroy the darkness of illusion covering my real identity.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You are faster than mind, the master of speech and You perform wonderful acts. You are truth and encouraging statements. Whenever the tendency arises within my mind to speak nonsense, to belittle the devotees, or to speak negative, discouraging words, please be there at that moment with your lightning speed to work wonders. Make me always speak the truth about You, glorify You and lovingly encourage all Your devotees.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, I am full of improper behavior and desires to perform whimsical unregulated acts. I have no cleanliness, nor do I know what to do or what not to do. Please give me the power and the wisdom to strictly follow the example of the previous acharyas. Please give me the determination to always act purely and religiously, and to perform only activities that are pleasing to You.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You easily destroy the magical forces of the demons. My rascal mind produces many such magical illusions, and like a ruffian he shouts cruel slogans like, “Go ahead! You can enjoy. Forget about Krishna and Guru. Just be natural, be yourself.” O Krishna, Please dispel these mystic illusions from my mind and fix my mind on Your soft and sweet, beautiful lotus feet.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, the crocodile of duplicity is swallowing my heart. Please crush this crocodile and make me Your honest devotee.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You relentlessly chased the Vaisnava aparadhi Durvasa all over the universe. Please accompany me wherever I may travel, and immediately chase away the demon of Vaisnava aparadha from my mind and heart.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, Your glance is sweet, merciful and all auspicious. Your glance pacifies, enlivens, inspires and satisfies Your devotees. I am a lazy blind fool with very little determination to serve. O Krishna, please glance upon me, make me fortunate, purify my heart, and fill me with the enthusiasm to serve Sri Hari, Guru and the Vaisnavas.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, with Your invincible chakra, please cut down the karma cakra and samsara cakra which are moving me on through endless births with no end in sight! O Mukunda, please liberate me and tie me to Your feet as a slave bound in love. Kindly give me a place in the mandala of rasa, Vraja Mandala, and let me dance there around and around forever delighting in the light of Your love.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

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O Krishna! I Beg for Your Mercy part one

Mahanidhi Swami

Spiritual life is nothing but one long, arduous journey of surrender.

We surrender our minds to hear Gita and Guru.

We surrender our hearts to take diksha from Sri Guru.

We surrender our time to practice bhakti sadhana.

We surrender our attachments to live as Krishna wants.

We surrender our desires to desire only Krishna.

We surrender our love to receive Krishna’s love.

And at last, we surrender our lives hoping to attain Sri Krishna.

In pursuance of that goal, we offer the following prayer to my Loving Lord, while continually praying, “O Krishna! I beg Your mercy.”

O Sri Krishna! I am a fool, completely ignorant and I have no experience, yet still I want to offer a prayer to You. I know that You are in my heart, so I beg You to please inspire me, and guide me in glorifying You with transcendental sound.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You destroy the demons with Your weapons, Your will and with all-devouring time. You bless Your devotees with the lotus twirling in Your beautiful petal-like fingers. You make their lives auspicious by kindly giving them strength, protection and victory in the struggle of life.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna! May I always hear Your sweet melodious voice resounding in my heart, reassuring me with Your words: “My devotee will never be vanquished!”

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, You are completely pure but I am full of all dirty things. Please purify my mind and heart, and make me dance in joy to Your Holy Names. My mind is full of fear, hankering and anxiety. So please remove this filth and grant me the inner peace to always feel Your presence.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, the demoniac soldiers of arrogance and conceit are attacking the city of my heart. Please chastise these miscreants so that I may come to my senses, and realize that I am Your humble servant.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, the elephant of sinful lust has entered my garden of devotion. O Krishna, let me remember the elephant goad sign on the bottom Your right foot, and thus drive out this mad elephant of desire.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, please cover the eyes of the sinful enemies of envy within me that make me blind to the good qualities in others, and force me to offend the Vaisnavas.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, please protect me from the constant attacks of my bad habits of laziness and wasting time searching for material happiness.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

O Krishna, please protect me from the six faults: overeating and collecting too much, bad association, neglecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures, unnecessary talking about mundane topics, over-endeavor for material objectives, and lusting over mundane achievements.

O Krishna! I beg for Your mercy.

Sri Krishna sharanam mama! Jai Jai Sri Radhe!

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Light on Nama Abhasa

Mahanidhi Swami

What is the meaning of nama-abhasa chanting of Krishna’s Holy Name? Is nama-abhasa a stage of japa in sadhana bhakti? Are devotees chanting nama-abhasa?

This subject is not very clearly understood by many devotees. First of all, the term nama-abhasa describes the type of Krishna nama chanting DONE BY NONDEVOTEES and it applies only to them.

The term nama-abhasa means unintentional, by chance, accidental chanting done once or more in a person’s entire life, as seen in Ajamila. Does any devotee pick up his japa mala in the morning and chant 16 rounds accidentally, by chance?

For every devotee chanting Krishna’s name is an intentional, regulated daily sadhana practice performed as a means to attain spiritual perfection. In no way is it unintentional, accidental or by chance! In other words, no one sits down and deliberately chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra by accident.

In fact, there is no shastra that says nama-abhasa is a stage of sadhana in chanting Hare Krishna. According to the absolute authority of shastra, nama-abhasa always refers to unintentional, accidental chanting as done by nondevotees.

To further understand the subject of nama-abhasa I researched the shastra. Other than the Bhagavatam and Chaitanya-caritamrta, the subject of nama abhasa is not mentioned in any Gaudiya Vaisnavas shastra. And for all Gaudiya Vaisnavas, these two sacred books are the topmost praman (proof) and final authority.

In the Ajamila story, nama-abhasa is described in SB 6.2.14:

säìketyaà pärihäsyaà vä stobhaà helanam eva vä

vaikuëöha-näma-grahaëam açeñägha-haraà viduù

“Chanting the name of the Lord while indicating someone else; or while joking in a friendly manner; or chanting the Lord’s name in order to fill up space while chanting verses; or chanting with neglect destroys unlimited sins and desires.” [these are the four types of nama-abhasa] Obviously, nama-abhasa and its stages does NOT apply to a devotee chanter.

Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti’s tika:

  1. Saìketyam means chanting while referring to someone/thing else but Krishna.
  2. Pärihäsyam means calling jokingly, but with affection, not with criticism. “O famous one! Your fame is like that of Krishna, so you can save me!”
  3. Stobham means to chant the name in order to provide proper meter during a discourse or song. Chanting name of Hari or Krishna to conclude a song.” See Note below:
  4. Helanam means chanting Krishna’s name with disregard and inattention. Also includes casual chanting of Krishna’s name while eating, playing or sleeping. Helanam chanting is also done without any criticism or disrespect.

NOTE: In their tikas to Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.14 (The Ajamila Story), Sridhara Swami, Sri Sanatana Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti all say the word STOBHA (a type of accidental, non-devotee chanting) means gitalapa puranartham krtam, as in completing a song.

For example, someone may conclude a mundane love song by saying, “I love you soooo much, Hari Hari, Hari”. These acharyas further say that derisive, contemptuous and hostile chanting, as in the case of Jarasandha’s 99 rebukes of Sri Krishna, CANNOT be called nama-abhasa.

Comment: The whole Ajamila story shows the phenomenal power of Sri Krishna’s transcendental name. Ajamila was a terrible sinner, a NONDEVOTEE, and somehow he ACCIDENTALLY CHANTED “Narayana” and became delivered. This is a clear example of nama-abhasa and the supreme power and mercy of Harinama.

The subject of nama-abhasa also appears in the Chaitanya-caritamrta (3.3.55-187), wherein Namacharya Sri Haridasa Thakura describes nama-abhasa as unintentional, accidental chanting. He cites the nondevotee Ajamila and a poor fellow being attacked by a wild boar as examples of nama-abhasa chanters.

Neither one of them was chanting Hare Krishna as a daily sadhana. Their chanting was purely unintentional, accidental. This is nama-abhasa! His discussion proves the great power of hari nama that even a nondevotee who contacts a mere glimpse of nama gets liberation, what to speak about devotee chanters.

In his entire delivery on nama-tattva, other than describing the nama-abhasa chanting of nondevotees, Sri Haridasa Thakura speaks only one verse (Cc. 3.3.185) about the chanting of devotees done as a daily sadhana:

aiche nämodayärambhe päpa-ädira kñaya

udaya kaile kåñëa-pade haya premodaya

“The first result of offenseless (shuddha-nama) chanting is that one’s sins are eradicated. As one continues chanting shuddha nama, one eventually attains Krishna prema.”

Comment: Here Sri Haridasa Thakura introduces shuddha nama, the stage after the offensive stage. This verse describes shuddha nama, which means chanting Krishna’s name without offenses. For devotees there are only TWO STAGES IN CHANTING: with offenses or without offenses, aka aparadha-nama and shuddha-nama.

In his comment on Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.14, Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti says for a devotee there are only two stages in chanting Krishna nama: offensive and offenseless i.e. aparadha-nama and shuddha nama.

When a devotee BEGINS to chant shuddha nama, it brings the result of destroying all sins. As one continues to chant SHUDDHA NAMA, one will progress through the stages of nistha, ruci, bhava and on to Krishna prema which will appear in his heart as the culmination of shuddha nama chanting.

May all devotees avoid the ten offenses to Sri Harinama, chant shuddha-nama, and quickly progress to the nectar sweet ocean of Krishna prema!

Namacharya Sri Haridasa Thakura ki jai!

Jai Jai Sri Radhe!

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Happy Birthday Song For Krishna

By: Mahanidhi Swami

Nand Ke Anand Bhayo Jai ho nand lal ki

Nand ke anand bhayo Jai Kanhiya lal ki

Hey Braj mein anand bhayo Jai Yashoda lal ki

Nand ke anand bhayo Jai Kanhiya lal ki

Hey anand umang bhayo Jai ho nand lal ki

Gokul ke anand bhayo Jai Kanhiya lal ki

Jai Yashoda lal ki Jai ho Nand lal ki

Hathi, ghoda, palki Jai Kanhiya lal ki

TRANSLATION

All glories to the darling boy of Vraja we call Nandalal, Yashodalal and Kanhaiyalal ki jai! That sweet boy of Gokula fills Nanda Baba’s heart with bliss. Celebrating the wonderful birth of his matchless child, Nanda Baba profusely gave in charity elephants, horses and lavishly decorated palanquins.”

Sri Krishna ki jai ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Krishna

Jai Jai Sri Radhe!

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The Devotee is More Merciful than God

By: Mahanidhi Swami

InBhagavata-gita(18.54), Bhagavan Sri Krishna says, “After one [a bhakta] becomes liberated from the three modes of material nature, he attains para-bhakti or pure devotion, uttama-bhakti to Me (brahma bhuta prasannatma, mad-bhaktim labhate param)”.

It is significant here that Bhagavan uses the word labhate (achieves, attains), instead of the word kurute (do, make). Labhate means that uttama bhakti is achieved only by the mercy of Bhagavan or His bhaktas; it is not attainable by one’s own efforts.

This is the position of Bhagavan Sri Krishna and theBhagavad-gita: first liberation then para-bhakti.

Now let’s look at the grantha-rajaSrimad Bhagavatam(10.33.39). Here the devotee, Sri Sukadeva Goswami promises that simply by hearing or describing Radha-Krishna’s Rasa Dance, one will first attain uttama-bhakti, para-bhakti, pure devotion to Bhagavan Sri Krishna. And then he will quickly attain liberation from the modes of nature, and their concomitant qualities like lust, anger, greed and so on (vikriditam vraja-vadhubhir, srnuyad atha varnayed, bhaktim param bhagavati pratilabhya, kamam

hrd-rogam ashu apahinoti acirena).

This is the position of the bhakta Sukadeva Goswami and the Bhagavatam: first para-bhakti then liberation.

The conclusion is that the devotees of Krishna are more merciful than Bhagavan Sri Krishna.

Grantha-raja Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!

Krpa-shakti murti Sukadeva Goswami ki jai!

Jai Jai Sri Radhe!

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Beautiful Boons of Bhagavatam

By:Mahanidhi Swami

Just by casually hearing/reading about Sri Krishna’s wonderful, sweet pastimes depicted in the Srimad Bhagavatam, you will attain four amazing blessings, even without desiring such priceless gifts.

Moreover, the inner peace and heart’s satisfaction you’ll feel by hearing the Srimad Bhagavatam will soon make you “fall in love with Bhagavata”, as you hanker to hear/read it every day, nityam bhagavata sevaya (SB 1.2.15).

But how does it all happen? As you hear/read the Srimad Bhagavatam, you will automatically acquire higher knowledge which will subdue your lower material nature and remove your miseries. You won’t even realize how this is happening—a magical transformation of YOU.

An extraordinary inner joy and satisfaction will arise in your heart like a rich sweet aroma coming from a field of blossoming roses. This new found joy will make you detached from material sense objects, and non-devotional people and places, even without trying for it.

You, the former materialist, have now become a spiritualist—a seeker of life’s essence, God’s love. And with your Bhagavata treasures of a peaceful mind and a happy heart, you will move quickly along the path of Krishna prema bhakti.

As Bhagavan Sri Krishna says in Gita (18.54): “A spiritualist—free from grief and hankering—sees all equally and soon attains My pure love!”

To summarize, let’s see the four great treasures of hearing/reading the Srimad Bhagavatam:

1)You acquire divine knowledge and peace to subdue your lower nature.

2)Delight fills your mind to dispel your gloom and despair.

3)Your joy brings easy detachment from material sense objects/people.

4)You attain a state of liberation leading you to life’s goal of Sri Krishna prema bhakti.

So my dear friends of loving faces!

May you all dive deeply into the fathomless, beautiful, exciting, fulfilling, romantic, wisdom-filled, purifying and blissful ocean of immortal nectar ambrosia named “The Srimad Bhagavatam!”

Grantha Raja, Amala Purana,

Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!

Jai Jai Sri Radhe!