Srimad Bhagawatam | The Hare Krishna Movement

New Years Resolution

05 Jan 2014 2 Comments

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Chapter a Day, Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagawatam Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, First Canto, link to srimad bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam

This year I almost forgot to make a ‘New Years Resolution’. Typically my resolutions don’t even make it past the first week in January. But this year I hope it will go differently. This year my New Years Resolution is to read a chapter a day from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam. That’s it. I am not giving up anything, or vowing to jog a mile every day, or change my life in any drastic way…just to read a little more.

With this in mind I will introduce a new blog that I have been painstakenly working on for some time; The Srimad Bhagavatam. I can simply click on a chapter link and have the entire chapter in front of me on the same page. This I hope will help me to stay focused and keep a New Years Resolution. It is a work in progress and by years end hope to have some 365 chapters posted (LOL). Or at least a few more cantos.

click on link to visit site; Srimad Bhagavatam

Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Transcendental Conchshell

02 Apr 2013 2 Comments

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Conchshell, Krishna, Krishna Consciousness, Spiritual World, Srimad Bhagawatam

This is a nice description of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental conchshell, and of how He was recieved by the citizens of Dvārakā. Beautiful!

Sūta Gosvāmī said: Upon reaching the border of His most prosperous metropolis, known as the country of the Ānartas [Dvārakā], the Lord sounded His auspicious conchshell, heralding His arrival and apparently pacifying the dejection of the inhabitants.

The white and fat-boweled conchshell, being gripped by the hand of Lord Kṛṣṇa and sounded by Him, appeared to be reddened by the touch of His transcendental lips. It seemed that a white swan was playing in the stems of red lotus flowers.

The citizens of Dvārakā, having heard that sound which threatens fear personified in the material world, began to run towards Him fast, just to have a long desired audience with the Lord, who is the protector of all devotees.

…The sound heralded by Lord Kṛṣṇa was something like the heralding of the sunrise in the morning. This sound of the Lord is identical with the Lord. We are always fearful due to our ignorance of the next problem. The whole material existence is full of problems, and thus the fear problem is always prominent. This is due to our association with the illusory energy of the Lord, known as māyā or external energy, yet all fear is vanished as soon as there is the sound of the Lord, represented by His holy name, as it was sounded by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the following sixteen words:

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

We can take advantage of these sounds and be free from all threatening problems of material existence.

SB 1.11.1-3 Full text and purport More

Kṛṣṇa-kathā

18 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Guru & Disciple, Krsna-katha, Srimad Bhagawatam Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, bepetition of birth and death, bhagavad-gita, disciple, Krsna, Krsna-katha, liberated spiritual master, nivrtta-tarsaih, SB 10.1.4, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, Supreme Personality of Godhead

click on image to enlarge

…When discourses on kṛṣṇa-kathā take place between a liberated spiritual master and his disciple, others also sometimes take advantage of hearing these topics and also benefit. These topics are the medicine to stop the repetition of birth and death. The cycle of repeated birth and death, by which one takes on different bodies again and again, is called bhava or bhava-roga. If anyone, willingly or unwillingly, hears kṛṣṇa-kathā, his bhava-roga, the disease of birth and death, will certainly stop. Therefore kṛṣṇa-kathā is called bhavauṣadha, the remedy to stop the repetition of birth and death.

In India it is the practice among the general populace to hear about Kṛṣṇa, either from Bhagavad-gītā or from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in order to gain relief from the disease of repeated birth and death. Although India is now fallen, when there is a message that someone will speak about Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, thousands of people still gather to hear. The following verse indicates, however, that such recitation of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam must be done by persons completely freed from material desires (nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ).

If we hear the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from liberated persons, this hearing will certainly free us from the bondage of material activities, but hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam spoken by a professional reciter cannot actually help us achieve liberation. Kṛṣṇa-kathā is very simple. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As He Himself explains, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: “O Arjuna, there is no truth superior to Me.” Simply by understanding this fact—that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—one can become a liberated person. (Purport SB 10.1.4)

Full Verse and Purport More

Dhṛtarāṣṭra Quits Home

12 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagawatam, Vidura Tags: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapada, Dhrtarastra, Draupadi, gandhari, krpi, Kunti, Maharaja Yudhisthira, satyaki, SB 1.13, Srimad Bhagavatam, uttara, Vidura

When they saw Vidura return to the palace, all the inhabitants—Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, his younger brothers, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Sātyaki, Sañjaya, Kṛpācārya, Kuntī, Gāndhārī, Draupadī, Subhadrā, Uttarā, Kṛpī, many other wives of the Kauravas, and other ladies with children—all hurried to him in great delight. It so appeared that they had regained their consciousness after a long period.

With great delight they all approached him, as if life had returned to their bodies. They exchanged obeisances and welcomed each other with embraces.

Due to anxieties and long separation, they all cried out of affection. King Yudhiṣṭhira then arranged to offer sitting accommodations and a reception.

After Vidura ate sumptuously and took sufficient rest, he was comfortably seated. Then the King began to speak to him, and all who were present there listened… (SB 1.13.3-7)

King Yudhiṣṭhira was expert in reception also, even in the case of his family members. Vidura was well received by all the family members by exchange of embraces and obeisances. After that, bathing and arrangements for a sumptuous dinner were made, and then he was given sufficient rest. After finishing his rest, he was offered a comfortable place to sit, and then the King began to talk about all happenings, both family and otherwise. That is the proper way to receive a beloved friend, or even an enemy. According to Indian moral codes, even an enemy received at home should be so well received that he will not feel any fearful situation. An enemy is always afraid of his enemy, but this should not be so when he is received at home by his enemy. This means that a person, when received at home, should be treated as a relative, so what to speak of a family member like Vidura, who was a well-wisher for all the members of the family. Thus Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja began to speak in the presence of all the other members.
(SB 1.13.7 purport)

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