mental-health | The Hare Krishna Movement

The gopis remembered their pastimes with Krishna p208

click on image to enlarge

This morning as I was making a breakfast offering, and was offering a nice glass of fresh milk, my mind just seemed to go to this picture of Krsna milking a cow. And I thought ‘milk is such a wonderful food, miraculous really. One can live on milk, and as small children milk is all that is required, and as we develop as yogis, we can subsist on the gifts of God, such as fruits, grains and milk, without a need for killing.

The above picture is one of my very favorites from the Krsna Book, because it is so simple and sweet, and there is a noticeable absence of technology.

The following are two verses from the Bhagavad-gita As It Is describing the healthy diet, and activities of the yogi.

There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.

He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. (Bg. 6.16-17)

Full text and purport

Parenthood (Vatsalya-rasa)

So we are continuing our series on the five types of relationships (rasa’s) with the Lord. Today we are exploring the Paternal Devotional stage of Love of God (Vatsalya-rasa) as explained in chapter 43 of “The Nectar of Devotion”.

When ecstatic love develops into the relationship of parenthood and becomes steadily established, the relationship is called vatsalya-rasa. The exhibition of this vatsalya-rasa standard of devotional service can be found in the dealings of Krishna with His devotees who represent themselves as superior personalities like father, mother, teacher, etc.

Learned scholars have described the impetuses of parental love for Krishna, existing in the elderly personalities who are in relation with Him, as follows: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily complexion is just like a bluish, new-grown lotus flower, whose body is very delicate and whose lotus eyes are surrounded by scattered hair as black as bees, was walking on the streets of Vrindavan when Mother Yasoda, the beloved wife of Nanda Mahārāj, saw Him. Immediately the milk began to flow from her breasts, soaking her body.” Some specific provocations for parental love of Krishna are listed as His blackish bodily hue, which is very attractive and pleasing to see, His all-auspicious bodily features, His mildness, His sweet words, His simplicity, His shyness, His humility, His constant readiness to offer respect to the elderly, and His charity. All of these qualities are considered ecstatic provocations for parental love.