Mahesh Raja: RE: Indradyumna's Lecture (pt. 1)

 Mahesh Raja Dasa: Hare Krsna!

These Con Artist bogus Iskcon gurus have tried to use this Narahari Sarkara example before - But Srila Prabhupada rejects idea of fallen guru. Kanistha is not even on transcendental stage - so how can he impart transcendental knowledge? Madhyama is middle stage---- recipient of Diksa. Guru is Maha bhagavata.

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada says the Madhyam has to be careful of the association of demons, because he might revert back to being one. It is not yet a liberated platform.]

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Indradyumna: And Narahari Sarkara wrote a book, Krishna Bhajanamrita, which explains what to do if your guru falls down. Which means that you pray like anything that he comes back and becomes properly situated, and can continue to guide you in Krishna consciousness. You wait for him to come back. If he doesn't come back, that's another lecture. But the point is that there were gurus who were falling down. But not every guru! (chuckles) Some. So in ISKCON some have fallen.

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada's books do not say that gurus in our parampara are falling down. They are citing another source, without Srila Prabhupada's purports to that source.]

https://krishna1008.blogspot.com/2022/02/indradyumna-swami-attacks-on-iskcon-pt-3.html

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There is no possibility that a first-class devotee will fall down, even though he may mix with nondevotees to preach. Conviction and faith gradually increase to make one an uttama-adhikārī, a first-class devotee.

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/madhya/22/71

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ONLY A MAHA-BHAGAVATA IS A DIKSA GURU: 

Srila Prabhupada is OUR Diksa Guru For As Long as His Books Are On The Planet

Reply to Rocana’s article “A Ritvik Smokescreen”

By Mahesh Raja and Prabhupadanugas

A) If you are NOT on Transcendental platform you CAN NOT give TRANSCENDENTAL Knowledge.

B) Madhyama means MIDDLE stage he is the RECEPIENT of Diksa whereas the Mahabhagavata is the Spiritual Master who TRANSFERS Krsna in the heart of Madhyama Adhikari thus Diksa is described GRAPHICALLY SB10.2.18. And Antya lila 4.192 – 4.194.

C) Madhyama can NOT be a Diksa Guru, as that would be OFFENSIVE chanting – means his spiritual life is FINISHED!

Purport, Nectar of Instruction 5

One should NOT become a spiritual master UNLESS he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari.

The 3rd Offence in chanting is to disobey the Spiritual Master so if one becomes a spiritual master without being on Uttama Adhikari he will be committing offense.

NoD 8 Offenses to Be Avoided The offenses against the chanting of the holy name are as follows: (3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master.

Lectures: BG 7.1 – Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972 : 721213BG.AHM : The madhyama-adhikārī should not touch the demons. Because maybe, he may turn again, be demon. Therefore one should be very careful to associate with the demons.

D) Kanistha is a MATERIALLY CONTAMINATED hence he is unfit to give Diksa

So how can we establish that Kanistha does NOT give diksa? Kanistha is a QUALIFIED Brahmana. But even such a QUALIFIED Brahmana is in MATERIAL CONTAMINATION. And because he has MATERIAL CONTAMINATION he does NOT have full Transcendental Knowledge. What you do NOT have you can NOT give. And it is full Transcendental Knowledge that frees one from ALL MATERIAL CONTAMINATION.

Definition of Diksa:

Madhya 15.108 The Lord Accepts Prasada at the House of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya

Srila Jiva Gosvami explains diksa in his Bhakti-sandarbha (283):

divyam jnanam yato dadyat kuryat papasya sanksayam tasmad dikseti sa prokta desikais tattva-kovidaih

“Diksa is the process by which one can awaken his transcendental knowledge and vanquish all reactions caused by sinful activity. A person expert in the study of the revealed scriptures knows this process as diksa.”

Madhya 4.111 Sri Madhavendra Puri’ s Devotional Service Diksa actually means initiating a disciple with transcendental knowledge by which he becomes freed from all material contamination.

[PADA: It is very odd that so many people believe (A) a guru parampara that contains illicit sex with men, women and children, drinking Vodka, porno swamis etc. -- is (B) going to liberate others and free them from material contamination. That is impossible. Worshiping deviants keeps a person on the deviated platform.]

So here we see from above definition of Diksa quotes:

D1) Transcendental Knowledge awakened, initiated.

D2) becomes freed from all material contamination; vanquish all reactions caused by sinful activity

Now ask a simple question HOW can a Brahmana (Kanistha) who is NOT freed from MATERIAL CONTAMINATION GIVE DIKSA - BY WHICH- ONE BECOMES FREED FROM **ALL** MATERIAL CONTAMINATION?

[PADA: Worse than that, by worship of deviants, one develops their qualities. Even Indradyumna swami was saying that recently, by association with deviating devotees, one can imbibe their qualities -- and fall and fail. That has happened to probably thousands and thousands of people from ISKCON. They worshiped a bogus guru, their guru blooped, then they all blooped and gave up on the process, just like their gurus have. They became what they worshiped.] 

Just take a look at how contradictory and stupid this looks:

Q1) HOW can a Brahmana (Kanistha) who is HIMSELF material contaminated, free another person from **ALL** MATERIAL CONTAMINATION?

SB 9.19.25 P King Yayati Achieves Liberation The word vidhuta, meaning “cleansed,” is very significant. Everyone in this material world is contaminated (karanam guna-sango ‘sya). Because we are in a material condition, we are contaminated either by sattva-guna, by rajo-guna or by tamo-guna. 

Even if one becomes a qualified brahmana in the mode of goodness (sattva-guna), he is still materially contaminated. One must come to the platform of suddha-sattva, transcending the sattva-guna. Then one is vidhuta-trilinga, cleansed of the contamination caused by the three modes of material nature.

Q2) If a Brahmana (Kanistha) had Transcendental Knowledge then why is contaminated by goodness(sattva-guna)?

Diksa is the process by which one can awaken his transcendental knowledge and vanquish all reactions caused by sinful activity. Diksa actually means initiating a disciple with transcendental knowledge by which he becomes freed from all material contamination

Q3) So HOW can a Kanistha (Brahmana) who HIMSELF is material contaminated, and who does NOT have full Transcendental Knowledge -- give another person full Transcendental Knowledge to free him?

Common-sense: What you do NOT have you CAN NOT give to others.

770214r2.may Conversations

Prabhupada: Vaisnava is not so easy. The varnasrama-dharma should be established to become a Vaisnava. It is not so easy to become Vaisnava.

Hari-sauri: No, it’s not a cheap thing.

Prabhupada: Yes. Therefore this should be made. Vaisnava, to become Vaisnava, is not so easy. If Vaisnava, to become Vaisnava is so easy, why so many fall down, fall down? It is not easy. The sannyasa is for the highest qualified brahmana. And simply by dressing like a Vaisnava, that is… fall down.

Hari-sauri: So the varnasrama system is like for the kanisthas, Kanistha-adhikari.

Prabhupada: Kanistha?

Hari-sauri: When one is only on the platform of neophyte.

Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. Kanistha-adhikari, yes.

Hari-sauri: Varnasrama system is beneficial.

Prabhupada: Kanistha-adhikari means he must be a brahmana. That is kanistha-adhikari. The spiritual life, kanistha-adhikari, means he must be a qualified brahmana. That is kanistha. What is esteemed as very high position in the material world, brahmana, that is kanistha-adhikari. 

Arcayam eva haraye pujam yah sraddhayehate na tad-bhaktesu canyesu sa bhaktah prakrtah smrtah The brahmana means from the material stage, then gradually he is elevated to the spiritual stage. And below the brahmana there is no question of Vaisnava.

Hari-sauri: No question of?

Prabhupada: Vaisnavism.

[PADA: Good. A kanistha devotee is a qualified brahmana, which means he is following the standards of brahmana. In ISKCON their gurus are often falling into illicit sex, intoxication, and so many odious activities -- which even the common religious layman does not fall into. Why? They are not even kanistha, and yet they are being advertised as acharyas and gurus. When Indradyumna says their gurus are kanistha, he is wrong, deviants are not on the kanistha platform. Nor do bona fide kanisthas promote the worship of deviants as acharyas.] 

760206mw.may Conversations

Dayananda: But what about the persons who may be a little bit devoted but who have not achieved that unalloyed devotion?

Prabhupada: Kanistha-adhikari. They are not devotees, but they are called bhaktabhasa. There is some signs of bhakti. Actually they are not bhakta. Bhaktabhasa. Abhasa. Abhasa means a simple, a little light.

Hrdayananda: So devotee really means one who has love for Krsna.

Prabhupada: Yes, unalloyed, without any condition. Anyabhilasita-sunyam, zero, all other, that “I am this, I am that, I am jnani, I am yogi, I am karmi, I am minister, I am king” – all these are thinking like that, they’re all nonsense. “I am servant of Krsna”– that is greatness. Jivera svarupa haya nitya-krsna-dasa. That is self-realization, atma-tattvam.

Madhya 20.59 Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs Sanatana Gosvami in the Science. 

PURPORT This verse is spoken by Prahlada Maharaja in Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.9.10). A brahmana is supposed to be qualified with twelve qualities. As stated in the Mahabharata:

dharmas ca satyam ca damas tapas ca amatsaryam hris titiksanasuya yajnas ca danam ca dhrtih srutam ca vratani vai dvadasa brahmanasya

“A brahmana must be perfectly religious. He must be truthful, and he must be able to control his senses. He must execute severe austerities, and he must be detached, humble and tolerant. He must not envy anyone, and he must be expert in performing sacrifices and giving whatever he has in charity. He must be fixed in devotional service and expert in the knowledge of the Vedas. These are the twelve qualifications for a brahmana.”

Bhagavad-gita describes the brahminical qualities in this way:

samo damas tapah saucam ksantir arjavam eva ca jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam

“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness–these are the qualities by which the brahmanas work.” (Bg. 18.42)

In the Muktaphala-tika, it is said:

samo damas tapah saucam ksanty-arjava-virakta yah jnana-vijnana-santosah satyastikye dvisad gunah

“Mental equilibrium, sense control, austerity, cleanliness, tolerance, simplicity, detachment, theoretical and practical knowledge, satisfaction, truthfulness and firm faith in the Vedas are the twelve qualities of a brahmana.”

730828BG.LON Lectures

So first of all, we have to become brahmana. Then Vaisnava. Brahmana simply knows that “I am spirit soul,” aham brahmasmi. Brahma janati iti brahmana. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma. By such knowledge one becomes prasannatma. Means relieved. As you feel relief… When there is burden on your head, and the burden is taken away you feel relieved, similarly, this ignorance that “I am this body” is a great burden, a burden upon us. 

So when you get out of this burden, then you feel relieved. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma. Means when actually one understands that “I am not this body; I am soul,” then he has to work so hard for maintaining this body, so he gets relief that “Why I am working so hard for this lump of material things? Let me execute my real necessity of life, spiritual life.” 

That is a great relief. That is a great relief. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati. The relief means there is hankering, no more lamentation. This is the brahma-bhutah platform.

SB 1.2.20 P Divinity and Divine Service

The very same thing is confirmed herein in the above words. No ordinary man, or even one who has attained success in human life, can know scientifically or perfectly the Personality of Godhead. Perfection of human life is attained when one can understand that he is not the product of matter but is in fact spirit. 

And as soon as one understands that he has nothing to do with matter, he at once ceases his material hankerings and becomes enlivened as a spiritual being. This attainment of success is possible when one is above the modes of passion and ignorance, or, in other words, when one is actually a brahmana by qualification. 

A BRAHMANA IS THE SYMBOL OF SATTVA-GUNA, OR THE MODE OF GOODNESS. AND OTHERS, WHO ARE NOT IN THE MODE OF GOODNESS, ARE EITHER KSATRIYAS, VAISYAS, SUDRAS OR LESS THAN THE SUDRAS. THE BRAHMINICAL STAGE IS THE HIGHEST STAGE OF HUMAN LIFE BECAUSE OF ITS GOOD QUALITIES. 

SO ONE CANNOT BE A DEVOTEE UNLESS ONE AT LEAST QUALIFIES AS A BRAHMANA. The devotee is already a brahmana by action. But that is not the end of it. AS REFERRED TO ABOVE, SUCH A BRAHMANA HAS TO BECOME A VAISNAVA IN FACT TO BE ACTUALLY IN THE TRANSCENDENTAL STAGE. A PURE VAISNAVA IS A LIBERATED SOUL AND IS TRANSCENDENTAL EVEN TO THE POSITION OF A BRAHMANA. IN THE MATERIAL STAGE EVEN A BRAHMANA IS ALSO A CONDITIONED SOUL BECAUSE ALTHOUGH IN THE BRAHMINICAL STAGE THE CONCEPTION OF BRAHMAN OR TRANSCENDENCE IS REALIZED, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUPREME LORD IS LACKING. ONE HAS TO SURPASS THE BRAHMINICAL STAGE AND REACH THE VASUDEVA STAGE TO UNDERSTAND THE PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD KRSNA.

Rocana: Mahesh does not make a distinction between the issue of the qualifications of a bona fide spiritual master, and the fact that sastra acknowledges that there also exist kanishta and madhyam gurus. He does not distinguish between the qualifications of the uttama diksa, and the range of possibility the candidate has for the sorts of guru he might choose for himself, which includes not only uttama-diksa.

PADA: Srila Prabhupada says even a Madhyam devotee has to beware his association, because by association with demons, he can fall back to being a demon himself. In other words, Madhyam devotees are not sufficiently advanced to liberate others, they are not yet fully fixed in Krishna consciousness. 

People like GBC folks / Rocana / Kaliash et al. keep saying the Madhyam can also be a diksha guru, but that is not what is recommended. The Nectar of Instruction says, one must accept only the Uttama guru. That is because, only the Uttama can liberate a conditioned soul.]

Mahesh: The “range of possibility” is non-existent. By definition ONLY Mahabhagavata is Diksa guru as described in CC Madhya 24.330

MAHĀ-BHĀGAVATA-śreṣṭho / brāhmaṇo vai gurur nṛṇām / sarveṣām eva lokānām / asau pūjyo yathā hariḥ / ahā-kula-prasūto ‘pi / sarva-yajñeṣu DĪKṢITAḤ /
sahasra-śākhādhyāyī ca / na guruḥ syād avaiṣṇavaḥ.

“The guru must be situated on the topmost platform of devotional service. There are three classes of devotees, and the guru MUST be accepted from the topmost class.”

The first-class devotee is the spiritual master for all kinds of people. ….When one has attained the topmost position of MAHA-BHAGAVATA, he is to be accepted as a guru and worshiped exactly like Hari, the Personality of Godhead. ONLY SUCH A PERSON IS ELIGIBLE TO OCCUPY THE POST OF A GURU.

Rocana das is trying to juggle OUT of this in the hope that Kanistha is also some sort of Diksa guru.

Note: When Krsna comes into the heart of sincere soul AT THE STAGE OF MADHYAMA ADHIKARI BY DIKSA FROM MAHABHAGAVATA he SEES Krsna and his SVARUPA is revealed in the heart. Kanistha can NOT transfer Krsna into your heart. Madhyama is A RECIPIENT of diksha from the Uttama devotee.

[PADA: Correct, a Madhyam devotee still has to make further progress by association with the Uttama devotee. And since the Madhyam can fall back by association with worldly people, he has to be very careful not to lose his way on the path. In other words, he is not yet fully fixed on Krishna. Meanwhile, neither the Kanistha nor the Madhyam has sufficient brahmana tejyas purity of power to absorb the sins of others, and if they attempt to take sins artificially, they will be overburdened and fail just from that deviation alone.]

Glories of Lord Nityananda (Prabhupadavani)

[PADA: Thanks JD. Yes, Lord Nityananda is the original spiritual master. To say the fallen, the deviants and even the predators are participants and "links" in His chain of successors is an insult to Him personally. Agreed. ys pd]

https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/770202nabhu/?

JAI NITAI!

1. If you worship Nityānanda Prabhu, it is as good as to worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (Srila Prabhupada, 7 March 1975, Mayapur)

2. One who has become the dog of Nityānanda Prabhu, he gets his eternal life… So better to become a dog of Nityānanda Prabhu. Then we shall be happy. (Srila Prabhupada, Bhubaneswar, February 02, 1977)

3. Individual souls are under the direction of Śrī Nityānanda. They receive their appointment of service to Śrī Gaurasundara, who is none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, from Śrī Nityānanda’s hands. (Srila Prabhupada, 1969 Los Angeles)

nitai and gaura no difference

4. Nāyam ātmā bala-hinena labhyaḥ. This bala-hinena labhyaḥ, this Vedic injunction, means “Without the mercy of Balarāma you cannot understand, you cannot realize your spiritual identification. So that Balarāma comes as Nityānanda Prabhu. Balarāma hailā nitāi. Therefore we must take shelter of Balarāma. That is… (Srila Prabhupada 1969 Los Angeles)

5. If you are actually serious about going back to home, back to Godhead, then please seek after the mercy of Nityānanda. (Srila Prabhupada, 31 January 1969, Los Angeles)

6. He says that “If you are anxious to go back to home, back to Godhead, and become associate with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then the best policy is to take shelter of Nityānanda.” Then he says, se sambandha nāhi jā’r, bṛthā janma gelo tā’r: “One who has not been able to contact Nityānanda, then one should think of himself that he has simply spoiled his valuable life.” Bṛthā janma gelo, bṛthā means for nothing, and janma means life. Gelo tā’r, spoiled. Because he has not made connection with Nityānanda.

The Nityānanda, very name, suggests… Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means pleasure. Material pleasure is not eternal. That is the distinction. Therefore those who are intelligent, they are not interested with this flickering pleasure of material world. Every one of us, as living entity, we are searching after pleasure. But the pleasure which we are seeking, that is flickering, temporary. That is not pleasure. Real pleasure is nityānanda, eternal pleasure. So anyone who has no contact with Nityānanda, it is to be understood that his life is spoiled. (Srila Prabhupada, Jan 31, 1969,Los Angeles)

7. So here Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing that “The whole world is suffering under the blazing fire of material existence. Therefore, if one takes the shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda…,” whose birthday is today, 31st, January, 1969. So we should relish this instruction of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura that in order to get relief from the pangs of blazing fire of this material existence, one should take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda because it is as cooling as the moon rays combined together of millions of moons.

That means one will immediately find peaceful atmosphere. Just like a man works whole day and if he comes under the moonshine he feels relief. Similarly, any materialistic man who comes under the shelter of Lord Nityānanda will immediately feel that relief. (Srila Prabhupada, 31 Jan 1969)

narottam and nitai

8. Now, all these different incarnation of Viṣṇu is summarized here by Kavirāja Gosvāmī that “All of them are partial expansion of Nityānanda,” to understand what is Nityānanda Prabhu. (Srila Prabhupada, 31 March 1975-Mayapur)
9. So Nityānanda Rāma… So yasyāṁśa sa nityānanda-rāmaḥ. Nityānanda is Balarāma. Therefore He is said, nityānandākhya-rāmaḥ. Just like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu… Kṛṣṇāya-kṛṣṇa-caitanya nāmne: “I offer my respectful obeisances to Kṛṣṇa now appeared as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.” 

He’s Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Nityānanda is Balarāma. So balarāma hoilo nitāi. Therefore it is said here, nityānandākhya-rāmaḥ: “He’s Rāma, Balarāma, but at the present moment He has appeared by the name Nityānanda.” (Srila Prabhupada, 31 March 1975 Mayapur)

nitai is balaram

10. Now, what is the identification of Nityānandākhya-Rāma? Rāma, Balarāma, and Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa—there are so many names of Śrī Baladeva. In the Upaniṣad it is said, nāyam ātmā bala-hīnena labhyo: “Self-realization is not possible without being strengthened by the mercy of Balarāma.” Sometimes they take it foolishly, that “Without being very strong bodily, nobody can realize self.” But that is not the fact. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena. This is the Vedic injunction. That bala-hīnena means without being favored by Nityānanda Prabhu, Balarāma. (Srila Prabhupada, 31 March 1975- Mayapur)

nitai is baldeva

11. Pāpī tāpī yata chilo, harināme uddhārilo. And evidence? Tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. You see Jagāi-Mādhāi. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited one example, to deliver Jagāi-Mādhāi. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, through the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu, delivered them. (Srila Prabhupada, Vrindavan April 4 1976)
12. That is described by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, mahājana, pāpī tāpī yata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, ta’ra sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi. This is the business of Nityānanda Prabhu. (Srila Prabhupada, 26 March 1975 Mayapur)

13. As Lord Nityananda is eternal, hence His lotus feet are also eternal and anyone who takes to the service of Lord Nityananda, he also becomes eternal. (January 31, 1969, Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada)

lotus feet of Nitai

14. Balarāma means guru-tattva. Balarāma represents guru. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. If we want to understand Caitanya Mahāprabhu, if we want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then we must take shelter of Balarāma. Nāyam ātmā bala-hinena labhyaḥ. This bala-hinena labhyaḥ, this Vedic injunction, means “Without the mercy of Balarāma you cannot understand, you cannot realize your spiritual identification.” So that Balarāma comes as Nityānanda Prabhu: balarāma hailā nitāi. Therefore we must take shelter of Balarāma. 

That is… This song has been sung by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. Nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala. If we take shelter of Nityānanda Prabhu, then we get peace. Koṭi-candra-suśītala. Just like in daytime, especially in the summer season, we become very much exasperated. But at night, in the evening, as soon as there is moonshine, we become very much satisfied. All day’s labor and fatigue is immediately moved.

So nitāi-pada-kamala, the shade of Nityānanda Prabhu’s lotus feet, is koṭi-candra-suśītala: as pleasing as one crore of moonshine. One moonshine gives us so much pleasure. So if we want actually peace of mind, if we actually want to be free from this material fatiguement, then we must take the shelter of Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu is the strength, spiritual strength. And without spiritual strength you cannot approach Kṛṣṇa. Nāyam ātmā pravaca… 

Simply by talking nonsense… Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ. If you are a good speaker, that does not mean you’ll understand, yourself. Na medhayā: “Neither by good brain.” Because you have got very good brain you’ll understand Kṛṣṇa—no. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena. If you think that you are a very good scholar, university degree-holder, then you’ll understand—no. This is not possible.

So we must have spiritual strength. That source of spiritual strength is Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa’s next manifestation, prakāśa-vigraha. Kṛṣṇa is manifesting Himself through Balarāma. So we have to take shelter of Nityānanda Prabhu. nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala, je chāyāy jagata jurāy (Srila Prabhupada, Bhubaneswar, 

February 02, 1977)

15. Sambandha nāhi jār, bṛthā janma gelo tār. So if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu… Nityānanda means “always.” Nitya means “always”; ānanda means “pleasure.” This is another meaning you can draw. So therefore, if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu… Se sambandha nāhi jār bṛthā janma gelo tār: “He’s simply wasting time.” Bṛthā means “useless.” Uselessly, he’s wasting time. Se paśu boro durācār. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has used very strong word. “Anyone who has no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu, he’s a paśu.” Sei paśu. He’s a paśu, means animal. So animal, how one animal can get happiness? That is not possible.

The dog, from the childhood he’s searching after food, searching after food, and cannot get food. Unless a dog has got a master, he’s street dog and he’s always unhappy. So better to become a dog of Nityānanda Prabhu. Then we shall be happy. Instead of becoming dog of so many other people… 

Everyone is dog. Everyone is searching after to serve a master. But none of them are satisfied because that is false master. You take real master—Nityānanda Prabhu—you’ll be happy. (Srila Prabhupada, Bhubaneswar – February 02, 1977)

16. Ahankare matta hoiya, nitāi pada pasariya. But if we take shelter of Nityānanda Prabhu, then you get the enlightenment. Asatyere satya kori māni. Nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pabe, dharo nitāi-caraṇa du’khāni.
Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises that… Today is Nityānanda Prabhu’s āvirbhāva, appearance day. Let us at least remember today nitāi-pada-kamala. That is wanted. 

Nitāi caraṇa satya, tāhāra sevaka nitya. The reality is nitāi-caraṇa, and anyone who is servant of Nitāi… So nitāiyer caraṇa satya, tāhāra sevaka nitya. One who has become the dog of Nityānanda Prabhu, he gets his eternal life.
We are eternal, but under misconception of material identification, we are under the subjugation of māyā. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). 

Tathā dehāntara… (BG 2.13). It is very botheration, but they do not know. I am going from one body to another, transmigration. And that is not guaranteed, what kind of body. They have no science, no knowledge about understanding tathā dehāntara, the very first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā.

Nitāi caraṇa satya, tāhāra sevaka…, nitāi-pada sadā koro āśā. Therefore we should always expect to be under the shelter of nitāi-pada-kamala. Narottama boro duḥkhī. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he’s ācārya. He is presenting himself… That is ācārya. Means he is not duḥkhī, but he’s presenting himself as duḥkhī. That is ācārya. Ācāryas, they are never duḥkhī. But taking the common man’s position, he says, narottama boro duḥkhī.

Or, in other words, Narottama… Narottama means the best of the human being. So here in this material world one may be the best of the human being, very exalted position, but everyone is duḥkī, unhappy. Narottama boro duḥkī. Nitāi more koro sukhī: “Only Nityānanda can make me happy. Otherwise not possible.” Rakho raṅga-caraṇera pāśa.

So today is Nityānanda Prabhu’s appearance day. We shall always pray Nityānanda Prabhu, “Kindly keep me under Your shelter so that… I am very duḥkī; I am very unhappy. Under the shelter of Your lotus feet I shall be happy.” And that is real happiness. (Srila Prabhupada, Bhubaneswar – February 02, 1977)

Indradyumna Swami "Attacks on ISKCON" pt. 3

SP: Under no circumstances allow other people to touch your feet.

You will be acting as gurus, taking their karma -- 

and that will make you:

get sick, fall down, or both. "You will have to suffer."

And maybe -- die.

Indradyumna swami: There's different types of pure devotees (chuckles). 

[PADA: "Chuckles." Yes, one of the ex-gurukli children victims of severe abuses in the Indradyumna swami program's "guru-schools" system told me -- it is totally infuriating for him to see that these people like Indradyumna swami, Bhakti Vikas swami, Radhanath swami and many other ISKCON leaders are often seen chuckling and laughing, evidently, they seem to think all of the suffering their program caused to us children is some kind of comedy hour joke. 

"They are always chuckling, we are always suffering. They just think all the suffering they make for others is -- comedy. This is like some kind of horror movie where the demons make other people suffer -- while they just sit and laugh. They have no feelings for their victims, which is the symptom of the demons." 

Yep, even HKC Jaipur thug Prahad das [Paul Coats?] was chuckling in a video he made about the child abuse, and some victims commented, he also thinks child abuse is his personal Bennie Hill comedy hour show. Then the demon clowns who made this child nightmare circus, cannot understand why the children abandoned their "religion"?]  

A disciple can see his spiritual master as a pure devotee in the sense that his spiritual master has fully dedicated his body, mind and words to the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada.

vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam

[PADA: However, in ISKCON Jayadvaita swami says their gurus are often falling into illicit sex with men, women and maybe children. How can we say these falling down people are "dedicated to Krishna"? 

And Bhakti Vikas swami says their gurus are often "crashing like jumbo jets" -- making most of the passengers die off spiritually and abandon ISKCON. OK so "one after another" of these gurus crashes; like Jumbo Jets, and then most people die in the crash! 

And this one bloops away and he takes thousands of people out of ISKCON in the process. And then the next one bloops and also takes thousands of MORE people out of ISKCON. And having thousands and thousands of people exiting ISKCON -- in one giant Jumbo Jet crash after the next, is how Srila Prabhupada wanted ISKCON to be managed? We got rid of a few thousand here, a few thousand there, we are doing good! For Satan! 

How can a religion be managed -- when thousands of people are leaving in one Jumbo Jet crash after the next? 

And! How is any of this connected to being "dedicated to the mission"? The mission has gone bankrupted, morally and financially, and is now an empty ghost town -- even according to leaders like Lokanath swami. And that is the result of the mission being dedicated to Srila Prabhupada? 

For example, around here 95% of the original Prabhupada devotees left, 95% of their children left, 95% of the disciples of new gurus left, leaving West Coast temples with a teeny small group of people barely holding the fort. One ex-book distributing woman here told me -- she avoids going to the ISKCON temples because "if I want to be depressed, I will watch a horror movie." She is too depressed to see the empty building that once had hundreds of people.

How does this serve the mission of God? Rather! Sounds like it is serving the mission of Satan and not God? Why would God want His temples turned into empty, deserted moon-scapes? This is serving the mission of Kali Yuga, not Krishna.]

Basically, one who can control his senses, and one who is fully immersed in the missionary activities of Krishna consciousness is qualified to make disciples all over the world. It doesn't say that one has to be experienced in the eight ecstatic symptoms of love of God. One has to be of a certain stature in Krishna consciousness to be an initiating guru, that I agree. 

But ritvik people say that unless one is, you know, completely self-realized devotee of the Lord who can see Krishna in Vrindavana, that he shouldn't initiate. But that is not our philosophy. Prabhupada said, even one who is kaninistha-adhikari, he can accept disciples.

[PADA: No Srila Prabhupada does not say kanistha adhikaris can take the post of acharya -- and give pure divyam jnanam and act like another Jesus and absorb the sins of others. Rather, Srila Prabhupada says -- when the kanisthas imitate the uttama -- it is sahajiya. And it will destroy the mission -- just like it destroyed the Gaudiya Matha. And furthermore, the Nectar of Instruction says neophytes imitation of guru causes one to "eventually become degraded."

The Indradyumna program is rather simple really: (A) kanisthas / debauchees / illicit sex / Vodka drinkers / pedophiles et al. are all part of their "guru chain" of Krishna's alleged successors or acharyas. (B) Anyone who disagrees is banned, beat, sued and killed. 

Then -- for example, their kanistha gurus can steal all the money meant to feed the ISKCON children, and give these children rotten old moldly oatmeal to eat, while some of the Indradyumna party of elite leaders get to eat huge 25 course feasts every day. Then the GBC will employ child abusers and child beaters -- who beat the children with sticks and knock their teeth out and break their bones -- and have them molested -- so that the money meant to employ proper teachers can be used instead by Indradyumna's party to live like Saudi Princes. 

In sum, "kanisthas are gurus" then means: everyone else is banned, beat, sued, molested and maybe assassinated. That is the entire foundation of their kanistha guru process. Sulochana said they are standing high, but only because they are lifted up on the top of a huge pile of the skulls -- of all the people they had to abuse, remove and eliminate to artificially take that post.] 

And the fact that there're gurus who have fallen down does not mean that the process is wrong, because even during Lord Caitanya's time some gurus were falling down. The sannyasis are the natural spiritual masters of the society, and Chota Haridas, Junior Haridas, fell down. A personal associate of Lord Caitanya, Krishnadasa Brahmacari, he was the Lord's assistant when He went to South India, he fell down!

[PADA: None of these people who fell are considered as acharyas in the parampara. Neophyte devotees are NOT considered as acharyas. The list of 32 acharyas does not include any fallen people, and it is an offense to say there is fall down commonly happening in the guru parampara.]  

And Narahari Sarkara wrote a book, Krishna Bhajanamrita, which explains what to do if your guru falls down. Which means that you pray like anything that he comes back and becomes properly situated, and can continue to guide you in Krishna consciousness. You wait for him to come back. If he doesn't come back, that's another lecture. But the point is that there were gurus who were falling down. But not every guru! (chuckles) Some. So in ISKCON some have fallen.

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada's books do not say that gurus in our parampara are falling down. They are citing another source, without Srila Prabhupada's purports to that source. 

Most of the first wave of 11 fell and most of the second wave fell. Notice, devotees are being banned, beaten, and children are being molested, and devotees are being sued, even assassinated. And that is going on left, right and center. And we should pray to have the people doing that stay, and continue?

When the leaders who are orchestrating these attacks on the Vaishnavas bloop or leave, we should pray that the people doing that should come back -- to keep up that process? My dear Lord Krishna, Your devotees are not being sufficiently banned, beaten, exiled, molested, sued and killed, can You please bring back the people who have been doing that after they leave? "Let the beatings continue." 

We really miss their program. 

Why does Indradyumna want us to pray to have anymore of these devotee aggressors and exploiters -- continue -- and even come back when they leave -- to continue their odious program? Oh boo hoo, our program only had maybe 2,000 children molested, let us pray to bring back the orchestrators of that program, so more kids can be molested? Why would we want the orchestrators of this evil empire to be saved, and come back, to create more evil.]

Sri Prahlada dasa: "In Gaudiya Math, too."

Indradyumna Swami: In Gaudiya Math so many gurus have fallen. In Ramanujacarya's sampradaya so many gurus have fallen. So one shouldn't think, "Oh, my guru will also fall." That's offensive. If you lose your faith in guru, then you lose your faith in Krishna. 

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada says that it is an offense to consider that gurus are ordinary men who are falling. Notice, we have to have faith in the GBC's illicit sex with men, women and children guru parampara, or it is an offense to Krishna? 

So notice, now it is common that there are illicit sex gurus in Krishna's guru parampara. Srila Prabhupada says we cannot see the guru as an ordinary man, or it is the mad elephant offense, guru aparadha, and it is one of the ten offenses to the holy name to consider gurus are ordinary men etc.

Srila Prabhupada says, among my God brothers -- no one is qualified to be acharya. He never said these people are gurus and they are falling because, it is common that gurus are falling down. 

Notice the pattern here, Bhakti Vikas swami says guru problems are common, Bahushira says the same, Indradyumna says the same -- in sum -- it is common to have illicit sex with men, women and children in Krishna's guru parampara. So let us make sexual predators, drunks, drug addicts, porno swamis and pedophiles into gurus, since our pedophile guru parampara was going on millions of years ago too, just as it is now.

NOPE! There is no such thing as a chain of illicit sex "guru" deviants coming in the guru chain from God. 

Told ya! ys pd] 

Dorothy Eady Reincarnation Story (VIDEO)

 

Indradyumna Swami "Attacks On ISKCON" pt. 2

Indradyumna swami: "So these are distinct differences from the Gaudiya Matha's teachings of Srila Prabhupada. So to whom are we to give our allegiance? He is a charismatic person, and in his movement there's not so many problems because it's a young movement. So, out of some frustration should we leave ISKCON and join his movement? Just because emotionally he's, you know... You're upset with ISKCON, and he is a very charismatic person, so should we just leave ISKCON and join Narayana Maharaja, or any other member of Gaudiya Math? Puri Maharaja? There's two Puri Maharajas.

[PADA: The GBC has been consulting with various Gaudiya Matha people, and openly advertising them, including Sridhara Maharaja. And worse, advertising these Gaudiya Matha's folks as ISKCON's shiksha gurus, rasika gurus, "senior advisors" etc. 

For example the 1980 GBC position paper "The Mahajanas Have Difficulties" was written "in consultation with (Sridhara Maharaja) ISKCON's higher authority." And this is a very highly offensive document attacking the Mahajanas as conditioned souls. So Indradyumna's program has been promoting these folks -- and their odious and offensive ideas, and bogus documents, all along. 

Right out of the gate the Indradyumna program began to blend their deviations with alleged faults in the pure devotees and Mahajanas, and they borrowed these ideas from the Gaudiya Matha. The GBC has never declared all these documents to be bogus and invalid either. Rather these horrific Indradyumna party's documents still stand as authentic GBC promoted materials even today.

Moreover, anyone who does not accept Sridhara's ideas such as "the GBC will vote in more acharyas every year at Mayapura," "zonal gurus" "gurus fall down" and his many other ideas, is booted out of ISKCON. People are being forced to accept Sridhara's apa-siddhanta -- or leave ISKCON. So, most of them left. And Indradyumna has adopted the Gaudiya Matha's idea, that gurus are often deviants and so forth.]

No, we should stay in ISKCON, our allegiance should be with Srila Prabhupada. Even if these personalities don't say something different from ISKCON and don't criticize ISKCON, still we shouldn't leave ISKCON because ISKCON is Prabhupada's movement. But I am simply dumbfounded by how many letters I'm getting even from disciples, that they want to accept these Gaudiya Math persons as their shiksha or diksha gurus.

[PADA: OK so your GBC people are introducing and promoting the Gaudiya Matha's people, and their ideas, and their offensive documents, and yet you are dumbfounded anyone would accept -- your own program? Who authorized you folks to promote the Gaudiya Matha's people, and their documents, and their ideas? 

Everyone else is dumbfounded that the GBC makes deviants and pedophiles into their acharyas, and everyone who allows, enables and empowers the worship of pedophiles "is in good standing." And the people who oppose their pedophile worship process are banned, sued, removed, exiled -- if not beaten or assassinated.]

Or even some of my disciples have left ISKCON taking re-initiation, which is completely bogus, in Gaudiya Math. You can't take re-initiation (chuckles). If your spiritual master is in good standing you can't just give him up because you think that someone else is more advanced, and you wanna take initiation from him. That means you've given up this spiritual master, and your so-called initiation with other spiritual master is bogus, so you are nowhere.

[PADA: But the GBC is promoting both Gaudiya Matha's gurus, and their own gurus, who are falling down left, right and center. The GBC also has a policy that they reinitiate people all the time. When gurus in their first wave crash into scandals, the GBC votes in another wave, and the people involved in the original wave of scandals have been part of the voting block that generates the next wave, and so on and so forth. 

For example, the original people who helped promote "The Mahajanas Have Difficulties" offensive document are considered as "members in good standing," even now, and some of them helped "vote in" more gurus. 

One lady we know has had four GBC gurus, she had one fall down, the next fall down, and then she was reinitiated etc. How can people who are deviating vote in more acharyas? Sorry, the GBC made this re-initiation process in consultation with Gaudiya Matha's people, and introduced this as the official policy of ISKCON. 

And when the GBC reinstates "oral sex with taxi drivers in the dham" as their Vishnupada guru, they simultaneously "vote in" people like Indradyumna as their sex with taxi dirvers co-gurus. How is sex with taxi drivers, or the people voted in that parampara, "in good standing"?]

YOU CAN FIND EVERYTHING IN ISKCON

[PADA: The 1936 Gaudiya Matha has had already all the post-1978 GBC's program of false gurus, and then banning, beating, molesting, lawsuits and murders of dissenters etc. And we will find all that process in ISKCON too. Yep, "everything" i.e. all of these same deviations, are also going on in ISKCON. Well, that is true. You can find every deviation from the Gaudiya Matha also in ISKCON. We agree. 

Of course, Indradyumna's party wanted to show people they were even better (more degraded) than the Gaudiya Matha, so they also included mass child molesting, LSD and Vodka gurus, porno swamis and so on -- to "better" (further) degrade the guru standards. In sum, the Indradyumna program is way worse than the Gaudiya Matha's. Even now Indradyumna's program has children worshiping pedophiles as their messiahs, or messiahs in samadhis etc.]

I'm not saying that there's no spiritual masters more advanced than me. There's many, within ISKCON and outside of ISKCON, in Vaisnava traditions. I'm not denying that. But because I may be on a lower level of realization as an ISKCON spiritual master, that does not mean that my disciples cannot go back to Godhead. 

I'm like a postman who takes a letter from Prabhupada and gives it to my disciple. The message is perfect. If you read that letter and you follow to the letter which is describing the pure process of devotional service, you will be connected to guru-paramparä, and you can go back to Godhead.

[PADA: But you GBC guys are the people sending the ISKCON folks over to other Mathas and societies?]

Although it is said in Upadeshamrta that a spiritual master cannot elevate his disciples beyond where he is at, every disciple in this movement has two spiritual masters: his immediate initiating guru and the siksha-guru for all of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada. 

[PADA: False. In ISKCON the GBC has annointed maybe over 100 GBC as gurus, and made Sridhara Maharaja and others also the gurus of ISKCON, including  Narayan Maharaja was advertised as the GBC's "rasika guru of ISKCON." And anyone who disagrees -- that these people are "the gurus of ISKCON," gets booted out of ISKCON. Moreover since Indradyumna's "diksha gurus" are often fallen, and most of the others cover up for the failures, how can they absorb the sins of others since they are themselves sinful?] 

So maybe I can only elevate my disciples this much, but I am connecting them to Srila Prabhupäda, and he is capable of delivering one all the way back to Godhead. And besides, as I advance, my disciples also advance. It is very rare to find a pure devotee of the Lord in this world like Srila Prabhupada.

[PADA: Indradyumna is connecting people to his illicit sex with men, women and children guru parampara, and he thinks that connects people to Krishna?]

So there's no reason to go outside of ISKCON. Devotees go outside of ISKCON because they want something deeper. 

[PADA: Nope. Devotees leave ISKCON because they are told they have promote the worship of various sexual predators, deviants, pedophiles and apa-siddhanta fools as acharyas -- and they leave because they do not want to participate in that offense, nor do they want their children to worship pedophiles.]

Whether they're qualified for something deeper or not, is another question, but I say, you can find everything in ISKCON. Everything. You may say, "But there's so many problems." But there's also problems in Gaudiya Math! 

[PADA: And the leaders are the people causing all these problems.]

We shouldn't be like a prostitute, going from one man to another. We're all properly initiated in a bona fide spiritual movement. We should stick to it, be loyal to it, don't disrespect the other organizations. Don't disrespect the persons there. Don't be a jack of all trade, master of none. Don't flow through all of these different organizations and be loyal to not one of them.

[PADA: But the GBC is sending people to these outside authorities?]


DON'T GO TO GAUDIYA MATH

So that's one attack on ISKCON. I have no problem if the Gaudiya Math people want to go and preach in some part of the world, and make members, and initiate them, I don't mind. There's very exalted souls in Gaudiya Math. But I don't like this if someone of them flies above ISKCON waiting for some devotee to drop. And then they drop down and pick up the meal and take it away (chuckles). So don't quote me that I'm offensive to Gaudiya Math and offensive to their members, I'm not. 

[PADA: It is natural when a religion promotes deviants and pedophiles as the gurus of that religion, people will leave and seek shelter of other organizations. One of the biggest book distributing ladies in UK told me she was going to marry a Christian man because -- she had no interest in promoting Jayatirtha. And she asked for my blessing, and I said yes -- the Christians worship a bona fide guru, you are better off there. And she was better off, and her children were not forced to worship pedophiles as their guru etc.]

But I'm an ISKCON man. And Prabhupäda told us, "Don't associate. Keep your distance." So at best I said, good fences make good neighbors.

So my instruction to my disciples is, don't go to Gaudiya Math. Don't even give it any question, don't be curious about what it is. "The curiosity killed the cat." So if you want to know about Gaudiya Math, I'm telling you about Gaudiya Math, there's many things I could say but... Don't be enamored, it is something else, it's very nice but it's not for us.

That includes Narayana Maharaja's group. Many of you don't know who Narayana Maharaja -- is or even not know what the Gaudiya Math is. But I want to get to you before they do. (laughter) Because they know there's many serious problems in ISKCON, and some of them are taking advantage.

[PADA: OK so the GBC are gurus, but they are making many serious problems. Gurus save people from problems, they do not generate a whole new wave of problems. If ISKCON is turning into what Lokanath swami says is "a ghost town," how can we say that is the proper system established by the acharya?] 

So let us conclude by offering our full dandavats to the members of Gaudiya Math... I personally know a number of the senior gurus in Gaudiya Math, and they are very exalted souls. By millions of lives more advanced than me. But let us not be naive about the motivations of some of their members.

Just like in our own ISKCON we can't be naive about the motivations of some of the members of ISKCON. Even with ISKCON members, Prabhupada has informed us, that we should make friendship with devotees on our own level, we should take instructions from those on higher level, we should be merciful to those who are on a lower level.

And considering those on a lower level, sometimes Prabhupada said we should not associate with them because their association is dangerous. We should just offer them respects in our mind. Vaisnava means one who believes Krishna is God, but he may be attached to money and sex. So you respect him in your mind, but you don't take his or her intimate association because you may be also influenced by desire for money and women.

[PADA: OK so we should not associate with persons who are inclined to illicit sex, opulent living, eating giant feasts, riding around in luxury cars, having female servants etc. -- rather we should worship them as "good as God" and as our acharyas. And by worshiping illicit sex, we may also be contaminated with the same desires. 

So why are they promoting worship of illicit sex, knowing it will contaminate the worshipers? We should not associate with deviating people, rather we should worship them as our acharyas. And Indradyuma is good pals with BB Govinda, who buried a porno swami in a samadhi. We should not be associated with those involved in deviations, rather we should worship people involved in severe deviations in samadhis.] 

So that's one attack on ISKCON. When you attack someone, you hurt them. So I speak like that, Gaudiya Math's attack on ISKCON, in the sense it's taking valuable ISKCON members, it's confusing ISKCON members. Some of their members are attacking us. We are not going to Navadvipa and to Mayapura, and canvassing for followers amongst their groups. We're not under attack, we're under defense. So I have to speak strongly.

[PADA: But GBC people did approach the Gaudiya Matha, and not vice versa.]

WHAT IS THE RITVIK PEOPLE?

Another strong attack on ISKCON is the ritvik people. How many of you know what is the ritvik movement ? Just a few of you. Okay, but we could speak for hours about that. But basically, the ritvik people, there's very strong movement now going around the world. The ritvik people say that, "Srila Prabhupada is meant to be the only initiating guru in ISKCON for the next 10,000 years."

[PADA: Well that is not correct, we said he would be the guru until some further pure devotees manifested, but that may or may not happen, it is speculation. Meanwhile none of the ritviks are saying that pedophiles and deviants are going to be initiating, either right now, for 10,000 years, or forever.]

There's too angles of vision of ritviks, either Prabhupada is meant to be initiating guru forever, or until another self-effulgent, self-realized pure devotee appears in ISKCON. Then that person can also accept disciples. And the way that they substantiate this is, number one, by showing the falldown of a number of ISKCON gurus. This means that philosophy is cracked because so many leading gurus have fallen down, they were not qualified. 

And the others will fall very soon. And, number two, from the history surrounding Prabhupada's departure. Prabhupada, before he passed away, he said that he will assign eleven of his disciples who were the ritviks, or officiating acaryas, to initiate on his behalf.

So, these are the two basic presentations of the ritvik people. I mean, it is quite involved, but these are the two basic presentations. They have different tape recordings of Prabhupada, and different things Prabhupada said, etc. Let us discuss these two things a little bit, so when the ritviks come to Russia - and they will come to Russia - you won't be bamboozled or bewildered by these arguments.

WILL ALL THE ISKCON GURUS FALL DOWN?

[PADA: All of the ISKCON gurus are participating in their concocted illicit sex with men, women and children guru parampara. That means they are all already fallen. And when their gurus do fall down, their zones are devastated, most of the manpower is lost, and the zone maybe goes bankrupted. 

Is this the system Srila Prabhupada wanted to establish? In addition, while the gurus is falling down -- their policy of banning, beating, molesting, lawsuits and sometimes assassinations has been going on full tilt simultaneously. This is the system Srila Prabhupada ordered for his society? 

The managers of the society are supposed to contain these deviations, not declare that the leaders of these deviations are the messiahs of the religion -- which enables and empowers these deviations.]

So first of all, the first argument is that many gurus have fallen. Well, many have not fallen (laughter). More have not fallen than have fallen. Those of us who are initiating, at least I can say for myself, we are not pure devotees of the Lord. I am not. I don't see Krishna in Vrndavana. I don't cry tears of ecstasy when I chant Hare Krsna. I'm not and will never be on the level of Srila Prabhupada.

[PADA: We are gurus but "there are not too many of us falling down." So this is making it look like gurus in our parampara are commonly fallen. That is not what Srila Prabhupada says, he says it is an offense to consider gurus are falling down common souls. Also, most of them have not fallen is not accurate. Most of the 11 have fallen, and the ones who evidently did not fall -- supported the fallen ones and often covered up for them.]

But it does not mean that I'm gonna fall down. That would defeat the whole philosophy that you can advance in Kanëa consciousness to the stage of pure devotion by following the process of Krishna consciousness. But I can repeat what my spiritual master has said, I can set a good example for my disciples, and by following my example and hearing what Prabhupäda has said from me, you can become Krsna conscious.

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada never said it is common for gurus to fall into illicit sex with men, women and children.]

=========================

Fallen Priests Sometimes Do God's Work (Pastor Paul Prather)

Preachers may illustrate the Lord’s work even when they fail and fall (yahoo.com)

Paul Prather
Thu, February 10, 2022, 10:00 AM

This time it’s the co-founder of the international megachurch Hillsong who’s in trouble. Australian Brian Houston, 67, announced recently he would step down from the pulpit while he defends himself against criminal charges that he concealed child sexual abuse committed by his father in the 1970s and perhaps into the 1980s.

The father, Frank Houston, allegedly molested multiple boys. He passed away in 2004, but confessed in 2000 to abusing a boy in New Zealand, the Washington Post reports. His son ended his father’s preaching career after learning of the abuse accusations.

However, Brian Houston didn’t report the abuse to the police. His lawyer has said he will plead not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offense.

Hillsong has had other problems. The Washington Post reports that in November, Hillsong’s New York City pastor was fired for cheating on his wife. Last April, its Dallas church closed, apparently after complaints arose that pastors there were misusing contributions.

Just weeks ago, videos circulated online showing participants at a youth camp singing and dancing even as the Australian state of New South Wales was trying to control the spread of Covid-19.

All this, of course, is just the latest in an endless roll call of religious figures behaving badly. None of it is unique to Hillsong.

Religious scandals date back to however long religion has existed. Taken together, it’s enough to make churchgoers lose their confidence in the clergy, and perhaps in God.

A few days ago, an 80-year-old Southern California nun was sentenced to federal prison after she confessed to stealing more than $835,000 from the Catholic school where she was principal, to support her gambling addiction.

And before the Houstons and the nun, there were all those priests who abused children. And before we learned about the priests, there were Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart.

And before them was Aimee Semple McPherson, the famous evangelist, media star and founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, who in 1926 may have faked her own bizarre kidnapping to—reporters said—hide a tryst with a married former employee.

And before her was Judas, one of Jesus’ own lieutenants, who pilfered the ministry’s funds and ultimately sold out Jesus himself for 30 pieces of silver.

And before him was King David, who committed adultery and murder and certainly ranks as one of the worst parents in history.

And before him was Abraham, the father of three faiths, who while fathering faiths also fathered a child with his wife’s maid, and twice gave his wife to other men for their use, to save his own skin.

This is the shortest of short lists. From the beginning until today, in every city, hamlet and rural crossroads around the planet, some supposed saint has royally messed up—gambled away her church’s money, cheated on his spouse, warped his children’s souls, drunk herself into oblivion. It’s so common it’s a trope: the saint as wastrel, Graham Greene’s whiskey priest. Occasionally, as in the case of pedophile clergy, the “saint” is exponentially worse than a mere wastrel.

Thus has it always been.

In a roundabout way that feels counterintuitive, this also can be viewed as the glory of the message those fallen leaders proclaim. That message says two things that are in tension with each other. It says that on the one hand, there’s this glorious, all-powerful God who created heaven and earth and dwells in inapproachable light.

On the other hand, because God is invisible to human eyes and inaudible to human ears, he employs flesh-and-blood men and women as his spokespeople.
The messengers’ messages get garbled. The people God uses are every bit as sinful, flawed and self-contradictory as their neighbors, no more pious by nature than your typical cop, teacher, politician, truckdriver or Walmart clerk.

As could be said of those folks who work in other vocations, some preachers are more honest, law-abiding and self-aware than other preachers—not every minister steals from the collection plate or fakes a kidnapping or, thank the Lord, molests kids. But they’re all nonetheless flawed. Even the best of the lot are 100 percent human, and humans are by definition silly, destructive little creatures.

Here’s the staggering part, though. This holy, glorious God deigns to enter these people’s self-absorbed little hearts and speak through their sour little breaths, and through them proclaim the wonders of heaven and eternity. St. Paul recognized this as a miracle 2,000 years ago.

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” he wrote, “that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not of us.”

The news isn’t that pastors, nuns or evangelists mess up, occasionally in dreadful ways. The news is that from time to time they also manage, with the Lord’s help, to say or do things earth-shaking, soul-saving and sublime.

Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling, Ky. You can email him at pratpd@yahoo.com.

[PADA: Yup. Sometimes people complain that PADA is "against ISKCON." Well not exactly, ISKCON-ites and / or ex-ISKCON-ites are our best customers. They get some sort of start off with the GBC's bogus guru's process -- and then later on they want to move on to a higher understanding, and that is where we come in. 

Then they start reading PADA and asking questions etc. So this pastor is right, sometimes God uses lesser vessels to get people to a higher platform -- eventually. ys pd]

Hare Krishna Malaysia Temple Construction Update

 https://harekrsnaashram.org/?

Bhishma Ashtami (SP Quotes)

 

Compiled by Yasodanandan dasa

Srila Prabhupada glorifies Bhisma and his passing away

Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : SB 1.8: Prayers by Queen Kunti and Pariksit Saved : SB 1.8.47 : PURPORT :

King Yudhiṣṭhira, though he was not expected to become aggrieved like a common man, became deluded by worldly affection by the will of the Lord (just as Arjuna was apparently deluded). A man who sees knows well that the living entity is neither the body nor the mind, but is transcendental to the material conception of life. The common man thinks of violence and nonviolence in terms of the body, but that is a kind of delusion. 

Everyone is duty-bound according to one's occupational duties. A kṣatriya is bound to fight for the right cause, regardless of the opposite party. In such discharge of duty, one should not be disturbed by annihilation of the material body, which is only an external dress of the living soul. All this was perfectly known to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, but by the will of the Lord he became just like a common man because there was another great idea behind this delusion: the King would be instructed by Bhīṣma as Arjuna was instructed by the Lord Himself.

dṛṣṭvā nipatitaṁ bhūmau
divaś cyutam ivāmaram
praṇemuḥ pāṇḍavā bhīṣmaṁ
sānugāḥ saha cakriṇā

SYNONYMS

dṛṣṭvā—thus seeing; nipatitam—lying down; bhūmau—on the ground; divaḥ—from the sky; cyutam—fallen; iva—like; amaram—demigod; praṇemuḥ—bowed down; pāṇḍavāḥ—the sons of Pāṇḍu; bhīṣmam—unto Bhīṣma; sa-anugāḥ—with the younger brothers; saha—also with; cakriṇā—the Lord (carrying the disc).

TRANSLATION

Seeing him [Bhīṣma] lying on the ground, like a demigod fallen from the sky, the Pāṇḍava King Yudhiṣṭhira, along with his younger brothers and Lord Kṛṣṇa, bowed down before him.

PURPORT

Lord Kṛṣṇa was also a younger cousin of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira as well as the intimate friend of Arjuna. But all the family members of the Pāṇḍavas knew Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord, although conscious of His supreme position, always behaved in a humanly custom, and so He also bowed down before the dying Bhīṣmadeva as if He were one of the younger brothers of King Yudhiṣṭhira. Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : SB 1.9: 

The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna : SB 1.9.4

tatra brahmarṣayaḥ sarve
devarṣayaś ca sattama
rājarṣayaś ca tatrāsan
draṣṭuṁ bharata-puṅgavam

SYNONYMS

tatra—there; brahma-ṛṣayaḥ—ṛṣis among the brāhmaṇas; sarve—all; deva-ṛṣayaḥ—ṛṣis among the demigods; ca—and; sattama—situated in the quality of goodness; rāja-ṛṣayaḥ—ṛṣis among the kings; ca—and; tatra—in that place; āsan—were present; draṣṭum—just to see; bharata—the descendants of King Bharata; puṅgavam—the chief of.

TRANSLATION

Just to see the chief of the descendants of King Bharata [Bhīṣma], all the great souls in the universe, namely the ṛṣis amongst the demigods, brāhmaṇas and kings, all situated in the quality of goodness, were assembled there.

PURPORT

The ṛṣis are those who have attained perfection by spiritual achievements. Such spiritual achievements can be earned by all, whether one is a king or a mendicant. Bhīṣmadeva himself was also one of the brahmarṣis and the chief of the descendants of King Bharata. All ṛṣis are situated in the quality of goodness. All of them assembled there on hearing the news of the great warrior's impending death. Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : SB 1.9: The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna : SB 1.9.5

Paraśurāma, or Reṇukāsuta: He is the son of Maharṣi Jamadagni and Śrīmatī Reṇukā. Thus he is also known as Reṇukāsuta. He is one of the powerful incarnations of God, and he killed the kṣatriya community as a whole twenty-one times. With the blood of the kṣatriyas he pleased the souls of his forefathers. Later on he underwent severe penances at the Mahendra Parvata. After taking the whole earth from the kṣatriyas, he gave it in charity to Kaśyapa Muni. 

Paraśurāma instructed the Dhanur-veda, or the science of fighting, to Droṇācārya because he happened to be a brāhmaṇa. He was present during the coronation of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, and he celebrated the function along with other great ṛṣis.
Paraśurāma is so old that he met both Rāma and Kṛṣṇa at different times. He fought with Rāma, but he accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also praised Arjuna when he saw him with Kṛṣṇa. When Bhīṣma refused to marry Ambā, who wanted him to become her husband, Ambā met Paraśurāma, and by her request only, he asked Bhīṣmadeva to accept her as his wife. 

Bhīṣma refused to obey his order, although he was one of the spiritual masters of Bhīṣmadeva. Paraśurāma fought with Bhīṣmadeva when Bhīṣma neglected his warning. Both of them fought very severely, and at last Paraśurāma was pleased with Bhīṣma and gave him the benediction of becoming the greatest fighter in the world. Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : 

SB 1.9: The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna : SB 1.9.6, SB 1.9.7, SB 1.9.6-7

Bhīṣmadeva is one of the twelve mahājanas who know the principles of transcendental knowledge. His confirmation of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa's being the original Personality of Godhead is also corroborated by the impersonalist Śaṅkara. All other ācāryas have also confirmed this statement, and thus there is no chance of not accepting Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead. Bhīṣmadeva says that He is the first Nārāyaṇa. This is also confirmed by Brahmājī in the Bhāgavatam (10.14.14). Kṛṣṇa is the first Nārāyaṇa. In the spiritual world (Vaikuṇṭha) there are unlimited numbers of Nārāyaṇas, who are all the same Personality of Godhead and are considered to be the plenary expansions of the original Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 

The first form of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa first expands Himself as the form of Baladeva, and Baladeva expands in so many other forms, such as Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa, Puruṣa, Rāma and Nṛsiṁha. All these expansions are one and the same viṣṇu-tattva, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original source of all the plenary expansions. He is therefore the direct Personality of Godhead. He is the creator of the material world, and He is the predominating Deity known as Nārāyaṇa in all the Vaikuṇṭha planets. 

Therefore, His movements amongst human beings is another sort of bewilderment. The Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā that foolish persons consider Him to be one of the human beings without knowing the intricacies of His movements.

The bewilderment regarding Śrī Kṛṣṇa is due to the action of His twofold internal and external energies upon the third one, called marginal energy. The living entities are expansions of His marginal energy, and thus they are sometimes bewildered by the internal energy and sometimes by the external energy. By internal energetic bewilderment, Śrī Kṛṣṇa expands Himself into unlimited numbers of Nārāyaṇas and exchanges or accepts transcendental loving service from the living entities in the transcendental world. And by His external energetic expansions, He incarnates Himself in the material world amongst the men, animals or demigods to reestablish His forgotten relation with the living entities in different species of life. 

Great authorities like Bhīṣma, however, escape His bewilderment by the mercy of the Lord. Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : SB 1.9: 

The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna : SB 1.9.18 : PURPORT :

Books : Srimad-Bhagavatam : Canto 1:"Creation" : SB 1.9: The Passing Away of Bhismadeva in the Presence of Lord Krsna : SB 1.9.22 : PURPORT :

The appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa at the deathbed of Bhīṣmajī is due to his being an unflinching devotee of the Lord. Arjuna had some bodily relation with Kṛṣṇa because the Lord happened to be his maternal cousin. But Bhīṣma had no such bodily relation. Therefore, the cause of attraction was due to the intimate relation of the soul. Yet because the relation of the body is very pleasing and natural, the Lord is more pleased when He is addressed as the son of Mahārāja Nanda, the son of Yaśodā, the lover of Rādhārāṇī. This affinity by bodily relation with the Lord is another feature of reciprocating loving service with the Lord. 

Bhīṣmadeva is conscious of this sweetness of transcendental humor, and therefore he likes to address the Lord as Vijaya-Sakhe, Pārtha-Sakhe, etc., exactly like Nanda-nandana or Yaśodā-nandana. The best way to establish our relation in transcendental sweetness is to approach Him through His recognized devotees. One should not try to establish the relation directly; there must be a via medium which is transparent and competent to lead us to the right path.

yudhi turaga-rajo-vidhūmra-viṣvak-
kaca-lulita-śramavāry-alaṅkṛtāsye
mama niśita-śarair vibhidyamāna-
tvaci vilasat-kavace 'stu kṛṣṇa ātmā

SYNONYMS

yudhi—on the battlefield; turaga—horses; rajaḥ—dust; vidhūmra—turned an ashen color; viṣvak—waving; kaca—hair; lulita—scattered; śramavāri—perspiration; alaṅkṛta—decorated with; āsye—unto the face; mama—my; niśita—sharp; śaraiḥ—by the arrows; vibhidyamāna—pierced by; tvaci—in the skin; vilasat—enjoying pleasure; kavace—protecting armor; astu—let there be; kṛṣṇe—unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa; ātmā—mind.

TRANSLATION

On the battlefield [where Śrī Kṛṣṇa attended Arjuna out of friendship], the flowing hair of Lord Kṛṣṇa turned ashen due to the dust raised by the hoofs of the horses. And because of His labor, beads of sweat wetted His face. All these decorations, intensified by the wounds dealt by my sharp arrows, were enjoyed by Him. Let my mind thus go unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

PURPORT

The Lord is the absolute form of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As such, transcendental loving service to the Lord in one of the five principal relations, namely śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya, i.e., neutrality, servitorship, fraternity, filial affection and conjugal love, is graciously accepted by the Lord when offered to the Lord in genuine love and affection. Śrī Bhīṣmadeva is a great devotee of the Lord in the relation of servitorship. Thus, his throwing of sharp arrows at the transcendental body of the Lord is as good as the worship of another devotee who throws soft roses upon Him.

It appears that Bhīṣmadeva is repenting the actions he committed against the person of the Lord. But factually the Lord's body was not at all pained, due to His transcendental existence. His body is not matter. Both He Himself and His body are complete spiritual identity. Spirit is never pierced, burnt, dried, moistened, etc. This is vividly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. So also, it is stated in the Skanda Purāṇa. It is said there that spirit is always uncontaminated and indestructible. It cannot be distressed, nor can it be dried up. 

When Lord Viṣṇu in His incarnation appears before us, He seems to be like one of the conditioned souls, materially encaged, just to bewilder the asuras, or the nonbelievers, who are always alert to kill the Lord, even from the very beginning of His appearance. Kaṁsa wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa, and Rāvaṇa wanted to kill Rāma, because foolishly they were unaware of the fact that the Lord is never killed, for the spirit is never annihilated.

Therefore, Bhīṣmadeva's piercing of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa is a sort of bewildering problem for the nondevotee atheist, but those who are devotees, or liberated souls, are not bewildered.

Bhīṣmadeva appreciated the all-merciful attitude of the Lord because He did not leave Arjuna alone, although He was disturbed by the sharpened arrows of Bhīṣmadeva, nor was He reluctant to come before Bhīṣma's deathbed, even though He was ill-treated by him on the battlefield. Bhīṣma's repentance and the Lord's merciful attitude are both unique in this picture.

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, a great ācārya and devotee in the humor of conjugal love with the Lord, remarks very saliently in this regard. He says that the wounds created on the body of the Lord by the sharpened arrows of Bhīṣmadeva were as pleasing to the Lord as the biting of a fiancee who bites the body of the Lord directed by a strong sense of sex desire. Such biting by the opposite sex is never taken as a sign of enmity, even if there is a wound on the body.

Therefore, the fighting as an exchange of transcendental pleasure between the Lord and His pure devotee, Śrī Bhīṣmadeva, was not at all mundane. Besides that, since the Lord's body and the Lord are identical, there was no possibility of wounds in the absolute body. The apparent wounds caused by the sharpened arrows are misleading to the common man, but one who has a little absolute knowledge can understand the transcendental exchange in the chivalrous relation. The Lord was perfectly happy with the wounds caused by the sharpened arrows of Bhīṣmadeva. The word vibhidyamāna is significant because the Lord's skin is not different from the Lord. 

Because our skin is different from our soul, in our case the word vibhidyamāna, or being bruised and cut, would have been quite suitable. Transcendental bliss is of different varieties, and the variety of activities in the mundane world is but a perverted reflection of transcendental bliss. Because everything in the mundane world is qualitatively mundane, it is full of inebrieties, whereas in the absolute realm, because everything is of the same absolute nature, there are varieties of enjoyment without inebriety. The Lord enjoyed the wounds created by His great devotee Bhīṣmadeva, and because Bhīṣmadeva is a devotee in the chivalrous relation, he fixes up his mind on Kṛṣṇa in that wounded condition. SB 1.9.34

sapadi sakhi-vaco niśamya madhye
nija-parayor balayo rathaṁ niveśya
sthitavati para-sainikāyur akṣṇā
hṛtavati pārtha-sakhe ratir mamāstu

SYNONYMS

sapadi—on the battlefield; sakhi-vacaḥ—command of the friend; niśamya—after hearing; madhye—in the midst; nija—His own; parayoḥ—and the opposite party; balayoḥ—strength; ratham—chariot; niveśya—having entered; sthitavati—while staying there; para-sainika—of the soldiers on the opposite side; āyuḥ—duration of life; akṣṇā—by looking over; hṛtavati—act of diminishing; pārtha—of Arjuna, son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); sakhe—unto the friend; ratiḥ—intimate relation; mama—my; astu—let there be.

TRANSLATION

In obedience to the command of His friend, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa entered the arena of the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra between the soldiers of Arjuna and Duryodhana, and while there He shortened the life spans of the opposite party by His merciful glance. This was done simply by His looking at the enemy. Let my mind be fixed upon that Kṛṣṇa.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (1.21-25) Arjuna ordered the infallible Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to place his chariot between the phalanxes of the soldiers. He asked Him to stay there until he had finished observing the enemies he had to face in the battle. When the Lord was so asked, He at once did so, just like an order carrier. And the Lord pointed out all the important men on the opposite side, saying, "Here is Bhīṣma, here is Droṇa," and so on. The Lord, being the supreme living being, is never the order supplier or order carrier of anyone, whoever he may be. 

But out of His causeless mercy and affection for His pure devotees, sometimes He carries out the order of the devotee like an awaiting servant. By executing the order of a devotee, the Lord becomes pleased, as a father is pleased to carry out the order of his small child. This is possible only out of pure transcendental love between the Lord and His devotees, and Bhīṣmadeva was quite aware of this fact. He therefore addressed the Lord as the friend of Arjuna.

The Lord diminished the duration of life of the opposite party by His merciful glance. It is said that all the fighters who assembled on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained salvation by personally seeing the Lord at the time of death. Therefore, His diminishing the duration of life of Arjuna's enemy does not mean that He was partial to the cause of Arjuna. Factually He was merciful to the opposite party because they would not have attained salvation by dying at home in the ordinary course of life. Here was a chance to see the Lord at the time of death and thus attain salvation from material life. 

Therefore, the Lord is all good, and whatever He does is for everyone's good. Apparently it was for the victory of Arjuna, His intimate friend, but factually it was for the good of Arjuna's enemies. Such are the transcendental activities of the Lord, and whoever understands this also gets salvation after quitting this material body. The Lord does no wrong in any circumstance because He is absolute, all good at all times. SB 1.9.35

http://prabhupadabooks.com/images/books/Srimad-Bhagavatam/Canto-1/SB%201.2%201976%20Plate%2007-i-600x600.jpg

Inline image


sva-nigamam apahāya mat-pratijñām
ṛtam adhikartum avapluto rathasthaḥ
dhṛta-ratha-caraṇo 'bhyayāc caladgur
harir iva hantum ibhaṁ gatottarīyaḥ

SYNONYMS

sva-nigamam—own truthfulness; apahāya—for nullifying; mat-pratijñām—my own promise; ṛtam—factual; adhi—more; kartum—for doing it; avaplutaḥ—getting down; ratha-sthaḥ—from the chariot; dhṛta—taking up; ratha—chariot; caraṇaḥ—wheel; abhyayāt—went hurriedly; caladguḥ—trampling the earth; hariḥ—lion; iva—like; hantum—to kill; ibham—elephant; gata—leaving aside; uttarīyaḥ—covering cloth.

TRANSLATION
Fulfilling my desire and sacrificing His own promise, He got down from the chariot, took up its wheel, and ran towards me hurriedly, just as a lion goes to kill an elephant. He even dropped His outer garment on the way.
PURPORT

The Battle of Kurukṣetra was fought on military principles but at the same time in a sporting spirit, like a friend's fight with another friend. Duryodhana criticized Bhīṣmadeva, alleging that he was reluctant to kill Arjuna because of paternal affection. A kṣatriya cannot tolerate insults on the principle of fighting. Bhīṣmadeva therefore promised that the next day he would kill all five Pāṇḍavas with special weapons made for the purpose. Duryodhana was satisfied, and he kept the arrows with him to be delivered the next day during the fight. By tricks Arjuna took the arrows from Duryodhana, and Bhīṣmadeva could understand that this was the trick of Lord Kṛṣṇa. 

So he took a vow that the next day Kṛṣṇa would have to take up weapons Himself, otherwise His friend Arjuna would die. In the next day's fighting Bhīṣmadeva fought so violently that both Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa were in trouble. Arjuna was almost defeated; the situation was so tense that he was about to be killed by Bhīṣmadeva the very next moment.

At that time Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to please His devotee, Bhīṣma, by keeping Bhīṣma's promise, which was more important than His own. Seemingly He broke His own promise. He promised before the beginning of the Battle of Kurukṣetra that He would remain without weapons and would not use His strength for either of the parties. But to protect Arjuna He got down from the chariot, took up the wheel of the chariot and hurriedly rushed at Bhīṣmadeva in an angry mood, as a lion goes to kill an elephant. 

He dropped His covering cloth on the way, and out of great anger He did not know that He had dropped it. Bhīṣmadeva at once gave up his weapons and stood to be killed by Kṛṣṇa, his beloved Lord. The fighting of the day was thus ended at that very moment, and Arjuna was saved. Of course there was no possibility of Arjuna's death because the Lord Himself was on the chariot, but because Bhīṣmadeva wanted to see Lord Kṛṣṇa take up some weapon to save His friend, the Lord created this situation, making Arjuna's death imminent. He stood before Bhīṣmadeva to show him that his promise was fulfilled and that He had taken up the wheel.

He took a vow of lifelong celibacy for his father's happiness and was in turn granted the boon of “iccha mrityu” (power to choose the time of death.) He attained an amazing state of spiritual perfection and was one of the 12 Mahajanas (authority for spreading the message of devotional service to Lord Vishnu) and made his place amongst the great personalities like Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and sage Narada.

Originally named as Devavrata, he later became known as Bhishma owing to his bhishana pratigya (grave oath) of lifelong celibacy. He was the grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, a great warrior and an exalted devotee.

What exactly is Bhishma Ashtami?

Bhishma Ashtami marks the event of Bhishmadev willfully leaving his body after lying on the bed of arrows for 18 days after the Kurukshetra war. It falls on the Ashtami of the Shukla Paksha of the Magh month. This period was considered auspicious as it was Uttarayana (daytime for the devas in the heavenly abode) and thus, Bhishmadev chose to remain alive till the arrival of this period.

Scriptures glorify Bhishmadev's passing away:

The process of Bhishmadev leaving his body is described in Srimad Bhagavatam (43rd sloka from the 9th chapter of the 1st canto) as follows: “Suta Gosvami said: Thus Bhishmadeva merged himself in the Supersoul, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with his mind, speech, sight and actions, and thus he became silent, and his breathing stopped.” Srimad Bhagavatam (45th sloka from the 9th chapter of the 1st canto) further glorifies his passing away as follows: “Thereafter, both men and demigods sounded drums in honor, and the honest royal order commenced demonstrations of honor and respect. And from the sky fell showers of flowers.” 

Bhishmadev was respected by human beings, heavenly beings and devas for his determination, valour, righteousness and devotion. He was a warrior and an ascetic too.

=========================

PADA: Someone sent me this one, a part of the Mahabharata. Interesting, but not sure the origin.  

The Great Kurukshetra war commenced on Gita Jayanthi day (Marghashira Shukla Paksha Ekadashi) and it was on the tenth day (Marghashira Krishna Paksha Saptami) Bhisma was wounded by the arrows inflicted by Arjuna. Starting from that day Bhisma was on the bed of arrows for 58 days -- and it was on the Magha Shukla Paksha Ashtami he ended his life here (and got liberation).

Today is the day Bhisma opted to shed his Mortal Coils. Was Bhisma in pain for those 58 days??? If yes, why was he subjected to such horrible suffering??? Was there a Karmic reason behind that???

Bhisma himself questions Sri Krishna in this regard. Sri Krishna who is "Sarvagna" (Omniscient) told him about the folly he had committed in his past 73rd life's birth. He had inflicted injuries to an insect by piercing thorns into its body.

Those thorns had now appeared as bed of arrows for him. But why had it taken so long -- 72 births -- to get rid of that sin was the next question by Bhisma. Sri Krishna tells him -- that to be born from the womb of Ganga he had to accumulate good resultant fruits for the past 72 births.

Further, while still on his bed of arrows, Bhisma clears the doubt on Dharma that Yudhishtira had. Draupadi is amazed and gives a sarcastic smile. She wonders -- how this grand old man of Kuru clan can now talk about Dharma, while at the Kuru Sabha when Dushasana was disrobing her -- he reminded silent.

How could his tongue now preach on Dharma??? Was he not a hypocrite???
Looking at Draupadi and sensing her qualm, Bhisma tells her that the arrows from Arjuna had leaked out all the "Raktha" (Blood) which was produced due to the consumption of food from the Kaurava's kitchen, and what remained in him was "Rudhiram" (Blood given by his mother while in womb).

Here one has to understand that Bhisma did not mean to say that the food he consumed was the cause for him to stay loyal, but the preconception that he would safeguard the interest of the Kuru Clan -- which he had promised his step mother Satyavathi. When he said the blood drained out of his body, he really meant -- that the decision to be loyal to Adharma had gone.

On the Bed of Arrows Bhisma recites the famous Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra. Yudhisthira questions Bhisma about the Supreme to whom one has to surrender, then as an answer flows the lovely Thousand Names of Sri Hari. Interestingly, Bhisma never forgets to name the Lord as “Rathangapaani” (One who has wheel of the chariot in his hand).

Bhisma while uttering this name would have not forgot the incidence in the Great War. When Bhisma was invincible, Arjuna too could not face the arrows from him. With Bhisma going strong there was no chance for the Righteousness to uproot the wickedness. Sri Krishna who had vowed not to fight but be the charioteer to Arjuna, lost His patience.

Unable to withstand the ferocious Bhisma, Sri Krishna got down from the chariot threw down the chariot lash He was holding, and looking around, He found the wheel of a broken chariot. Picking it up, Sri Krishna rushed towards Bhisma.

Arjuna got down from the chariot and ran towards the Lord to hold his legs. Arjuna reminded Sri Krishna about the vow. This picture of Sri Krishna rushing towards him was so fresh that Bhisma called him by the name “Rathangapaani.”

Shubham-asthu