Hot season in Vrindavan... and bhajan
Going through Bhakti Sandarbha 115, coincidentally on the same day my Internet prepaid ran out... This verse stood out for me...
sā hānis tan mahac-chidraṁ sa mohaḥ sa ca vibhramaḥ
yan-muhūrtaṁ kṣaṇaṁ vāpi vāsudevo na cintyate
Even a moment, even an instant that passes without thought of Vāsudeva is a loss; it is a tragic mistake, it is delusion and it is a great confusion. (Vishnu Purana?)
So, avyartha-kālatvam is what we strive for. With all the distractions who can point his or her mind straight into the heart of God?
vāgbhiḥ stuvanto manasā smarantas
tanvā namanto'py aniśaṁ na tṛptāḥ |
bhaktāḥ sravan-netra-jalāḥ samagram
āyur harer eva samarpayanti ||
With their words they praise him,
with their minds, they remember him,
with their bodies, they bow down constantly,
yet they are never satisfied that it's enough.
Their eyes flowing with tears,
they offer up their entire lives to Hari.
Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 12.37
Another verse there that I really like... makes me think of all those people fleeing Vrindavan in the hot season...
na yatra vaikuṇṭha-kathā-sudhāpagā
na sādhavo bhāgavatās tad-āśrayāḥ
na yatra yajñeṣa-makhā mahotsavāḥ
sureśa-loko'pi na vai sa sevyatām
Be it the abode of Brahmā, the chief of the gods.
One should not reside in such a place
where the ambrosial rivers of Bhagavān’s pastimes do not flow,
where the devotees of Bhagavān do not take shelter of their banks,
and where no festivals are held as sacrifices for His pleasure
(SB 5.19.24)
This always going on the internet is a very bad habit.
Once a day or twice a day for necessary communications is all. Going on and reading this, listening to that, watching this.. going into a kind of zone...
It is a lot of clutter and really not good for bhajan. Like today, I just went on to the websites I usually frequent but I haven't had any internet for 24 hours.
So it all looks pretty same-old, same-old. Why do I let this crap occupy my mind for even a minute?
If you must use the internet, go back in spirit to the olden days. Write meaningful, heartfelt compositions, ones that are literary and indeed a meditation in themselves. As a sadhana.
We might not be able to reach that kind of state always, but imagine being able to share something genuinely spiritually insightful, something genuinely profound -- something that has had a whole day of rebounding within your breathing, that was underlying everything as you went from distraction to distraction, something that percolated and cook ed and then indeed baked into a carrot cake of a thought -- sharing that with a heart-soul, a spiritual companion whose dearness is perhaps being enhanced by a a feeling of separation.
And with all that, we can become _more_ introspective and _more_ honest and thereby push forward in the time we have left to become accomplished in the Art of Love.
Sins exposed, and honestly repented, are sins evaporated.
Jai Radhe.
sā hānis tan mahac-chidraṁ sa mohaḥ sa ca vibhramaḥ
yan-muhūrtaṁ kṣaṇaṁ vāpi vāsudevo na cintyate
Even a moment, even an instant that passes without thought of Vāsudeva is a loss; it is a tragic mistake, it is delusion and it is a great confusion. (Vishnu Purana?)
So, avyartha-kālatvam is what we strive for. With all the distractions who can point his or her mind straight into the heart of God?
vāgbhiḥ stuvanto manasā smarantas
tanvā namanto'py aniśaṁ na tṛptāḥ |
bhaktāḥ sravan-netra-jalāḥ samagram
āyur harer eva samarpayanti ||
With their words they praise him,
with their minds, they remember him,
with their bodies, they bow down constantly,
yet they are never satisfied that it's enough.
Their eyes flowing with tears,
they offer up their entire lives to Hari.
Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 12.37
Another verse there that I really like... makes me think of all those people fleeing Vrindavan in the hot season...
na yatra vaikuṇṭha-kathā-sudhāpagā
na sādhavo bhāgavatās tad-āśrayāḥ
na yatra yajñeṣa-makhā mahotsavāḥ
sureśa-loko'pi na vai sa sevyatām
Be it the abode of Brahmā, the chief of the gods.
One should not reside in such a place
where the ambrosial rivers of Bhagavān’s pastimes do not flow,
where the devotees of Bhagavān do not take shelter of their banks,
and where no festivals are held as sacrifices for His pleasure
(SB 5.19.24)
This always going on the internet is a very bad habit.
Once a day or twice a day for necessary communications is all. Going on and reading this, listening to that, watching this.. going into a kind of zone...
It is a lot of clutter and really not good for bhajan. Like today, I just went on to the websites I usually frequent but I haven't had any internet for 24 hours.
So it all looks pretty same-old, same-old. Why do I let this crap occupy my mind for even a minute?
If you must use the internet, go back in spirit to the olden days. Write meaningful, heartfelt compositions, ones that are literary and indeed a meditation in themselves. As a sadhana.
We might not be able to reach that kind of state always, but imagine being able to share something genuinely spiritually insightful, something genuinely profound -- something that has had a whole day of rebounding within your breathing, that was underlying everything as you went from distraction to distraction, something that percolated and cook ed and then indeed baked into a carrot cake of a thought -- sharing that with a heart-soul, a spiritual companion whose dearness is perhaps being enhanced by a a feeling of separation.
And with all that, we can become _more_ introspective and _more_ honest and thereby push forward in the time we have left to become accomplished in the Art of Love.
Sins exposed, and honestly repented, are sins evaporated.
Jai Radhe.
Comments
"So it all looks pretty same-old-shit, same-old-shit. Why do I let this crap occupy my mind for even a minute?"
All is relative to the (mind of) the observer; change your mind to change that which you see...
19. The mind takes the form of a spark of fire by thinking on its essence, which gradually develops itself like the germ of a seed, in the form of the mundane egg by its internal force.
20. The same fiery spark figuratively called the Brahmānda or mundane egg, became as a snowball amidst the water, and conceived the great Brahmā within its hollow womb.
Source: Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-mahārāmāyaṇa
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/yoga-vasistha-volume-2-part-i/d/doc118122.html
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad’st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert th’ Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
Source: John Milton (Paradise Lost)
http://down02.putclub.com/virtual/backup/update/Download/Literature/ParadiseLost.pdf
"Happy Easter" dearest Jagadananda Das.
M.N.