Jesus Christ - The visible form of the Invisible God

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,"
Colossians 1.15
New Living Translation (©2007)

"Since one cannot visually experience the presence of the Supersoul, He appears before us as a liberated devotee. Such a spiritual master is none other than Kṛṣṇa Himself" Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Adi 1.58
Purport:
It is not possible for a conditioned soul to directly meet Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but if one becomes a sincere devotee and seriously engages in devotional service, Lord Kṛṣṇa sends an instructing spiritual master to show him favor and invoke his dormant propensity for serving the Supreme. The preceptor appears before the external senses of the fortunate conditioned soul, and at the same time the devotee is guided from within by the caittya-guru, Kṛṣṇa, who is seated as the spiritual master within the heart of the living entity.

TEXAS FAITH 96: Is it time for religions to double-down on evangelism?

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

Recently, we discussed comments that Jon Meacham made in an address to SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. Now, here’s something else from Meacham, the former Newsweek editor, that is worth discussing.

In a Time Magazine essay this week, Meacham raised the question of whether it’s time for Christian leaders to double-down on their faiths. Meacham sees some more aggressively promoting the Gospel message instead of watering it down.

Time included his essay in its annual issue of 10 ideas that are changing how we live. And you can read his thoughts at this link:

Now, Meacham, an Episcopalian who helped start The Washington Post’s On Faith blog, is writing here largely about Christians, who are seeing a growing share of their market lose out to the religiously-unaffiliated. But his question can certainly be applied to other religions as well. And that is whether it’s best to “double-down” on evangelism.

What is your view of doubling-down on evangelism? If you agree that it’s time to do that, please explain why. If not, why not? Can your faith tradition really sit by idly and expect its followers to grow?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

To evangelize about spiritual life is a need in the state of emergency, for our modern materialistic culture is a forest fire of evangelism for consumerism. Everywhere you go, every turn you take, someone is seeking you, your time and your money. “Listen to us, pay us and thereby enjoy,” the siren screams to the sheepish masses. “But so many are suffering, there are so many disturbances!” “Do not worry, the next season of your favorite soap serial will be out in a week or two.” However, gassing up a car will not quench the thirst of the driver. yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam – Because the soul misidentifies the body as the self that soul suffers in so many ways. Therefore teaching others the transcendental nature the self constitutes the highest form of altruism. By such knowledge, one free themselves of all suffering.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

The blue color of God’s skin (Krishna)

Some years ago I read Ravidra Svarupa Prabhu’s blog post titled Flowers of Devotion, wherein he described different important flowers in the Vedic literature.  The atasī is said to be similar to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s skin complexion.   He writes:

Atasī

In the Bhāgavatam (11.5.27) the yogendra Karabhājana tells King Nimi that the Lord descends in Dvāpara-yuga with a complexion of dark blue color (śyāma). This statement is amplified in the purport: “The Lord’s transcendental body in Dvāpara-yuga can be compared to the color of a dark blue flower.” We may wonder, “What dark blue flower?” It turns out that this same Bhāgavatam verse is quoted by Mahāprabhu to Sanātana Gosvāmī, and there Prabhupāda comments: “The śyāma color is not exactly blackish. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura compares it to the color of the atasī flower.”

Monier-Williams tells us that the atasī is the “common flax, Linum usitatissimum.”  This highly useful, long cultivated plant provides the fiber that are the source of linen fabrics. Its seeds are rich in lignans and Omega-3 fatty acids, beneficial to health. The flower of the common flax, it turns out, is light blue. However, there is one variety of flax (Linum perenne, the “perennial flax”) that does bear a dark blue flower. This, then, seems to be the śyāma in Śyāmasundara (“dark blue and beautiful”) Kṛṣṇa:

Yesterday I was reading Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana’s Bhagavad-Gītā commentary Gītā-bhūṣana.  Therein there is a description of the Paramātma, the Supersoul:

I, the size of seven inches, with four arms holding cakra, conch, club and lotus, with complexion of the atasī flower, reside in the hearts of all jīvas.

TEXAS FAITH 95: What piece of advice would you give the new pope?

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

In taking the name Pope Francis, the new pontiff made a conscious decision that reflects two different aspects of spirituality. He is a Jesuit, an order that embraces the intellect, but he also has invoked the Franciscan ideal of care for the poor. One is the head, the other the heart.

The two Catholic orders haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on things – but together they mirror qualities important to any successful faith tradition. Complexity and simplicity — attention to charity and selfless service as well as to doctrine and intellectual discernment.

With the formal start of his papacy on Tuesday, Pope Francis faces considerable challenges within the Catholic church. But as the leader of the world’s largest Christian church, with 1.2 billion members worldwide, the pope has influence beyond the boundaries of the church itself. How should he use it?

What is one piece of advice you would give the new pope? What single thing could he do to make a tangible difference to you and the people you know? If the pope asked, what would you tell him he should do?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

I would advise the pope to teach a clear and definitive understanding of the self and teach how to act according to that understanding.   Understanding the self/soul allows one to have proper discernment of where to put one’s compassion.  For example, saving the coat of a drowning man is not as important as saving the man himself. 

If we do not understand the difference between the body and the soul, or the difference between a living body and a dead body, our knowledge and actions will be quite limited.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Kirtan: Chanting AND DANCING

Dancing Before the Deity

In the Dvārakā-māhātmya the importance of dancing before the Deity is stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa as follows: "A person who is in a jubilant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing before Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up for many, many thousands of years." In the same book there is a statement by Nārada wherein he asserts, "From the body of any person who claps and dances before the Deity, showing manifestations of ecstasy, all the birds of sinful activities fly away upward." Just as by clapping the hands one can cause many birds to fly away, similarly the birds of all sinful activities which are sitting on the body can be made to fly away simply by dancing and clapping before the Deity of Kṛṣṇa. – Nectar Of Devotion

"Beginners in sādhana-bhakti should dance and sing as a matter of duty. " Bṛhad Bhāgavatamṛta 1.4.18 purport by Sanātana Goswami

Quotes from reading

SB 2.07.53 "If the jīva constantly describes māyā in relation to the Lord, remembers māyā or hears about māyā with proper faith, he will not be bewildered by māyā." -Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thakura

 

It is true that by practicing restraint of the senses by the yoga system one can get relief from the disturbances of desire and lust, but this is not sufficient to give satisfaction to the soul, for this [satisfaction] is derived from devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.6.35

 

-Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thakura

 

What are some of the causes of distraction from the path of pure faith?
Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions the following: not properly accepting the seed or the spiritual master's instruction, not watering the seed properly, and not uprooting unwanted creepers and therefore succumbing to their influence. (Derived from purports of Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrta, Madhya Līlā 19.155-159)
Śuddha-bhakti Cintāmani by Śivarāma Swami

 

"That they awaken devotion and others has work to do with the piety of the recipients said their own meager influence. Nonetheless, by the Lord's mercy, sometimes even third class Vaishnavas instill devotion in the hearts of others" -Śuddha-Bhakti-Cintāmani by Sivarama Swami

 

"It is remarkable what you can accomplished if you do not care who gets the credit" Harry S. Truman, Vaisesika Dasa

Unite Everyone For Krishna

In that way not only unite our society with love and affection all the members, to learn the art of loving exchanges within our society but then to extend it to all the Gaudiyas to unite them together all with this focus that Krishna is God. We can put aside our differences but we must conquer the world for Krishna. That’s the vision that Srila Prabhuapda had. Forget about all these other things but conquer the world for Krishna then you can fight afterwards if you want to.
Now why just unite the Gaudiyas, unite all the Hindus together, unite anyone who believes in Krishna. Let them join the revolution, the cultural conquest. And why just the Hindus, anyone who is religious, let them be convinced that there is a God and we should utilize our energies to please Him to glorify Him. So we can unite together in that principle then it is much easier to put aside our differences. Then Srila Prabhupada will be pleased. He will reveal to us all our great acaryas and their mission. Our great acaryas will introduce us to the six Goswamis. The six Goswamis will introduce us to the Panca tattva. The Panca tattva will introduce us specifically to Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is feeling separation from Radha and Krishna in Vrindavana. – Prahladananda Swami

from here

Simply waiting for you.

“There was this devotee, very shy, very young devotee. When he moved in to our temple, and I said, “Prabhu, you gotta go on book distribution, it’s so nice, so blissful, so enlivening.” He was super shy, but after some time he agreed to go out with me. The devotees would go door to door. First door we knocked on, he was standing there with me behind him. You hear all the locks open. The door opens; it’s a little old lady. So I said, put the book in her hand. He gave her a copy of the Sri Ishopanishad. She didn’t say a word. She looked at the book, looked at him, nice Vaishnava tilak, looked at the book, looked at him, looked at the book, then she fell over dead. We had to call the neighbors, called 911, she was gone. Our new bhakta was understandably shaken.

I told him, Prabhu, look, she left her body looking at a picture of Krishna, looking at a Vaishnava. She was dragging on in that apartment. That was the only reason she was alive. She was simply waiting for you. “He asked me does that happen every day?””

found here

Love Potion No. 9–See Krishna with the Salve of Love

“In the Brahma-samhita (5.38) it is stated, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena: only a person whose eyes are smeared with the ointment of love can see the beautiful form of Sri Kṛṣṇa'.” - Bg 11.50 Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

“Only to one who is engaged in pure devotional service under proper guidance is He revealed. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38) it is stated, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti: one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, always within himself and outside himself if one has developed the transcendental loving attitude towards Him. Thus for people in general He is not visible. Here it is said that although He is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the material senses.” – Bg 9.4 Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda