wines around a twig. little photo editing to bring it up. from a wine in our balcony at home

From Corruption to Character

Corruption has wrecked India like a deadly disease. Three pathological factors influence the manifestation of this disease: temptations of easy money, lackadaisical laws, and impure character. Temptation lures to cheat, strong laws scare, and a weak character succumbs to temptation.

Temptations especially appear when we are vulnerable. Often our colleagues or sometimes our intelligence detect them. The solution is to avoid company of the corrupt and materialistic people.

 Stronger laws are a good deterrent. In ancient India the punishment for theft was cutting off the hands of the criminals. A modern person may find this gruesome, but this made sure that crime rate was under control. Currently in India, corrupt persons can safely assume that they can manipulate the laws and escape scot free or with minimal punishment.

Character is the most important influence on corruption. Nothing can stop persons with impure character to cheat. Even the tiniest of temptations can lure them, and the strongest of laws can fail to curb their soaring greed. Therefore, the need is to invest in creating a good character amongst the people. It is the strongest weapon in the fight against corruption.

Recognizing this need, many state Governments have introduced value education in academic curriculum. While it’s one thing to teach moral ethical principles, it’s another to live by them. Integrity means just that—to live by these high values in good times or bad times, in joy or in pain. Real integrity only develops when morality is combined with a spirit of devotion to God and His will. When we are aware of an omnipresent God watching all our actions, we know that we can cheat the world but not God. The knowledge of good and bad karma coming back to us will make us think before indulging in selfish gratification. We will be satisfied with our own share and not hanker for excess, knowing that it’s meant for our brothers and sisters—the children of our loving father, Krishna. We will be satisfied with simple living, knowing that our pure and honest hearts are the best offering that pleases God the most. A spiritual foundation will help us face the numerous hurricanes and tempests of life and remain truthful.

   Sprirituality hits at the root of corruption, which is greed. Greed prevails within all of us. It is never satisfied. The more you yield to its demands, the more it aggravates. Like a raging fire it consumes all offerings only to erupt in a more virulent form.

We can control greed by purifying our hearts. Anyone who follows any true religion with real sincerity, deep faith and dedication to God develops purity of heart. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu described that the easiest method in this age to cleanse the heart is to chant the holy names of the Lord: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare/ Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare. By practicing spirituality we have less greed, less anger, less pride, and less lust. We become content. We find satisfaction in our hearts. Then there is no drive to cheat. We are satisfied in simple living and high thinking.  

Spirituality purifies greed. Then, instead of serving our selfish interest we can use our greed to serve others, to surrender more to God, to offer more to God. When God sees how much we are fighting against temptations, when He sees our selfish greed transforming into greed of giving, He is pleased. And then He fills our hearts with peace, love and light. In this spirit of love by we should live a simple life and utilize our excess wealth for the upliftment and service of humanity. Then even while living in the filthy waters of this material society we can remain untouched and uncontaminated like a lotus flower.

I Am Not Against Female Fetecide

 Yes, I am not.

Shame on you!

OK! Well, what about you? Are you against female feticide?

Off course, yes! It’s a most heinous crime—killing innocent girls in the womb. How heartless!

Oh, you think it’s a crime.

Yes, it is murder. The offenders should be punished severely. Only then will it teach others a proper lesson. . . What about you? Why are you not against female feticide?

Before I tell my answer, can I ask you a question?

Go ahead.

If you think female feticide is murder, what about killing a male child in the womb?

Umm. . . Yeah, that too is murder.

So, why not protest against abortion? Why show compassion for one and no mercy for another? Why not also protest against the animals being butchered in the slaughterhouses? Don’t you think they too have a right to life?

 Selective compassion is no better than herd mentality of animals, who too show compassion but only to those who are like them. Real compassion is spiritual, at the level of soul. To love the soul and to try our best to love and uplift it is real spirituality.

I am not against female fetecide alone. I am agianst all organised killing.

Please think.

It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father. Lord Krishna in Bhagvad Gita 14.4

Anant Padmanabh's Money

This is in response to discovery of vast treasure in the Anant Padmanabh temple. Many people are saying that the state should control this temple.

I think then you should say the same thing about the temples, gurudwaras, churches and mosques run by other religions also. They are very rich too. The Church is the largest landowner in India after the Indian Govt. Why Golden temple should have so much gold? Why Muslims, Christians etc. get to keep so much money they get from oversees. True, they do some charitable work but it's only for the members of their communities, not for general public. Why only target money of Hindu temples? Hindus give money to the temples out of their good faith, not for the government; it takes enough money out of taxes and should use that money for welfare. If it wants to use Hindu temple funds for welfare, the same should apply to all religions.

The Golden Temple

Under a Temple Empowerment Act, about 43,000 temples in Andhra Pradesh have come under government control and only 18 per cent of the revenues of these temples have been returned for temple purposes, the remaining 82 per cent being used for purposes unstated.

In the world famous Tirumala Tirupati Temple the annual collection is over Rs 3,100 crores and the State Government has not denied the charge that as much as 85 per cent of this is transferred to the State Exchequer, much of which goes to causes that are not connected with the Hindu community.

In Kerala funds from the Guruvayur Temple are diverted to other government projects denying improvement to 45 Hindu temples

In Karanataka, Rs. 79 crores were collected from about two lakh temples and from that, temples received Rs seven crores for their maintenance, Muslim madrassahs and Haj subsidy were given Rs 59 crore and churches about Rs 13 crore.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not secular.

If we are so worried about public welfare, why not ask our cricketers, who have crores, to shed some money. How much money is in IPL?


Tags : Temple, treasure, for God not state

A Cow with Vaishnava Tilak

A month back i went to Jammu, to my ancestral place. on the way we stopped for some refreshments. a cow came to us. she had nice vaishnava tilak on forehead. please see

Krishna and the Old Gopi

Yesterday night I called my friend Vrajchandra Prabhu to inquire about some aspects of the lunar eclipse. After a short chat we hung up. Five minutes later he called again. “I want to tell you a short story,” he said. I was all ears.
Here is the story:
Once there was an old gopi. She wanted to carry a pot of butter to her home, but it was too heavy. Suddenly little Krishna appeared on the scene. “O Krishna,” the old gopi said, “can you please help me lift this butter pot and put on my head?”
Krishna smiled, “No, I can’t do this,” and He left.
With great difficulty the old gopi lifted the pot, placed it on her head and walked to her house.
Krishna was waiting there. “Mother,” He gave a charming smile, “shall I help you to remove this pot from your head?”
“Yes, son, please do so.”
Krishna picked up the pot and gently placed it on the floor.
“My dear Krishna,” she asked, “why didn’t you help me when I asked you earlier?”
Krishna’s face beamed with joy. “Mother,” He said, “I am known to decrease the burden of My devotees; how could I add to yours?”

Panihati Cida Dahi Festival

Today is Panihatti Cida Dahi festival. It is associated with Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, an associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Raghunath Das was son of a very rich merchant in Bengal, yet he wanted to leave all material opulence and surrender to Lord. On this day, in Panihatti, on banks of Ganga, near Kolkota, nearly five hundred years back, he arranged for a massive festival in which cida dahi sweet was distributed to thousands of followers of Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya. After this festival, Lord Nityananda gave His mercy to Srila Raghunath Das Thakur, so that he could achieve the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya.
For the devotees of the Lord trying to obtain the shelter of Mahaprabhu, this day behooves us to beg Sri Nityananda Prabhu to bestow His mercy upon us so that we can too, soon achieve the divine lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Please pray to Lord and prepare cida with condensed milk and sweet curd, add camphor, dry fruits, bananas, mangoes, offer to Lord and relish it remembering this most merciful pastime.

Welcome

Dear ALL

Hare Krishna
I welcome all the readers to my blog. I plan to write my stories, poems and Krishna conscious articles here. I wanted a different name for the blog, but all good names were taken. I am grateful to my colleagues and seniors in BTG for all their help with writing, and also to my god sister Bhakti Lata Devi, whose devotional writings in her blog "Seed of devotion" inspired me to write short devotional essays and publish them on net. Through this blog I want to share devotional ideas and also present Krishna consciousness to secular readers, plus I will also write general things. This is not a strictly institutional publication, so I will allow myself freedom to explore different creative realms too.
Thank you
Your servant
Murari Gupta Das
(Dr Manik Mahajan)