Hey guys!
So the day's pretty much over. I just finished today's diwali aarti a while ago. I was in such a rotten mood just before the aarti. I was so impatient and so irritated. I had to help my sister find an outfit for her high school graduation ceremony tomorrow and we just couldn't find anything and it was frustrating me. We sat down for the aarti and I was just being so negative about everything. It all seemed very ritualistic, and I kept remembering the blog entry I posted earlier today, about ritualism. Moreover, I've gotten accustomed to thinking like this because of reading so much about how Hinduism is just "paganism" and "heathen". So anyway, I reminded myself of my own blog entry, and told myself to think of the meaning behind these rituals. Soon, during the aarti, I started feeling very prayerful. I was feeling awe and reverence, and I was thinking that there's just something about these aartis that make you think and focus on God, and remember Him. My mood started changing a little but I was still feeling bitter and resentful. I was waiting for Krishna to do something. I had been asking for it ever since my mood had turned bitter and I was just pleading to Krishna to do something and to make me feel alright.
Krishna never fails.
We went through "Om Jai Jagadish Hare" and then I wanted us to do an aarti to the Hare Krishna maha mantra. So I put one on the playlist, but it was not the one I thought it was. It started and it was all this funky modern music. That was alright, it was fun. But after the first minute or so, English verses started pouring in. I started to laugh so hard. I told my dad I forgot this part was in the song. My grandmother then turned to me, and said, "This is the aarti?" I just lost it then. I laughed like crazy! She just gave me this confused look and it was just hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing! My mood had completely changed. Call it a chance occurrence if you like, but to me, it was just Krishna looking out for one of His children, by giving her something to smile about. My sadness just dissipated after that. That laugh had released all the tension I was holding in. Krishna, Krishna! How can I ever thank You?
Today evening, my uncle left for India. Long ago, I had this desire to give him a copy of the Brahma Samhita. I printed it out and kept a copy, but there was a spelling mistake in one of the Sanskrit verses so I didn't want to give it. Moreover, I didn't know just how to go about giving it to him. Today, I thought I would give it to him before he left. But I couldn't find the papers. I searched everywhere possible. I prayed, asking Lord Krishna to help me find it to give it to my uncle, if it was in His divine desire. I went to recheck my book shelf, and a few seconds after my little prayer, somehow, something just clicked and I instantly remembered where I had put those papers.
"I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness." Bhagavad Gita, 18:61
It was just fascinating how I suddenly remembered where I had put the papers. I handed them over to my uncle, and my grandmother told him to make sure he read it. My uncle has been in ISKCON temples and he has done seva for the Lord. He has performed the abhishek ceremony for deities in ISKCON temples. Today, after I gave him the papers, I went to pray to thank Krishna and to pray for His protection over my uncle, and I felt that Krishna has great plans for him. I know that Krishna will not forget the devotional service he has performed, and I feel so strongly that Krishna has some plans for him. My uncle is living a very difficult life. This is why I wanted to give him Krishna-prema in the first place - so that he knows there is someone in his life who will carry his burdens. I strongly believe that Krishna is going to call him. He did it today, and there's going to be more, I'm certain. Krishna is calling us all. He's just waiting, with His arms wide open, for that day when we come back Home. It's not an issue of whether Krishna wants us with Him in His eternal abode or not. The answer to that is always going to be yes, He's waiting for us. The real question is whether we want to go back. The doors to Vaikuntha are always open. Krishna is waiting. But do we want to go? Are we ready to leave this world behind? When we're completely ready, Krishna will make the final call. We just need to listen well.
Beautiful!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDrainpiper, i dont have words for this article.
It's amazing.
He really did want you to have a 'happy diwali'. :)
(p.s: And, if you HAD to be confused, go be that elsewhere, not when you're standing in front of Me. What will happen to My supreme reputation of clearing confusion, huh?) :) :)
And, when you wanted to pass on His grace to someone else, He was there to help you again.
Ah Krishna! How mindblowing CAN you be !?!?!?
Talking about aarti, please add this one to your morning prayers: (It's in Tamil, but it is very powerful, as the meaning will tell you. But more than powerful, it's every devotee's prayer)
ReplyDelete" Sittrum Sirukaalai vandhu unnai sevithu
Un pottraamarai adiyai pottrum porul kelaai.
Pettramaithunnum kulathil pirandhu
Nee Kuttraival engalai kollaamal pohadhu.
Itrai parai kolvan andrukaan Govinda-
Ettraikum Irel piravikkum undhannodu-
Ottrume aavom unakke naam aatseivom
Matrunam kaamangal maatrelor empaavay."
Sittrum Sirukaalai- Early in the morning
vandhu unnai sevithu- We come to pray to You
Un pottraamarai adiyai pottrum- We sing the praises of Your beautiful lotus-like Feet
porul kelaai- Why? Now, you hear from us:
Pettramaithunnum kulathil pirandhu
Nee - Born among the charitable cowherds
uttraival engalai kollaamal pohadhu.- Surely, it is not possible that You will not kill us.
Itrai parai kolvan andrukaan Govinda-- O Govinda! Grant us for today
Ettraikum- For eternity
Irel piravikkum - In all our births
undhannodu Ottrume aavom - We will be united with You
unakke naam aatseivom- We will only serve You
Matrunam kaamangal maatrelor empaavay- You can alter all our other prayers, just keep this one. (or) All our other prayers are insignificant, just keep this in Your mind.
This is, according to me, the most beautiful prayer ever.
It asks Krishna to suppress all our desires, except His eternal service.
Consider this a request from a devotee: you MUST say this everyday morning.
i don't know frankly why i am doing this, but your post about Vaikuntha was a big starter.
If you would like to sing along, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNlobiAtj10&feature=related
The Thirupaavai is considered to be the essence of the Vedas, and more.
It is the feelings of utmost love for Krishna, by His eternal consort, who wished to love Him as a Gopi, and so, came down on to Earth.
The most important point about it, is it stresses the spreading of the knowledge about Krishna.
Kothai, also known as Aandal (or the one who ruled over the Lord Himself), wanted the whole world to attain His lotus feet.
By the grace of Aandal Nachiar, i have been saying the 30 verses daily for quite some time.
And, each time, i derive a new meaning.
Please, add this one song to your daily morning prayer.
i pray to Aandal Nachiar that she showers Her grace on you, so that you may understand, fall in love, and be united with Her Krishna, more so the next moment than now.
(p.s: And, if you HAD to be confused, go be that elsewhere, not when you’re standing in front of Me. What will happen to My supreme reputation of clearing confusion, huh?
ReplyDeleteLol! Hehe that's SO true! He would totally react like that!
Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share that! It really is a very nice prayer and it reminds me so much of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mood! I read your posts before but I didn't have time to reply it. Upon your request, I've been saying it every morning for the past few days :) It really is a very nice prayer. If you really like these types of prayers, I would recommend reading Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prayers, if you haven't already. They're all about complete devotion and surrender. Lord Chaitanya incarnated on earth in the mood and devotion of Radharani, and it's simply a delight to read his mood of love and devotion!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, however, I'm confused about one part in the prayers you mentioned:
Pettramaithunnum kulathil pirandhu
Nee – Born among the charitable cowherds
uttraival engalai kollaamal pohadhu.- Surely, it is not possible that You will not kill us.
Is it supposed to be "not possible that You will not kill us" ?
Drainpiper, am so glad you are saying it. Coz, it's the prayer i totally love. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's like binding Krishna in a contract. A contract of love. :)
The line you asked about:
//uttraival engalai kollaamal pohadhu//
What it actually means, is that, Krishna is the one who is responsible for our (birth and ) death. And since He must award us death, we pray to Him that it lead us not far from Him.
We tell Him that seperation is impossible to live with, and ask Him to keep us forever at the service of His lotus feet.
i don't know many of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prayers. But there's one that's struck in my head. It's not verbatim quote, but it goes like this : ''i am surrendered unto Your feet. Whether to embrace me, or to crush me under Your lotus feet, is Your choice."
That kind of total surrender fills me with so much respect.
You see, i do not know as much about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as you would. Maybe, not at all.
The same way you wouldn't know about Aandal Nachiyar, or Sri Ramanuja.
But, when we interact, i get to know a lot of things. We come from different Vaishnava traditions, but all of them DO lead to Krishna, right?
That's, to me, the most amazing thing about talking to devotees: there's always so much to know.
By the way, have you heard of Krishna Karnamrutam by Lilasuka?
It's so amazing. It's a lesson in my Sanskrit class, and i was in tears all along. It is such heartfelt rendition.
//Pettramaithunnum kulathil pirandhu
Nee uttraival engalai kollaamal pohadhu//
Thank you so much for that! Yes, you're quite right - we are from different traditions that ultimately lead to Krishna! So yay for that :)
ReplyDeleteWhat you say about Aandal Nachiyar just reminds me SO much about Lord Chaitanya. I actually even thought Aandal Nachiyar was another name for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, because what you said was just so strikingly similar to Chaitanya's teachings.
And thanks for explaining the line to me. Although I still don't quite understand it. Like I mean, when I recite the prayer, I don't understand when I'm saying, "Born among the charitable cowherds, surely it is not possible that You will not kill us." The double-negative makes it feel like I am saying "surely You will kill us." I wanted to confirm if this is what it means. I understand that we pray death doesn't lead us away from Him. So does this mean that even though we are going to die (materially), we are praying never to be separated from Him?
Yes, yes, yes.
ReplyDeleteActually something in your question put it in perspective for me.
First, we ask for service now.
But, we are bound to die, right?
He is bound to give us death one day or the other, right?
And, when He does, this insignificant body of ours may wither away, but what of our devotion by which we are bound to Him?
What of our closeness with Him?He can choose whatever He wants to do with that, but we must always be united with him, and be able to serve His lotus feet.
If not in Vaikuntha, if He finds us unfortunaely lacking, then, even if we are reborn, we may be His surrendered devotees.
Did you know that Aandal Nachiyar is actually His eternal Wife Herself.
ReplyDeleteShe came down to earth to celebrate Him as a Gopi.
And, to celebrate the supreme devotion of Periyazhwar, who was her father.
But, the best part is, she not just loves Him Herself, but urges her girl friends to do so too.
Actually, she asks the whole world to surrender unto Him, to love Him, and to serve Him.
That she finally did get 'married' to Her Lord is another story.
There is a story that when she was a kid, she used to wear the garlands meant for the Lord, painstakingly made by Her father, one of His great devotees Himself, and see, in the mirror's reflection the beautiful form of Krishna. Anyways, once her father caught her red-handed, and did not offer that mala in the temple. The Lord lost all His lustre in the temple, as He was forlorn. He came in Her father's dreams, and said that He wished to wear only those garlands which bore the fragrance of Kothai! And, her father affectionately called Her Aandal (the one who ruled over the Lord Himself)
These songs (30 in Thirupaavai, where this song is found, and 143 in total) are the poetry of highest order. They lead one to His beautiful feet.
Ah yes, makes sense now! It had confused me earlier, because we can never die, especially once we join hands with Krishna. But I understand what it means now. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it :)
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ReplyDeleteOh wow, that was such a nice leela! Hari Hari :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Aandal Nachiyar is actually His eternal Wife Herself.
She came down to earth to celebrate Him as a Gopi.
This is so similar to Lord Chaitanya! The Lord wanted to experience the devotion of His devotees, so He is basically Radharani's devotion embodied, and He is the Supreme Lord Himself. If you look at some pictures of Lord Chaitanya, they depict Him as the embodiment of both Radha and Krishna. When Lord Chaitanya was born, He wouldn't stop crying until the women in the neighbourhood would call out "Hari Hari". That was the only thing that would get Him to stop crying! These leelas are just wonderful and I'm so thankful for them!
I'm aware of the 30 songs. I googled the prayer you told me of, since I was a little confused, and I came across them. I intend to read some more of them soon! Especially now that you have told me more about Aandal Nachiyar, it has sparked some more interest :)
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the write-up about Lord Chaitanya.
ReplyDeleteVery enlightening. :)
What i like about, and is very inspiring about Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition is the desire to sing for Him, serve Him.
But, Sri Vaishnavism also advises the same- to sing His glories, to serve Him unconditionally, to love Him, and to surrender unto Him.
It's wonderful how apparently different paths to the same focal point Krishna are so alike in such a subtle way.
i feel so nice that you have been reading about Thirupaavai.
It's amazing how all His great devotees come down to Earth, just to sing His glories like normal humans, and show us the way forward.
You mentioned about Lord Chaitanya, i about Aandal Nachiyar.
Sri Ramanuja is said to be an avatar of Adishesha (Ramanuja= Rama + Anuja = Rama's brother=Lakshman).
Similarly, one of the Alwars was an incarnation of His bow, and so on.
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ReplyDeleteSo true! Only with our loved ones :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it is quite fascinating to think that we may have passed each other without knowing each other! I was just discussing this with another devotee from my university. I had met her around 8-10 years ago, because her younger brother and I were friends when we were kids, and she has no recollection of it. She remembers nothing, but I remember the meeting with such clear detail. And now she and I have become better friends in Krishna Consciousness and it's just funny that we knew each other when we were younger, we met again in University, and then, AGAIN in Krishna Consciousness!
What you said about the delight we get from associating with devotees reminds me of a verse from the Bhagavad Gita:"The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me." (BG 10:9). I wouldn't consider myself a pure devotee, and I am most definitely not at that mood of surrender and devotion, the last part of the verse certainly stands true! It is just so overwhelming and delightful to just sit with someone and just TALK about Krishna! Even mundane things become so wonderful when we add Krishna to it! Prabhupada always said that we don't need to remove anything from our lives. We just need to +1 i.e. ADD KRISHNA! The ultimate recipe for bliss, joy, peace, success, and LOVE!
Purity...Purity in devotion..it's amazing how pure thoughts about Krishna can be.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, He blesses us so much, that we have a danger of getting carried away.
But, we remain, rather impure, except at the time when we keep in sight His beautiful feet.
My sister recently came back from school full of ideas about birth and rebirth, some rather out-of-line.
And, as my mom was explaining to her about the real thing, which is a choice whether we want to be with Him or not, she said- ''But ma, ofcourse we want to be with Perumal. (Krishna). Who will not want to be? When i be with Him, i will paint His toe nails with the best nail polish. He is not used to all that. There's nothing wrong in being fashionable, na? And i bet He will love 'French fries'. Just because He has not been offered it, doesn't mean He won't like it."
i didn't know what to think. My thoughts aren't even as pure as my sister's!
So, we may be far away from pure, but He is the purest of the pure, right? Let's give Him the rule of the heart.
And, if we ever drift away, let Parthasarathy drive us back to Him.
i was thinking...even our little efforts to please Him are by His grace of giving us the opportunity. Like, there may be a turning point which got you closer to Him. That's His doing!
In my case, my very birth! How can i thank Him for giving me a guru in my mother?!
That's what i told my mom when my sister said those things (it was the day after our temple incident) - ''Does this thing for inviting trouble with Him run down our genes?" :)
And, i didn't even search for anything in particular when i found your blog. It's like Krishna gave me someone to talk to. :)
So, let's thank Him, for all the opportunities.
And let's pray to be able to serve Him forever!
Aww, bless your sister :) That was so innocent and pure! Someone I know mentioned this yesterday: In the Bible it says that we should be childlike. Even in Krishna Consciousness, Srila Prabhupada says that we should call out to Krishna like a child crying desperately for it's mother. We should be childlike, and look to Krishna for everything, and our faith should be childlike, for children believe from the heart without questioning.
ReplyDeleteThoughts of Krishna can drive out all the impurity that may exist in our minds!
And I agree, Krishna Himself gives us so many endless opportunities to connect with Him and to get close to Him. You're right, there was a turning point in my life, when I dived deep into religions, to do some soul-searching (I plan to post about how I came to Krishna Consciousness soon).
Let's pray, like Aandal Nachiyar and Lord Chaitanya, to always be able to serve and love Lord Hari :)