Hare Krishna everyone We had our 53rd Bhakti Vriksha class last Friday 10/28/2016 conducted by HG Gadadhar Pandit Das at Amit Prabhu and Ekta Mataji house and below are some stories linked to Verse 2.54 and Damodar leela that we discussed.
First of all thanks to Ekta Mataji and Amit Prabhu for giving all of us a chance to light diya/lamp in this sacred month of Kartik, also ,many thanks to Ekta Mataji for leading the Damodarastakam
1.)In Verse 2.54 Arjuna asks Krishna ; O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak. And what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk?
2.)Even though Arujana is at such a high status but still he is asking Krishna on what are the symptoms of a conscious devotee, this is his humility.
3.)Krishna says a transcendental person does not possess characteristics like Anger, greed, lust, envy etc.
4.)There are many ways to understand if one is transcendental or not, the very immediate symptom is that the person will always talk about Krishna.
5.)Just like a wealthy person talks about his business and wealth, an artist talks about his art; similarly a pure conscious devotee will always talk about Krishna.
6.)One can have a house, family , car etc. and still be transcendental pure conscious devotee .
7.)We treat God as a doctor, we only go to him when we are sick, similarly when we have any difficulty then only we are remember Krishna.
8.)The topmost transcendental person we discussed is Yashoda mata, her every thought and her every action is in direction to serve Krishna and Krishna also wants to be treated like a normal person that the reason He doesn’t want her to realize that He is God.
9.)Because mother Yashoda is filled with pure love; Krishna allows her to forget Him and serve Him as her child.
10.)Once Yashoda Mata was churning butter milk to create butter and Krishna saw this and asked Yashoda mata to feed Him also there was milk that was kept by Yashoda mataji on the Chula(gas stove) was boiling and started to spill over the chula.
11.)Yashoda mataji saw this and left Krishna to take care of spilling milk into the gas.
12.)Krishna became so angry that He broke the pot and started eating the butter and also started feeding monkeys, when Mata Yashoda saw this she got very angry and thought of giving Krishna some punishment.
13.)She finds a rope to tie Krishna with the grinding motor but every time the rope is short by 2 inches, Krishna’s belly consists of entire universe which cannot be tied by a rope.
14.)Here the significance of 2 inches means 1 inch one should always have the desire to please Krishna and second inch is Krishna will reciprocate and is willing to accept our love and offerings to Him, this is His mercy.
15.)Krishna sees the efforts of Yashoda mata borrowing ropes from neighbors to tie Krishna with the grinding mortar and thus finally allows his mother to successfully tie Him after many unsuccessful attempts
Bottom-line – Bhakti means devotional service, if we want to love Krishna then we have to serve Him and make a relationship with Him first. Below are some ways one can server Krishna
•Read Bhagavad Gita.
•Come togather for satsang
•Offer something to Krishna daily.
•Bring someone else in satsang.
•Chant the Holy mahamantra
" Hare Kirshna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram
Ram Ram Hare Hare"