Shukasari

(This is part 2 of the story "A Great Devotee of Lord Jaganatha, about Dasia Bauri but from another place) In a village called Baligram, two kilometers from Puri, there lived a low-caste tribal person named Dasia Bauri. Dasia was very much in ignorance and didn’t understand very much about what was pious behavior and what was sinful behavior. He had no children; he and his wife were very poor. Dasia was a weaver, and the money he made selling the cloth barely maintained him and his wife. During festival days, Dasia would visit the homes of brahmanas in his village and listen to the songs that glorified the Lord. Even though he could not understand anything, he liked to listen. In this way he was spending his life—working to maintain himself and occasionally hearing some kirtana on festival days. At one point he accepted mantra initiation from a guru and started to wear kanthi mala and apply tilak on his forehead. He was associating with devotees and he...

(A dear god-sister, who is residing in Orissa, sent me this sweet wonderful lila of Jagannatha and his dear most devotee , Hope you will find much inspiration from this katha) Dasia Bauri – The Grea t Bhakta of The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Jagannatha Deva Sri khetra Jagannath Puri is the Greatest dhama of the Supreme Lord, where Krishna (Shyamasundara) is manifesting in His eternally merciful and most joyful form known as avatari Jagannath. The place is further glorified by the foot dust of great unalloyed loving devotees called premi-bhaktas. From time immemorial Sri Jagannathjiu has been worshiped in this dhama and the great scriptures like Srimad-Bhagawata, Padma, Visnu, Skanda Puranas etc are the evidence. It is mentioned in the Skanda-Purana that Sri-Prahalada maharaja did ratha-yatra festival long long ago in the age of Satya-Yuga. In this age also Jagannathjiu has a great history. There are devotees beginning from the reign of Pandya kings. All the...

Sometimes or more accurately put, problems just comes. We have so many problems in our life. Yet, we think if we were to solve one particular problem then it will all go away.Our life will be happy. But then after spending so much energy on one problem, another comes like a tidal wave. By then we would have forgotten the previous problems. Now we concentrate on the problem at hand. Again, we use all our energy in trying to get rid of this one problem in front of us. When I was growing up, I had so much of skin problem. I tried all sorts of solutions to get rid of it. After some time, it did go away. Then I became very sick. And again another type of skin problem starts. All this just left me totally exasperated. That is how this material world is. Problems are there to bring us closer to Sri Guru and Krsna. How? We will start to pray harder and perhaps even realise somewhat that this life is so insignificant to be drowning in problems. The only real problem is whether we have to...

( a nice story related by Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja ) A wolf was drinking water from a river at the same time as an innocent lamb. The wolf thought, "Somehow or other I must devour that lamb." The wolf said, "Hey! Don't you know? Can't you see I am drinking water here? Why are you making the water muddy for me? I shall kill you." The lamb said, "O sir, you are drinking water upstream and I am drinking water downstream. How is that I am making the water muddy for you?" The wolf said, "Why did you call me bad names one year ago?" The lamb said, "O sir, I am only three months old. How is it that I could call you bad names one year ago?" The wolf said, "Your mother must have done so. Anyway, I will still kill you!" This is how all concocted stories are going around. This story illustrates how hatred, speaking ill, and concocting stories arise from intolerance or enviousness. In the same way we find all kinds of fault in...

Once, two saints were standing on the bank of a river, when they saw a scorpion was being swept away by the strong current. One of the saints picked up the scorpion on his palm to save it, but it stung the saint and fell back into the river. The saint then kept picking up the scorpion to save it, but it kept on stinging the saint. And this went on and on. Upon seeing this, the other saint said, "Why are you doing this? Don't save the scorpion. Let it die." The first saint replied, "If this scorpion is not giving up its nature to bite, then, why should I give up my nature to save him?" In the same way, sadhus are mercy and tolerance personified. They will keep coming back for us, the fallen soul, again and again to urge us to get out of this material condition by serving Sri Guru and Krsna. Yet we are blinded by our own poison to see the ways of the humble sage.

Below are some excerpts from Srimati Syamarani didi’s class on her recent visit to Malaysia. Didi very expertly gave class on what Srila Gurudeva would want us to be doing: Refraining From Quarrelling “Gopis always glorify others that there is no time for quarrelling. Srila Gurudeva says: ‘I want all the temples to serve my mission and not be disunited.’” On Leadership Srila Gurudeva says: “Be equal to all, kind to all and be broad-minded. Don’t be selfish.” Cure for Criticizing --- the Medicine “Criticize yourself always. If you simply chant, you will have material desires. So sing bhajans and pray to Sri Guru and Guru-parampara, ‘Please let your words be mine.’” Keep praying. Always think: “I am the cause of any sufferings I have.”

Separation from Sri Guru from one’s vision is the greatest pain a disciple faces. No more sweet glances. No more chastisement. No more running to the spiritual master for answers. So many no mores! But we have to remember that, the disappearance lila the spiritual master performs is only to teach us that nothing is permanent in this life. It also gives the disciple a chance to go deeper within to know the spiritual master’s true glories, who he truly is and to find a way to always connect with him. By constantly remembering the spiritual master, we are in fact meeting with him. It is time for the disciple to carry out the spiritual master’s instruction. Recently, Sripad Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja gave a very short and sweet class in Malaysia and used the analogy of the turtle, fish and bird in relation to the spiritual master and the disciples. After Maharaja’s talk, all the other devotees glorified Srila Gurudeva in their sweet and personal relationship they had and w...