I was working in a publishing house some time back. Most of my colleagues were of different faith but that did not deter us in working together for a project or meeting deadlines. Amongst them was this fairly nice-looking girl who always dresses fashionably to work. Many of my colleagues will comment on her nice fashion sense which is not over the top. One hectic day while I was busy cracking my head for a story, Suzie (not her real name) who sat opposite of me started to shiver and said it was too cold. I thought it was the air conditioning and offered to turn up the temperature. While trying to get the remote to do so, my other colleagues rushed her to the back room of the office. I was still a little perplexed by the turn of events. A little while later, I saw my office mates rushing out of the back room without Suzie. Without wasting any time, I went to the back room. What I saw confused me even more. Suzie was lying on the floor and was shivering. I asked he...
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The recent flood that hit my country, left me quite numb thinking about all the victims' pain and suffering. Here we are, trying to make living quite palatable, and all of a sudden torrents of rain comes to wash off everything we own. Houses were damaged, cars submerged in water almost irreparable, household goods becomes junk as everything owned was gone and had to be replaced. No matter how hard we try to make our living here comfortable, it is actually quite impossible as the design system of this material world is full of the three fold miseries, namely miseries arising from one's mind, miseries arising from another living entity and miseries given to us by the demigods. Although many were affected by the flood, there were also fortunate ones who didn't experience anything of that sort at all. Due to their good fortunes they still have everything they owned intact. As I was contemplating these while filling my cup with water from a Cuckoo water filter (bought by my...
The other day, a friend of mine who knows palmistry, looked into an old woman's hand. She must be around 85 years old. He smiled at her and said, "Madam, you have indeed a long life." The elderly lady looked at my friend grimly and said, "Who said so? I don't have a long life!" My friend and I looked at each other. We were not really perplexed at what the lady just said. It only shows how very correct our scriptures are. No matter how long we live, we still feel we don't have a long life. We may have those around us, leaving their mortal bodies, but we still feel, death will not come to us and we still want to enjoy this material world to the fullest. This is how Maya, the illusory energy of the Lord, tricks us into thinking thus. Ultimately, what is the use of a long life, if it is not used in devotion? What is the use of a long life, if it is not used to serve the Vaishnavas?
An excerpt from a lecture given by Srila Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Gosvami Maharaji in Puri 2015. "“There is this elderly grandmother who comes to the temple everyday to hear hari katha. Her grandson would often request her to take him to the temple as well. But she would not do so. One day, the grandson was very persistent in wanting to go to the temple with his grandmother. Finally, the grandmother relented. When they were at the temple, the grandson heard the hari katha about the glories of Ekadasi, and how it is important to observe Ekadasi which is the very next day. As soon as the grandson went home, he told his mother that he will fast the next day. He only wanted some money to buy bananas and would not take any grains. When the mother heard this, she became furious and scolded the grandmother for taking her son to the temple. She said that her son is very young to be observing such fasts. The grandmother soon called her grandson and told him,...
(Below is an excerpt of the lecture given by Sripad Bhaktivedanta Paramarthi Maharaji (picture below) on his recent visit to Malaysia.) Have Full Faith in the Holy Names “We must have strong faith in the holy names. The holy names will protect you and will give you bliss. Srila Bhakti Ballabh Titha Maharaja once related this story. There once was a lady devotee who wanted to attend a temple function near her house. She dressed up very nicely, putting on beautiful ornaments as well. She then, got a rickshaw to the temple. Seeing such beautiful ornaments on the lady, the rickshaw wallah immediately took another route. For the entire day, nobody heard from the lady. Everyone was really worried about her whereabouts as she was to be at the temple for the function. Soon there was a search party. People searched everywhere. Soon enough, some people heard a very faint voice in a deserted place. It called out, “O Gopal, O Govinda!” The lady was calling out Lo...
(Below is an excerpt of the class given by Radha Govinda Prabhuji on the Powers and Glories of the Holy Name. All these stories are not merely tales but they are factual accords that happened to real people whom Prabhuji had met. Anyone can share these stories to glorify the Holy Names and to help others.) The chanting of the holy names is able to cure all diseases and drive away evil spirits. The holy names are very very powerful. It is the only means of deliverance in this age of Kali. Story 1 Radha Govinda Prabhuji Once there was this young man who worked in a hotel. He soon got himself involved in illicit sex and contracted AIDS. His family members were very worried for him. He lost his job and was in total depression. He was asked to chant the holy names continuously. Feeling there was no other recourse , this young man did so. He chanted 32 rounds daily. As an AIDS patient, he had to go for r...