Posts tagged devotee

[Article]: Play Holi with Shrinathji

0
2 years ago
by Arpit in , , , ,

JSK to all Vaishnavas,

We received very good article on “Play Holi with Shrinathji“ and how people celebrate the Holi in Nathdwara from Riddhi Agrawal. She is from Rajasthan and currently living in Visakhapatnam and doing CA. She is devotee of Lord Krishna.

Detailed Holi Article Link from Abha Shahra: http://www.shreenathjibhakti.org/playing_holi.htm

Beautiful Holi celebration description in her words:

||  Shri Krishna Sharnam Mamah: ||

In Nathdwara, shreenath ji plays holi the entire month . This is the month of Falgun.

It is in the Rajbhog Darshan That Shri Ji Plays Holi.

Abir and Gulaal are the colors played with Shreenath ji and then as a Prasad with the devotees. Shreeji baba is in full white Paushaak in the entire month of Holi and the Mukhiyajis are the lucky ones who get to touch Shreeji Baba. He with his “Surya” finger first touches Shreeji Baba with “kesuda” water , slowly & gently, and his Bhao can be seen & felt- first on the forehead- Anja (forehead) chakra – then Anahita (heart) chakra- then all over on the “ pichvai” also.  All though the tenderness with which he touches Shreeji baba is visible, trying best not to cause any disturbance to the high powers there.

Then colors are sprinkled on the “Vaishnavs & Bhakts” as “Prasad” from Shreeji Baba. The mukhiyajis carry divine vibrations from the touch of Shreeji Baba and sprinkles them on all devotees who are lucky to be present there for the darshans.

It is a very transcenadental moment when the colors cover the devotees with the touch of Shreeji.

This entire darshan takes nearly 30 minutes. One should not run away thinking about the clothes, in fact this drenching with colors in Shreeji`s court, within His purest vibrations is one of the easiest way to enter higher purity. Shreeji himself plays colours for the entire month, so that all the bhakts can avail of His purifying Blessings. We do not shake off the sacred colours, it is collected in a packet to be distributed as Shreeji`s Blessings to Family.

After this is the Aarti.

Holi Khelanga Aapa Girdhar Gopal Se !!

Jai Shri Krishna

Thanks Riddhiben for providing this wonderful information. If you also want to contribute or want to write articles then please fill out this form.

Thanks and JSK to all,
Arpit & Dhara

Nine fold Devotion (Navdha Bhakti):

6
3 years ago
by Arpit in , , ,

There is nine ways of Bhakti. One can practice any one to seek salvation.

(1) Sravana is hearing of Lord’s Lilas. Sravana includes hearing of God’s virtues, glories, sports and stories connected with His divine Name and Form. The devotee gets absorbed in the hearing of Divine stories and his mind merges in the thought of divinity; it cannot think of undivine things. The mind loses, as it were, its charm for the world. The devotee remembers God only even in dream.

The devotee should sit before a learned teacher who is a great saint and hear Divine stories. He should hear them with a sincere heart devoid of the sense of criticism or fault-finding. The devotee should try his best to live in the ideals preached in the scriptures. One cannot attain Sravana-Bhakti without the company of saints or wise men. Mere reading for oneself is not of much use. Doubts will crop up. They cannot be solved by oneself easily. An experienced man is necessary to instruct the devotee in the right path.

King Parikshit attained Liberation through Sravana. He heard the glories of God from Suka Maharishi. His heart was purified. He attained the Abode of Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntha. He became liberated and enjoyed the Supreme Bliss.

(2) Kirtana is singing of Lord’s glories. The devotee is thrilled with Divine Emotion. He loses himself in the love of God. He gets horripilation in the body due to extreme love for God. He weeps in the middle when thinking of the glory of God. His voice becomes choked, and he flies into a state of Divine Bhava. The devotee is ever engaged in Japa of the Lord’s Name and in describing His glories to one and all. Wherever he goes he begins to sing and praise God. He requests all to join his Kirtana. He sings and dances in ecstasy. He makes others also dance.

(3) Smarana is remembrance of the Lord at all times. This is unbroken memory of the Name and Form of the Lord. The mind does not think of any object of the world, but is ever engrossed in thinking of the glorious Lord alone. The mind meditates on what is heard about the glories of God and His virtues, Names, etc., and forgets even the body and contents itself in the remembrance of God, just as Dhruva or Prahlada did. Even Japa is only remembrance of God and comes under this category of Bhakti. Remembrance also includes hearing of stories pertaining to God at all times, talking of God, teaching to others what pertains to God, meditation on the attributes of God, etc. Remembrance has no particular time. God is to be remembered at all times without break, so long as one has got his consciousness intact.

(4) Padasevana is serving the Lord’s Feet. Actually this can be done only by Lakshmi or Parvati. No mortal being has got the fortune to practice this method of Bhakti, for the Lord is not visible to the physical eyes. But it is possible to serve the image of God in idols and better still, taking the whole humanity as God. This is Padasevana. Padasevana is service of the sick. Padasevana is service of the whole humanity at large. The whole universe is only Virat-Swarupa. Service of the world is service of the Lord.

(5) Archana is worship of the Lord. Worship can be done either through an image or a picture or even a mental form. The image should be one appealing to the mind of the worshipper. Worship can be done either with external materials or merely through an internal Bhava or strong feeling. The latter one is an advanced form of worship which only men of purified intellect can do. The purpose of worship is to please the Lord, to purify the heart through surrender of the ego and love of God.

(6) Vandana is prayer and prostration. Humble prostration touching the earth with the eight limbs of the body (Sashtanga-Namaskara), with faith and reverence, before a form of God, or prostration to all beings knowing them to be the forms of the One God, and getting absorbed in the Divine Love of the Lord is termed prostration to God or Vandana. The ego or Ahamkara is effaced out completely through devout prayer and prostration to God. Divine grace descends upon the devotee and man becomes God.

(7) Dasya Bhakti is the love of God through servant-sentiment. To serve God and carry out His wishes, realizing His virtues, nature, mystery and glory, considering oneself as a slave of God, the Supreme Master, is Dasya Bhakti. Serving and worshipping the idols at home/haveli’s, sweeping the temple premises, meditating on God and mentally serving Him like a slave, serving the saints and the sages, serving the devotees of God, serving poor and sick people who are forms of God, is also included in Dasya-Bhakti.

To follow the words of the scriptures, to act according to the injunctions of the Vedas, considering them to be direct words of God, is Dasya Bhakti. Association with and service of love-intoxicated devotees and service of those who have knowledge of God is Dasya Bhakti. The purpose behind Dasya Bhakti is to be ever with God in order to offer service to Him and win His Divine Grace and attain thereby immortality.

(8) Sakhaya bhava utilizes friendship which exist only between equals, God raises the human to His level and becomes one with the soul. As a friends, sakhas look to each others comforts. The “Sakhaya-Bhakta” follows this ideal further by not hurting the Lord and His feelings by words or action. All arguments and friendly tiffs are resolved amicably and quickly.

Sudama is an ideal sakhya-bhakta who did not ask any favours from his divine friend. The central theme / idea is to have friendship for friendship sake. Sakha bhakta see the universe, and all within it, as friends and so works for the universal good without seeking or expecting rewards.

(9) Atma-Nivedana is self-surrender. The devotee offers everything to God, including his body, mind and soul. He keeps nothing for himself. He loses even his own self. He has no personal and independent existence. He has given up his self for God. He has become part and parcel of God. God takes care of him and God treats him as Himself. Grief and sorrow, pleasure and pain, the devotee treats as gifts sent by God and does not attach himself to them. He considers himself as a puppet of God and an instrument in the hands of God.

This self-surrender is Absolute Love for God exclusively. There is nothing but God-consciousness in the devotee. Even against his own wishes, the devotee shall become one with God and lose his individuality. This is the law of being. The highest truth is Absoluteness and the soul rises above through different states of consciousness until it attains Absolute Perfection when it becomes identical with God. This is the culmination of all aspiration and love.

The nine modes of Bhakti are the ways in which a devotee attains the Supreme Ideal of life. A devotee can take up any of these paths and reach the highest state. The path of Bhakti is the easiest of all and is not very much against the nature of human inclinations. It slowly and gradually takes the individual to the Supreme without frustrating his human instincts. It is not direct assertion of God, but a progressive realization of Him.

From: Facebook’s Shrinathji Group

Stories of Ramdasji

0
3 years ago
by Arpit in , , , ,

Ramdas finds a ‘svarupa’ of Lord Krshna:

Ramdas once in the company of a wandering devotee went on a pilgrimage to the Ganga Sagar where he found amongst the sand, a ‘svarupa’ of Child Krshna. On showing the ‘swarupa’ to his companion, his friend exclaimed, ‘It is your great fortune to have found such a deity. Now you should perform his worship.’ Ramdas then mentioned that he did not have a guru, to which the devotee replied that he should become the disciple of Shri Mahaprabhu, who had just gone to Jagannath Puri. Hearing that, Ramdas headed home to fetch his wife so that they both might receive initiation.

Having just arrived at Jagannath Puri Ramdas happened to stay at the same garden where Shri Mahaprabhu was. At that moment Shri Mahaprabhu casually asked him, ‘Ramdas, how did you find that ‘svarupa’ of Lord Krshna at the Ganga Sagar? Please show him to me.’ Surprised, Ramdas thought, ‘He must be a great soul. He has never seen me, yet he knows of my discovery.’ Ramdas bowed to Shri Mahaprabhu and requested him to grace his home. The guru then visited his home in Patna, where he initiated Ramdas and his wife, and taught them the ways of devotional service. From that day, Ramdas performed Krshna’s ‘seva’ strictly and diligently.

The Lord cannot bear his devotee’s trouble:

Once Ramdas began to run out money and any he had left he gave to some weavers, who repaid him with interest. Ramdas expressed the pleasure he experienced on receiving the interest on his money to the Lord, the Lord replied to him ‘You have put the interest of those weavers above me even’. Ramdas then realised that his attraction for money was a hindrance to his devotional service to the Lord. Thus he requested to the weavers to return the principal saying ‘I have some work with my Lad. I am obliged to do whatever he says’. The weaver thinking that he was talking of an ordinary child returned the money. When Ramdas had completely exhausted his wealth his attachment to currency was finally severed.

On another occasion Ramdas borrowed money from a businessman and when he demanded his money back Ramdas borrowed it from another businessman. Ramdas became very distressed when he could not repay the money and thus returned home. The Lord being unable to tolerate the trouble of his devotee repaid the businessman with one hundred extra rupees, signed Ramdas’s name and then left. Several days later Ramdas was walking when the businessman (who Ramdas believed he still owed money to) fell to his feet and said ‘You have kept your promise. You have repaid me with one hundred extra rupees; please take the additional rupees back.’ Ramdas then realised that the Lord must have given him the money and when he went to the shop he found his signature that had been signed by the Lord. From this moment Ramdas saw the difficulties he was causing to Krshna and thus from this incident his false pride in performing Krshna’s ‘seva’ was removed.

Ramdas becomes a policeman:

Ramdas took up employment as a policeman in Prayaga. On one occasion when he went to visit Shri Mahaprabhu, Shri Mahaprabhu said to the people there ‘Ramdas is the most blessed.’ The other Vaishnavas unable to understand this asked ‘why is he blessed since he has left his ‘strict seva’ to work as a policeman. Shri Mahaprabu replied ‘he is blessed because he is concerned that he may not cause his Lord any inconveniences. His spiritual firmness is unmatched.’

All seva is equal:

Ramdas was never interested in receiving any fame or glory for his ‘seva’ and he looked upon all types of service whether grandiose or unobtrusive as being equal. Once Shri Mahaprabhu on his way to the Shri Yamuna river noticed a ditch in front of his door, Ramdas hearing this started to fill in the hole immediately. When Shri Mahaprabhu returned he saw the hole gone and Ramdas’s soiled clothes, he then praised Ramdas for doing this. Ramdas considered it a great fortune to have had this chance to serve Shri Mahaprabhu.

A desire for a child:

Once Ramdas’s wife expressed her desire to have a child. Ramdas enlightened her by saying ‘your desire will be fulfilled when you serve the Lord with maternal feelings.’ Ramdas told his wife to worship Krshna in order to attain the transcendental emotional state of Krshna’s mother, Yashoda. But since Ramdas’s wife’s understanding was not sublime, she performed the Lord’s ‘seva’ with the hope of having a son. Her wish was granted and she
was gave birth to a son.

Ramdas never had any material/worldly desires and thus received his Guru’s full flavour.

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