Why did Bharat Maharaj get the body of a deer ?

 Bharata Mahārāja, at the time of death, would be forced to accept the body of a deer due to his attraction for the deer. In this regard, a question may be raised. How can a devotee be affected by his past misconduct and vicious activities? In Brahma-saḿhitā (5.54) it is said, karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām: "For those engaged in devotional service, bhakti-bhajana, the results of past deeds are indemnified." According to this, Bharata Mahārāja could not be punished for his past misdeeds. The conclusion must be that Mahārāja Bharata purposefully became over-addicted to the deer and neglected his spiritual advancement. To immediately rectify his mistake, for a short time he was awarded the body of a deer. This was just to increase his desire for mature devotional service. Although Bharata Mahārāja was awarded the body of an animal, he did not forget what had previously happened due to his purposeful mistake. He was very anxious to get out of his deer body, and this indicates that his affection for devotional service was intensified, so much so that he was quickly to attain perfection in a brāhmaṇa body in the next life. It is with this conviction that we declare in our Back to Godhead magazine that devotees like the gosvāmīs living in Vṛndāvana who purposely commit some sinful activity are born in the bodies of dogs, monkeys and tortoises in that holy land. Thus they take on these lower life forms for a short while. and after they give up those animal bodies, they are again promoted to the spiritual world. Such punishment is only for a short period, and it is not due to past karma. It may appear to be due to past karma, but it is offered to rectify the devotee and bring him to pure devotional service.
SB 5.8.26 purport.
Srila Prabhupada explains such an important philosophy in such a simple way. 
reminds me of the stanza HH JPS GM has written glorifying SP

gita-bhagavata caitanya carita
premamrta rasasara |
kata na sundara sarala kariya
ke bujhaita ara ||

Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta contain the essence
of the nectarean mellows of love of Godhead. Who else would have explained
these scriptures so clearly and beautifully?

Detachment and Attachment both required

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad used to say "This material world is not fit for living for any gentleman." Many a times while getting frustrated with the material world , we too feel the truth of this statement and second it. Have been giving it a thought, but just feeling frustrated with this material world will not give us the visa to stay in the beautiful spiritual world. If one has to stay in a different country, then (s)he has to become the citizen of that particular country. Having a tourist visa or any other variety of visa entitles you to stay there for a certain amount of time only. Beyond that , you need to return back to your base country. If you want to stay there permanently , one needs to become a citizen of that place, you need to follow the rules etc of that particular place. Just by feeling frustrated with your base country will not help you , you need to get adjusted to the place you want to get settled.
Similarly just by getting frustrated with the material world will not help. we need to develop attachment for spiritual world and get accustomed to the activities and what a better way to do that than  doing loving devotional services.
In the purport of BG 15.1 , SP mentions  "Now, the basic principle of devotional service is detachment from material activities and attachment to the transcendental service of the Lord."

how true.. we need to get attached to the transcendental service of the Lord and his pure devotees. .. That is the only way..

Material Pleasure vis a vis Spiritual pleasure

Ever wondered the difference between Material pleasure and Spiritual pleasure, Srila Prabhupada puts it so nicely...

"In the material pleasure, if I see you happy, I am unhappy; If I see you unhappy, I become happy. This is nature. I may say otherwise, but material nature is, if one is put into difficulty, then I become very happy, and if I am happy, others become envious. This is material pleasure. Whereas spiritual pleasure means that when one sees Krsna is happy, a devotee's happy, the other devotee becomes happier. That is spiritual pleasure. In the spiritual world there is competition, but when one is advanced, the competitor become happy: "Oh, he's so advanced. I could not do so." There is no enviousness. In the material world, if one is advanced, other, who is not advanced, he's envious. This is the difference between spiritual pleasure and material pleasure. It is not difficult to understand. Material pleasure means if you are happy, I become unhappy; if you are unhappy, then I become happy. This is material pleasure. And spiritual pleasure means by seeing your happiness, I become happy. By seeing... But there is no distress in the spiritual world. Simply by seeing the happiness of other devotee, another devotee becomes happier."

>>> Ref. VedaBase => The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972

Bhava Grahi Janardana - Lord only sees your endeavours

Have been hearing the NOD lecture series by Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavana 1972. Its a sheer classic and a must hear for all devotees. Donot know how i have missed it for so long. any ways better late than never :)

Srila Prabhupada was mentioning that one cannot purchase the lord by showing off any of the opulences(wealth, strength, knowledge, beauty , renunciation and famous), as the lord is Bhagavan .. the person who has all the opulences, but the lord can be purchased by our sincerity of endeavour. How true it is?

Reached home and was reading something about Vamanadevs appearance and came across this beautiful rendition of Srimad Bhagavatam .

SB 8.23.2
sri-balir uvaca
aho pranamaya kritah samudyamah
prapanna-bhaktartha-vidhau samahitah
yal loka-palais tvad-anugraho ’marair
alabdha-purvo ’pasade ’sure ’rpitah

TRANSLATION
Bali Maharaja said: What a wonderful effect there is in even attempting to offer respectful obeisances to You! I merely endeavored to offer You obeisances, but nonetheless the attempt was as successful as those of pure devotees. The causeless mercy You have shown to me, a fallen demon, was never achieved even by the demigods or the leaders of the various planets.
PURPORT
When Vamanadeva appeared before Bali Maharaja, Bali Maharaja immediately wanted to offer Him respectful obeisances, but he was unable to do so because of the presence of Sukracarya and other demoniac associates. The Lord is so merciful, however, that although Bali Maharaja did not actually offer obeisances but only endeavored to do so within his mind, the Supreme Personality of Godhead blessed him with more mercy than even the demigods could ever expect. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (2.40), svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat: “Even a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.” The Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as bhava-grahi janardana because He takes only the essence of a devotee’s attitude. If a devotee sincerely surrenders, the Lord, as the Supersoul in everyone’s heart, immediately understands this. Thus even though, externally, a devotee may not render full service, if he is internally sincere and serious the Lord welcomes his service nonetheless. Thus the Lord is known as bhava-grahi janardana because He takes the essence of one’s devotional mentality.

Kabe habe bolo se dina amaar.. when will such a day come when i will have a devotees attitude ? 

When will a day come when i will not look out for Krishna , but Krishna pleased by my endeavour will show himself to me .. 

 

Offenses made in the Mind against Vaishnavas, Guru and Lord

Srila Prabhupada in Nectar of Instruction , Purport 8, writes that "The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for training the mind to be always engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business. "
But this dusta mana instead of being engaged in Krishnas business is always busy finding faults with everyone. So what does  GSS (Guru , Sadhu and Shastra ) have to say about this when we commit offense against a vaishnava mentally.   What we think , will essentially lead to doing that action (Think -> Feel -> will ) and we will end up doing that if we donot nip it at the bud.

HH Jayapataka Swami Guru Maharaj has to say the following on the same

"IF one is an initiated brahmana then one is held more responsible for
offenses in the mind. Otherwise in Kali yuga one is held responsible for
sins made in the flesh and not for those in the mind. In Kali yuga one gets
the benefit of pious activities made even in the mind. In previous yuga's
it was opposite.

If one commits an offense to Guru or Lord Sri Krishna in the mind one should
pray for forgiveness and purification so that the mind won't think offensive
things."

Regarding offenses committed against vaishnavas in mind , HH JPS GM mentions that
"
You can chastise your mind and train it to think properly. You can
practically get forgiveness from the devotee or touch the devotee's feet to
get forgiven. Otherwise you can repent mentally and go on chanting Hare
Krishna."

Praying to Guru Maharaj that my mind be engaged in serving him or his representatives.

Source: http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/hare-krishna-forum/397200-re-offence-mind.html

CMMI and Devotional Life

CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes, which will improve their performance. CMMI-based process improvement includes identifying your organization’s process strengths and weaknesses and making process changes to turn weaknesses into strengths.

I was reading about this and suddenly a thought came across. While organizations , teams etc vie for better CMMI rating , it is so true for our devotional life too.  CMMI level 5 - the highest level is meant for continuous improvement.

In devotional life too , we need to always work on towards continuous improvement. No Relaxment always try to raise your bar . In Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita,

Prabhupada also spoke of the necessity of purification for spiritual advancement. "It is not enough merely to chant holy words," he said. "One must be pure inside and out. Chanting in purity brings spiritual advancement. The living entity becomes impure because he wants to enjoy material pleasure. But the impure can become pure by following Krsna, by doing all works for Krsna. Beginners in Krsna consciousness have a tendency to relax their efforts in a short time, but to advance spiritually you must resist this temptation and continually increase your efforts and devotion."

How true it is ? Srila Prabhupada ki jai. Need to keep working.. need to keep pushing oneself to become more and more dearer to Guru and Gauranga

Twenty four elements making the body -Sankhya Philosophy

From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra, the components of this world can be understood as follows.

• Five Great Elements(Maha-Bhuta) - Earth , Water ,Fire, Air and Ether
• False Ego, Intelligence,  Unmanifested stage of three modes of material nature - three in total
• Five Knowledge acquiring Senses - Eyes, Ear, Nose, tongue and skin
• Five Working Senses - Voice, Legs, hands, Anus, Genitals
• Mind (can be called as the sense within)
• Five objects of the senses -  Form(Eye), Sound(Ear), Smell( Nose), Taste(Tongue) and Touch (Skin)

The aggregate of these twenty four elements is called the field of activity  (BG 13.6-7)

One more way of looking at this is

• Five Gross Material Elements - Earth , Water, Fire , Air and Ether
• Three Subtle Material Elements - Mind, Intelligence, False Ego
• Five Knowledge acquiring Senses - Eyes, Ear, Nose, tongue and skin
• Five Working Senses - Voice, Legs, hands, Anus, Genitals
•  Five objects of the senses -  Form(Eye), Sound(Ear), Smell( Nose), Taste(Tongue) and Touch (Skin) 
• Mahat-tattva(The total material energy) can be equivalent to unmanifested stage of three modes of material nature above

CC Adi 5.14 Purport


One who desires to know the twenty-four elements in detail along with their interactions should study the philosophy in more detail. In Bhagavad-gītā, a summary only is given.