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. 

Krishna born to Vasudeva , Devaki three times

Krishna was born to Vasudev and Devaki fulfilling their boon of having Lord as their son. The other two times he was born to them was
1)In the millenium of Svayambhuva manu , Sutapa and Prsni  respectively . Krishna born as Prsnigarbha
2) Next millenium , Kasyapa and Aditi respectively. Krishna born as Upendra (Vamanadeva)
3)Vasudev and Devaki . Krishna himself.

Source - Krishna , The Supreme Personality of Godhead  (Chapter of The advent of Lord Krishna )

Prsnigarbha
Prince Dhruva was initiated by Nārada into chanting the hymn composed of eighteen letters, namely oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, and Lord Vāsudeva incarnated Himself as Pṛśnigarbha, the Personality of Godhead with four hands, and awarded the prince a specific planet above the seven stars. Prince Dhruva, after achieving success in his undertakings, saw the Lord face to face, and he was satisfied that all his needs were fulfilled.
So the Lord incarnated Himself as Pṛśnigarbha just to satisfy a pure devotee of the Lord.
(SB 2.7.8, Purport)

Fasting Prohibited on Ekadashi ..

Today was dwadashi. We broke our Ekadashi fast with Rice, Dal , Mixed Subji and Sweet Rice. On the case of dwadashis , there are instances where we fast on dwadashi and not on ekadashi etc.

(If Mahadvadasi is in force, fasting is prohibited on the Ekadasi, but the observance is done on the Dwadasi. CompoundDwadasi-Mahadwadasi.)

1/. If Ekadasi begins after sunrise and ends before sunrise the next day it is considered Lost, too short, thus not full, and impure. Therefore the next day is called Unmillani Mahadwadasi.
2/. If Dwadasi begins after sunrise and ends before sunrise on the next day (Trayodasi), it is also Lost, and is to be observed as Tri-Sprsa-Mahadwadasi.
3/. If Dwadasi falls on the Sunrise two days in a row the first Dwadasi becomes Vyanjuli Mahadwadasi.
4/. When the following Amavasya or Purnima falls on sunrise two days in a row the preceeding Dwadasi becomes Paksa-Vardhini-Mahadwadasi, Paksa based.

Missed Ekadashi.. what to do ?

We often deal with this question. Devotees miss out and end up taking grains on Ekadashi. There is always a debate whether we need to fast on Dwadashi or Trayodashi ? ( heated debates among devotees  :) grain leading to Migrain )

An instance of this kind comes up in TKGs (Tamal Krishna Goswami's )diary

May 13


Today was Ekadasi, but we committed the grievous error
of eating grains. We found out too late. Srila
Prabhupada chastised Pradyumna, "What is the use of
having you come with us? Is this not your duty?" We
were ordered to observe Ekadasi tomorrow and to go on
preparing grains today. Prabhupada commented, "Big,
big monkeys; big, big belly."

 So we can fast on Dwadashi .

I also got the following material from http://www.stephen-knapp.com/ekadasi.htm . This website is iskcon oriented and is maintained by one of Srila Prabhupadas disciple.

"It is said that even if one mistakenly misses the observance of an Ekadasi, he or she may make up for it by observing it the very next day on Dvadasi, and then break one’s fast from grain on the next day, Trayodasi. One may also observe the special fast on Nirjala Ekadasi. This is also called Bhima Ekadasi. This is because the Pandava brother known as Bhima was so strong and had such a voracious appetite that he could not observe Ekadasis twice a month. He could not fast because he was too hungry. So Lord Krishna told him to merely observe one Ekadasi a year, which is the Nirjala Ekadasi. Nir jala means no water. So he had to observe at least one Ekadasi a year, and on that day he had to abstain from not only beans and grains, but from all foods, even water. So devotees who miss an Ekadasi day often observe a complete fast from all food and liquids on the Nirjala Ekadasi, which is usually sometime in June, and thus make up for whatever was missed. However, this is a very potent Ekadasi, so a complete fast on this day gives one who observes this many pious credits. "

All glories to Srila Prabhupada who has helped us out in all the occasions

Essence of Devotional Service

gaurāńgera duṭi pada, jār dhana sampada,
se jāne bhakati-rasa-sār

Srila Prabhupada says in the purport to this beautiful song by Srila Narottam Das Thakur "This is a song by Narottama dasa Thakura in praise of the glories of Lord Caitanya. Gauranga refers to Lord Caitanya, who has a fair complexion. One who has a fair complexion is called gaura, and since Lord Caitanya was very fair, just like molten gold, He was also named Gaurasundara. Narottama dasa Thakura says, gaurangera duti pada, jar dhana-sampada, se jane bhakati-rasa-sar. Anyone who has accepted the two lotus feet of Lord Caitanya can understand the true essence of devotional service. "

when will a day come when i will accept the lotus feet of Chaitanya? Heart is filled up with material desires.. how will i clean up my heart ..  Narottam Das gives this way out also 


gaurāńgera madhura-līlā, jār karṇe praveśilā,
hṛdoya nirmala bhelo tār


Srila Prabhupada in the purport once again says "If one is captivated by the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, simply by chanting and dancing and eating prasada the dirty things in his heart will all become cleansed. The heart of anyone who takes to this movement of chanting, dancing, and eating krsna-prasada will surely be cleansed of all dirty material contamination. Narottama dasa Thakura says, very rightly, gaurangera madhura-lila, jar karne pravesila, hrdoya nirmala bhelo tar: if one wants to cleanse his heart, he must take to the movement of Lord Caitanya-Krsna consciousness."

My prayer today in the lotus feet of my revered lovable spiritual master is that  let my heart be captivated by the pasttimes of Lord Chaitanya

Bad things happen to good people and that too to devotees why .. arre Why????

We often hear this..
why did this bad things happen to good people??
Well for normal good people (thats the way i call pious people) , we link it to their Karma..
"its their Karma you see.. " and devotees can give their own purport and sometimes they can defeat each other the way they refer to Srila Prabhupada.. we will leave this for discussion for a later day :)
but we sometimes are perplexed.. let me put it i sometimes get perplexed as to why bad things happen to devotees and that too to Pure devotees..
Got a wonderful purport by Srila Prabhupada in SB 3.16.37. Yes its in the chapter dealing with "Jaya and Vijaya Cursed by the Sages"
When something is arranged by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should not be disturbed by it, even if it appears to be a reverse according to one's calculations. For example, sometimes we see that a powerful preacher is killed, or sometimes he is put into difficulty, just as Haridasa Thakura was. He was a great devotee who came into this material world to execute the will of the Lord by preaching the Lord's glories. But Haridasa was punished at the hands of the Kazi by being beaten in twenty-two marketplaces.Similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and Prahlada Maharaja was put through so many tribulations. The Pandavas, who were direct friends of Krsna, lost their kingdom, their wife was insulted, and they had to undergo many severe tribulations. Seeing all these reverses affect devotees, one should not be disturbed; one should simply understand that in these matters there must be some plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavatam's conclusion is that a devotee is never disturbed by such reverses. He accepts even reverse conditions as the grace of the Lord. One who continues to serve the Lord even in reverse conditions is assured that he will go back to Godhead, back to the Vaikuntha planets.
Hope you had the patience to go through the total stuff and didn't skip it.