A Saint & His Spiritual Powers

“Once in ancient India, there was a great saint who had great spiritual powers. One day he was meditating at a place near to the seashore that strong winds started blowing & after that a strong sea storm came in the sea. Saint while meditating, felt very disturbed with that & as he was having great spiritual powers, so he used his powers & said, “Let this storm come to a halt & should cease at once.” By the powers of his words, the storm stopped immediately.

At that time a ship was sailing nearby in the sea. As the wind & the storm in the sea stooped suddenly, so the ship capsized in this sudden abruption of the wind & drowned in the sea. With the drowning of ship in the sea, all the people on the board of the ship also drowned & died. By the law of nature, the sin of the death of all these people on the ship came upon the saint & by all those sins, the saint lost all his great spiritual powers.”

So the spiritual powers should do the good of humanity & should not be used to show one’s vanity. In fact we should not interfere with the laws of nature & laws of God. We should be humble & should bow to the great powers of God. Rather we should be devoted to God than attaining ourselves great powers.

As per Bhagwat Gita, we should devote all our actions to God & also devote our mind to God. Below are few verses from Bhagwat Gita which explain that only.

"bhogaisvarya-prasaktanam
tayapahrta-cetasam
vyavasayatmika buddhih
samadhau na vidhiyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 44)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the God does not take place."

"durena hy avaram karma
buddhi-yogad dhananjaya
buddhau saranam anviccha
kripanah phala-hetavah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 49)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, keep all abominable activities (wanting fruits of their actions) far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the God. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers."

"buddhi-yukto jahatiha
ubhe sukrita-duskrte
tasmad yogaya yujyasva
yogah karmasu kausalam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 50)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: A man engaged in devotional service gets rid himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, which is the art of all work."

"karma-jam buddhi-yukta hi
phalam tyaktva manisinah
janma-bandha-vinirmuktah
padam gacchanty anamayam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 51)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: By thus engaging in devotional service to the God, great sages or devotees free themselves from the results of work in the material world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond all miseries."

So let’s devote ourself to Lord Sri Krishna. We should not be egoistic in our money, power & fame. Also we should not strive to hanker after all such things & rater should devote all our actions to God. By humbly devoting oneself to God & shedding one’s ego before God, one can attain to the great spiritual planes by the grace of Lord Sri Krishna.



Jai Sri Krishna

Active & Inactive God

Whether God is active or Inactive? To get the answer for it, here below are views of the great saint of West Bengal, Sri Ramakrishna.

As per Sri Ramakrishna : "When I think of the Supreme Being as Inactive - neither creating nor preserving nor destroying - I call Him Brahman or Purusha . When I think of Him as Active - creating, preserving, and destroying - I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God.

To Ramakrishna Maya itself was God - everything was God - [Maya] was one of the faces of [the Godhead].

As per Ramakrishna: Maya can not be distinguished from the supreme [Godhead].

So when there is no creation or no universe in existence then God is there in dormant, Inactive state. But when God does the creation, He takes the form of Active Maya - creating, preserving, and destroying this Universe. About the creation, Bhagwat Gita says:

"mama yonir mahad brahma
tasmin garbham dadhamy aham
sambhavah sarva-bhutanam
tato bhavati bharata" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 3)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, My womb is the great Nature (Prakriti or MAYA) which is the source of birth of all living entities, and it is in that I place the germ (embryo of life). Thus it makes possible the births of all living beings."

"sarva-yonisu kaunteya
murtayah sambhavanti yah
tasam brahma mahad yonir
aham bija-pradah pita" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 4)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, It should be understood that all species of life, are made possible by birth in this material nature (Prakriti or MAYA), and that I am the seed-giving father."

"prakrityaiva cha karmani
kriyamanani sarvasah
yah pasyati tathatmanam
akartaram sa pasyati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 30)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, One who can see that all activities are performed by the nature (Maya) alone and sees that the Self (soul) does nothing & is Passive, actually sees." (The Self is the silent witness).

So Maya is the Active expression of God & is perceived as a mysterious and majestic expression of Divinity. It is Maya only which does creation, preservation, and destruction of this Universe, While Supersoul or God is the Passive entity which though is there within & beyond this creation of Maya but still is Inactive & is a witness to the game of Maya.

Jai Sri Krishna

Gopis & Radha's love for Lord Krishna

Though God is almighty, all powerful & everyone prays to Him but there is a cult of devotion in which a person falls in Love with the God & there is a burning desire in that person's mind to meet the God. Gopis of Vrindavan, including Radha were of that cult only who fell in Love with the God, Lord Krishna. Meerabai in recent times also considered Lord Krishna like that only. Here below described is the state of mind of a person (Gopi) who has fallen in love with God. This is the state of the highest devotion to God in which a person always yearns to meet the God.

Gopis & Radha's love for Lord Krishna is so strong that in His absence their mind always yearns for Him. In such pangs of separation one Gopi is thinking in her mind about Krishna & saying:

"O Lord, You are my life. I am sweet to You & so is my Lord sweet to me. O Krishna, You are the only one close to my heart. Whom else I need to seek for besides you. Whenever you come into my heart my heart rejoices. You are the Moon of the inner space of my heart. You are always on my mind.

O Krishna! You are Lord of my life. You always remain so in my life. O Lord, don't keep me out of your mind. O Lord, pl. don't forget me.

O Lord, dust of your feet is so pure that if I put it in my eyes, then my vision becomes divine & I can see anything. I want only that your image remains always in my eyes as I do not want to see anyone else besides You.

O Lord, when shall you come to meet me? Hey Krishna, My heart is parching like a desert which is waiting for the drops of rain to come onto it. On the inner space of my heart You never came & burst like a cloud. So many years have gone by but you never came to fulfill my desire to meet you.

O Krishna! My heart is crying for you, pl. do come. My soul is crying for you, pl. do come. O God, there is burning desire in my heart to meet you, pl. do come. Now pangs of separation are unbearable. Now even if I die Krishna but even after death, my desire to meet you shall not die, as all my such desires are indestructible like You only. It shall live on forever till You meet me.

O Lord, I am yours & You are mine, then how come You are not coming to meet me!!! Pl. do come, pl. do come."

"man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaishyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo ’si me" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eighteen verse 65)

 "Lord Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Always think of Me, become be My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My devotee."

Basically God is our own Soul only & lives within our own heart. So when a person turns towards God, then he/she is actually turning towards his own self only. More & more one turns inward & becomes spiritual, he/she actually yearns for God more & more. He/She actually becomes like that "Gopi" only who always yearns to meet the God.

Jai Sri Krishna

Jiva (जीव, jeev, jiwa, jeeva)

When you consider yourself as an individual self, living within your body then you are an individual “Jiva”. There are billions of people on earth & billions of different creatures living on earth in their individual bodies. All these individual souls living in different bodies are called different “Jivas”. So each person is an individual “Jiva” as per Hindu philosophy.

In Hinduism Jiva or (जीव, jeev, jiwa, jeeva) is the immortal essence (individual soul) of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death. It is somewhat similar to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", “Jiva” is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living being' specifically. The terms Paramatma and jivatma are used to avoid this confusion. Jivás, originates from the Sanskrit word with the root jīv- which means “to breathe”. So a soul in a body which breathes is called a “Jiva”.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the “Jiva” is described as everlasting, unchangeable, eternal, numberless, indestructible and eternally the same. “Jiva” is not a product of the material world (Prakrti), but of a higher 'spiritual' nature. When physical body dies, the Jiva takes a new physical body depending on the karmas done by that Jiva in previous births.

"apareyam itas tv anyam

prakritim viddhi me param

Jiva-bhutam maha-baho

yayedam dharyate jagat" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 5)

Sri Krishna said : Besides these, O Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities. (All living entities belong to the superior nature (or energy) of the Supreme Lord. The inferior energy is matter manifested in different elements, namely earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego.)

As per Sri Brahma-Samhita :

"sa nityo nitya-sambandhah,

prakritis ca paraiva sa"

The same Jiva is eternal and is for eternity and without a beginning joined to the Supreme Lord by the tie of an eternal kinship. He is transcendental spiritual potency.

Lord Sri Krishna is the Supreme Lord & just like the sun is eternally associated with his rays so the transcendental God Sri Krishna is eternally joined with the “Jivas”. The jivas are the infinitesimally small particles of His spiritual effulgence and are, therefore, not perishable like mundane things. “Jivas”, being part of Divine Lord’s effulgent rays, exhibit on a minute scale the divine qualities of God. So“Jivas” are identical with the qualities of Lord. Though Lord Krishna is the all powerful, all-pervading, all-extending Supreme Lord; but Jivas are confined to bodies only. When a Jiva meditates through devotion & merges with the Lord then only he attains to the Lord’s all powerful, all pervasive sublime nature.

Jai Sri Krishna