Krishna Software Newsletter February 2001 By Giving Everything to Krsna, One Does Not Lose Anything!

Welcome to the KrishnaSoft's Electronic Newsletter.
This is the February 2001 issue entitled: "By Giving Everything to Krsna, One Does Not Lose Anything!"
WEB: http://www.krishnasoft.com; EMAIL: krishna@krishnasoft.com or vdayal@castle.net

This newsletter goes to over 1100 people who either have an interest in Vedic science and/or spiritually entertaining multimedia technology.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

(1) By Giving Everything to Krsna, One Does Not Lose Anything!
(2) Devotional Service is Beyond the Material World
(3) Feedback: Miscellaneous
(4) Editorial Policy and Product List

1. BY GIVING EVERYTHING TO KRSNA, ONE DOES NOT LOSE ANYTHING!

[The following is the 27th of a series of articles to present to the benefits of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Krsna CDROM and the Srimad-Bhagavatam CDROM from Krishnasoft present this great spiritual masterpiece in multimedia format.]

In the January 2001 issue, we discussed how by engaging in devotional service one can become free from the fearful conditions of material existence. Even a little devotional service can save one from the most dangerous type of fear. Devotional service means performance of activities for the pleasure of Lord Krsna instead of for one's own pleasure:

"The dirty things in the heart of a conditioned soul are the root cause of all troubles for him. A conditioned soul is surrounded by the manifold miseries of material existence, but on account of his gross ignorance he is unable to remove the troubles due to dirty things in the heart, accumulated during the long prison life in the material world. He is actually meant to serve the will of the Supreme Lord, but on account of the dirty things in the heart, he likes to serve his concocted desires. These desires, instead of giving him any peace of mind, create new problems and thus bind him to the cycle of repeated birth and death. These dirty things of fruitive work and empiric philosophy can be removed only by association with the Supreme Lord. The Lord, being omnipotent, can offer His association by His inconceivable potencies." (Bhag. 2.1.22)

By engaging in the service of Lord Krsna, we can associate with Him:

"By intense service of the Lord, one can experience the presence of the Lord transcendentally. Therefore seeing the Lord means being engaged in His service because His service and His person are identical." (Bhag. 1.6.22)

The material world is full of the threefold miseries and they can only be overcome by engaging in devotional service to Lord Krsna:

"Material advancement of civilization means advancement of the reactions of the threefold miseries due to celestial influence, earthly reactions and bodily or mental pains. By the celestial influence of the stars there are many calamities like excessive heat, cold, rains or no rains, and the aftereffects are famine, disease and epidemic. The aggregate result is agony of the body and the mind. Man-made material science cannot do anything to counteract these threefold miseries. They are all punishments from the superior energy of maya under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Therefore our constant touch with the Lord by devotional service can give us relief without our being disturbed in the discharge of our human duties. The asuras, however, who do not believe in the existence of God, make their own plans to counteract all these threefold miseries, and so they meet with failures every time. The Bhagavad-gita (7.14) clearly states that the reaction of material energy is never to be conquered, because of the binding effects of the three modes. They can simply be overcome by one who surrenders fully in devotion under the lotus feet of the Lord." (Bhag. 1.14.10)

Some people say that devotional service should be performed when one is old and has nothing else to do. Or some people say that one can perform some devotional service on the side while leading a 'normal' material life since one needs material education, money, job, etc. to survive in this material world. Or some people say that one should first get material education, money, etc. so that later one can perform devotional service. In all of these cases, devotional service is given a lesser position or lower priority than the material engagements. Although this is better than not performing any devotional service, it does not free us from the entanglement of the material world. Since bhakti-yoga is actually better than material engagement, why leave off something good until you are old or until you are well set in material life? As quoted above from Bhagavatam (1.14.10), the material energy is never to be conquered because of the binding effects of the three modes. All our material anxieties are due to our own material engagements in the first place; therefore, performing more material engagements to try to get to the point of devotional service will not work:

"Whenever, therefore, there is peace in the world, it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord. And whenever there is upheaval in the world, it is also due to the supreme will of the Lord. Not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations. The surest way to the path of peace, therefore, is dovetailing everything to the established rule of the Lord. The established rule is that whatever we do, whatever we eat, whatever we sacrifice or whatever we give in charity must be done to the full satisfaction of the Lord. No one should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything or give anything in charity against the will of the Lord. Discretion is the better part of valor, and one must learn how to discriminate between actions which may be pleasing to the Lord and those which may not be pleasing to the Lord. An action is thus judged by the Lord's pleasure or displeasure. There is no room for personal whims; we must always be guided by the pleasure of the Lord. Such action is called yogah karmasu kausalam, or actions performed which are linked with the Supreme Lord. That is the art of doing a thing perfectly." (Bhag. 1.15.24)

Note that there is a big difference between results that come in the course of performing one's devotional service and results that a person tries for outside of his devotional service. The former is a spiritual activity and the latter is a material activity.

Even the material needs are actually being supplied to us by the arrangement of Lord Krsna.

"In conclusion, not only for liberation must one depend on the Lord, but even for ordinary necessities in this material world. Prthu Maharaja therefore indicated that in spite of having rich parents, children are sometimes not happy. Similarly, in spite of valuable medicine administered by a competent physician, sometimes a patient dies; or in spite of having a big safe boat, sometimes a man drowns. We may thus struggle to counteract impediments offered by material nature, but our attempts cannot be successful unless we are favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Bhag. 4.21.30)

People may think that by performing devotional service or giving to the cause of devotional service they are losing out on their valuable time, money, etc. This is completely false:

"Bali Maharaja did not agree to abide by the order of his spiritual master when he understood that the beggar was Visnu Himself, and he at once agreed to give Him in charity the land requested. By this agreement Lord Vamana covered all the lands of the universe with His first two steps and then asked Bali Maharaja where to place the third step. Bali Maharaja was very glad to receive the Lord's remaining step upon his head, and thus Bali Maharaja, instead of losing everything he possessed, was blessed by the Lord's becoming his constant companion and doorman. So, BY GIVING EVERYTHING TO THE CAUSE OF THE LORD, ONE DOES NOT LOSE ANYTHING, BUT HE GAINS EVERYTHING THAT HE COULD NEVER OTHERWISE EXPECT." (Bhag. 2.7.17)

2. DEVOTIONAL SERVICE IS BEYOND THE MATERIAL WORLD

"By intense service of the Lord, one can experience the presence of the Lord transcendentally. Therefore seeing the Lord means being engaged in His service because His service and His person are identical." (Bhag. 1.6.22)

Devotional service is of the same transcendental nature as Lord Krsna. Therefore, anything concocted with our material mind or material senses cannot be devotional service.

"Anything expressed by material vibrations, anything ascertained by material intelligence and anything experienced by the material senses or concocted within the material mind is but an effect of the modes of material nature and therefore has nothing to do with the real nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord is beyond the creation of this material world, for He is the source of the material qualities and creation. As the cause of all causes, He exists before the creation and after the creation. I wish to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him." (Bhag. 6.4.29)

As explained in previous newsletters, devotional service is received from the bona-fide spiritual master and Lord Krsna reveals Himself by the process of devotional service:

"By service of the bona fide spiritual master, the Lord consents to REVEAL Himself in proportion to the service rendered. Utilization of the human energy in the service of the Lord is the progressive path of salvation. The whole cosmic creation becomes at once identical with the Lord as soon as service in relation with the Lord is rendered under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master." (Bhag. 1.5.23)

Any concocted method of trying to understand Lord Krsna or associate with Him will not work:

"One who manufactures names, forms, qualities or paraphernalia pertaining to the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot understand Him, since He is beyond creation. The Supreme Lord is the creator of everything, and this means that He existed when there was no creation. In other words, His name, form and qualities are not materially created entities; they are transcendental always. Therefore by our material concoctions, vibrations and thoughts we cannot ascertain the Supreme Lord. This is explained in the verse atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih." (Bhag. 6.4.29)

"Daksa very carefully points out that material designations cannot be names of the worshipable Lord: yad yan niruktam vacasa nirupitam. Nirukta refers to the Vedic dictionary. One cannot properly understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead merely by picking up expressions from a dictionary." (Bhag. 6.4.29)

When one performs devotional service as received from the spiritual master, the result is also of the same transcendental nature as Lord Krsna:

"Anyone, therefore, who is earnestly serious in heart and soul about being in intimate touch with the Personality of Godhead in the relationship of transcendental loving service will always be infallible in words and action. THE REASON IS THAT THE SUPREME LORD IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH, AND ANYTHING EARNESTLY DOVETAILED WITH THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ATTAINS THE SAME TRANSCENDENTAL QUALITY. On the other hand, any amount of mental speculation on the strength of material science and knowledge without any bona fide touch with the Absolute Truth is sure to be a mundane untruth and failure, simply due to not being in touch with the Absolute Truth. Such godless, unfaithful words and actions, however materially enriched, are never to be trusted. That is the purport of this important verse. A grain of devotion is more valuable than tons of faithlessness." (Bhag. 2.6.34)

3 FEEDBACK: MISCELLANEOUS

>> Similarly, some may think that a person who takes prasadam (vegetarian
>food offered to
>> Krsna) is better than a vegetarian and a meat-eater; however, this is also
>> NOT always true. As we will prove via sastra in this article
>
>You didn't prove this point, you are speculating !
I did prove it. It's better to have a meat-eater who is helping spread Krsna consciousness to thousands of karmis than to have a person who eats prasadam but is an impediment in the preaching of Krsna consciousness. This is because the way to stop human and animal slaughter is to purify the people through the preaching of Krsna consciousness. So the preachers (and those who help him) are preventing the future slaughtering of humans and cows through their preaching. Remember a little advancement in Krsna consciousness can save one from the most dangerous type of fear.

>So-called administrators or so called devotees don't eat prasadam by their
>ritualistic religious formulae.
>
> Above all, the offering should be made with an attitude of love. Krsna has
>no need of food, since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will
>accept the offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The
>important element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act
>with love for Krsna.
>
>[B.G. 9.26]
>
For one thing, you can get prasadam without you yourself having to offer or prepare it. It's true that if you offer food without any devotion, Krsna won't accept your offering anyway so the food offered will not become prasadam. However, it is also possible to offer food with devotion and at the same time knowingly or unknowingly commit offenses to the preaching mission of Krsna consciousness. They are independent events.

4. EDITORIAL POLICY AND PRODUCT LIST

Krishna Software Inc. is dedicated to help people become peaceful and happy via spiritual science presented using modern multimedia technology. Our editorial policy as well as our mission is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.37 Purport):

"One should engage in practical service to the Lord. In our Krsna consciousness movement, *ALL* our activities are concentrated upon distributing Krsna literature. This is very important. One may approach any person and induce him to read Krsna literature so that in the future he also may become a devotee.... By fully concentrating on distributing books for Krsna, one is fully absorbed in Krsna."

Our newsletters are geared to show you the benefits of the instructions contained in the transcendental books of Srila Prabhupada so you can judge for yourself the value of these books and obtain them in book or CDROM format. We also have video demos of the Gita CDROM and Bhagavatam CDROM available for those without computers or those who want to get a glimpse into what is on the CDROM.

Krishna Software Inc. has produced some multimedia CDROMs and all the details and reviews of these CDROMs can be found at our website http://www.krishnasoft.com. Here is our current list of products:

(a) Multimedia Bhagavad-gita As It Is CD: Lord Krsna's eternal instructions to Arjuna and the rest of the world about Isvara (Supreme Lord), jiva (the soul), karma (activities), kala (time), and prakrti (nature). This is a 30-hour audio-visual CDROM. Also available with Hindi translations.

(b) Multimedia Srimad-Bhagavatam CD: An encyclopedia on the science of Krsna consciousness. This CDROM deals in detail with bhakti-yoga and covers various subjects-- the creation of the universe, Vedic astronomy, transmigration, birth-death, etc. This is about 35 hours of audio-visual presentations.

(c) Multimedia Krsna CD w/Vedic Astronomy: This is a 51-hour audio-visual presentation of the Krsna book and a Vedic Astronomy simulation based on the Srimad-Bhagavatam. All on a single CDROM. Free sample demo downloadable from our website.

(d) Multilingual Word Processor CD [version 4.00]: Type in diacritics, Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, and Assamese without knowing the alphabet. This is for those who want to write articles using multiple languages. Free demo downloadable from our website.

All of the above software was tested on various Intel 486 and Pentium processors running Windows 3.1, Windows '95, Windows '98, Windows Me, and Windows NT (client and server).

Latest information and secure ordering is available at our web site: http://www.krishnasoft.com. Any upgrades can be downloaded from this website as well.

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End of Newsletter- written and edited by KSI staff; (c) 1998-2001 Krishna Software Inc.
Our staff consists of: Hari Rama Dasa, Virender Dayal, Rajni Dayal, and volunteers.

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All glories to Lord Sri Krsna and His transcendental potencies! All glories to the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the literary incarnation of Lord Sri Krsna!

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