Welcome to the KrishnaSoft's Electronic Newsletter.
This is the September 1999 issue entitled: "No Material Qualifications Are Needed to Serve Krsna!".
WEB: http://www.krishnasoft.com; EMAIL: krishna@krishnasoft.com or vdayal@castle.net
This newsletter now goes to over 1100 people who either have an interest in Vedic science and/or spiritually entertaining multimedia technology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
(1) No Material Qualifications Are Needed to Serve Krsna!
(2) Vedic Astronomy Simulation
(3) Feedback: Miscellaneous
(4) Editorial Policy and Product List
1. NO MATERIAL QUALIFICATIONS ARE NEEDED TO SERVE KRSNA!
In the August 1999 issue, we discussed how devotional service is never lost and is the ultimate goal of life. It's also important to note that one need not be well-educated or have some big qualifications to engage in devotional service:
"The Personality of Godhead may not be present before one's eyes, but if one is sincere in wanting such guidance the Lord will send a bona fide person who can guide one properly back home, back to Godhead. THERE IS NO NEED OF MATERIAL QUALIFICATIONS for making progress on the path of spiritual realization. In the material world, when one accepts some particular type of service, he is required to possess some particular type of qualification also. Without this one is unfit for such service. But in the devotional service of the Lord the only qualification required is surrender. Surrendering oneself is in one's own hand. If one likes, he can surrender immediately, without delay, and that begins his spiritual life. The bona fide representative of God is as good as God Himself. Or, in other words, the loving representative of the Lord is more kind and more easy to approach. A sinful soul cannot approach the Lord directly, but such a sinful man can very easily approach a pure devotee of the Lord. And if one agrees to put himself under the guidance of such a devotee of the Lord, he can also understand the science of God and can also become like the transcendental pure devotee of the Lord and thus get his liberation back to Godhead, back home for eternal happiness." (Bhag. 2.7.46)
The main point is to receive our devotional service from the disciplic succession or from Lord Krsna and become fixed in this service. Some people, who are puffed up due to wealth, knowledge, education, beauty, etc., judge others by their material skills. But Lord Krsna and His devotees do not judge people by material results. The material skills or material position may or may not be present.
"Sri Ramananda Raya was a self-realized soul, although outwardly he belonged to a caste lower than the brahmana in social status... Still, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as a liberated soul on the strength of the high order of his realization of transcendental knowledge... The Lord's ONLY CRITERION was the standard of devotional service of the particular person. He was not concerned with the outward dress of a man; He was concerned only with the inner soul and its activities." (Bhag. Intro)
Once a south Indian brahmana was ordered by his spiritual master to read the Bhagavad-gita although he was illiterate. So he just carried out the order of his spiritual master without wasting time getting a formal education. And Lord Krsna made up for his lack of education and the brahmana attained the ultimate goal of studying all the scriptures. Although some people may think that a person who is well-educated has a better shot at understanding spiritual life and the scriptures, this example proves that the only thing required is surrender to the instructions of Lord Krsna as received through the bona-fide spiritual master:
"If one has unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord and the spiritual master, the essence of all Vedic knowledge is revealed to him." (Bhag. 5.1.6)
So knowledge is also automatically attained by engaging in devotional service. There is no separate endeavor needed for acquiring knowledge. Whatever knowledge or material assets one already has one can use in Lord Krsna's service but no new material assets are needed to serve Lord Krsna. In fact, desiring high education and material assets usually makes one proud and impedes one's spiritual progress:
"My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling." (Bhag. 1.8.26)
"It is said in the sastras that by once uttering the holy name of the Lord, the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration in this statement. Actually, the Lord's holy name has such powerful potency. But there is a QUALITY to such utterances also. It depends on the quality of feeling. A helpless man can feelingly utter the holy name of the Lord, whereas a man who utters the same holy name in great material satisfaction cannot be so sincere." (Bhag. 1.8.26)
Lord Krsna is more interested in the quality of one's devotional service or love and devotion rather than the quantity or the material results:
"The almighty God is thus conquered only loving service and nothing else." (Bhag. 1.8.45)
Lord Krsna is self-sufficient; He does not need anything to be done:
"The Supreme Lord Krsna is described herein as atmarama. He is self-sufficient, and there is no need for Him to seek happiness from anything beyond Himself. He is self-sufficient because His very transcendental existence is total bliss. He is eternally existent; He is all-cognizant and all-blissful. Therefore, any presentation, HOWEVER VALUABLE it may be, is not needed by Him. But still, because He is the well-wisher for one and all, He accepts from everyone everything that is offered to Him in pure devotional service. It is not that He is in want for such things, because the things are themselves generated from His energy." (Bhag. 1.11.5)
For example, Duryodhana made a large feast to offer to Lord Krsna but he had ulterior motives rather than that of serving Lord Krsna. So Lord Krsna took a simple meal with Vidura instead. Similarly, He accepted the chipped rice of the brahmana Sudama, although it was not up to the standard of what a person of the royal order would accept. Since the pure devotee's interests are one with Lord Krsna, a pure devotee also accepts the devotional service of the person rather than the material results. For example, Srila Prabhupada published earlier editions of his books with 'mistakes'. So he accepted the devotional service of the editors although there was room for improving the service. But he never hired people and paid them to make professional versions of his books because the results are not as important as the devotion. When one refuses to perform his devotional service unless he is paid, it means the devotional service is not as important to him as the money:
"Foolish people think that devotional service is flattering the Lord to get special mercy. Factually the pure devotees who are engaged in transcendental loving service of the Lord are not a mercantile community. A mercantile house renders service to someone in exchange for values. The pure devotee does not render service unto the Lord for such exchange, and therefore the full mercy of the Lord is open for him." (Bhag. 1.8.29)
The devotees just render their service without expecting or planning out any results. The results are dependent on Krsna's mercy. If the results come in the form of temples, man-power, money, etc., the devotees use the results for glorifying Lord Krsna even more. The devotees recognize a voluntary simple offering of a flower by another devotee as higher quality of devotional service than dozens of salary-dependent 'devotees' making noise about their professional offerings or big temples:
"This simplicity of acceptance of the Lord's authority is more effective than showy insincere religious fervor." (Bhag. 1.8.20)
"One should not engage paid brahmanas to worship the Deity. If one does not personally worship the Deity but engages paid servants instead, he is considered lazy, and his worship of the Deity is called artificial." (Bhag. 7.5.23-24)
Some people misquote Srila Prabhupada and try to make him seem mundane by stating he wanted high professionality and big results regardless of devotion, but this is complete rubish. A pure devotee is always in agreement with the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna. Srila Prabhupada accepted EVERYONE'S devotional service-- big results or small results or no results-- provided it was ACTUALLY devotional service and not someone's concocted ideas being artificially labeled as "devotional service". He only encouraged them to improve their devotional service but NEVER to give it up. For example, Lord Rama accepted the devotional service even of an insignificant spider in helping build a bridge to Lanka. The spider had no big material qualifications nor big results. In fact, it was actually INTERFERING AND COMPETING with Hanuman's attempts. But it's better to have two living entities engaged in devotional service than one, because the results are all dependent on Lord Krsna and the MAIN PURPOSE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD IS TO ENGAGE AS MANY LIVING ENTITIES AS POSSIBLE IN DEVOTIONAL SERVICE AND TAKE THEM BACK TO GODHEAD!
Actually, when we go visit a temple (spiritual place) or read a spiritual book, the whole idea behind it is to expose the person to the devotional service of Lord Krsna in as pure a form as possible. Purity is the force. Because Lord Krsna is all-attractive and His devotional service are nondifferent from Himself, the person will automatically be attracted by the bhakti of the place, person, or the book:
"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)
Therefore, even touching Srila Prabhupada's books is purifying what to speak of reading them; this is because of the intense devotion that went into the books. One should judge things by the quality of devotion behind the work rather than the superficial appearances else one will be misled and wind up associating with material things or material people in the name of "devotional service" or "sadhu-sanga". Some of the acaryas had no big material qualifications or material results but this does not take anything away from their pure devotional service to Lord Krsna. The purpose of life is to engage in pure devotional service so one should only accept the association of those who are engaged in devotional service without expectation of any remuneration, name, fame, etc. That is, they are acting only on the order of their spiritual master which is the same as the order of Lord Krsna. Please read the Srimad-Bhagavatam and distinguish between the real diamonds and the fake ones. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY CHEAP IMITATIONS OR IMITATORS! DEVOTIONAL QUALITY IS EVERYTHING IN SERVING KRSNA!
2. VEDIC ASTRONOMY SIMULATION
The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems and the earth falls into the seventh one (counting from the top-- Brahmaloka). This seventh planetary system is called Bhuurloka. At the center of this planetary system is Mount Meru which is the starting point of the simulation. As you fly through this planetary system away from Mount Meru, the radial distance is given at the bottom in yojanas from Mount Meru. There are 8 miles in one yojana. Jambudvipa ends at a radial distance of 50,000 yojanas. Here is a list of oceans and islands with their maximum radial distance in yojanas:
Jambudvipa island-- 50,000
Salt Water Ocean-- 150,000
Plaksadvipa island-- 350,000
Sugarcane Ocean-- 550,000
Saalmalidvipa island-- 950,000
Surasagara [Liquor] Ocean-- 1,350,000
Kusadvipa island-- 2,150,000
Clarified Butter [Ghee] Ocean-- 2,950,000
Krauncadvipa island-- 4,550,000
Milk Ocean-- 6,150,000
Sakadvipa island-- 9,350,000
Churned Yogurt Ocean-- 12,550,000
Puskaradvipa island-- 18,950,000
Clear Water Ocean-- 25,350,000
The way to read the above numbers is illustrated by the following example: Puskaradvipa island ends at 18,950,000 yojanas from Mount Meru and begins at 12,550,000 yojanas from Mount Meru where the Yogurt ocean ends. The sun is located in the middle of this island (15,750,000 yojanas from Mount Meru). Beyond these seven islands and oceans, there is the 'Inhabited Land', Golden Land, Aloka-vars.a, and then the seven layers of the universe.
Vertically, you can set the pitch angle to 90 degrees or -90 degrees to fly to the features in other planetary systems. The fourteen planetary systems from the highest point in the universe to the lowest with their minimum altitudes in yojanas from Bhuurloka (earth plane):
Satyaloka: 233,900,000
Tapoloka: 113,900,000
Janaloka: 33,900,000
Maharloka: 13,900,000
[Features in Svarloka:
Dhruvaloka (3,900,000)
Seven Stars (2,600,000)
Saturn (1,500,000)
Jupiter (1,300,000)
Mars (1,100,000)
Mercury (900,000)
Venus (700,000)
group of stars (500,000)
moon (300,000) ]
Svarloka: 300,000
Bhuvarloka: 100,000
Bhuurloka: [Jambuudviipa]: 0
Atala: -70,000
Vitala: -75,000*
Sutala: -80,000*
Talaatala: -85,000*
Mahaatala: -90,000*
Rasaatala: -95,000*
Paataalaloka: -100,000*
The ones marked with the asterisk are approximate distances. Below Patalaloka are Narakaloka and the Garbhodaka Ocean.
3. FEEDBACK: MISCELLANEOUS
> Another point is discliplic sucession in BG. There are not that many names
>for
>5000 years or whatever the time frame, and I was told that some of those
>Gurus lived for a thousand or more years and some may still be alive. Itsn't
>that a big leap of faith seeing as there is no record of anyone living that
>long that has been verifyed.
If you go by empirical evidence, what evidence is there of any AGE? How does one prove that someone lived for 75 years? It's all faith in the record keeper. I have more faith in the Bhagavatam than the record-keeper.
> What Krishna and his associates do when He is personally present is one
>thing, however Krishna treaches us to be merciful to all living entities. Who
>can say that Krishna did not give us the alternative to burdening the
>animals, such and hitting the ox or overmilking the cow, or riding the horse,
>therefore giving us a more merciful alternative. The people who were killed
>at Kuruksetra, went back to Godhead and even demoms killed by Krishna get
>liberation, that is one thing, our practical modern day life is another...
Yes, we must be merciful to all living entities. But what is the greater mercy for the ox: to not use it at all or to use it in Krsna's service in the field? Just like we should not kill carrots either, but by offering them in Krsna's service and then eating them, we are helping the carrots as well as ourselves. Better than inaction is to do one's prescribed duties. Using ox in the field is not forbidden in the sastras.
>Hare Krsna....
> PAMHO. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga. Recently I purchased
>the Bhagavad-gita and Krsna Book CD's. One of the best purchased I've
>ever made!
>Both for my children, and me....we all transcendentally enjoy it. Is
>there a way to go directly from the inner part of the Universe to the
>Spiritual World, warping through the coverings?
The only way to get out of the material universe converings is to meet a pure devotee (Narada Muni in this case) by whose mercy your spaceship and yourself inherit the ability to cross the layers of the universe at superwarp speed (it takes about 5 minutes). You can find Narada Muni in Puskaradvipa. So just travel straight until you see Puskaradvipa (island). It's 12,500,000 yojanas radial distance from earth. Once you get there, hit the "Land Here" button. After this, you need to come back to earth (radial distance = 0) and set the pitch angle to 90 degrees and fly straight up and fly through the universe converings.
>Well, the way you market yourself on the net, everyone would think you folks were
>BIGTIME! Keep up the good work!
We are BIGTIME! One Gita CD cannot be equaled by 10 million karmi books. So we have already surpassed Barnes and Nobles. Take care.
Thanks for the complement.
4. EDITORIAL POLICY AND PRODUCT LIST
"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.
Krishna Software Inc. has produced some multimedia CDROMs and all the details 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 on CD-R in Hindi version.
(b) Multimedia Krsna CD w/Vedic Astronomy game: This is a 51-hour audio-visual presentation of the Krsna book and a Vedic Astronomy game based on the Fifth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. All on a single CDROM. Free sample demo downloadable.
(c) 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.
All of the above software was tested on various Intel 486 and Pentium processors running Windows 3.1, Windows '95, Windows '98, and Windows NT (client and server).
Latest pricing and ordering information is at our web site: http://www.krishnasoft.com. The website now has a SECURE ORDERING setup.
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End of Newsletter- written and edited by KSI staff; (c) 1998-1999 Krishna Software Inc.
Our staff consists of: Hari Rama Dasa, Rajni Dayal, Virender Dayal and a few part-time 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!