A glorious day
Today is the day !
It is said that the Son of God was sent to us today.
Me trying to glorify Lord Jesus Christ, is like a child trying to grab the moon. But since my heart is filled with this thought, and i am a bit audacious, i will try something.
I have been fascinated by all, the wonderful stories, of the birth and activities of Lord Jesus Christ, since childhood when, I went to a nice missionary school.
After coming in contact with the Hare Krishna vaishnavas , my respect has just increased manifold. Our dear Srila Prabhupada, glorifies Lord Jesus Christ, many times. And he brings out clear qualities of Lord Jesus Christ. that show how grateful we all must be, to the Supreme Lord to send us such a good Son.
The Great Guru
Lord Jesus Christ was very compassionate, this this so much well known, He cured the sick, He walked over water, turned water to wine , etc…He was not hesitant to, preach to the outcasts, like the prostitutes, or the diseased.
But at the same time he was a very bold preacher just as a Guru.
He was indeed very bold to try and stop animal selling and animal sacrifice in the Lord’s temple, or to openly explain to his disciples, just like any Guru “I am the THE way to the truth and Light”, so that they do not stray here and there and waste precious time, but remain with Him and fulfil their life’s purpose.
Great Sacrifice without any regrets
One of His own followers betrayed Him, Lord Jesus Christ, forgave him.
Then on the day before the event, He washed the feet of each and every one of his disciples. Usually the disciples, wash the feet of the Guru.
Here is the greatest an d only Guru in the western world, and He is washing the feet of his disciples. Why ?
There are many reasons given, but the main reason i think, is that Lord Jesus Christ, has no false ego, his only identity is that He is the son of God and has come to this world, to serve everyone.
Also Thinks about this, If He is washing their feet, how should, they treat each other. It can mean only one thing, They are meant to serve one another and they are to remain united in their service to God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Then on the cross Lord Jesus Christ is praying, for those that are doing this ghastly act, praying to God to forgive them for they do not know what they are doing ? Who can do this ?
Ask yourself , Can we do this ?
If we can not do this, then, even if we do not believe there is a God, can we not just respect this great Personality who lived and breathed among us ?
Srila Prabhupada talks about Lord Jesus Christ
On so many occasions Srila Prabhupada would glorify Lord Jesus Christ.
A lot of these conversations are in many books, but they are especially captured in the book “Science of Self Realization” .
It is available for a free read at http://www.krishnamedia.org/e-books/Science_of_Self-Realization.pdf
Here are some excerpts:
So Lord Jesus Christ said, "My Lord, hallowed be Thy name." He wants to glorify the name of the Lord. And some people says that there is no name of God. How? If Lord Jesus Christ says "Hallowed by Thy name," there must be name. The name is there, but he did not pronounce it because the people at that time will not be able to understand or maybe some reason, but he says there is name. So we are making this propaganda, Krishna consciousness movement, the "Hallowed by Thy name. My Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, let Your holy name be glorified." This is our movement. It is not a sectarian...(Lecture: Bhagavad Gita 3.27 Melbourne June 27, 1974)
As Lord Jesus Christ said, we should hate the sin, not the sinner. That is a very nice statement, because the sinner is under illusion. He is mad. If we hate him, how can we deliver him? Therefore, those who are advanced devotees, who are really servants of God, do not hate anyone. When Lord Jesus Christ was being crucified, he said, "My God, forgive them. They know not what they do." This is the proper attitude of an advanced devotee. He understands that the conditioned souls cannot be hated, because they have become mad due to their materialistic way of thinking. In this Krishna consciousness movement, there is no question of hating anyone. Everyone is welcomed to come and chant Hare Krishna, take Krishna-prasada, listen to the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, and try to rectify material, conditioned life. This is the essential program of Krsna consciousness.
(Path of Perfection Chapter 3: Learning How to See God)
Srila Prabhupada was moved to tears remembering Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
I heard this from one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples. Srila Prabhupada was in Mexico or one another Latin American country. And the vaishnava’s there put him up in a hotel. In the hotel there was a wooden Jesus Christ on the cross, in each room. So the vaishnava’s left Srila Prabhupada in the room. After some time Srila Prabhupada called them back, and he was in tears, He could not bear to see the Cross, He said “Our Lord sent Lord Jesus Christ to help them and instead these people hurt Him so much”.
Christ or Krishna a Hare Krishna experience
His Grace Rupa Vilas prabhu has been merciful to us and is our shiksa guru.
He explained an incident which happened in his early days in the Hare Krishna or Krishna consciousness movement.
One person came to the temple and liked, out chanting, dancing and feasting. He wanted to know what to do, So he was asked to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. He was a Christian and so we was reluctant.
Our Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explains in the verse two of his Siksastaka prayers like this:
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namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis
tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah
etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi
durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah
O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.
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So since the Lord has so many names, and each name is fully potent i.e “namnam akari bahudha nija sarva shaktis”, the vaishnavas in the temple asked him to chant the names of Lord as per the bible.
He chose Jehovah or Lord Jesus Christ(I do not remember exactly which one.)
So then he was asked to chant and hear this name of God, 16 rounds every day, one round containing 108 beads on a mala or a rosary.
This is exactly what the vaishnavas do, but they chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
After some time, when he came to the temple he explained to the vaishnavas that he was diligently following this practice every day and he was so very ecstatic !
So the names of God are unlimited, and it does not matter which authorised names of God we chant just “Hallowed be THY name”, that is all.
Sri Hari Nam Prabhu ki Jaya
Some Parallels within Vaishnava history
Sripad Ramanuja Acharya
Sripad Ramanuja Acharya was given a secret mantra by his guru. His guru had explained that this mantra will liberate anyone who regularly chants it and also His guru told him do not give it out to anyone.
At that time, no one could imagine not following the guru’s order.
But our Acharya, Sripad Ramanuja Acharya, even though he understood the consequences, was prepared to face the consequences, because it meant that anyone who chanted this mantra would be liberated.
He went to highest place in the village, and call everyone and said i will give you a mantra that will liberate anyone who regularly chants it, please come, please come. All kinds of people came, He told them the mantra “Om Namo Narayanaya”. Please take it and make your lives sublime.
When his guru found out he was furious, and asked our Acharya, Sripad Ramanuja Acharya, why did he do this ?
Our Acharya, Sripad Ramanuja Acharya, said he does not mind suffering the reactions of his action, or even going to hell if it meant all other people were liberated by this mantra, His own guru was moved to tears seeing the compassion of our Acharya, Sripad Ramanuja Acharya
Srila Haridas Thakur
Srila Haridas Thakur, was born around five hundred years ago, in Bengal. He was not born a Hindu, but he was always chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
The king of the region and his chief priest, who were non-Hindu, were not very happy. They were also very cruel by their very nature.
Srila Haridas Thakur, tried to explain to them that since God is unlimited, his names are unlimited, and just as you are attached to chanting the non-Hindu names of God, he was attached to chanting the Hindu names of God and that there was no reason for their unhappiness.
But still the non-Hindu king of the region, on instigation by the chief priest, ordered Srila Haridas Thakur to be beaten in 22 market places, by very strong guards. No one had ever survived this gruesome punishment and they were sure that Srila Haridas Thakur, would not survive either.
The pious people tried to object, and even asked the guards to take and beat them instead, but since it was the cruel kings order, the guards would not listen.
The gruesome beating commenced, one market place after next. The pious people wept, not able to bear the suffering of this great soul. Somehow by the will and mercy of The Supreme Lord, Srila Haridas Thakur, survived. Throughout this beating Srila Haridas Thakur, was praying to the Lord to forgive them.
The guards now looked very disturbed, Srila Haridas Thakur asked, “What is the matter”. They said no one has every survived this kind of beating, but you have survived, now the kind will kill us instead. Srila Haridas Thakur replied “Oh my living is a problem to you, i shall die!”, saying this he went into Samadhi, and it looked like he was dead.
The guards brought his body to the non-Hindu king and the chief priest. The priest said if we bury the dead body he will go to heaven, let us throw the dead body into the Ganga. So they threw Srila Haridas Thakur into the Ganga, and after some time he came back out of Samadhi and walked out of water.
At the Mahaprakash lila of Sriman Mahaprabhu, The Lord showed all the beating marks on His own back to Srila Haridas Thakur. The Lord had taken all the beating himself ! . The Lord explained, Haridas I could not bear to see you in that state, and was ready to come with my chakra, but because you were praying for the sinners, i could not do anything.
Srila Vasudeva Dutta’s prayers
At the Mahaprakash lila, Sriman Mahaprabhu has the following conversation with Srila Vasudeva dutta :
See the link below of details and purports
http://vedabase.net/cc/madhya/15/
CC Madhya 15.158: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then embraced Vasudeva Datta and began to speak of his glories as if He had a thousand mouths.
CC Madhya 15.159: When Caitanya Mahaprabhu glorified him, Vasudeva Datta immediately became very much embarrassed and shy. He then submitted himself, touching the Lord's lotus feet.
CC Madhya 15.160: Vasudeva Datta told Caitanya Mahaprabhu, "My dear Lord, You incarnate just to deliver all conditioned souls. I now have one petition, which I wish You would accept.
CC Madhya 15.161: "My Lord, You are certainly able to do whatever You like, and You are indeed merciful. If You so desire, You can very easily do whatever You want.
CC Madhya 15.162: "My Lord, my heart breaks to see the sufferings of all the conditioned souls; therefore I request You to transfer the karma of their sinful lives upon my head.
CC Madhya 15.163: "My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities. Please finish their diseased material life."
CC Madhya 15.164: When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard Vasudeva Datta's statement, His heart became very soft. Tears flowed from His eyes, and He began to tremble. In a faltering voice He spoke as follows.
CC Madhya 15.165: Accepting Vasudeva Datta as a great devotee, the Lord said, "Such a statement is not at all astonishing because you are the incarnation of Prahlada Maharaja. It appears that Lord Krsna has bestowed complete mercy upon you. There is no doubt about it.
CC Madhya 15.166: "Whatever a pure devotee wants from his master, Lord Krsna doubtlessly grants because He has no duty other than to fulfill the desire of His devotee.
CC Madhya 15.167: "If you desire the deliverance of all living entities within the universe, then all of them can be delivered even without your undergoing the tribulations of sinful activity.
CC Madhya 15.168: "Krsna is not incapable, for He has all potencies. Why would He induce you to suffer the sinful reactions of other living entities?
CC Madhya 15.169: "Whosever welfare you desire immediately becomes a Vaisnava, and Krsna delivers all Vaisnavas from the reactions of their past sinful activities.
CC Madhya 15.170: "'Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the original Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who regulates the sufferings and enjoyments due to fruitive activity. He does this for everyone -- from the heavenly King Indra down to the smallest insect [indra-gopa]. That very Personality of Godhead destroys the karmic reactions of one engaged in devotional service.'
CC Madhya 15.171: "Because of your honest desire, all living entities within the universe will be delivered, for Krsna does not have to do anything to deliver all the living entities of the universe.
CC Madhya 15.172: "Just as there are millions of fruits on the udumbara tree, millions of universes float on the waters of the river Viraja.
CC Madhya 15.173: "The udumbara tree is filled with millions of fruits, and if one falls down and is destroyed, the tree does not even consider the loss.
CC Madhya 15.174: "In the same way, if one universe is vacated due to the living entities' having been liberated, that is a very little thing for Krsna. He does not take it very seriously.
CC Madhya 15.175: "The entire spiritual world constitutes the unlimited opulence of Krsna, and there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets there. The Causal Ocean is considered the surrounding waters of Vaikunthaloka.
CC Madhya 15.176: "Maya and her unlimited material universes are situated in that Causal Ocean. Indeed, maya appears to be floating like a pot filled with mustard seeds.
CC Madhya 15.177: "Of the millions of mustard seeds floating in that pot, if one seed is lost, the loss is not at all significant. Similarly, if one universe is lost, it is not significant to Lord Krsna.
CC Madhya 15.178: "To say nothing of one universal mustard seed, even if all the universes and the material energy [maya] are destroyed, Krsna does not even consider the loss.
CC Madhya 15.179: "If a person possessing millions of wish-fulfilling cows loses one she-goat, he does not consider the loss. Krsna owns all six opulences in full. If the entire material energy is destroyed, what does He lose?"
CC Madhya 15.180: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued, "'O my Lord, O unconquerable one, O master of all potencies, please exhibit Your internal potency to conquer the nescience of all moving and inert living entities. Due to nescience, they accept all kinds of faulty things, thus provoking a fearful situation. O Lord, please show Your glories! You can do this very easily, for Your internal potency is beyond the external potency, and You are the reservoir of all opulence. You are also the demonstrator of the material potency. You are also always engaged in Your pastimes in the spiritual world, where You exhibit Your reserved, internal potency, and sometimes You exhibit the external potency by glancing over it. Thus You manifest Your pastimes. The Vedas confirm Your two potencies and accept both types of pastimes due to them.'"
