Welcome to the KrishnaSoft's Electronic Newsletter.
This is the October 1999 issue entitled: "Multimedia Srimad-Bhagavatam CDROM!"
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) No One Can Counteract Material Miseries Without Krsna's Help!
(2) Multimedia Srimad-Bhagavatam CDROM!
(3) Feedback: Miscellaneous
(4) Editorial Policy and Product List
1. NO ONE CAN COUNTERACT MATERIAL MISERIES WITHOUT KRSNA'S HELP!
In the September 1999 issue, we discussed how anyone can take up devotional service even if he has no material qualifications at all. Lord Krsna is accepting the love of the person in trying to serve Him and is not concerned with the material skills or the results obtained:
"The almighty God is thus conquered only by loving service and nothing else." (Bhag. 1.8.45)
Of course, if someone wants to revive his loving relationship with Krsna, he would naturally try to find out what Krsna wants him to do rather than make things up. Thus, the need to approach a bona-fide spiritual master coming down in disciplic succession from Lord Krsna Himself becomes essential to devotional service. The spiritual master himself is rendering devotional service according to what Lord Krsna wants him to do so he can best decide the devotional service of his disciple:
"It is stated in Bhagavad-gita that no one is barred from rendering service to the Lord . Whether one is a woman or a laborer or a merchant, if he engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord he is promoted to the highest perfectional state and goes back home, back to Godhead . The devotional service most suitable for different types of devotees is determined and fixed by the mercy of the spiritual master." (Bhag. 3.25.28)
Some people superficially accept a spiritual master but then engage in all sorts of activities unrelated to the devotional service given to them by the spiritual master although they may label their activities as "devotional service". But the results are not at all blissful but just more and more troublesome:
"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." (Bhag. 2.1.22)
Association with the Supreme Lord is the means to remove these mentally concocted desires. This association is already there for one who is strictly following the order of the spiritual master, for the devotional service of Lord Krsna is nondifferent from His person. Some people make various excuses to avoid engaging in devotional service: (1) they need to get some money or get a job, (2) they need to get educated and acquire some material skills, (3) they have too many problems right now to worry about bhakti-yoga, (4) they are TOO BUSY counteracting their miseries that have fallen upon them and once they clear up the miseries they will engage in devotional service, etc. The fact is Lord Krsna Himself is arranging all these troubles and problems for them according to their material desires and the laws of karma BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO INTEREST IN DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. They will always be busy counteracting their miseries and/or searching for happiness unless they fully take to devotional service. The miserable material world is a chance for the living entity to rectify his consciousness back to the lotus feet of 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 while one is young one should go through the "normal" life of getting a material education, getting a job, getting married, etc. and one can leave the bhakti-yoga until one gets old. This is illogical. Since it is already a fact that 100% of the people who have gone through this repetitive pattern have not attained happiness nor freedom from birth, death, old age, and disease, why waste time repeating the failing process? And since bhakti-yoga is actually better than this material process, why leave off something good until you are old? And if they speculate that bhakti-yoga is not better than material enjoyment, why would they want to take it up when they are old? So the first thing is to find out what is this bhakti-yoga and its results. Because it is a fact that only by bhakti-yoga can we solve all our material problems permanently and attain eternity, knowledge, and bliss.
"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)
Therefore, one should not waste time trying to solve his material problems independently; anyone in any walk of life can take up devotional service immediately without any prerequisites and make a solution to the material miseries. Everything will be supplied by Lord Krsna once one has the desire to sincerely serve Lord Krsna:
"Since He is the witness of everyone's body, nothing is unknown to Him. He knows what we need. Our duty, therefore, is to execute devotional service sincerely, under the direction of the spiritual master. Krsna, by His grace, will supply whatever we need in executing our devotional service. In the Krsna consciousness movement, we simply have to execute the order of Krsna and guru. Then all necessities will be supplied by Krsna, even if we do not ask for them." (Bhag. 8.6.14)
2. MULTIMEDIA SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM CDROM!
"The reading matter is so arranged with its original Sanskrit text, its English transliteration, synonyms, translation and purports so that one is SURE to become a God-realized soul at the end of finishing the first nine cantos." (Preface of Bhagavatam)
"Systematically there is propaganda by a section of people to stop glorification of the name and fame of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, there is a great need for disseminating the message of Srimad-Bhagavatam all over the world. It is the duty of every responsible Indian to broadcast the transcendental message of Srimad-Bhagavatam throughout the world to do all the supermost good as well as to bring about the desired peace in the world." (Bhag. 1.5.11)
"The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the literary incarnation of God, and it is compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, the incarnation of God. It is meant for the ultimate good of all people, and it is all-successful, all-blissful and all-perfect." (Bhag. 1.3.40)
"On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world's misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest." (Bhag. 1.5.11)
"The descriptions of the Bhagavatam are so precise and accurate that whatever has been predicted in this great literature about five thousand years ago is now exactly happening." (Bhag. 1.5.13)
"Srimad-Bhagavatam is the literary incarnation of Lord Sri Krsna, and is therefore nondifferent from Him. Srimad-Bhagavatam should be worshiped as respectfully as we worship the Lord." (Bhag. 1.3.40)
"Every human being dislikes meeting death, but he does not know how to get rid of death. The surest remedy for avoiding death is to accustom oneself to hearing the nectarean pastimes of the Lord as they are systematically narrated in the text of Srimad-Bhagavatam." (Bhag. 1.16.8)
"In the impure state of a living being, the various senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs. If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him from Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled with some rubbish. Therefore the messages of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly." (Bhag. 2.3.20)
"Srimad-Bhagavatam is a narration about the Personality of Godhead and the devotees of the Lord like the Pandavas. The narration of the Personality of Godhead and His devotees is absolute in itself, and thus to hear it with a devotional attitude is to associate with the Lord and constant companions of the Lord. By the process of hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam one can attain the highest perfection of life, namely going back home, back to Godhead, without failure." (Bhag. 1.15.51)
"Similarly, let there be systematic propaganda for popularizing reading of the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which will act like sugar candy for the jaundicelike condition of sense gratification. When men have a taste for this literature, the other literatures, which are catering poison to society, will then automatically cease." (Bhag. 1.5.11)
"As stated in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, this great transcendental literature is the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic knowledge, and therefore all questions that can be humanly possible regarding the universal affairs, beginning from its creation, are all answered in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The answers depend only on the qualification of the person who explains them." (Bhag. 2.9.46)
The multimedia Srimad-Bhagavatam CDROM should be available within a few days. It contains the following:
(1) Nine Cantos
(2) Sanskrit verses (also viewable in Gujarati)
(3) Roman transliterations
(4) Word-for-word meanings
(5) Translations and purports with diacritical marks
(6) Around 500 full-screen color pictures associated with many of the verses
(7) Bhagavatam Lectures by Srila Prabhupada
(8) Over 30 hours of total audio content
(9) Multimedia Biography of the author, Srila Prabhupada
(10) Multimedia Sri Dashavatara-stotra
(11) Multimedia Prayers by Sukadeva Gosvami
(12) Multimedia Prayers by Queen Kunti
(13) Other bhajans and multimedia presentations
(14) Extensive glories of chanting the Hare Krsna Mahamantra
(15) Facility to print any verse or copy or extract any verse
(16) Greeting the Deities of the Supreme Lord simulation
3. FEEDBACK: MISCELLANEOUS
> For the benefit of all who read this exchange, I want to make a *formal
> comment* (formal means that it is not meant to argue how far away the
>...
> This particular purport, 8.10.38, will be removed from the Bhagavatam
> when the new English edition is published, as per the BBT authorities
> decision, because it is based on a fundamental error. The calculation...
If Prabhupada authorized it's removal in the future printing, then it's okay otherwise nothing should be changed even if it makes no sense to us.
> Prabhupada accepted his point and added, somewhat embarrassed, "And I
> thought it was such a good way to smash the scientists!" He then ordered
> the purport removed. Unfortunately, it didn't get removed, perhaps no
> proper follow-up was made.
It does not really matter if it is removed or not, because the REALIZATION remains the same. The Bhagavatam cannot be understood by mental speculators as is clear right from the beginning. It is only understood in conjunction with devotional service. The meaning or knowledge is revealed by Krsna to His devotees regardless of what the text may say from a mundane logical point of view. Would it matter to the South Indian Brahmana whether the book he was reading had mental or physical errors in the writing??? No, because the meaning was revealed by the devotion of the reader. Prabhupada is presenting the message of Krsna to his best ability and Krsna makes up for what he lacks. Foolish mundane logicians have no brains to understand this and all they will wind up doing is screwing up the text if they impose their mundane logic to the text. KRSNA IS PRESENT in the pages of the Bhagavatam; there is no need for any corrections unless it was authorized as a devotional service. Krsna is not interested in our mundane logic or argument; He is accepting the love of His devotees.
>Well I am not going to supply any proof or anything but sounded
>wrong to me was statements made like prabhupad made mistakes and so he took
>devotional service from editors etc.
>
>I am one of those who dont agree with this primarily.First
>you could have meant:
>
>He took editorial help for correct English Grammar
>He took help to present the material correctly.
>
>There is an ambigiuity in this alone.
I meant neither. He did not need help for a pure devotee has everything at his disposal by Lord Krsna's grace. Remember, a Vaisnava is all-powerful; he can do all of his service without any help. Because Krsna is only looking at his LOVE and not what he achieves. But a Vaisnava is merciful to all living entities and therefore he tries to engage everyone in the service that he has to do for the Supreme Lord. This is also in-line with Krsna's purpose. What I wrote is:
"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."
What I am saying is that the EDITORS made the 'mistakes' yet he still published it because the transcendental subject matter cannot be hindered by physical or mental mistakes. This is why 'mistakes' is in quotes; when a person reads the book, he STILL associates with Krsna through reading His words presented with pure devotional service by His devotees. It is more important to present the spiritual subject matter 'imperfectly' to the suffering population rather than have nothing available. Because improvements can always be made later if needed.
[ASIDE: Related reference is Bhagavatam (1.3.24): "They will indicate the positive standing of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is without trace of mistake, illusion, cheating and imperfection, which are the four flaws of all conditioned souls. The liberated souls are above these flaws; therefore they can see and foretell things which are to take place on distant future dates."]
>The fact that you accept certain method does not mean that it is the
> correct one. Anyone can take some heritage of knowledge (Islamic? Christian?...
You don't know any method is correct until you try it out, but the fact is you have to act on some method(s) in your life because you are searching for happiness. In Krsna consciousness, our realizations are the fruits of our practice.
Sukadeva spoke Bhagavatam after REALIZING the nature of the Absolute. You cannot reject a process at first site. If I reject the physics book to begin with, I can never know whether it's right or wrong. It's only after I try out things in it that I can draw a conclusion that it's speculative. Of course, if you realize the Absolute Truth, you can draw a conclusion about all other processes.
>It is true that if you find a person who posesses absolute knowledge it
>is accepted as a good method of ascertaining the truth. But first you would
>have to prove that this person really posess complete and absolute
> knowledge.
No, because in order to prove someone has perfect knowledge, you yourself would have to have it! You meet a bona-fide spiritual master by the mercy of Krsna and the spiritual master himself. Your desire and pious acts are the main reason behind such a meeting ocurring.
It's the trying of the process, that reveals the Absolute Truth.
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 information and secure ordering is available at our web site: http://www.krishnasoft.com.
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End of Newsletter- written and edited by KSI staff; (c) 1998-1999 Krishna Software Inc.
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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!