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THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL WORD IS
"HARE KRISHNA
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Ansuman Bhagat (Your Own Thought : A Lot of Thoughts)
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You must worship the Self in Krishna, not Krishna as Krishna.
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Vivekananda
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I am the Atma abiding in the heart of all beings. I am also the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.
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Anonymous (The Bhagavad Gita)
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The very heart of the Gita’s message is to see the Lord in every creature and act accordingly,
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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Forgive all before you go to sleep, you'll be forgiven before you get up. – Lord Krishna.
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Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma (You By You)
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I am reminded of a story of Lord Krishna when he was a cowherd. Every night he invites the milkmaids to dance with him in the forest. They come and they dance. The night is dark, the fire in their midst roars and crackles, the beat of the music gets ever faster - the girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord, who has made himself so abundant as to be in the arms of each and every girl. But the moment the girls become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner alone, he vanishes. So it is that we should not be jealous of God.
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Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
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But we should not cling! A plague upon fundamentalists and literalists! I am reminded of a story of Lord Krishna when he was a cowherd. Every night he invites the milkmaids to dance with him in the forest. They come and they dance. The night is dark, the fire in their midst roars and crackles, the beat of the music gets ever faster - the girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord, who has made himself so abundant as to be in the arms of each and every girl. But the moment the girls become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner alone, he vanishes. So it is that we should not be jealous with God.
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Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
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The greatest book in the world, the Mahabharata, tells us we all have to live and die by our karmic cycle. Thus works the perfect reward-and-punishment, cause-and-effect, code of the universe. We live out in our present life what we wrote out in our last. But the great moral thriller also orders us to rage against karma and its despotic dictates. It teaches us to subvert it. To change it. It tells us we also write out our next lives as we live out our present.
The Mahabharata is not a work of religious instruction.
It is much greater. It is a work of art.
It understands men will always fall in the shifting chasm between the tug of the moral and the lure of the immoral.
It is in this shifting space of uncertitude that men become men.
Not animals, not gods.
It understands truth is relative. That it is defined by context and motive. It encourages the noblest of men - Yudhishtra, Arjuna, Lord Krishna himself - to lie, so that a greater truth may be served.
It understands the world is powered by desire. And that desire is an unknowable thing. Desire conjures death, destruction, distress.
But also creates love, beauty, art. It is our greatest undoing. And the only reason for all doing.
And doing is life. Doing is karma.
Thus it forgives even those who desire intemperately. It forgives Duryodhana. The man who desires without pause. The man who precipitates the war to end all wars. It grants him paradise and the admiration of the gods. In the desiring and the doing this most reviled of men fulfils the mandate of man.
You must know the world before you are done with it. You must act on desire before you renounce it. There can be no merit in forgoing the not known.
The greatest book in the world rescues volition from religion and gives it back to man.
Religion is the disciplinarian fantasy of a schoolmaster.
The Mahabharata is the joyous song of life of a maestro.
In its tales within tales it takes religion for a spin and skins it inside out. Leaves it puzzling over its own poisoned follicles.
It gives men the chance to be splendid. Doubt-ridden architects of some small part of their lives. Duryodhanas who can win even as they lose.
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Tarun J. Tejpal (The Alchemy of Desire)
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Although I had savored my solitude, there was a big difference between enjoying time to myself and feeling lonely. I had no reason to feel lonely because Lord Krishna, my friend and ever well-wisher, was with me the entire time.
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Samita Sarkar (I Am the Ocean)
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I entered the church, without fear this time, for it was now my house too. I offered prayers to Christ, who is alive. Then I raced down the hill on the left and raced up the hill on the right—to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way.
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Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
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The Lord wants us to escape this delusive world. He cries for us, for He knows how hard it is for us to gain His deliverance. But you have only to remember that you are His child. Don't pity yourself. You are loved just as much by God as are Krishna and Jesus. You must seek His love, for it encompasses eternal freedom, endless joy, and immortality.
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Paramahansa Yogananda (The Divine Romance - Collected Talks and Essays. Volume 2 (Self-Realization Fellowship))
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I like the evening in India, the one magic moment when the sun balances on the rim of the world, and the hush descends, and ten thousand civil servants drift homeward on a river of bicycles, brooding on the Lord Krishna and the cost of living.
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James Cameron
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If Lord Duryodhana was an evil man, why did great men like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Karna, entire army of Krishna fight war on his side??
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Anand Neelakantan (Ajaya: Roll of the Dice (Epic of the Kaurava Clan, #1))
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विपद: सन्तु ता: शश्वत्तत्र तत्र जगद्गुरो।
भवतो दर्शनं यत्स्यादपुनर्भवदर्शनम्॥८॥
Master of Universe I pray for calamities,
So I do remember You ever constantly,
Remembering You means freedom be,
From cycle of births and death finally.
- 201 -
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Munindra Misra (Chants of Hindu Gods and Godesses in English Rhyme)
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I think of Krishna and his deep blue eyes. It is said, in the hidden scriptures in India, that to focus on the eyes of the Lord is the highest spiritual practice a human being can proform. It's suppose to be equal to the greatest act of charity, which Jesus describes in the Bible as sacrificing one's life to save the life of another.
The Vedas, the Bible, it's true, they overlap a lot.
Maybe gazing into Krishna's eyes...
Pain...Pain...Pain...
Is equal to Christ's sacrifice.
I'm only suffering this pain to protect John. It doesn't matter that he won't see me. I still love him, I will always love him. And in this exquisitely agonizing moment, I realize he refused to see me because he wanted to force me to see him inside. Ah, that's the key! This practice of visualizing that I'm staring into Krishna's blue eyes, I've done it before.
But this is the first time I see him staring back at me!
The Agony comes, and it does not get transformed into bliss.
If anything it is worse than before. Except for one thing.
The pain does not obliterate my sense of "I."
I'm still Sita, the last vampire.
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Christopher Pike (The Eternal Dawn (Thirst, #3))
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Thor has been banished from Scandinavia, Ra's sun has set in Egypt and Zeus lies buried in the snow at Mount Olympus. But the myths of lord Ram reign strong India, Lord Krishna has not ceasrd to dance in out hearts.
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Amish Tripathi (Immortal India: Articles and Speeches by Amish)
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You don’t need validation or approval from anyone but yourself. Even if the entire world goes against, disagrees with or attempts to crush you, stand up for what you believe in, and stand up alone if you have to! It’s better to die while living your own truth than to live in the truth of another. Lord Krishna in the holy Bhagavad Gita pointed this out when he said;
“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.”
Integrity is the key to freedom. It’s only your own truth that can ‘set you free.’ It’s perfectly fine if your truth doesn’t match that of others because the experience of physical reality is a completely subjective one. It doesn’t make either of you wrong, as long as you’re both being true to yourselves, that’s all that matters.
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Craig Krishna (The Labyrinth: Rewiring the Nodes in the Maze of your Mind)
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Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole countryside is flooded, scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or woman, who sees the Lord everywhere.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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The Lord said: "Time [death] I am, the destroyer of the worlds, who has come to annihilate everyone. Even without your taking part all those arrayed in the [two] opposing ranks will be slain!
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
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The Yaksha asked: What is the greatest wonder? Yudhishtira responded: Day after day we see so many people die. Yet, we the living believe that we will live for ever. O Lord, what can be a greater wonder? Krishna
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Debashis Chatterjee (Invincible Arjuna)
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My dear Lord Krishna, you are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why you have brought me here. Now you can do whatever you like with me. But I guess you have some business here, otherwise why would you bring me to this place? Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about you. Now, my Lord, it is up to you to make me a success or failure as you like. O spiritual master of all the worlds. I can simply repeat your message; so if you like you can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding. Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life. O Lord, I am just like a puppet in your hands. So if you have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as you like. I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, one who possesses devotion and knowledge, and now, if you like, you can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta. Signed, the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, On board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 18th of September, 1965
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Radhanath Swami (The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami)
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Devotees of Lord Krishna do not have problems; they have challenges.
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Anil B. Sarkar (Make Life Successful)
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the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjun that his actions, not his beliefs, will set him free. Or, as Guru-ji put it, “When you’re in the bathtub, you need to move a little to feel the warmth.
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Eric Weiner (The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World)
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When one's mind dwells on the objects of Senses, fondness for them grows on him, from fondness comes desire, from desire anger. Anger leads to bewilderment, bewilderment to loss of memory of true Self, and by that intelligence is destroyed, and with the destruction of intelligence he perishes.
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Lord Krishna (Srimad Bhagavad Gita)
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... Krishna, the great Lord of Yoga,
revealed to Arjuna his majestic,
transcendent, limitless form.
With innumerable mouths and eyes,
faces too marvelous to stare at,
dazzling ornaments, innumerable
weapons uplifted, flaming—
crowned with fire, wrapped
in pure light, with celestial fragrance,
he stood forth as the infinite
God, composed of all wonders.
If a thousand suns were to rise
and stand in the noon sky, blazing,
such brilliance would be like the fierce
brilliance of that mighty Self.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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Krishna’s maternal uncle Kansa is a symbol of society that starts conditioning your mind as soon as you take birth. You have been born and brought up in the prison of society. Krishna’s parents were imprisoned but they made sure that Krishna was brought up in freedom where he could discover His real self.
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Shunya
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It is already explained that one may externally control the senses by some artificial process, but unless the senses are engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord, there is every chance of a fall.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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By the mercy of Lord Krishna everything will be great. Difficulties (spiritual and material) will only make one better devotees, like steel is forged by annealing. Remember: devotees have challenges, not problems.
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Anil B. Sarkar (Make Life Successful)
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For in this world Being is twofold: the Divided, one; The Undivided, one. All things that live Are "the Divided." That which sits apart, "The Undivided." Higher still is He, The Highest, holding all, whose Name is LORD, The Eternal, Sovereign, First! Who fills all worlds, Sustaining them. And—dwelling thus beyond Divided Being and
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Song celestial; or, Bhagabad-gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata) being a discourse between Arjuna, prince of India, and the Supreme Being under the form of Krishna)
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The thought of the Gita is not pure Monism although it sees in one unchanging, pure, eternal Self the foundation of all cosmic existence, nor Mayavada although it speaks of the Maya of the three modes of Prakriti omnipresent in the created world; nor is it qualified Monism although it places in the One his eternal supreme Prakriti manifested in the form of the Jiva and lays most stress on dwelling in God rather than dissolution as the supreme state of spiritual consciousness; nor is it Sankhya although it explains the created world by the double principle of Purusha and Prakriti; nor is it Vaishnava Theism although it presents to us Krishna, who is the Avatara of Vishnu according to the Puranas, as the supreme Deity and allows no essential difference nor any actual superiority of the status of the indefinable relationless Brahman over that of this Lord of beings who is the Master of the universe and the Friend of all creatures. Like the earlier spiritual synthesis of the Upanishads this later synthesis at once spiritual and intellectual avoids naturally every such rigid determination as would injure its universal comprehensiveness. Its aim is precisely the opposite to that of the polemist commentators who found this Scripture established as one of the three highest Vedantic authorities and attempted to turn it into a weapon of offence and defence against other schools and systems. The Gita is not a weapon for dialectical warfare; it is a gate opening on the whole world of spiritual truth and experience and the view it gives us embraces all the provinces of that supreme region. It maps out, but it does not cut up or build walls or hedges to confine our vision.
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Sri Aurobindo (Essays on the Gita)
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You won't find Christ in the church - you won't find Krishna in the temple - you won't find Jehovah in the synagogue - you won't find Allah in the mosque - the only place they reside is in the humans. Lend a hand to a human in misery and it'll be the highest service to the lord.
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Abhijit Naskar
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There, where millions of Krishnas stand with hands folded, Where millions of Vishnus bow their heads, Where millions of Brahmâs are reading the Vedas, Where millions of Shivas are lost in contemplation, Where millions of Indras dwell in the sky, Where the demi-gods and the munis are unnumbered, Where millions of Saraswatis, Goddess of Music, play on the vina— There is my Lord self-revealed: and the scent of sandal and flowers dwells in those deeps.
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Kabir (Songs of Kabir)
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Lord Krishna is the topmost of all the gods. "He is the most esoteric aspect hidden in the Upanishads which form the essence of the Vedas. Brahma knows Him as the source of himself as well as the Vedas. The gods like Shiva and the seers of the ancient, like Vamadeva rishi realizing Him, ever became dovetailed in His service
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Stephen Knapp (Hindu Gods & Goddesses)
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We are all hankering after pleasure. Ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The living entities, like the Lord, are full of consciousness, and they are after happiness. The Lord is perpetually happy, and if the living entities associate with the Lord, cooperate with Him and take part in His association, then they also become happy.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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And I never thought this day would come, but here I am, sitting in front of the ritual fire, repeating Sanskrit mantras I don’t understand. He’s looking at me now, and I can feel it on my skin. We are getting married. Damini is locked away somewhere in a room, Lakshmi is at Lord Krishna’s feet in the heavens, and I’m going to be his wife.
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Sindhu Rajasekaran (So I Let It Be)
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One who takes shelter of the Supreme Lord has nothing to fear, even in the midst of the greatest calamity.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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It is not possible for the living entity to be happy without rendering transcendental loving service unto the Supreme Lord.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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Because, you see, he was not a person. He was a fish, which is what he had been all along. As a big fish, he could only eat smaller fish
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Lord Krishna
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I am time the destroyer of all beings in all worlds, engaged to destroy all beings in this world; of those heroic soldiers presently situated in the opposite army even without you non will be spared.
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Lord Krishna (Srimad Bhagavad Gita)
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Perhaps, Ajaya is my belated answer to the villager, who stumped me with his simple question on the humid afternoon when the procession honoring Suyodhana was marching through the green paddy fields of Poruvazhy: "If our lord Duryodhana was an evil man, why did great men like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and the entire army of Krishna, fight the war on his side?"
- Ajaya 1: Roll of the Dice (Author's Note)
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Anand Neelakantan
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The knowledge of Krishna and our relationship with Him acts like a mighty ship that cannot be buffeted by the waves and winds of the material world. A devotee is safe and serene by the mercy of the Lord.
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Anil B. Sarkar (Make Life Successful)
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Meditation has also been proven scientifically to untangle and rewire the neurological pathways in the brain that make up the conditioned personality. Buddhist monks, for example, have had their brains scanned by scientists as they sat still in deep altered states of consciousness invoked by transcendental meditation and the scientists were amazed at what they beheld. The frontal lobes of the monks lit up as bright as the sun! They were in states of peace and happiness the scientists had never seen before. Meditation invokes that which is known in neuroscience as neuroplasticity; which is the loosening of the old nerve cells or hardwiring in the brain, to make space for the new to emerge. Meditation, in this sense, is a fire that burns away the old or conditioned self, in the Bhagavad Gita, this is known as the Yajna;
“All karma or effects of actions are completely burned away from the liberated being who, free from attachment, with his physical mind enveloped in wisdom (the higher self), performs the true spiritual fire rite.
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Craig Krishna (The Labyrinth: Rewiring the Nodes in the Maze of your Mind)
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It was Vyasa’s genius to take the whole great Mahabharata epic and see it as metaphor for the perennial war between the forces of light and the forces of darkness in every human heart. Arjuna and Krishna are then no longer merely characters in a literary masterpiece. Arjuna becomes Everyman, asking the Lord himself, Sri Krishna, the perennial questions about life and death – not as a philosopher, but as the quintessential man of action. Thus read, the Gita is not an external dialogue but an internal one: between the ordinary human personality, full of questions about the meaning of life, and our deepest Self, which is divine.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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This world's Lord makes Neither the work, nor passion for the work, Nor lust for fruit of work; the man's own self Pushes to these! The Master of this World Takes on himself the good or evil deeds Of no man—dwelling beyond!
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Song celestial; or, Bhagabad-gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata) being a discourse between Arjuna, prince of India, and the Supreme Being under the form of Krishna)
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By studying Bhagavad-gītā, one can become a soul completely surrendered to the Supreme Lord and engage himself in pure devotional service. As the Lord takes charge, one becomes completely free from all kinds of materialistic endeavors.
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A.C. Prabhupāda
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Meera’s journey of love is complete. From a farmer expecting rain, she became a cloud that rains.
This magic happens when you stop expecting. She was at least expecting water from the sky (Krishna). You are expecting it from other pots.
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Shunya
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Remembering him in this way at the time of death, through devotion and the power of meditation, with your mind completely stilled and your concentration fixed in the center of spiritual awareness between the eyebrows, you will realize the supreme Lord.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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The sun was reaching the meridian and Bhishma knew his departure was near. He controlled his mind, absorbing it in thoughts of Krishna alone. Thinking of Krishna’s many divine pastimes during his presence on earth, he spoke one final time. “I can now meditate with full concentration upon that one Lord, Krishna, visible before me, because I have transcended the misconception of duality. It is this Krishna who is present in everyone’s heart and who is the ultimate destination for all transcendentalists, including those who accept the absolute truth as being simply the Brahman. Even though different people in different parts of the world may perceive the sun differently, the sun is one. I therefore surrender myself fully to that allpowerful, omnipresent Krishna. May all be well with the worlds.
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Krishna Dharma (Mahabharata)
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But we should not cling! A plague upon fundamentalists and literalists! I am reminded of a story of Lord Krishna when he was a cowherd. Every night he invites the milkmaids to dance with him in the forest. They come and they dance. The night is dark, the fire in their midst roars and crackles, the beat of the music gets ever faster—the girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord, who has made himself so abundant as to be in the arms of each and every girl. But the moment the girls become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner alone, he vanishes. So it is that we should not be jealous with God. I
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Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
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we are related to the Supreme Lord in service. The Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer, and we living entities are His servitors. We are created for His enjoyment, and if we participate in that eternal enjoyment with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we become happy. We cannot become happy otherwise. It is not possible to be happy independently,
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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I am pain stricken to say that, various “educational” institutions have adopted the medieval doctrine "fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom" as their motto. Let me tell you this, fear of the Lord, Santa Claus, Krishna, Thor, Hulk or any other imaginary being brings merely the illusion of wisdom, not wisdom. And illusion of wisdom is a billion times more harmful than lack of wisdom.
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Abhijit Naskar (I Am The Thread: My Mission)
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Then Krishna says, "O Arjuna, you and I have run the cycle of births and deaths many times, but you are not conscious of them all. I am without beginning, birthless, the absolute Lord of all creation. I through my own nature take form. Whenever virtue subsides and wickedness prevails, I come to help mankind. For the salvation of the good, for the destruction of wickedness, for the establishment
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Vivekananda (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)
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In the "British Museum Papyrus" of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, parts of which may date to 7,000 years ago,3 the God Sun Ra is called "the lord of heaven, the lord of earth, the king of righteousness, the lord of eternity, the prince of everlasting, ruler of gods all, god of life, maker of eternity, creator of heaven..."4 The bulk of these epithets were later used to describe the Christian solar logos, Jesus.
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D.M. Murdock (Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled)
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A world created by observation evokes insight, hence affection, for we see the hunger and fear of all beings. Life becomes a performance on a stage (ranga-bhoomi) aimed to nourish and comfort the other, while deriving nourishment and comfort from their delight. Krishna’s performance (leela) leads to him being worshipped as Ranga-natha, lord of the stage. He never judges, so he sees no one as a victim. This is how he begins The Gita:
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Devdutt Pattanaik (My Gita)
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When one chants the Holy Names, listens to Krishna katha or just meditates on Krishna’s form, one’s body feels wellbeing, one’s mind becomes tranquil, one beholds beauty in the sky, nature, people, animals, insects—in everything. Vāsudeva sarvam iti, everything is Krishna. One feels the cooling touch of the breeze. One feels the golden warmth of the setting sun. In an orb of happiness, one reposes oneself at the lotus feet of the Lord like a honey bee.
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Anil B. Sarkar (Make Life Successful)
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Towards the end of our conversation in the churchyard today I got the impression that pastor Jón thinks that all gods that men worship are equally good. In the Bhagavad Gita, which pastor Jón cites, Krishna is reported as saying, as I recall: You are free to address your prayers to any god at all; but the one who answers the prayers, I am he. Is this what pastor Jón means when he says that all gods are equally good except the god that answers the prayers, because he is nowhere? Neither of these two standpoints can be accommodated within the framework of our confession of faith. The god who speaks through Krishna's words isn't particularly pleasant, either, because he alone controls the card-game and the other gods are only dummies and he is the one who declares on their cards. At any rate this god is rather far removed from the seventy-year-old grandfather with the large beard who came to breakfast with the farmer Abraham of Ur accompanied by two angels, his attendants, and settled in with him, and whom the Jews inherited and thereafter the pope and finally the Saxons. When Krishna says he is the one god who answers prayers, then this is actually just our orthodox god of the catechism, the one who says: I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Pastor Jón says, on the other hand, Thou shalt have all other gods before the Lord thy God. What is the answer to that?
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Halldór Laxness (Under the Glacier)
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The new moon is rising the axe of the thunder is broken
As never was not since the flood nor yet since the world began
The new moon is shining the angels are washing their windows
Above the years whose jumble sale goes spinning on below
Ask the snail beneath the stone, ask the stone beneath the wall
Are there any stars at all
Like an eagle in the sky tell me if air is strong
In the floating pan pipe victories of the golden harvest
Safe in the care of the dear moon
The new moon is rising the eyelid of god is approaching
The humane train the skating raining travelling voice of certainty
The new moon is shining the harmonious hand is now holding lord krishna's ring
The eagle's wing the voice of mother everything
Ask the snail beneath the stone, ask the stone beneath the wall
Are there any stars at all
Like an eagle in the sky tell me if air is strong
In the floating palaces of the spinning castle
May the fire king's daughter bring water to you
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Robin Williamson
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The Self-realized person, however, has no karma to work out, no personal desires; at the time of death he or she is absorbed into the Lord: But they for whom I am the supreme goal, who do all work renouncing self for me and meditate on me with single-hearted devotion, these I will swiftly rescue from the fragment’s cycle of birth and death, for their consciousness has entered into me. (12:6–7) Such a person, the Upanishads stress, can actually shed the body voluntarily when the hour of death arrives, by withdrawing consciousness step by step in full awareness.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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As the traditional chapter titles put it, the Gita is brahmavidyayam yogashastra, a textbook on the supreme science of yoga. But yoga is a word with many meanings – as many, perhaps, as there are paths to Self-realization. What kind of yoga does the Gita teach? The common answer is that it presents three yogas or even four – the four main paths of Hindu mysticism. In jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge, aspirants use their will and discrimination to disidentify themselves from the body, mind, and senses until they know they are nothing but the Self. The followers of bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, achieve the same goal by identifying themselves completely with the Lord in love; by and large, this is the path taken by most of the mystics of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In karma yoga, the yoga of selfless action, the aspirants dissolve their identification with body and mind by identifying with the whole of life, forgetting the finite self in the service of others. And the followers of raja yoga, the yoga of meditation, discipline the mind and senses until the mind-process is suspended in a healing stillness and they merge in the Self.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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A living entity is happily the part and parcel of the Lord, and thus his natural function is to render immediate service to the Lord. By the spell of illusion one tries to be happy by serving his personal sense gratification in different forms which will never make him happy. Instead of satisfying his own personal material senses, he has to satisfy the senses of the Lord. That is the highest perfection of life. The Lord wants this, and He demands it. One has to understand this central point of Bhagavad-gītā. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching the whole world this central point,
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
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Mandana Misra was a great scholar and authority on the Vedas and Mimasa. He led a householder’s life (grihastha), with his scholar-philosopher wife, Ubhaya Bharati, in the town of Mahishi, in what is present-day northern Bihar. Husband and wife would have great debates on the veracity of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita and other philosophical works. Scholars from all over Bharatavarsha came to debate and understand the Shastras with them. It is said that even the parrots in Mandana’s home debated the divinity, or its lack, in the Vedas and Upanishads. Mandana was a staunch believer in rituals. One day, while he was performing Pitru Karma (rituals for deceased ancestors), Adi Shankaracharya arrived at his home and demanded a debate on Advaita. Mandana was angry at the rude intrusion and asked the Acharya whether he was not aware, as a Brahmin, that it was inauspicious to come to another Brahmin’s home uninvited when Pitru Karma was being done? In reply, Adi Shankara asked Mandana whether he was sure of the value of such rituals. This enraged Mandana and the other Brahmins present. Thus began one of the most celebrated debates in Hindu thought. It raged for weeks between the two great scholars. As the only other person of equal intellect to Shankara and Mandana was Mandana’s wife, Ubhaya Bharati, she was appointed the adjudicator. Among other things, Shankara convinced Mandana that the rituals for the dead had little value to the dead. Mandana became Adi Shankara’s disciple (and later the first Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Math in Karnataka). When the priest related this story to me, I was shocked. He was not giving me the answer I had expected. Annoyed, I asked him what he meant by the story if Adi Shankara himself said such rituals were of no use to the dead. The priest replied, “Son, the story has not ended.” And he continued... A few years later, Adi Shankara was compiling the rituals for the dead, to standardize them for people across Bharatavarsha. Mandana, upset with his Guru’s action, asked Adi Shankara why he was involved with such a useless thing. After all, the Guru had convinced him of the uselessness of such rituals (Lord Krishna also mentions the inferiority of Vedic sacrifice to other paths, in the Gita. Pitru karma has no vedic base either). Why then was the Jagad Guru taking such a retrograde step? Adi Shankaracharya smiled at his disciple and answered, “The rituals are not for the dead but for the loved ones left behind.
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Anand Neelakantan (AJAYA - RISE OF KALI (Book 2) (The Vanquished Series 3))
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To those who take this dramatic setting as part of the spiritual instruction and get entangled in the question of the Gita justifying war, Gandhi had a practical answer: just base your life on the Gita sincerely and systematically and see if you find killing or even hurting others compatible with its teachings. (He makes the same point of the Sermon on the Mount.) The very heart of the Gita’s message is to see the Lord in every creature and act accordingly, and the scripture is full of verses to spell out what this means: I am ever present to those who have realized me in every creature. Seeing all life as my manifestation, they are never separated from me. They worship me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from me. Wherever they may live, they abide in me. (6:30–31) When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union. (6:32)
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Bhagavad Gita)
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Worldly morality and love for Krishna. (18/43 Mall Road, Kanpur, December 1, 1927) Bless me so that I can dedicate my life to fulfilling Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s desire and glorifying the Supreme Lord, which is the goal of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrī Gaurasundara has been established at Kurukṣetra, which is a center for vipralambha-rasa. His service has now been introduced at Naimiṣāraṇya, which is the place for Bhāgavata recitation. Next year, Śrī Gaurasundara may be installed in Vṛndāvana. I have visited Puṣkara, Dvārakā, Gopīsarovara, Prabhāsa, Sudāmāpurī, and Avantipura. Yet, even after seeing these seven major holy places that award liberation, I am not being liberated because of not engaging in the service of all of you. It is not that I do not have a desire to serve Lord Krishna in a liberated state. Since today I remembered the Bhagavad-gītā verses, api cet suduracāra (9.30), sarvadharmān parityajya (18.66), yat karoṣi yad aśnāsī (9.27), and yā prītiravivekīnāṁ, as well as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam verse, janmādasya (1.1.1), I wrote this letter to disturb you. Ethical principles and moral rules are best according to material considerations. I have no second opinion about this. But since love of Krishna is most relishable, moral rules are not superior to nor more relishable than Krishna. In fact, there is no comparison. Many people do not like the way Lord Krishna forcibly killed the washerman in Mathurā and took away the clothes, garlands, etc., They may think that sincere premika bhaktas, who are under the shelter of the transcendental parakīya-rasa, are less ethical, but love for Hari has such a wonderful power that even a greatly delightful moral standard becomes dim in front of it. The code of conduct that is found when one becomes absorbed in service to Krishna, giving up all impediments that come in its way and are born of “a sense of duty,” should be ardently respected. Unless a chanter is considerate, he does not attain devotional service, and if devotional service is not attained, then a mundane sense of duty and a doubting temperament do not go away.
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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada (Patramrta: Nectar from the Letters)
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While most of us go through life feeling that we are the thinker of our thoughts and the experiencer of our experience, from the perspective of science we know that this is a distorted view. There is no discrete self or ego lurking like a minotaur in the labyrinth of the brain. There is no region of cortex or pathway of neural processing that occupies a privileged position with respect to our personhood. There is no unchanging “center of narrative gravity” (to use Daniel Dennett’s phrase). In subjective terms, however, there seems to be one — to most of us, most of the time.
Our contemplative traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc.) also suggest, to varying degrees and with greater or lesser precision, that we live in the grip of a cognitive illusion. But the alternative to our captivity is almost always viewed through the lens of religious dogma. A Christian will recite the Lord’s Prayer continuously over a weekend, experience a profound sense of clarity and peace, and judge this mental state to be fully corroborative of the doctrine of Christianity; A Hindu will spend an evening singing devotional songs to Krishna, feel suddenly free of his conventional sense of self, and conclude that his chosen deity has showered him with grace; a Sufi will spend hours whirling in circles, pierce the veil of thought for a time, and believe that he has established a direct connection to Allah.
The universality of these phenomena refutes the sectarian claims of any one religion. And, given that contemplatives generally present their experiences of self-transcendence as inseparable from their associated theology, mythology, and metaphysics, it is no surprise that scientists and nonbelievers tend to view their reports as the product of disordered minds, or as exaggerated accounts of far more common mental states — like scientific awe, aesthetic enjoyment, artistic inspiration, etc.
Our religions are clearly false, even if certain classically religious experiences are worth having. If we want to actually understand the mind, and overcome some of the most dangerous and enduring sources of conflict in our world, we must begin thinking about the full spectrum of human experience in the context of science.
But we must first realize that we are lost in thought.
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Sam Harris
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I stand on a vast grass field of many gently sloping hills. It is night, yet the sky is bright. There is no sun, but a hundred blazing blue stars, each shining in a long river of nebulous cloud. The air is warm, pleasant, fragrant with the perfume of a thousand invisible flowers. In the distance a stream of people walk toward a large vessel of some type, nestled between the hills. The ship is violet, glowing; the bright rays that stab forth from it seem to reach to the stars. Somehow I know that it is about to leave and that I am supposed to be on it. Yet, before I depart, there is something I have to discuss with Lord Krishna.
He stands beside me on the wide plain, his gold flute in his right hand, a red lotus slower in his left. His dress is simple, as is mine - long blue gowns that reach to the ground. Only he wears a single jewel around his neck - the brilliant Kaustubha gem, in which the destiny of every soul can be seen. He does not look at me but toward the vast ship, and the stars beyond. He seems to be waiting for me to speak, but for some reason I cannot remember what he said last. I only know that I am a special case. Because I do not know what to ask, I say what is most on my mind.
"When will I see you again, my Lord?"
He gestures to the vast plain, the thousands of people leaving. "The earth is a place of time and dimension. Moments here can seem like an eternity there. It all depends on your heart. When you remember me, I am there in the blink of an eye."
"Even on earth?"
He nods. "Especially there. It is a unique place. Even the gods pray to take birth there."
"Why that, my Lord?"
He smiles faintly. His smile is bewitching. It has been said, I know, that the smile of the Lord has bewildered the minds of the angels. It has bewildered mine.
"One quest always leads to another question. Some things are better to wonder about." He turns toward me finally, his long black hair blowing in the soft night breeze. The stars reflect in his black pupils; the whole universe is there. The love that flows from him is the sweetest ambrosia in all the heavens. Yet it breaks my heart to feel because I know it will soon be gone. "It is all maya," he says. "Illusion."
"Will I get lost in this illusion, my Lord?"
"Of course. It is to be expected. You will be lost for a long time.
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Christopher Pike (Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice (Thirst, #1))
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There is another Christian theme with roots around the world: Christ’s death on the cross. Christians would like to believe this story is unique, but evidence shows that in many details, Jesus Christ’s story is an updated version of the story of Krishna, Mithras, Horus, Quetzalcoatl, Dionysus, and many other sun-gods. Many are born to a virgin around the winter solstice, their birth heralded in advance by a star. Many had someone with a name like Herod or Herut out to kill them as a baby. Many were baptized in water by someone who was later beheaded. Many were tempted in the desert by Set or Satan, had twelve disciples and a last supper, cured blindness and leprosy, brought the dead back to life, and had titles like “King of Kings,” “Lord of Lords,” “Redeemer,” “Savior,” “Anointed One,” and “Son of God.” (If interested in all the details, read Kersey Graves’ The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors or Suns of God by Achyra S.) Various sun gods have died, descended into hell or the underworld, and were resurrected three days after being sacrificed to save humanity through a very temporary death on a cross, or the crossing of the four roads, or the crossing point of the Milky Way and the ecliptic. This is the time and place at which they ascend to their father, the highest god, and receive great power and kingship over the earth.
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David Montaigne (Pole Shift: Evidence Will Not Be Silenced)
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Questioner: In the tradition, we were always taught to be reverential towards God or the highest aspect. So how to reconcile this with Mirabai or Akka Mahadevi who took God as their lover? Sadhguru: Where there is no love, how can reverence come? When love reaches its peak, it naturally becomes reverence. People who are talking about reverence without love know neither this nor that. All they know is fear. So probably you are referring to God-fearing people. These sages and saints, especially the seers like Akka Mahadevi, Mirabai or Anusuya and so many of them in the past, have taken to this form of worship because it was more suitable for them – they could emote much more easily than they could intellectualize things. They just used their emotions to reach their Ultimate nature. Using emotion and reaching the Ultimate nature is what is called bhakti yoga. In every culture, there are different forms of worship. Some people worship God as the master and themselves as the slaves. Sometimes they even take God as their servant or as a partner in everything that they do. Yet others worship him as a friend, as a lover, or as their own child like Balakrishna. Generally, you become the feminine and you hold him as the ultimate purusha – masculine. How you worship is not at all the point; the whole point is just how deeply you relate. These are the different attitudes, but whatever the attitude, the love affair is such that you are not expecting anything from the other side. Not even a response. You crave for it. But if there is no response, you are not going to be angry, you are not going to be disappointed – nothing. Your life is just to crave and make something else tremendously more important than yourself. That is the fundamental thing. In the whole path of bhakti, the important thing is just this, that something else is far more important than you. So Akka, Mirabai and others like them, their bhakti was in that form and they took this mode of worship where they worshipped God – whether Shiva or Krishna – as their husband. In India, when a woman comes to a certain age, marriage is almost like a must, and it anyway happens. They wanted to eliminate that dimension of being married once again to another man, so they chose the Lord himself as their husband so that they don’t need any other relationship in their lives. How a devotee relates to his object of devotion does not really matter because the purpose of the path of devotion is just dissolution. The only objective of a devotee is to dissolve into his object of devotion. Whichever way they could relate best, that is how they would do it. The reason why you asked this question in terms of reverence juxtaposed with being a lover or a husband is because the word “love” or “being a lover” is always understood as a physical aspect. That is why this question has come. How can you be physical with somebody and still be reverential? This has been the tragedy of humanity that lovers have not known how to be reverential to each other. In fact the very objective of love is to dissolve into someone else. If you look at love as an emotion, you can see that love is a vehicle to bring oneness. It is the longing to become one with the other which we are referring to as love. When it is taken to its peak, it is very natural to become reverential towards what you consider worthwhile being “one” with. For whatever sake, you are willing to dissolve yourself. It is natural to be reverential towards that. Otherwise how would you feel that it is worthwhile to dissolve into? If you think it is something you can use or something you can just relate to and be benefited by, there can be no love. Always, the object of love is to dissolve. So, whatever you consider is worthwhile to dissolve your own self into, you are bound to be reverential towards that; there is no other way to be.
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Sadhguru (Emotion)
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Be thou joyous, Prince! Whose lot is set apart for heavenly Birth. Two stamps there are marked on all living men, Divine and Undivine; I spake to thee By what marks thou shouldst know the Heavenly Man, Hear from me now of the Unheavenly! They comprehend not, the Unheavenly, How Souls go forth from Me; nor how they come Back unto Me: nor is there Truth in these, Nor purity, nor rule of Life. "This world Hath not a Law, nor Order, nor a Lord," So say they: "nor hath risen up by Cause Following on Cause, in perfect purposing, But is none other than a House of Lust." And, this thing thinking, all those ruined ones—Of little wit, dark-minded—give themselves To evil deeds, the curses of their kind. Surrendered to desires insatiable, Full of deceitfulness, folly, and pride, In blindness cleaving to their errors, caught Into the sinful course, they trust this lie As it were true—this lie which leads to death—Finding in Pleasure all the good which is, And crying "Here it finisheth!" Ensnared In nooses of a hundred idle hopes, Slaves to their passion and their wrath, they buy Wealth with base deeds, to glut hot appetites; "Thus much, to-day," they say, "we gained! thereby Such and such wish of heart shall have its fill; And this is ours! and th' other shall be ours! To-day we slew a foe, and we will slay Our other enemy to-morrow! Look! Are we not lords? Make we not goodly cheer? Is not our fortune famous, brave, and great? Rich are we, proudly born! What other men Live like to us? Kill, then, for sacrifice! Cast largesse, and be merry!" So they speak Darkened by ignorance; and so they fall—Tossed to and fro with projects, tricked, and bound In net of black delusion, lost in lusts—Down to foul Naraka. Conceited, fond, Stubborn and proud, dead-drunken with the wine Of wealth, and reckless, all their offerings Have but a show of reverence, being not made In piety of ancient faith. Thus vowed To self-hood, force, insolence, feasting, wrath, These My blasphemers, in the forms they wear And in the forms they breed, my foemen are, Hateful and hating; cruel, evil, vile, Lowest and least of men, whom I cast down Again, and yet again, at end of lives, Into some devilish womb, whence—birth by birth—The devilish wombs re-spawn them, all beguiled; And, till they find and worship Me, sweet Prince! Tread they that Nether Road. The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass,—The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three! He who shall turn aside from entering All those three gates of Narak, wendeth straight To find his peace, and comes to Swarga's gate.
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Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (The Song celestial; or, Bhagabad-gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata) being a discourse between Arjuna, prince of India, and the Supreme Being under the form of Krishna)
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The thing that surprised me the most here was that the solitary Hare Krishna fellow with the shaved head, who danced and chanted God’s holy names on the college campus, was actually the most exalted in God’s eyes! It was not that his religion was superior to that of the Christians that made him superior, but rather it was the fact that he personally had the greatest love of God. In fact, this particular Hare Krishna fellow loved God so much that he was continually willing to publicly display his praises to Him alone in the midst of ungodly people like myself who continually mocked and scorned him. I was shown that this man was so very much in love with the Lord, that he was oblivious to those of us who mocked him. The Christians had not transcended their egos and were still on the mental platform, but this Hare Krishna devotee was on a transcendental platform of consciousness.
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Daniel Rosenblit (Transformed By the Light: A Judgement Day Experience)
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He who has no attachments can really love others, for his live is pure and divine.
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Lord Krishna (BHAGAVAD GITA ORIGINAL - 1106 pages)
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If you fail to achieve your goal,
change the strategy, not goal.
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Lord Krishna (BHAGAVAD GITA ORIGINAL - 1106 pages)
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Allah mian hamray bhaiyya ka diyo Nandlal (Oh my Allah, bestow on my brother a son like Lord Krishna.)
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Saeed Naqvi (Being the Other: The Muslim in India)
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I stand on a vast grass field of many gently sloping hills. It is night, yet the sky is bright. There is no sun, but a hundred blazing blue stars, each shining in a long river of nebulous cloud. The air is warm, pleasant, fragrant with the perfume of a thousand invisible flowers. In the distance a stream of people walk toward a large vessel of some type, nestled between the hills. The ship is violet, glowing; the bright rays that stab forth from it seem to reach to the stars. Somehow I know that it is about to leave and that I am supposed to be on it. Yet, before I depart, there is something I have to discuss with Lord Krishna.
He stands beside me on the wide plain, his gold flute in his right hand, a red lotus slower in his left. His dress is simple, as is mine - long blue gowns that reach to the ground. Only he wears a single jewel around his neck - the brilliant Kaustubha gem, in which the destiny of every soul can be seen. He does not look at me but toward the vast ship, and the stars beyond. He seems to be waiting for me to speak, but for some reason I cannot remember what he said last. I only know that I am a special case. Because I do not know what to ask, I say what is most on my mind.
"When will I see you again, my Lord?"
He gestures to the vast plain, the thousands of people leaving. "The earth is a place of time and dimension. Moments here can seem like an eternity there. It all depends on your heart. When you remember me, I am there in the blink of an eye."
"Even on earth?"
He nods. "Especially there. It is a unique place. Even the gods pray to take birth there."
"Why that, my Lord?"
He smiles faintly. His smile is bewitching. It has been said, I know, that the smile of the Lord has bewildered the minds of the angels. It has bewildered mine.
"One question always leads to another question. Some things are better to wonder about." He turns toward me finally, his long black hair blowing in the soft night breeze. The stars reflect in his black pupils; the whole universe is there. The love that flows from him is the sweetest ambrosia in all the heavens. Yet it breaks my heart to feel because I know it will soon be gone. "It is all maya," he says. "Illusion."
"Will I get lost in this illusion, my Lord?"
"Of course. It is to be expected. You will be lost for a long time.
”
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Christopher Pike (Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice (Thirst, #1))
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Concerning Attis, apologist Weigall remarks: Then again, there was the worship of Attis, a very popular religion which must have influenced the early Christians. Attis was the Good Shepherd, the son of Cybele, the Great Mother, or alternatively, of the Virgin Nana, who conceived him without union with mortal man, as in the story of the Virgin Mary... In Rome the festival of his death and resurrection was annually held from March 22nd to 25th; and the connection of this religion with Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adopted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lord's passion.258
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D.M. Murdock (Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled)
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Lord Krishna says, “Whenever dharma declines and the purpose of life is forgotten, I manifest myself. I am born in age after age to protect the good, to destroy evil, and to reestablish dharma.
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Anonymous (The Dhammapada)
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Lord Krishna pointed out the holy science by which the yogi may master his body and convert it, at will, into pure energy.
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Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship))
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There is an amazing prayer by Prahlada Maharaj: "They can say you can't speak to Krishna, you don't have the required qualities, you only have sentiments. But if I'll pronounce «Oh, my Lord» - this would already count".
This is exactly what Krishna wants to hear from us, not only uttama-sloka. Even if our prayer isn't composed in the correct way, but you recite it with devotion - Krishna will love it»
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Prahlad maharaja
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See, following manu smiriti will go against many people not only land lords because most of land lords or OBC or FC, But SC/ST people will completely loss their identities and it is against Indian Law. And as world changes, profession changes, Identity changes, Krishna is for protection, wherever he lives and as long as manu smiriti is considered , it is important to consider the reason of krishna where protection of each cultural values are important and it leads to family culture. And if farming system is pointed then for my land I am saying this, others it is their wish and will, For my land I will allow traditional farming practices and remediation strategies on a condition that it I will be major share holder at least with 99.99% royalty and legal bondage as long as My generation lives. And I will never ever treat someone bad just because of his/her caste/religion, I will consider him/her as human being whatever or wherever they are are from and he/she/trans whatever gender they are - equal respect will be given.
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Ganapathy K
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COMMENTARY The Supreme Lord said, “Because everything is a manifestation of My opulence, you should respect all things by means of your body, mind, and speech. You should never chastise or blaspheme anyone out of envy.” It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.6.34): ativādāṁs titikṣeta nāvamanyeta kañcana na cemaṁ deham āśritya vairaṁ kurvīta kenacit One should tolerate all the insults of others, and never fail to show proper respect to any one. Avoiding identification with the material body, one should not create enmity with anyone.
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Srila Vyasadeva (Uddhava Gita, Lord Krishna's Final Lessons)
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WHEN KING RAVANA DIED, INJUSTICE DIED AND WHEN LORD RAMA DIED, JUSTICE WAS NOT DEAD, LORD KRISHNA CAME
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P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
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नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः । न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥
In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna expounds the nature of the atma and tells Arjuna – The atma cannot be shattered by weapons, it cannot be burnt by fires, it cannot be drenched by the waters and it cannot be rendered dry by the winds. |2.23
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Ved Vyasa (Bhagavad Gita : Complete Bhagavad Gita In Simple English To Understand The Divine Song Of God (Translated))
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Good point. In the past, when these great beings visited our world, we automatically saw them as incarnations of God. To the early Christians, it wasn’t enough that Christ was a great master. He had to be the son of God. The same with Krishna, to the Hindus he had to be Lord Vishnu. Yet, ironically, since Christ and Krishna were so attuned to this Essence, they were one with God. Except from their perspective they saw everyone as evolving toward their state. Neither of them saw himself as unique.
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Christopher Pike (Thirst No. 5: The Sacred Veil)
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In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna tells us that true happiness ‘is within,’ and that perfectly satisfied, liberated persons experience this, because they are undisturbed by the rolling currents of the world.
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Mukunda Goswami (Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times)
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If God opened up a space-time continuum (Big Bang) for all intelligences to walk out their free-will and the essence of Jesus as God the Son was there at the beginning with God the Holy Spirit, then I can say with scriptural confidence that there are only two intelligences in the whole of the cosmos. THE CREATOR (Triune Godhead) and The Created. EVERYTHING that does not predate the universe is created, period! Angels, demons, Gandhi, Mother Mary, Buddha, Mohammad, John the Baptist, Mother Theresa, the Nommoli, lord Shiva, lord Krishna, the Kami, and the Yellow Emperor, are all part of The Created. I had to leave the faith of my childhood to reach for something more excellent... THE CREATOR!
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M.C. Palasi
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fully endowed with conclusive knowledge of the Vedas, and having realized the ultimate purpose of such knowledge in practice, you will be able to perceive the pure self and
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Srila Vyasadeva (Uddhava Gita, Lord Krishna's Final Lessons)
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If you turn back time and look, 5100 years ago in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna did the same thing. He has been the first HR manager India knows. When Arjuna was so depressed and was not ready to do his job, Lord Krishna was with him in the battlefield, and told him all sorts of things. First, He warned Arjuna that people would blame him for sure. Then He incited Arjuna's ego and tried to wake him up. And then He offered His disciple different incentives, saying, "If you win, you will have the kingdom. If you lose, you will enjoy Heaven. Come on, fight." In many ways, Lord Krishna lifted Arjuna out of that depression.
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Ravi Shankar (Management Mantras)
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The lord Krishna is believed to have been attacked in this city by King Salwa. It is believed from the Hindu Sanskrit that King Salwa attacked the city with a spacecraft and rained energy weapons that looked like lightning. This is believed to have destroyed major parts of the cities. It is also believed that the lord Krishna responded by spraying at the spacecrafts with arrows which were not natural arrows. They sounded like thunder. These ruins have evidence of UFO involvement.
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Robert Jean Redfern (Aliens and Underwater Worlds: Atlantis: Lost City - Fact or Fiction? (UFOs, ETs, and Ancient Engineers Book 2))
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A world created based on judgement evokes rage. Life becomes a battleground (rana-bhoomi) like Kuru-kshetra, where both sides feel like victims, where everyone wants to win at all costs, where someone will always lose. A world created by observation evokes insight, hence affection, for we see the hunger and fear of all beings. Life becomes a performance on a stage (ranga-bhoomi) aimed to nourish and comfort the other, while deriving nourishment and comfort from their delight. Krishna’s performance (leela) leads to him being worshipped as Ranga-natha, lord of the stage. He never judges, so he sees no one as a victim. This is how he begins The Gita: Arjuna, you grieve for those whom you should not feel sorry for, and you argue as if you are a man of wisdom. But the wise grieve for no one: neither the living, nor the dead.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2, Verse 11 (paraphrased).
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Devdutt Pattanaik (My Gita)
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Before you know it, you are bound to Prakriti by her twisted, three-stranded rope; you begin to believe that what happens in Prakriti unconsciously – birth, death, pain, pleasure, desire, anger – is real, that it is all done by you, felt by you, made to happen by you. Or that they are all happening to you. Both are not true.’ ‘A three-stranded rope?’ Arjuna frowned. ‘What do You mean, Lord?’ ‘Know this, Mahabahu,’ said Krishna. ‘Goodness (Sattva), Rajas (passion) and Tamas (dullness) are the three strands of Nature’s rope, which bind down the soul. Rajas is part of Nature’s creative side – birth, energy, movement, change, action, the season of spring. Tamas is part of Nature’s destructive side – death, decay, inertia, heaviness, winter. Sattva is the state in between – harmony, wholesomeness, lucidity, stillness, summer. ‘Of these, Sattva, pure and good, can illuminate your soul in its shining light, but even Sattva is a golden shackle. Once you enjoy that happy state of Sattva – good health, knowledge, harmony and peace – you get attached to it, not willing to let it go, yearning for it when it is gone, as it will. ‘Rajas springs from desire, yearning, dissatisfaction with the way things are. It prompts you to action, and once you act, it attaches you to the result of your action, makes you want a particular outcome, makes you happy when you get it, unhappy when you don’t. Beware, Kaunteya, for Rajas binds your soul tight. ‘Tamas is born of ignorance - it confuses, deludes, makes you negligent. It binds your soul to indolence, sleep, sloth, laziness. ‘The power of goodness makes slaves of the happy, makes them constantly hunger for peace and harmony. Passion enslaves the doers, traps them in an unending cycle of wanting something and then acting to get it. Dullness enslaves the careless and negligent, who never want to leave that torpid state of ignorance and lethargy.’ Too true, mused Arjuna. No wonder human life was so full of torment. ‘Goodness, passion and dullness are present in all beings, Arjuna,’ Krishna went on, ‘combined in different ways, constantly in motion, rising and falling, one following the other. They are all present in you; they are your nature. Sometimes goodness prevails over the other two, making you feel calm, radiant, happy, at peace, fulfilled; sometimes passion prevails, making you feel restless, greedy, impatient, excited, excitable, full of energy. At other times, dullness prevails, which destroys clear thinking – anger, fear, grief, confusion arise in this state.
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Roopa Pai (The Gita for Children)
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Lord Shiva is not one of the living entities - he is more-or-less Krishna Himself. The example is given of the distinction between milk and yogurt. Yogurt is a preparation of milk, but still yogurt cannot be used as milk. Similarly, Lord Shiva is an expansion of Krishna, but he cannot act as Krishna, nor can we derive the spiritual restoration from Lord Shiva that we can derive from Krishna. The essential difference is that Lord Shiva has a connection with the material nature, but Vishnu has nothing to do with the material nature
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Anonymous
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There are two broad categories of avataras. Some, like Sri Krishna, Sri Rama and Sri Nrsingha, are Vishnu-tattva, direct forms of God Himself, the source of all power. Others are individual souls (jiva-tattva) who are empowered by the Lord in one or more of seven ways: with knowledge, devotion, creative ability, personal service to God, rulership over the material world, power to support planets, or power to destroy rogues and miscreants. This second category of avatara is called shaktyavesa. Included herein are Buddha, Christ and Muhammed.
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Anonymous
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In sum, the final goal of Self-Inquiry Meditation is to discover that our true Self and true Reality resides in our Heart. As Lord Krishna announced to his dear disciple prince Arjuna in the millenary pages of the “Bhagavad Gita”: “I am the self, established in the hearts of all beings, O Gudakesha. I am the beginning, middle and also the end of all beings… I am seated in the hearts of all, from Me proceed memory, knowledge…
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A.J. Parr (Stop Negative Thinking in 7 Easy Steps (7 Lessons & 7 Exercises to Beat Pessimism!): Understanding Eckhart Tolle, Dalai Lama, Krishnamurti and more! (The Secret of Now Book 6))
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When one prays to an image of Lord Krishna, it reaches the 'relative'. If one bows down here (at the lotus feet of the Gnani Purush), then it reaches one's own Self (Atma) directly. This is because the vitaraag One (One free from all attachment and abhorrence) does not accept it, does He? It is always such that, wherever there is darshan of both the 'relative' and the 'real', there indeed lies liberation (moksha).
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Dada Bhagwan (Spirituality in Speech)
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By natural law there are two parts to everything; ‘relative’ and ‘real’. By praying to a picture, the 'relative' mail reaches Lord Krishna , and in the ‘real’ it is indeed the worship of the Self within you.
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Dada Bhagwan (The Guru and the Disciple)
Lord Krishna (श्रीमद् भगवदगीता ( Shrimad Bhagavad Gita ) (Marathi Edition))
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Suddenly he threw the reins of the horses away from his left hand in disgust. He jumped out of his chariot. He had the Chakra in his hand. He went and stood in front of Bheeshma. His face was distorted with anger. Everyone who saw the anger of Krishna shouted: "Bheeshma is killed! Bheeshma is killed! Bheeshma was quite calm and collected. He smiled at Krishna and said: "Come, my beloved lord, I am happy to see you. I will welcome death at your hands.
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Kamala Subramaniam (Mahabharata)
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Lord Krishna talks about people of demonic nature. “Self-conceited, stubborn, intoxicated by pride in wealth, they perform sacrifice in name only, with ostentation.
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Robert Galbraith (The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7))
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Even as he was smiling, the form of Krishna began to glow like lightning. All the devas emerged out of his body. They could be seen. But by the side of Krishna whose form had now assumed a terrifying aspect, they looked smaller then the thumb of the hand. On his forehead could be seen Brahma, the Creator. On his huge chest could be seen the eleven Rudras. On his shoulders could be seen the lords of the four quarters: Indra, Varuna, Kubera and Yama. Agni could be seen glowing from his mouth. The Adityas who were twelve in number, and the Vasus and the Asvin twins, the Maruts and all the gods of the heavens could be seen in his form. Out of his left hand could be seen the heroes on the side of the Pandavas. Balarama was seen to emerge from his left hand and on his right could be seen Arjuna with the Gandiva in his hand. Behind him were Bheema, Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhishthira. All the heroes of the Vrishni and Andhaka clan were seen standing by his side with their arms and armours. The arms of Krishna were many. They held all the weapons. There could be seen the reputed Sankha called Panchajanya, the Chakra called Sudarsana, the Gada called Kaumodaki and the sword by name Nandana. Fire could be seen flaming out of his eyes and his nostrils. His aspect was terrible. It looked as though Death, which has no shape, had now decided to take shape and reveal to the world her dread form. No one had the power to look on this unique spectacle.
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Kamala Subramaniam (Mahabharata)
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Arjuna said: "I desire to see your Divine Form. Lord of the Yogis, if you think I am fit enough to behold It, reveal to me your Form". Krishna granted him divine eyes and revealed to Arjuna His Divine Form. Like the light of a thousand suns, the splendour of the Mighty One was seen by Arjuna. He beheld the entire universe with all its myriad manifestations all gathered together in one. He bowed his head to the Lord. Pressing his palms together in incessant salutation he said: "Lord of Lords! In Thy body I see all the gods and all the varied hosts of beings as well. I see Brahma and all the rishis. You are infinite in form. There is no beginning or middle or end. You are a glowing mass of light. You are the Imperishable, the Supreme that has to be realized. You are the home of this entire Universe. You are the Guardian of the Eternal law. You are the Primal Being. Your eyes are the sun and moon, and Your face is glowing with radiance of fire, and this universe is being devoured by the fire that is You. By Thee are filled the interspaces of heaven and earth and the sky. Looking on you, the world trembles and so do I.
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Kamala Subramaniam (Mahabharata)
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Sanatana Dharma is the primordial religion of mankind. No matter how many faiths we construct for our own convenience and ego gratification, the reality remains that Sanatana Dharma will always be our actual religion, and Lord Krishna will always be our true object of worship.
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Hari Chetan (Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding (The Bhagavad Gita Series Book 2))