ISKCON Bangalore

What do Bangaloreans say about ISKCON Ratha Yatra?

Sandalwood stars visit ISKCON Bangalore on Vaikuntha Ekadashi

The human being is the most intelligent of all the species of life on the earth. Man is endowed with highly evolved consciousness.He has a better understanding of the world around him and with this knowledgehe is able to utilize the material resourcesfor his happiness.

In spite of man’s scientific advancement in different fields, he is unable to conquer the four fundamental problems in life - birth, death, old age and disease.Everyone longsfor an eternal and happy life but on the contrary, he undergoes various sufferings insome form or the other.

The Vedic scriptures give us the information that there is indeed an eternal and happy life and teach us the way to attain it. The fundamental subject matter of Vedic knowledge deals with the understanding of our real self,which is self-realization.All that exists in this world can be grouped under two categories –conscious spirit and dead matter. Every individual living being is a pure spirit soul, which is eternalwhereas the material body in which he is encaged is temporary and destructible. As long as a person is not self-realized, his consciousness is polluted due to his identification with his own body and all his activities result in karmic reactions, either good or bad. Thisbodily concept of life is the cause of his entanglement in the material world and consequent sufferingsbirth after birth in different species of life.

The various spiritual practices mentioned in the scriptures, such as meditation, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, deity worship, etc. aim at purifying our contaminated consciousness to revive original spiritual consciousness. It is then that we can understand our real spiritual identity as fragmental portions (amsha) of Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord and the Supreme Spirit. Having attained this stage, one will no longer be engaged in ordinary material activities, but in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord. Such a self-realized soulwill not take birth again in the material world; he goes back to the eternal spiritual world to associate with the Supreme Lord.  

There are different methods prescribed in the scriptures to attain perfection through self-realization in different ages. At present, we are living in the Kali-yuga and the spiritual process recommended for this age is to chant the holy names of the Lord. It is very easy to practice, yet it is very sublime.The Kali-santarana Upanishad states, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—these sixteen names composed of thirty-two syllables are the only means to counteract the evil effects of Kali-yuga. In all the Vedas it is seen that to cross the ocean of nescience there is no alternative to the chanting of the holy name."

How does chanting the holy names help us attain perfection?

Lord Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth and all that is connected with Him is non-different from Him. Krishna is all-pure and so are His holy names. Therefore, when we are chanting His names with a mood of surrender and devotion, we are in effecttouching the Lord Himself and our consciousness is being purified gradually.This is analogous to putting an iron rodin the fire for a long time and the rod ultimately becoming red-hot and acquiring the qualities of fire.

The chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantrais also compared to cleaning a mirror covered with dust. When the mirror is clean, we can see the reflection of our face clearly. Similarly, the chanting process will purify our consciousness thereby enabling us to understand our original spiritual nature in relationship with Lord Krishna.

Today's (04-July-2017) Ekadashi Special Alankara for Sri Sri Radha Krishnachandra @ ISKCON Bangalore.