Krishna on Knowledge

Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth -- all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance. The Geeta 13:8-12

Krishna on Being Krishna

Courtesy SarvaShiva, Seattle 

“I am the Supersoul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.”

“Of the Adityas I am Vishnu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marici, and among the stars I am the moon.”

“Of the Vedas I am the Sama Veda; of the demigods I am Indra, the king of heaven; of the senses I am the mind; and in living beings I am the consciousness.”

“Of all the Rudras I am Lord Shiva, of the Yakshas and Rakshasas I am the Lord Kuvera, of the Vasus I am Agni, and of mountains I am Meru.”

“Of priests, O Arjuna, know Me to be the chief, Brihaspati. Of generals I am Kartikeya, and of bodies of water I am the ocean.”

“Of the great sages I am Bhrgu; of vibrations I am the transcendental Om. Of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names, and of immovable things I am the Himalayas.”

“Of all trees I am the banyan tree, and of the sages among the demigods I am Narada. Of the Gandharvas I am Citraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila.”

“Of horses know Me to be Uccaihsrava, produced during the churning of the ocean for nectar. Of lordly elephants I am Airavata, and among men I am the monarch.”

“Of weapons I am the thunderbolt; among cows I am the Surabhi. Of causes for procreation I am Kandarpa, the god of love, and of serpents I am Vasuki.”

“Of the many-hooded Nagas I am Ananta, and among the aquatics I am the demigod Varuna. Of departed ancestors I am Aryama, and among the dispensers of law I am Yama, the lord of death.”

“Among the Daitya demons I am the devoted Prahlada, among subduers I am time, among beasts I am the lion, and among birds I am Garuda.”

“Of purifiers I am the wind, of the wielders of weapons I am Rama, of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganges.”

“Of all creations I am the beginning and the end and also the middle, O Arjuna. Of all sciences I am the spiritual science of the self, and among logicians I am the conclusive truth.”

“Of letters I am the letter A, and among compound words I am the dual compound. I am also inexhaustible time, and of creators I am Brahma.”

“I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all that is yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience.”

“Of the hymns in the Sama Veda I am the Brihat-sama, and of poetry I am the Gayatri. Of months I am Margasirsa, and of seasons I am flower-bearing spring.”

“I am also the gambling of cheats, and of the splendid I am the splendor. I am victory, I am adventure, and I am the strength of the strong.”

“Of the descendants of Vrishni I am Vasudeva, and of the Pandavas I am Arjuna. Of the sages I am Vyasa, and among great thinkers I am Usana.”

“Among all means of suppressing lawlessness I am punishment, and of those who seek victory I am morality. Of secret things I am silence, and of the wise I am the wisdom.”

“Furthermore, O Arjuna, I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being—moving or nonmoving—that can exist without Me.” - the Geeta 10:20-39

"God's attributes"

Courtesy SarvaShiva: http://sarvashiva.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/attributes-of-god/


“Truthfulness, cleanliness, compassion, self-control, magnanimity, contentment, straightforwardness, concentration, sense-control, responsibility, equality, tolerance, equanimity and loyalty. And certainly also knowledge, detachment, leadership, chivalry, influence, power, dutifulness, independence, dexterity, beauty, serenity and kindheartedness, as well as ingenuity, gentility, mannerliness, determination, knowledgeability, propriety, pleasantness, joyfulness, immovability, faithfulness, fame and dignity – all these and many others are the everlasting qualities of the Supreme Lord“

Srimad Bhagavatam 1:16

The Mahabharat Doctrine

Courtesy SarvaShiva: http://sarvashiva.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/message-of-mahabharata/

Bottom-line, Unequivocal doctrine of the Mahabharat is battling and destroying evil doers.

Nidal Malik Hassan and other killers of the innocent, and supporters and breeders of the killers of the innocent must be battled and destroyed.

Duryodhan was vanquished, so must these hate filled death mongers. Where is Krishna, and where is Arjun?

Diwali

Courtesy: http://sarvashiva.wordpress.com - http://twitter.com/SarvaShiva

ॐ श्री गणेशाय नमः

ॐ ऐं ह्रीं क्लीं चामुण्डायै विच्चे
ॐ श्री महालछ्मयै च विदमहे विष्णु पत्न्यै च धीमहि तन्नो लछ्मी प्रचोदयात्
ॐ ह्रीं अष्टलछ्म्यै दारिद्र्य विनाशिनी सर्व सुख समृध्दिं देहि देहि ह्रीं
ॐ कुबेरः त्वम् धनाधीशः गृहे ते कमला स्थिता । माम् देवीम् प्रेषयासु त्वम् मद् गृहे ते नमो नमः
May Lakshmi give you wealth and happiness. May Krishna give you excellence and tact. May Ganesha give you wisdom and discretion. May Hanuman give you strength and faith. May Saraswati give you knowledge. May Shiva give you peace and stillness. May Ram give you humility and love.
And may you be able give it all back to make the world, your life and your home a better place.
Happy Diwali

No, no, no, not another Guru thing!!!

Hopefully this will be the last, or mayen't be because we write about India and (at least some of) India is fixated with Gurus so there maybe more on the subject (and objects), but anyways we got this very preachy message from one CV Rajan at http://www.sulekha.com/.

Not that preachy messages are a bad thing, but this one rankled because:

1. we did not ask to be preached to
2. CV shared his vision of a true guru - which had nothing to do with our blog, so this man was commenting not on our commentary but using our blog to preach his views
3. did a poor job of preaching as he said nothing to substantiate or quantify his views - (he) used trite, oft quoted घिसा पिटा rhetoric to describe spirituality and Gurus (only when you understand what true spirituality means, then you will start searching for a true Satguru)
- firstly we did not ask how to find a Guru
- (he) did not quote any text to support his views, nor to prove his knowledge and authority of the subject (What? Every Indian knows what a true guru is just being Indian?)
- (we) did not criticise true gurus
- the blog was about bearded media darlings worth crores
- blog said "Gurus should be like Krishna and Drona" so its obvious we know who we think a true guru is.

So the questions are:

1. why does an average Indian turn blue and red at the (critical) mention of a guru?
2. why do all Indians say the same thing/ same wrods when it comes to the describing gurus and spirituality in a nation of great divides?

My take on that - notice mine, not ours - is that

• At least since the time of Kautilya there's direct evidence of the caste structure in India with Brahmins at the top of the social chain, in control of all existing knowledge and disseminating it.
• Brahmins preached that they alone knew what was in sacred texts and only they could teach and preach sacred texts, making themselves God's Oracles if Gurus, or learned Ones if Teachers - but in all cases Scriptures could only be taught by Brahmins, and only Brahmins could be Gurus
• Therefore Brahmins alone could show Royalty or masses the path to salvation and God. They wielded the power to bless or curse and being holy ones were not to be crossed or questioned since their knowledge was derived directly from the ancient scriptures, therefore the Guru's word was final and it was everyone's responsibility to respect and believe the Guru.
• How convenient, if Machiavellian, to position oneself as God's anointed class and caste and forbid the poor and the illiterate from ever questioning you - at that time like it is now most of India was agrarian and peasants were serfs owned in many places by landlords - so the ignorant are made to believe that the man telling them to submit has a right to ask for that submission.
• For centuries no one questioned this as Rajas benefited by Pandits blessing them - there were hardly any Pandits and Gurus admonishing Raja's wanton fornicating and plundering - and this Guru/ Raja nexus was used for centuries to control masses therefore control wealth and power. Raja's boosted Gurus and Guru's turned a blind eye to India being robbed by the Raja - लगान, or land taxes that filled royal coffers also built temples, killing millions of working Indians under the burden of generations long debts
• So maybe the idea of Guru worship has been entrenched/ indoctrinated into us for centuries - to believe that there is a need of a Guru has been propagated by those who want to be Gurus and control people, and to believe that Gurus are chaste and divine is also manufactured by the same spin team. Since it was the same spin team coining same terms CV in Chennai and Raja in Ambala say the same thing when it comes to the Guru but nothing else. Great brain washing.

Spritual needs are individual so where he/she finds solace is a personal matter, and not a universal truth - otherwise Gurus will be sold at Walmart.

In Internet times there's no need to rely on others' to point to the truth when access to knowledge (sacred texts if that's being sought) is freely available. Translation and commentaries can be found by learned scholars who have gone to college to study Philosophy and Religion. So before reaching blindly for a Guru - the media Guru who cannot handle an objective question answer session because lacks knowledge and skills to deal with questioning audiences, and is only good with those who submit - why not do some study, research and analysis on your own?

I don't need CV's mumbo-jumbo, I need something tangible like when Nidhi says according to "Yog Vashistha"

That blog mentioned the wedgie that makes the world walk wobbly. Hope CV removes his.

And for those truly seeking meaning of God, Love and Life we wish your Sat-Guru finds you as we hope ours will find us.