Daily Thoughts
Ksatriya Spirit
Srila Prabhupada said the Ksatriya spirit was still alive during the 17th century in India. In this regard, he related the following incident: “This spirit of ksatriya was prevalent even, say, three hundred years ago in India. There was a king, Yasomanta Sena. He was the commander-in-chief of Emperor Aurangzeb. So in one fight, he was defeated and came back to his home. So his wife heard that My husband has been defeated. He's coming back home.' So she asked the caretaker to close the door of the palace. So when Yasomanta Sena came there, he saw that his palace door is closed. Then he sent message to the queen that
Why you have closed the door? I have come home.’ So messenger came and informed that The king has come. So he is asking to open the door.' The queen replied,
Who is king? Yasomanta Sena. No, no. Yasomanta Sena cannot come being defeated. Yasomanta Sena either he conquers the battle or he lays down his body there dead. So the man who has come, he must be somebody pretender. He is not King Yasomanta Sena.’ So she refused to open the door. This is the spirit of ksatriya spirit.” (From a lecture on BGAII, London, September 3rd, 1973.)
Personality
On one walk Srila Prabhupada said that as a small child he thought there was a ghost in a loudspeaker. In this way he was indicating that everything, including God, has a personality.
Taste
It’s been said that no two people have the same taste: I’ve noticed how this particularly applies in the realms of music and humor. It’s also been said that one man’s nectar is another’s poison. These kinds of sayings support the uniqueness of each individual jiva, the singularity of snowflake patterns, DNA structure, fingerprints and voiceprints.
Percentages
In his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindu, Rupa Goswami describes the percentages the various incarnations and expansions of Visnu possess. In Amhedabad, Srila Prabhupada reiterated these, as follows: “He [Rupa Goswami] has analyzed that Krsna is cent percent Bhagavan. And Narayana is ninety-four percent Bhagavan. And Lord Siva is eighty-four percent Bhagavan. And all other living entities, all living entities, we are, we are minutely seventy-eight percent Bhagavan. That means when you come to the perfection of life, when you are actually in the spiritual stage, then you are…, you have got the qualities of Bhagavan in minute quantity, but not all the qualities-eighty, seventy-eight percent.”
Bengal
On February 27, 1976 on a morning walk in Mayapur Srila Prabhupada said, “Bengali culture was very much adored all over India. Even one big politician, Gandhi’s guru, Goke, Gokule, he remarked, ‘What Bengal thinks today, other provinces will think tomorrow.'”
Evolution
Contrary to the Darwinian theory of (genetic) evolution, the Vedas and Prabhupada taught that there is a gradual evolution of consciousness. After aquatic life, punishment exists in the form of the non-moving entities who have to withstand, sometimes for hundreds of years, wind, piercing cold, searing heat, rain and snow and lack of shelter. A further evolution to insects allows them to find shelter by crawling or flying. Then they become birds, then beasts and then finally humans.
British Propaganda
British propaganda was so effective that even the Indians themselves came to think that products made in India were inferior to products made in England. An example was cutlery “Made in Sheffield.”
Indian Independence
Although Prabhupada himself was once a follower of Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement, he said himself that it was Subash Chandra Bose who raised the Indian National Army and was ultimately responsible for securing national independence for India as a nation.
Why Some Indians Like Adolph Hitler
For all his cruelty, some Bengalis regard Hitler as one of the founding fathers of mother India. Why? He disliked the English and their empire so much that he actually helped Subash Chandra Bose build up his Indian National Army. He returned captured Indian soldiers (mostly Gurkhas and Sikhs) who had been fighting on the side of the British, helping them expand their empire. This assistance helped Bose to eventually dishearten the British nation, causing it to pull out of India permanently.
Tsunami’s a four-letter word
The sudden death of nearly 200,000 people has made a lot of earth’s human inhabitants think “why?” But the tragedy is likely to become just another road sign on a freeway. People forget things like earthquakes, terrorist attacks, tidal waves, tornadoes, and floods and – unfortunately — God.
Spirit Matters
It combines ancient wisdom of the Vedas with practical Western approach and erudition. The articles deal with various subject matters, global problems and issues we face in our day-to-day lives. Spirit Matters views modern challenges from a spiritual and philosophical angle.