Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
By Janmastami dasa
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita:
To those who are constantly
devoted to serving
Me with love, I give the
understanding by which
they can come to Me.
(BG 10.10)
In his purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada states, "A
person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual
organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress,
then Krishna from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately
come to Him without difficulty." I take this purport as an example
of my life.
(continued)
By Bhakta Jerry.
Hare Krsna!!
It is with great pleasure that IPM brings forth this issue of our Freedom
Newsletter. I thank all the inmate bhaktas for engaging in devotional service
and providing me with the material to put the newsletter together.
This issue has two wonderful essays, one on thr first page and the other on
page 5, about the mercy of Krsna which comes through the guru.
It can be very difficult to understand the position of the spiritual master
so we perform many acts to help us understand his importance. One of these
acts is singing the Śrī Śrī Gurv-aşţaka prayers
which you will find on page 6. Every morning these prayers are sung at the
Mangala-arti ceremony in temples around the world. It is recommended to start
the day off honoring the spiritual master because when the spiritual master
is happy, Krsna is happy and, hence, you are happy.
(continued)
|
|
Billy Graham’s daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show and
Jane Clayson asked her, "How could God have allowed such a horrible thing
to happen on September 11th?"
Anne Graham replied deep and wisely:
"I believe God must have gotten very
sad with what happened, just as much as any of us did. For so many years we
have told God not to poke His nose into our choices, get out of our government
and out of our lives. Being a gentleman as God is, I believe He calmly left
us. How can we expect God to give us blessings and protection when we ask him
to leave us alone?
(continued)
Attention:
Bhakta inmates who are interested in participating in the Bhagavad-gita,
Nectar of Instruction, Sri Isopanishad, Perfect
Questions-Perfect Answers, and Nectar of Devotion study courses please
contact Mukta kesa dasa at:
ISKCON New Vrindaban
Prison Ministries
Rd 1
Box 319
Moundsville, WV 26041
Upon completion of a course,
an official raised seal certificate embossed with the ISKCON logo and signed
by a representative of the Vaisnava Training and Education Department of ISKCON
will be issued. Those that complete three study courses will be given an official
letter introducing them to their institution's chaplaincy department as a graduate
from the ISKCON Prison Ministries Studies Program and they will be
designated as a 'bhakta representative', capable of giving lectures and holding
classes for other inmates at their respective instituions.
|
By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
On the 16th of February 1957 a meeting
was held at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to
discuss the above subject matter. Distinguished
gentlemen from different categories
spoke on the subject, but practically nobody
could give us a definite direction as to what
actually the matter was that was troubling
the whole situation.
(continued)
By bhakta David Lightsey
In the July-August issue of
Freedom Newsletter, in the Questions
and Answers section, a question was
raised concerning atonement. This is a
question I have often encountered in my
own experience. Sometimes this question
arises during the course of a discussion
on Christian theology or can be a
carry over by the novice from such perspective.
The Christian doctrine emphasizes
repentance and teaches that man is
endowed with a sinful nature. Due to
this nature, one must have faith in the
sacrifice of Jesus, as atonement is provided
through him. Taking refuge under
the umbrella of Christ’s death, one can
become reconciled with God.
The perception that we are
separated and essentially sinful is
grounded in false ego. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna explains we are
born deluded by pairs of opposites. We are ignorant.
Ignorance impels us to do "dirty
deeds." The false ego is the personification
of this sinful nature we perceive in
ourselves. In actuality, we are eternal
servants of Krishna.
(continued)
Dear Chandra
Hare Krsna.
Thank you for your letter which I received yesterday. I am very glad
to hear from you and for your help to be a servant of Lord Krsna.
About myself, at present I am convicted for murder and I am under the
sentence of death…I have been in prison for the past nine years…I
was in a cell with some other prisoners and we were cleaning out the
cell when I came across a book that a guy was throwing away. I asked
him for it and I got someone to read it to me. It was about Lord Krsna.
I thought about that book for awhile and I made up my mind that I would
become a servant of Lord Krsna. From then to now, I have grown stronger
in the Lord with the help of a devotee.
Michael Ramdawar
Trinidad, West Indies
(continued)
|
|
By Tirtha dasa
With even a small understanding
or our precarious
situation we may properly inquire, "What
possible hope is there for me to ever break
free from my past, from my habits and deep
conditioning?" We may not be very educated
or may have even lost some degree of
our ability to think clearly – our nerves may
already feel shattered – leaving one unable to
think and focus properly. Or we may currently
find ourselves in a situation of seeming
total chaos, with unending noise and
innumerable distractions all around us.
What is more, to arrive here we may have
performed innumerable, unspeakably degraded
and immoral acts, willingly or otherwise.
We may now feel so lost and hopeless
that it seems we are incapable of doing anything
right. We may feel, and rightly so, that
we are up against the very worst that the
world has to offer. But here, today, right
now at this moment, you may take solace in
the fact that Krishna will always know your
true heart. If we can hold onto even the
smallest spark of hope and try to chant
Krishna's holy names, our progress out of the
hell of material consciousness is guaranteed.
Even if at first we don't really believe, but
just take to chanting on an experimental
basis, our chanting will quickly be effective.
Because we are up against truly insurmountable
forces, we can sense our actual helpless
condition. It is at this time that we may
humbly come to pray to Krishna for the necessary
help and guidance to continue on.
(continued)
By Jana Janmadi dasa
On July 11, 2006, I participated in oral arguments in the Texas First Court
of Appeals (Houston), Case 01-04- 00820-CV. This was an appeal proceeding the
lawsuit I filed based on the relatively new Texas Religious Freedom Restoration
Act (TRFRA), V.T.C.A. Civil Practice & Remedies Code @110.001 et sequentes.
The TRFRA prohibits the government from making any law or rule that substantially
burdens a person's free exercise of religion unless the law or rule is made
to further a compelling government interest and is the least restrictive means
to further that interest. Generalized security fears are not a compelling interest.
(continued)
When I was Lost
When I was lost… and unable to see, I felt as if I had no essence…I
was a lost sheep,
When my dark days seemed as though they would never go away,
I thought for sure I would go insane,
...
(continued)
|
Printer-friendly version